We use Google Groups for announcements and discussions, and we also use Slack for discussions. This will tell you how to receive announcements and get onto discussions.
Email Groups
Several email discussion lists on Google groups host discussions among Cal-Sailing Club members and anyone else who's interested. These are not official CSC forums and in no way represent club policy.
The most popular are:
- the general discussion list which is generally about sailing, but also general interest including some windsurfing
- the windsurfing list which is for all matters related to windsurfing
- the keelboat list which is for issues related to keelboats
- the announcement only list for announcements about Cal Sailing Club
These lists are open to anyone, and are generally not moderated. The accouncements only list is moderated to ensure that posts are "official"
The number of emails on these lists often surprises newcomers. Don't sign up unless you are prepared for a lot of traffic. When you subscribe from Google account you can specify that you do not want to receive any emails, and that you will only view the discussion on the web. You can also specify getting an email with every post or just getting a daily digest of posts. Note that a daily digest will contain posts that are no longer timely, like someone looking for crew the prior day. If you don't use a Google account, the group owner can set these parameters for you.
Due to the large number of "spams" and advertisements sent to the list, the lists are "closed", meaning that you must subscribe to the list(s) before you may post a message. Use the links above to subscribe to the lists.
You are responsible for reading the listserver rules (below) and for subscribing and unsubscribing yourself.
Rules for the email discussion lists
- Never attach long messages, documents, photos, or anything else long to a message.
- Don't post "me too", "I agree" or "count me in" messages. People with slow access to their email, or limited work accounts will appreciate it. And when someone obeys rule number 1 above, apply rule number 2 and email them directly (be careful! make sure that the email is going to them, not the list!) to ask for more info.
- Please use a descriptive subject in your message. When replying to a message change the subject to reflect the content of the message, if the content of the message has changed from the original message, or if the original poster used a lame subject to begin with.
- By default, when you click your "Reply" button you will send a message to EVERYONE on the list. Make sure that's your intention. If your reply is intended to go to one person, please send it directly to that person -- their email address will be in the header of their post if you received it as email, or you can use the "send email" feature on the yahoogroups website. OK?
- In the Cal Sailing tradition there is no organized management of the list. You are responsible to subscribe and unsubscribe to the list yourself (see below for instructions). If you don't like the messages on the list, don't complain to ExCom.
- Remember, not everyone in the club reads the list, and it is not an official way of posting an announcement. ExCom uses the cal-sailing.org website to make announcements, the email discussion lists are for anyone who wants to post their own opinions, facts as they see them, photos they took, etc.
How to Subscribe
If you have a Google account, follow the link above and click the “Join Group” button. To subscribe to the mailing list without a Google account, follow the link above, click “Subscribe to this group,” and enter your email address. A confirmation email will be sent that contains another link to click to complete the signup process. Non-Google members will receive new emails but will not be able to browse previous threads.
You can unsubscribe from the group by sending a blank email to the group email, For example, the Windsurf group email is cal-sailing-windsurfing@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from that group, send a blank email to cal-sailing-windsurfing+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
Slack
We have a Slack workspace and a number of channels on specific topics. You can get into the workspace by clicking here to receive an invitation. Once you're in, you'll see the specific channels.