Frequently Asked Question on TheMind's Bulletin Board (TheMindBB)

Welcome to TheMind's Bulletin Board (TheMindBB) Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) section.Please Currently more than 50,000 people are in the mailing list and we would definitely be growing :-)

The members of this loop ranging from (non-exhaustive)
- Academic Experts (Medicine, Engineering, IT, Business Admin, Finance, Sport Science etc)
- Industry Experts (Corporate Advisors, GMs, Managing Directors, Consultants, Managers etc)
- Professionals (Engineer, Doctor, Accountants, Architects, Executives etc)
- Leaders of Organizations/NGO's/Charitable Bodies
- Business Enthusiastic (Small and Medium Scale Business Operators/Self Employed Agents etc)
- Students (Primary/Secondary/Colleges/Universities)

To break the ice, the below are some of the FAQ over this initiative.

1. What is TheMind ?
THE Malaysian Indian educatioNal Development (THEMIND) Association is a non-profit based NGO which is registered with Registrar of Society Malaysia, aimed to help our community in area of education consist of members who are with PhD, some doing PhD and many are with Masters qualification. We are maintaining close relationship with many academic experts within and outside the country to work together to reach the association’s objective.

2. Objective of TheMind Bulletin Board (TheMindBB) ?
TheMind have been networked with many individuals previously and after discussion with several professionals and leaders of corporate organizations, we decided to formalize these contacts in an organized way and invite as many Indians as we can, to be connected with us. We believe as an individual or as a particular NGO, many are doing great contribution to the society in every small way they can and being 1.8 million members in this society it is important, focus given to self-help, work on the strength we have and pool the resources to reach the common mass for the common benefit of our community. We are aimed to create a symbiotic relationship with as many Indians as possible to enable the community to share what they have and also to benefit what they in need through this mailing list, at the same time highlight the positive effort of the society and progress together as a team.Via TheMindBB, we also educate the common mass on the various opportunities lies around us where we could pick up to help ourselves to move one step further.

3. What do we mean by resources?
Anything which we could offer (information/time/energy etc) benefiting another Indian where it might give them an opportunity to move one step higher, without we compromising our quality and ethics. This could be information sharing on
- Charity Activity,
- Scholarship/Loan Information,
- Seminar/Talks,
- Job Opportunities,
- Activities announcement from various organizations benefiting various target groups, etc

4. Will the emails from TheMindBB flood my inbox?
Not really as our commitment is to mail maximum 1 email per day. This means there would be day you won't get any emails from us.

5. What do I do if I have information to share inline with TheMindBB's objective?
a. Email your write-up (in text format, not as an attachment) concisely to svanan77@gmail.com
b. Do not use abbreviations which does not suit for presenting information to the reader such as 'fr' for 'from', '4' for 'for', 'acct' for account as it would be taking a big toll of time for editing.
c. Don't forget to include the relevant individual's email address in the write-up if readers need further information.
d. If there are any web providing the information, just provide the link. This would save the bandwidth and brief messages would ensure more readership.
e. Allow some lead time before the message is posted as we committed to send only 1 email per day the maximum.

6. What to do if I would like to seek assistance (Seeking Job, Guidance etc)?
a. Verify if you have first helped yourself ie. Have tried using various internet search engines, made attempts to ask to your peers, refered newpapers,magazines etc.
b. Email your write-up (in text format, not as an attachment) concisely to svanan77@gmail.com
c. Do not use abbreviations which does not suit for emailing such as 'fr' for 'from', '4' for 'for', 'acct' for account as it would be taking a big toll of time for editing.
d. Don't forget to include the relevant email address in the write-up if readers would like to communicate further.
e. Allow some lead time before the message is posted as we committed to send only 1 email per day the maximum.

7. Why sometimes I do see, grammatical mistakes in the bulletin.
We get about 200 emails on average each day. To process emails, we always come to work at least 1 hour ealier to compile all the information got from the members in 1 long bulletin and don't use my office time for this. Our task is getting tougher each day :) when the amount of email increases. Thus, often you might see grammatical and spelling mistakes along the way as a product of haste as all need to be done in 1 hour - the focus was given to disseminate the information. Do hang on to this till we could find a better process in place as I and my team am not doing this on a full time basis, its just a passion to assist the community within the team.

8. Thats a lot of emails in a day. How can we help you then?
a. Send the info in text format i.e. type it in the content of your email, large size of attachments and large number of emails deter us for opening up attachments as it takes ages to open especially when you are on dial-up connections.
b. When an email is sent to share information do check if the information would help to upgrade another person one step further in any angle. Quite a number of the emails camouflaged and seems to upgrade the senders monitarily only (We disregard them as soon as we sense them of course).
c. When a posting is shared do write in the way, other similar postings are written in the past bulletins, in 3rd party conversation, don't oversell (remember we are not promoting a product but only pooling resources). Its enough to put the info in the plate and let the takers to make the decision to pick it up (Self Help).

9. Can I post the same information over a program organised in daily basis?
We limit repetitive postings to give better visibility for new information.

10. Can I do product or service promotions or adverts?
TheMindBB is designed to pool resources and not as an advertising board. We don't do product and service promotions, its not part of our objective and we believe there are lots of existing avenues for such activities e.g taking up advertising space in Newspapers and Magazines.
There would sometimes be a gray area between pooling resources and product promotion, in that avenue the former component would be stressed in the postings.

11. Can I post Spiritual based Programs?
We do not handle spiritual based activities in TheMindBB as we like to focus on what we have in common rather than the differences.But if any religious organisation handling social or educational issues such as scholarship, medical camps and etc within their community are welcomed to post it in the bulletin as eventhough you are covering a sub portion of the Indian community it is still contributing to the overall progress of the Indians community.

