Posting to the ATCA ListservBefore clicking on reply-to-all or the list address, think about whether your post will benefit many subscribers, only the person you are responding to, or needs to be seen only by the listowners, and send it according:If your message will benefit many on the list, send it to the list. Use "reply all " and remove the sender's address. If your response will be of interest mainly to the person you are responding to, use "reply". If your message only needs to be seen by the listowner, send it to webmaster @ atcaonline.com. Please do not respond on the list to mail that was sent privately to
you. There are several ways to tell if the post was sent from the list
or privately: A person sending something privately might remove the [ATCA] in the header. But they might not, so this is only a way to tell if the post once did come through the list. However, if it isn't there then the post came privately. A sender might use the extra step of putting 'PRIVATE' in the header or on the first line of the mail. The most important thing to do is pay attention. People who have been burned by others carelessly posting their private details to the list may be very reluctant to respond the next time someone needs help. Look at what was sent to you. Is it likely that the sender wanted personal details posted and archived? Please use the same care and consideration for others that you want them to use for you. List PrivacyAnything sent to the list (with the exception of jokes that have already been forwarded all over the Internet) is considered private and is not to be shared with non-listmembers without obtaining the consent of everyone quoted or referred to in that post. No posts may be sent to another list or shared off the list unless everyone referred to the in post, whether directly or indirectly, gives permission. This is to protect your privacy, as well as that of everyone else on the list. Members may not feel safe about posting if they feel their posts or their situations may be used outside of the list. If you have explicit permission from everyone quoted or referred to (even if only their situation is discussed) to forward posts, remove all identifying list headers before passing them on. If someone writes to you privately, that post is not to be forwarded or replied to on the list without permission from the author. Willful violation of the privacy guidelines is grounds for removal from the list. Posting GuidelinesIt is fine to disagree with what someone has written, but personal attacks are out. There is a big difference between writing: "I disagree with what you are doing to that phone because..." ...and... "You are such a jerk and a worthless human being to have written..." Sending abusive, threatening, or flame mail to the list or privately to list members will result in the subscription being set to NOMAIL NOPOST while the incident is sorted out. If it is determined that the person subscribed or someone in their household was at fault, their subscription will be removed from the list. Think before you speak (lurk before you post) If you don't, the readers may think you are stupid and/or thoughtless, not to mention all kinds of other bad things. When you first join the ATCA listserv, read a few days worth of posts. Get a sense of who the people are. If possible, search the archives to see if your questions have already been answered in the past. If not, then go ahead and post. Respect the CulturePoor manners are not respected on the list. Always be civil, don't use profanity. Don't be lewd, abrasive, argumentative, or rude. Stay on TopicThe majority of posts sent should be on topic. While a small number of off-topic posts (jokes, other family situations) are permitted, these should be kept to a minimum as we have lost many members because of the list volume and the large number of off-topic and "me too" type posts. We must also be mindful of needlessly using listserv archive space. When sending an off-topic post to the list, please label it as OT, off-topic, or joke so the people who do not wish to read them can skip over them. Look your bestWithout visual cues, people will view your grammar, spelling, and punctuation just as people view your attire and cleanliness. Be sure your text is clear and logical. It's possible to write a paragraph that contains no errors in grammar or spelling, but still makes no sense. That's why many people prefer to compose offline. If you have language difficulties, compose offline and use your word processor's spell/grammar checker. Other members will respect your efforts. Above all, proofread! StandardsAdhere to the same high standards (or higher) of behavior online that you follow in real life. In real life, most people are fairly polite and law abiding. The same rules of behavior are expected on the ATCA listserv.
