Send a private message to the moderator using the #Contact-Us hashtag. Messages and replies will not be seen by the group.

*Helpful Guide for Mobile Device Users. * For those of you that use smartphones or other mobile devices more than conventional computers to log into the L-5 forum or follow messages that get posted via email, you may find the following instructions useful. I suspect that because the Groups.io interface is new and not as intuitive as it could be for some users, you may be reluctant to use it or even take the time to learn how. Fear not. It doesn't take long to learn. I'm not very tech savvy, so if I could figure it out then you can too. Because this User Guide is closed to comments and questions, please use the Website Help forum instead if you want to post any questions or comments about it. *1) Layout -* The L-5 Forum is laid out very much like an ordinary computer filing system that has main folders and sub-folders. There is a *Main Group* , where you are now, and there are various *Subgroups* covering different areas of interest. Inside the Subgroups are specific topics relating to that group. The Main Group hosts the Guest Book , this User Guide , the Website Help forum, Special Notices , and the Contact Us utility. Subgroups that are currently active include *Maintenance* , *History* , *Marketplace* , *Events* , and *General Subjects.* Each Subgroup hosts one or more associated topics, each with a "hashtag" associated with it. More is explained about that in paragraph 4 below. In order to access these Subgroups so that you can post, read or reply to messages there, you must join them individually. You can do that from your *Admin Page* that is accessed through the *≡* icon in the upper right corner of your screen. *2) Navigation -* To navigate between the *Main Group* (i.e. the Home Page) and the *Subgroups* , tap the ≡ More icon at the bottom of your screen and then tap the *Subgroups* icon. A menu should appear with a list of the Subgroups you belong to. Simply select the one you would like to enter. To change Subgroups or return to the Main Group page, simply tap the ≡ More icon again and select your new destination. If you get totally lost and confused, you can click the *Groups.io* logo at the top of your screen and go back to the *Main Group* and start over. *3) Subgroups -* As mentioned above, the Subgroups have multiple subject areas in them that help keep things organized and reduce the incidence of messages being posted in the wrong place. Each subject within a Subgroup has a colored *"hashtag"* icon associated with it (explained in paragraph 4 below). Simply tap one of the hashtags to see those specific messages, or tap the *Messages* icon at the bottom of your screen to see all messages in that Subgroup. The subjects in each Subgroup are fixed and users cannot create new subject areas to post messages under. So, if there is an area you feel should be added to the forum, please use the Contact Us utility and make your pitch as to why it is needed. *4) Hashtags* - This forum is an email-based system and makes extensive use of a common device called a *Hashtag* that allows users to create, receive or reply to messages through their normal email service without having to visit the forum website. The hashtags are simply keywords with a hashmark (#) in front of them. Those of you who use Twitter are already familiar with using them. An example in the L-5 forum is *#Modifications* that is used to identify messages in the L-5 Maintenance subgroup that are about airframe and engine modifications. Every message has a hashtag associated with it and users cannot post a message without adding a hashtag to the subject line. To facilitate this, the subject line of the message form includes a drop-down menu of the available hashtags so that you don't have to remember them. You'll notice that on this website all hashtags are colored to aid in faster identification of specific subjects when browsing messages. Also, as mentioned in paragraph 3 above, the hash-tagged subjects are permanent and cannot be altered unless a forum moderator does it. Users can request a new subject to be added if it would be beneficial to the group. *5) Email* - Any member of the forum can receive or post messages directly through their normal email server (such as Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.) without having to visit the L-5 forum web page. This makes it convenient for people "on the go" to participate in the forum which is why the *Groups.io* format was chosen.. Every Subgroup has its own unique email address , and the ones currently active are shown below. You may want to add these to your email contacts list so that you don't have to remember them, just like your saved list of phone numbers. SOPA@StinsonL5.groups.io (Forum Main Group) Maintenance@StinsonL5.groups.io History@StinsonL5.groups.io Marketplace@StinsonL5.groups.io ( Masrketplace@StinsonL5.groups.io ) Events@StinsonL5.groups.io General-Subjects@StinsonL5.groups.io Please note that in these addresses *there is not a hyphen in L5* as is normally the case. In addition to using these addresses to post messages, you will also have to put an appropriate *#hashtag* in your subject line. Each Subgroup has its own set of hashtags but only the most popular are visible at all times under the heading *Top Hashtags* on the Subgroup pages. To view the full list in a particular Subgroup, tap *"See All"* , or tap the ≡ More icon at the bottom of the screen and select *# Hashtags* from the menu. The hashtags currently being used are... *Forum Main Group* #Contact-Us #Guestbook #Special-Notice #User-Guide #Website-Help *Maintenance Subgroup* #Inspection #Airframe-Repair #Airframe-Restoration #Engine-Maintenance #Engine-Overhaul #Engine-Accessories #Avionics #Electrical-System #Parts-Help #Modifications #Woodwork #Other-Maintenance *History Subgroup* #JimsBlog #L5-Trivia #WWII-History #Clevenger #L5-Photos #L5-Markings #Other-L-Birds #Miscellaneous-Topics *6) Restricting* *email* *messages -* There are three ways to regulate the messages you receive from this