Automatic copying of parents when Scouts message a leader

At Automatic copying of parents when Scouts message a leader?, I was told that parents are automatically copied when Scouts message a leader, or when leaders message a Scout. I no longer think that this answer is valid. When my Scoutmaster messages my son, and he replies, I do not get an automatic copy. What’s more, when a leader messages a Scout, he is required to select the Scout’s parents as recipients—which does not make sense if they’re getting copies regardless.

Well your scout is replying through an Email client - not through the Scoutbook interface - the Scout needs to include you - Scoutbook cannot force an outside system.

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Point 1: There is no “automatic copying.” There is enforced CC’ing, which is not the same thing.

Point 2: There is no way to reply to a message through the Scoutbook interface. Emails do not have some sort of link in them that takes them to Scoutbook with the message quoted so that they can reply. They can, of course, send a new message through Scoutbook.

Point 3: Of course Scoutbook can “force an outside system.” Emails from Scoutbook are from Scoutbook, not the sender’s email. It would be quite possible for replies to go through Scoutbook, and automatically copy the parents. Just set the Reply-to address to something@Scoutbook.com, and route the resulting email where it needs to go using the “something" portion of the email address. I acknowledge that this would not be simple to implement, but it’s quite possible, and would be a giant step forward in youth protection. Indeed, I had presumed, from the previous answer, that just that sort of thing was happening.

Your scoutmaster is not following youth protection rules. When he messages any Scout under 18, he must either copy a parent and/or another registered. That is his responsibility, and his alone. Scoutbook does this for him, in his email, it is up to him.

Of course Scoutbook has no control over emails once it sends them out.

CC stands for carbon copy. So yes, all messages sent to a Scout, from Scoutbook copies the parent. It does so through CC. How else would you propose it be done?

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And so if the Scoutmaster, who originally sent an email to my son through Scoutbook, had been following youth protection, when my son replied, I would be copied?

Of course Scoutbook has no control over emails once it sends them out.

I’m not sure just what you mean here.

CC stands for carbon copy. So yes, all messages sent to a Scout, from Scoutbook copies the parent. It does so through CC. How else would you propose it be done?

Yes, it copies the parent—but it does not do so automatically. Instead, it forces the user to select the parent as an additional recipient, which is not the same thing as “automatically copying” them.

The BSA YPT folks have told the SUAC that what Scoutbook compiles with the policy.

A Scout can never get in trouble for not copying a parent when communicating with a leader. It is up to the leader to ensure he/she always copies a second adult when communicating with a Scout.

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That is not my understanding of how it works. It does force you to select two adults, but not necessarily every parent. It will automatically copy any parents of selected scouts.

And so it can never be improved, because it is in technical compliance?

A Scout can never get in trouble for not copying a parent when communicating with a leader. It is up to the leader to ensure he/she always copies a second adult when communicating with a Scout.

Okay, so it’s not the Scout’s job to make sure he includes his parent when he replies to an email sent to him through Scoutbook. Then just whose job is it?

We verified today that this is how it works. If I send an email to the Troop SPL, he will get the message, as will his dad.

Why does it force you to select two adults if it automatically copies the parents? What could possibly be the purpose of that?

But it’s impossible to send a message only to the SPL through Scoutbook.

Re-read @edavignon’s response. “It is up to the leader to ensure he/she always copies a second adult…”

Okay, it’s the leader’s job to make sure the Scout copies a second adult when he replies to an email sent to him through Scoutbook?

That’s untrue. I verified it with my SPL and his Dad today, in response to your original comments

If the parents have opted out of Scoutbook e-mail, a 2nd adult must be selected. Scoutbook will not send an e-mail to a Scout without a 2nd adult being copied.

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It is slightly overkill, but with the ability to opt out of receiving messages, it was important to ensure at least two adults were included.

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Are you determined to make this difficult? If a Scout contacts a leader directly without copying a parent or other leader, it is the leader’s responsibility to include another adult in any response. Ideally, at this time, the leader should be reminding the Scout that his/her parent needs to be copied on all communications.

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Okay, that’s very strange. When I try to email only one Scout, Scoutbook says, "To comply with Youth Protection please include another valid leader or parent/guardian” and does not send the message.

Hrm… I haven’t got that message in ages.

That was not the question. The question is “Whose job is it to ensure that the Scout copies parents on replies to messages sent to him through Scoutbook, since it is not the Scout’s responsibility?"