About hashtags

A hashtag is a word or phrase that contains no spaces and is prefixed with the hash character, # (also referred to as pound sign, number sign, or octothorpe). If the group’s settings allow members to add hashtags, you can “tag” a message with a hashtag by including it somewhere in the message’s subject line.

Examples:

• My name is Inigo Montoya #intro
• Seeking #advice for a #rosebush with blackened leaves

Hashtag uses

Hashtags have several uses within Groups.io, including controlling certain behaviors of topics and messages. Moderators can apply various settings to hashtags, and those settings are then applied to topics that are tagged with those hashtags.

Group members can use hashtags for:

• Searching for messages

  On the group’s website, you can search on hashtags to easily find all messages tagged with them. See Searching by hashtags. 

  Example: If a group uses a hashtag called #intro for new member introductions, clicking or tapping on #intro in the hashtag list on the group’s website displays a list of all messages in which new group members have introduced themselves. 

• Muting topics

  You can stop receiving email messages in topics that are tagged with a particular hashtag. See Muting topics or hashtags. 

  Note: If a moderator has set a hashtag to Special (meaning messages with that hashtag are sent as special notices), you cannot mute that hashtag because special notices cannot be muted. 

• Following topics

  If you have selected “Following Only” on the Advanced Preferences panel of your Subscription page for the group, you can follow (that is, receive messages posted in) topics that are tagged with a particular hashtag. See Following topics or hashtags. 

• Receiving notifications for specific topics

  If you have enabled web/app notifications in your Groups.io account, you can turn on web/app notifications for individual hashtags:

  1. Display the group’s Hashtags page.
  2. Locate the hashtag you want to receive notifications for and click or tap Mute/Notify.
     Note: The button or link is labeled Follow/Notify, instead of Mute/Notify, if you have selected “Following Only” on the Advanced Preferences panel of your Subscription page for the group.
  3. On the resulting page, in the Notifications panel, select the Web/App Notify checkbox.
  4. Click or tap the Update button at the bottom of the page. 

Owners and moderators can also use hashtags for:

• Setting automatic topic timeouts

  If a hashtag’s Topic Duration is set, topics tagged with it will be deleted (or, if specified, locked) after that period of time. This feature can be useful when a topic will be obsolete after a certain amount of time—for example, topics about items for sale.

• Sending messages as special notices

  When a hashtag is set to Special, all messages tagged with it, including the original message in the topic and all replies from owners/moderators, are sent as special notices.

  Note: Hashtags set to Special cannot be muted. Also, only moderators and owners can send special notices. If a regular member replies to a special notice, their message is sent as a normal message. 

• Posting messages only on the group website (not through email)

  When a hashtag is set to No Email, all messages tagged with it are posted to the group’s website but not sent out as email messages.

• Moderating messages

  When a hashtag is set to Moderated, messages sent to topics that are tagged with it require approval by a moderator.

• Unmoderating replies to topics

  When a hashtag is set to Replies Unmoderated, replies to topics that are tagged with it will be unmoderated, even if members who reply are moderated or the group itself is moderated.

• Locking topics on creation

  When a hashtag is set to Locked, new topics that are tagged with it are locked immediately after the initial message that creates the topic is posted.

• Overriding the group’s Reply To option

  A hashtag with a Reply To setting other than Same as Group overrides the group’s Reply To setting.

Hashtag notes

• The hashtag limit is five per topic. (The system allows message subject lines to contain more than five hashtags, but only the first five hashtags are saved in the message archive.)
• The system treats uppercase and lowercase letters as the same and will not let anyone create the same hashtag with different capitalization. For example, if you create a #Question hashtag, the system will not allow you to then create a separate #question hashtag. After the #Question hashtag is created, if a message is sent with a hashtag of #question in the subject line, the system will change that hashtag to #Question before posting the message.
• Hashtags can contain numerals along with other characters, but they cannot consist of only numerals.