indyhike YAHOO! GROUP Go to indyhike Home Page | Getting Started | Send Emails | Change Email Address Leave Group | Need Help? WHAT IS YAHOO! GROUPS? More than 115 IHC members have joined this free email service. With all of the snow and ice this past winter, Yahoo! Groups was especially valuable in informing members about the many hike cancellations. It has also been valuable in coordinating carpools and finding roommates for away trips. If you tried enrolling in Yahoo! Groups in the past, but gave up because the enrollment process seemed too complicated, we urge you try again. Follow the instructions listed below for how to enroll. A special Yahoo! Groups account was set up for the Indianapolis Hiking Club as a way to foster email communication between members about subjects of common interest, such as hike cancellations, carpooling, trail maintenance opportunities and upcoming events. A Yahoo! Group is any group - your family, friends, garden club, our hiking club, etc. that uses the free Internet service Yahoo! Groups to share emails. Our group is called indyhike. It is a private group only available to Club members. If you want to communicate to everyone in the group you simply send an email to the designated group email address and everyone receives it at an address they designated when they joined. You do not need to maintain group address lists and the like, that is all managed on Yahoo! Groups with the help of the moderator. It costs nothing to join so what are you waiting for? HOW TO GET STARTED? Joining the indyhike Yahoo! Group is a two step process. First you must obtain a Yahoo! ID and password. Next, you must join the indyhike group and designate the address where you would like to receive group emails. We will walk you through this process: Obtain Yahoo! ID: Clicking the following icon will take you directly to the indyhike Yahoo! Groups page. But first you will be asked to sign in with your Yahoo! ID and password. If you already have these (many Yahoo! users already do) enter them and you will be taken directly to the indyhike page. If you do not have a Yahoo! ID (most first time users will not), you will need to obtain one. Click "Sign Up". click icon now Assuming you clicked "Sign Up", the Yahoo! registration screen will be displayed. Complete the registration screen, agree to the terms of service and create your account. Note, you may need to try several ID's to find one that is unique. You should receive an email confirming your registration. Make sure to record your Yahoo ID and password as you will need them to sign into Yahoo! Groups. Join indyhike Yahoo! Group: The indyhike Yahoo! Groups edit membership data screen should be displayed (if not, click the join icon above). Proceed as follows: You will be asked to complete three questions. Question 1. Skip the Yahoo! Profile update. Under "Email Address" look to see if the address where you want to receive group emails is displayed. If yes, select it as the desired address. If the address you desire to receive emails is not displayed, click "Add a new email address". You will be taken to a new screen to enter the new email address and will have to go through a verification process which can be a bit confusing. This may require you to sign in again, perhaps multiple times. During the process you will be advised that a verification email has been sent to the new address you just entered. You will then need to access your regular email and look for a verification email from Yahoo!. Open it and follow the instructions to complete the verification and continue. You will likely be asked to sign in again. Once you complete the entire rather convoluted process you should return to the edit membership data screen where you started and the new address should have been added. Select the new address as your primary to receive your group emails. Answer questions 2 and 3. Most likely you will want to stick with the default values. Complete the screen and click "join". Assuming you were successful in getting this far, you should receive a message that your membership is pending, which signifies that the moderator has been advised of your request to join the group. The moderator will need to verify your Club membership and then admit you to the group. Don't expect this to happen right away since this requires human intervention. The moderator will send you an email confirming your acceptance into the group. As you can see, joining the group may be confusing and it is possible you won't be able to complete the process without help. Don't get frustrated and give up. Please contact the moderator for help (see Help below). SEND EMAILS TO THE GROUP Once you have joined you are ready to exchange emails with the rest of the group. There are two ways to send an email to everyone in the group: From your regular email send an email to "indyhike@yahoogroups.com". It's that easy. or Access the indyhike Yahoo! Groups home page (click first option at top of page and sign in). From the list of services on the left side of screen, click "Post" under "Messages". An email template will be displayed. When composing an email please keep the following things in mind: If your email is specific to one person please don't send it to the entire group. If you don't know someone's email address you can locate it from the indyhike Yahoo! Groups home page. Click "Members" from the list of services. Scroll through the member ID's until you find the person you want and click "email delivery" beside their name. An email template with just their address will be displayed. If you would like to reply to an email that was sent to everyone in the group but your reply is only applicable to the sender, please do not reply to the entire group. Use the subject of the email to state the purpose (e.g., Carpool to the Smokies). That way people who are not interested in the subject do not have to read your email. HOW TO CHANGE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS If you change your primary email address you will need to update your profile in Yahoo! Groups so group emails will be sent to the new address. Proceed as follows to change your primary email address: Access the indyhike Yahoo! Groups home page (click first option at top of page). Click "Edit Membership" at the top of the page. Under Step1, Email Address click "Add new Email address" Enter your new primary email address and click "Continue". You will be asked to verify your new address via the same process as when you first joined the group. Namely, Yahoo will send an email to the new address which you will need to verify and reply to Yahoo! Groups. Reenter indyhike Yahoo! Groups and verify the new address has been added to your membership data. Now, select it as the primary address and save the change. HOW TO LEAVE/UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THE GROUP If you leave the Club and/or no longer wish to receive group emails you may unsubscribe as follows: Access the indyhike Yahoo! Groups home page (click first option at top of page). Click "Edit Membership" at the top of the page. Click "Leave Group" link at the bottom right of the page. Confirm on the next page. You will no longer receive messages from the group nor will your ID be listed for others to see. NEED HELP? If you encounter a problem joining the group or using Yahoo! Groups please don't hesitate to contact Joan Griffitts your Club's Yahoo! Groups Moderator. Joan may be reached at 317-297-7312 or by email at j.griffitts@sbcglobal.net. Also, if you have any suggestions for improving the use of Yahoo! Groups within the Club Joan would love to hear from you.