Guidelines for the list

["Paul M. Moriarty" <pmm@igtc.com>]

It's been a while... here they are for those of you who have forgotten.
Those already familiar with them can hit "delete" now.

- Paul -

             Guidelines for the The Who Mailing List
             ========================================
                   Last revised: 5  February 1997

NOTE:  These rules _supplement_ Netiquette, the generally established
rules governing acceptable behavior on the Internet.  I.e., members of
this list are still expected to have read and to follow those
guidelines.  They may be obtained from your service provider, or
from the Usenet newsgroups news.announce.newusers or news.answers.

CONTENTS/SUMMARY
================
1. Relevance of Postings
   - The Who related only
   - NO FLAMES!
   - Language of postings
2. Copyrights
   - Get permission before submitting copyright-protected works
   - How may your own articles be copied without your (explicit) permission?
   - Can _you_ copy other people's articles without their permission?
3. Common Sense Stuff
   - Be courteous
   - Compile responses to your questions, and post back to the list
   - No "1-liners"
   - Use meaningful "Subject:" line
   - Don't quote original unnecessarily on followups
   - Don't monopolize the list
   - No binary files
   - Be aware of cultural differences
   - Don't post private correspondence without the author's permission
4. Commercial Postings (Advertising)
   - Those not directly related to The Who are explicitly prohibited
   - Disinterested 3rd-party recommendations OK
   - 1-time announcements or introductions OK
   - Annual re-introduction OK
   - No repeated announcements, no sales pitches or marketing hype
   - Full identification and affiliation required
   - Give more to the list than you take from it
5. List Abuse and Responses to Them
   - Spam (obviously not permitted)
   - Chain letters (obviously not permitted)
   - NO DISCUSSION of list abuses on the list!
6. Enforcement of rules
   - By peer guidance
   - By private e-mail only (NOT to the entire list)
   - If you aren't sure, ask the list administrator
   - In extreme cases ...
7. Function of this medium
   - Distribution only
   - Responsibility for content lies with posters
8. Acknowledgements


1. Relevance
============
a. All articles should be related to the The Who or directly
related in some way.

b. Personal flame-wars are not permitted on this list.  Heated debates
on the merits or otherwise of a particular Who technique, music,
style, etc., are perfectly appropriate; however, anything that
degenerates into personal attacks should be relegated to personal
e-mail.  It is a strong preference of members of this list, as well as
its hosts, the list owners, that this sort of "mean-spirited mood
[and] ... juvenile invective ... [that] has seeped into conversations on
[some] Internet newsgroups and other computer talk forums"[1] NOT be
part of The Who Mailing List.  Besides, it is just plain boring to the 99% 
of list members not involved in the hostilities.  Accordingly, you may find 
less tolerance from members of this list to violation of this rule than to
most of the others.
  [1] Langdon Winner in "The Culture of Technology: Privileged
      Communications," MIT Technology Review, Spring 1996.

c. While people are often interested in events in other parts of the
world, do be aware, especially when posting announcements of local
events, that this is an international list over five hundred members
from many countries.

d. Before sending personal replies back to the entire list mail, please 
think about whether it would be of widespread interest to the whole 
community, or mainly just to the original poster or to one or two other 
persons only.

2. Copyrights
=============
a. Do not submit any copyright-protected works, unless you have written
permission from the copyright-owner (and include a statement to that
effect).

b. Any article submitted to this list may be stored, archived, translated
into another language, made available for searches and retrievals,
selected and redistributed by a moderator, gatewayed to related lists or
Usenet groups or related forums, or otherwise copied and/or distributed
electronically by automatic, semi-automatic or manual means.  Such
storage and redistribution is inherent to the function of the list, and
any poster to this list acknowledges and permits such storage and
redistribution by the list owners or administrators, or other persons
authorized by them.

c. There are conflicting opinions about the extent to which original
articles distributed electronically on public forums are protected by
copyright.  These opinions vary from (a) "they are automatically in the
public domain" (generally not considered supportable) to (b) "the author
has absolute ownership with or without a copyright notice." The best
course is for people reading or using others' articles to assume that
original material posted to this list is fully protected by U.S. and
International Copyright laws and agreements, and that they are
responsible for knowing about and observing these laws. (Authors,
however, should not assume that this position will necessarily be
enforceable.)

