The AFTNC has a listserv, which is an email group for AFTNC members to interact through email in order to obtain information about AFTNC events, vote, make referrals, obtain information about groups and classes for clients, learn about workshops for themselves, and other information requests. You need to be a registered member of AFTNC in order to join this listserv. If you are not a current member and you want to become a member, sign up here. For help with the listserv, please click here for the Frequently Asked Questions. You can also email Lori Ono, our listserv coordinator, at lojono@yahoo.com .

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can you give me an overview of how the AFTNC listserv works?

Google Groups – all members are part of this group and the only emails sent from this group will be sent from the Council providing information about upcoming AFTNC events, voting for Council members, distributing the newsletter, sending out meeting minutes, and other official AFTNC announcements.

Big Tent Group – this groups consists of one main email group and 3 subgroups:

General Listserv
All members who join the AFTNC’s Big Tent group will be added to this email group after the listserv coordinator sends you an invitation. If you need an invitation to the group, please email help@aftnc.com . This group is for general questions or information (e.g., needing book recommendations, questions about processing insurance).
Referrals Listserv
To be part of the referrals email group, you must add yourself to this subgroup. You can then send out information to make referrals and respond to referrals.
Advertisement Listserv
To be part of the advertisement group, you must add yourself to this subgroup. This email group allows you to post information about non-AFTNC related workshops, groups for clients, classes and workshops for clients, office space for rent or office space wanted.
NonClinical Listserv
To be part of the nonclinical group, you must add yourself to this subgroup. This email group is for anything that is non clinical related. If you need to find a babysitter, find a mover, get recommendations for a plumber, or want to let people know about your sister’s play, then this is the group to do it. We’ve got a great resource here with all our members, so feel free to put out your request.

Back to frequently asked questions

Am I on the listserv? How can I figure it out?
Are you receiving emails that have the subject line [aftnc_general] or emails from an address called Big Tent with the subject line “AFTNC Group General Discussion?” If not, then you are probably not on the listserv. You could also go to www.bigtent.com and click on sign in (near the top right part of the page). If you’ve forgotten your password, then click on “forgot your password?” and enter your email address. It will let you know whether you are not registered with Big Tent or if you are registered, it will send an email to you with your password.

If you’re not part of Big Tent, then you can email help@aftnc.com and you will be sent an invitation to join. When you join or if you are able to log in, you can click on “my groups” near the top of the page and it will show whether you’re part of the Referrals, Advertisements, or NonClinical subgroups. If you’re not part of those, then click on the “subgroups” tab which is about center of the page and you can join the subgroups. Again, if you have any difficulties, Lori can help. Also, here is a video on how to sign up for the subgroups: http://www.screencast.com/users/DrKeithS/folders/Jing/media/5beb6e4c-fea3-49c1-beef-a4c8a76a1374 .

Back to frequently asked questions

What are the recommended settings for this listserv so I can get all the email?
I’m glad you asked. First, we recommend joining all the subgroups. Click here for the info on how to do that: Am I on the listserv? How can I figure out if I am?

For your settlings, we recommend that you log in, click on “my groups” near the top left, then click on “settings” near the top right, then click on “email options” on the left in the center, then click your groups and the go to the bottom middle drop down bar and choose “email every topic (comments web only)” then click save. Then click on “bookmarks” near the top middle of the page, then click on “edit settings” and choose “email.” Here is a video about how to change your settings to the recommended settings: http://www.screencast.com/users/DrKeithS/folders/Jing/media/41100aa2-c690-4d11-86d0-c6e08f989901 .

Back to frequently asked questions

I just need to send out an email to the listserv, which email do I send it to?
Here is the list of email addresses to send to:

General Discussion	aftnc_general@lists.bigtent.com
Referrals	aftnc_referrals_11@lists.bigtent.com
Advertisements	aftnc_advertisements_11@lists.bigtent.com
NonClinical	aftnc_nonclinical_11@lists.bigtent

You can either click on the links to send an email or copy and paste them. If you rewrite the email, don’t forget to include the _ between “aftnc” and the group’s name, for example: aftnc_advertisements. Lastly, another way you can get the address is just clicking “reply all” to an email sent from that group. Then just delete the subject line and body of the email and write in the new subject line and email you want to send. The email address to the group will be right there.

Back to frequently asked questions

I need to make a referral, how do I do that?
Write the email and send it to aftnc_referrals_11@lists.bigtent.com . You should get the email you sent back in your email (or in your daily digest if you're signed up for that option). If you don't get the email back (sometimes it can take a while) or it bounces back, this means that you may not be signed up for the subgroups. Please click here to find out how to be part of the subgroups.

Back to frequently asked questions

I was told that I should use “reply all,” but I don’t want my email going to everyone.
When you hit “reply all” to a comment on the Big Tent listserv, then it goes to the author of the email and your response is posted as a comment, but is not sent to every member of the group like it used to do in our old listserv. It’s a great way for us to keep an archive of responses to commonly asked questions. If you want to send private information (e.g., say hi to a friend who made a post or send the person information about the client you’re referring them), then just hit reply.

Back to frequently asked questions

I’m not getting messages like I used to in the old listserv, why is that?
First make sure that you’re signed up with the listserv and all the subgroups. Click here to figure that out. A few problems you may be having are that your settings are making it so that you only get a daily digest (one email per day with all posts, this email is sent from the email address Big Tent) or you are signed up to only see the information on the web by logging into Big Tent. Click here for information on how to choose your settings for the listserv: http://www.screencast.com/users/DrKeithS/folders/Jing/media/1f323b69-f4c8-477f-85fd-10c98298401c

Back to frequently asked questions

How do I respond to a referral or another type of email?
If you are receiving email topics directly into your email:
You can respond by clicking on “reply, ” which will only send it to the person who sent the post. If you click “reply all” it will go to the person who posted the referral, as well as be posted as a comment on the Big Tent page. We recommend hitting “reply all” so that your response will be archived. It will not be sent to the whole group, only to the person who replied, posted on Big Tent as a comment, and if people have chosen to receive every comment, then it will be posted there too.

If you are receiving daily digests:
Click on “email author,” which will send the email to the person directly.

Back to frequently asked questions

I’m having trouble with the daily digest, how do I respond to emails in the daily digest?
Click on “email author” and the reply will be sent to the author. You can also click on “email comment” which will post your email as a comment. Unfortunately, not everyone is set up to receive the comments in their email, so I recommend clicking on “email author” since they may not receive the information otherwise. We actually do not recommend using the daily digest since many people do not read it as often as the individual emails.

Back to frequently asked questions

Can I send attachments over the listserv?
Unfortunately Big Tent does not support sending attachments through their listserv, so please put the information in the body of the text. You can also upload the attachment to a website and put the link in the email or you can upload it to Google Docs and send the weblink (make sure that you set the document in google docs so that anyone can see it without having to sign in)

Back to frequently asked questions

I liked the old listserv better, is there anything we can do to go back to that?
The reason for the switch from the old listserv was because the company that was running that listserv was not able to host it anymore, so we switched to a Google Group, which was good, but there were complaints about too many emails and not being able to opt out, so we switched to Big Tent. Since it is now optional, not as many members are on the listserv or are only receiving “daily digests,” which they may not be reading. Click here for some ways to get the new listserv to act like the old listserv.

Back to frequently asked questions