Our Giving Community Help

Q. What can a moderator of a Workgroup do that a regular group member can't do?

A. Moderators have one very important ability, which is to add members to workgroups. This is especially vital for closed workgroups, where the moderator needs to approve members who request membership. Moderators can also edit the settings for their workgroups and send out special messages. Here is more information on these tasks:

• Approving new members: While a closed workgroup gets most of its members by invitation, the workgroup WILL be listed underneath its Category and Topic or Topics in the Workgroup Directory. Thus, the moderator or moderators for a closed workgroup may receive requests from members to join. You may need to dialogue with the member who made the request to see if s/he is eligible. If s/he is not eligible, please be gentle and specific about explaining why. One way to avoid receiving numerous requests is to specify very clearly for whom the closed workgroup is intended--this may help others feel that it is not of interest to them. You can also specify an email address to send membership requests to, if a particular moderator does not want to perform this function.

• Adding new members: To learn how to add or invite members, visit the Inviting or Adding Members file.

• Editing Discussion Info: When you first set up a workgroup, you set certain parameters about it. Moderators can modify many of these settings by clicking Edit this Workgroup in the left column of the workgroup's home page. Click the first option you see, Edit Workgroup Settings to see the settings you can change. You can edit:

• Workgroup name. We recommend that you let workgroup members know that you are doing this, so they will not be confused by suddenly getting email from a different workgroup they didn't know they had joined!
• Short Summary for Workgroup: The summary of the workgroup that appears on the workgroup web page and in some correspondence. If you find that your current summary confuses people, feel free to change it.
• Workgroup description: The description of the workgroup that appears on the workgroup web page and in some correspondence. The more you refine this, the easier it will be for potential workgroup members to find your workgroup and figure out if it is of interest or not.
• Primary Moderator of Workgroup: If you have more than one moderator, you indicate the primary one here. You can change it if you get burned out!
• Open or Closed Workgroup: You can change this if needed. Remember, it is a lot more work to maintain a closed workgroup, as new members need to be approved, etc.

• Editing mailing list settings: Moderators can modify many of the email settings that were originally put in place when the workgroup was set up, by clicking Edit this Workgroup in the left column of the workgroup's home page. Click the third option you see, Mailing List Settings, to see these options. You can edit:

• The prefix for email subject--you might do this if it is just too long for your taste, etc.
• Welcome message--often one realizes that some important information was originally left out. Feel free to make the Welcome message that goes out to new members as helpful as possible!
• Moderator signature--the signature added to messages that are sent by the system on behalf of the moderator(s).
• Moderated or unmoderated list--whether new email messages need to be approved by or sent by the workgroup moderators.
• Who can be part of email workgroup--the setting that lets you set the workgroup to be open or closed.
• Where replies to email postings go--some people prefer that replies go to the sender only, others that all go to the entire list by default. Choosing Moderator here makes a moderated list.
• Add header link to emails--if you choose this, a link to the sender's profile is added at the beginning of messages.
• Add footer link to emails? Lets you add (at the bottom of the email) a list of control email addresses, like how to unsubscribe, etc.

• Permanently Delete Workgroup Only do this if you really want to delete it!

• Sending out special messages: In some workgroups, especially moderated news or announcement workgroups, not all workgroup members have chosen to receive workgroup emails. Also, in some cases, communities have imported all members into the community network, but not all those people have signed in yet. If there is a very important message that needs to be seen by ITALS everyone in the community, a message can be sent to "all" by using a special email address, listed below. For messages intended for everyone in a ITALS group who has joined the group by signing in (including members who have chosen the "web only" option and do not normally receive individual emails or daily digest) a "news" message can be sent.

To send an important message to an entire workgroup, regardless of whether the person has an email subscribed or not, the moderator does this:

The email must come from an email address registered to a system admin or a group moderator. Emails sent from other email addresses are forwarded to the group moderator. Please use this feature carefully, since it will go out to people who may not wish to get large quantities of Our Giving Community email.

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