Email addresses and "professional" appearance

[Walkman]

I've had my own web domain and email address since the late 90s/early 00s (eurekaville.com). It's a great domain for my business as a freelance graphic designer & photographer. However, I got an email today from NHQ that a prospective member had asked for info about our local unit. As I responded to him, I got thinking about the impression my personal email might make.

Anyone thought about this before? Is it better to create an email just for CAP that has a more "military" feel to it or am I over analizing things?

I remember a thread a long time about about getting some sort of cap.gov email address, but I couldn't find it in a search. Any one know anything about this?

[Spaceman3750]

I just have firstname.lastname@gmail.com. Always seems to work fine. I have a myunit.org address that forwards if I feel the need to give something else. I have enough email addresses to check.

[JoeTomasone]

FLWG has flwg.us (for general use) and flwg.gov (for more formal use with external partners/agencies, etc). 

I absolutely believe that use of professional email addresses establishes a more professional image.

[antdetroitwallyball]

It might be helpfull to remember that CAP is a non-profit organization comprised (or is it "composed" ?) primarily of volunteers. If you were really striving for "accuracy" in terms of a domain name for email addresses, it would be "recruitment_guy@cap.org, as opposed to a @.gov email address.

Personnally, I don't think domain name is the issue. Having a seperate recruitment email address might not be a bad idea, especially if your regular email address is something goofy, informal, difficult to remember, or non-descriptive in nature.

I am now a member of both CAP and USCG AUX. Due to the nature of what I do with the CG AUX, I have both a uscg.mil and dhs.gov email address. However, these are official government email accounts and I'm scared to be giving out my full email address to just anyone because I don't want to risk getting on some spam list. Again, this is perhaps where getting a dedicated email address for just CAP recruiting is not a idea.

[James Shaw]

A professional email address is very important. This of course depends on the target audience. I see job applicants that have some real "unique ones ". When I was part of National Staff as National Curator I had caphistorian@......... I don't have it anymore.  I like the suggestions presented in the earlier posts.

You can't change a first impression and that includes email addresses.

Some of the funnier ones I have seen have been through online job applications.

[Eclipse]

Anyone thought about this before? Is it better to create an email just for CAP that has a more "military" feel to it or am I over analyzing things?

Constantly, some of the email addresses I see fly by on official business emails are ridiculous. "tenderpilot69@juno.com" "topgunmaverickshooterghost77@whocaresbecauseialreadydeletedthemessage.com"
etc.

More "military"? Not necessarily.  More professional, absolutely.

Hint: If your email address ends in juno.com, netzero.com, or aol.com, you lose 50% of hit points from the first time it is noticed.
Yahoo knocks you about 25%.  "@facebook.com"? 100% loss of all hit points and disqualification from the game.

I remember a thread a long time about about getting some sort of cap.gov email address, but I couldn't find it in a search. Any one know anything about this?

There's info on this site - wing and other echelons can request a "@wing.group.unit.cap.gov" domain for web and email as respectively applies.
You have to contact the cap.gov administrator to set it up, and it's an excellent way to utilize Google Apps for Non-Profits (free). My wing and
former Group have accounts set up and it always made me feel much more professional to use these, especialy the .gov, since that does
speak "somehow connected with the guv'mint".

You can't change a first impression and that includes email addresses.

So, so, true, and that's not just a CAP issue.  It's an issue in any correspondence.

[Eclipse]

I just have firstname.lastname@gmail.com. Always seems to work fine. I have a myunit.org address that forwards if I feel the need to give something else. I have enough email addresses to check.

If you're using Gmail you can consolidate all of them into one place, including reply and sending-as seamlessly with very simple setup.

I currently aggregate 9 email addresses into my main personal domain account, from 8 different domains.  I love it when someone
complains that "I have to check in two places." 

It's a thing of beauty.

[Storm Chaser]

I use firstname.lastname.cap@gmail.com for all my CAP related e-mails. I get and send so many e-mails that I prefer to keep my CAP mail separate from my personal or professional mail.

I know that some wings issue wing e-mail addresses (e.g. @flwg.us), but I wish CAP did what the Air Force did when it moved away from base specific e-mail addresses to "e-mails for life" (e.g. firstname.lastname@us.af.mil). No matter where you go now, you always have the same e-mail. I know that in CAP people don't move as often. But I still would prefer to have a "cap.gov" or "cap.us" (or anything similar) that I could keep no matter where I go.

It's a thing of beauty.

Gmail? Gmail is a great e-mail service (I have several accounts), but I wouldn't go as far as calling it "a thing a beauty".
That's a bit of a stretch even for a Google fan. 

