Join the Berksilver Forum!
Please note, the Berksilver forum is exclusively for family and loved ones of present and former residents at the Silverado Berkeley Memory Care residence.
By Jane Reid
We’ve chosen to use Google Groups to manage our email list so that each of you can control how frequently you receive messages and the like. This article gives you the procedure to add yourself to the list. Reach out if you have any questions at all at berksilverfc@gmail.com
How to Join
We use Google Groups for our email discussion forum. It provides us added security and easier logistics than managing an email list cc’d to a large group. You will not need to have a Gmail account, to join the Family Council see more below Google Groups & Google Accounts. The simplest way is to send an email to berksilverfc+subscribe@googlegroups.com.
You’ll get a reply including a link to confirm your membership, and you’re good to go! (Surprise: unsubscribe is just as easy: berksilverfc+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com)
Or… our handy concierge service
If you’re new to Google Groups, no worries. It can be pretty confusing. We’ll be happy to specifically invite you. Just send an email to Barbara Tien (tientown@gmail.com) to explain your connection to the Silverado Berkeley. She’ll get you an email invitation to the group.
- Watch for an email “[Silverado Berkeley Family Council]”: If we already had your email, watch for an invitation to the Silverado Berkeley Family Council inviting you to join the Google Group. If you don’t see this email in your inbox, please check your spam/junk box or search for “[BerkSilver Family Council]”
- “Accept” it: In the body of the email, scroll down and click on the blue button that says “Accept this Invitation.” It looks like this. (Few things in life are as easy to accept.)
3. That’s It! On accepting the invitation, a page opens that says “You have successfully joined Silverado Berkeley Family Council.”
If you have any problem with accepting the invitation or getting the confirmation, please email Jane Reid directly at jreid@sonic.net. See related posts about how to create and respond to emails (or posts) from the group and remove yourself from the group.
Google Groups & Google Accounts
Our Google Group doesn’t require you to have a Google account. Anyone can read, reply and post to the group using any email address. For more see Google’s documentation here.
How to respond to a post
There are two ways you can respond to an email that you get from the Google Group.
Option 1: Respond in email
You can respond in email. Just reply from the email itself, like you do with any other email. Note that your email will go to the whole group. If you want to reply to reply only to a specific person, you should email them off-list, separately.
Option 2: Respond in Google Groups
If you have a Google Account (such as for gmail), you can reply from within the Google Groups interface. Log in to your Google account and go to My Groups. From there, you can select the Silverado Berkeley Family Council group. You will see all posts there and can respond to one or more, or start a new post.
Responding Privately
Generally, if someone has posted (emailed), and you reply, your reply will go to the whole group. You can also reply privately. Here’s how:
- From the email itself: When you reply directly from the email, delete the “To” address and type in the email address of the person you’d like to reply to. (This does require that you know the individual’s email address. Reach out to berksilverfc@gmail.com if you need help.)
- From the Google Groups site: A. Log in to the Google Group site (either via the link in the footer of the email, or through your own Google account;) B. Select the email you want to respond to by clicking into it; C. Select either “Post Reply” or, in the top right corner of that email, you’ll see a box with a drop-down arrow. D. Click on the drop-down arrow and you’ll get a selection of ways to respond. It looks like this:
Managing Posts
Participating in a Google Group or other forums can sometimes trigger a flood of email messages. If you’d like to monitor conversations but not have it flood your email, you can manage some of those settings from within the Google Group.
To change the default settings, go to the web-based Google Groups interface, (groups.google.com/forum/#!overview) and tap on Membership and Email settings. Select the settings for the conversation level that fits into your workflow.
You can also use filters in email to adjust even more sophisticated details. The subject line of all emails from the group will be prepended with “[Berksilver Family Council].”
Unsubscribing
Option 1: Send an Email to berksilverfc+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
Option 2: At the bottom of each email, there’s a footer with several links. One link is: “To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to berksilverfc+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com"
