Tech Tips

Tech Tips

Gretchen2005 Our Webweaver, Gretchen Ohmann, writes occasional tech tips for our Central Midwest District where she is the Communications Coordinator. Some of these articles are taken from her CMwD blog.

bookkeeper [at] buuf2.org

Odd Attachments on E-mail Lists

You've heard that you shouldn't open attachments unless you know who they're from. Or click on links in e-mails without first checking the "tooltip" (the little message that appears when you hover your mouse over the link).

But when you're a member of an e-mail list that is using the program called "Mailman," there is sometimes an “attachment” that looks like “ATT00242.txt (349B)”. When you try to open it, you can't. That's because this is the way some e-mail systems handle the e-mail list footer, that is, the part that says:

________________

Your website mailing list
your-mailing-list[at}yourwebsite[dot]org
http://yourwebsite[dot].org/mailman/listinfo/yourmailinglist_yourwebsite.org

You can safely ignore any “attachment” that looks like that.

"Mailman" an ad-free program CMwD and many others use to host their mailing lists rather than using a group system that sends advertisements to its group members. It is part of a website hosting package and not all website hosts supply this program. If you have any more questions about this type of list, contact your web hosting provider.

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BUUF website tips

Did you know that you can subscribe to news on the BUUF web site? Here's how:

If you're looking for the latest front page news, all you need to do is click that little orange icon in your browser's address bar and add the link to your bookmarks. Or enter the address into a feed reader like the ones Yahoo mail or Outlook offer.

In addition, we have separate news feeds on our blogs. Click BLOGS on the top menu bar to see a listing, or choose an individual blog from the drop-down menu. In either case, you will actually see the icon inviting you to subscribe on each one.

Subscribe!

Ta-da!!!

Find District Churches on Facebook

We currently have 52 links to our District congregations' Facebook pages. If you don't see yours listed, send us the link and we'll be glad to make it one of our FAVORITES!

If you're not a Facebook user, you can still see many of the congregation pages. Here is another copy of the LINKS.

-- Gretchen

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Moderate Your Facebook Pages

A trend I'm noticing more lately is inappropriate entries showing up on congregations' Facebook pages. Some are junk ads, some are evangelistic "graffiti" on Walls and Discussion Groups. Simple moral of story for Facebook admins is: watch your page or group and delete any entries that are unrelated to the purpose of your page/group.

You can set it so that no one can post but admins. When you click "Edit Page" under the main photo on the top left, it opens up a list that includes places you can restrict who can post links or wall posts.

As a website designer/administrator, my bias, especially for non-profit organizations, is to have a dedicated website that contains no ads or comments. I realize the attraction of networking via systems like Facebook, however, and just remind you to stay vigilant. Especially since the only good filters available are your own eyes and the access settings.

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#1 handy tip for living in an electronic age: pay attention

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Is It Real or...

What to do with all those e-mails that come in looking like they're about something important -- like your bank account or e-mail account? These days we're all busy and I know it's difficult to take the time to check on things first. But it pays to pay attention! Ask yourself some questions, like "Is it real? How do I know?"

1. If it's not your bank, that's obvious. Delete!

2. Otherwise, is there an address and phone number?

2. If there is, can you check them out by doing an internet search? Do they match what you know?

3. If those are real, are the links in the e-mail real? Hover over one with your mouse and see if the tooltip message that pops up matches the text in the e-mail. For example, if it says "yourbank.com," does the web address that pops up say something more like "yourbank.someplace-else.com"?

4. Call your bank or service provider. Odds are that they either know about it or will appreciate knowing there is a scam circulating with their name on it. Sometimes giving them a heads-up them will help them alert others.

5. If it's a deal, and it's too good (or too weird) to believe, it probably is. Delete!

6. Read all the words!

Here's the FBI's electronic scam blog: http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm

Peace,

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