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We do ask you to try to adhere to the following guidelines:
Read the FAQs
Before posting a question, please consult the FAQs
links. Quite often, these websites may contain answers to your
questions and queries. If they don't suffice, then please ask away!
Watch a while
When you first subscribe to the mailing list, you may be tempted to
jump right into the foray. However, you may wish to wait a few days or
even a few weeks before doing so until you understand the "rhythm" of
the mailing list and get to know some of the "personalities."
Be polite!
Never forget that the person on the other side is a human being. Even
though you are using a computer to communicate, don't forget that
other people are on the receiving end. Hundreds of people all over
the world are reading your words. Avoid personal attacks. Don't
speak (type) hastily -- try not to say anything to others that you
would not say to them in a room full of people. Remember that you are
playing an important role in building an online community -- and we
all want this community to be a good, friendly place.
Stay on subject
When you are subscribing to a mailing list, it's usually because you
want to discuss a special subject. Try not to post irrelevant messages
which don't have anything to do with aikido on the List.
Off-topic Posts
It's a part of human nature to digress and veer off toward "off-topic"
subjects. When this happens, please mark your post with "OT" in the
subject line (eg Subject: OT: Star Wars Techniques). This way,
people who are not interested in that particular thread or all
"off-topic" subjects can easily filter them out. Please do realize,
however, that this is not a license to abuse the OT marker; this is,
after all, an aikido mailing list...
Updating subjects
Long lasting subject titles are no longer relevant after a while because the
actual content has drifted into something entirely different. A subject title
like this is a suggestion:
Subject: new_subject was Re: old_subject
Me toos
In those cases where people simply want to say "Me too!" to a previous
post, whether in agreement with a point well-made or to ask for a copy of
requested info, please use an editor to strip away unnecessary text. In
addition, send the "Me too!" to the original poster, not the list.
Quoting and Trimming Text
Please edit and/or trim quoted text down to its minimal pertinent
parts, even (especially!) when you have substantive comments. On the
other hand, please do include some minimal text to give the rest of us
a clue as to what you mean by an otherwise cryptic post consisting
solely of: "Yes, but only with nikkyo, never sankyo" (or
whatever). The subject heading is seldom not enough to understand.
Attributions
When quoting someone, please try to keep attributions (who said what)
accurate. Most good e-mail programs will do this automatically for
you. For example:
Bobo Smith said:
>> I hate nikkyo!
Deedee Brown replied:
> I love sankyo!
I like yonkyo more!
Directing replies
Remember to direct your replies appropriately. Most of us have made the
mistake of sending to the list something intended as a direct reply, but
please take a moment to check that a direct response is being sent where
you want it to go. Most mailers will send replies back to the list if you
simply "reply" to a posting without intervening to change the recipient
address.
Conversely, if your reply is really just directed toward the person
who wrote the e-mail, please just send that piece of e-mail to that
person rather then sending it to the list
Summarize what you are following up
When you are making a follow-up comment to someone else's
message, besure to summarize the parts of the message to which
you are responding. Summarization is best done by including
appropriate quotes from the original message. Don't include the
entire message, since this could be irritating to people who have
already read it.
Use "friendly" formatting
Please try to observe some of the more "friendly" formatting
conventions. Please set your line width to 70-75 characters wide;
some mail programs will automatically wrap lines if they are too long,
and it wreaks havoc with long lined messages. Don't double space!
And lastly, turn off HTML encoding; not everyone uses a web browser to
read their e-mail, and all of the HTML tags usually makes your e-mail
unreadable.
Do not post binary attachments
Please do not send binary files (pictures, executable files) to the
List. With hundreds of subscribers, a single one megabyte file could
take up hundreds of megabytes of bandwidth! If you feel the need to
share such things, please put them onto a website for downloading and
merely post the URL or ask people to send you requests in private
e-mail for the file. Note: The List is now configured to strip
out all attachments.
No spamming
Commercial postings onto this list are not welcome!
Do not forward chain letters to the list
Chain letters may be cute at times, but to many people they are
annoying. In many places, they are even illegal and have in
the past led to individuals losing their net access. So, please -- if
you receive a chain letter, don't pass it onto the list. A good site
regarding chain letters is:
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org
Virus Alerts, and Other Hoaxes
There are lots of hoaxes floating around the internet, such as
warnings about the nonexistant Good Times virus
(which was never true), pleas to send cards to Craig
Shergold (which was true many years ago but is no longer
relevant) and a cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus
(which was never true).
Please do not perpetuate these hoaxes. Not only are they often
irrelevant, but they are almost as bad as chain letters. If you
receive e-mail that's supposed to be redistributed to other people,
please send a few copies to people you know asking if it's true before
redistributing it to lists of hundreds of people.
A couple of good sites on this subject are:
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
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