Moving a subscriber list into Groups.io

Barrier Free BC

Hello,

As a visually impaired administrator, I've been using MailChimp for sending
e-mail newsletters/bulletins to our subscribers.  I'm finding MailChimp to
be very unfriendly to screen-reading software.  I thought I'd give Groups.io
a try.

Our Subscribers have already indicated that they would like to receive our
mail and I don't want to have to ask everyone to sign-up again.  Is it
possible to import my subscriber list from MailChimp without having to
invite everyone to sign up again?

Thanks,

Reed

Files

Linda

#445

Hi,
Which files types work properly in Groups.io?  I need to share lists of clickable URLs with my members.

Thanks,
Linda

Direct add of members - email delivery preference selection ?

#444

In the direct add option it says that you can "append digest or nomail to the end of a line to specify either digest delivery or no email be sent"

so is that:

person@...

or?

person@... digest

or?

person @ domain.com

digest

Thanks for the help!?

I think an example there would be a good suggestion as an easy add.

Maria?

Problem inviting members to our test group

#443

I invited two people to help us test our test group. One a yahoo address and the other a gmail. Both said that when they received the invite they clicked on the web link to accept it (rather than email it back) and yet when they reached our group page there was no indication they'd been pre-invited so they clicked "apply to join..." And they applied and then I saw them in pending. After I approved them they are now members but I'm left confused by this process and so were they.

What am I missing ? Shouldn't they see something that says they've been pre-approved and then they are asked to set up a password or other? How does it work here on groups.io?

I've also posted in the Beta group because I thought I should mention the confusion these two newbies had.?

Thank you!

Maria?

Re: Group transfer questions

#442

Thanks, Shal. Your mastery of all this business never ceases to amaze me.

"That's simple then. Just be clear about what you want when you email the transfer agent (Mark) when you're ready for the copy to proceed."

You apparently understand exactly what I want to do ... I hope I make it clear to the transfer agent and that it's simple.

"If the members are willing to join the Groups.io group to read the messages then there's no need for the Groups.io archive to be public. If that's a concern."

It is a concern. Probably up until the advent of Neo, this Yahoo group's archives were accessible by non-members of the group. It was becoming an occasional problem so I changed that.

"Yahoo Groups' controls are rather mucked up since the Neo redesign. In Group Settings what matters is the "Non Members can view messages" checkbox, under "Who can see:" in the box below the group type. If that ever comes unchecked then it disappears forever and your groups Conversations archive is at best members only."

Regarding my group type, Public, Restricted and Private are not checked. The fourth type, Custom, has a shadowy gray bullet. Below group type, under "Who can see" there is no "Non Members can view messages". The only item there that I have checked is "Non Members can view about group section". That's it.

Re: Group transfer questions

#441

Stephanie,

My notion was to transfer just the messages (and just the one time), not 
the members (now or ever). That's simple then. Just be clear about what you want when you email the transfer agent (Mark) when you're ready for the copy to proceed.

I always remind the Yahoo members they can join the (problem free) 
Google group to get the same messages sent to the Yahoo group. Groups.io 
would just be another alternative to Yahoo, like the Google one is 
now.If the members are willing to join the Groups.io group to read the messages then there's no need for the Groups.io archive to be public. If that's a concern.

Well, I see I may have a problem here (?) ...  Although the Yahoo group 
says "This is a public group" (Group Settings), the "Messages-Who can 
see" under Access Settings is set to Members.That doesn't really matter. The members are already members in the Yahoo Group so they can see its archive (if they have web access) regardless. That said, the "Members" column of the Access Control table isn't the whole story.

Yahoo Groups' controls are rather mucked up since the Neo redesign. In Group Settings what matters is the "Non Members can view messages" checkbox, under "Who can see:" in the box below the group type. If that ever comes unchecked then it disappears forever and your groups Conversations archive is at best members only.

That checkbox, and its fellows, really belongs as another column in the Access Control panel, but that makes too little sense to Yahoo's UI designers. And given that they decided that membership and messages controls have to be bundled together into this omnibus "Group Type" option, they aren't entirely wrong: it would be an even bigger mess to have linked controls on separate tabs.

Shal

Re: Group transfer questions

#440

Thanks for your reply, Shal.

My notion was to transfer just the messages (and just the one time), not the members (now or ever). From that point going forward I was planning on emailing my new messages to three groups: the Yahoo group, the Google group and the Groups.io one. I had no plans to discontinue posting to the Yahoo group.? Some members of the Yahoo group having again been complaining because of Yahoo's problems. I always remind the Yahoo members they can join the (problem free) Google group to get the same messages sent to the Yahoo group. Groups.io would just be another alternative to Yahoo, like the? Google one is now.

