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Message policy settings

Location in desktop browser: Left menu > Admin > Preferences > Settings > Message Policies panel on the Settings page

Location on mobile device: Bottom of page > More > Admin > Preferences > Settings > Message Policies panel on the Settings page

! Important: Setting changes take effect after you click or tap the Update Group button at the bottom of the page.

Allow Nonmembers to Post

By default, a message sent to a group by a nonmember is rejected automatically with a notice that the sender must be a member of the group to post messages to it.

If you want to allow people who are not group members to be able to post messages to the group, select the Allow Nonmembers to Post checkbox. Such messages will not be rejected automatically; instead, they will require approval from a moderator before they are posted to the group. On the Pending Messages page at the group’s website, the Author column will have a red NM badge next to a nonmember’s email address. If you open the pending message on the group’s website, a red Non Member label appears next to a nonmember’s email address.

Use case example: A group set up for a committee might want to allow people who are not members of the committee to send messages to the committee via the group.

Note: Enabling this setting might result in spam messages going to the pending (moderated) list, even though the system does some checking for known spammers.

Allow Parent Members to Post

Restriction: This setting appears only in subgroups.

By default, a message sent to a subgroup by a member of the parent group who is not a member of the subgroup is rejected automatically with a notice that the sender must be a member of the subgroup to post messages to it. 

If you want to allow people in the parent group who are not subgroup members to be able to post messages to the subgroup, select the Allow Parent Members to Post checkbox. This setting allows members of the parent group to post messages to the subgroup even though they do not belong to the subgroup. Be aware that those parent group members will not receive replies that are sent to the subgroup.

Use case example: A subgroup set up for a committee might want to allow people in the parent group who are not members of the committee to send messages to the committee via the subgroup.

Disable No Email

Select the Disable No Email checkbox if you do not want to allow group members to use the No Email option for email delivery in their subscription settings. When you select this checkbox:

  • The No Email option will not be available on group members’ individual subscription pages.
  • All existing member subscriptions that were set to No Email are reset to Special Notices Only.
  • In the default subscription settings for the group, the No Email option is removed from the list of email delivery options. If the group's default subscription setting had been set to No Email, it is reset to Special Notices Only. (See Default subscription settings for group members.) 
  • On the group’s home page, the “Members can set their subscriptions to no email” line is removed from the Group Settings list (or does not appear if the group was set to Disable No Email when it was created).

Note: Members will still be able to select the Special Notices Only email delivery option in their own subscription settings.

Hashtags Required

Select this checkbox if you want to require that all messages posted to the group have at least one hashtag.

Hashtag Permissions

This setting controls whether regular members can create new hashtags by including them in message subject lines. It also controls how messages are handled if members are not allowed to create new hashtags but include new hashtags in a message anyway. Select the option you want to apply to the group:

Note: You can assign group moderators a permission that allows them to create and modify hashtags.

Disable Editing Messages

Select this checkbox if you do not want to allow members to make changes to the content of their own messages in the message archive (that is, after the messages have been posted to the group).

Note: 

  • Owners and moderators can still edit messages that are pending approval. Moderators can also edit messages in the archive if they have the appropriate permissions.
  • Members are always able to delete their own messages regardless of this setting.

Reply To

This setting controls who is initially set to receive replies to messages that are posted to the group. Select the option you want to apply:

  • Replies are automatically addressed to the entire group.

  • Replies are automatically addressed only to the individual sender of the message being replied to. However, if a group member uses the “reply to all” option in their email application, their reply will be addressed to the group in addition to the individual sender.

    Tip: If you do not want to allow replies to senders to also be delivered to the group, select the Only to Sender setting (see below).

  • Replies are automatically addressed only to the group’s moderators (and owners).

  • Replies are automatically addressed to both the entire group and the individual sender of the message being replied to.

  • Replies are automatically addressed only to the individual sender of the message being replied to.

    Note: If a group member replying by email uses the “reply to all” option in their email application, their reply will be addressed to the group in addition to the individual sender; however, when the reply is sent, it will be blocked from the group. The person replying will receive a delivery failure notification that their message to the group address was blocked, and the notification message will include this statement: “Replies to this topic must be sent to the sender, not the group.” The individual sender will still receive the reply.

