USSASIMOV-L: The official Mailing List of the USS Asimov
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Frequently Asked Questions 06.30.09 SPN
The USS Asimov mailing list is an official mailing list that allows members of the USS Asimov to more easily exchange ideas and information about issues affecting STARFLEET and USS Asimov members. USSASIMOV-L operates under the authority of the leadership of the USS Asimov.
The current USSASIMOV-L ListFAQ is always available on the USS Asimov web site at http://www.ussasimov.org/documents/listfaq.txt.
A. Subscription instructions
B. Contact information
C. Archives and FAQ
D. Purpose
E. Announcements and digests
F. How to post
G. To post or not to post
H. Replies, followups, quoting
I. Acronyms and emoticons
J. When things go wrong
K. Multiple e-mail addresses
L. Other sources of info
M. What not to do
N. What did we miss?
O. Credits
A. Subscription instructions
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There are two ways to handle your subscription to USSASIMOV-L.
The first method is via the web. Most people file this preferable. You can subscribe, unsubscribe, set digest, and all sorts of other things here.
<http://lists.ussasimov.org/listinfo.cgi/ussasimov-l-ussasimov.org>
Now, for folks who really want or need to use an email interface, here's how you go about it:
To subscribe to USSASIMOV-L:
* Write <ussasimov-l-ussasimov.org-request@lists.ussasimov.org> a message whose BODY says SUBSCRIBE
To unsubscribe from USSASIMOV-L:
* Write <ussasimov-l-ussasimov.org-request@lists.ussasimov.org> a message whose BODY says UNSUBSCRIBE
B. Contact information
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The USSASIMOV-L list owner is Sean Niemeyer. The list moderator is Sean Niemeyer.
Your first contact for most issues or questions regarding the list should be Sean
* Sean Niemeyer <ops@ussasimov.org>
* Martin Lessem <co@ussasimov.org>
If you have questions or comments about subscriptions or the operation of the list contact Sean.
C. Archives and FAQ
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Digests of the USSASIMOV-L mailing list are available on the list server site at http://lists.ussasimov.org/private.cgi/ussasimov-l-ussasimov.org. These mailing list archives are maintained on a space-available basis and are not guaranteed, so you are encouraged to keep your own archives if you feel you may wish to refer back to a previous post.
The current USSASIMOV-L ListFAQ is always available on the Asimov web site at http://www.ussasimov.org/documents/listfaq.txt.
D. Purpose
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The USS Asimov mailing list is an official mailing list that allows members of the USS Asimov to more easily exchange ideas and information about issues affecting STARFLEET and USS Asimov members. USSASIMOV-L operates under the authority of the leadership of the USS Asimov.
Announcements of upcoming chapter or region events are absolutely welcome, as well as discussion about issues facing chapters, regions, or individual members. Messages of thanks or praise are appreciated; messages of complaint are not.
The authority of the list owner and moderators on USSASIMOV-L is absolute; the list is not a democracy. You are encouraged to adhere to the guidelines set forth in this FAQ and to requests made by the moderators on the list itself.
The right to free speech guaranteed within the United States by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States specifies that the Federal government will not interfere with your right to express yourself. It does not apply to private individuals or organizations, and most assuredly does not apply to USSASIMOV-L. You are welcome to express your
disagreement with this position on another forum, if you choose, but not on USSASIMOV-L.
E. Announcements and digests
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The USSASIMOV-L digest version gives you the option of receiving a batch of USSASIMOV-L posts as a single message once the collected digest has reached a certain size, rather than individually. This approach means there might be more than one digest on a given day if the traffic is heavy, or there may be a couple of days between digests if traffic is light.
F. How to post
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To post a message to USSASIMOV-L:
* send e-mail to <ussasimov-l-ussasimov.org@lists.ussasimov.org>
That's the short form.
Your entire header (including, for example, To, CC, Subject, and Organization lines) must not be longer than 1,024 characters, to comply with a restriction imposed by the mailing list software we're using. This means that a message sent to dozens of recipients including USSASIMOV-L, all of whose names and addresses are visible, may not get through to the list. Sending a message to dozens of recipients with their names and addresses visible is rude anyway. Use BCC (blind carbon copy).
In general, your Subject line should be brief but descriptive. A subject line such as "Question" or "List post" or "Announcement" or "Important!" accomplishes little. Instead, use a descriptive subject such as "How tall is Ro Laren?" or "Region 7 Conference this November."
