Email group

There is a Yahoo email group which any resident is welcome to join (instructions below). (This is distinct from the large list of members’ email addresses that Secretary Joyce has for occasional mailings; if you would prefer to be on that list rather than the Yahoo one, email her: jrosser, then ‘at’, then lineone.net.) Once you have joined the Yahoo group, you can:

- - send messages to all the other members of the group via a single email address (wera-n8@yahoogroups.com); for instance, you could ask if anyone can recommend an electrician, report a cat that’s been found, or enquire about unpruned trees;
- - receive these messages and their answers;
- - reply to them if you have an answer (see below for how to do this); and
- search the archived messages on the group’s website to find messages about things such as electricians, lost cats or tree-pruning. (See below for searching the archive.)

The group is a good way to get to know the neighbours and to share local information.

To join the WERA Yahoo email group

- - Either: ask the list owner, Dick Hudson, to send you an invitation; include the address you want to register with Yahoo.
    - When the message arrives, click the link and follow the instructions.
    - The procedure may end with another message to you asking you to confirm the registration: when the message reaches you, do what it says.
- Or, if you have a yahoo or gmail acount, go directly to the registration page.
  - Click the prominent ‘+ Join group’ button.
  - Select the relevant account.
  - Follow any other instructions.
- At any time you can change your options as a member (e.g. to stop receiving messages) by going to the group’s home page and clicking ‘edit membership’ (top middle).
- If you have any problems, please tell the list owner, who will be glad to help (to the best of his limited IT ability).

Trouble-shooting on the WERA group

Some members have found that they suddenly stop receiving WERA messages. If that happens to you, check your own email system to see if:

WERA messages are being treated as spam, and channeled into a spam folder.
your system has a list of ‘blocked’ email addresses which includes wera-n8.

I’m afraid I can’t tell you how to find the spam or blocking information as email systems are so different; try googling for your email system and the problem (e.g. ‘thunderbird blocking’).

To unsubscribe from the WERA group

To leave the group:

Go to the group web page
Click the ‘Membership’ tab, then ‘Edit membership’.
Run right down to the bottom of the page that opens to ‘Leave group’, and click as appropriate.
If this fails, contact the webmaster.

To reply to messages from the WERA group

- If you want to reply to a message, you can send it either to the entire group, or just to the person who sent the message.This allows you t o avoid sending personal messages to the entire group. Here’s how you choose:

- To send your reply to the entire group: just hit the ‘reply’ button.

To send your reply just to the sender: what you do depends on whether you received the message through your usual email system or by reading messages in the archive:
- if you’re using your usual email system:
  - in the original message, right-click the sender’s address in the From: line, then select ‘copy email address’;
  - then hit ‘reply’, select the group address in the ‘To:’ line, delete it and paste the sender’s address into the line instead.
- if you’re reading messages in the archive, hit the ‘reply’ button and select the sender’s address in the ‘To:’ menu.

Code of conduct on the WERA group

The purpose of the list is to exchange views and information on local issues that are likely to be of interest to other members of the list. While members are free to express any opinions they hold, they should be aware that in a forum of over 200 people, at least some members are likely to hold opposing views, so offensive language should never be used.. Please apply the same standards as you would apply in talking face-to-face to the person concerned. The list owners will not hesitate to remove any member who repeatedly sends messages that offend other members.

Disclaimer: WERA takes no responsibility for any information or recommendations made by contributors to this email group.

To search the archive (or read emails on the web)

Suppose you’re looking for a plumber:

Preliminaries
- - Unfortunately, Yahoo has recently changed its rules to make a Yahoo ID obligatory for searching the archive.
- - That means that you have to have a Yahoo account. You can get one for free, and without getting a new Yahoo email address – you can go on using your existing address – but you do have to give some personal details including a mobile phone number. The process is laid out here and looks straightforward.
- With your Yahoo ID in hand/mind, go to the general Yahoo page, where you should see ‘Sign in’ in the top right corner (you may need to scroll across to it).
Searching
- - Now go to the group web page, where your Yahoo name should show in the top right.
- - Ignore the search boxes at the top of the page and scroll down the page until a couple of little grey icons appear at the foot of your screen (and not part of the scrolling page). [I’ve only tried this on one browser; it may be different in other browsers.] One of these contains a big Q, and is for searching.
- - To search for a plumber, write ‘plumber’ (without quotes) instead of the Q, and press ‘Enter’. This should produce a list of all the relevant WERA messages.
- - If it doesn’t, try this:
- - Scan down to the ‘message history’ at the bottom of the page, where all the past messages are listed by month.
- - Hit Control+F to open a little search window (my browser locates it on the bottom left of the window, but yours may be different), and enter your search term (e.g. plumber).
- Then work through the months, starting with the most recent, until you find something relevant. If a month’s messages contains your search term, at least in the bit displayed on-screen, your search should find it.

Newsletters

At least once each year our road representatives distribute a newsletter to every household on the Warner estate. Copies of old newsletters can be found here.

Meetings

We hold an Annual General Meeting in the summer, and include a talk on some topic of local interest by an invited speaker.

Road representatives

Each road has a WERA representative who will be pleased to hear from you about any concerns, and will call to collect members’ annual subscription. Click for a list of road representatives.

WERA site

Communications