# What's a mailing list?
A mailing list is a public discussion forum on a particular topic, which uses email as
the medium. Think of it as a noticeboard where you can post messages for others to read.
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# How does it work?
When you send a message to a list address, it goes to a program which is designed to manage
mailing lists. This software then sends a copy to all the addresses which are subscribed to
that list. In aigor's case, the software is called Majordomo, and it lives on a machine at
tinho.net, in Sydney.
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# How do I use it?
Anything you send to <aigor@tinho.net> gets sent to everyone on the list
- aigor members. (Everyone on the aigor list is an aigor member, though not all members are
on the list.) Note that, since you are also subscribed to the list, you will receive a copy
of your own messages.
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Different lists have different setups for replying. With aigor, if you hit 'Reply' to a list
message, your reply will go to the list for all to see. If you want your reply to only go to
the sender of the message, you can do this by copying their address from the headers (at the
top of the body of the message, where it says 'From:'), and pasting it into the 'To:' box at
the very top of the reply window. (If you don't know how to copy and paste, look in your
mailer's 'Edit' menu, or look it up in 'Help'.) Be sure to delete the list address though, or
your reply will go to the list as well as the sender, which means the sender gets it twice,
and everyone else gets it once. This is potentially embarassing.
Note that in some cases, hitting 'Reply' will by default send to both the list and the sender.
If this happens and you are sending to the list, one person will get two copies. This is no
big deal, but they will appreciate not having to delete the extra copy. In any case, it's a
good idea to always check the 'To:' and 'Cc:' (carbon copy) boxes before you hit 'Send' to
make sure your message is going where and only where you want it to.
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# What's Netiquette?
Like all mailing lists and newsgroups, aigor constitutes a virtual public space. In our case,
analogies have been drawn with pubs and rally campfires. These analogies work up to a point,
but fail to recognize that there are somewhat different standards of behaviour in cyberspace.
If someone is obnoxious at a pub or rally, you can probably avoid them. On a mailing list
it's not so easy. Everything you post (send to the public space) appears on everyone else's
screen, whether they like it or not. If it's a free-for-all, it tends to be very chaotic,
and can easily degenerate into flaming (abuse), which spoils it for everyone else. Over many
years, a tradition called Netiquette has developed (it's a contraction of 'internet etiquette').
This is built around notions of courtesy, tolerance and mutual respect. It might take a
little self-discipline to apply at first, but it's worth it because it helps to keep it
civilised and enjoyable for everyone, and it will soon become second nature. Netiquette
doesn't mean being sickeningly nice all the time, but it does mean considering the value to
others of what you are putting in their faces. As the Zen teacher said to the student who was
rattling on inanely: "Wipe your dirty feet before you go walking around in my head!".
You need to recognise that you are entering a culture, which is different from pub or club or
rally culture. If you want to be respected in this internet environment, your first task is
to read this document carefully. If there is anything you don't understand, or which is not
covered here, email one of the administrators (Pogo or Zebee), or ask another member who
seems to know what they're doing (not necessarily the most vocal).
The other thing you need to do is learn to drive your software. You are perfectly entitled
to be incompetent - we all are at first - but not to inflict your ineptitude on others.
Explore the 'Help' menu. You should find everything you need there. Patience and persistence
will pay off.
For a broader perspective on Netiquette, a web search on that word will give you about a
squillion hits.
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# What are the rules?
There are only three hard rules on the aigor mailing list: No Flames, No Spam, No Attachments.
- 'Flaming' is gratuitous abuse - pure nastiness, with intent to cause offence.
A certain amount of light hearted banter is to be expected, as is disagreement and possibly
vigorous debate. But if you really must abuse someone, do it in private.
- 'Spam' is an internet term for unsolicited advertising. It is generally seen as
invasive and nasty. You should be very careful about sending anything to the list which could be read as advertising. There is a page on the website for private Guzzi related ads. It is ok to post once to the list to let people know you want to sell your bike or whatever. It is definitely not allowed to plug your business or any commercial operation, Guzzi related or not. There is a grey area here: people sometimes ask for or offer recommendations for parts suppliers, workshops etc. This is considered ok, as long as you personally have nothing to gain. (The word comes from a Monty Python sketch. "But I don't want any spam...")
- Attachments are files attached to email messages, eg picture or sound files. They
are not allowed on the list, full stop. If you have something you want included on the website, refer to the instruction on the gallery page. See also "Mailer settings" and "Bandwidth".
There may be grey areas with flames and spam. If in doubt, let caution be your guide, or ask.
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# Public and private mail
Mailing lists have a different character from private email, in the same way that any
publicly oriented discussion is different from a one to one conversation. List content is
supposed to be relevant to at least a number of members, even if the relevance is only
amusement or chat value. If you think that what you have to say is only of interest to one
person, then you should send it to that person only. If everyone used the list for their
private chat, the volume of traffic would become burdensome. People would soon get sick of
reading irrelevant stuff, and leave. See also "bandwidth".
