| Admin stuff The Charter Using the list The Rules Problems? |
Brian Curry
is the List Admin of the MAC-PAC list, and should be able to assist you if
you are having difficulties. There is no charge to join or participate on
the MAC-PAC list.
The list admin has total authority over the list, with
guidance from the 'list elders'. No one has a guaranteed right,
Contitutional, God-given or otherwise, to be on this list. It is unlikely
that you will be refused membership or unsubscribed without a compelling
reason, but keep in mind that your status as a subscriber DOES hinge on not
deliberately (or through sheer repeated carelessness) upsetting him or other
list members.
Also the list posts have "MAC-PAC" in the subject line
so they can be easily identified if you don't have filtering capability in
your mailer, and can filter on it, if you do.
The scope of this list is "Items of regional BMW interest"
with 'regional' being loosely defined as the Southeastern PA area, the
surrounding areas and a few other areas a bit further away where some other
nice people live. 'BMW interest' means items of motorcycle interest
to the list, taking into account that the common interest on the list is
that they nearly all ride Beemers. So riding, racing, fixing, washing,
and modifying your Beemer are great topics, saying you picked up a used Honda
to add to the garage is fine, but extended discussions comparing Gold Wing
windshields to Harley windshields might not be. Sports in general are
not welcome, but MC racing or other motorsports would be, as would a
group trip to a sporting event. Weather in general is not, unless planning
a ride or if your garage with your Beemer in it got flattened by a hurricane.
Politics would be undesireable, but traffic legislation or a legislators
viewpoints on motorcycles would be useful. And while this is not a humor
list, an OCCASIONAL joke or inspirational bit, hopefully a good one, isn't
the end of the world and might lighten someone's day - just don't overdo
it. Since some members are not on any other lists, general BMW material
is welcome, although getting material routinely forwarded from another list
would get old after a while - if that list is so good, interested people
should subscribe to it as well.
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For administrative tasks such as subscribing, unsubscribing, and getting
information about the list, send the following as the message body (no subject
is needed) to
majordomo@jtan.com:
subscribe mac-pac-l "YOUR NAME, TOWN"\
<YOU@YOUR.ADDRESS>
This will subscribe you to the mac-pac mailing list.
unsubscribe mac-pac-l
Obviously, this will unsubscribe you and you will no longer get messages.
info mac-pac-l
This will send you another copy of the 'welcome' message that is automatically
sent to new subscribers.
help
This will send you a list of all of the commands that majordomo (the mailing
list program) understands.
who mac-pac-l
will give a list of names of all people currently subscribed.
To send a message to all members, send it to mac-pac-l@jtan.com and your message will be forwarded to all the other list members. ONLY SUBSCRIBED LIST MEMBERS CAN POST. If you are not subscribed, or if you try to post from an unsubscribed account (like your work account or a friend's computer), no one will ever see the message.
To reply to a message from the list, typically using the "Reply" feature
in your mailer will reply only to the sender, and "Reply to all" will reply
to the sender, all the other list members and any other recipients.
However, your own mailer might be set up to handle things differently.
The admin may be able to help you straighten out problems in this area.
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Anything sent to the list address goes to everyone on
the list and cannot be retracted, so please read this next section carefully.
Here are the main points; if you need clarification on them see the
paragraphs later on, or contact the list admin. You are responsible for your
actions; how you choose to accomplish the following is up to you although
the admin or other list members will help you if you ask.
1. Stay on topic.
2. Edit the quoted material in your posts.
3. Make your writing easy to read.
4. Turn off HTML and any other special formatting
5. Take private matters off the list
6. Don't cross-post to closed lists (like this
one)
7. Don't send attachments to the list
8. Tell us who you are
Stay on topic
Stay within the scope of the charter. DO NOT post virus
warnings to the list, or forward chain letters, $250 cookie recipes, Darwin
awards, etc. Usually this is just a big sign that you are incredibly gullible.
If you feel you MUST do so, first check out the many
Urban
Legends and Virus
Hoax websites - you'll usually be glad you did. If it sounds too
good to be true, it probably is. If it has been forwarded lots of times,
people have already seen it anyway. If you think you have absolutely
late-breaking news, send it to the admin.
(back to rules)
Edit your posts
When replying, quote only the minimum amount of text
needed to establish context. Remember, the list already read the original
post. Before, after, or in the middle of your response isn't so important
as long as the overall message is easy to read. If your own text (the stuff
you write) is not visible on the first viewable page of the message, you
should re-think what you are doing because many people will not bother to
hunt around to figure out what you are trying to say. Quoting a whole
message and adding a brief response at the end is just rude.
