Question: Since around the middle of the summer I have noticed that people sending and receiving (myself included) messages from the MACO or MACATFO [or MCRA] emails. It was my impression that if we wanted to send out an email to the group, we should email you or submit a request online. Has this changed? There seems to be a lot of messages going back and forth about it.
Answer: Hi, You are correct in your initial impression that people are using the emmail system, known as a listserv, much more often. One of the draw backs of the old system, the email request system, was that it was dependent on a couple of things. First, it would only send out emails during work hours. This was because any request had to be reprocessed in Ewald's system to be then sent out using what we here call a blast email system. The blast email system is different from the listserv in that it is done through the website itself and we have a record of it and also it can only be sent out by Ewald staff. Second, it created the potential for errors or for further questions. If someone sent an email using the old system, we would need to ask further questions on about half of them, delaying the time between when the email was requested to when it was actually sent.
What was done to fight this was the listserv system. This is basically a program that keeps a list of emails that works like an announcement system. If you are on the list, you can send an email; to everyone else on the list by sneding it to a specific list. We created three (soon to be four) lists: MACO Members, Auditors and Treasurers, and Recorders. To send an email to a specific list, you could simply use your own email (outlook, etc.) and send it to an email address (
members@mncounty.org for MACO,
MACATFO@mncounty.org for Auditors/Treasurers, and
MCRA@mncounty.org for recorders. The system would know who is on the list and forward it on to the appropriate parties.
What this did was eliminate any delay whatsoever from when the reuest was sent to when the email was actually sent. It also had the exact wording and sentiment of the original sender (much more appropriate for things such as announcements of the passing of someone related to MACO for example).
Both systems are available for any one that still feels the need to have the "official" MACO email, but for simple matters of time, it is just as easy to send it using the lisstserv. If you have any other questions about the system, please let me know. Thanks for the question!
Joe Flannigan
MACO Communications Specialist/Web Coordinator
By Ryan Tangen