Apart from relevance, there is also a question of privacy. Generally speaking, if someone
emails you privately, it is 'Not Done' to publish that message in any way, eg, by posting to
a mailing list or newsgroup. You may be sure the person won't mind - perhaps the content is
of a public nature - in which case, proceed at your own risk. But if in doubt, either ask the
author first, or don't post.
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# Subject matter
Of course, list content is supposed to be about Guzzis, but other stuff inevitably creeps in.
Some lists take a hard line on topicality, especially those with heavy traffic, but aigor
traffic is relatively light, so we're not too fussed if the discussion wanders a little.
It's worth considering how different people use mailing lists. Some people only subscribe to
one list, and that becomes their 'home'. These folks like to have some latitude with subject
matter, after all - such people might argue - the whole point is to have an enjoyable social
environment, where you can interact in a fairly spontaneous way. Others may subscribe to a
number of lists and have a large amount of mail to get through. To these people, the point
might be more purposeful, such as sharing useful information. In which case lots of off-topic
content becomes a time wasting imposition. If we are to accommodate both kinds of
subscribers, some common sense is required. If you are going to post off-topic, please keep
it brief, and once people who are interested have stuck their heads up, take it off-list. It is a good idea to flag an off topic message by beginning the subject line with OT as in OT-Vintage car rally.
Note: Virus warnings and jokes should not be posted to the list. It may be the direst virus ever created, or the funniest joke in the world, but it does not belong on this list. If you suspect that there is a virus circulating on the list, contact an administrator (Pogo or Zebee).
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# Quoting in replies
When replying, it is normal to include some quoted material from the post you are replying to.
There are different ways of indicating quotes, but the most common (and preferred) is a right
pointy bracket, or 'greater than' symbol > at the start of each quoted line. This makes it
clear what is quoted and what is original. When you hit 'Reply', most mailers will produce
something like this:
----------------------------------------------------
On (date & time) (name & address) wrote:
>Quoted material
>More quoted material.
-----------------------------------------------------
Most mailers have an option where you can tell them what to put before quoted lines. If you
can't find it, try a help search on 'quotes'. In any case, you must find some way of
differentiating between quoted and original material.
It's important to edit your quotes to only include what is necessary to establish the context
of your reply. It is ridiculous to add a two line reply to fifty quoted lines. With multiple
replies, you can end up with hundreds of lines of useless quotes (see "bandwidth"). If people
want to read the entire post, they can look it up.
It is preferable to adhere to the convention of adding your reply *under* the quote rather
than above it. That way people don't have to waste time scrolling through the rest of the
message, looking for more original material that isn't there.
Multiple quotes can get confusing, eg
------------------------
Smith wrote:
>Jones wrote:
>>Bloggs wrote:
>>>Ducatis rule!
>>I like the new Suzuki.
>Guzzis are the best.
-------------------------
By counting the pointy brackets, you can figure out who said what. In this case, what Smith
said was "Guzzis are best". S/he said that in reply to Jones, who said " I like the new
Suzuki", who was replying to Bloggs's "Ducatis rule!". "Who cares?", you might say, but be
careful with attributions. In the above example, Smith might be horrified to be quoted as
saying "I like the new Suzuki". Once again, the best policy is to keep it simple by cutting
anything not necessary for your reply make sense.
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# Mailer settings
There are many different mailers out there. Believe it or not, not everyone uses Microsoft
products. There are even other operating systems apart from Windows! As a minimum, please do
two things: (a) make sure your mailer is not sending your messages as html, or some other
weird format. (People will soon let you know if they can't read your posts.) And (b) make
sure it is not adding cute attachments. No-one bothers to look at these, and they just clog
up the works. If you use a Microsoft mailer, please read the following submissions from
members on how to stop it from adding attachments:
Bernie Dwyer <bernie@caloundra.qld.gov.au> wrote:
>For MS Exchange, and MS Outlook, and possibly the mailer in MS Internet
>Explorer, you can set those options in your address book for a particular
>recipient. Go to your address book entry for AIGOR, select it and click the
>properties button, then hunt-and-peck about until you see a check box
>labelled "Always send to this recipient in rich text format" (or similar).
>Make sure the box is UNCHECKED.
shadow <shadows@ihug.com.au> replied:
>as I found out that dosn't all way work so to safe guard against it
>{and some people just hit reply to all}.
>go to
>......tools ......options......{tab}send........check "mail sending
>format" to"PLAIN TEXT".
>then scroll down to"reply to messages in format that they where sent"
>and make sure that is UN-checked...........hit "OK"......
>
>ps make sure you shut down properly or it will forget the settings.
There are detailed instructions for many different e-mail clients at http://www.expita.com/nomime.html.
HTML formatted messages are also a great way to spread script viruses. If you have ever had to
clean up after one of these, you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy. Please, turn off HTML
when sending to aigor.
