<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I have received a number of responses,from both those offering solutions and those yelling 'help I have the same problem'.  Thank you  to all that responded.

I have combined the responses into sections, covering using regular email programs, using a web based group/forum approach and using mass mailing software.

Text shown after ******* are my comments, text shown after ------- are excerpts from the responses I received.

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Most everyone recommends that the email recipients be put in the BCC (blind copy) slot and then sending the email to yourself. This keeps the email addresses of the recipients hidden. One clever trick is to set up an email address called 'undisclosed recipients' and give it your own email address, use this address to send the email to.

It appears that sending emails to and from an AOL addresses requires knowledge of a few tricks. I do not use AOL so will report what those responding said. One person responded that AOL will not deliver email to AOL addresses contained in the BCC block. They use BCC for everyone but AOL addresses and use the 'To:' block for them. A couple of people who use AOL, said they can send messages BCC by putting parenthesis around the email addresses in the 'To:' block  i.e. ( a, b, c, d,...). I don't know if the parenthesis trick will work when using non AOL email programs to send to AOL addresses.

Another person responded that sometimes emails with attachments will not go through if the BCC block is used. 

Another person responded that they send out their monthly newsletter in  4 groups otherwise it gets caught as spam. 

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For those that use a regular email program to send out their emails, For people using regular email programs, I received the most responses from people using Outlook.

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Here are excerpts from some of the comments on regular email programs.

Use Microsoft Office Outlook as your mail program and set up a 'Distribution List'.  See the help section for how to do that.  It's tedious to do initially but saves time later.  Then, when you want to send a message, just make your message and then click on the TO: and select your distribution list as a Bcc [Blind Carbon Copy] to everyone on your list.  That way, you don't distribute email addresses to everyone.

I use Outlook Express.It allows you to set up a full address book with everyone's info. Then you can sort by name or email address to check for duplications. In my address book I can set up saved groups. Each group can not exceed 100 addresses. I still send out about 6 sets of email notices, however, the address book is easily managed.


For yahoo, I can make a folder with all email addresses for any group I wish to create.  Then I can send the email to that folder of people.  Also blind copy is a way to keep the emails from showing up on the header.  But sometimes an attachment will not go to those who are blind copied.

 
I was having similar problems and opened a gmail account (Google mail), which is free and easy to do. https://www.google.com/accounts/SmsMailSignup1    It's possible to upload your addresses, but not being very computer savvy I rather painstakingly typed them all in.  I now have 223 email addresses and they all send out at once. I put the email addresses into the Bcc area (blind copy) so people can't see each other's addresses.  Gmail will automatically add anyone's email address that you send to, so to keep the contact list correct, I only use this account for my support group newsletters.  I have had no problems other than some formatting problems when I would cut and paste information into the body of the email.  Now I type up the newsletter as a word document and attach it.  I had to get used to the slightly different setup of gmail, but now that I am used to it, it has worked well for me.  Much less frustrating. 


I put my email addresses in an address book, and when I send out emails I just click on the address book I want, highlight the names and click bcc (some members expressed a desire to have emails sent blind carbon copy so that their addresses aren't visible for the world to see).  I don't know what the limit on addresses is, but so far I have 100.  I use Earthlink as my dsl service, and Netscape 7.1 as my mail reader and sender.  Newer editions of Netscape are web based, whereas,  Netscape 7.1 is still pc based (this means I can download my emails to my pc, rather then having everything stored on a website).

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A number of people suggested setting up a yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com) or google group (http://groups.google.com/).  With one exception, all of those who had set up a group had used yahoo.groups. No one indicated they use google group.  One group uses meetup.com as their host, see below for their comments.

As recommended, I set up a yahoo group as a test. It was easy to do. Currently I am its only member. I found that I would basically need to get everyone on our email list to become a member of yahoo and then sign up for the group I had set up. Yahoo will let you add  people to the group without them signing up, but you are limited to a maximum of 10 per day and you may need yahoo's permission to add people in this manner. They do this to keep people from setting up a group just to send spam. My research indicates that Google has a similar policy.

My impression from the emails I received, is that everyone who uses a yahoo.group is happy they did it. With the many different features available and the list owner's ability to turn those features on or off, you can configure your 
yahoo.group to meet your specific needs. It seems to be the top choice to automate getting email and other information to your members. See the responses below for the types of things you can do with a yahoo.group.

In the responses below is a comment about a private versus a public group. My understanding is, anyone can join a public group without the list moderator's permission, a private group requires the list moderator's permission to join. To do this, the moderator either sends you an invitation to join or you sign up via yahoo.groups. Yahoo then sends the moderator a notice that you would like to join.  Having control of who are members of your group allows you to keep spammers out and well as insure the tone of the messages will remain civil. 

Particularly for a new group or one that currently has a small email address list using yahoo.groups would seem a good choice. For those with a large,existing email list, one concern is, if you can get the majority of those on your email list to join yahoo and then sign up for the group. 

The website to get started is http://groups.yahoo.com

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Here are excerpts from some of the comments on setting up a yahoo.group or meetup.com group.

I would suggest considering setting up a Yahoo group, which is free.  Having one makes group mailings very easy, and lets people check in to see if they've missed messages, and/or to view the calendar or any files which have been posted.  I would recommend that you have at least two group moderators with full privileges (in case one person locks himself out by mistake, or in case something needs to be addressed while someone is sick, for example). For more information, see http://groups.yahoo.com. 

The downside to Yahoo groups, btw, is that Yahoo is supported by advertising.  In order to have the group for free, you will see ads appear on your page as you view messages.  I am able to ignore them pretty easily, but I just wanted to forewarn you.  You can always set up the group, enroll a couple of people, play with it a little bit, then decide whether or not to pursue this.  In fact, I would recommend doing that, if you decide to set up a Yahoo group.


You can manage the settings so that only list owners/moderators may post or so that all members may post. That's up to you.

My animal rescue group uses Yahoo Groups--you can post hyperlinks, files, calendars, polls, and have an email list.  The owner can assign moderators and you can set the group to be able to email everyone or you can set it up so only the owner/moderator is able to send emails. 

Our group is set up as a private group as our members pay dues. A lot of groups on this site are public.

We set up a little test, and I guess this is what I would recommend. Pick the name that you will want to use, and set up a group with a handful of members to try it out. If you don't like it for some reason, you can delete it.


I would love to know the solution to this problem also!  Spokane would like to merge with our group.  As we have monthly gatherings. Our group depends on http://celiacdisease.meetup.com/78  it is very nice if your members take the initiative to sign up.  It does have a monthly fee now, per group...not member.  It has a lot of useful tools that allow you to print up mailer postcards for members that don't have email. You can mass email from them to. 

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I had a couple of responses from people using a computer program to do mass mailing. One experience is positive, one is not so positive. When I went to the website for the "Campaigner" marketing tool, it appears your database of email addresses would reside on their computers and each email may cost up to 6 cents to send out. Looking on the website for the "Group Mail 5" program, it appears both the program and your database of email addresses would reside on your computer and there is no charge to send out the emails.

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Here are their comments.

I use a free group email sender called Group Mail 5 by Infacta. Find it here http://www.infacta.com/. You can pay for an upgrade as well. The personal version is $99; the business version is $250. Once you enter all the email addresses in, the program sends out to each individual so that the recipients see only their address.

I've tried the "Campaigner" marketing tool ..but it's not conducive for forwarding emails and was more trouble than the cost.

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Thank you to everyone that responded. I learned a lot from your comments. I now have enough information to have an intelligent discussion with my group's other officers on how we will proceed.


Tom Flynn  
President 
Atlanta Metro Celiacs

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *
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