TOPIC:

I created a group called Mentors. Our club number 5086. According to Club e-mail Addresses, "This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." is a legal address. I used it to send a message to mentors and potential mentors.

I'm on a Mac mini that I barely know how to use; the OS is something like "OS-X Yosemite"; the browser is Safari 8.0.2; I know nothing about "browser cache"; yes, I believe cookies are enabled; and I have no idea how to take a screen shot. I fear that Toastmasters has passed me by. I didn't join to learn Mandarin; and I didn't join to learn whatever this computer language is.

I got the following back when I sent the message; what do I do?

The original message was received at Wed, 10 Dec 2014 03:32:04 GMT
from blu004-omc3s17.hotmail.com [65.55.116.92]

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The following addresses had permanent fatal errors

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|/etc/tcmail.pl
(reason: 255)
(expanded from: <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>)

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Transcript of session follows

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[Tue Dec 9 19:32:11 2014] tcmail.pl: DBD::mysql::db selectall_arrayref failed: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ') and ROLESTATUS NOT IN ('friend','prospect','guest','former')' at line 1 at /var/www/cgi-bin/members_db.pl line 379.
Status: 500
Content-type: text/html

<h1>Software error:</h1>
<pre>GetRowsAsARefA_MembersDB(Caller=main::GetMentors_MembersDB): Unable to execute query: [SELECT EMAIL,BEMAIL,CCALL from MEMBERS WHERE DATEDELETED=0 and MEMBERID IN() and ROLESTATUS NOT IN ('friend','prospect','guest','former') (Bind Values=)] Error=[You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ') and ROLESTATUS NOT IN ('friend','prospect','guest','former')' at line 1]
</pre>
<p>
For help, please send mail to this site's webmaster, giving this error message
and the time and date of the error.

</p>
<!-- warning: DBD::mysql::db selectall_arrayref failed: You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ') and ROLESTATUS NOT IN ('friend','prospect','guest','former')' at line 1 at /var/www/cgi�bin/members_db.pl line 379. -->
[Tue Dec 9 19:32:11 2014] tcmail.pl: GetRowsAsARefA_MembersDB(Caller=main::GetMentors_MembersDB): Unable to execute query: [SELECT EMAIL,BEMAIL,CCALL from MEMBERS WHERE DATEDELETED=0 and MEMBERID IN() and ROLESTATUS NOT IN ('friend','prospect','guest','former') (Bind Values=)] Error=[You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ') and ROLESTATUS NOT IN ('friend','prospect','guest','former')' at line 1]
554 5.3.0 unknown mailer error 255
Reporting-MTA: dns; toastmastersclubs.org
Received-From-MTA: DNS; blu004-omc3s17.hotmail.com
Arrival-Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 03:32:04 GMT

Final-Recipient: RFC822; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
X-Actual-Recipient: X-Unix; |/etc/tcmail.pl
Action: failed
Status: 5.0.0
Diagnostic-Code: X-Unix; 255
Last-Attempt-Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 03:32:11 GMT

From: Jim Wood <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Subject: FACC Mentors: Need Your Help
Date: December 9, 2014 at 8:31:54 PM MST
To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


Hi, potential FACC mentors — If you receive this email, and if the new “group” capability on FTH2 is working, then I am writing to ask your help.

Each of you is far enough along on the Toastmasters path to be able to help a new member to get adjusted, to feel comfortable, to appreciate their strengths, to identify their weaknesses (or their fears), and mostly just to feel that this club is the right one to help them achieve their goals and to set new ones they never knew they wanted!

I am pleading for your commitment to help in one, or both, of two ways.

Volunteer to be a Mentor to a New Member.
Volunteer to help us create a “Mentoring Program.”

I don’t want to overwhelm you with details, and I don’t even have those details available right now . . . but . . . roughly . . . the two volunteer positions represent the following:

As a Mentor, you would promise (to the best of your ability) to do the following:
Contact your mentee by phone/email at least once a week to see if they are coming to that week’s meeting, see whether they have any questions about their role in the forthcoming meeting.
[NOTE: “forthcoming” is properly used here; it does NOT mean “forthright,” despite the attempts of the Watergate investigation to make it so!]
Contact your mentee as appropriate to see how they are coming along with next speech.
You and your menthe work our how much detail you want to discuss.
Doug B and I talked mainly about “topics” that would fit the project.
Ruth T and Eva D discussed aspects of the speech itself, since Ruth had it written out.
The point here is for you to get to know your mentee well enough to know what is appropriate.
Help your mentee brainstorm ideas for speeches, and mentor them through their first 3 speeches.
This one is really subsidiary to the one above, but I separated it because it is all that TI “requires” for you to get credit for “mentoring” in the CL manual, project #9 in the Competent Leader manual. My own preference is that you stay together through the firs 6 speeches, since the first 3 deal with what TI calls “content” and the second 3 deal with presentation. Everything else in Toastmasters is built on those 6.
Your evaluation for Project #9 in the CL manual contains the following questions:
Did your mentor address your concerns and offer helpful advice . . . ?
Did your mentor help you recognize skills that need improvement . . . ?
Was the mentor available, patient, sensitive, knowledgable, flexible and a good listener?
What could he or she have done differently to be a better mentor?
What did he or she do well?
You would also offer feedback to the group that is working on a “Mentoring Program.”
As a Mentoring Program Member, you would commit to meet with other members to do the following:
Determine “best practices” in mentor/mentee relationships
Structure those “best practices” (along with the mentoring objectives and activities) into a handbook that will help future mentors to be of maximum help to their mentees.
Do whatever else is necessary to make our mentoring program a positive drawing-card for our club.

