GMF �� Help Improve the Management of Groups

Monthly Reminder

@... — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 05:31:56 -0700

This is your monthly subscription reminder for the Group Managers Forum, commonly known as GMF. We are glad you joined our group.

Our GMF Group's web resources are open and public. Our Messages archives and Wiki are viewable and searchable by non-members. GMF message archives are indexed by major search engines. Unfortunately, due to �� restrictions, you must be a member of GMF and logged in to access our Files and Photos sections.

We expect members to post and act responsibly. Please respect your fellow members' time and attention: strive to be clear, concise and courteous. Our subject matter naturally includes matters of opinion; if you happen to disagree with another member please do so without being rude. Personal attacks are not allowed. Solicitations are off topic and will be deleted without comment. Listing your groups in your signature is perfectly acceptable, but just make sure there's also on-topic content in your post.

Attachments are allowed and the judicious use of screen shots and other illustrations is encouraged!

All messages sent to GMF are moderated, therefor there will be some delay before your message is posted. This is done to avoid malicious attachments, spam, off-topic messages, and messages from spoofed or compromised mail accounts. Despite these measures, be aware that the bad guys are clever so there's no guarantee that we'll always succeed; you are encouraged to be vigilant against any and all threats arriving via email. Your GMF moderators make no guarantees regarding the safety of emails arriving from this or any other �� address.

We are always looking for suggestions from our members to make this group better for all. Feel free to address any questions, comments, or concerns directly to the group moderators via email to [email protected]

GMF Mission Statement:

We strive to be a resource of the highest quality for owners and moderators of �� groups. We allow as much information as possible from our group to be accessed by visitors! Would you like to be a better �� group owner and/or moderator? Would you like to see even more improvements in �� groups? We discuss our experiences as both group owners and moderators, share ideas for promoting and customizing the content areas, and offer various techniques for managing groups.

To send a message to the members of this group, simply send email to [email protected]

GMF is at times very busy. To substantially cut down on the email clutter see Subscription Options. In particular, Following Only, First Message Also, and Auto Follow Replies work well together to focus only on topics of interest to you.

If you do not wish to belong to GroupManagersForum you may unsubscribe by using the link in the footer of this (or any) message, or by sending an email to [email protected]

To see all of your group subscriptions, go to

We thank you for your interest and for your contributions.

Shal, Founder & Owner
David, Owner
Duane, Owner
Bruce, Moderator
Frances, Moderator
Andy, Moderator

Latest revision: 2024-08-01

Re: I can't filter the membership list to see all moderators

jsivier@... (Jonathan Sivier) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:46:39 -0700

Depending on the order in which I have done things sometimes the Apply button is off the page and I have to scroll down to see it. That is I have to scroll the page, not the drop down list of filters. I haven't figured out exactly what set of actions cause this, but it happens from time to time. Could that be happening in your case?

Jonathan

Re: I can't filter the membership list to see all moderators

andy_wedge@... (Andy Wedge) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:46:15 -0700

On Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 10:37 PM, Bob Petti wrote:

I can't filter the membershpip list to see all moderators. I see the check boxes for the filters but the apply button is not there. I am in other groups and I don't have this problem. I am owner of both groups. Ther is another owner on the group I am referring to. Is it possible that he has me restricted?

If you can see the member list and the filter options then then the Apply button for should be visible. I've tested each moderator permission that states it gives access to the member list and I always see the Apply button on the Filter page. Have you tried a forced refresh on your browse? Typically Ctrl + F5 does that.

Regards

Andy

I can't filter the membership list to see all moderators

robertcpetti@... (Bob Petti) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:37:31 -0700

I can't filter the membershpip list to see all moderators. I see the check boxes for the filters but the apply button is not there. I am in other groups and I don't have this problem. I am owner of both groups. Ther is another owner on the group I am referring to. Is it possible that he has me restricted?

Re: Technical new member question

rmcma44662@... (Julie in MD (Maryland)) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 17:15:27 -0700

My question is specifically related to approval of a new member who is not yet confirmed by groups.io or admitted to membership in a specific group with admission criteria. Good to hear that accessing ongoing messages might not require a change in settings.

Re: Technical new member question

peterscottcook@... (Pete Cook) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 14:16:37 -0700

FWIW, I use iCloud private relay on my iPad and I've never had trouble getting an email through.

Pete

Re: Technical new member question

please_ignore@... (Ken N) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 14:16:31 -0700

Check that. Seems I only notice when I’m out and about when I’ve got bad connection, and iOS warns inability to use private relay. So, private relay is on automatically and must be manually disabled in settings (Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Private Relay)

Ken N

Oxnard, CA

Re: Technical new member question

michaelchopra38@... (Michael Chopra) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 12:50:17 -0700

Hi.

Yeah, it sounds like you may be describing what is known as iCloud private relay, the user may need to disable this in order to get through as groups.io doesn't know what their real IP actually is, tell the potential member to disable that.
Thanks.
From Michael.

