GENERAL GUIDELINES

• BE CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT YOU WRITE AND TO WHOM YOU ADDRESS IT.
• Your words may be stored for a very long time in a place to which many people have access and there are many irritable persons on line.

• DO NOT POST TO EMAIL OR NEWSGROUPS ANY OF THE FOLLOWING - YOUR NAME OR ADDRESSES OR PHONE NUMBERS.
• Consider that a large audience will see your posts. That may include your present or your next boss, your children, or your divorced spouse.
• Remember too, that mailing lists and Newsgroups are frequently archived and publicly available.

• ASSUME THAT INDIVIDUALS SPEAK ONLY FOR THEMSELVES.
• Assume what they say does not represent their organization (unless stated explicitly), and that the sender may state “facts” that may not be so.
  

• DO NOT USE ----->   DELIVERY RECEIPTS  -  NON-DELIVERY NOTICES - VACATION PROGRAMS.
• They are invasive when sent to mailing lists, and some people consider delivery receipts an invasion of privacy.

• DON’T SEND LARGE FILES TO EMAIL GROUPS  OR NEWSGROUPS OR LISTS IF THE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET.
• Instead, provide the web address, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) for the information).

WARNINGS

• ASSUME EVERYTHING YOU POST TO AN EMAIL GROUP OR LIST OR A NEWSGROUP IS AND WILL BE PUBLIC.

• YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER AND SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR  CANNOT “UNSEND” A MESSAGE.
• Once you have sent a message, it's not possible for it to be retrieved. 
  
• This means you must make sure you really want the message to go as written.

• EXAMINE THE SENDER’S ADDRESS AND SUBJECT LINE.
• Do that before opening a message to detect undesirable messages. 
  
• Simply delete offensive messages, and consider setting a block in software to not see future objectionable messages from that source or on that subject.

• DON’T OPEN ANY ATTACHMENTS TO AN EMAIL THAT YOU HAVEN’T REQUESTED.

• DON’T GET INVOLVED IN “FLAME WARS”.
• Neither post nor respond to inflammatory message content.
  
• Should your message offend someone, apologize to the offended party either privately or publicly as appropriate.

• SHOULD PERSONAL DISAGREEMENTS ARISE WITH ONE GROUP MEMBER, ADDRESS YOUR RESPONSES DIRECTLY TO THAT PERSON.
• Do NOT simply select “REPLY” & continue to send messages to the entire list or group. If you are debating a point on which the group might have some interest, you might later post a summary of the results.

• DO NOT POST PRODUCT INFORMATION IN WHICH YOU OR PEOPLE CLOSE TO YOU HAVE A FINANCIAL INTEREST.
• Advertising is banned on most email groups and newsgroups. 
  
• Unsolicited advertising which is completely off-topic will most certainly guarantee that you get a lot of hate mail.

• POSTING ARTICLES OR SENDING MESSAGES THAT HAS OFFENSIVE CONTENT TO A GROUP IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
• You may be banned if you should post messages that are forged or have spoofed  email addresses  or are offensive to others.
• Sexually and racially harassing messages are illegal.
  
• There is software available to filter messages you find objectionable.
• Contact the group owner/moderator about persons posting messages that cross the line.
  

MANNERS

• ALWAYS SEND TO THE MINIMUM NUMBERS OF ADDRESSES THAT WILL INCLUDE THE DESIRED AUDIENCE.

• AVOID SENDING MESSAGES WHICH ARE NO MORE THAN GRATUITOUS REPLIES TO OTHER’S REPLIES.

• KEEP THE DISCUSSION FOCUSED ON ISSUES AND FACTS RATHER THAN PERSONALITIES.

• MESSAGES SHOULD BE BRIEF AND TO THE POINT AND COVER ONLY ONE SUBJECT.
• Don't wander off-topic, don't ramble.
• Don't send mail or post messages solely to point out other people's errors in typing or spelling.
  
• That more than any other behavior marks you as a thoughtless communicator.

• IN GENERAL, LIMIT THE NUMBER OF YOUR REPLIES TO THE GROUP THAT ARE “ATTABOYS”, “THAT’S GREAT”, OR “SO SORRYS” OR SIMILAR "STROKING" MESSAGES..
• Only if the message you compose contains generally useful information, should you address to a group. 
  
• Usually those messages intended for one person are best directed to that individual member.
  

• DON'T HESITATE TO SEND AN APOLOGY.
• If you accidentally sent a personal message to an entire list or email group or find you've offended someone, send an appropriate apology.

• WHEN YOU CANNOT CHECK YOUR EMAIL FOR A LONG TIME, DO NOT SET A BOT TO SEND A MESSAGE.
• A canned message saying you're out of the office or away is likely to irritate to others.

• DO NOT SEND MESSAGES TO PRIVATE EMAIL GROUPS OR LISTS.

• DO NOT REPEAT PERSONAL MESSAGE CONTENT TO PERSONS OUTSIDE THE GROUP WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE ORIGINATOR.
  

