A system notification message from

[Guest guest]

On the morning of November 8, will down for 30 minutes

for a system upgrade. During that time the website will be

unavailable but email to groups will be queued for delivery later.

We are making the following upgrades to the product:

 

1) New Email Format

2) Grouping Messages by Topic (Message Threading)

3) Advanced Search Functionality

4) Automatic Spam Suppression

5) Integration with Answers

 

1) New Email Format: Learn more about it here

http://help./help/aa/groups/email/index.html

 

The default message format for Groups email will change to a new,

two column structure called the "fully featured" format. We have

also upgraded the daily digest to make the index clickable and to

sort messages by subject as well as chronologically to make it

possible for users to read only the topics they are interested in

and to skip the rest.

 

We are also maintaining the "Traditional" Groups email format, so

users will have the option to choose the format that works best for

them.

 

2) Grouping Messages by Topic (Message Threading): Learn more about

it here http://help./help/aa/groups/messages/index.html

 

The new "group by topic" feature (or "Topic View") in the Messages

section and on the Group Home Page enables users to find all the

posts in a specific conversation (or thread) together.

 

3) The advanced search functionality: Learn more about it here

http://help./help/aa/groups/search/index.html

 

The core search functionality has been upgraded. It will now search

the entire message archive of a group, no matter how many messages

have been posted, faster and comprehensively.

 

4) Support for Spam filtering: Learn more about it here

http://help./help/aa/groups/spamfiltering/index.html

 

already routes all message through our SpamGuard spam

identification and tags messages identified as potential spam. Now,

these messages will no longer be posted automatically in unmoderated

groups. Instead, they will be put in a special "Pending Spam" folder

where a group owner or moderator can review and either approve or

delete the message.

 

5) Answers Integration: Learn more about it here

http://help./help/aa/groups/answers/index.html

 

Groups will be integrating with Answers through an "Answers

Module" that will appear on the Group Home Page. Groups will have

the ability to choose the specific Answers category that is most

relevant to their group. And as with all functionality on Groups

today, it is the owner/moderator of the group that gets to decide

its settings whether an application appears in the group at all.

 

Please alert your group to these changes, so they are not surprised

by either the downtime or the new functionality.

 

Thank you,

 

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