This is my proposed list guideline/welcome. I have inserted it into my
message, and I am including a plain text attachment. Please do with it
what you will. You don't have to like it. Just help make it better if
you don't.
scott
Aloha! Welcome to the mailing list of Hawaii`i's Linux and Unix
Advocates and Users (LUAU). We are pleased that you have decided to
join our gathering. Before you get too wrapped up in the party, perhaps
you can take a few moments to look through our recommended list
guidelines. Anytime so many people get together and welcome your
comments in their inbox, it doesn't hurt to know how to be a welcome guest.
LUAU is a mailing list that encourages discussion about Linux and Unix.
It is a communication venue for users and advocates of the countless
distributions of Linux. It is for the many variants of Unix such as the
*bsd projects.
Unix has given birth to many amazing software projects. Some of these
have been organized within the GNU (gnu is not Unix) endeavor. Some
have been focused on the development of Linux. Because of the existence
of the GPL, these projects are available for anyone to be involved in
without paying money. This is because the source code is Open to the
public. Consequently, many professionals and hobbyists have been able
to create software capable of controlling your home, business, or
charity, and it is Free to you.
Advocates are interested in seeing the benefits of Free and Open Source
Software reach more than just the enthusiastic community of current
users. This list invites their experiences or ideas about how to make
this remarkable assimilation of distributed software projects a bigger
part of our society and economy. If you are involved in an interesting
project, we would like to know. Perhaps someone here can help.
Users trying the fruits of these projects may encounter hardware,
software, and programming issues as they attempt to make the computer
obey their wishes. All of their questions are welcome. Regardless of
what you may think as you type it, NO question is stupid or foolish. We
all start somewhere; there is no shame in sharing where you are. Your
helpful experiences are encouraged. We have a WIKI, why not document
them there? If you can help someone, go for it. If you are wrong,
there is no harm in trying.
It is harmful not being polite when offering help. Please do not be
condescending to or critical of other participants. Responding to other
members on the list to address personal issues is generally
discouraged. This is a gathering. If you have an issue with a person
at a gathering, you don't disrespect the peace of the others by
publicizing your personal grievances. This communication is best left
off the list.
So, this list is about helping. It is about sharing information. If
one wishes to be explicitly critical of a particular software project or
a design feature in a Linux distribution, try to make this criticism
with logic and not emotion. If one really intends to influence the
opinion of every subscriber to this list, please attempt to do so with
reason and experience.
Frankly, we ask that you do not SPAM the list. We define SPAM as
Selling a Product that Asks for Money. Please do not use the
opportunity to reach such a targeted market to push your product. There
are subtleties to this policy that are difficult to be certain of. If
you are really uncertain, ask the listmanager for input. Try to think
of it this way: If you are at a party, you probably don't want someone
selling you insurance. You may not mind if they tell you where they got
a great deal on a processor. It wouldn't hurt to know about volunteer
projects you are interested in. It would be nice if they offered you
the chance to earn money doing something you like. In the context of
this mailing list, it is preferable not to sell products on it, it is
okay to share good experiences with vendors, it is okay to share
information about relevant volunteer projects, and it is okay to try to
give the list sponsor or list members money.
Obviously, there are some formatting suggestions that make everyone's
experience better. The first is the theming of a post. If you find a
news event that you want to share, please precede the subject with
[NEWS]. Use this protocol for announcements, [ANNOUNCE] and any other
theme you think is appropriate. If you want to pay someone on the list
for a service, please precede the subject with [SOLICIT] Also, please
provide an off-list contact number or address so that interested parties
can privately negotiate with you.
Replying to a post involves more than just typing in your comment.
First and foremost, please check to be sure that your email client is
sending plain text email, not html. Try to delete everything that is
not necessary. This is referred to as trimming your post. Most email
clients are set to include the entire message to which you are
responding in your reply. Do you really need to include all of this?
Let us use again consider that this a luau, a gathering. If you
approach a crowd and wish to make a comment, do you repeat everything
that everyone has said before you say your piece, or do you just frame
your comment within the relevant parts of the discussion? Look at your
email before you send it and please remove that which is redundant.
This includes the mailing list footer the bottom of each message. If
there are many people you want to reply to, and their posts have been
part of an ongoing thread , it is polite to consolidate your replies
into as few messages as possible. Try cutting and pasting from the
various posts and create your own reply. Excessive traffic can be
avoided if you don't reply to each post individually.
Mistakes will be made. You may post something inappropriate; you could
break the guidelines. This is of no consequence. Making repeated
mistakes is no problem because we are just human. Please don't be
offended if another subscriber politely suggests a better way to
communicate something or that they found your post off-topic. They may
refer you to a wiki page with a better example. This only gives you a
chance to learn. If you want to subscribe to and be a member of this
group, it is only appropriate to participate in these few suggested
ways. If you want members to comply with these objectives, please be
gentle and diplomatic in your suggestions.