forum. *(a)* Join only the Subgroups that interest you. You will not receive any messages from the Subgroups that you do not join. However, this also restricts you from participating in those forums. *(b)* Go to "Manage My Subscriptions" by tapping the Admin icon *≡* in the upper right corner of your screen and then select the *Subscription: Individual* link in each Subgroup to manage your email delivery settings. Be sure to investigate the *Advanced Preferences* menu for additional options. *(c)* The third option allows the most customization. You can *Mute* the individual hashtags in each Subgroup, thereby filtering out messages posted in specific topics that don't interest you. The messages containing hashtags that you leave on will continue coming to your email in-box. In addition, when enabling the *Mute* feature, you can select a duration of time the mute will stay in effect, from an hour to forever. There are several ways to access the mute feature, but the easiest is to tap the *≡ More* icon at the bottom of your screen, select *# Hashtags* from the menu, and then tap the *Mute button* on the hashtag(s) you wish to suppress. To customize all the hashtags used on the L-5 forum you'll have to do this for each subgroup you have joined. It's time consuming but worth the effort if there are things you don't want to miss. Or, as some people do, just mute everything and only participate when you log onto the forum. *7) Summary -* Those are the essential features of the forum. There is much more that makes it a great tool to use and I encourage you to explore those features. Don't hesitate to reach out for individual assistance if you need it, but I am still learning myself so I am not an expert yet. It is growing on me though and I hope you will learn to appreciate it too. While not as familiar as other forum formats, ultimately this one appears to be a more useful platform than most others, has greater privacy and protection from intruders, contains zero commercial advertising, and you won't be bombarded with all the useless "chatter" that dominates the major social media websites such as Facebook. (JHG "The Moderator")

[This "sticky" was updated on November 25, 2020] WELCOME! This is the home of the Stinson L-5 discussion forum that used to be hosted by Yahoo Groups. The primary moderator of this forum is James Gray, also founder and chief bottle washer of the Sentinel Owners & Pilots Association. If you wish to contact Jim, reply to the "Contact Us" message and a private message will be sent. Alternately, visit the club's main website at www.sentinelclub.org and use the Contact Us link there. ABOUT THESE INSTRUCTIONS : This is a fairly quick and dirty tutorial of how to interact with this website. It's less complicated than the following description makes it sound and diving right is as good a way to learn as any, but new or infrequent visitors might want to review some of the following information anyway. ACCOUNT REQUIRED: You must be an approved member to participate here. If you were a member of the old Yahoo Groups L-5 forum, you may already be able to log in using the same old user name and password. If not, or you are completely new here, find the "Sign Up" link at the top of the page and fill out the application. It might take anywhere from a day to a week for approval, so have patience. Please include a brief paragraph on why you want to join, where you are located, and your full name. Anonymous accounts aren't allowed and aliases are discouraged. FORUM STRUCTURE: This forum has a top level "MAIN GROUP" used for special notices, instructions such as you are reading, and a few other things. It's a bit like the lobby of a convention center. Most everything that brings people here happens in the individual conference rooms calles SUBGROUPS. You must be in the correct Subgroup to see and reply to messages generated within that group. Each Subgroup has a limited number of set topics under which messages can be posted. The topics are identified by HASHTAGS which we'll get to in a few minutes if you haven't used them before. These topics are specific to the Subgroups they are associated and do not appear under any other Subgroup. For example, in the Maintenance & Restoration Subgroup there are twenty topics in all, such as inspection, engine overhaul, airframe restoration, woodwork, and so on. Be sure to sign up with any or all of the subgroups by selecting "Subgroups" in the navigation menu and then choosing those you want to join. If you do not sign up with a particular Subgroup then you will only be able to read the messages there but you will not be able to interact with them. Also, if you do not join a Subgroup you will not receive email notices about new messages that have been posted by other members. While that's a good way to cut down on email notifications, you might miss something important to you. The way around that is to manually choose which of the associated topics to let pass to your inbox. We do that in the HASHTAGS menu in each Subgroup. Again, we'll get to hashtags in a few minutes. MODERATED CONTENT: For the time being, the first message or two you post will be moderated, meaning it has to be approved by an administrator before it is posted. This can sometimes take several days to occur if the moderator has been busy. Your messages will moderated until you demonstrate that you are a legitimate and sincere user of our service. In some sections of this forum, however, all submissions will continue to be moderated, no matter how well known you might be to us. NAVIGATION: The quickest way to move around this website is to click "Subgroups" from the navigation menu to the left, or for mobile users, by selecting the menu icon on your screen. Clicking "Home" from the menu at the top of the list only takes you to the top level of the Subgroup you are already in, not to the Main Group. To go back to the Main Group you must select it from the Subgroups list. Another way to change the group you are in is to select "Your Groups" at the top of the page and choose a destination from the drop-down menu. RESPONDING TO A MESSAGE: As mentioned, you must be an approved member of the forum to respond to or create messages. There are TWO METHODS of responding to messages, (1) by logging into this forum or (2) by responding to message notifications that land in your mailbox. . Method (1): When logged into this website, select "Messages" on the left hand menu or click the Menu icon if you are a mobile device user. Next, open the message that you want to respond to and click "Reply". If you want to post a new message about a different topic, select "New Topic" from the menu instead. That's all there is to it. It's basically an email server within our website. Method (2): If you are using your personal email "app", you can respond directly to messages that land in your mail-box without logging onto the forum. The messages you receive depend on the notification preferences you have set. It's a simple matter of responding to a message as you would to any other email. To create a new topic via email is quite a bit more complex and I'll cover that in a moment. CREATING NEW MESSAGES: As with responding to messages, there are two methods of creating new messages. (1) by logging into this forum or (2) by sending an email. Method (1): When working within this website, go into the Subgroup you wish to post your new message in and simply click "New Topic" from the menu, add a hashtag to your subject line from the list provided, and you're in business. Method (2): There is an easy way, and a hard way to post new messages by email. . The easy way is to go to any message notification that you've previously received from the Subgroup you want to post a new message in, and then click "New Topic" at the bottom of that message. You will be brought directly to the forum and you can continue as above. The harder way, is to compose a message using the Subgroup email address and then append a hashtag to your subject line so that your message goes where you want it to. HASHTAGS: Hashtags are at the crux of the Groups.io platform and what literally make it tick. If you're like me and have barely caught up with the 21st century, hashtags may be foreign to you, but they're quite simple. A hashtag is simply a word or phrase that is preceded by the # symbol. Those words or phrases correspond to the set topic areas in each Subgroup and they simply make sure a message is posted in the right place. They are not unlike the signs posted at the ends of grocery store aisles telling you what types of products can be found there. They also help others interested in a certain topic to easily locate more content on that topic. ALL MESSAGES MUST INCLUDE A HASHTAG or they will not be sent. If you forget to add one, a warning box will prompt you to do so. Hashtags are are also color coded, making identification a bit easier. Click any hashtag and you will be presented with a list of all messages posted under that topic and color. Example: #L-5-Photos-WWII is a set topic found in the History Subgroup and the hashtags are orange. Notice the use of hyphens - no spaces are allowed. As mentioned, each Subgroup has multiple topics associated with it and each is unique to that subgroup. The list of all hastags associated with a particular Subgroup can be viewed by selecting "See All" next to the list of most used hashtags, or by selecting "Hashtags" from the navigation menu, or by viewing the drop-down list accessed from the subject line of an email message you are composing. HINTS: For composing new messages via email instead of logging onto the forum, you might want to have a list of the common hashtags handy so you don't have to log onto the website to remember what they are. I've added a list of the ones i most commonly use right in my email address book. EXAMPLES: When composing new messages via email instead of logging onto this forum, there are two steps. (1) Type the subgroup email address into the "Recipient" section of your message. That address begins with the Subgroup name followed by @StinsonL5.groups.io. Two xamples are - Maintenance@StinsonL5.groups.io and Marketplace@StinsonL5.groups.io (2) In the "Subject line" of your message, the subgroup name must be put in brackets (not parentheses), followed by your topic, and then followed by the appropriate hashtag. Two example are - [Maintenance] Please Help Me #Engine-Maintenance and [Marketplace] L-5 Widgets Wanted #L5-Parts MESSAGE SETTINGS: You can adjust your email preferences by clicking "Subscription" on the menu to the left. By clicking the link in the "Delivery" column for the group you're interested in changing you can regulate how much, if any, email you receive from the main group and each subgroup you have joined. You can also limit emails by choosing to receive only the first message in a thread. You can automatically add a signature line to your messages. However, please be reasonable and keep these short. Do not use the Gettysburg address or one of William Shakespeare's sonnets as your byline, as some people have been known to do. THANKS FOR STOPPING BY. You are encouraged to investigate the forum features in order to get a feel for the site format. If you're like me, it may take some getting used to how it all works. Don't be afraid to request help. The Wiki tab to the left isn't populated with instructions yet, but will eventually be where a full user manual will reside. In the mean time you can refer to the Group.io "Help" link above for general user information. PRIVACY. The messages posted here are only visible to visitors of this website, they will not be visible to internet search engines such as Google. That allows all members some degree of privacy, but it is still recommended that personal information such as phone numbers and email addresses be used sparingly or only posted in private email. This is also an ad-free and tracking-free website. Your data is never submitted to any ad tracking networks and we don't allow commercial advertising. FEEDBACK: Comments or suggestions are appreciated. Please reply to this message using the hashtag #Feedback to let us know how we are doing or if something can be improved. Cheers, Jim Gray