"This only works if your group's message archive is public of course. Otherwise they need to be members to see the messages anyway."

Well, I see I may have a problem here (?) ...? Although the Yahoo group says "This is a public group" (Group Settings), the "Messages-Who can see" under Access Settings is set to Members.

In the last couple of years I discontinued posting to two other Yahoo group. Members of those groups were told they could continue receiving my postings at my current, remaining Yahoo group. Those two groups (with large archives) still exist, most of the members are still there, one or two even join occasionally, but they are not active and only I post there occasionally ("we've moved").

Re: Group transfer questions

#439

Stephanie,

Will I be able to transfer my Yahoo group's message archive to that new 
group without transferring the member list? That all I want to do for 
now. Yes, if you request that.

Have a look at the steps involved in the group copy ("transfer"). After you've invited the transfer agent, it has joined, and you've promoted it to moderator then your next step is to send an email message to the transfer agent, telling "it" that you're ready and the name of the Groups.io group to receive the members/messages (and maybe soon files/photos). 

I believe that "it", the transfer agent, is none other than Mark himself. I think he reads those messages and activates the software to copy the information. In the past he's offered to accept instructions not to copy the messages, or to copy only messages newer than some date. So I'm sure that he can handle not copying the membership.

So the flip side of the coin is that if you're wanting to copy the messages first then the members later you are imposing slightly on Mark's time. And the more so if you then want to copy the later messages - those posted in your Yahoo Group after the initial copy.

The message archive goes back to 2002 and has well over a 100K messages. 
I'd rather notify my members at the Yahoo group and give them an option 
to view the content they're getting now at Yahoo at a different place 
... This only works if your group's message archive is public of course. Otherwise they need to be members to see the messages anyway.

I think my advice would be to go ahead with transferring the memberships along with the messages. When that happens nothing is affected within the Yahoo Group, so things can continue normally there, at the risk of those new messages not being copied (at least not with Mark's indulgence). 

So it kind of depends on what the priority is for your group. 

If integrity of the archive is paramount then a clean break is called for: shut down messages on the Y!group, tell the agent to proceed, then resume messages in the Groups.io group. 

If continuity of discussion is paramount then keep messaging open in your Y!group while the transfer happens, then encourage your members to start new threads in the new Groups.io group, while existing threads peter out naturally in the Yahoo Group. Then you can decide for yourself when to cut off messaging in the Yahoo Group. You don't have to (and probably shouldn't) ever remove the members from that group - that way they can continue to access whatever content is there that hasn't been copied.

Shal

Re: Group transfer questions

#438

Hi Shal,

I'm of course familiar with you from the Yahoo GMF ... thanks for all you do there.

Since I greatly value your advice, let me get your take on this ...

Yahoo's been having a bad week and a half or so, as I'm sure you're aware from the messages posted about it on your Yahoo group ...

I created a group here today, in part because of that ...

Will I be able to transfer my Yahoo group's message archive to that new group without transferring the member list? That all I want to do for now. The message archive goes back to 2002 and has well over a 100K messages. I'd rather notify my members at the Yahoo group and give them an option to view the content they're getting now at Yahoo at a different place ... I've had a Google group since 2007 and offer my Yahoo members the same from time to time ... like the past week and a half.

Thanks.

~~ Stephanie

Re: Group transfer questions

#437

Maria,

Here's another question: can you transfer the group over and have it 
keep updating as new posts are sent to the old group so that you have a 
back-up but wait to move or activate the members? I've wished that too. 

But no, the transfer action is something I think requires manual intervention by Mark (he receives the message from you, and starts the program that does it). I doubt he's written anything to keep monitoring your Y!Group for new messages. 

Shal

Re: Group transfer questions

#436

Here's another question: can you transfer the group over and have it keep updating as new posts are sent to the old group so that you have a back-up but wait to move or activate the members??

There are a few things we are hoping get finished or fixed before a move but on the other hand we'd sleep better knowing the group was backed up here...

Re: Group transfer questions

#435

Anita,

Another group transfer question: Can Yahoo polls be transferred to a 
Groups.io list?Mark hasn't mentioned it, that I'm aware of. It would be a bit tricky as polls in Groups.io are implemented as messages (with features for voting) rather than as a separate section of the group's web site.

However, Mark is fond of saying that anything is possible in the wonderful world of computers. So you could post it as a request in beta@ and see if he's game. In the subject of your message I'd suggest adding the hashtags #polls #suggestions #transfer.

Shal

Re: Group transfer questions

#434

Another group transfer question: Can Yahoo polls be transferred to a Groups.io list?

Anita C.?

