Freegle Message Maker

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The Freegle Message Maker (MM) is available for all groups listed at the Freegle web site.

A Message Maker is a web page that helps a group member format a message correctly. It does not require installation of any software.

The Message Maker lets you:

  • select OFFER, WANTED, RECEIVED or TAKEN (~ see below)
  • say what the item is
  • say where you are located
  • provide a description.
  • attach photo(s) - if the group accepts attachments - only visible to users with Flash 10 or later installed.
  • optionally use the Fair Offer Policy.

Please see the Message Maker help instructions.

The user must enter their email address that is signed up to the group.  When "Send message" is pressed, the user may have to confirm their email and press "Send message" again.  This confirmation is not required if the email appears in the list of emails seen by the Freegle republisher.

Most of the text for the Message Maker can be configured.  Please get in touch with the Freegle geeks@ if you want any text configured for your group.

Contents

Email send checking

The Message Maker checks every email to see if it is valid, ie their mail server recognises it as valid.  If the email address is invalid, then the message will not be sent - the user will be asked to amend the email and send again.

If the member uses an email that isn't subscribed to the group, then the message will not get through.  Yahoo will send a bounce message back to the sending user - the user may not see this if they have entered their email incorrectly.  Yahoo will record this in the group management logs (Management -> Message Posts) as "Bounced message: Not a member".

A common mistake might be to use the wrong domain name, eg @yahoo.co.uk instead of @yahoo.com, or @googlemail.com instead of @gmail.com.

Where's my group's Message Maker?

The list of all the group Message Makers is here: http://mm.ilovefreegle.org/list/ This list has both long and shorter versions of the link to the MM. You could use the long version in your group message footer, and a short version in your group description.

Examples:

Don't put a / at the end of these links.

Linking to your Message Maker

Once you have found your Message Maker link, you can put it in your group files and footer, and provide a link to it on your group home page.

Use your own MM links in the following examples!

In group files

Simply add this text in all your files, eg Member Handbook and Subject Line Reminder text files: 

http://mm.ilovefreegle.org/PenrithEdenFreegle

In your group home page description

Add this, if you have enough characters left: 

Please use our <a href=http://mm.frgl.it/penrith>Message Maker</a>

In your group message footer

To add a link to your MM in the footer of every message sent to your group, go here:

Management > Group Settings Messages > Subject tag and footer > Edit

Add in text such as this: 

Message Maker: http://mm.ilovefreegle.org/PenrithEdenFreegle

Telling your members about the Message Maker

Here's a sample ADMIN to tell your members about the Message Maker - don't forget to alter the text to refer to your group.

Message Maker embedded on your group home page

If you are an Official group, you can put it on your home page, eg: 

<iframe src=http://mm.frgl.it/penrith frameborder=0 width=700 height=950></iframe>

Replace http://mm.frgl.it/penrith with your group's short-link. Do not put scrolling="no" in the IFRAME code.

Upgrading your Message Maker

Wherever you see the following in the above places, replace it with your new short or long link: 

http://messagemaker.org/BLAH_BLAH

Photo uploads, Attachments and HTML emails

The photo upload option is only available to groups that already allow attachments.  If you wish to enable this, go to Management, Messages, Posting and Archives, then select one of the Attachments options - we recommend "Store on site (exclude from emails)" and then Save.  The Message Maker should be updated overnight.

If you enable file attachments, you also enable HTML emails.  As a moderator, you do have to keep an eye open when editing Pending messages that have both plain text and HTML versions.  If you Edit the message to alter the body of the message, you must edit both the text/plain and text/html elements - though there is an option to delete the text/html element.

More info

The MM provides an option to store your location and email address in a cookie so they are already filled in when you return.

The MM works if JavaScript is disabled: it posts back to the server which sends the message..

A copy of all messages sent is copied to a Freegle email mailbox.  This helps us check for spammers and help fix any problems.  These emails are deleted regularly.

Configuration

Group owners/moderators can configure many aspects of their group's Message Maker - please email geeks@ with your request.

  • The text used for OFFER, WANTED, RECEIVED and TAKEN can be configured for each group, eg changed to Title case, or WANTED changed to REQUESTED.
  • Most of the text and error messages can be customised for each group. Many groups have a custom help text for the location box.
  • The Message Maker can optionally check that the location does not match specified words, eg saying "Edinburgh" is too general. It can also check for locations such as "Anywhere" and "Will travel". It can also optionally bar a full postcode or the first half of a postcode, or both.
  • The logo image can be changed or removed.  The Facebook Like button can be removed.

The Message Maker can be configured to display its text and error messages in other languages.  Please get in touch with the geeks if you would like to help provide a translation.


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