General User's Frequently Asked Questions

I am new to Gaggle. Is there something that will help me get started?

Yes, we suggest that you download a copy of the QuickStart Guide. The QuickStart contains a handout explaining all of the important functions of Gaggle.

Can I change my User Name?

Student users cannot change their User Name by themselves. Your teacher change your screen name for you. Ask your teacher and they will probably change the User Name for you.

Anyone with teacher access level or higher can change his or her User Name. After logging in with you original User Name, click on the 'options' button which is located at the upper left hand side of your screen. Type your new User Name into the 'User Name' field. Then click on the 'update' button.

There is a typo in my Full Name (i.e. John Smith) Can I change it?

Student users cannot change their Full Name by themselves. Your teacher change your Full Name for you.

Anyone with teacher access level or higher can change his or her Full Name. After logging in, click on the 'options' button which is located at the upper left hand side of your screen. Make any changes you want to the 'Full Name' field. Then click on the 'update' button.

How do I change my password?

After logging in with your original password, click on the 'options' button which is located at the upper left hand side of your screen. Type your new password into the 'password' field and into the 'verify password' field. Then click on the 'update' button.

It is important that you do not choose an obvious password. If other people can guess your password they can login as you and read your mail. We suggest that you change your password every 60-90 days or if you feel someone is logging on as you please change it as soon as possible.

What if I forget my password?

If you forget your password, you should ask your Teacher to give you a new password. No one on the system can see what your old password was.

Your teacher will have to assign you a brand new password. Once you log back in you can change the password to whatever you want by clicking the red Options button.

If you have a Staff, Teacher, or School Administrator account, you should also ask for a new password. Anyone with a higher access level on Gaggle can give you a new password. For example, a School Administrator is higher than a Teacher account.

If you are the School Master for your Gaggle group, you should send an email to admin@gaggle.net. We will mail a new password to the email address you gave us when you signed up for the service.

Educator's can give users new passwords by going to the user list screen and clicking on the user's name. Enter the new password in the two fields and press the Update button. For security reasons, there is no way to see the old password. You must assign a new password.

What is a password 'hint'?

A hint is something that will remind only you what your password is. It should not be something so obvious that someone else will be able to figure out your password.

Here are some examples of bad hints:

Any of the above passwords and hints would be very easy to guess. Someone else could login and send bad messages pretending to be you!

I am a teacher. Is there a special help section for me?

Yes there is a special 'Teacher Help' section. It is only available if you are logged in as an educator.

1. Go back to the main mail screen.
2. Look on the left side of the screen underneath where it says 'Group Admin' or 'Student Admin'.
3. Click on the 'Teacher Help' link.

How do I send an email on Gaggle?

Click on the 'write mail' button, this will bring you to the write mail screen.

1. Type an email address in the 'To' field. If you are sending to more than one person separate their email addresses with a comma. If you don't know the address click on the 'lookup' button (which contains a drop down menu) that will show you all the names from your personal address book. Select a name from the menu and click the 'Add to' button to put the person's name into the 'To' field.
2. The 'Add CC' button allows you to create a CC list for the email. This will send it to additional people.
3. It is recommended that you give a subject to all of your messages. This is what appears in your inbox so the recipient knows what the message is about prior to opening it.
4. You may also send attachments with you email. (Please see below for instructions)
5. Then type your message in the 'message' box.
6. Click on 'send.'

Why did I get a Failure Notice when I sent my message?

Whenever an email does not go through you will receive a Failure Notice. This is an automatic response from the system.

The MAILER-DAEMON is not a person. You should not try to reply to these messages.

The failure message usually starts off with " Hi. This is the qmail-send program at gaggle.net." The message will go on to explain why the email was returned to you. Below is an explanation of the different reasons:

Sorry, I couldn't find any host by that name. (#4.1.2) <floop5@gaggle.com > - This message means that the domain name is invalid or does not exist. In the case above the address should be 'gaggle.net' instead of ".com'.

< jeff@gaggle.net >: Could not connect to database - This message indicates that the Gaggle system is having a problem. You should wait a while and then try re sending your email.

< jaff@gaggle.net >: unknown user - This error message means that there is no user on the system with the screen name 'jaff'. You should check to make sure that you typed the correct user name in the 'To' field. Most of the time you will discover that you made a mistake.

