TOPIC:

I have added some "special sauce" to the contact email address feature, fresh from the FreeToastHost kitchens! Freshly Toasted!

Now if you enable the contact email address (in Email and Contact Forms) and an email is sent to that address with a From address of This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., then FreeToastHost will automatically override the contact us settings and route the email to the Club President, VPE, and Club Secretary.

In other words, if you enable the contact email address and use that address in your club Find a Club page, then FreeToastHost will make sure that any Basecamp notifications get routed to the correct Basecamp managers: the Club President, VPE, and Club Secretary.

In the near future, I will create a setting to turn this behavior on and off.

I put in a request for external education while logged in as a member. As VPE, I received an email from
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with a subject line: A new external training request is pending your approval

Beth Stoecklyclub, 2224

Steve,
thank you. This sounds like exactly what we need. Please clarify for us non-techie types:

1. What is the contact email address to put into club central?
2. w ho will receive mail sent through the contact form or through club central from any address other than This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.?

Thank you.

Beth Stoeckly
club 2224
.

You can use contact-####@toastmastersclubs.org where #### is your club number.

You must *enable* this email address in the Email and Contact Forms module for it to be active and you need to make sure it is entered in Club Central as your club contact email address. As it is publicly accessible, though, keep in mind that you may end up getting more spam. Tweak your Email Security settings as appropriate.

Normally, emails sent to this email address are routed to the same recipients as the Contact Us form.

However, those emails that are from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. will be routed to club president, vpe, and secretary instead.

In summary, the contact email address works the same as it always has except for the special case of emails from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

I chose to do this because you only get one email address to be entered in Club Central as a club contact email address. Many clubs already use the contact address for guest and new member communications.

I have made a suggestion to WHQ that they should allow clubs to enter an additional, separate email address in Club Central to send Basecamp notification emails to. Per their response, they will add my suggestion to their enhancement list. If they implement my suggestion, then I may do something different than this in the future.

Will this work the same way using custom domains? Or should we switch our main 'contact us' address back to contact-####@toastmastersclubs.org?

Thanks,

MikeA wrote:

Will this work the same way using custom domains?

Yes, it will. Just use the custom domain version of the email address (no club number).

SteveTheTechie wrote:

I have made a suggestion to WHQ that they should allow clubs to enter an additional, separate email address in Club Central to send Basecamp notification emails to. Per their response, they will add my suggestion to their enhancement list. If they implement my suggestion, then I may do something different than this in the future.

I really feel that a separate email address for Basecamp notifications entered by clubs in Club Central is the ultimately the best solution.

If WHQ implements that, then I will likely remove this "hacky" contact address tweak, and just create a dedicated address for clubs to enter in Club Central.

However, it does not make sense to me to create another FTH address now until WHQ creates a spot for clubs to enter it in Club Central.

Steve, I have been in contact with Pathways staff about this email issue also.
I think we are going to need your excellent fix for some time to come.
There are apparently some technical barriers to connecting more than one email address per club to the club's profile in base camp.

Maybe if enough of us complain, they will find a way, but for now - thanks for the fix!

GeorgeMarshall wrote:

There are apparently some technical barriers to connecting more than one email address per club to the club's profile in base camp.

This is not what I was thinking.

Keep in mind that the Basecamp data is in a different database than Club Central and the db is a third party DB (Cornerstone On-Demand). TI *does* control the Club Central database, but likely does *not* control the underlying Basecamp db.

So the solution is *not* to make changes to the Basecamp DB to add another email address.

What WHQ should do instead is add another field to the Club Central DB, and label it Basecamp Manager Email Address. This new email address would be *in addition* to the contact email address that clubs already enter in Club Central.

Then TI should configure Basecamp to use the *new email address* instead of the contact email address. It would still be only one email address for Basecamp, it would just be a different one.

With this approach, clubs would still have a separate contact email address that shows up in Find a Club for guests and new members to contact the club. However, they would also have a hidden email address entered in Club Central for the Basecamp Manager.

Lastly, then if I create a new FTH email address, say basecampmgr-####@toastmastersclubs.org that only works for emails from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., clubs could enter that in Club Central, and voila! it all just works.

Easy Peasy!

Steve,

I have also submitted a request to have Toastmasters International Web Site updated to add a contact email for Basecamp to the TI Website.

Unless the Toastmasters International Website is a package app, which I don't believe it is, this is a pretty easy change.

rdurling wrote:

Steve,

I have also submitted a request to have Toastmasters International Web Site updated to add a contact email for Basecamp to the TI Website.

Unless the Toastmasters International Website is a package app, which I don't believe it is, this is a pretty easy change.

Excellent! Strength in numbers! Everyone should also suggest this... make our voices loud and in unison.

I really do not think it is package app either...

"What WHQ should do instead is add another field to the Club Central DB, and label it Basecamp Manager Email Address. This new email address would be *in addition* to the contact email address that clubs already enter in Club Central."

I totally agree. However, they are replacing the system ("Personify") that runs all of Club Central and their back end with a new system within a year, and they seem quite reluctant to make changes in the current system because of that. I think even if it's a short-term change, it would be best for members, but apparently they don't see it that way.

