Communication

Administrative Help

If you have any questions regarding the league, its members, or the league portions of this website, please email us at help@gridmotorsports.com.  That email alias is monitored by all of the admins, and replies are generally swift.  Emailing that address is also the preferred method if you need to broach a topic with just the admins, be it a concern over something or someone in the league, or just anything that you feel is a sensitive subject and not necessarily appropriate for one of the member-wide channels.

Forums

We finally have an official forum!  If you've registered a login for the website, you're able to participate in the forum.  It is our desire that the forum host the majority of league (and mod) related communication traffic.

Google Group

We also have a dedicated google group, which we treat like a typical moderated mailing list.  It serves as a broadcast mechanism for league activities.  The forum automatically broadcasts initial thread posts to the google group list.  This gives our member base instant exposure to new topics, without having to babysit the forum.  Anyone who wants to contribute to or monitor the associated thread discussion can opt into it by visiting the forum and posting a reply.  By doing so, they become part of the dynamic subscription list for that thread, and all subsequent posts to it generate a notification that is sent directly to each of the thread's authors. 

Chat

We're mostly old fogeys, and so aren't down with the texting and what not.  However, many of us have gtalk handles.  10-4, good buddy.  We may also eventually have our own dedicated chat server, but there hasn't been sufficient demand for it yet.

Voice

We run two dedicated TeamSpeak servers for league purposes.  It's mostly for race day, but there's no reason you can't hang out on there if you're just turning laps on the practice server, or even if you're just feeling lonely.  We're here for you.  The URLs for the servers are:

• teamspeak.twin-terbo.com (primary server)
  
• gridmotorsports.com (backup server)
  

PLEASE NOTE: It's very important that everyone participating in a league event be logged into the TeamSpeak channel, even if they might be experiencing sound quality issues with the voice chat (either sending or receiving).  The reason is that TeamSpeak can function as an emergency communication channel for everyone should we experience technical difficulties with the rFactor server (which otherwise provides text chat services for those unable to participate in voice chat).  If everyone involved is logged into TeamSpeak, then emergency text messages can be sent out to ensure that everyone knows what's happening during event interruptions.

TeamSpeak configuration:

• In the menu, go to Settings -> Sound Input/Output Settings and you'll see options for controlling recording and etc..
• We recommend you use push-to-talk rather than voice-activation, as it generally makes for a more pleasant experience for everyone.  The full rationalization is spelled out in our League Policies.  Suffice to say that requiring people to do something specific (even if it's just pushing a button) in order for their voice to be broadcast to everyone has a positive effect on the quality and overall civility of the interactions.
• Click on the Activate local test mode button, and speak into your mic. You'll hear your own voice, as others will hear it once you're connected. If you don't hear anything you'll need to adjust the recording options. Once you can hear yourself, and the volume seems suitable, you're ready to connect to our TeamSpeak server.
• Select Connection -> Connect from the menu, and enter a server profile:

• Parameter	Value
  Label	gmwc (or whatever you want to call it)
  Server Address	teamspeak.twin-terbo.com
  Nickname	<use your normal game handle -- it's preferred that you use the same name that you use in rFactor>
  Allow server to assign a nickname	No (unselected)
  Anonymous/Registered	Anonymous
  Server Password	<provided to you when you join the league>
  Auto-Reconnect	<up to  you>
  Default Channel	<leave blank>
  Default Subchannel	<leave blank>
  Channel Password	<leave blank>

• Click the Connect button, and you should connect to the server!