ADMIN: Some reminders about using Iris-L

There seems to be a gradual but steady rise in postings that show a lack of
familiarity for the basics of using this list. So perhaps it's time for a
few reminders.

Reading your welcome message is an essential prerequisite to using the list
properly. Not only should you read it and save it when you first join, but
I highly recommend re-reading it a few months later, after you have more of
a feel for how the list works. If for some reason you deleted yours, it is
available on the web at the Iris-L web site
http://www.rt666.com/~telp/garden.htm. Click on "About Iris-L".

What's so important about the welcome message?

1. It contains information on list mechanics: how to unsubscribe, go on or
off digest, get a list of subscribers, and so on. A few weeks back we had
someone who wanted to unsubscribe; since he made no attempt to locate and
follow the instructions for doing this, he quickly became very frustrated
and took out his frustrations on the list, posting things like "I'm going
to clog this list until someone listens". This is an extreme case, but
every week I get messages from people who are oblivious to the existence of
instructions, and think that the way to unsubscribe or do other such things
is to just write messages to the list or the listowner and hope for the
best. This wastes time and bandwidth. Belonging to a mailing list includes
the responsibility of knowing the instructions for its proper use. Please
take your responsibility seriously.

2. It contains posting guidelines: these are courtesy practices that we
hope everyone will follow. If you don't become familiar with these courtesy
practices, other subscribers may think you are being deliberately rude or
self-indulgent. That's not good for the atmosphere. Read those posting
guidelines! That way, at least you know when your behavior is likely to
irritate others. A few particulars:

a. Little personal messages that apply to only one or two other people, or
to local doings in some nearby town, do not belong on the list. Send them
by private email.

b. When you quote a message, trim it down to a reasonable size. This is
more difficult with some email programs than others, but nearly everyone on
this list has the capability to trim down the quoted message in their
response. Some probably don't know how, others apparently just don't care.
If you don't know how, find out. If you don't care--expect others to
reciprocate your arrogance and discourtesy.

c. The volume of mail on the list is already too high for many people.
Please consider taking a "hard line" about what you really need to post.
There's no hard-and-fast rule about what is relevant here and what is not,
but I think we've gotten to the point where it is better to err on the side
of not posting something of questionable relevance.

3. Reading the welcome message will also clue you in to the many resources
available on the internet. Someone who checks the welcome message will know
that  (if you have web access) you can find all the links to all the iris
sites on the web, all the addresses of iris catalogs, all the past postings
to Iris-L, and all the contact information about major iris societies, at
the Iris-L web site. You don't need to clutter the list with queries for
such information.

None of this is meant to be a "slap on the wrist" to someone who is
familiar with the welcome message but still needs more help or information
than is there. If that's your situation, I'm happy to help, as are many of
your fellow list subscribers. But if you just can't be bothered to pay
attention to the instructions that came with your list subscription and
prefer to inconvenience 300+ others in order to spare yourself the trouble
of reading a couple pages, then others will regard you as ignorant, rude,
or both. This is not a matter of list policy, it's just human nature. It
applies on the internet as it does everywhere else.

The information and suggestions in the welcome message are all directed to
a single goal: making Iris-L run smoothly for everyone. When it runs
smoothly, we get to talk and learn about irises. When it doesn't run
smoothly, people can get frustrated, overwhelmed, irritated, or just bored.
We all have a role to play in keeping this system pleasant and useful.

Regards to all, Tom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Tadfor Little                       telp@Rt66.com
Iris-L list owner  *  USDA zone 5/6  *  AIS region 23
Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA)
Telperion Productions      http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Iris-L Web Site  http://www.rt66.com/~telp/garden.htm
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