Notwithstanding legalities, the following is generally regarded as
appropriate usage by the Internet community for articles posted to
Internet mailing lists--however, these informal conventions are NOT
represented as being accurate, authoritative, complete or even legal:
 - Copyright ownership remains with the article's author(s), whose
   permission must be obtained for use beyond "Fair Use," even if there
   is no explicit copyright notice.
 - Casual electronic distribution (e.g., to friends) and reposting to
   related electronic forums, archives, etc., are acceptable, as long as
   this is done with attribution and for no monetary or other tangible
   consideration.  If this is done in a systematic or regular way (such
   as creating archives, gatewaying to a local newsgroup, etc.), the
   permission of the list administrator must be obtained first.
 - It is common practice to quote back to the list in a followup
   article, portions or all of an article originally submitted
   publicly to the list, with ones own comments interspersed.
 - For non-electronic media, paid subscriptions, etc., limited
   excerpting for reviews, summaries, etc., such as would be permitted
   under the "Fair Use" doctrine for any other Copyrighted work, is
   permitted, as long as the intent of the author is not distorted or
   misrepresented.  The outright copying of an article for
   re-publication is almost always in violation of copyright statutes,
   unless you have obtained the permission of the author first.
   Publishers often use a "300-word limit on works quoted without
   permission"[2] as a maximum  excerpting allowance for large
   works--although this sets a precedent, it is not part of the
   Copyright laws, so adhering to it does not guarantee that you are
   within the scope of "Fair Use." In particular, it is unlikely to be
   considered "Fair Use" for the sort of articles posted to Internet
   mailing lists, where 300 words may well be a large fraction, if not
   the entirety, of the work in question.  It is suggested (but not
   guaranteed to be "Fair Use") that you use no more than 300 words
   or 10%, whichever is SMALLER, on works quoted without permission
   in non-electronic media, paid subscriptions, etc.
     [2] Paul & Sarah Edwards in "Publish, Don't Plagiarize," Home Office
         Computing, February 1996.

3. Common Sense Stuff
=====================
a. As with any community, it becomes a more pleasant place for us all if
some common courtesy is maintained.  This means refraining from sarcasm
or attacks directed at other list members or groups, not demeaning other
contributors, being welcoming to new members (or new posters) of the
list, etc.  Don't fall into the trap of letting the absence of
face-to-face interaction lure you into forgetting the cordiality you
would show if you met the person face-to-face.  Please also see the section 
of these rules on "No flames."

b. When posting requests for information, ask for information to be sent
directly to you (rather than to the entire list) and offer to compile
the responses for posting to the entire list.  Then do it!

c. Avoid 1-liners and other trivia.  One- or two-line responses are
almost always junk mail, e.g., "I agree!"  "Yes, me [sic] too!"  Either
add some more value by elaborating, or use personal e-mail to show 1-line
support for someone's position.

d. Make the "Subject:" field of your message as explicit a 1-line
description of the content of your message as you can.  Since you have a
"digest" subscription and are following up to a previous posting, copy
the exact contents of the original "Subject:" line (assuming it is an
appropriate one for your follow-up), prepend the word "re: " and use
that as the "Subject:" for your followup.  Unless you are replying to
mutiple digest articles with a single message, do not simply use the digest
banner "The Who Mailing List Digest Vx #yyy" as the subject, even if
that is the one that your mail reader generates automatically.

e. Don't quote the entire article when mailing a follow-up.  Your mailer
may make it easy to do this, but that's not a good reason to do so.
People have read the previous article, so you either don't need to quote
anything, or just the specific points you are addressing in your
followup.

