Admin Help

Start a Site

  1. Go to the Start a Site page on OnlineGroups.Net.
  2. To start a site you need a profile on OnlineGroups.Net.
    • If you are new to OnlineGroups.Net
      • Enter your name in the Your Name entry. Your name will appear on your profile, and on posts that you make.
      • Enter your email address in the Your Email Address entry. An email will be sent to your email address. Follow the instructions in this email to verify that you control your email address. You can only start a site after you verify your email address.
      • Enter a password in the Your Password entry. You will use the password to log into your site
    • If you have a profile you should Log in.
  3. Select Join OnlineGroups.Net Administrators if you want to join the OnlineGroups.Net Administrators online group. In the group you can ask questions about your new site and groups. In addition you will receive updates on improvements that OnlineGroups.Net make to the system. Joining OnlineGroups.Net Administrators is optional.
  4. All groups for your organization are on a shared site. Some information about the organization is needed to create this site.
    • Enter the name of your organization in The Organization Name entry. The name will will have Online Groups appended to it to create the initial site title. You can change the tile of your site after the site has been created.
    • Enter the identifier for your organization in The Organization ID entry. The identifier will be used to create the web address for your new site; the address will appear in all email messages from the site.
      • The default identifier will be the same as the organization name but with spaces and punctuation removed.
      • The ID must begin with a letter.
      • The ID must be unique: there cannot be another site or group with the same ID. The page will check to see if there is a site or group with the same ID and warn you if it exists.
      • The ID cannot be changed after the site has been started.
    You can see what the site title and web address will look like at the bottom of the Something About Your Organization section.
  5. Some information about your first group is needed.
    • Enter the name of your first group in The Group Name entry. The name can be changed at any time.
    • Enter the identifier of your first group in The Group ID entry. The ID will be used to create the web address and email address of the group.
      • The default ID will be a lower case version of the group name with punctuation removed and spaces replaced by the dash character (-).
      • The ID can only contain letters, numbers, dashes and the underscore character.
      • The ID must be unique: there cannot be another site or group with the same ID, including your own site. The page will check to see if there is a site or group with the same ID and warn you if it exists.
      • The name of your group cannot be changed one the group has been created.
    • Select one of the privacy settings for your new group. The three settings change who can see the group homepage and the messages within the group, as shown in the table Visibility of pages for different settings.
    You can see what the web address and email address of the group will look like at the bottom of the A Little About Your First Group section. The privacy of your first group will also be detailed there.
  6. Click the Start button.
    • If you are new to OnlineGroups.Net then your profile will be created and you will be taken to the Waiting Email Verification page. Once you have verified your email address a new site will be started for your organization, and the first group created.
    • If you already have a profile and are logged in then a new site will be started for your organization, and the first group created.
    You will be a member of your first group, and an administrator for your new site and group.

Create a Subscription

All online groups sites are free for the first month. No credit card is required to start a site. The first month of a new site is free. During the first month the Site Administrator must create a credit card subscription. At the end of the first month, and every month after that, a fee is charged to the credit card.

To create a subscription carry out the following steps.

  1. Visit the Site Administration page. Log in if necessary.
  2. Click Create a subscription. The Subscribe page will be shown.
  3. Enter your credit card details into the four fields:
    Name on Credit Card
    The name on the credit card.
    Credit Card Number
    The credit card number. You may enter the number as one sixteen-digit number, or in groups that are separated by spaces or dashes (-).
    Credit Card Expiry Date
    The month and year that the credit card expires. You cannot enter a date that is before the first payment date.
    Credit Card Security Code
    The security code (CVC 2 or CVV2) appears on the back of the back of the credit card. It is printed after the account number on the signature panel. It is three to four digits long, depending on the type of card.
  4. Click Subscribe. A subscription will be created.

Note Your credit-card information will be held by PaymentExpress. OnlineGroups.Net will store the name and a summary of the credit card number so you can identify the card that will be charged each month. We store the expiry date so we can remind you to renew the subscription when the card is replaced. The information stored by OnlineGroups.Net is insufficient for third parties to make charges against your credit card.

Starting a Group

To start a group carry out the following tasks.

