Attention: Owners of Dog Related Yahoo & Google Groups!

[jamiedolan]

(Paw Dogs Groups is a Free Service for Group Owners & for Users)
(All groups may not qualify for all services, please read below for details)


Dear Group Owner;

Have you and your users become frustrated with some of the common problems that affect Yahoo and Google Groups? Did the changes Yahoo made last year just add to your frustration? Does moderating your group properly drain hours of your time? Wish there was a better way to keep up with your group and still maintain it's quality?

Commonly Reported Problems with Yahoo & Google Groups Include:

1. Broken or very Poor serach function, leading to many repeat questions.
2. SPAM, Viruses and other inappropiate content that gets sent out to the full list
3. Unsigned Messages
4. Untrimmed Messages
5. Problems with Sharing Photos and Files
6. Poor or lack of response from Yahoo when you need help

What if you had a better choice?

We are proud to introduce a solution to all your frustrating,
time consuming problems; We offer dozens of new features you
never even dreamed of being able to offer to your group.

Welcome to: Paw Dogs Groups

Paw Dogs Groups Includes:

1. Users e-mails are kept private
2. Private message system that hides e-mail address from spammers.
3. A focused environment; be a part of a community that is all about dogs!
4. Enhanced & Advanced search functions
5. Messages are rapidly indexed in Google; bringing your group more traffic.
6. Advanced SPAM Control (Remove SPAM rapidly)
7. Automatic removal of harmful viruses
8. Every single message identifies the poster, even if they forget to sign it
9. Messages "Self-Trim" and never quote more than the previous message
10. Ability for users to post and share photos and other files right in the group
11. User level moderation
12. Advanced message formatting, including inline graphics, photos, and Smilies
13. Users can choose to receive immediate e-mail notification of responses to only their posts
14. Users can subscribe to the group so they receive a daily "Digest" version of the days activities.

As the moderator of a group you can always remove undesirable messages ; We also have the ability to allow you to grant permission to users prior to being allowed to post in your group. While we feel this is generally unnecessary and more of a burden than just deleting unwanted messages, we can offer this to groups who need it. Please note: This feature will not be available if your group is a featured group on our home page (if you qualify to be featured, you may choose to decline, in which case the feature would be available)

Additional Benefits to users:

1. The site is family friendly; objectionable content is rapidly removed.
2. Facebook connect available; no need to remember another login
3. Share via Facebook and other popular networking services, with just a click of a button.
4. Users are given Free blog space (Similar to Blogger)
5. Users can upload custom Avatars that get posted with their username next to every message
6. Users can upload personal photo albums with hundreds of images
7. Your YouTube videos can be easily shared.
8. Posted or inserted graphics will always be available, Our system always keeps a copy.

Additional features for group owners / moderators:

1. Eliminates management of bouncing e-mail addresses
2. Due to the systems features; the majority of moderation tasks are eliminated.
3. No more enforcing signatures and trimming run on messages.
4. When you decide a conversation is over, it's done. Easy Locking of Threads.
5. Ability to post and share virtually any type of file
6. Ability to have sub-categories that address different subjects
7. Ability to easily move posts to a sub-category. Easily move messages.
8. If a thread is "Hijacked" with a new question, it is easy to move.
9. Automatic system backups twice a day to 5 different locations.
10. Our system is running on commercial state of the art software.
11. Paw Dogs Groups can scale to any level.

About Switching from a Yahoo Group to a PawDogs Group:

1. You maintain moderation / ownership of your group
2. You and your users maintain rights to your messages,
3. You just grant us the right to display your messages on our site.
4. We don't interfere in your group moderation unless it is necessary to stop SPAM or illegal activties
5. Your entire Yahoo Groups history can be imported and instantly searchable, In most cases, we should be able to attach the name of the poster to the old message; so it would appear as if it was posted here in the forum by that user.
6. For most lists we can import your group user file and automatically create accounts for them. Since Yahoo group owners don't have access to user passwords, the group members will just need to create a new password when they sign in.
7. Upon import of old messages we would strip e-mail addresses to avoid exposing those addresses to SPAMMERS.

General Information:

1. Users of your group are not directly solicited, they may see ads on our site or in our general site newsletter if they choose to receive it. (same as on Yahoo)
2. There is no cost to users or group owners. Our goal is to make Paw Dogs the #1 dog community on the Internet covering all aspects of dog ownership.
3. For certain larger well run groups, we may grant your group the exclusive right to run a section of our site; for example, if a large clicker training group, called "ABC Click Training" chooses to join us, we would strongly consider having "ABC Clicker Training" be the primary clicker training area. In other words, it would replace our own clicker training area - so instead of being listed in a Groups area, the group would be listed in the main categories on our page.

Limitations:

1. This is an advanced discussion board enviroment, with enhanced e-mail notification abilties; however, it does not allow direct interaction by replying to e-mails. Users can get copies of posted messages in their e-mail, but users must visit the board to post.
2. At this time; we are not allowing groups to keep their messages private; there are several reasons for this;
   
   • Since we strip e-mail addresses, we eliminate the abilities of SPAMMERS to harvest and mail to your group users.
   • A large part of the value that we derive from hosting groups comes from the search engine traffic that is generated from group postings, if a group is private, we do not see any of this traffic.
3. Users e-mail addresses become private due to the way the forum works (and to prevent spamming). You will always be able to contact users via the message system; however, their e-mail address is hidden unless they choose to make it public. Please note we are exploring technical options that would allow group owners to gain direct access to the addresses of members of their group.

We are serious about making Paw Dogs Groups a success. The owners of Paw Dogs have an extensive background in Internet technology and are well prepared to run and support a large community. We are using commercial software and we maintain support contracts with our vendors. We also work with a group of highly experienced programmers and designers which allows us to innovate and expand as we grow.

If you own a dog related Yahoo or Google Group, or if you have a mailing list on another platform, we would love to hear from you. If there are specific requirements for your group that were not discussed here, they may still be possible. We will consider modifications and custom programming on a case by case basis, primary based upon group site.


What is the next step?

Visit the contact forum (click here) and complete as much information as you're comfortable with, and we will get in touch, normally within 24 hours. There is no commitment by filling out this forum, it is merely a tool to help us open a dialog to discuss your needs.


*PawDogs, Paw Dogs, PawDogs.com PawDogs.net, Paw Dogs Groups, Pawdogsgroups.com and associated logos and design are Trademarks of Ashwood Pro LLC of Neenah, WI. All Right Reserved, copyright 2011. Paw Dogs is not associated with Yahoo or Google groups nor is this message intended to imply any relationship or connection formal or otherwise.