f. Don't "monopolize" the list.  Don't feel like you need to reply to
every posting on which you have an opinion, unless there is some
significant Who-related information you can add to it.  So limit your
submissions to no more than 9 per week, unless there are extenuating
circumstances (such as daily "field reports" from a major week-long
event that you're attending).

g. Don't post binary files, even if they are uuencoded.  Similarly, the
use of multi-part MIME-encoded messages, even if they are all text, is
discouraged, since it is rarely necessary on this list, and since the use
of mail clients that support these is not sufficiently universal yet.
Other similarly annoying and unnecessary practices: Inclusion of PGP
keys, long signatures, etc.

h. There are innumerable cultures and cultural differences represented on
this list.  Many may not be fluent in English, and the e-mail medium makes 
it difficult to interpret true intent.  Human communication is 85% 
non-verbal and 15% verbal. Things can be said orally that, because of 
body language, intonation, etc., take on a whole different meaning.  In 
e-mail, the only thing transmitted is what is written. "Smileys" and other 
attempts at denoting emotions are a poor substitute and can themselves be
misinterpreted.  The following rule will always stand you in good stead:

     "Be generous in the interpretation of what you read, and sensitive
      in your language in what you write."

i. Privately received correspondence should not be posted publicly
without the consent of the author.  This could be either private
e-mail, or even an article from a small or intimate private discussion
group whose members may expect a high degree of privacy in their
postings.

4. Commercial Postings (Advertising)
====================================
Announcements of commercial activity, or owner/employee/agent of a 
for-profit organization, are generally restricted or prohibited on most 
Internet discussion groups.  However, owing to the small size of this 
community, and the benefits to the community in supporting those who attempt 
to earn a living in this manner, commercial announcements will be permitted, 
subject to the rules below.

These rules below attempt to strike a reasonable balance between
the two extremes of completely barring advertising and allowing any and
all advertising.  Since this area is often the most controversial in
usage etiquette, potential advertisers are strongly advised to read and
heed!

a. Postings that are not directly related to The Who are explicitly
prohibited.

b. Reviews, recommendations, etc., posted by DISINTERESTED third parties
(whose only relationship is that of satisfied--or dis-satisfied--customer)
are not considered commercial postings, and are always welcomed.  You
should include a statement of your lack of affiliation, and that you
weren't asked to make such a post.

c. It is permitted to make a one-time introduction of oneself as a 
professional to the list membership, or the announcement of the release
of a _major_ new work, such as a book, along with any pertinent
information such as contact and ordering information, etc.  (You may 
request that interested parties contact you directly by personal e-mail or 
any other way you like.)

d. An up to 3-line "signature" may appear at the end of an otherwise
non-commercial and meaningful posting, that identifies the poster's
Who-related business and contact information (but without any other
marketing hype).

e. Do not make repeated postings about the same event unless there is
significantly new information.

f. Do not use marketing hype and sales pitches, which tends to be
treated with contempt by Internet readers--real information is valued
and respected more.

g. For postings with a commercial component, complete identification of
the person doing the posting is required, and the person(s) on whose
behalf the posting is being done.  (Full names, e-mail addresses,
contact addresses and telephone numbers.)

The following additional suggestions are made to those who would post
commercial announcements:

- Be a member of the list for at least 3 months to get the feel for
how it works, and for the "unspoken culture" that any community
develops.

- Share your knowledge and expertise by participating actively and
meaningfully in discussions about The Who, so as to establish yourself
as a contributor to the list who is willing to give as well as
receive.  (By the way, this is better for PR than any advertisement!)

- Keep the advertising infrequent, compared to your other posts.

