All, Since we are continually getting new members, and we are not sure level of experience they have I felt it would be good to bring everyone up to speed, even us old timers. For those who are not clear on the proper way to post to e-mail lists,: here is the long and the short of it. These are the only fields necessary, useing the information shown.
From: your e-mail address. TO: List name only. Subject: A short description of the message body, which is on-topic for the list being posted to. Message: This is self-explanatory, and should match the subject being discussed. The above referenced information, is the only format required to send any e-mail message, and should be considered the standard for posting to e-mail lists. There are many other ways of sending e-mail messages, which make use of the following fields: CC: short for, carbon copy, is commonly used to send the same message to multiple e-mail addresses. addresses entered into this field can be read by all recipients to which the message was sent. BCC: also used to send messages to multiple e-mail addresses. addresses entered into this field are hidden from view. Example: If you send a message to me, and 3 other people, you would enter my e-mail address in the TO: field, and the other 3 addresses into the BCC: field. Doing this would send the message to all 4 of us, but when I receive the message, the other addresses would be hidden from me. The cc: and bcc: fields should always be reserved for private messages, and never used for e-mail lists. The biggest reason for this is, that many subscribers to lists, use message rules, or filters, and they only work well under specified conditions. When someone posts a message to a list, disregarding the acceptable format, this causes message rules to fail, and messages don't appear where the recipient expects them to. Example: If you post a message to blind-computing, and jaws-users at the same time, those messages do not make it into the appropriate folders in my e-mail client, because my rules follow criteria, that does not match the way that you posted the message. Therefore, those messages show up in my InBox, and this alerts me when someone is cross-posting, before I even get to the list of messages for that specific group. In the case of the other lists I am subscribed to, when this happens, those messages are deleted, and the senders are added to my blocked senders list. The reason I do this, is because if someone won't take the time to conduct themselves on an e-mail list,,in the proper fashion, I have no desire to hear from them, much less offer them any help. As far as the lists that I help to maintain, I don't have the luxury of choosing who I want to hear from, and who I don't. I am required to read each message, and act upon it in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the list owner. When unexpected messages show up in my in-box, then I have to take the time to find out why. This time could be better spent, approving a member post, or answering a member's question, or even researching a difficult problem for one or more members. I can't speak for other lists, but I can speak from experience with respect to blind-computing and jaws-users, and that is that David and I do research specific issues that are posted to the list. If we are too busy playing traffic cop, then we quickly run out of time in a given day to even think about list features. This is another reason why cross-posting is not welcome on e-mail lists. Currently we are serving over 400 people on two lists, with a 4 person management team, and we strive to maintain quality Keep in mind, that that the management team do have lives of their own outside the list, and this particular job comes without pay. This is not a complaint, just a simple fact. If the outline above were to be followed by everyone posting to e-mail lists people would see that the whole e-mail list system, from client to server and back, would be more efficient with fewer problems. Since these rules of conduct are not governed by any type of internet law, it is up to the management teams of individual lists to include these requirements in their guidelines, and then enforce those guidelines. That being said, the guidelines will be modified to reflect these requirements for both lists. Richard Justice-list moderator David Ferrin-List owner www.blind-computing.com Visit the Blind Computing List home page at: http://www.blind-computing.com Address for the list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help from Mailman with your account Put the word help in the subject or body of a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use the following form in order to contact the management team http://www.blind-computing.com/contact.php If you wish to join the JAWS Users List send a blank email to the following address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
