Rules and Guidelines
Acceptable Posts
Purpose of the List
The mailing list is the way to communicate with members of the WWWAC between the general meetings and the meetings of the WWWAC Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Also, because subscription to the mailing list is not limited to WWWAC members, the list provides a public forum for the discussion of ideas important to the WWWAC.
This is where we discuss Web design, the Web industry, and issues affecting the Web. This is a place to share questions, tips, techniques, and job information related to the Web. It is not a place to discuss general Internet topics, such as email or newsgroups, except as they affect the Web.
This is also where we announce WWWAC meetings, WWWAC SIG meetings and other events related to life on the Web.
An "acceptable post" is any message sent to the list that advances the purpose of the list, or, at the very least, does not disrupt or hinder these purposes.
Do's and Don'ts
On this list, people discuss and often debate ideas of importance to them, sometimes quite passionately. While it is perfectly acceptable to have strong opinions, personal attacks are NOT acceptable. Respect for everyone on the list is a condition for subscribership. When you post, please remember that you are communicating with several thousand people, and judge your words accordingly.
Each person on the list is expected to be responsible for what he or she says and what he or she reads as well. WWWAC is not responsible in any way for statements made by subscribers to this list. We advise that all members familiarize themselves with any issues they may have regarding libel, copyrights or any other issues surrounding their posted messages.
Before you post a message, ask yourself the following questions:
- Does it pertain to the Web and the WWWAC?
- Is the thought or question complete, or will you have more to say on it in an hour?
- Should you just be quiet for a while and let other people speak?
Every attempt will be made to deal with violations of list policies in private e-mail; however, frequent or egregious violators will be subject to public humiliation on the list and/or removal from the list and placement in the pariah file, as deemed necessary by the list administrator.
A new member can post just about any infraction short of posting a one megabyte attached file and be sure that any critique will happen in private mail; however, frequent posters have a greater responsibility to maintain the list community and will be judged accordingly. Nonetheless, infrequent posting is not a defense -- each member of the list does not have a bandwidth quota to fill.
We are not anonymous on this list. Include your real name in posts, and respect others' names. If you quote someone else's post, do so beginning with something like: "On 3 March 1996, [Quotee's Name] wrote:" so readers at least know who you're talking about.
While the primary purpose of the WWWAC list is discussion, some degree of blatant self-promotion -- for either individuals and organizations -- is acceptable, provided it is kept brief (fewer than 40 lines of up to 75 characters each). If you need to go longer, put it up on the Web and post a brief description with a URL. Note that this 40-line rule applies only to self-promotion and reposts.
Unless she or he states otherwise, or it is blatant or incontrovertible, respond to people's questions under the assumption that the questioner has a level of understanding similar to or greater than your own. Answer other people's questions as you would hope to have your own answered. And above all, remember that condescension is almost always inappropriate to this list.
Refrain from posts commenting on blatant mistakes by others or apologizing for your own; mistakes and guideline infractions are dealt with by the list-administrator, mostly in private mail. If you feel the need to add your own two cents, do so privately as well.
Digest mode subscribers should note that they receive the discussion long after most members of the list. To avoid the constant rehashing of the same answers to the same questions, they should refrain from participating in time-sensitive discussions. Remember to change the Subject in your reply to match the item you are replying to. Remember to edit the quote in your reply.
Signature Files
Please do not use signature files of more than six lines.
Job Postings
Posting of job openings is appropriate if done by the individual or company who will be the employer. This comes under the heading of self-promotion and the same rules of brevity apply. (Note: please include the word JOB in your Subject header and please remind applicants to reply to your email address.)
Violations: Things You Should Never Send To the List
- Attached Files
- Spam
- Chain Letters
- Your Résumé
- Someone Else's Copyrighted Material
- 'Flame mail'
- Re-posted Material of more than 40 Lines
- Listproc commands - they go to: <listproc@legion.echonyc.com>
- 'Classified Ads' - looking or renting Apartment or Office space, lost kittens, personals, buying or selling computer equipment, etc. (The exception here is posting Job openings as per our guidelines).