Effectively ignoring or deliberately neglecting the guidelines is not a
welcome behavior. No one can stop you. You will likely be ignored or
placed into a black list. Please don't deprive others of your
experience by refusing to honor our few guidelines about the theme of
the group, the level of civility we aspire to, and our desire to keep
commercialization to a well defined realm. All of that said, come on
in. You are very welcome.
Please note that the first letter of each paragraph spells out "LUAU is
for ME". :-)
Aloha! Welcome to the mailing list of Hawaii`i's Linux and Unix Advocates and
Users (LUAU). We are pleased that you have decided to join our gathering.
Before you get too wrapped up in the party, perhaps you can take a few moments
to look through our recommended list guidelines. Anytime so many people get
together and welcome your comments in their inbox, it doesn't hurt to know how
to be a welcome guest.
LUAU is a mailing list that encourages discussion about Linux and Unix. It is
a communication venue for users and advocates of the countless distributions of
Linux. It is for the many variants of Unix such as the *bsd projects.
Unix has given birth to many amazing software projects. Some of these have
been organized within the GNU (gnu is not Unix) endeavor. Some have been
focused on the development of Linux. Because of the existence of the GPL,
these projects are available for anyone to be involved in without paying money.
This is because the source code is Open to the public. Consequently, many
professionals and hobbyists have been able to create software capable of
controlling your home, business, or charity, and it is Free to you.
Advocates are interested in seeing the benefits of Free and Open Source
Software reach more than just the enthusiastic community of current users.
This list invites their experiences or ideas about how to make this remarkable
assimilation of distributed software projects a bigger part of our society and
economy. If you are involved in an interesting project, we would like to know.
Perhaps someone here can help.
Users trying the fruits of these projects may encounter hardware, software, and
programming issues as they attempt to make the computer obey their wishes. All
of their questions are welcome. Regardless of what you may think as you type
it, NO question is stupid or foolish. We all start somewhere; there is no
shame in sharing where you are. Your helpful experiences are encouraged. We
have a WIKI, why not document them there? If you can help someone, go for it.
If you are wrong, there is no harm in trying.
It is harmful not being polite when offering help. Please do not be
condescending to or critical of other participants. Responding to other
members on the list to address personal issues is generally discouraged. This
is a gathering. If you have an issue with a person at a gathering, you don't
disrespect the peace of the others by publicizing your personal grievances.
This communication is best left off the list.
So, this list is about helping. It is about sharing information. If one
wishes to be explicitly critical of a particular software project or a design
feature in a Linux distribution, try to make this criticism with logic and not
emotion. If one really intends to influence the opinion of every subscriber to
this list, please attempt to do so with reason and experience.
Frankly, we ask that you do not SPAM the list. We define SPAM as Selling a
Product that Asks for Money. Please do not use the opportunity to reach such a
targeted market to push your product. There are subtleties to this policy that
are difficult to be certain of. If you are really uncertain, ask the
listmanager for input. Try to think of it this way: If you are at a party, you
probably don't want someone selling you insurance. You may not mind if they
tell you where they got a great deal on a processor. It wouldn't hurt to know
about volunteer projects you are interested in. It would be nice if they
offered you the chance to earn money doing something you like. In the context
of this mailing list, it is preferable not to sell products on it, it is okay
to share good experiences with vendors, it is okay to share information about
relevant volunteer projects, and it is okay to try to give the list sponsor or
list members money.
Obviously, there are some formatting suggestions that make everyone's
experience better. The first is the theming of a post. If you find a news
event that you want to share, please precede the subject with [NEWS]. Use this
protocol for announcements, [ANNOUNCE] and any other theme you think is
appropriate. If you want to pay someone on the list for a service, please
precede the subject with [SOLICIT] Also, please provide an off-list contact
number or address so that interested parties can privately negotiate with you.
Replying to a post involves more than just typing in your comment. Try to
delete everything that is not necessary. This is referred to as trimming your
post. Most email clients are set to include the entire message to which you
are responding in your reply. Do you really need to include all of this? Let
us use again consider that this a luau, a gathering. If you approach a crowd
and wish to make a comment, do you repeat everything that everyone has said
before you say your piece, or do you just frame your comment within the
relevant parts of the discussion? Look at your email before you send it and
please remove that which is redundant. This includes the mailing list footer
the bottom of each message.
Mistakes will be made. You may post something inappropriate; you could break
the guidelines. This is of no consequence. Making repeated mistakes is no
problem because we are just human. Please don't be offended if another
subscriber politely suggests a better way to communicate something or that they
found your post off-topic. This only gives you a chance to learn. If you want
to subscribe to and be a member of this group, it is only appropriate to
participate in the few suggested ways. If you want members to comply with
these objectives, please be gentle and diplomatic in your suggestions.
Effectively ignoring or deliberately neglecting the guidelines is not a welcome
behavior. No one can stop you. You will likely be ignored or placed into a
black list. Please don't deprive others of your experience by refusing to
honor our few guidelines about the theme of the group, the level of civility we
aspire to, and our desire to keep commercialization to a well defined realm.
All of that said, come on in. You are very welcome.
Please note that the first letter of each paragraph spells out "LUAU is for
ME". :-)
