Sending and receiving texts

Texting is off until an admin turns it on — see Turning on text messaging. Once it is on, there are two places to send from, and members can text back.

Texting about an event

The Send SMS button on an event page reaches the families going to that event — anyone who answered "yes" for an adult or a scout. Nobody else.

That is deliberate. A message attached to an event should reach the people attending it; a leader who is not going to the campout does not need the departure time. A leader who is going gets the text like any other participant.

The compose box shows how many people will receive it and how many messages that costs before you send.

Reaching anyone else about an event

Use email. "Please RSVP", "here's what you missed", "maybe-list, we still have room" are all real needs, but a text costs money per recipient, cannot be muted, and lands on a lock screen — which is out of proportion to a reminder. The mailing lists cover those audiences at no per-message cost.

Texting the whole troop

Admin > Communication > Send a Text reaches everyone in the troop, or just the leaders. This is for things that are not about one event: a weather cancellation, an urgent change of plan.

What a text looks like

Every troop on MyTroop sends from the same phone number, so messages carry a label:

[Geneva 36] Clark M: Departure moved to 7am. Bring rain gear.

Admins can change the troop label and how much of the sender's name appears under Admin > Settings > Message Labels. Because every character is billed, a shorter troop label leaves more room for the message itself.

Replying

Members can reply straight to the message, and they can text the number any time.

Because a text message carries no "which conversation is this?" information — and because every troop shares one number — MyTroop asks before it sends anything on:

[Geneva 36] Send to? 1 Fall Campout - going (18) 2 Just Clark M 3 Troop leaders (6) Reply 1-3 or C to cancel

Reply with the number and it goes out. Reply C, or ignore it, and nothing is sent. (Replying cancel stops all troop texts instead — carriers reserve that word for opting out, so it never reaches us as a message.) Nothing ever leaves without somebody choosing an audience and seeing how many people are in it.

What a member is offered depends on who they are:

• Anyone can reply to a recent conversation, text about an event they are attending, or reach the troop's leaders.
• Leaders can additionally text everyone in the troop.

A member cannot text the whole troop — that is what the all@ mailing list is for.

Photos

A photo texted in is saved to your troop and shared as a link, not as a picture message (a picture message costs several times more per person). If the conversation is about an event, the photo lands in that event's album; otherwise it goes to the troop's texted-photos album.

Recipients need to be signed in to view it, like any other troop photo.

Opting out

Replying STOP to any message stops all texts from MyTroop to that number immediately, and MyTroop records it — the member stops appearing as a recipient straight away.

Texting START does not turn messages back on. Because consent has to be given against the terms shown at the time, a member turns texting back on in their own profile.