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To help orient new members to the Indiegrrl mailing lists, here's a brief intro to what mailing lists are, how to use them and our policies.
A Mailing List (sometimes also called a 'Discussion List') is simply a list of e-mail addresses of people interested in a common topic. It provides a way for the members of this group to hold electronic discussions, without the need to be in the same place or even time zone. Rather than having to send messages to all of the members of this group, you send e-mail to a central 'list processor'. This is a software program running on a computer connected full-time to the Internet.
The list processor software maintains a list of the e-mail addresses of all the group members. The list processor has a unique e-mail address for each group. This is called the 'list address'.
When a member sends an e-mail message to this list address, the software automatically forwards the message to all group members. This may be just a small group, or in the case of some popular lists, several thousand members.
In most cases, lists are set up so that using the 'Reply' function in your e-mail program automatically sends your reply to the person who originally posted the message. In fact, it's actually proper 'Netiquette' to NOT send unsolicited personal messages to everyone.
There may be times when you want to send your message to the entire list as your message may be helpful to many members. You can hit 'reply all' and your message will be sent to the list and the person who posted the original message. Or you can just send a message to the list address.
The original sender's e-mail address will always be included somewhere in the 'header' of the message. This information normally appears at the top of the message in your e-mail program. Various programs deal with it differently, but most will show something like this for the IndiegrrlNYC list:
| Date: | Fri, 21 Mar 1999 10:15:04 +0900 |
| From: | Jane Doe jane@indiegrrl.com |
| To: | wg-nyc-talk@egroups.com |
| Subject: | Re: Announcement of next meeting |
| Reply To Organization: Indiegrrl |
wg-nyc-talk@egroups.com |
You can see above the original sender's 'From:' address.
Note that it also includes a 'Reply-To: wg-nyc-talk@egroups.com' line. This means that this message was sent by Jane Doe. However, if you use your e-mail program's 'Reply' function, your message will go to the list address, and be distributed to all members.
As an e-mail user, you need to make yourself aware of how mailing lists and regular person-to-person e-mail work. Each has it's uses and benefits. Think of a mailing list as a group of friends sitting together around a coffee table, chatting about their common interests. Each person has an opportunity to be heard, or to simply listen if they prefer, and everyone gets to hear everyone else's opinions. Now expand this table to cover the entire globe, and you get a sense of the power and usefulness of mailing lists. Just bring your own coffee.
To summarize:
| If your reply is meant only for the original sender, just use your e-mail program's 'Reply' function. It's not rude to reply directly to a person who sends a message to the entire list. If there's no need for everyone to hear what you have to say, then your fellow list members will appreciate not having to read the extra messages. Also, when you reply to the list, delete the portions of the message that are irrelevant. | |
|
If you want your reply seen by everyone on the list, find the list e-mail address in the 'header' and send a private e-mail message. |
To unsubscribe, go to Yahoogroups
Communicating via email lists is a very powerful medium. We can reach many people at once with the stroke of a Send button. A virtual community requires patience, understanding and support so that all members feel comfortable. Remember: there is a human behind each email you receive from the list.
The rest of the topics are general guidelines for Indiegrrl mailing lists. Please make sure to read these so that you are aware of the proper net-etiquette to use with your fellow Indiegrrl members.
As you know the Internet is international. While English is generally accepted as the common language of the network, we have many members in our community whose first language is not English. Special understanding is required when dealing with questions or statement from people for whom English is not the primary language.
As many of our members will be interacting with others on an international basis, we ask that your interaction be on the highest level of cordiality and respect from the outset in order to benefit all concerned.
It is considered proper netiquette to lurk on a list (listen in or read) before joining in a discussion. Please feel free to participate by asking questions and by offering helpful comments, and thoughts. When people respond to your post, they can either answer your question or add to your comment to build an interesting discussion.
Indiegrrl discussion lists focus on topics directly related to our mission of helping women succeed in the independent music industry. Our strength is our focus on sharing information and educational resources that are helpful for women to form strategic alliances, mentor and teach, intern and learn. The discussion list is not a forum to post information on your gig dates, nor should it be a place that you send your monthly newsletter. If you would like to post your gig schedule, feel free to use our message boards, (link above)
Indiegrrl is a-political and non-denominational, therefore posts about religious and political issues are not appropriate. Indiegrrl has a clear mission to support women in music, therefore, posts about other causes - from collecting miniature golf clubs to cleaning lint in your washing machine - are not appropriate issues to be discussed on Indiegrrl lists.