The mail you sent to [ soums11@quickdot.com ] is undeliverable. The user does not exist on our system. - This is the same error as above, but it is from the Quickdot mail server. The Quickdot mail server does not have a user named 'soums11'. You should check to make sure that you typed the correct user name in the 'To' field.

--- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors --- bigbird@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu - This is the same error as above, but it is from the UCF mail server. The UCF mail server does not have a user named 'bigbird'. You should check to make sure that you typed the correct user name in the 'To' field.

Sorry MAILER-DAEMON@gaggle.net. Your mail to tacomacho could not be delivered because tacomacho is not accepting mail with attachments - This is a message from another mail server. The user at this other mail server is not allowed to receive attachments. Try re sending the message without an attachment. If the attachment is a text file, just paste the text into the email.

How do I send an attachment with my email?

After logging in and clicking on the 'write mail' button, sending attachments with Gaggle is a two-step process:

1. Click the 'browse' button.
2. A new window will appear asking you to locate the file you want to open. Locate the desired file.
3. Click the 'upload' button to attach the file to your email. This may take a while depending upon how large the file is that you are uploading.
4. Click on 'send.'

Your school master does have the ability to turn off the attachment option. If this option is turned off you will not see the 'browse' or 'upload' buttons. In addition all incoming messages with attachments will be sent to your Administrator for review.

I am having trouble receiving attachments. Are there some guideline you can offer?

The way that attachments come through depends a lot on the way your web browser is set up. The preference for helper applications specifies what the browser should do with each type of file it receives. For instance, browsers are set to immediately display jpeg and gif images.

We suggestion that you compress your images into either zip or sit files before you send them. This makes them smaller and makes them easier to read when uncompressed on the receiving computer. It's especially important if you are on a Macintosh since the file and creator type informatin gets lost when sent over the internet.

How do I set up my address book?

If you wish to add names & addresses to your address book that are in your class, school, or district, the easiest way is to click on the 'Group List' button. This will show you all the members of your group, school, or district. Check the names you want added to your address book and then click 'add.'

If you wish to add an address to your address book of someone outside of Gaggle or your group, click on the 'addresses' button to first check your address book. If the person does not appear you may now add them at the bottom of the screen by typing in the email address and the person's full name. Then click 'add.' The address will appear added to the list the next time you click on 'addresses.'

Who can I send email with?

You should only send email to people who you know and have been approved by your parents and/or teachers.

You can start by clicking on the red Group List button. This screen contains the email address of everyone else at your school.

Sometimes when I send an email I get a message back at the top of my screen in a red box . . . what do these messages mean?

"Your message has been diverted to __________"
This means that your message has been rerouted to your administrator's blocked folder. You may have used inappropriate message, sent a message to a person not on your approved list, or sent an attachment.

" Error creating message"
This means you probably have a punctuation mark such as an apostrophe in the subject field of the message. We are currently working on fixing this.

How do I save a message if I'm not finished but I need to log off?

If you wish to save your message to be finished at a future time just click on the 'drafts' button at the bottom of the message. (It is right next to the 'send' button) The message will appear in your 'drafts' folder the next time you log on.

I was wondering, if I don't have a Drafts folder where will my draft messages be saved?

The system creates a "Drafts" folder as soon as you save the first draft message.

Why do the web pages seem to be pulling from memory and not reloading from the site?

The browser is simply caching the page.

On Netscape:

1. Hold down the shift key and press the reload button. This forces the browser to go get a newer version of the web page.
2. Go to the Edit menu choose Preferences. At the bottom of preferences there is a choice for Cache. Choose "Check Every Time"

How do I fix the Javascript errors? or nothing happens when I click Select All.

The Gaggle web site uses Javascript in several places. Javascript is a part of your web browser that enables interactivity. The Gaggle web site will function without Javascript, but it is best to have Javascript turned on.

How do I turn Javascript on?

Netscape Navigator 3.0 or newer.

1. Go to "Edit" menu. At the bottom you will see a menu choice for
   " preferences". Choose this item.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the category list.
3. Click once on the word "Advanced."
4. Locate the check box for "Enable Javascript." Make sure this box is
   checked.
5. It's also a good idea to check the box for "Enable Style Sheets"
6. When your done click the "OK" button.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0+

1. Go to "Edit" menu. At the bottom you will see a menu choice for
   " preferences". Choose this item.
2. Under the "Web Browser" section you will see the choice for "Web Content."
   Click Web Content.
3. Select the "Enable Scripting" check box.
4. Click the "OK" button.