Squadron Email Accounts

[stillamarine]

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]

ask Floridacyclist how he did it for Tallahassee

[pixelwonk]

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]

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

[Walkman]

^^ 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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[mynetdude]

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]

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]

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

[_]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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).

[mynetdude]

If I understood right, gmail offers pop but I think that is only with google apps so I am not sure however if gmail offers pop standalone then you don't need to use gmail as the main client

[Eclipse]

No - yo can POP gmail, but I don't need that, I was hoping to use gmail as my client, but as I said, don't like the view paradigm.

[mynetdude]

I got this pretty cool service and hope to use it for my squadron's email needs. I've been using it all day today, it is so neat! Costs pennies!

I now use fusemail, you can sync calendar, tasks, notes, journals and stuff with Outlook 2003/2007, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, etc as long as you can pop or IMAP it you're good to go.

one thing though about fusemail I like is it is $1 per mailbox and $1 per GB and my initial account came with 10 mailboxes and 2GB (you get charged for 1GB and they give you one free initially, so you end up with 2GB to start).

I can add unlimited number domains, aliases, mailboxes, etc the only thing that costs me is mailboxes and GB space (they don't meter/charge for bandwidth).  This is sortof like using gmail/google apps as they are free (google apps for nonprofit is free).

fusemail lets me do file sharing and instant messaging and so forth which is pretty nice actually.

[PhoenixRisen]

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.

Does GoogleApps allow for a third-level domain (I believe that's what it would be called - http://sqxxx.cawg.cap.gov) to utilize the e-mail feature?  I'm taking position as my new CAP School Program squadron's webmaster, and was just curious about this.  Do you need to have access to the physical server, too? 

[Eclipse]

What you're referring to is a "subdomain" - not sure whether or not they support that, however
and this is a >WAG<, I doubt that you're going to be able to host a .gov domain on Google because
they likely won't pass the security scans, and the ad-based-model probably breaks the regs, since you can't control what will actually be on the page.

[mynetdude]

What you're referreind got is a "subdomin" - not sure whether or not they support that, however
and this is a >WAG<, I doubt that you're going to be able to host a .gov domain on Google because
they likely won't pass the security scans, and the ad-based-model probably breaks the regs, since you can't control what will actually be on the page.

I don't think there are any ads if you do it properly, register as a nonprofit and I believe the ads go away.  It is only the free version that has ads.

[PhoenixRisen]

What you're referring to is a "subdomain" - not sure whether or not they support that, however
and this is a >WAG<, I doubt that you're going to be able to host a .gov domain on Google because
they likely won't pass the security scans, and the ad-based-model probably breaks the regs, since you can't control what will actually be on the page.

Aparrently there aren't any ad's when you register under non-profit / educational use.

I'll find out, I guess, when I get my squadron's website up and situated.

[BK]

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!

Did you know that every squadron in CAP has a free earthlink account?  Each account comes with 9 additional email addresses that could be used for staff.  The squadron account is paid for by National.  This has been in-place for two (or more) years.  Most accounts have been de-activated due to non-use.

All accounts start with the region abbreviation, the wing abbreviation, and the squadron number@earthlink.net (ncrnd021@earthlink.net).

If you want to get your account re-activated, contact the IT shop at National.  They will turn it back on and send you a new password.  After that, set up your staff accounts as you like.

Just though you all would like to know.

Bill Kay, Major, CAP
NCR Rep to the National IT Committee

[gistek]

Great minds think alike. Here's some more (and some repeated) info on the free accounts.

Earthlink has offered one free account to each CAP unit. The e-mail format is Region Abbreviation, Wing abbreviation, and unit charter number.

For instance, a Pennsylvania unit with a charter number of 999 would be nerpa999@earthlink.net

This account provides up to 8 e-mail names and each e-mail name is entitled to 100 megs web hosting. This means you can create a group of linked sites up to 800 megs.

The last time I needed assistance with a CAP earthlink account I e-mailed K. Jacob (kjacoba@cap.gov) and M. Yost (myost@cap.gov) and they helped me reactivate dormant accounts.

You can purchase a domain name for as little as $10.00 per year. Your domain manager will permit you to redirect the domain name to your webhost. Most even permit you to have your domain in the url rather than your webhost address. (It's nice to have "http://www.mycapsquadron.org" instead of "http://home.earthlink.net/~nerpa999/" in the navigation bar.

There are also companies that offer free subdomains. With a subdomain you have to host your main page (index.html) on their service and will probably have to put up with advertising, but you can set this up as a gateway site and link to your (free, no ads) earthlink hosted pages from this page.

At this point in time, I recommend Google and Bravenet for subdomains. I have removed Yahoo from my recommended list due to their recent practice of placing ads that could be considered objectionable on sites I manage through their service.

One big advantage I have found using the earthlink multi-site is the ability to have subsites managed by cadets. Currently I have one cadet managing a Cadet Services website and another developing a squadron scrapbook site. I provide oversight on these sites, but the design, development, and basic management is the cadet's duty. - Also, this can count as an activity for cadets who are unable to participate in non-meeting activities. (possibly due to custody/visitation terms)

I have asked, via my chain of command, for clarification of the ads on ad-supported sites, such as yahoo, google, and bravenet subdomains and services. I submitted the interpretation that these advertisers are providing support to CAP by assisting webservice providers to offer free, ad supported services for organizations. The last I heard was that the query has been referred at least as far as my region, and it was implied that IT and Legal on the national level would both be involved in studying this matter. In other words, don't expect a quick turn-around on this issue.