Similarly, don't type one sentence and then leave pages
of quoted material below it unless all of that material is new to the reader,
remembering that he or she has seen it all anyway if it was previously posted
to the list. This is irritating to readers of your message, who end up scanning
all that quoted volume looking for new material and not finding any.
And change the subject if you're no longer on the original
topic. ESPECIALLY if you are starting a new one - replying to a random
post and asking an unrelated question shows that you don't know what you're
doing. Besides, people who weren't interested in the original topic
will delete your message without reading it. More
editing stuff here. (back to
rules)
Easy to Read
If you expect your messages to be read, use upper and
lower case. Some of us are not as young as we once were, and we need those
cues to let us know when a sentence is starting and stopping. If you want
to take literary license, do it on another list.
If you are presenting tabular data, using a non-proportional
font (like Courier) might help the data look right on other people's systems.
Using a proportional font like Arial or Times Roman, it might not line up
the way you think.
Also set your line length to about 65-70 characters so
your messages do not overflow the lines resulting in one or two words on
a line by themselves. You don't need to use the RETURN key at the end of
every line, but DO use it at the end of paragraphs, and once more after that
to put a blank line between them. (back
to rules)
No HTML
Would you get tired of reading a book if the font type,
size, color and paragraph indenting changed wth every paragraph? That's
what it cam be like reading e-mail when people use HTML. Even if you don't
mind, we do, so don't do it. To make matters worse, sometimes when you use
HTML your mailer sends graphics files (for the "wallpaper") and font files.
All we want is your words, OK? Keep your Sanskrit Condensed Bold
with fuschia paisley background for your closest friends. Look under
options or preferences. You are looking for "send as plain text" or something
like that. Usually the listserve will block HTML anyway.
(back to rules)
Take it Private
Limit the personal banter, too - if you are talking just
to one or two specific people, don't force everyone else to listen because
they probably don't want to. This is a judgement call on your part,
camaraderie is one thing, grandstanding is another.
(back to rules)
Don't Cross-post
When you send a message to two closed (subscriber-only)
lists, people replying on one list will automatically be replying to the
other list as well. If they're not a member of that one, it will bounce
back. But the people who DO get it will all have the same problem again.
If you need to send to more than one list, simply send separate copies
of your message to each, or put the lists in the BCC:
section. (back to rules)
No attachments
Do not send attachments (binaries) to the list. They
can carry viruses and clog people's inboxes. Our listserve should be blocking
them anyway, but sending them is still a bad idea. Either post them on a
Web site where they can be obtained or offer them to those that ask for them.
(back to rules)
Who are you?
It is also considered good form on the Internet to have
a "signature" that reasonably identifies you. "CB Handle" style screen names
like AOL uses are NOT an example of this. A particularly bad instance is
when a new user blurts out a request for information with no signature and
only a screen name; no information on location at all. This makes it very
difficult to respond to the info request without inflicting the response
on all the subscribers of the mailing list. And what kind of bike do
you have? If you happen to post "I need an air filter; does anyone have one?"
and people don't know what you ride, then who would bother to respond?
Plus, knowing what you ride helps put some other posts in perspective.
Put your name, bike, and hometown in your sig file.
A goodly number of the people on this list have met each
other, and over the course of time have gotten to know other well enough
that they truncated their name or started identifying themselves by some
funny nickname or legendary feat. Even at that, their address usually provides
more complete ID and so this approach can be acceptable. But to start up
on the list with nothing but a cryptic ID puts some people off.
You should remember also that many people are reluctant
to respond when a post comes only with an anonymous ID with no name and little
address info. The location info, also helps a lot when you are asking assistance.
(back to rules)
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If you suddenly stop receiving mail the most probable
cause is that your connection to the Internet has somehow gotten scrambled.
Bounce error messages go to the List Admin, who doesn't really want them.
If he gets too many bounces, you will be unsubscribed, although he will usually
try to contact you first and include supporting info. Unsubscriptions for
excessive bounces will generally be announced to the list so if someone knows
you they can contact you and let you know, if you don't know due to other
problems. Then you can attempt to get it resolved, usually with your ISP.
Don't take it personally; just send another "subscribe" command . The software
will likely let you know if something else is screwed up, and you already
are subscribed. This means the list has just been quiet. And that happens
at times.
On occasion, like if you suddenly stop receiving mail
and you cannot resubscribe, you may need to contact the list administrator,
instead of the mail server. Or if you just have a question about the list,
send a message to him,
bmwbrian@voicenet.com
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