Mary hits another home run!! (in keeping with the baseball analogy on a more
positive note).

Can we please use her wisdom once again, as well as the list labels and
guidelines/rules
that she includes below?  Please consider these excellent ideas, as well as the
self regulation
that  Genene Hill and others have discussed.

{ <[log in to unmask]>
             To: [log in to unmask]
             Subject:  Listserv controversy
             Date:      Thu, 5 Aug 1999 10:52:03 -0700 }
 //////////////////
Mary wrote:

About our "kurfluffel":  I would like to "de-lurk" long enough to throw out
             yet two more perspectives from two different sources.

             First, there is a fine message from Simon Coles on the "Life Cycle
of
             Mailing Lists" from February 18, 1997 in the archive.  We seem to
be at #5:
              "discomfort with diversity", soon to proceed to #6 which could
lead either
             to "smug complacency and stagnation" or to "maturity".

             Second, I also belong to the "Vocalist", managed by Mark Hotti in
Finland.
             It's  mostly for classical musicians, or wannabe musicians like me.
             Today's topics varied from "the joy of singing" to "a discussion
that
             turned to judgement" to "castrati"!   Every week he broadcasts a
             "netiquette" list, which seems to be respected by most people but
ignored
             by a few,  typical of any interest group.  It might be helpful for
us to do
             something similar. Here it is below, as an example of what another
group
             experiences.


             As our Joe would say, "Cheers!"

             EXAMPLE FROM ANOTHER LIST OF THEIR WEEKLY NETIQUETTE POST:
             Date: Sat, 07 Aug 1999 00:38:13 +0300 (EEST)
             From: Marko Hotti <[log in to unmask]>
             Subject: ADMIN: VOCALIST Netiquette (Updated: July 28th, 1999)


             General guidelines for posting to VOCALIST / Netiquette
July 28th,
             1999
             =======================================================

             The mailing list address is:    [log in to unmask]

             There are over 800 subscribers receiving VOCALIST and
VOCALIST-DIGEST
             daily. More than 1000 messages are read daily using the VOCALIST's
message
             archive interface. Consider that a large audience will see your
posts.
             That may include your present or your next boss. Take care in what
you
             write and remember that your words may be stored for a very long
time in a
             place to which many people have access.

               * Read both mailing list and WWW archives for couple of days to
get
                 an understanding of the culture and the atmosphere of the list.
                 If you want to ask a question, please check the archives to see
                 the question has not recently been covered.

                 VOCALIST WWW Database and Search Engine can be found at:

                     http://search.vocalist.org/

                 VOCALIST Digest Archives can be found at:

                     http://www.vocalist.org/archives/

               * Messages to VOCALIST should be brief and to the point. Please
                 do not wander off-topic - change the subject heading instead.

               * Subject lines should follow the conventions of the group (see
below).
                 Always change the subject header whenever the topic of the
thread has
                 changed. This is to help readers choose only the messages they
are
                 interested in. In other words, keep the subject header as
informative
                 as possible.

               * Commercial advertising, chain letters or virus alerts are
strictly
                 forbidden in VOCALIST. Forgeries, spoofing or spamming are not
                 approved behavior.

               * When replying to a message, consider the following:

                     * Personal replies should ALWAYS be sent to the originator
                       of the message using *private* e-mail. VOCALIST uses
                       a set reply-to: header pointing to the list address and
                       you may accidentaly send a personal response to a great
                       many people.

                     * Do not quote entire postings! It's a good idea to
summarize
                       the original at the top of the message, or include just
enough
                       text of the original to give a context.

               * If you should find yourself in A DISAGREEMENT with one person,
                 make your responses to each other via private email. If you are
                 debating a point on which the group might have some interest,
you
                 may summarize for them later.

               * Finally: Treat other people with RESPECT. Don't start arguing
                 or flaming someone publicly. You will just make a fool out of
yourself.
                 Do not send mail or post messages solely to point out other
people's
                 errors in spelling or the way they think about things.

               * If you are caught in an argument or a 'hot topic', keep the
discussion
                 focused on issues rather than the personalities involved.

             Subject labels:
             ================

               * Please note, that these labels are optional and the
classification
                 is not strict. If you come up with a good label, please drop a
note
                 to the list owner.

                     CLASS: for classical singing issues
                     POP:   for popular singing issues
                     ROCK:  for rock music singing issues
                     JAZZ:  for jazz singing issues
                     VOICE: for voice study issues
                     TECH:  for technical issues
                     MED:   for medical issues
                     ANN:   for event announcements
                     REP:   for repertoire issues
                     MISC:  for miscellaneous stuff
                     ADMIN: for administrative postings

             Suitable topics of discussion:
             ==============================

               * VOCALIST was started to get together singers all over the world
                 and offer a forum of discussion on teaching and studying
singing.
                 Solo singing in different styles as well as ensemble singing
are
                 covered here.

               * We don't want to restrict the topics to any particular style,
                 musical period or skill level - everyone is welcome to
contribute.

               * We have frequently talked about singing repertoire, technique
and
                 interpretation. Your questions are welcome - there are dozens
of
                 professionals, semi-professionals and active singers on the
list
                 who may help you.

               * Other topics might include: Auditioning technique and actual
                 audition announcements; working with a director or a coach;
                 working with accompanists; concert reviews and ads; jokes;
                 voice and food/drinking; shaping up one's voice etc...

             VOCALIST Netiquette will be posted to the subscribers every week

             With regards, Marko Hotti <[log in to unmask]>
             Oulu University Faculty of Medicine
             Oulu Polytechnic Department of Social and Health Studies
             Oulu - FINLAND