  • With this setting:

    • The first message in a new topic is sent to everyone in the group according to their normal settings.
    • A follow topic record is created automatically for the person who originated the topic.
    • A follow topic record is created automatically for anyone who replies to this original message.
    • All subsequent messages to the topic are sent only to people who are following the topic.

    You can use this setting to create “semiprivate” topics in the group where only the members who are following specific topics will see those topics, but all the messages are still archived.

    This setting applies to all topics in a group. If you want to change it for an individual topic or hashtag, you can use the Reply To property for that topic or hashtag.

    Note: This setting does not affect the Message Selection preference in individual members’ subscriptions.

  • (appears only in groups with subgroups, and appears in both the main group and its subgroups)

    In a group that has subgroups, you can select this setting to specify that replies to messages sent to the main group are addressed to a subgroup, or that replies to messages sent to a subgroup are addressed to the main group or another subgroup.

    Use case example: This setting could be useful in an Announcement-Only group, where you could create a subgroup to receive replies to announcements that are sent by the main group.

    When you select this option, a dropdown list labeled Other Group To Send Reply To appears next to the Reply To list. In a main group, select the subgroup to which you want replies to be sent. In a subgroup, you can select the main group or another subgroup (if more than one subgroup exists).

Note: Members will still see additional reply options in messages on the group’s website and in message digests (if they are using that delivery option). You can use the next setting to remove those additional reply options.

Remove Other Reply Options

Select this checkbox to remove links from messages on the group’s website and in digests to reply options other than the one you selected in the Reply To list above.

Automatically Moderate Topics Older Than [n] Days

To put topics on moderation automatically after a specific length of time, select this checkbox and specify the number of days after which topics should be moderated.

Note: The moderation becomes effective overnight, U.S. Pacific Time, after the specified number of days have elapsed.

Automatically Lock Topics Older Than [n] Days

To lock topics (prevent further replies to them) automatically after a specific length of time, select this checkbox and specify the number of days after which topics should be locked.

Note: The locking becomes effective overnight, U.S. Pacific Time, after the specified number of days have elapsed.

Allow Members to Download Archive

If you group members to be able to download the message archive to a file, select this checkbox.

Downloaded archive files are in mbox format.

Separate Message Footers

Select this option to put the group's message footers in a separate message part in outbound email messages rather than have the footers appended to messages. (Message parts are sections of a MIME-structured email body.)

Use case example: This specialized setting is useful in groups with members who use Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption to sign their email messages.

Virus Handling

This setting specifies how the Groups.io system should handle messages that it detects contain a virus. Select the option you want to use:

  • The system blocks (rejects) the message, sends a notification to the sender, and adds an entry to the group’s activity log. This setting is the default.

  • The system flags the message for moderation—regardless of the group’s moderation settings—and adds an entry to the group’s activity log. The system also adds a red badge with the name of the detected virus to the message, and the owner or a moderator will see that information when reviewing the message.

Note: Messages from nonmembers that contain viruses are blocked regardless of the selected Virus Handling setting.

Max Photo Size in Email

To save group storage space, you can use this setting to restrict the size of images that are attached to email messages sent by group members. In the list, select the maximum size (in pixels) that images attached to email messages should be resized to. The default setting is No resizing.

Note: 

  • Images attached to emails are stored in a default Emailed Photos album that the system creates. These images count toward the group’s storage limit. (Be aware that the Emailed Photos album is not accessible in Free groups created on or after August 24, 2020 because the Photos feature is not available in those groups.)
  • Only images that are larger than 100x100 pixels are displayed in the Emailed Photos album.
  • Inline images—that is, images inserted directly into the bodies of HTML-formatted messages—are resized to a maximum of 640 pixels in the long dimension. Inline images count toward the group’s storage limit.

Storage Limit Reached

This setting specifies how to handle message attachments when the group’s storage space limit is reached. Select the option you want to use:

  • The system deletes attachments to the oldest messages until sufficient space is freed up. This setting is the default.

    Note: The content (text) in messages themselves is not deleted. Only attachments are deleted.

  • The system bounces messages that have attachments until sufficient space is freed up.