FACSS Mailing list posting policies

Goals

• The mailing list is a communication network for FACSS and just for the purpose of passing information among FACSS members only. It serves as a benefit for common interest among FACSS members.

• The main goal of the policies is to make the mailing list benefit as many list members as possible.

Rules

• No one should post message to the mailing list for profit.

  • No commercial advertisements. Personal for sale/buy messages should be posted to the message board instead.

  • No job recruiting postings from head hunters.

  • Exceptions may be given to the messages that are highly related to local Chinese community.

• No anonymity. This mailing list mainly serves the UTD users. With a UTD email address, a UTD user cannot hide their identity. So, it is unfair to them for some of the list members to be able to post anonymously and to enjoy their privacy, possibly taking no resposibility for their postings. Posting anonymously also does not help establishing trust in our community. Users subscribing using free web mail accounts such as Yahoo! or hotmail etc need to have their identity verified before they can post. To do so, they need to send a message from their ISP account to facss-admins@utdallas.edu mentioning the email address they are using to subscribe to the UTD FACSS mailing list. When posting, everyone needs to put their unabbreviated full name in the message header or message body.

• The mailing list is for exchanging information only. To reduce the traffic to a minimum, please use our message boards for discussions.

• There are currently more than 800 users on the mailing list. Be considerate to others' time.

  • Do not re-post your message. If you have to repost the same message again, wait for at least one week. If you have to change some information, indicate the change explicitly in your next message.

  • Do not ask about homework on the mailing list.

  • Do not post personal message to the mailing list. If you need the address of a UTD user, go to UTD search page or FACSS addressbook.

• No virus warnings unless you know what you are talking about. Don't just forward other's warning. Don't pass on rumors.

• No chain letters.

Operation procedures

• The mailing list is currently served by Ecartis. List members can configure their options at ecartis.utdallas.edu.

• Only list members can post to the mailing list.

• UTD students can subscribe to the mailing list with no question asked. Outsiders will have to explain the purpose to subscribe and promise not to post commercial advertisement before being accepted.

• UTD list members will be warned of rules violation if it happens. An outsider who violates the rules will be removed from the list without warning.

• If a list member's account is temporary closed (such as mailbox exceeds quota) or permanently closed, or if the UTD mail server has problem connecting to an outside list member's machine, the list server will keep trying for a few days, then put the user in VACATION mode (for over quota user, who will no longer receive mailing list traffic but still can post) or remove the user (for critical errors). If a list member experiences problem receiving mail for more than a few days, they should check if they are still on the mailing list. There will be very little maintenance from the list admins on delivery problems because most of them are caused by abandoned accounts.

Things to pay attention to

• Don't take a posting lightly. As mentioned above, there are more than 800 users on the list. It takes a user at least 3 seconds to delete a message by reading the subject only, and at least 30 seconds to read+delete a message. So, each message you send could take a total of hours of others' time. If your message is about a matter that would only save you a few minutes/hours, e.g. looking for someone you have no email address, homeworks, asking people not to call anymore for something you offered that is gone etc, you are saving your own time by taking others'.

• What may be posted to the mailing list and what may not?

  Aside from some frequent topics such as item for-sale etc, it's hard to define all aspects as what may be posted and what may not. The main idea is, you should only post the topics that potentially interest all the list members, or at least it is not obvious to you that most of them are not interested, i.e. if you are sure your topic only concerns a very small part of the audience, you should find a more appropriate channel to send your message (such as your departmental mailing list, or your school graduate student mailing list). Only when other options are not available, you can find no other channel to send your message, and your issue is very important, then you may post it here with an explanation of your situation. This is the right way to use the network bandwidth efficiently. The main goal is to save people's time. Do not post everything coming to your mind just because it's very easy for you to do so.

• If you send mail from a web browser or MS Outlook Express, be sure to mail text only. Do not post marked-up text or binaries. They will be filtered out by list server.

• If you are not sure your message is sent or not, wait for 30 minutes and check your own mailbox. If it still hasn't shown up, post again, but only once (the mail server may be down at the moment, more postings won't help).

• This is a comment from a list member: only two kinds of people are called girls (or boys): really young and really old. Use "lady" (or male, female person) in your "looking for room(mate)" posts.

Comments and criticism are welcome

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