Archive:2008-06-11

This is an adhoc meeting in IRC to teach people how to use the SFC email accounts.

Minutes
Attendance: skyfaller, mllerustad, conley, and ftobia

How to setup a SFC mailbox (in this case, newgroup)
In Thunderbird:
 * Go to "Add account"
 * Select email account
 * Name for outgoing mail: Students for Free Culture
 * First address we're setting up: newgroup@freeculture.org
 * Type of email server: IMAP
 * Username: newgroup
 * Password: (ask Nelson) :p
 * Go to mailbox settings, then server settings, then select 'TLS if available'
 * Login!

Make sure you have the stars column set in your Thunderbird. Stars are for messages that 1.) require a reply and 2.) have not been replied to.

There are four folders associated with this inbox:
 * Junk - All the random spam that Thunderbird lovingly culls.
 * Registration - auto-emails from our registration form go here.
 * RepliedTo - for stuff that does not require more replies, e.g. the chapter has been registered and approved, and all is peachy. For reference, the canonical list of chapters is here.
 * SpamProbably - Sometimes people think that we actually give chapters money and try to scam us. It's amusing.

Goal with this inbox: turn interested contacts and baby chapters into registered, approved, happy(?) chapters!

Steps to making a chapter an official chapter:

 * 1) Make sure they actually want to be a chapter! (Lots of emails ask "what does starting a chapter entail?" or "how does students for free culture work?". They're interested, but not committing yet.)
 * 2) Get the chapter registered! (Instructions at Register a chapter. If you can, walk them through it in real-time (IM or phone). If you can't, check their registration when they finish for completeness and help them fix mistakes. Registration must have the personal contact info of the chapter liaison (most likely the person you're talking to), their school, and their chapter data to be complete.)
 * 3) Optional: Have Free Culture dot Org friend them on Facebook! (Ask Nelson or Karen for the login.)
 * 4) Get the chapter approved. (By the bylaws, this is the Coordinator's job, under the supervision of the Board. We don't have an official Coordinator yet, so the Core Team will designate people as chapter approvers, again under the Board's supervision. See Approve a chapter for instructions on how.)
 * 5) Help the chapter get on its feet! Send them care packages,  give them advice, hook them up with relevant people, encourage them to come to Core Team meetings--whatever you can do to bring them into the SFC community.

Tasks to complete:

 * 1) Write canned responses to FAQs and  post them on the wiki.
 * 2) Answer all these emails interested in starting new chapters! OH GOD SO MANY EMAILS WE HAVEN'T ANSWERED