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 150 IHC members now participate in this free email service. With all of the ice we had last winter and the extreme heat this summer, Yahoo! Groups was especially valuable in informing members about hike cancellations, which ran much higher than in past years. It has also been useful for coordinating carpools, finding roommates for away trips or simply passing on the latest news. 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. A bit of history, several years ago a special Yahoo! Groups account was set up for the Indianapolis Hiking Club to facilitate email exchange between Club members on subjects of common interest. A Yahoo! Group is any group - your family, friends, garden club, our hiking club, etc. that uses Yahoo! Groups (free internet service) to share emails. Our group is called indyhike and is only available to Club members. If you want to communicate to everyone in the group you simply send an email to a single group email address and everyone receives it at an address they designated when they joined. There is no need to maintain a list of email addresses; 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 an address where you would like to receive group emails. Both steps are free. We will walk you through this process: Obtain Yahoo! ID: Clicking the following icon will take you directly to the indyhike Yahoo! Groups page, where you will be asked to sign in with your Yahoo! ID and password. If you already have these (many regular 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 before you can join Yahoo! Groups. 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, since there are millions of Yahoo! users 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 and 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 with your Yahoo! ID and password 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 the 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 email 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 by email 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 can be confusing. Don't get frustrated and give up. If you need help, please contact the moderator (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: By far the easiest way is to send an email to "indyhike@yahoogroups.com" from your regular email. It's that easy. You do not have to sign into Yahoo. or Another way to send emails is to 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 sending an email to the entire group please keep the following things in mind: Use the subject of the email to state the purpose (e.g., Carpool to the Turkey Run). That way people who are not interested in the subject do not have to read your email. When replying to a group email, please do not use the reply function if you only want to communicate to the originator. If you use reply everyone will get it. Instead, compose a new email addressed to only the original sender of the group 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.