Chatline - AstroLeeds group
The AstroLeeds group (nicknamed the 'chatline' by some members), is a Groups.io email group, where LAS members can share information, including news, up-coming events, observations and astro-images. Membership of the group is restricted to fully-paid up members, although anyone can browse posts via AstroLeeds.
Members can also join the societies WhatsApp group. For details contact the Membership secretary (Karen).
NB: Please note that there is an on-going problem on the chatline with Apple email addresses (@icloud.com & @me.com) and 'groups.io'. For the time being any members with these email addresses will only be able to post via the online forum.
Click on the buttons below for more information:-
Subscribe
There are three ways to subscribe (or unsubscribe) from the AstroLeeds group.
- Send an email to AstroLeeds+subscribe@groups.io
- Join via the groups.io webpage.
- Respond to the automated new members invitation email, which you should receive after joining LAS.
NB: When subscribing, please check your Spam / Trash folder for confirmation messages & add "AstroLeeds@groups.io" to your Safe Senders / Contact list.
(1) Sending an email
When you send an email to AstroLeeds+subscribe@groups.io, you will receive an automated email asking you to confirm your Groups.io subscription like this:-
Just reply to this email and the AstroLeeds moderators will be informed of the pending subscription. (There's no need to add anything to the body text of the email, simply replying with a blank message is fine).
The moderators will then check to make sure you're a paid-up member, and once confirmed you should receive a welcome message:-
(2) Join via Groups.io
You can also subscribe to the group via the groups.io wepage.
First you will need to create a 'groups.io' account. From the main page, click the "Sign up" button, then enter your email address & password, and then click the "Create An Account" button:-
Once you've created an account, you will need to search for "AstroLeeds" by clicking on the "Find or Create a Group" button:-
Click on the 'Astro Leeds' link to go to the groups page & then click on the Subscribe link, or email AstroLeeds+subscribe@groups.io.
As section (1) above, you'll then receive an confirmation email, and once the moderators have checked you're a member, you'll receive a welcome message.
Once you've received a welcome message, when you next sign in to groups.io, you will see that the AstroLeeds group has been added into 'Your Groups'.
To access the group online, you just then need to click on the AstroLeeds link to go to the group.
Once signed into the group, you will then see several more features on the left hand side of the screen, in additon to the publically accessible Messages & Calendar.
(3) Respond to an invitation
When new members join, we try to send out an invitation to the AstroLeeds group, so you probably will receive a message like this:-
Simply reply to this email to join the group, or click on the "accept this invitation" link to sign up via the webpage. Clicking on the webpage option also allows you to set you desired subscription type, but please remember to hit the "Join this Group" button!
Once subscribed to the AstroLeeds group, members can either post messages by emailing AstroLeeds@groups.io, or by using the webpage: https://groups.io/g/AstroLeeds.
Good Etiquette Tips
- When replying to a post, consider whether it's best to "Reply To Group" (where everybody will receive your message), or just to "Reply To Sender".
- Don't start new topics if you're replying to a previous post... Some folks may have 'muted' a particular topic, so by creating a spurious new one you'll just annoy anyone that isn't interested in that particular topic.
- In Non-Astro topics, include " #Chat" in the subject line. Members can choose not to receive messages with a particular hashtag (#), so by using "#Chat" on non-Astro topics it saves them from getting additional emails. Including hashtags like "#Moon" etc. can be useful is members want to filter different topics by a common theme.
- Limit the size of attachments to something reasonable... Although users can limit the size of attachments they receive, it's still good practive to think about what resolution and compression is necessary when posting images etc.
There are six options for message delivery:-
- Individual Messages - Receive each message in an individual email.
- Full Featured Digest - Receive up to 12 messages grouped together in one email instead of receiving each message individually (rich text formatting).
- Plain Digest - Receive up to 12 messages grouped together in one email instead of receiving each message individually (plain text formatting).
- Daily Summary - Receive one email every morning that contains only a list of the topics posted to the group the previous day.
- Special Notices Only - Receive only special notices sent by the moderators. (Go to the group’s website to view other messages.)
- No Email - Receive no group messages by email but remain subscribed so you can view content on the group’s website.
NB: The No Email option is useful when going away on holiday if you don't want to be inundanted with email afterwards!
Members can set their delivery options using the "Your Subscription" link at the bottom of any email sent via the group, or by using the webpage:- https://groups.io/g/AstroLeeds/editsub
NB: By clicking on 'Advanced Preferences' on the webpage you can also set the Max attachment size you want to receive. When larger attachments are sent, they'll then be replaced with a link to the file.
The AstroLeeds webpage: https://groups.io/g/AstroLeeds has other features, which users may find useful.
- Subscrption - Edit your profile, subscription options etc.
- Messages - View, search & filter posts to the group
- Hashtags - Create hashtags & choose any you wish to mute.
- New Topic - Compose a new topic.
- New Poll - Compose a new poll.
- Members - Contact individuial members
- Calendar - Listings of LAS & other events
- Photos - upload & view photo's (useful for very large images)
- Files - upload files to share with the group.
- Wiki - further info and links which may be of interest
For more details on each of these options please check the PDF userguide.