[Eclipse]

Gmail? Gmail is a great e-mail service (I have several accounts), but I wouldn't go as far as calling it "a thing a beauty".
That's a bit of a stretch even for a Google fan.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course.  Send me an email to any of those 9 emails, they go to the same
message store.  When I hit "reply" they go out as the proper address (except when being read in Outlook, which no one with sense uses any more anyway).
That's beautiful to me.

Google Apps ≠ Gmail, except in superficial appearances.

There is no singular better messaging service, or bang-for-the-buck, then Google Apps, regardless of which flavor is chosen.

Robust, secure, platform-agnostic, and run by the most successful services company in the history of the universe.

Not sure what more you'd ask for in something which is also free.

[Storm Chaser]

^ I was just pulling your leg. 

[Eclipse]

Yeah, I kinda figured, but my FanBoy personality took over.

His name is Serge.

[SARDOC]

The National Capital wing uses the Google App.  I saw a presentation on it and it was fantastic.  Every member of the Wing is given a NATCAPWING.ORG email address and it works in Google.

They have different wing Calendars for Trainings, Vehicles, Aircraft, Meeting, Cadet Programs, anything you can think of.  They can share and edit documents.

I can't articulate how well the National Capital wing pulled this off.  Now, if I can just get my wing to do it.

[RiverAux]

As long as your email address isn't something incredibly goofy no one is going to notice or care what it is. 

[Paul Creed III]

Ohio Wing also uses Google Apps, i.e. @ohwg.cap.gov.

The National Capital wing uses the Google App.  I saw a presentation on it and it was fantastic.  Every member of the Wing is given a NATCAPWING.ORG email address and it works in Google.

They have different wing Calendars for Trainings, Vehicles, Aircraft, Meeting, Cadet Programs, anything you can think of.  They can share and edit documents.

I can't articulate how well the National Capital wing pulled this off.  Now, if I can just get my wing to do it.

[James Shaw]

I just eliminated several old email accounts. I had 7 total and many had not been used for a long time. I tailored my emails at one time to the project or activity and had too many. I had them all forwarded to my primary account. Way too many to keep up with.

[MakeItRight]

I have my professional (municipal gov't) email address and the "everything else" gmail address. I use gmail labels (folders) to attempt to keep it all separated and organized. Works well for me most of the time.

The city I work for is considering moving toward Google Apps for Government. I, too would like to see my Wing utilize Google Apps for email/website/file sharing with live editing/video meetings and the rest.

However, there are several platforms within Google Apps. ...for Non-profits, education, government.... So far only Non-profit looks like it would be free. Need to do more research. I wonder if just using individual Google accounts can accomplish most of this.

I think the email address should indicate who/what/where you are... like my.name.@wing.cap.gov... It's easier to remember and search for if it's forgotten. There's merit in the email-for-life concept, too. Wonky-sounding email addresses give others an impression that may not be consistent with putting our best foot forward.

[Spaceman3750]

As long as your email address isn't something incredibly goofy no one is going to notice or care what it is.

I agree. As long as your email address isn't sexyflyboy@yahoo.com or studsalad@gmail.com you should be OK. That said, if it doesn't make sense while you'll be OK, you're probably better off creating some kind of address out of your name. Will be useful both in CAP and out.

[Eclipse]

Apps for non-profits is free, the services are the same as the paid offerings (for anything that matters in a CAP context).

Why keep looking?

[MakeItRight]

Can everything that matters in CAP be accomplished with individual accounts? Maybe the domain hosting for a common email address like name@wing.cap.gov? But perhaps we can use name.wing@gmail.com and accomplish the same thing.

What's the advantage of Non-profit (or any of the others) over just using the individual? More storage? Better support? Encrypting?

[a2capt]

Except keeping track of it, and keeping others from making their own, using individual accounts is virtually impossible.

Managing who has access to what is a crap shoot, as you can't do it by groups easily, and would have to be done individually for every single thing. Keeping the accounts "yours" is impossible, as they could set the recovery address something different and Google is not going to help you.

With managed stuff, if that person leaves, one click and they're -gone- or redirected as needed. The Wing retains the account control.

[MakeItRight]

Thanks! very good points.

[Eclipse]

Agree.  It's treating the information and access professionally and understanding it is now need by CAP, not the user,
just like any other large organization.

Also. NO ADS.

[Stonewall]

FLWG has flwg.us (for general use) and flwg.gov (for more formal use with external partners/agencies, etc). 

I absolutely believe that use of professional email addresses establishes a more professional image.

This!

Just make sure you check your organizational email.

[jimmydeanno]

WIWASC,  we registered a domain for our unit.  The domain wasn't the units name, but rather the general location that we served with a .org.  It is much like Mr. Keiloch's "oswegocap.org."

