creating message board for private use - HOA board

1,406 Views | 16 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by adamsbq06
62strat
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AG
I'm on my HOA board and one thing I struggle with is organizing the huge amount of emails and communication about stuff. You get reply alls about a subject that end up not being on the same email chain, you get off topic discussions in replies, etc.

I feel like it would be a world of improvement for the board to have a private message forum, just like texags. I used to use one with friends ~10 years ago that one of the friends set up.

It could be organized, just like texags, with different forums for different needs (financially related, homeowner violation/issue related, improvements/ideas, meetings/scheduled events, etc) then in each forum you have your topics where all the related info can easily be grouped, found and referenced.

What is the easiest way to set something like this up? Even it has a small cost/fee, I think I can get my board to go with it, as surely I'm not the only one that has these frustrations.


For instance, right now, we are dealing with a lot of dead trees due to the recent cold winter. The requirements for a new tree is 2.5" caliper, and we have 2 homeowners that put in less than that, and I swear myself and the rest of board agreed we aren't making homeowners pull out a perfectly healthy tree just to replace it with one slightly larger.

Yet these homeowners got letters from our manager telling them to replace it, and now are telling me this makes no sense to pull out these healthy trees.

For the life of me, I can't find the email where we agreed on this. It's buried in the 500 other emails from this year and might even be on some off topic email chain.

Any help would be appreciated. It would need to be very easy to set up and manage users/layout.
JDCAG (NOT Colin)
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AG
62strat said:


For instance, right now, we are dealing with a lot of dead trees due to the recent cold winter. The requirements for a new tree is 2.5" caliper, and we have 2 homeowners that put in less than that, and I swear myself and the rest of board agreed we aren't making homeowners pull out a perfectly healthy tree just to replace it with one slightly larger.



You should be able to find some generic forum software - many will be one click installs through whoever you choose to host with. You could look for one click installations of Discourse, for instance.

Mostly, I wanted to just commend you for the bolded line above!
Roger That
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AG
Is this for the entire HOA or just the board to communicate?

If for just the board, slack would be a good choice if you pay the fee for unlimited history.
62strat
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AG
Roger That said:

Is this for the entire HOA or just the board to communicate?

If for just the board, slack would be a good choice if you pay the fee for unlimited history.
Not sure what you mean the 'entire HOA', but this is for the HOA board of directors (BOD), the 5 people (or less) who are currently serving. So there would need to be an admin position that maybe 2 of the board members know credentials to, and then each member has their own individual account.

This is not for the all of the homeowners in the neighborhood, we have a FB group for that.

rbcs_2
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AG
Never really used it myself, but isn't this the general idea behind a subreddit?
62strat
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AG
rbcs_2 said:

Never really used it myself, but isn't this the general idea behind a subreddit?
I don't know, I've never used reddit either.

I want a very easy and concise layout, like texags, and most other forums I've visited. reddit looks much different to me.
Aggietaco
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AG
62strat said:

Roger That said:

Is this for the entire HOA or just the board to communicate?

If for just the board, slack would be a good choice if you pay the fee for unlimited history.
Not sure what you mean the 'entire HOA', but this is for the HOA board of directors (BOD), the 5 people (or less) who are currently serving. So there would need to be an admin position that maybe 2 of the board members know credentials to, and then each member has their own individual account.

This is not for the all of the homeowners in the neighborhood, we have a FB group for that.


Slack would be a good option if y'all are OK with a monthly fee.
aezmvp
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Discord not an option?
boy09
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AG
Maybe?

https://gogladly.com/

https://gogladly.com/hoa-message-board/
Sea Speed
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AG
Here's one you may or may not remember

Members.boardhost.com/houstonscene
Sea Speed
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AG
62strat said:

rbcs_2 said:

Never really used it myself, but isn't this the general idea behind a subreddit?
I don't know, I've never used reddit either.

I want a very easy and concise layout, like texags, and most other forums I've visited. reddit looks much different to me.


Texags will license their format with a different theme. No idea the cost.
Tailgate88
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AG
Slack. I use it for two companies I work with, band boosters, client projects. It's free for small groups.
kb2001
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AG
Slack is an excellent choice. You don't sound like you need a message board, you sound like you need better organized and streamlined communication.

Slack used to have a free option, the limiting factor being that it only keeps 10,000 messages of history, or something like that.
91AggieLawyer
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AG
There is also Facebook groups that you can make hidden. They are not only private -- invitation only, but non-searchable. So you form it, make it hidden, then send out specific invitations. Then, when new members come on or roll off, people can come on and leave. You can post pics, videos, make posts, threads, etc.

I know not everyone is on FB, but you can establish an account for only that purpose just like you would for any other system. And those that are on it can just merge right in. Easy and free.
winmck
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S
We have a private Facebook page. Works well but all most do is ***** and complain. We had to setup a second group for the non BSC residents to have intelligent conversations.
bigtruckguy3500
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Agree on Slack.

If you aren't familiar with Slack you can search YouTube to learn more about it. But basically it's like a series of chatrooms that are separated by topic. People can post messages in the chatroom, along with files. You can respond to each message in the chatroom as a direct response to that message if you want to keep things organized. Or you can be like some folks and just use it like a chatroom and respond to messages with other messages.

Free version of Slack also stores 10,000 messages for free. So depending on how much you communicate, you may not need to pay for it for a long time.
Stat Monitor Repairman
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A message board is the ultimate way to self govern small groups, imo.

Every single document and communication related to the organization is posted on the message board.

Everyone knows exactly where everyone stands.

The issues are debated.

There is a voting function.

Whatever passes gets executed IRL.

Everybody can see how everybody else votes and who is participating and who is not.

Everything is out in the open.

No secrets.

No drama.

No bs.

Somebody try it.

adamsbq06
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AG
One more vote for slack
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