In case of deletion or wish to review this is the email sent to existing members inviting you to use the new membership system.
Hiya,
We’re launching a new Membership System. There is a lot in this email and I ask you to read it with care - coffee, warm slippers and a cold towel round your head may help.
PRELIMINARY 1: You will receive emails from: scottishthistleshockeywebsite@gmail.com. Please ensure to un-spam or white-list these otherwise you won’t receive, for example, “password reset” email links.
PRELIMINARY 2: For the links below you can either click on them, copy and paste them into your browser or go to the website under Join Us and find the relevant section.
REGISTRATION PROCESS
TYPE OF MEMBERSHIP: The vast majority should click on the button for Full Playing Membership. Associate members can of course click on the button for Associate. Life Members should register as Full Playing and we shall amend at system level.
HOW TO REGISTER: Access is by this address and follow the words of wisdom:
Note: The email address you first enter becomes your permanent Login Username. The email address can subsequently be changed but the Username cannot.
LANDING PAGE: After clicking confirm you will be taken to a Landing Page which has links to Shirts and Payments. If your Thistles account is less than £30 in surplus please make your payment for renewal of membership.
CONFIRM EMAIL: After completing the form you will immediately receive from scottishthistleshockeywebsite@gmail.com an email asking you to confirm your email address (check your spam if need be). You cannot login until this is done.
Once your email address is confirmed you will receive a “welcome” email. For reasons explained at the end this is the email sent to all New Members, so for an existing member it is interesting but perhaps less relevant.
WHAT DOES THIS NEW MEMBERSHIP SYSTEM ADD?
PROFILE: The information you enter such as your address is stored as your “Profile”. When you log in you can check and amend this information to keep it up to date without re-completing the whole form. We shall add your unique Player ID and your shirt number.
ACCESS TO MEMBERS-ONLY INFO: Website information private to Thistles will only be able to be accessed via your Login. This will include Thistles account balances for example.
REGISTERING FOR AN EVENT: We’ve separated: “Apply For” which means I would like to play, from “Commit To” where the event coordinator has offered me a place in the squad.
EVENT APPLY FOR and COMMIT TO, in brief
APPLY FOR AN EVENT is now by any means: website Event Diary, WhatsApp, email or personal contact. It is for the Age Group/Event Coordinator to gather all the applicant names from all sources and use the procedures relevant to the Event to compile the squad.
Once the squad is finalised those involved will be sent via email or WhatsApp a website link to the “Commit To” page for the event. This link is the only way to access this page as it will not be visible on the website.
COMMIT TO AN EVENT: To play you access the link provided using your Full Playing Membership login. On the page by clicking the button you confirm to the Coordinator, Treasurer amongst others that you accept the Non-Refundable Deposit and the conditions.
More details on Apply and Commit can be accessed here:
WHY ARE SOME SCREEN MESSAGES A BIT BLUNT?
The new software achieves most of what we need (including being very economic) however it is sometimes clutzy. For some of the on-screen messages we have no choice what they say or how they are laid out. Another limitation is that we can personalise the email that a new member receives but it only allows the same email for everyone (hence why you will receive a new member email as an existing member).
So if you get an on-screen message that uses non-Thistles terms try to think the best of it and when filling in any details use some common sense (£5 a packet from Amazon). Of course if any of you can code in PHP, work for free and have lots of spare time then get in touch 🙂
FINALLY (enough already…)
GOOD NEWS: The new system lets you be in control of your data, allows the Age Group Coordinators more easily to access it and it reduces the risk of bots, off-their-trollies and other online risks.
BAD NEWS: It uses Captcha. I can’t help you with what a “crosswalk” or a “fire hydrant” looks like but any other issues you are welcome to ask.