The BackpackGearTest.org Bylaws
v. 0609

Appendix 9

The Appendices are provided as detailed explanations and backgrounds of the policies and procedures of BackpackGearTest.org.  Each Appendix contains delineated topic Sections that are not necessarily related.  Appendices are included to provide additional explanations, clarifications, and resources.  They are not required reading, but you may be referred to them if you require further information on a certain subject.  They represent the collected body of knowledge about many topics. 

The Appendices are written and edited by the Moderator Team of BackpackGearTest.org, with contributions gleaned from the email of the BackpackGearTest group.

CONTENTS

Appendix 1 - How BackpackGearTest.org Works
Appendix 2 - Editing
Appendix 3 - About Rules and How to Change Them
Appendix 4 - Test Calls, Test Applications, Newbie Rule
Appendix 5 - The Apprentice Program
Appendix 6 - All About Report Writing
Appendix 7 - A Lesson in Pictures
Appendix 8 - Copyright, Fair Use, and Links Policies

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APPENDIX 9 - Reading and Managing High Volume Group Mail.

CONTENTS

1. Opening Notes
2. Using a POP Client

1. Opening Notes - Shane Steinkamp, BGT Moderator

The first thing to understand is that whenever you post to any List, you should follow the protocol outlined in Chapter 2: Mailing Lists.  By making sure your subject line is compliant with the protocol, everyone will have a better experience.  When your post relates to a piece of gear, for instance, your subject line should always contain the name of the gear.  That will allow everyone - including you! - to quickly scan the subject headers for those items.

There are several ways to read the Yahoo! Groups, and different people use different management strategies.  I, personally, receive all of the mail from all of the lists to my POP client (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.)  Some persons have found the threading feature of gMail to be useful.  You can, however, elect not to receive any mail from the groups and read the messages online by visiting the Yahoo! site. 

If you use a POP Client, like Outlook or Outlook Express, read Section 2.

2. Using a POP Client (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.) - Shane Steinkamp, BGT Moderator

These instructions are NOT difficult, but they ARE a little tedious.  The good news is that once you do this, all of your mail will sort very neatly for you and make participation in BackpackGearTest.org much easier.  Please stick with it.

Basically, I set up a few folders for sorting mail into, and then I set up filters that put the mail into the right folder for me.  That way I can read the mail I need to read, and delete the rest.  The first thing to do is to set up a root folder where all of your BackpackGearTest.org related email can go. To do this, open your mail client (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.) and create a folder called BackpackGearTest.  This is usually as simple as right-clicking on the INBOX with your mouse and selecting NEW FOLDER from the context menu.  Got it?  Good!  Now right-click the BackpackGearTest and add some more folders. 

Eventually, you should end up with something that looks like this.  Nested subfolders will help organize the mail you need to read.  Included at left are:

BGTHelp - For mail coming from the BGTFileUploadHelp Group.
BGTTest - For mail coming from the BackpackGearTest Group.
BGTTesters - For mail coming from the BackpackGearTesters Group.
BGTWeb - For mail coming from the BGTWeb group.

Several subfolders below these will help further sort mail for easy reading.  We'll examine those more closely in a moment.  Now we need to set up a filter that will check mail when it arrives.  This is very easy to do no matter what POP client you are using.  In this example, I will show you how to do it in Outlook Express.  Outlook is very similar.  Refer to the help section of your POP client if you have trouble. 

In Outlook Express, select TOOLS - MESSAGE RULES - MAIL from the menu at the top of the Outlook Express window.  Click the NEW button, then select the following check boxes:  WHERE THE SUBJECT LINE CONTAINS SPECIFIC WORDS and MOVE IT TO THE SPECIFIED FOLDER.  At the bottom, there will be a window that says:  "Apply this rule after the message arrives Where the Subject line contains specific words Move it to the specified folder.  The New Mail Rule window should look like the one on the left.  Go ahead and type the name of the rule.  In this case, we are creating a rule for the BackpackGearTest Yahoo! Group.

Click the specific words link.  The TYPE SPECIFIC WORDS window will appear.  Type [BackpackGearTest] in the text box, being sure to include the brackets.  When Yahoo sends group mail, the group name is always placed in brackets in the subject line.  This makes for easy filtering, as you will see.  Click the ADD button, and the [BackpackGearTest] filter phrase will appear in the WORDS box.  Click OK to get back to the NEW MAIL RULE window.  Now click the specified link and browse to the folder you want the mail with the filter expression to go into.  In this example, it's BGTTest folder, and so your window should look like the one her on the right.  Click the OK button, and voila!, you have created a new mail rule.  From now on, whenever you get mail from the BackpackGearTest Yahoo! Group, it will be placed into the BGTTest folder, and not in your INBOX. 

Remember, though, that you also created a sub-folder under BGTTest called 'My Owner Reviews'.  We'll also need a rule to move any mail that pertains to your specific Owner Reviews.  How do we do that?  Easy!  We make another rule that filters on your name.  select TOOLS - MESSAGE RULES - MAIL from the menu at the top of the Outlook Express window.  Click the NEW button, then select the following check boxes:  WHERE THE SUBJECT LINE CONTAINS SPECIFIC WORDS and MOVE IT TO THE SPECIFIED FOLDER.  At the bottom, there will be a window that says:  "Apply this rule after the message arrives Where the Subject line contains specific words Move it to the specified folder.  Go ahead and type the name of the rule - 'My Owner Reviews'.  Click the specific words link.  The TYPE SPECIFIC WORDS window will appear.  Type [BackpackGearTest] in the text box, being sure to include the brackets and click the ADD button, and the [BackpackGearTest] filter phrase will appear in the WORDS box.  Now type your name into the box and click ADD again.  Now click the OPTIONS button. The RULE CONDITIONS OPTIONS window will appear.  Select the "Message matches all of the words below." radio button and click OK.  Click OK to get back to the NEW MAIL RULE window.  Now click the specified link and browse to the My Owner Reviews folder and click OK.  Now click the MOVE UP button, so that this rule comes before the [BackpackGearTest] rule you created.  Rules are processed in order, so you want the sub-folder rule to happen before the first rule. 

So, now you have two rules:

My Owner Reviews Rule - Puts all mail from the BackpackGearTest group with YOUR NAME in the subject line into the My Owner Reviews folder. 

BGTTest - Puts all other mail from the BackpackGearTest group into the BGTTest folder.

You will need to create rules for each of the folders.  I have created a little chart so that you can do the rest of them on your own.  The process is identical to the process detailed above, so if you've made it this far, you shouldn't have any trouble. 

3. Copyright and Fair Use Discussion - Shane Steinkamp, BGT Moderator

Some brief comments on the Assignation of Rights policy.