Indiegrrl is a powerful network and many chapter lists generate many messages each day. Due to the high traffic which a list might experience, we recommend including subject headings to help members select messages they find helpful.
Recommended subject headings include:
(Toot!)
(Announcement)
(Request)
(Discussion)
(Off Topic) or (Off Subject)
(Intro)
(Question)
Remember, your list is only as good as your members and everyone needs to be supportive, patient and understanding as members send messages to lists with missing subject headings or if they reply with "me too" kinds of messages. It takes time and practice for a community to get everyone on board.
The Indiegrrl lists are a valuable service to our members. Members willingly help each other out with advice which may be beneficial to other members.
Unsolicited advertising and chain letters, however, should NOT be sent to the lists. This includes any member who offers any paid services. Unless another member requests information about your services or products, DO NOT send messages unsolicited to other members. (Announcements about new companies devoted to women in music ok.)
Doing so may result in removal from the mailing list.
We do not rent or sell our lists. We also do not make our lists available to members so that they can send marketing materials to others. We respect the privacy of our members and ask that you do the same.
From time to time, we work with organizations to sponsor Indiegrrl activities and events, but we will always take care to protect our members' privacy.
Our membership includes women in all kinds of positions, from those who look for contacts to those who are in positions of hiring/booking people to those who have their own companies and offer services.
All messages on Indiegrrl lists are considered private messages. DO NOT FORWARD, CUT or PASTE and SEND ANY MESSAGE OR PARTS OF A MESSAGE OUTSIDE ANY INDIEGRRL LISTS UNLESS YOU FIRST RECEIVE APPROVAL from the person who posted the original message...it is just common courtesy. If they wanted everyone to know, they would have told everyone...they just told you. If you are posting a message that is okay to forward, please type "forwards okay" at the top of the message.
Doing any of the above, without the author's permission may be grounds for removal from your list.
If someone has sent a private message to you and you have lost that person's address but want to respond, do not post the private message to the list. Instead contact the list owner for help.
Flaming (insults) belong in private email, if they belong in email at all. Discussions will often result in disagreements. Rebuttals to another person's opinions or beliefs should always be made in a respectful, rational, logical and mature manner, whether they are made publicly or privately.
A flame can range from the obvious (ranting and raving, abusive comments, etc.) to the not-so-obvious (comments about how many "newbies" seem to be on the list these days).
Indiegrrl reserves the right to remove anyone from the list who is involved with flaming another member...including the moderators. Indiegrrl is a networking organization whose mission is to help women in a supportive manner. Indiegrrl does not monitor any private email messages (between 2 or more members outside the list).
Indiegrrl members should attempt to refrain from the use of four letter words on the lists, and especially in the headers (subject lines) We do not actively censor or remove list members for using these four letter words, but please try to use some restraint...some people read the list at work, and can be reprimanded for foul language.
"Spamming" is an Internet term that describes the act of cross-posting the same message to as many newsgroups and/or mailing lists as possible, whether or not the message is related to the stated topic of those mailing lists. Our recommended method for dealing with spam is:
1) Do not reply to the spam. Some are designed to "pick up" your email address simply because you replied. Most likely the person who sent it has already changed email addresses and Internet service providers (ISPs) anyway, so they'll never get your reply.
2) Your list manager is a member of your list so chances are they are already dealing with the problem, but do not post your complaints or inquiries about the spam to the list or you will perpetuate the problem.
If you are concerned that nothing is being done to deal with the spam, send a brief email to the list manager privately to bring it to her attention. She may request a copy of the offending spam so remember to save a copy if you plan to complain about it.
In a perfect world email flows smoothly, mailing lists work daily and websites appear error free in your browsers. As you well know, we live in an imperfect world, where we get highly frustrated when technology doesn't perform as well as it should.
The messages you send to your list owners are received by real people who volunteer their time to help all of us.
We ask that when you contact us you exercise respect and common sense - a little bit of kindness in a difficult situation goes a long way.
You can always contact us at: hsfigueroa@indiegrrl.com.
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to Webgrrls for ever so generously donating portions of their FAQ and code to Indiegrrl. Webgrrls is an organization dedicated to helping women in techonology level the playing field, just like Indiegrrl does with the independent music industry. If you are involved in technology, you need to visit their site...fabulous!