The Villas’ COA Board and several committees use an electronic mail distribution list to share business and social information to all the residents of the community in a timely manner. Additionally, there are two other distribution (Ladies, Men) used for only social news.
Names of the distribution lists:
Letter case in the list names does not matter. The list names are typed that way just to make it easy to read.
The distribution lists are maintained by members of the Villas’ Communications Committee.
- New residents are contacted by a Communications Committee member as soon as possible when they move into the Villas, typically within a few days. Contact information is gathered about the new residents, including email addresses.
- The contact details are used to create an invitation to both the distribution lists AND accounts for the community website.
- Existing residents should contact the Communications Committee for changes in their email address or issues.
- Residents who leave the community will have their addresses removed from all lists.
AN INVITATION TO JOIN THE DISTRIBUTION LIST(S):
- The Villas distribution lists are managed using Google Groups software.
- An invitation to join the distribution list(s) is prepared by Communications and sent to the new resident’s email address.
- The invitation email received by the resident will be from “Google Groups”, not someone from the Villas.
- The resident must look for the invitation email message from Google Groups and accept the invitation by clicking the ACCEPT button within the email.
- EXCEPTION: residents with a Gmail address can be added directly to the distribution list, bypassing the need for an invitation.
The example screenshot below is a TEST example, but it shows what a Google Groups invitation looks like. Also, please notice this invitation was found in the JUNK folder, not the INBOX.
Each resident needs to know the details of their email account - username, password, and how to access / read the their email using their desktop computer, smartphone, or tablet. Each resident needs to know how to navigate the folders of their mail account (Inbox, Junk, Spam, Trash, etc.) to search for the Google Groups invitation in case the invitation does not go to the INBOX.
There is no feature to edit or update an email address entry in a distribution list. If an address is already on the list but the resident is not receiving community emails, the only thing that can be done is to delete the existing email address from the list and prepare a new invitation to join the distribution list. Please contact the Communications Committee for these issues.
SUGGESTIONS FOR THOSE WITH EMAIL ISSUES:
If the distribution list invitation (or later community emails) does not go to your email INBOX, but instead goes to your TRASH, SPAM, or JUNK folders, the following suggestions have helps some people:
- Move the email invitation message from the undesired folder to the folder for INBOX. Leave the message in your inbox as this helps your email system “learn” to put these messages in your inbox.
- Create a new contact for your email account, name the new contact something like "Villas WF" and assign the email address of the distribution list.
DISTRIBUTION LIST MANAGERS vs MEMBERS:
A limited number of residents of the Villas have the role of a list manager, meaning they are allowed to send email messages to everyone on the distribution list. All COA Board members are list managers, as well committee chairs.
Most residents are merely members of the distribution list, meaning they can only receive messages.
PRINTABLE LIST OF VILLAS RESIDENTS:
The distribution list of members is not printable. Neither is the community website residents list.
To provide a solution for the shortcoming, a tabular list of residents (suitable for printing) with their contact information is also maintained by the Communications Committee. The most up to date version of this printable list is posted on the community website -
select this link (resident signin required).
DISTRIBUTION LISTS vs VILLAS COMMUNITY WEBSITE:
The Google Groups distribution list software is totally separate from the community website software. About every 2-3 months, the distribution list email addresses are reviewed against the community website to try to keep the email addresses consistent.
Link to community website:
TO HELP RESIDENTS:
All important community emails are copied and posted to the Villas community website, most of the time as a News article. Thus, if you think you did not receive a community email, check the community website to see if there is new info.
On the home page of the community website, look for the GREEN BARS near the top or on the left side of the webpage. The GREEN BARS are clickable shortcuts to the important items - news, today’s calendar activities, birthdays, upcoming events, and announcements. Using these shortcut links, it’s really quick and easy to stay updated for community news and activities.
- Bob Turnage, Co-chair
- Communications Committee
- March 2025