We set up email for the officers using just a first.last@unit.org setup.  We also setup "info@unit.org" and had it forward to whomever we wanted.  This way, we weren't having to switch the letterhead every time the recruiting guy changed.

[SimpleCM]

We adopted GMail and Google Apps in NJ Wing using firstname.lastname@njwg.cap.gov almost 6 years ago.  There was some resistance and adoption issues with our membership, but it has become pretty universal.  It's free, easy, ubiquitous, flexible.  The Google Apps for Education is free for non-profits, and provides about 85% of the features in the premium edition.  It also offers each individual twice as much storage (30 GB) as a personal GMail account (15 GB).

With the recent transition from "Google Apps" to "Google Drive", it's also much easier to store CAP documents of any format, which is fantastic for transitions, departing members, etc.  When you delete an account, it identifies documents owned by that account and prompts you for a user to transfer them to.  It's probably the best feature besides a professional, consistent addressing scheme (that the WING owns, BTW, not the individual user).

I can't say enough good things about it, I think every Wing should look at it seriously.


Lt Col Bob Jennings

[JeffDG]

FLWG has flwg.us (for general use) and flwg.gov (for more formal use with external partners/agencies, etc). 

I absolutely believe that use of professional email addresses establishes a more professional image.

Tennessee wing has similar.  Everyone in the wing has a @tncap.us E-mail for use for CAP business (not monitored in any way, but woe be it to the person who draws negative attention with something non-CAP business related on one of those accounts!)

[JeffDG]

Managing who has access to what is a crap shoot, as you can't do it by groups easily, and would have to be done individually for every single thing. Keeping the accounts "yours" is impossible, as they could set the recovery address something different and Google is not going to help you.

We've scripted it within TNWG with Google Apps.  We pull the data out of CAPWATCH, and provision access based upon unit and/or duty positions.  If a commander wants one of his folks to have access to ES stuff, he appoints them as an ESO...done (OK, not instant, but within 24 hours it's done).

[Pylon]

FWIW, I applied for a squadron-level subdomain of the cap.gov through all the proper channels (Wing through NHQ), got approved, applied for Google Nonprofit Status (got approved) and setup Google Apps email using the cap.gov email, adding accounts for all the senior members in the unit.


So now everybody has a firstname.lastname@408.nywg.cap.gov email address.  It's standardized and professional enough.


Takes a little bit to get setup, but since doing that about 5 or 6 years ago, I think, it's now been operating (free) seamlessly for all those years without any upkeep necessary (other than adding/removing accounts as needed).

[Eclipse]

Yep, no fuss, no muss, and if you're using the CAP domain, not even any renewals.

It just keeps working. 

And when people leave, voluntarily or otherwise, you just turn off that ID, transfer ownership of the docs,
and move on.  No need to worry about something that was "under Jim's desk" or "only something Jim knew how to update".

[Slim]

I've had my own web domain and email address since the late 90s/early 00s (eurekaville.com). It's a great domain for my business as a freelance graphic designer & photographer. However, I got an email today from NHQ that a prospective member had asked for info about our local unit. As I responded to him, I got thinking about the impression my personal email might make.

Anyone thought about this before? Is it better to create an email just for CAP that has a more "military" feel to it or am I over analizing things?

I remember a thread a long time about about getting some sort of cap.gov email address, but I couldn't find it in a search. Any one know anything about this?

I don't know if they still do, but MIWG used to provide email addresses for all squadron and group commanders, and made them available for other members with a need or want.  I first got mine when I was appointed encampment commander in 2008, and kept it ever since.  It's nothing fancy, firstinitiallastname@miwg.cap.gov, and it forwards to either your email address listed in eServices or the one you specify.  But, when coordinating things like support for encampment, or contacting a school about making a recruiting visit, an email address reflecting the organization you're from lends you a little bit of credibility.  Much more credibility than the email addresses I've seen some of our cadets using, some of which decorum prevents me from repeating here.

Using the same format through google apps would be better, and probably a little easier to manage, but that decision is well beyond my pay grade.  It would be nice if the powers that be could somehow incorporate email into eServices similar to what the services do with theirs.  Set up your eServices account, and it generates an email address automatically, and the interface could be web based through eServices, or set up through a client like Outlook or Thunderbird.  Do it the same way the AF does it; the first John Smith is john.smith@cap.gov, the second is john.smith.1@.  This would eliminate the need for a member to physically enter an email address when they set up an account, wings can use them to create email lists, etc.  When the membership expires, so does the email address.

[Storm Chaser]

So Google Apps is free for CAP? And we can use our own domain? How about Google Chat? How many subscribers can use the video conference feature for meetings? Our Group is considering WebEx, which is used by our Wing HQ, but we're also looking for other less expensive alternatives. Any suggestions?