12. I am looking for Job and would like to post a message in TheMindBB? How?
Do not send us your resume. Getting high number of emails would deter us to open attachements (resumes/cover letter/recommendation letter etc). Thus, when sending a request to find a job, ensure the below basic information are in the content of your email, in text format. (Not as attached cover letter or resume)
a. Position you are looking for
b. Your education and academic strengths
c. Your contact details e.g email (No Phone numbers pls, we are promoting email as a tool for communications)
d. Additional Info e.g Places/States which is convenient, transport etc

13. I would like to post for a Vacancy. How?
Give clear info,
a. Which company/organisation providing the opportunity
b. Where is the location for vacancy to be filled (Prob the company have few branches)
c. Requirements
d. Email address of the contact person to submit the resume's
e. Other additional relevant info.

14. I would like to do a Home Based Job on my part time. How?
There is a surge in the request for Home based Part Time Job. This is often a limited position. Would suggest potential people looking for this opportunity to try to Google (or other search engines) to see opportunity they can create themselves as a Home Based Part Time Job i.e Self-Help. There is loads of idea such as:
a. Sewing
b. Craft Related
c. Candle Making
d. Baking and etc to name a few.

15. Can you find me a job ?
TheMind does not find anyone a job. We just provide an avenue for potential job seeker and employers to communicate. Its up to the job seekers to initiate, sell your strenghts (not mere pity stories) and convince employers on your ability to handle a job. If interested potential employers will communicate further to you towards employability.This decision lies solely to them and TheMindBB encourages all on not to compromise ethics and quality in the process. Assisting non-competent job seeker would not help in their overall survival, unless they willing to assist themselves in equipting with the right knowledge, behaviour and tools.

16. Can you get for me a Scholarship for my son. He is a bright student.
On and off, TheMind would publish scholarship/loan/grant info on education on its bulletin board as when as we get the information from various sources. The right contact details and mechanism would be advised upon availability. It is highly encouraged for all to try the application if your need lie within its requirement.TheMind would not able to get anyone any financial assistance as the decision solely lies within the descretion of the scholarship providers.You are adviced to communicate directly to them and appeal if there is an avenue for so.

17. Why is the bulletin is placed in my BULK/SPAM folder not in my INBOX?
This actually lies on the sensitivity of filter of individual email facility. Words like FREE, DISCOUNT in the content of the buletin would trigger anti-SPAM engines to consider the bulletin is a potential SPAM email.You need to trigger the filter in your email facility that the bulletin is not a SPAM. Do check on how do this so that your future email to be saved from placed under BULK/SPAM folder as this varies from an email facility to another.

For Yahoo Mail,
1. Open the bulletin which is now in the BULK Folder
2. Click the "Not Spam" button which is at the header

18. Why not TheMindBB do this activity and that activity.
TheMindBB is actually a bulletin board where it does not organise any activity other than being a point of communication between various parties. In nut shell it is just a bulletin board. TheMind is actually the oganising entity of the initiative. While we value all form of suggestion and open for ideas, it is utmost important to understand we are currently overstreched and hand full with various activities and planning.As we are part of the community we also busy climbing our career ladders. We dont do this on a full time basis.Thus we need to have a good handshake i.e whenever you have a suggestion, you must be prepared to play an active role to drive the initiative, TheMind would be happy to play our role as it is important for everyone to be mobilized in order to have the maximum benefit for the community as a whole.Do come forward to volunteer whenever a msg is sent for an extra hand.

19. How can I remove the current email ID and would like to subscribe with another email ID?
You can send an email to svanan77@gmail.com, clearly mentioning which email address to remove and which email address to for an invitation to be sent to.

20. How I can unsubscribe?
You can send an email to TheMindBB-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com to unsubscribe using your current email ID which you would like to unsubscribe.

21. How can my friends join this mailing list?
You can send an email to svanan77@gmail.com mentioning the email addresses of your friends, so we can send an invitation to your friends to join.

22. Can my friends subscribe by themselves?
Yes they can, your friend could follow the instructions given below in the Auto-Subscription process.

Do email me if you need any further information/assistance at svanan77@gmail.com

rgds
Saravanan Kandasamy
TheMind
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Subscribe to TheMindBB Mailing List: refer Auto-Subscription process below
To Unsubscribe : refer Auto-Unsubscription process below
FAQ over the initiative : http://themindassociation.org/faq.html
Enquiry and Share Information : svanan77@gmail.com

Auto-Subscription process
--------------------------
Step-by-Step Guidance:
1. Send email to TheMindBB-subscribe@googlegroups.com from the email you wish to receive the TheMindBB bulletin.
2. You will get an autoreply with Subject line below, "Google Groups: Please confirm subscription to TheMindBB"
3. Click on the link given in the content of the above email to confirm enrollment.
4. Your will get a pop-up screen mentioning the below,
User: abc@yahoo.com
You have successfully joined the group TheMindBB

Thats all :-)

Auto-Unsubscription process
-----------------------------
Step-by-Step Guidance:
1. Send Email to TheMindBB-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com from the email you do not wish to receive the TheMindBB bulletin.
2. You will get an autoreply with Subject line below, "Google Groups: Please confirm unsubscribe to TheMindBB"
3. Click Link given in the in the content of the above email to confirm unsubscription
4. Your will get a pop-up screen mentioning the below,
User: xyz@yahoo.com
You have successfully unsubscribed from the group TheMindBB

Else you can email svanan77@gmail.com to request for unsubscription if the bulletin is not in your interest.
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To view TheMindBB click here
Frequently Asked Questions on TheMindBB
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