Technical new member question

rmcma44662@... (Julie in MD (Maryland)) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 12:35:57 -0700

We have a Pending New Member with a gmail. com email address who has attempted to join a group I support as Moderator/Owner. They have not confirmed account and their activity log says Non confirmed member attempted to send message (multiple times)including they tried to respond to the group's Pending Member letter. I understand that messages are not delivered until those steps are completed.

I am wondering if icloud relay proxy is impacting the groups.io new member messaging requirements process. I am not an Apple or a Safari user but my search shows it is a a privacy system within Safari that relays internet interactions to mask the user IP address . Will this potential member have to disable proxy to join to confirm email address to groups.io and to respond to member questions? Thanks for your help - this is beyond my technical expertise.

This indicator is prominent on the pending member's page ICLOUD_RELAY_PROX

Julie

Re: link to subscribe

shenkin@... (Peter S. Shenkin) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 09:58:28 -0700

Hi, Leah,

I would just try going to the "join" URL for your current group name and seeing if it works.

A slight complication: If you are already a member of the group your login cookie might be stored. In this case, if you go to the join link, it flashes up on the screen and then disappears. So try it from an incognito (anonymous) browser window. All you have to look for is whether the window with the text field comes up.

I hope this helps!

-P.

On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 12:08 PM Leah Solat via groups.io <lsolat=[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">[email protected]> wrote:

Re: link to subscribe

computerhusky@... (Thomas Gruber) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 09:57:42 -0700

Hi Lea,
You can find the group|s URL by opening (while in your group as owner)
Admin/Preferences/Promote
There in the top right hand corner you see the box

Invite your friends

And at the bottom of that box you see the URL of the group. I assume if you add
/join
You have the URL for joining the group.
Kind regards

Thomas

Re: link to subscribe

lsolat@... (Leah Solat) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 09:08:01 -0700

Peter, because we changed the name of the group (before there were any members other than owner), some of the URLs were still for the old name and I had to change them…eg, in the welome msg. Do you know how I can find out if the same is true for the join URL and, if so, how I can correct it?

Thanks

Leah

Re: link to subscribe

shenkin@... (Peter S. Shenkin) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 08:25:15 -0700

Thanks, Duane. Clearly, the display name has to be optional.

In my situation, the group I want to use this for is a pure announcement group, so only moderators (in this case, only I, as the owner) can post. So the system will not accept postings from vanilla members.

Small caveat: if a member responds to one of my postings, the response goes only to me and my return response to the member goes only to the member. But then groups.io does process the email in this manner. So possibly, an empty display name would be populated by such a member response. However, it's rare that I get such responses.

-P.

Re: link to subscribe

bowman46118@... (Bruce Bowman) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 08:24:54 -0700

On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 05:22 AM, Peter S. Shenkin wrote:

The way I would summarize your (helpful) answer is that every group comes with a URL named /g/GROUPNAME/join. You can make this available in any website or email by simply creating a clickable link to that URL. On clicking the link the user will be taken to a page that allows entry of an email address.

Not always.

If someone is already logged in to groups. io, the /join URL redirects to the group home page, at which point they will have to click the "Join This Group" button (or "Apply for Membership," if the group is Restricted).

The reason? The entire purpose of the /join page is to prompt for an email address. If you're logged in then the system knows your email address and does not need you to enter it again.

https://beta.groups.io/g/main/topic/109211305#msg38856

Regards,

Bruce

Check out the groups.io Help Center and groups.io Owners Manual

Re: link to subscribe

shenkin@... (Peter S. Shenkin) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 08:24:46 -0700

For me, the whole point of using a link like this is that the owner doesn't have to do anything. The owner doesn't have have to send out an invitation or even do a direct add. So, for me, the facility would be more useful if the person who clicks the link could add a display name as part of the process.

-P.

Re: link to subscribe

shenkin@... (Peter S. Shenkin) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 08:12:40 -0700

Hi, Leah,

The URL is already there, at "/g/GROUPNAME/join", where GROUPNAME is your group name.

If this isn't what you were trying to ask, please clarify.

-P.

On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 11:04 AM Leah Solat via groups.io <lsolat=[email protected]" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">[email protected]> wrote:

Thanks, Peter.

Where do I find that URL?

[Overquote trimmed by Moderator]

Re: link to subscribe

peterscottcook@... (Pete Cook) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 08:06:55 -0700

An owner can change a member’s display name but not their user name.

Pete

Re: link to subscribe

lsolat@... (Leah Solat) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 08:04:50 -0700

Thanks, Peter.

Where do I find that URL?

Re: link to subscribe

lsolat@... (Leah Solat) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 07:55:23 -0700

Can the owner/administrator add/change display and/or user names?

Re: link to subscribe

txpigeon@... (Duane) — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 03:50:26 -0700

On Sat, Mar 29, 2025 at 04:22 AM, Peter S. Shenkin wrote:

You can enter an email address but there are no fields to add a screen name or first and last name.

Display names and User names are optional. Some groups require one or both, while others prohibit them. The site will try to fill in the Display name using email header information the first time a message is sent. As long as adding one is still optional, it may be possible to ask for one or use the format you mentioned.

Duane

Lots of detailed information can be found in the Owners Manual and Members Manual found in the Help Center.