MessagingSystem

This wiki is designed to exchange messages with other members and customer/tech support for the OutboundIndex.

Each Member has a page, named for the domain he or she has verified control of.

Write the message ON YOUR OWN PAGE, and include the name of the page belonging to the person you are writing to, in the message. They will see the link to your message, when they click on the title of their own page, which displays "backlinks" - all pages which link to their page. They can comment on your page to reply, or include your page name in their reply typed on their own page, which you would then see in your backlinks.

How to create your page

If you are a member and using the same IP address you had when you signed up, http://outboundindex.org/ will bring up the Outbound Index Dashboard.

Near the lower right of the dashboard page, under AUTHENTICATION, is a link: My Wiki Page. Click that link. If your wiki page exists, it will open your wiki page. If your wiki page does not exist, it will be created when you click on the link. (See our WorkInProgress page for planned enhancements, including notification options when you have new messages, and giving members full edit control of their pages.)

Details of page name requirements: The page name cannot contain punctuation, so spell out "dot" or "dash" where they appear in the domain name. For the sake of consistency, we suggest only capitalizing the first letter of the domain, and the first letter of any Dot or Dashes in the domain. Example: OutboundindexDotorg?. (It may seem odd if you are unfamiliar with Wikis. Wikis depend on CamelCase? words to work easily.)

Privacy Caution: Messages you exchange on a wiki are not private. It is likely that other members and at this point, the general public can find and read what you write. You can send private messages to Outbound Index personnel using the forms on the OutboundIndex.org website, bottom of every page. However, unless you indicate that the reply to your message is to be kept confidential, and you give contact info for reaching you by private means, we will still post the reply to your question on your Wiki-page.

Why type my messages to others, on my own page?

The 11th commandment may be something like "SPAM THYSELF ONLY." Some people are more verbose than others. You can get verbose on your own page, without disturbing your neighbors. You'll find that Wiki pages have a limit - they start breaking if you try to post the complete works of E.A. Poe into one page - this may be God's way of telling you to delete some unneeded stuff, or find the time Mark Twain didn't have, and write a shorter letter.

You can always link to data of any length, by putting the content on your own website and keeping your Wiki posted message very short, with a link to your own website. Members who post mis-leading or irrelevant links of course will tend to have their privileges down-sized.

Why not use email?

1. We don't ever want to send anyone an email, unless we know they are the one who asked for it. Joe Jobguy could tell us that bob@test.com wants us to send him a price list. We send bob@test.com even an email asking - Bob did you ask us to email you? Then Bob says yes or no, or his content filter or challenge response system stops us... ad nauseum. Or Bob just reports us to blacklists, because he did not ask us to email him anything.
2. We'd be willing to email you if you have verified control of the domain in your email.
3. Allowing members to exchange messages on the Wiki - a controlled environment where we can offer increasing levels of protection from frivolous / malicious / time-wasting - allows each member to keep their email address private.
4. "Good stuff" of long term value, on email lists tends to get lost in the spaghetti nature of it, even when mailing lists are archived on the web. With dedication, good stuff can be organized logically on the Outbound Index Wiki and also found through the search box.
5. A record of what has been said regarding an incident or topic is difficult to accurately maintain in email.