[Eclipse]

Yes, including all Apps services and using your own domain. They have very clear and easy instructions
for changing MX and WWW records, even more simple if you're using GoDaddy which is Google's Registrar of choice.

Person to person video works with the Chrome plugin.  More then one person requires enabling Google+ (a decision which should be made by the respective commander) and using Hangouts which works well once you get past the usual "I don't know how to work my webcam, etc."  Hangouts is free as well.

The entire Apps suite is free to 501c(3).  Just FYI - you might need to rounds of contact, because when you indicate what
we are (i.e pseudo government), it usually flags somewhere.  You call or email with explanation, done.  You'll need to substantiate the 501c(3) status - I don't remember how we did that, tax ID, maybe?

Either way, no biggie.

[Storm Chaser]

How many people can log in to a video chat using Google+/Hangouts? If we go this route, we'll be using this for large staff meetings.

[Eclipse]

How many people can log in to a video chat using Google+/Hangouts? If we go this route, we'll be using this for large staff meetings.

Up to 10 with the basic Hangouts included.

https://support.google.com/a/answer/1261833?hl=en

I've done testing with about 4 people at once, at it worked pretty well.

[Storm Chaser]

Thank you.

[JeffDG]

Yes, including all Apps services and using your own domain. They have very clear and easy instructions
for changing MX and WWW records, even more simple if you're using GoDaddy which is Google's Registrar of choice.

The one problem with using GoDaddy for Google Apps is they lack one feature you can use:  Wildcard CNAMEs

I initially set up my group with Google Apps with a different registrar that supported Wildcard CNAMEs.  Worked great.  Need a new "Site" for an event, just put it in the Google Apps control panel, and *.mydomain.org was pointed to ghs.googlehosted.com and voila, it just worked.

Wing took my idea and ran with it, but registered with GoDaddy...no wildcard CNAMEs, so in addition to setting up the site, someone has to hit the GoDaddy control panel and add a new CNAME for the new event site as well...PITA.

[JeffDG]

You can also do "Hangouts On Air" for "live" streaming meetings or conferences...streams out via a YouTube feed.

Beware...it's called "live", but there's an incredibly annoying lag time if the meeting is somehow interactive (ie. people can enter questions) of close to a minute.

[a2capt]

The tax letter is all I use, works every time, without debate.

[Eclipse]

Wing took my idea and ran with it, but registered with GoDaddy...no wildcard CNAMEs, so in addition to setting up the site, someone has to hit the GoDaddy control panel and add a new CNAME for the new event site as well...PITA.

It depends where your website is hosted, if you're using sites, you create address translations though the
GApps control panel - works the same, just a different place to set them up.

And of course if you're using Sites and a cname isn't critical, then the URL is created with the site as whatever you want.

http://www.wing.cap.gov/encampment
http://www.wing.cap.gov/comms
http://www.wing.cap.gov/dos

etc, etc.

[JeffDG]

Wing took my idea and ran with it, but registered with GoDaddy...no wildcard CNAMEs, so in addition to setting up the site, someone has to hit the GoDaddy control panel and add a new CNAME for the new event site as well...PITA.

It depends where your website is hosted, if you're using sites, you create address translations though the
GApps control panel - works the same, just a different place to set them up.

And of course if you're using Sites and a cname isn't critical, then the URL is created with the site as whatever you want.

http://www.wing.cap.gov/encampment
http://www.wing.cap.gov/comms
http://www.wing.cap.gov/dos

etc, etc.

We use sites, but prefer to put them on the front, so es.tncap.us

[Eclipse]

I went and checked - been a while since I was in there - I see what you're referring to on the CNAMES.

I had / have domain control for that so never saw it as an issue, but I could see where it would be a hassle if
you want to set those up and had to go back to the cap.gov administrator for each new one.

[a2capt]

Well, that is their job, to facilitate those requests.

[Panache]

I personally wish PAWG would allocate @pawg.cap.gov e-mail addresses to the general members like many above have pointed out.  It would certainly look a little bit more professional on my CAP business card.  /shrug

But then again, they haven't updated their home page since 01 October and apparently the Wing Conference is taking place in May...

[JeffDG]

I personally wish PAWG would allocate @pawg.cap.gov e-mail addresses to the general members like many above have pointed out.  It would certainly look a little bit more professional on my CAP business card.  /shrug

But then again, they haven't updated their home page since 01 October and apparently the Wing Conference is taking place in May...

I believe I see a volunteer to become PAWG Director of IT...



(Disclaimer:  I have no association whatsoever with PAWG or the IT department thereof)

[Panache]

I believe I see a volunteer to become PAWG Director of IT...

(*runs for the hills*)