Re: Group transfer questions

#433

Dano,

> Has Mark said anymore about progress on this?

Only off list. I gave him some groups to test, they mostly worked. Some mysteries to fix yet.

Shal

Re: Group transfer questions

#432

开云体育

Shal -

I haven't seen anything recently but could have missed something. Like you, I'm waiting on the ability to move?Files and Photos. Has Mark said anymore about progress on this?

Dano

?

Show quoted text

Shal wrote:

?

One thing to note is that I've not actually transferred that group yet -

I'm holding out for Mark to finish the work on being able to transfer

Files and Photos as well.

Re: Group transfer questions

#431

Maria,

I wrote:
If you customize the group's Welcome message before the transfer then
it will be sent to each member as they are added to the Groups.io
group.And, of course, I do plan to send a Special Notice to the Yahoo Group before starting the transfer - perhaps a day or so before, to give the Yahoo Group members a heads-up on what's happening.

I'll probably say much the same things as mentioned in the customized Welcome text, but written from the pre-transfer point of view.

Note to self: don't forget that Special Notice.

Shal

Re: Group transfer questions

#430

Maria,

So once the group was transferred how did the first new posts start
coming in? Did you tell members the new email address to use for new
posts? The new URL to log into?If you customize the group's Welcome message before the transfer then it will be sent to each member as they are added to the Groups.io group. On the Settings page, see the tab for Member notices, and the sub-tab for the Welcome notice. If you don't customize it then nothing is sent.

I customized one of mine by adding this at the top, leaving the default message at the bottom:

"Hey folks...

 We're moving to an alternate email list service, given some of the
 problems we've been having with Yahoo Groups, and the uncertainties
 about the future of Yahoo. Our content from the Yahoo Group has been
 copied here, including Messages, Photos and Files. The Yahoo Group
 itself has not been affected, and all of our content is still
 available at Yahoo.

 Your subscription options (individual messages, digest, etc.) have
 also been) copied to your subscription here, but you may wish to
 double-check them by visiting the "Subscription" page (link in the
 left-hand column). Groups.io also offers advanced subscription options
 which you may wish to check out.

 If you have any questions or comments please email me at
 [email protected] or shal@....

 Shal


 Here's the boilerplate message from the Groups.io service:
"

In this message I've substituted "example" for the actual group name and email addresses. The default text (that I called "boilerplate") has instructions for sending messages, so I left that in place.

One thing to note is that I've not actually transferred that group yet - I'm holding out for Mark to finish the work on being able to transfer Files and Photos as well. Obviously you'd want to say something different if you're not waiting, and not moving the stuff yourself. I'll probably update that text to suit circumstances just before I tell the transfer agent to go.

Hmm... it seems our Wiki page on this topic could use some updating and enhancement:
/g/GroupManagersForum/wiki/Transfer-from-Yahoo-Groups

Shal

Re: Group transfer questions

#429

Thank you all!?

So once the group was transferred how did the first new posts start coming in? Did you tell members the new email address to use for new posts? The new URL to log into??

Whats a good way to educate members about the transition so the discussions don't stop??

Thanks?

Maria?

Re: Group transfer questions

Shadow Grafix

#428

开云体育

I’ve moved several groups and I’ve got more to move.? It’s easy as 1-2-3.? ?The only problem I had was with one group that had a LOT of files and those all had to be moved manually.? Otherwise, it couldn’t have been any easier.

Judy

?

Show quoted text

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of HR Tech via Groups.io
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2016 8:37 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [GMF] Group transfer questions

?

Hi!?

is there anyone who has moved a group over from Y! Who might be able to share their experience with us??

Specifically:?

- was the transition easy and what did it entail?

- did members manage to switch over easily and accept new platform??

- what were the trickiest parts??

- how long did it take?

?

we have a 3000 member group and many subgroups.?

Thank you!?

Maria?

Re: Group transfer questions

#427

Easy. The instructions are here -?/static/transfer

See the specific link at the bottom of the page.

Mark transferred my group and later my archives from YahooGroups.

I had made sure that members knew it was going to happen and why. I reminded people to change the login email address on their devices. I put a notice on the homepage of the old YahooGroups. (I guess I could delete that now!)

The members will be transferred with their email addresses and delivery preferences. If they wish to use your Groups.io homepage, they should create a password. First they get a temporary one by clicking on send me an email link.

You should look at editing your homepage on Groups.io, any member notices, etc. under Settings.?

There is a little member education needed (at least I thought so). For example, there are better subscription options than Digest. I set my default for new members so they get the first email in any thread. They can individually change that if they wish. And they can add an email alias. All nice features!

Good luck, but don't worry!?

Frances