Basic Netiquette

It is expected that uses of the list will follow the basic rules of on-line etiquette (called Netiquette), including the following:

It is YOUR responsibility to make a good faith effort to express yourself clearly so others are apt to understand the meaning to your statements. Using words with loaded, shaded or twisted meanings is discouraged as people are prone to misunderstand things. Remember that humor may not reach everyone. There are thousands of people on the list, so without care, someone is apt to misunderstand things not stated clearly.

It is also YOUR responsibility to make a good faith effort to understand what someone else has said. They may well have a different background and assign a different meaning to a phrase than what you take it as,

YOU should also exhibit charity to others, to be slow to anger or take offense, and not assign to bad intentions that which may be accidental or unintended.

When posting, think if you statement is important enough to make to the thousands of members of the list. Take care to make you post easy for them to read and understand. With the large membership of the list, even costing everyone just a second has wasted over a hour of time.

Remember that there is a person on the other side. The electronic medium can sometimes depersonalize exchanges, and we be tempted to say things that we would never think of doing face to face. It is wise to stop and think about what you are writing before clicking send. Remember, once sent it can not be taken back.

Make your post easy to skip for people not interested in it. Give it a good subject line that describes the topic. If you are replying to a message, keep the subject identical (unless you have good reason to change it) and use the reply button. This allows people to skip the subjects they are not interested in easier.

Trim unneeded material from replies.

Make your message easy to find for those that ARE interested. Again, a good subject line is vital here (and helps in people searching for the message). Use appropriate keywords. If starting a new message, do NOT use the reply function, that will bury your message in the middle of the discussion of the message you replied to.

Posts should be civil and useful.