  1. Go to the Start a Group page.
  2. Enter the name of your new group in the Group Name entry.
  3. You may chose an identifier for your group by altering the default identifier in the Group ID entry. The identifier will be used to form both the email address and web address for your group.
    • The default identifier will be a lower case version of the group name with punctuation removed and spaces replaced by the dash character (-).
    • The identifier can only contain letters, numbers, dashes (-) and underscores (_).
    • The identifier must be unique: there cannot be another site or group with the same identifier, including your own site. The page will check to see if there is already a site or group with the same identifier.
    • The identifier cannot be changed once the group has been created.
  4. Select one of the privacy settings for your new group. The three settings change who can see the group homepage and the messages within the group, as shown in the table below.
    Visibility of pages for different settings
      Visibility
    Group Homepage  Messages
    Public  Anyone Anyone
    Private  Anyone Group members only
    Secret Group members only  Group members only 
  5. Click the Start button.
    • Your new group will be started,
    • You will be made a member,
    • You will be sent a Welcome email, and
    • You will be shown the homepage of your new group.

Invite a New Member

People can join groups in three ways. They can join public groups. They can request membership of private groups. Finally, you must invite them to join secret groups; you may invite people to join public groups and private groups. To invite someone to join a group carry out the following tasks.

  1. View the page for your group. Log in if necessary.
  2. Select the Admin tab, and click Enter the details of a new member. The Invite a New Member page will be shown.
  3. Create the invitation.

    The invitation is an email from you to the person that you are inviting. To create the invitation you must carry out the following.

    • Enter the email address of the person you are inviting.
    • Write a personal message to the person you are inviting.
    • Select the message delivery options that the recipient of the invitation should have after he or she accepts the invitation.
    • Enter the details about the person you are inviting.

    Note: It is best to make the message to the person you are inviting as personal as possible. This will make the recipient more likely to respond, and it more likely that Spam filters will allow the invitation to be delivered.

  4. Click the Invite button. An invitation message will be sent. The message will include:
    • Your email address,
    • The personal message that you wrote,
    • Information about the group, including the number of members, the frequency of posting, and the privacy of posts, and
    • Information about you and your role as an administrator of the group.

Change the Site Name

The site name is shown at the top of every page on the site, in the body of many page, and in email messages sent from this site. To change the site name, carry out the following tasks.

  1. Go to the Change Name page.
  2. Enter the name for the site in the Name entry.
  3. Click the Change button. The name of the site will be updated.

Change the Site Greeting

The site greeting is shown on the homepage to logged in members of this site. To change the site greeting, carry out the following tasks.

  1. Go to the Change Greeting page.
  2. Enter the greeting you wish to appear on the site homepage in the Greeting entry. You can see a preview of the greeting below the form.
  3. Click the Change button. The greeting on the site homepage will be updated.

Cancel a Subscription

You will need to cancel the subscription for your site to stop making the monthly subscription payments to OnlineGroups.Net, or to change your credit card details. To cancel your subscription carry out the following steps.

  1. Visit the Site Administration page. Log in if necessary.
  2. Click Cancel your subscription. The Cancel Subscription page will be shown.
  3. Click the Cancel button. The subscription will be cancelled.

Respond to a Membership Request

People may request to become a member of a private group. When someone does this you will receive an email message, containing the request. The message will contain the following

  • A link to the profile of the person making the request.
  • The email address of the person making the request.
  • A message from the person making the request, explaining why he or she wishes to join the group.
  • A link to the Respond page for the group you administer.

To respond to the request carry out the following steps.

  1. Visit the Respond page. The Respond page lists all membership requests awaiting a response.
  2. Select Accept or Decline for each request.
  3. Click the Respond button.

If you accept a request then the person that made the request will become a group member. If you decline a request then the person that made the request will be sent a message stating your decision.

Change the Group Homepage About Tab

The About Tab on the homepage of the group contains an introduction to the group. Site administrators can change About Tab by carrying out the following steps.

  1. Log in
  2. Visit the homepage for your group.
  3. Click change this about tab.
  4. Enter the new text for the About Tab in the Text field.
  5. Click the Change button.
 

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