No @#$%^&@*$#%^ ProfanityThe ATCA listserv is not your personal toilet. Many people are offended by swearing. If you feel that cursing in some form is required, it's preferable to use amusing euphemisms like "effing" and "sugar." You may also use the classic asterisk filler -- for example, s***. And everyone will know exactly what you mean. Don't use obscure "insider" abbreviations or obscure smilies.Most people know:
Attachments and formattingDo not send attachments or embedded pictures to the list. Send messages in plain text. Turn off HTML, rich-text, and anything else on your reader. Many listmembers have readers that cannot handle these formats and a two-line message becomes 30 lines of garbage. It also takes up more room in our archive space. Please see http://www.expita.com/nomime.html for information on how to send plain text from different software programs. In an effort to keep out some of the nastier email viruses, we have a line limit of 125. If your post is longer than that you will need to split it into two or more parts. If a post that is well under 125 lines is sent back by the listserv for being too long, then you may have a virus. Use both upper and lower case in your posts. Typing in only one case is difficult to read. All uppercase, in particular, IS GENERALLY READ AS SHOUTING. Cross postingDo not cross post, X-to:, or cc: messages sent to the list to other lists or non-listmembers. Send separate copies if you want the info to appear on other lists. See List Privacy above. Replies, Quoting and "Me, too"Reduce quoting to the absolute minimum to get the meaning of the post across. Quoting a 20-line post and adding only "I agree" serves only to take up more space in the archives and clog listmembers' mailboxes. Do quote enough so that people know what you are referring to, and delete the rest. Keep the quotes under 5 lines. Do not forward posts unless you can delete all header and forwarding information first. If you can't edit a forwarded post, create a new post and paste the information there. And think carefully about whether your response needs to be seen by the hundreds of people subscribed to the ATCA Listserv. "I agree", "Congratulations", and "My sympathies" type posts, as well as others that add no new information to the discussion, should be sent privately. If you like someone else's post, compliment them via private email. Because space is at a premium, we have been asked by our hosts to set subscribers to review if they are unable or unwilling to edit their posts. It is bad netiquette, for example, to quote a 50 line message with only a few words of original text. It is also bad form to fail to quote a message on which you are commenting. We realize that there are some systems where the only option is to quote all of the post (including headers, which tend to really mess up the listserv software and then bounce) or none of the post. In that case, don't quote, but do include something like: "In response to John Doe's post about stripping the finish off of his coffin phone with battery acid, I feel that..." Sig files and personal infoAlso in the interests of space, whittle down large sig files. There is no reason to post a sig file of more than three lines to the list, especially if you post frequently. And, in the interests of your own safety, don't post info such as addresses and phone numbers to the list. Everything is archived, and someone may pull this info with less than noble intentions. There is no need to post questions on the list to the listownerIt's okay and even encouraged to ask the listowner questions. It is not okay to post these questions to the list. Use private email to the listowners' address -atca-request @ listserv.ICORS.org or webmaster @ atcaonline.com- If you are having technical problems with the list (unable to post, problems executing listserv commands, etc.) it is essential that we receive a copy of what you sent to the listserv, and the response (if any) from the listserv. It is extremely difficult to figure out what is going on without a copy of the problem post(s). What is that [ATCA] that I see on every post? And should I be putting it in my posts?The Listserv automatically inserts a [ATCA] in the subject line of all new posts to the list so you know this is a listserv message. If the post is a reply, and already has the [ATCA], the Listserv will not add another one. If someone manually adds the [ATCA], the Listserv will add another one. In other words, don't do anything. The Listserv takes care of this for you. Virus Warnings, Hoaxes, Etc.If you receive one of those warnings, prayer messages, Disney passes, whatever, messages that have been forwarded all over the internet, do not pass them on to the list. More detailed info on checking out hoaxes is found in the FAQ, but you can take care of it easily by using the following service. When pleas to forward hoaxes arrive in your mail box, you can redirect the email message to hoaxkill@hoaxkill.com. The website is at http://www.hoaxkill.com. This is a free service offered by Oxcart Software. If a well-meaning person sends you a hoax alert, you can forward it to a special address at hoaxkill.com. An automated service will identify all the individuals who received the alert and will reply to each one of them with information about hoaxes. WhitelistingAnyone who uses a whitelist (a spam filter where posters must confirm that they are not spammers before you will receive their mail) to filter their mail must set their ATCA listserv subscription to DIGEST or INDEX. It is not fair to expect everyone who posts to the list to have to confirm that they are not a spammer. Also, please be aware that you will miss many private replies when people don't want to jump through hoops to contact you. Whitelisting is not a recommended way of filtering mail when people are subscribed to large lists. It places too much of a burden on other members. Thank you for your attention to this. Chuck Eby With support from Jon Finder, John Huckeby, David Lee |