5. List Abuse and Responses to Them
===================================
a. Spams.  Every once in a while, someone will post an advertisement to
all the mailing lists and/or newsgroups that he can possibly find (a
"spam"). Of course, this is unlikely to be related to The Who and
since the poster rarely if ever subscribes to any of these lists, a rule
that says "No spams" is irrelevant.  However, we state this rule anyway:
"No spams and no advertising unrelated to the subject matter of the list."
(There are some built-in mechanisms to minimize the likelihood of most
spams reaching the list members.)

b. Distribution of Chain Letters.  This is strictly forbidden by the
policies of the sponsoring institution (IGTC), and includes any posting
that explicitly requests further distribution in a manner intended to
replicate in a chain reaction fashion beyond a particular discussion
group.  The definition of a chain letter is not limited to those which
request money--Virus "alerts," political petitions, attempts to
set world records for e-mail received and "e-mail bomb" requests are some
other examples of what would be considered a chain letter.

c. Responses to Chain letters and Spams.  Should someone abuse the list
in some way, the most important rule is that NO followup note or
discussion of any kind about the abuse should be sent to the whole list,
as that just multiplies manifold the junk mail created by that spam.
Appropriate responses are (in order of preference):
 - Delete and ignore
 - Write up a nasty letter to the originator, to get it out of your
   system, and then delete both the letter and the original e-mail
   (or send it to the INDIVIDUAL if you must, but it will probably
   bounce or go to the wrong person)
 - Send a nice letter to the service provider from which site the mail
   originated, requesting that the offender be disciplined, permanently
   denied access, etc.
 - Join one of the discussions on net abuse on some OTHER suitable list
   or newsgroup, where such things are discussed ad nauseum
 - As far as this list is concerned, anything else, as long as it does
   NOT involve the entire list.

6. Enforcement of rules
=======================
In most cases, violation of rules by a list member is unintentional and
only requires education of the offender as to proper usage.  Less often,
it is a flagrant or repeated violation by someone who believes he is
above the rules.  Enforcement of the rules is by gentle peer advice in
the first case, and peer pressure in the second case.  The list
administrator rarely has the time or inclination to be list policemen,
and list members need to assume a joint responsibility in this regard.

If you believe someone has violated a rule, send the person a politely
worded message informing him or her of that, preferably with the
relevant portion of these rules attached. Do this by private e-mail
ONLY--do NOT chastise the person publicly on the list as this leads to
the inevitable flame-war.  This is NOT a suggestion to "mail bomb" the
person; rather, it is hoped that a large number of private reprimands
(especially in the case of intentional violations) will make it clear
that the behavior was inappropriate.  You may send a copy of that mail
to the administrators at thewho-owner@igtc.com if you would
like to.

If you would like to submit an article that you think is marginal, you
are welcome to e-mail it first to the list administrator at
thewho-owner@igtc.com for an opinion.

It is hoped that the above procedure will suffice.  However, to protect
the list and its members, it is necessary to state that you may be
removed from the list, and/or kept from posting to it, under
circumstances including, but not limited to, the following: Extreme,
continued or intentional violation of the list guidelines and policies,
or of Internet usage conventions (as determined solely by the list
administrator or list owner, or person(s) designated by the list
administrator or list owner); violation of the acceptable use policies
of the sponsoring institution (IGTC); violation of any applicable law,
including copyright law; any other action that, in the sole opinion of
the list administrator or list owner, or person(s) designated by the
list administrator or list owner, may be harmful to the list, its
members, or the computer or communications facilities or networks that
support it.

7. Function of this medium
==========================
a. This list is only a distribution medium.  Submitters are wholly
responsible for the content and appropriateness of all mailings made to
the list.

b. Although the list administrators attempt to limit abusive behavior,
and retain full authority to remove members from the list or restrict
their access to the list, with or without cause, this is fundamentally
an open and public list and the list administrators, list owners, and
sponsoring organizations are not responsible for the policing of this
list or their members, or for the content or source of information that
appears on this list.

8. Acknowledgements
===================

Special thanks to Shahrukh Merchant.  These rules are derived from ones 
originally written by Shahrukh Merchant <merchant@world.std.com> for the 
tango-L list, and are used with author's written permission.  

Paul M, Moriarty
The Who Mailing List administrator
thewho@igtc.com