The Preemie-l listserv exists because we share the desire to focus intensely on the impacts of prematurity in a friendlier, more informed, more widely based and more interested community than is possible in other media (such as newsgroups or even our local neighborhood). Along with this marvellous ability comes a responsibility to the Preemie-l community.
Preemie-l listserv has over 300 members and one third of us (more than 100) receive the digest. An additional number of readers read the messages via the archives on the preemie-l website. The list is worldwide in membership; while the majority are from the United States, we also a have number of members in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Netherlands, Mexico, Israel, and many other countries. Many of our members have very young or sick babies. All members have time constraints and wish to spend time with their families and friends, in addition to reading preemie-l mail.
A summary of the Common Netiquette Guidelines are posted here for considerate and effective use of our Preemie-l mailing list. These guidelines are provided *in addition* to the Preemie-l ground rules, which can be found on the home page.
o Save the welcome message that you receive when you join the list. It tells you how to subscribe and unsubscribe. If you really cannot figure out how to leave the list, visit the Preemie-l home page or contact the list owner to request help.
o You must be subscribed to post to Preemie-l. It is also necessary for your posting address (the address you send your mail from) to exactly match your subscribed address, or your messages will bounce. This means that if your mail address changes even slightly, you'll need to unsubscribe the old address and resubscribe the new one.
o You will be unsubscribed if your mail bounces because your mail box is full. If you are going on vacation or cannot keep up with your email, please unsubscribe. You'll be able to catch up on mail you might have missed by reading the archives.
If your mail stops coming, and you haven't unsubscribed, please contact the listowner at cyberfam@cais.com . Be sure to mention which list (preemie-l) and version (digest or regular) you wish to receive.
o When you reply to a message which has bounced or has been forwarded by the listowner to the Preemie-l list, take care to type in the original writer's address or send your answer to the Preemie-l list itself, if appropriate. (Using the reply function of your emailer mails your reply back to the listowner.)
o Never send attachments to the list, because they don't translate properly. Instead you should convert your file to a standard ASCII text file and include it in the mail you are composing. Alternatively you can put the information on a website, or send it privately.
o Don't crosspost, that is, don't send one message to multiple mailing lists. It may create a large number of bounced messages as people who are not subscribed to Preemie-l reply. Along the same lines, please don't address messages to Preemie-l and a large number of other recipients at the same time - your message will be bounced by majordomo as "spam".
o When you reply to a message, don't include the entire length of the original message in your post. Take the time to use your delete key and either select the small part that is pertinent to your letter or summarize it in your response. The digest with over 100 subscribers is rendered almost unreadable by failure to follow this rule of Netiquette. This is a major waste of server space and members' valuable time.
o Avoid posting "Me Too" messages, that is, short replies to the whole list just to say that you agree or had a similar reaction or experience. It is better to send these by private mail to the original poster. If you have something valuable to add, then by all means send this to the list. As a general guideline, the new content in a follow-up post should exceed the quoted context.
o If you ask a question, be sure to post a summary. When doing so, truly summarize rather than send a cumulation of the messages you're responding to.
o Label the content of your post in the subject line. If the subject in your response differs from the one your are replying to, update the subject line to match your new topic. The form "XXX was YYY" works well for changing topics.
Readers searching for answers on a certain topic, and readers of both the digest and the archives, use these subject labels to select messages to read (or not to read). Your post will reach a broader audience with a good subject header.
o All mail to Preemie-l should be directly related to the experience of prematurity. For exampole, don't send virus warnings, humor columns, chain letters, other people's inspirational poetry or any off-topic information to the list, no matter how wonderful or necessary you may find it. These things occupy valuable space that should be devoted to preemies.
o The exceptional information that our members offer sometimes gets lost in the clutter of off-topic posts, personal mail, inflammatory posts, and unedited replies. Many Preemie-l members have had to unsubscribe because they could't keep up with the volume of mail and take care of their children at the same time.
It's important to remember that our purpose as a group is to provide information and support; new members, people asking for help, and important issues don't get the response they should when members are overwhelmed by mail. Keep Preemie-l mail volume reasonable and relevant.
o Take care in what you write. Remember over 300 people will read your post and it will be archived for a very long time and available to the world via the Preemie-l website. Consider your audience - parents of young and fragile children. Email always sounds harsher than it is because there are no accompanying gestures or facial expressions.
o Try not to give offence or be easily offended yourself. When you make your points keep your tone polite. Respond to the issues not to the personal attributes.
o Flaming means sending harsh abusive mail. It includes such things as name calling, public criticism of another member of the group, personal attacks, baiting, raising issues or responding to posts in a deliberately inflammatory manner. (The discussion of various issues related to prematurity, conducted with basic courtesy and within the list ground rules, isn't flaming.)
o Persistent disagreements with another person should be moved to private email and off of the list.
o The best way to stop a flame fest from happening is to ignore the folks who try to start them. Please notify the listowner if you feel that the discussion is getting out of hand or oppressive.
o Never repost private email to the mailing list (or any other forum or media) without permission of the original author. If you have permission to repost a message or information, please credit the author and show their email address.
o Only send messages to the list that are pertinent to the group as a whole. Messages such as welcome to the list greetings, plans to get together, birthday wishes, welcome home messages, and other private congratulatory messages should be sent by private email. Keep the volume down and the posts interesting to everyone.
o Don't post your phone number or address to the list without understanding the potential consequences. Such information can be read by anyone with Internet access. It is better to send personal information by private email.
o Capitalize words only to highlight an important point or to distinguish a title or heading. Capitalizing whole words that are not titles is generally termed as SHOUTING! *Asterisks* surrounding a word can be used to make a stronger point. Don't write an entire message in lower case, either.
o Don't send text to a mailing list in mime format. Keep your formatting set for the lowest common denominator so that everyone can read it. Limit line length to approximately 65-70 characters and above 55 characters - use your automatic word wrap if available.
o Keep the length of your signatures modest. One or two lines is about right.
* Thank you for your contribution to our unique and wonderful community *
Allison
Martin, Listowner Preemie-child
Last Update:
October 1997
Acknowledgements:
Special
thanks to Anne Casey, and the following
listowners: Randy Ryan (Our Kids ), Eric Hansen (Level 42), Arlene
Rinaldi, Murr Rhame (Pyrotechnics), Brian Edmonds (##), Mike Nolan
(Huskers) for sending material and allowing me to us their words and
concepts in this document.
Want to know more?
The
Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette - by Arlene Rinaldi
(http://rs6000.adm.fau.edu/rinaldi/netiquette.html)
RFC 1855 Netiquette Guidelines (http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1855.txt)
NETIQUETTE: A Concise Guide to Good Manners On-Line - by Gloria G.
Brame
(http://gloria-brame.com/glory/jour3.htm)
Electronic Mail Etiquette - by David Harris
(http://www.uel.ac.uk/pers/1412/pegasus/etiquette.html)
DOE Internet Chain Letters (http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACChainLetters.html)
DOE Internet Hoaxes (http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html)
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