Hello from San Diego: There have been quite a few postings of opinions on whether or not our rules permit postings of "commercial" emc and product safety seminars. First, please don't post messages reacting to either inappropriate postings or questionable postings. If you feel you must say something, please send e-mail to me or to Roger Volgstadt. Or call us. There are two reasons for this request: one, such follow-up postings simply increase the traffic of irrelevant messages, and two, only Roger and I can do anything about the problem. Second, Roger and I read the posts at the same time as you, and we take immediate action. For the most part, by the time you post a reaction, or even contact us, the problem has been taken care of. If you do not already know, Roger and I handle all of the inappropriate postings off-line and privately. In this way, we keep the posting traffic on-subject -- emc and product safety. If you feel that we aren't doing an adequate job, please contact one or both of us. Or, if you want to know how we view a particular posting that may be questionable to you, we'd be happy to share our views with you -- off-line. Or, if you want to know what actions we've taken because of an infraction, we'd be happy to share this, too, provided we don't slander or libel the person or organization in question. Also, its not our policy to make such issues into public issues. And we expect the same from you. Our subscribers post only with the best of intentions. Occasionally there are slips. These don't warrant a public airing. One of the values of this group is that we stay on subject, and we don't have "flame-wars." Third, here is our position with regard to "commercials" and "commercial seminars." We don't permit advertising of products. If someone asks a specific question that can be answered by offering a product or service, such a response is permitted provided it does so in a general and tersely short manner. Here is an example of a suitable response: "I have a product that might be useful to you in this situation; contact me by e-mail." It is permitted to include a very brief description of how the product might solve the problem. The question which prompted this discussion is whether a commercial seminar is a "product" and, if so, if the posting is in response to a question raised in a previous posting. We can sort of back into a position by stating that a seminar on the subject matter of emc or product safety is in response to a number of questions posted by subscribers. Certainly, the object of the emc-pstc is the exchange of information for the "education" of the subscribers. Every posting is either a question or an answer to a question. The posting of a question is to learn something from the answers. The posting of answers is to provide subscribers with the opportunity to learn something. So, we conclude that announcements of educational seminars, related to our topics, whether commercial or not, are answers to questions and therefore are within our guidelines. However, seminars are also "products." As such, the announcment should be short, include a brief description of topics, site, dates, cost, and who to contact for more information. This last, who to contact, is extremely important. We are individuals who contribute to this forum. The contact MUST be a subscriber. While our subscribers are many and are throughout the world, the listserver makes each posting a personal message between two parties. Please keep this in mind, not only for seminar announcements, but also for postings in general. Let's continue to treat each other with mutual respect. If you have some doubt as to whether your particular posting is appropriate, just send it to us and ask for our guidance. We have a great resource! One of its significant hallmarks is that we stay on subject! Each time I see a posted message, I look forward to reading it because it may offer a new insight or challenge. Over the few years, the breadth and depth of postings has increased. Hopefully, the emc-pstc postings have helped each subscriber to increase the breadth and depth of his professional capacity. It certainly has for me! Comments??? Please respond to Roger and me directly via e-mail. Best regards, Rich and Roger ri...@sdd.hp.com volgstadt_ro...@tandem.com
