Greetings folks, Christine is being understandably cautious about bringing up off topic stuff, as she and a few others have recently been the recipient of some off-list counseling on the issue with me. I don't consider any of it to have been disciplinary in nature, rather more in the realm of advice.
Let me clarify for Christine and anyone else who is concerned: Anyone may (and will!) ask any reasonable health-related question. All who wish to may offer answers or advice, regardless of whether they are related to CS or not. CS related stuff gets to be discussed until the subject is exhausted. Non-CS related stuff should be covered briefly on-list so that basic curiosity is satisfied (ie. What is it, and do I want to bother to follow up on it?) and essential resources identified (web links, print journals and books, other forums, etc...). Further discussion of the off topic suggestions or ideas should fairly quickly migrate into private mail, other forums, or the Off Topic List whose address is in the footer at the bottom of every list message. The farther off topic you are, the more briefly you should write and the faster you should migrate off-list. In this way we won't see endless repetition of the process where somebody says "Contact me off list. I have another idea, but it's off topic..." followed by a dozen "Me too!" and "Post it here, we're interested..." replies. It's simpler to just deliver the information briefly and get it over with. <grin> ~&~ On a related note, the Silver List remains a non-commercial forum. Still, there may be times when the information you want to offer is about something you have a commercial interest in. We have a number of members who are vendors, practitioners or distributors of various sorts, who do just fine on the list. You are welcome here so long as it is clear to the rest of us by your behavior that you're here as an individual and *not* as a representative of your business interests, and that your primary aim is to help people regardless of where they end up buying stuff, rather than self-promotion, making sales, or defeating your competitors. Along these lines observe the following: Seek my permission via private e-mail before posting anything that might be seen as self-promotion, *each time*. Later, once I see that you handle yourself appropriately, I'll grant you more leeway. Disclose your commercial interest and encourage people to do their own research. If possible, give pointers to information and guidance that is *not* related to your own site, product, or service, including those who might be your competitors. Do *NOT* compare, criticise or comment on other brands or products. Do not make claims of superiority or uniqueness for your own. I will not tolerate vendor wars and competitor-bashing. Emphasize your personal experience rather than marketing information. We don't need to hear advertising copy and hype from somebody who lacks first-hand knowledge of what they're saying. Handle any business activity that might evolve ENTIRELY off list. It will be *your* responsibility to see to it that no part of your business dealings bleed through to the group. I think if you generally follow these guidelines you won't run into too many problems or risk making the list god angry. Thank you for your cooperation and generosity folks. Be well, Mike Devour silver-list owner -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: silver-list@eskimo.com Silver List archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html Address Off-Topic messages to: silver-off-topic-l...@eskimo.com OT Archive: http://escribe.com/health/silverofftopiclist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <mdev...@eskimo.com>
