Board¶
Info
You need the permission to manage posts; to moderate the comments, the one to manage comments.
The board is the channel through which the organization talks to volunteers.
Publishing a communication¶
From the Board, News tab, create a new post.
| Field | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Title | text, required | what is read in the list and in the notification |
| Text | long text, required | the body of the communication |
| Image | file | the post's cover image |
Attachments are given the file and a Name describing them.
Choosing who reads it¶
The recipients field decides who reads it:
| Value | Effect | Field to fill in |
|---|---|---|
| Public | all the organization's members see it | none |
| By person | only the people chosen | People |
| By task | only those with one of the tasks chosen (for instance drivers only) | Tasks |
| By group | only members of the groups chosen (for instance Team A) | Groups |
How the recipients are calculated¶
The filters add up, they do not intersect: choosing a task and a group, the post reaches those who have that task or are in that group, not only those with both. To really narrow it down, use only one filter.
The list of recipients is calculated at publication and recalculated at every edit of the post. Those who take on that task or join that group afterwards receive nothing while the post stays as it is; if you reopen and save the post, however, they enter the recipients and receive the notification at that moment. If the content has to apply to newcomers too, the clean route is to make it Public.
A non-public post must have at least one filter: without it, AppToMe does not save it (The post is private but has no recipients). There is no such thing as a private post with no recipients.
Only people with an account receive the post: a registry record with no linked user cannot be reached from the board. It is one of the reasons why some communications "do not arrive" to someone.
The filter is useful but should be used in moderation: an important notice sent to half the organization creates more confusion than one sent to everyone. And remember that those not in the filter do not know the post exists.
Comments and reactions¶
Volunteers can "like" and comment. With the permission to manage comments you can act on the inappropriate ones.
A comment is just text, with no other fields; replying to an existing comment, the reply stays attached below it.
Everyone can edit and delete their own comments. With the permission to manage comments, from the Actions menu (⋮ button) you can edit and delete anyone's: it is the tool to remove personal data that ended up on the board or to close a discussion that went off the rails.
How reporting works¶
When a volunteer reports a comment, that comment disappears immediately from every volunteer's view and stays visible only to staff. There is no approval queue: the removal is immediate, and the assessment comes after.
From there you have two routes: remove the comment, or undo the report and put it back on the board. Do it quickly: until you decide, someone has been silenced by another person, not by you.
A volunteer can also block another volunteer: they stop seeing their comments. It is a private choice, no report reaches you and nothing is required on your part.
A post with reported comments is marked in the list, so the queue is visible without opening everything. The board is a space belonging to the organization, and moderation is part of the job.
News¶
News are the official channel towards volunteers, separate from the board: they arrive as a dedicated message, with a push notification and an email, and stay consultable in the app.
They are drafted from AppToMe's administration panel, not from the app, and can be addressed to all users, to staff only or to admins only of one or more organizations.
Two things to know before writing one:
- every recipient receives it in their own language. The communication is written in several languages and AppToMe picks the one from the reader's profile — text, title and notification preview included. If a language is missing, whoever has that language still receives something, but not translated: write both versions;
- it arrives on three channels at once — push notification, email and the News entry in the app. Those who turned off push notifications find it in the app and in their inbox anyway.
Use them for the announcements that really have to reach everyone; the board for the organization's everyday life.