Penalties & Administrative Actions
Warning |
You will receive a private message from the List Coordinator or a List Team member. |
Read Only |
Means you will continue to receive WWWAC messages but you will not be able to post messages to the list. |
Suspension |
Means you will not receive WWWAC messages and will not be able to post messages to the WWWAC list. |
Barred |
Means you are off the list permanently. |
Posting to the List
Once you are subscribed to the WWWAC list, you are entitled to post messages to the list.
Address messages to:
wwwac@legion.echonyc.com
Messages should have concise, informative subject lines. The body of the message should end with a short signature block providing your real name and an email address for private replies. If posting a reply to a previous message on the list, it is appropriate to include a part of the original message for establishing context. Such quoted material should be kept as short as possible. Remember: Any email you send to the list address gets delivered to more than 2500 people. At current dial-up speeds, one extra line of 72 characters wastes an entire minute of the list's time.
List Commands
To get on the list, get off the list, change various options of the list or get a list archive, you need to send an email message with your command. The email address for sending commands is different than the address for posting messages to the list.
List Commands are sent to:
listproc@legion.echonyc.com
The command, which must go in the body of the email message, can be any one of the following:
Getting on the list -- send the command:
SUBSCRIBE WWWAC Your Full Name
Do not put your email address and do not attach a signature. If you do, your mail will be returned unprocessed.
Getting off the list -- Send the command:
UNSUBSCRIBE WWWAC
- or -
SIGNOFF WWWAC
Setting Digest Mode: Dozens of messages a day can be rather hard to handle for most sane people, so we've thoughtfully allowed you to receive this list in digest mode by using the command
SET WWWAC MAIL DIGEST
Please note, if you decide that you want to use digest mode, then you should also subscribe to wwwac-announce to receive time-sensitive information like meeting times. Send mail to listproc@legion.echonyc.com with the body of the message as follows:
SUBSCRIBE WWWAC-ANNOUNCE Your Full Name
To Postpone Mail: You've managed to score some primo vacation time, and you just won't be able to read your WWWAC mail. Instead of coming back to a mailbox filled with 5000 messages, you can temporarily suspend the list from sending to your address with the command
SET WWWAC MAIL POSTPONE
Getting off Digest or Postpone modes: To return to individual messages after being in Digest mode or to resume mail after postponing it, use the command
SET WWWAC MAIL ACK
Getting Help: The full set of list commands and a copy of the guidelines are included in the welcome message. You can get this by sending the command
INFO WWWAC
WWWAC-Admin List Team
The WWWAC discussion list is administered by the WWWAC Admin. List Team (WALT), a group of volunteers who handle list problems, questions and violations as per the stated guidelines and under the auspice of the WWWAC List Administrator, a member of the WWWAC Board of Directors. If you have further questions or comments, please send them to: listhelp@wwwac.org .
WWWAC SIG Lists
Advertising SIG discussion list:
To subscribe, send e-mail to listproc@listproc.echonyc.com
with "subscribe WWWAC-AD [Your name]" in the body of the message
Biz SIG discussion list:
To subscribe, send email to listserv@virtualgrowth.com
with "subscribe BizSIG [Your name]" in the body of the message
Database Integration SIG discussion list:
To subscribe, send email to listserv@vm.net
with "subscribe DBSIG-L" in the body of the message
E-Commerce SIG discussion list:
To subscribe, send email to majordomo@columbia.edu
with "subscribe ecommercesig" in the body of the message
Webcasting SIG discussion list resources:
Webcasting SIG is not hosting a list; however, they are maintaining a resource
for the best Webcasting discussion lists at
http://wcsig.org/
Writers SIG discussion list:
To subscribe, Send a message to listserv@perton.com
with the following in the BODY of the message:
SUBSCRIBE WRITERS-LIST your name