STOP and START: how members end and restart texts

A member ends every text from the club by replying STOP to any text. It takes effect at once and covers every kind, Essential included. Only the member can undo it. This is so that someone who has said stop is never texted again because someone else pressed a button.

What counts as STOP and START

Capital letters, full stops and spaces around the word do not matter. STOP counts, and so do words with the same meaning: UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT and OPTOUT. A reply that starts with the word STOP, such as "Stop texting me", counts too, because wrongly stopping someone matters far less than texting a person who asked not to be texted. START, UNSTOP and OPTIN count as START. A reply of YES does not: a yes to another question must not undo a STOP.

What happens when a member replies STOP

1. Their number is marked stopped, for every kind of text, with the time.
2. They are sent one confirmation text, in standard words: GPHC: you will get no more texts from us. Reply START to get them again. Replying STOP again sends no second confirmation.
3. Every message in progress skips them. Texts going out at that moment are checked again for each number, so a STOP counts even if it arrives after you pressed Send.
4. On a text's results, if they were left out, they appear under Said no by replying STOP.
5. On their member page, Text message choices says This number replied STOP on the date and time, and shows every kind as Stopped.

A STOP is never a conversation to answer. It does not wait in the Inbox for someone to reply to, and no one has to act.

The standard words of the confirmations can be changed by the Administrator, on the same Settings tab as the words of staff texts, under Someone replied STOP and Someone replied START.

What happens when a member replies START

They are sent one confirmation, GPHC: texts are back on. Reply STOP at any time to opt out. Their earlier choices come back. If they had made none, it counts as yes to every kind.

Only the member can start texts again

A member can start texts again in any of these ways:

• Reply START to any text from the club.
• Press Start texts again at the top of their Email preferences page, which says You replied STOP on the date and The club's office cannot do this for you.
• Press Start texts again on the Say yes to texts page opened from an email link.

The office cannot. On the member's page, a stopped number has no Change button, and the card says Only the member can start them again, by replying START or on their own preferences page. The office cannot change this, even if they ask. Tell a member who asks to reply START.

Who does a STOP apply to

A stop is kept against a mobile number. People who share a number share it. If a household shares a mobile and one adult replies STOP, nobody on that number is texted.

Other replies

A reply that is neither STOP nor START goes to the Text/SMS inbox for a person to read and answer, with no automatic answer. See Read and answer members' emails and texts in the Inbox.