• IF YOU POLL A GROUP OR LIST, BE SURE TO POST ONLY A SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS.
• When doing so, truly summarize rather than send an accumulation of the many messages you have received from many members.

• LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF MATERIAL THAT IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH THE PURPOSES OF THE GROUP OR LIST.

• DON’T POST GROUP OR LIST MESSAGES THAT COMMENT NEGATIVELY ABOUT MEMBERS OR THEIR NON-FACTUAL POSTINGS.
• A message that corrects some factual error may be welcome.

COMPOSING

• KNOW AS MUCH AS YOU CAN ABOUT THE PURPOSES  OF THE GROUP OR LIST OR NEWSGROUP.
• Communicating with many people via one mail message or post has the possibility of offending or upsetting many people.

• READ BOTH EMAIL GROUPS AND NEWSGROUPS FOR A TIME BEFORE POSTING.
• This helps you to get an understanding of the culture of the group.

• HAVE AN IDENTITY AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR MESSAGE - USE ONLY A NICKNAME, FIRST NAME OR PUBLIC EMAIL ADDRESS. 
  
• Use this identity at the bottom of your message and before quoted previous messages.
  
• This will guarantee that any peculiarities of mailers or news readers which strip header information will not delete the only reference in the message of how people may reach you.

• CONSIDER USING A UNIQUE EMAIL ADDRESS TO PUBLIC GROUPS.
• Keep your personal email address from becoming public so that undesir-ables won’t intrude on your privacy.

• AVOID LONG MESSAGES.
• Both mail and newsgroups take system and internet resources.
  
• Supply web addresses if available and appropriate.

• DON’T USE ATTACHMENTS TO EMAIL GROUPS/LISTS AND NEWSGROUPS.
• The mail and newsgroup programs generally will strip attachments before the message is posted.

• DON’T POST SEXUAL OR OTHER POSSIBLY ILLEGAL CONTENT IN PUBLIC GROUPS.
• Minors and or law enforcement personnel might view your message contents.

• BE CAREFUL ABOUT COMPOSING MESSAGES WITH GRAPHIC MATERIAL OR MONOSPACE FONTS.
• These will display differently (or not display) on different systems, and with different email programs.

ADDRESSING

• MAKE SURE THE SUBJECT LINE IS APPROPRIATE.
• If the message you compose is on a different subject than the one to which you are responding, change it at the start rather than forget until the message has already been sent with an incorrect subject.

• BE CAREFUL ABOUT USING “REPLY” WHEN YOU RESPOND TO MESSAGES OR POSTINGS.
• Frequently replies are mistakenly sent back to the address which originated the post that in most cases is the address of the group  or list. 
  
• If you use the “REPLY” option, you may accidentally send an intended personal message to a great many people, embarrassing all involved.   
  
• Instead use “COMPOSE” to start a new message. 
  
• Highlight the sender’s address in the posted message that you are responding to, then use cntrl C to copy and cntrl V to paste the address of the sender into the “TO” message you are composing.
• If appropriate, highlight and copy the subject to the message you are composing.

• WHEN SENDING A REPLY, DO NOT INCLUDE (QUOTE) MULTIPLE OR LONG MESSAGES TO WHICH YOU ARE RESPONDING.
• If you are sending a reply to a message or a posting be sure you SUMMARIZE the original AT THE BOTTOM of your message, or COPY and PASTE the key points TO THE BOTTOM of your message.
• That way readers don’t have to plow through all the old stuff before getting to your reply.
  

• AVOID MULTIPLE ADDRESSES USING “TO” OR “CC”.
• When sending a message to more than one mailing list, especially if the  are closely related, do not use  CC.
•  Address multiple groups/lists only if the message is pertinent to all the several addressed groups/lists.

• SEND “SUBSCRIBE” AND “UNSUBSCRIBE” MESSAGES TO THE PROPER ADDRESS.
• Generally group members can NOT unsubscribe you.
  
• It is your responsibility to learn how the groups work, and to send the correct mail to the correct place. 
  
• Be sure you know the conventions used by the groups/lists to which you subscribe.  Newsgroups can be unsubscribed using your mail program.

• CONSIDER SAVING THE SUBSCRPTION REPLY FOR ANY GROUPS OR LISTS TO WHICH YOU SUBSCRIBE.
  
• These usually tell you how to unsubscribe as well.

COMPLAINTS

• DON’T AIR COMPLAINTS TO OTHER THAN THE OFFENDING PARTY… AND THEN ONLY IN PRIVATE.

• ADDRESS COMPLAINTS OF ON-GOING MISBEHAVIOR TO THE OWNER/MODERATOR OF AN EMAIL GROUP OR NEWSGROUP.
• When upset about the behavior of a group member, email the owner/moderator to request that the offending party be informed of the limits of good behavior.
  
• The owner/moderator may then contact the offensive party to either request they change their behavior or be banned.  
  
• Owner/moderator email addresses are usually posted on the group web page.