You should sign each post to USSASIMOV-L with, at a minimum, your name and e-mail address. Some list subscribers use e-mail software or services that do not display complete header information, so can't necessarily see the name and e-mail address of the message's originator unless they're provided in a signature at the end of the message. Also, some service providers (AOL is notorious for this) don't include anything useful like your name in the header. Signatures should not be excessive; five or six lines is usually plenty.
If you are posting a message that expresses congratulations, condolences, get-well wishes, or requests for prayers or good luck, please make sure you provide the private e-mail address of the individual or group affected, or promise to pass along any replies that are sent to you privately. Such messages are wonderful, but followups to these messages should be in the form of private replies, not list posts.
If you're posting a followup message to a USSASIMOV-L post, make sure your e-mail software is sending the message where you expect it to go. If your To: or CC: lines contain multiple copies of the USSASIMOV-L address, take out all but one. If your reply is addressed to lists other than USSASIMOV-L, make sure you're entitled to post to them, and make sure you intend to, before you do.
This is a closed list, so you can only post from the e-mail address at which you're subscribed. Posts from any other address will bounce.
Styled text or HTML encoded text is not appropriate on USSASIMOV-L. Post your message as plain text e-mail. Stylized text will arrive in some subscribers' mailboxes as indecipherable gibberish, and will often make the list digests unwieldy. If you don't know how to turn off styled text in your mail client, please ask us for help. We have FAQs available upon request for a variety of popular mail clients.
File attachments are absolutely forbidden on USSASIMOV-L. In most cases, many or most subscribers will be unable to use them anyway. It's fine to offer the availability of a file to those who reply privately that they'd like a copy sent individually, but files are not to be sent to the list. This includes "business card" files sent along automatically by some mail
clients, notably Netscape's. Turn them off.
G. To post or not to post
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Think before you post to the list. You are about to share your words with hundreds of people. If you're mad when you write your message, hold onto it for a few hours before posting, and then look at it again. You may discover you need to reword it... or just delete it unsent.
See the section on "What not to do" before posting, to make sure you are not violating any of the list's rules with your message.
H. Replies, followups, quoting
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Think before you post a followup message. Does the list need to see your reply, or should it go only to the one person who posted the message to which you're replying?
If you decide to send a private reply, please carefully check to make sure your message is addressed only to that person's private e-mail address, not to the list. You'd think it would be easy to keep an eye on this, but far too often, we see messages erroneously sent back to the list when the sender clearly meant them to be private.
If you're going to send a followup post to the list, quote the message to which you're replying, but do so sparingly. It's worth quoting four or five lines of the previous message to provide context for your readers, but remember that your fellow subscribers have seen the previous message, so you don't need to quote much.
Don't quote the previous post in its entirety, even if your e-mail software makes it awfully convenient to do just that.
Do attribute the quote to the person who wrote it. Check carefully.
J. Acronyms and emoticons
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Frequent communicators on the Internet have developed a set of conventions for shorthand in the form of acronyms expressing a variety of meanings, and "emoticons" (also known as "smileys") to convey emotion.
Many acronyms you'll see on USSASIMOV-L are common in offline usage, such as RSVP (repondez, s'il vous plait, a French phrase asking for a response, usually used to request an answer to an invitation) or ASAP (as soon as possible). Most are unique to the Internet, such as YMMV (your mileage may vary; you might feel otherwise), LOL (laughing out loud), IMHO (in my humble opinion), FWIW (for what it's worth), AFAIK (as far as I know), and RTFM (read the darn manual, a suggestion that the information you seek is already at your fingertips).
Most of the emoticons are readily interpreted if you tilt your head. The symbol :-) is a smiley face tilted to the left. Variants include the noseless smiley :) and its lefty counterpart (: (thanks, Gord) as well as symbols for other emotions, such as :-( or :-\.
K. When things go wrong
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If you believe there is something wrong with the USSASIMOV-L mailing list, DO NOT under any circumstances post a message to the list expressing your concern. If there is actually something wrong, your post may exacerbate the problem, and at best will be ineffective at solving it.
You should instead attempt to contact one or more of the members of the list's administration, whose direct e-mail addresses are available in the section "Contact information."
If there's nothing wrong with the mailing list, but you have a complaint about something that someone has posted, please direct your comments to the list moderators. Most of USSASIMOV-L's moderation activity goes on behind the scenes, via private messages among the moderators and those who've done something wrong. It's possible that the moderators have already dealt with the issue you feel is worth a complaint, but it's also possible that we haven't, so your comments, worded politely and in private, are always welcome.
Please unsubscribe from USSASIMOV-L if you know in advance that your e-mail address is going to become unreachable, either permanently, or for a short period of time. If messages to you bounce repeatedly, you may be unsubscribed from the list without notice. Make sure your mailbox doesn't get too full, you don't turn on "vacation" autoresponders, etc.
