ADMIN: list policies -- PLEASE READ

This is a reminder to everyone to please pay attention to the policies of
this list, as outlined in your welcome message and the "INFO: About Iris-L"
file. We now have over 150 subscribers, which means that if you use the
list casually, without paying attention, or inappropriately, you will be
getting on the nerves of a LOT of people.

In particular, WATCH THOSE SUBJECT LINES. Yesterday I posted a message
about a new bounced mail policy, and I asked if there were any questions
about it. This morning I found about a half dozen postings with "Re: NEW
POLICY: bounced mail" in the subject line, and not one of them had
questions or comments on my announcement. This phenomenon is repeated
over and over with virtually every topic that appears here. When you post
a message with a particular topic in the subject line, you are announcing
to 150 people that here is a message concerning that topic. Perhaps 100
are interested in that topic and open the message to read it, only to
discover (with irritation) that it is about something else. This is the
electronic equivalent of junk mail and is not a way to win friends and
influence people. Furthermore, some of the 50 who chose to delete the message
based on the subject line may have been people who would have enjoyed it.

A second thing to watch for is personal chit-chat. There is no prohibition
of this on Iris-L. I believe a certain quantity of friendly talk helps
us get to know each other and feel comfortable here. However, please stop
and think whether you *really* want 150 people (many total strangers) to
be copied on every little exchange of chat with another list member. Many
of these exchanges could be carried on better by private email. There are
many subscribers on this list, some of whom have a much lower threshhold
for chat than I do. Give them a break and take some of this stuff off-list.

A third minor point is to make sure that you include your full name AND
email address in the body of messages you post, for example in a signature
file. Some subscribers have mail programs that do not tell them where a
message has come from, except that it came through Iris-L. For these folks,
it can be very frustrating to read anonymous messages; they may even view
the poster as rude.

Now that I've read you the riot act, let me hit the other side of the coin
too. I certainly believe that the list would be more fun and more useful
if we all respected these policies 100% of the time. Yet, realistically,
that will never happen. People are human beings who goof up (I do!), and
there are no "list police" to go and stand by each subscriber's computer
to make sure that the policies are followed. So when you read this list,
you WILL find bad subject lines, inappropriate chatter, and stuff you may
find just plain boring or stupid. Half of what you get from this list may
be stuff you don't want. If that's the case (and it probably is for most
of us), don't get worked up about your fellow subscribers sending you stuff
you'd rather not see. Relax, hit the delete key a few times, and enjoy the
stuff you do like. Remember, one person's silly off-topic post is another
person's inspiring information.

The bottom line:

This list is a public place without rigid rules. You can't make everyone
else behave the way you'd like and talk about what you'd like to hear, but
you CAN make a concerted effort to make your own postings a model of
relevance and courtesy.

Thank you all for your time. Now back to irises....


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Tom Tadfor Little         tlittle@lanl.gov  -or-  telp@Rt66.com
technical writer/editor   Los Alamos National Laboratory
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Telperion Productions     http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
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