No, you don't need any special technical skills to use DiscussThis.

You only need a computer with access to the Internet to set up, manage, and track your list.

All administrative and technical functions are performed for you automatically including member sign ups, unsubscribes, and message bounces.

People join your discussion list by responding to an invitation that you send them through DiscussThis or by signing up on your website.

No, there's no software to download. You can manage and monitor your email discussion list wherever you have web access.

No, only people who you invite and/or approve to be in your group can join. If someone tries to sign up using the Group Sign-Up Form that our service generates for you, then either you or another moderator that you authorized must approve that person before they are added to your group.

Yes, you can customize your members' Welcome message or use our template.

There are two likely possibilities:

1. Your system is not accepting cookies (some information that our system puts on your computer which enables you to open a session to use your account)
   
   To fix this: In your web browser, make sure that you allow cookies to be set from our system. In Internet Explorer 6 or higher, click on Tools, then Internet Options. Select Privacy and click on the Edit button at the bottom. Enter our web site address in the box and select Allow, then OK, then OK again. That will permit our system to set a cookie so that you do not encounter any login issues. If that didn't correct it, try the following:
   
   
   
2. Your date/time settings are not current
   
   To fix this: Go to Control Panel, then select Date/Time and make sure that your system's date and time setting is correct. If not, fix it and then retry logging in.

If neither of those actions fixed the error and you are getting prompted to set a cookie when you try to log in, please make sure you accept the cookie since we need that to run your session.

If not, try Netscape or another browser to verify that it is not any other error such as a typo or something in the login ID/password (password is case-sensitive).

Also as DiscussThis is a secure site, please visit your web browser's security settings to allow access to secure sites (those that begin with https:// instead of just http://). To do this you could open your browser (instructions shown below are for Internet Explorer), and go to:

Tools --> Internet Options --> Security --> Trusted Sites. Add our web site address starting with the "https://".

If that does not work, go to Tools --> Internet Options --> Advanced and scroll down to the Security settings and make appropriate adjustments or select Restore Defaults.

There are two likely possibilities: 1) your system is not accepting cookies (some information that our system puts on your computer which enables you to open a session to use your account), or 2) your date/time settings are not current.

In your web browser, make sure that you allow cookies to be set from our system. In Internet Explorer 6 or higher, click on Tools, then Internet Options. Select Privacy and click on the Edit button at the bottom. Enter our web site address in the box and select Allow, then OK, then OK again. That will permit our system to set a cookie so that you do not encounter any login issues. If you still encounter a problem, try this:

Go to Control Panel, then select "Date/Time" and make sure that your system's date and time setting is correct. If not, fix it and then retry logging in.

If this did not fix the error and you are getting prompted to set a cookie when you try to log in, please make sure you accept the cookie since we need that to run your session. If not, try Netscape or another browser to verify that it is not any other error such as a typo or something in the login ID/password (password is case-sensitive). Also as our's is a secure site, please visit your web browser's security settings to allow access to secure sites (those that begin with https:// instead of just http://). To do this you could open your browser (instructions shown below are for Internet Explorer), and go to:

Tools --> Internet Options --> Security --> Trusted Sites. Add our web site address starting with the "https://".

If that does not work, go to Tools --> Internet Options --> Advanced and scroll down to the Security settings and make appropriate adjustments or select Restore Defaults.

Our system sends a confirmation message to verify your email address instantly. So, if you have not received it, there are two possibile explanations:

1. The email address does not exist or is not forwarding email to you.
   
   
2. The confirmation message was filtered out by your email system.
   

If you know that the email address is working correctly, then the problem is likely due to email filtering. Here are two things you can do to verify and to resolve this issue:

1. Set your email address temporarily to one that is not in your email network. Using a Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, or perhaps a different personal email account will verify if our system did send you the address confirmation message. If you can receive the confirmation message there but not in your regular email box, then contact your system administrator or ISP to see what kind of filtering is being done and what they can do to alleviate the delivery issue.
   
   
2. If your email administrators do not use email filtering, check with your ISP to see if they filter your messages before delivering them to you. Surprisingly, this happens much more frequently than one might think. As a result, ISPs inadvertantly block legitimate email without informing their customers that their messages are being filtered.
   

If you have checked all of the above, you may request the actual email delivery record for the confirmation message that our system sent to you (must be requested within a few days of the delivery attempt). This information may help your email administrator or ISP in identifying the email message ID to determine why it was not delivered to your inbox.

When making your request, please include the date and time (U.S. Eastern time) that you tried to add or change your email address.

You can choose from one of our many "fill in the blank" invitation templates which are located in the "More Ways to Add Members" section within your invite members page.

If none of the existing templates meet your needs, you may choose the option "No, I want to build my list" when adding people to your group. You can then write your own invitation with a link to your DiscussThis sign up page (which we provide) and send it to your intended recipients through your own email program.