I would like to hear from everybody, please. This is not a time or place to run and hide. You promised to help the Club in leadership roles, when you joined. The Club needs you to “step up and step out” now.

If you must say “no,” then please say it. I can think of few things more frustrating than having members hide in silence.

But this is what we need. We have Nora, Sharon F, Nancy, Elva, Beth, and Aileen who have recently joined us . . . each with varying needs for communication/leadership improvement. In some ways, they may be further along than we are . . . or, at least, than I am. But we have experience within the organization. We can listen to their needs and help them to find what they are looking for. Their success may depend on our ability to listen. Please volunteer for one or both of the positions I have outlined above.

And one final point: Ruth T looked at the Club, saw something missing, and did something about it. She, as Educational VP, has created an Orientation Program for new members. Nancy, Elva and Beth have been through it; Aileen is starting. Ruth’s program is magnificent.

But I compared what Ruth has done to an algebra theorem I might have presented in my teaching days: yes, I “introduced” my class to the concept; but until they worked with it themselves, they would never “know” and concept, and it would not be “theirs.” So it is with our meetings, our functionaries, our speeches, and our evaluations. You are needed to help the new members make the meetings and the opportunities “theirs.” Please help.

I assume if you hit “Reply” it will go to everybody. That’s fine. But if you want more privacy, just send your response back to me.

Thanks — Jim W

You cannot create a custom group called mentors. That is a reserved name, used by the system. If you somehow successfully did that, I will have to remove it.

JimW,

I looked at your website and the group assignment. You created a custom group called MentorGroup, which is a valid custom group. (I originally thought that somehow you had managed to get around the system check for a valid custom group name. Sorry about that. )

When using it in email, you would send to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
While the system will save the character case for the group, email is case insensitive.

Also, thank you for your post. I believe I have now addressed the issue that caused the MySQL error.

BTW, can you help me understand why you elected not to use the built-in mentors support and group? It is certainly your choice to choose an alternative approach, but if there is a problem with the built in mentoring stuff, I would like to fix it.

1. Sorry, I didn't know there was some sort of Mentor capabilities that were built in. I'll try to find them.

2. Having created the group, I wondered how to use it, to send email. So I looked in the "Club addresses" link (I forget the exact name, and I can't bring up our website) and saw the "mentors" address and used it.

3. Now when I try to access faccmasters.toastmastersclubs.org, I get the following message:

Missing right curly or square bracket at /var/www/cgi-bin/members_db.pl line 1631, at end of line
syntax error at /var/www/cgi-bin/members_db.pl line 1631, at EOF
Compilation failed in require at /var/www/html/index.cgi line 171.
For help, please send mail to the webmaster (root@localhost), giving this error message and the time and date of the error.

4. I have no idea what the message in #3 means. Is that in your domain?

Yeah, I had goofed something up and caused that error in your #3 of your last post. It should be fine now.

Regarding the new mentoring capabilities, here is a synopsis:

1. You can assign mentors to people using the Assign Mentor tool in Membership Management. There is an optional notification email that goes out with that containing each person's contact info. (mentor and mentee)

2. Members can also select mentors via their member profile. (No notification email on that... may be added in the future.) Admins can also set this up by editing member profiles for members.

3. Any member that has selected someone as a mentor automatically becomes part of the mentees email group

4. Any member whom another member has selected as their mentor in their member profile automatically becomes part of the mentors email group.

5. There is a notification option in the Agenda Global Settings to allow mentors to be notified when one of their mentees either takes or drops a role in an upcoming agenda.

Thanks, Steve.

1. The FACCMasters website is back up.

2. Yes, I DO remember reading about the Mentor capabilities, now that you've reminded me. That capability appears to work for mentor-mentee relationships that are already set up, or that are being requested. Our program is "re-starting," and I need a way to email (a) potential mentors, and (b) people who have offered to structure a mentoring program, but who might not themselves be mentors. For now, I think I will keep the MentorGroup, will try to remember its name, and will try to use the group email properly!

Thanks again for your help and your patience. I don't understand most of the tools I have to work with these days.

-- Jim Wood
FACCMasters Toastmasters
Club #5086