Beyond this it's up to you how you set things up, but there is something to be said for
'standard' settings: Fixed width font, 72 character line wraps, no indents. Other settings
can turn your messages into an ugly, hard to read jumble on other people's screens,
especially when quoting. With standard settings at least you know that what you send is what
others will see. Unless *they* use different settings of course :-\ But then it's
their problem.
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# What's bandwidth?
Imagine commuting in a six tonne truck when you could take your bike. Other road users would
be rightly peeved because you were chewing resources, polluting, and holding them up
unnecessarily. In internet terms, the road is bandwidth, and everything you send into
cyberspace constitutes your traffic. It's better for everyone if we all try to use the
bandwidth as efficiently as we can. This is one reason it's worthwhile cutting the
unnecessary quotes, and stopping your mailer from adding useless attachments. This is
especially important with public media like mailing lists and newsgroups, because everything
you send gets multiplied many times. Other users don't owe you anything. Don't be a roadhog.
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# What's a thread?
A thread is simply a number of messages with the same subject, ie, a conversation on a
particular theme. Some mailers are able to display threads by collapsing all the messages
with the same subject line into one, with a little icon saying, for instance, '+5'. This is
a thread consisting of one original post, and five follow-ups. By clicking on the icon, you
can expand the thread to see all the messages. This makes it easier to keep track of things,
and reduces clutter on your screen.
Even if your mailer doesn't do threads, or you chose not to use the feature, other people can
and do. For this reason, it's worth taking some care with your subject fields. A message will
only be added to a thread if the subject line is *exactly* the same as that of another
message. So if your reply is relevant to the original subject, don't mess with the subject
line (it should come up automatically).
Conversations being what they are, content tends to wander from the original subject. This is
ok up to a point, but try to keep the subject line pertinent. If you want to say something
which is significantly different from the original subject, and which you think might
generate follow-ups, change the subject line, effectively starting a new thread. Lots of
people store their mail, especially technical stuff, and if they are looking for your post on
carb tuning, they won't look under 'My ride to Woopwoop'.
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# What's lurking?
Lurking means just reading all the content of a mailing list or newsgroup without ever
contributing. It's not a bad idea for newcomers, until you get a feel for things. The trouble
is, lurking can be addictive. The longer you lurk, the harder it is to break the ice. Try not
to get trapped in this. After all, the whole point is for people to be able to participate.
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# What do all those funny symbols mean?
Over time, internet users have developed various ways of adding tone to their written
material. These include 'emoticons'. The most common of these is the smiley :) or
:-) You have to look sideways. It means 'just kidding' or 'no offence' or just 'hey
that's funny', depending on the context. Smileys are generally considered insurance against
offending people, but are not an absolute guarantee.
There are lots of variations of these, and some of them are amusing in their own right. For
more info, type 'emoticons' into your favourite search engine.
You can add emphasis to a word with *asterisks*, or _underscores_. Capitals are usually read
as SHOUTING, which is considered rude, so use them with caution.
You will also come across various abbreviations, like msg for message, or ppl for people, and
acronyms, such as OTOH - on the other hand, IMO - in my opinion, or FWIW - for what it's
worth. RTBF means read the bloody FAQ - a hint that you've missed something, YMMV is your
mileage may vary - a general disclaimer. Again, there are lots of these, and some may be
peculiar to certain areas of interest. Once again, see your search engine for more on
acronyms.
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# How do I deal with all this mail?
Most sophisticated mailers can filter incoming mail. For example, you can create a folder
called 'aigor', and instruct you mailer to put anything addressed to
<aigor@tinho.net> directly into that folder. This saves you the trouble of
manually sorting list mail from your private mail. It also avoids confusion about the origin
of messages. There are lots of useful things you can do with filters. For more info, select
'Search' from your help menu, and type in 'filter'.
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# Where do I fit in?
Don't be offended if no-one replies directly to all your posts. In this sense it's just like
joining any group - it may take a little while for people to get to know you. Or it may just
mean that people agree with you! After all, there's not much point posting just to say 'I
agree'. Generally, people will only respond if they have something to add.
By now it will be clear that there is a lot more to this than you probably thought. As a
newcomer to the internet ('newbie'), you should be prepared to do some listening and
learning. If in doubt, don't, until you have a better understanding of the protocols. It's
all too easy to look a complete idiot, or worse, offend people, without even trying. Having
said that, most old hands are reasonably tolerant and willing to help, after all, we were all
newbies once. But if you don't seem to be trying, or if you continue to be clumsy or
thoughtless, you will wear out your welcome.
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# It's all too hard!
If this all sounds too tedious, remember that the point of all these guidelines is to create
an environment that is useful and fun, as well as respectful and courteous. It's really not
as hard as it may sound. As long as you observe the 3 rules above, you won't go too far
wrong. Beyond that, you have some latitude to feel your way. Familiarizing yourself with this
FAQ is the best starting point.
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