Squadron Email Accounts

stillamarine · February 25, 2008, 05:35:53 PM

Has anyone tried getting squadron email accounts hosted somewhere for free or cheap?

Now I have 425PAO@GMAIL.COM and our cc has PENSACOLACAPCC@GMAIL.COM but what I'm looking for is more like t.gardiner@pensacolacompsqd.com

Thanks!

BillB · February 25, 2008, 05:38:33 PM

ask Floridacyclist how he did it for Tallahassee

pixelwonk · February 25, 2008, 05:41:52 PM

You can take advantage of gmail and still use your own domain name by using google apps.

register your domain, sign up for Google Apps and follow their instructions.
You can even use it without the ads. (sign up for educational edition as a non-profit)

Maj Ballard · February 25, 2008, 06:00:25 PM

Our squadron has a web hosting account and a domain. With that, we have unlimited POP accounts and forwarders.

Walkman · February 25, 2008, 06:02:29 PM

^^ Whoops, a bit slow on the draw there, Walkman

Most hosting providers have a certain number of e-mail accounts that come with the hosting package. I've set up one for myself and have it auto-forward to my main e-mail.It was pretty easy. info@cachevalleysquadron.org goes to my main e-mail address. The plan is to set up similar accounts for the other officers as our squadron grows.

jimmydeanno · February 25, 2008, 06:05:59 PM

Our squadron does that Kristian. Each staff position has one, so it breaks down like:

cc@jimmyssquadron.net
dcc@jimmyssquadron.net
dcs@jimmyssquadron.net
lg@jimmyssquadron.net

and so on...they all forward it to the persons e-mail address.

stillamarine · February 25, 2008, 06:15:00 PM

I have a friend that I forgot does web design, hosting, etc. He is gonna get back with me on a hosting account, and let me know how much it would cost. He said for me he would do as many email accounts as I wanted just let him know if I needed more. With this we would be able to move our website over to the new host with no ads

Eclipse · February 25, 2008, 06:38:33 PM

Define cheap - the site hosting I use is about $7 a month for 5gb storage and "only" 99,999 pop-3 accounts.

Include just about every web service you could imagine, and full access, etc.

I split the cost with my personal hosting so it only costs CAP about $3.50 a month.

stillamarine · February 25, 2008, 06:44:20 PM

That's about what he's telling me, 10 bucks actually

mynetdude · February 25, 2008, 06:48:06 PM

I do website hosting and some website design for our squadron, we haven't gotten as far as issuing emails to all the staff personnel that would need them. I also manage the squadron's domain make sure the NS are current and updated as needed as well as the MX records and so on.

All had great suggestions, you can get a google apps account and buy a domain name and have all you need there including emails or buy cheap website hosting for as little as $3/month with as many features as you want/need.

Eclipse · February 25, 2008, 07:49:27 PM

Quote from: stillamarine on February 25, 2008, 06:44:20 PM
That's about what he's telling me, 10 bucks actually

$10's a little high these days, but not out of the ballpark.

Other than a few key staffers, the majority of the emails are simple forwards, but I think overall it looks much more professional on a business card and collateral to have "amember@squadron123.com" than
"rockingsearchdude74556@hotmail.com".

YMMV

You guys don't even want to know what I see from cadets these days.

Pylon · February 25, 2008, 07:50:37 PM

Does anybody have experience getting some sort of subdomain on the cap.gov domain to use for squadron email addresses and/or a website?

_ · February 25, 2008, 08:01:31 PM

I did not set up our squadron's website but we got email addresses with the site.

Website:
www.CAPAnnapolis.org

My squadron email address:
SearchAndRescue@CAPAnnapolis.org

pixelwonk · February 25, 2008, 08:05:16 PM

Quote from: Pylon on February 25, 2008, 07:50:37 PM
Does anybody have experience getting some sort of subdomain on the cap.gov domain to use for squadron email addresses and/or a website?

Although we have been using wiwgcap.org for our URL since 2005, Wisconsin Wing returned to wiwg.cap.gov for mail accounts, hosted by Google Apps. Currently, there are just personal email accounts for any WIWG member wishing for one, however there's no reason it couldn't be used for email lists and calendars. While WIWG opts for a Web host with more robust features, simple websites using Googlepages can be created as well.

mynetdude · February 26, 2008, 07:03:58 PM

my understanding from the higher ups at my wing is that to even use a .gov you have to get the wing CC's approval to use it at the squadron level. Heck my wing doesn't even have a .gov as I would imagine as it needs approval at the region level.

Eclipse · February 26, 2008, 07:38:39 PM

Quote from: Pylon on February 25, 2008, 07:50:37 PM
Does anybody have experience getting some sort of subdomain on the cap.gov domain to use for squadron email addresses and/or a website?

Its not really a big deal, and any echelon of CAP (and probably even a major special activity) can get one.

The hitch is that the setup will need to go through the CAP.gov administrator, and your website will have to pass some security checks which may or may not even be appropriate to a regular website.

Also, you will almost certainly have to be a sub-domain of your wing, which becomes onerous with the address.

i.e. user@unitname.XXWG.CAP.gov.

To me the .gov had some cache and adds some legitimacy to the site and emails (for people that know and pay attention to TLDs), but the hassle and loss of autonomy involved in the setup was not worth it.

The .gov domain does not need to be on the GLR web servers, and you do not need to buy space from them.

floridacyclist · February 26, 2008, 09:48:16 PM

I have our websites (tallahasseecap.org and ridefatherhood.org) hosted through godaddy and they come with a ton of free email accounts. We started off with everyone having 10mb accounts, but I'm about to switch everyone over to auto-forwards unless they request a full account and go through a briefing on how to maintain storage limits. The biggest headache is keeping folks from having their emails bounce because they're not deleting them and there is no easy to see what they have without opening their email and perhaps deleting a couple of big files..

Eclipse · February 27, 2008, 02:58:59 AM

While we have a web front end, everyone pops their mail, so it doesn't back up.

I am a bog proponent of keeping every email I ever get - just not up in a pop directory.

You could have them light up gmail accounts, pop them into there as "other accounts", and they can still
"send-as" the CAP address.

Space management doesn't become an issue until about 6gb.

floridacyclist · February 27, 2008, 02:28:57 PM

I haven't gotten anyone to pop their email yet except the Personnel Officer (who doesn't have email at home so I set up Outlook to check from the squadron bldg) and the Commander who has a big enough account that it probably doesn't matter. For those on POP, I set them up to delete off the server 10 days after first being read. My kids are set up the same way.

It's the other 98% of squadron members who give me the headaches.

On my rideforfatherhood.org account I was able to set up a 600Mb account as an archive account..everything gets forwarded there.

Eclipse · February 27, 2008, 03:17:46 PM

I pop everything and don't give people the choice, but to each his own.

I also run gmail as a background "collector", popping all my accounts with "leave on server" so anytime my notebook is not on its collecting - probably about 50-60% of my total email gets dumped there as a nice, free "OH POOP" backup.

I can't stand the way gmail views messages as "conversations", though, so using it as my main client is out - I also do a fair amount of commute and travel and need access to messages even when there is no connection (which is now almost never thanks to wifi and EDGE).