Hi all, I created a detailed, step-by-step list of instructions for changing a club's FTH emails and Club central data to make use of the new base camp re-direct feature.
Please take a look ad see if it's accurate.
(If you think this is too much info, you're too techie )

Change club contact address for FTH clubs to use FTH email to take advantage of email featuring redirecting base camp msgs to VPE, Pre, Sec

First, the webmaster/site admin should enable your FTH contact email.
1. Login to your FTH club website as admin, launch the admin console
2. Select a Module: Membership Management
2a. Verify that the email addresses for the President, VPE and Secretary are correct; update them if necessary. Be sure to click Save, then Close when done.
3. Select a module: Email and contact Forms
3a. On the Contact Us Form, under Club Contacts for the Contact Us Form, select or verify up to three people who are willing to take emails and possibly phone calls from prospective visitors.
3b. Also on the Contact Us Form tab, check the box to enable the contact email, which will be This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. (the N's will be replaced by your club number - copy the address shown.
3c. The contact address is a PUBLIC email - anyone can send to it. Switch to the Email Security tab and review the settings to see if you want to make any changes.
3d. Save and Close.
4. Test the contact address by sending and email to it and verifying that the listed contacts got the test message.

Second, change your club's public email address in Club Central to the contact email you just set up above. Any club officer can do it, as follows:

3. Go to Toastmasters.org, then Leadership Central, then Club Central and login as requested. Select the appropriate club, if applicable.
4. Click Club Contact and Meeting Information
4a. Change the Email to be the FTH contact email that was set up in FTH.
4b. While you're in Club Central, review the other information to be sure it's correct: meeting place and addesss, map location, contact phone, websites, meeting days, time and frequency
5. When you're done, click Submit.

At this point (or within within 24 hours) any messages from base camp to the club (such as for level completion) will be sent to the three base camp manager officers (VPE, Pres, Sec) instead of the listed public contact emails).

George: LGTM.

George, I think it is good as is. For the clubs in my Division I'm creating a word doc with screen shots of the steps. Way more detail than needed, but, I know some of my clubs have limited technical support.

May I suggest while you're at it, consider creating a narrated powerpoint slideshow which can then be output as a *.mp4 video & uploaded for general distribution via YouTube.

You can use the same screenshots with narration recorded using your laptop's microphone or the microphone in a webcam.
Just read the text from your word document as the narration.

It's easier to do than describe.

Finally post the YouTube link back to this forum so we all might share the video widely. Young 'uns don't read no more.

K

Thank you for the fix and for the step-by-step directions. I am looking forward to introducing this fix in the 3 clubs I belong to. What a great job you folks do for us!

Beth Stoeckly
VPE of club 2224 and 3919454 and webmaster of 5570391
Pathways Guide, Region 2, Dist. 33, Div B

stoeckly wrote:

Thank you for the fix and for the step-by-step directions. I am looking forward to introducing this fix in the 3 clubs I belong to. What a great job you folks do for us!

Beth Stoeckly
VPE of club 2224 and 3919454 and webmaster of 5570391
Pathways Guide, Region 2, Dist. 33, Div B

Call me picky if you want, but I would not call it a "fix" as there was nothing broken on our end. It is a workaround for functionality that TI is lacking.

FYI - step 3a confused me; which can be easy. If the visitor contacts are current and correct, no changes are required. Changes are required if and only if changes are required - without regard to any concerns about Basecamp messages.

Because this was all about Basecamp messages I got led astray to change the visitor contacts to the Basecamp Manager Officer roles. Not right.

If I can make this mistake, others may too be led astray.

I have "tweaked" this Base Camp support so that the detection of Base Camp notification emails also works when the email address entered in Club Central is a FTH officer email address. (I realized that some clubs use a FTH officer email address there instead of using the contact email address.)

Therefore, this detection and special re-routing of Base Camp notification emails will occur for emails sent to any of the following email addresses (##### below is a placeholder for your club number):

• contact-#####@toastmastersclubs.org (or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
  >>> When enabled in the Email and Contact Forms Module
  
  
• saa-#####@toastmastersclubs.org (or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• secretary-#####@toastmastersclubs.org (or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• treasurer-#####@toastmastersclubs.org (or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• vppr-#####@toastmastersclubs.org (or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• vpm-#####@toastmastersclubs.org (or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• vpe-#####@toastmastersclubs.org (or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
• president-#####@toastmastersclubs.org (or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

Hi, I appreciate all your effort, but I'm a bit confused. Aren't the FTH officer addresses restricted to receiving email from club members and addresses on the whitelist? Shouldn't the address for the club on Club Central be able to receive emails from prospective members?

Beth Stoeckly

the individual officer email alias are open so the outside world can contact the officers.

The group member and officer list you have to ve a member of the list.

Brian wrote:

the individual officer email alias are open so the outside world can contact the officers.

The group member and officer list you have to ve a member of the list.

This is why they can be disabled in member profiles... in case they get spammed.

Perhaps I'm confused, but how does the contact email address in Club Central, which obviously goes to the VPM (a must), VPE and President, affect the Base Camp Managers, none of which are the VPM? Or are you suggesting the VPM not be included in Prospect emails?

DebR wrote:

Perhaps I'm confused, but how does the contact email address in Club Central, which obviously goes to the VPM (a must), VPE and President, affect the Base Camp Managers, none of which are the VPM? Or are you suggesting the VPM not be included in Prospect emails?

If an email comes from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., the list server ignores how you have the contact email address set up and instead routes the email to the Base Camp Managers (President, VPE, and Club Secretary). Thus, the from address is scrutinized and is what triggers the special handling.