Yes. Robogabbai is a free service. Originally all code was written by a single person who donated his time to the cause. Currently there are two people maintaining the code and adding features (without pay). The domain name and hosting costs are covered by a donation from MIT Hillel. However, if the number of people using Robogabbai expands, we will need to move to a more expensive hosting solution. At some point, it would be nice to switch to a dedicated server, which costs a few hundred dollars a month. Further, additional donations will allow some of the coding to be outsourced and help accelerate the improvements made to Robogabbai. If you are able to contribute, please send an e-mail to contact(AT)robogabbai.com.
You can set your e-mail preferences for each minyan you join. For each
type of service a minyan organizes you can set two types of preferences:
Notify me of service status. If you select 'yes' for this
preference you will get an e-mail at a time designated by your minyan
organizer before that service letting you know if the service will be held
or if it has been canceled. You might also receive an e-mail before a
service is canceled letting you know how many more people need to sign up
for it not to be canceled (however, you will not receive this e-mail if
you have already said you can make it).
Default value for whether you will attend. If you select 'Ask
me' for this preference you will get an e-mail at a time designated by your
minyan organizer before that service asking you to RSVP with a link where
you can do so.
Thus, there are five types of e-mails you can receive from Robogabbai.
E-mails inviting you to RSVP for a service. You will only get
these e-mails if you select 'Ask me' in your service default for that
service.
E-mails confirming your status for a service. You will only get
these e-mails if you sign up significantly in advance for a service (e.g.,
if you default to 'yes' for a service).
E-mails informing you of the status of a service. These e-mails
are only sent to you if you have asked to be notified about service status,
there are not enough people signed-up at the time of the e-mail, and you
have not already said you can make it.
E-mails informing you of the final decision about whether a service
will be held. These e-mails are only sent to you if you have asked to be
notified about service status.
E-mails from your minyan organizer. These e-mails are sent to
everyone who has joined a particular minyan. Minyan organizers are
encouraged not to use this feature too often unless there is important
information that must be disseminated to all minyan members.
Thus, if you select 'do not notify me of service status' and 'default to
no' for all services in the preferences for a particular minyan, you will
NOT receive any automated e-mails from Robogabbai, and will only receive an
occasional non-automated e-mail from your minyan organizer. However, it is
recommended that you choose to be notified of service status if you will
occasionally go to that service since this is how you will find out if a
service is canceled.
All of the data about when my minyan is holding services is managed
by Robogabbai. Can I rely that Robogabbai will not go down?
Robogabbai is professionally hosted by a company that guarantees 99.9%
availability. They have a financial incentive to adhere to this
guarantee. If Robogabbai grows in usage, and if we get some more donations,
we can move to an even better hosting solution.