L. Multiple e-mail addresses
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If you might want to post to USSASIMOV-L from multiple addresses, please subscribe all of them to the list individually. At the moment, we have no mechanism for allowing you to post from an address that is not subscribed to the list. (You can post from an address that's subscribed to the digest, rather than the regular list, if that's more convenient.)
M. Other sources of info
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Information about most aspects of the USS Asimov may be found at the USS Asimov web site.
* http://www.ussasimov.org
N. What not to do
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Don't worry, there's a nearly infinite variety of GOOD ways to express yourself on USSASIMOV-L. The following "don'ts" are of varying degrees of severity, but refraining from committing any of them will help to keep you on the list moderators' good side. If you have any questions, or aren't sure whether something you're about to post violates the guidelines, by all means ask first. Whoever coined the phrase, "It's easier to get forgiveness than permission," never met the USSASIMOV-L list moderators.
Note that the following isn't an exhaustive list of rules. Please use your best judgement and try to behave maturely.
* No flames or other acts that disrupt the even flow of discussion on the list. We expect you to act like adults when posting here. Feel free to express disagreement with someone's position by arguing your position. Do not feel free to express your disagreement via attacks on the other party as an individual.
* No forwarding private mail. Messages sent to you privately are not to be shared with the list without the permission of the author. The same applies for messages from limited-access mailing lists.
* No forwarding messages to the list for non-subscribers. Some folks aren't subscribed because they aren't allowed to post to USSASIMOV-L. If someone asks you to share their thoughts with the list, ask them to contact a list moderator. We'll post their message for them if we think it's appropriate.
* No posting copyrighted material without permission. This includes newspaper articles, articles or other material from web sites, wire service material, etc. If you ask, you may find that the newspaper or writer is happy to have you share the material. Ask.
* No excessive quoting. Quote four or five lines of the post you're replying to. If you have more than one point to answer, then of course you may quote the relevant lines for that point also. Do NOT quote the previous post in full, either at the beginning or end of your post. We've already seen it.
* No unmarked spoilers. Provide spoiler warnings in subject line, and 20 lines of space before your text, if your post contains info that could be considered a spoiler. See the ListFAQ for details.
* No chain letters. A chain letter is a message that urges you to pass it along to others. Simple as that. It doesn't have to be a get-rich-quick scheme to be a prohibited chain letter. Chain e-mail is against the terms of service of most Internet service providers, and is absolutely against the rules here. Chain petitions, virus warnings, snowballs, and other messages that urge you to pass them to all your friends are forbidden.
* No virus warnings. If you receive an e-mail message warning you of a dastardly virus or prank that everyone should know about, do yourself (and us) a favor and DON'T forward it to everyone you know. Above all, don't forward it to USSASIMOV-L. Odds are very good it's a hoax, an urban legend, or otherwise bogus. If you get something that seems real, and you feel everyone needs to know about it, please pass it on to one of the USSASIMOV-L list moderators for consideration. We'll post it if it seems appropriate.
* No test messages. If the operation of the list needs to be tested for some reason, one of the listadmins will do so. If you feel there's a problem we don't know about, please let us know via private e-mail. If you need to test the operation of your e-mail, please do so by exchanging e-mail with an individual, or even send an innocuous command to Mailman. Sending a message to <ussasimov-l-ussasimov.org@lists.ussasimov.org> with the word "options" in the body will give you some various options, and will tell you whether your E-Mail address is subscribed to the list.
* No advertising or sales pitches, whether to promote something that would benefit you, a friend, or an unrelated company. We make exceptions for chapter fundraisers and the like, but please ask for permission before posting such messages.
* No "me too" posts. If you'd also like the information someone has requested on the list, send a private note to that person asking him or her to share the results of his or her request. If you agree with what someone has just said, feel free to express your agreement in a private note. Don't bother posting a reply to the list unless you have something to add to the discussion.
* Limit signature blocks to six lines, including all information, decorations, quotations, and blank lines.
* Don't post replies to the list when your message is meant for just the original poster. Don't post followup congratulations, good luck wishes, or condolences to the list. send them privately.
* No attached files. No styled text. No HTML encoding. Simple, eh?
P. What did we miss?
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This document isn't perfect, and as it has evolved before, it will evolve again. Please send comments or suggestions to the List Owner, Sean Niemeyer at <ops@ussasimov.org>.
Q. Credits
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This ListFAQ is maintained by Sean Niemeyer. Most of this FAQ was adapted from the STARFLEET list FAQ.
