Netiquette on Mail Lists

Some mailing lists have low rates of traffic, others can flood your mailbox with several hundred mail messages per day. The XS11 list is fairly active, sometimes producing over 100 messages per day. Numerous incoming messages from various listservers or mailing lists by multiple users, requires extensive system processing which can tie up valuable resources. Subscription to Interest Groups or Discussion Lists should be kept to a minimum and should not exceed what your disk quota can handle, or you for that matter.

When you join a list, monitor the messages for a few days to get a feel for what common questions are asked, and what topics are deemed off limits. This is commonly referred to as lurking. When you feel comfortable with the group, then start posting. Be sure to introduce yourself when you begin posting.

See if there is a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for a group that you are interested in joining. Veteran members sometimes get annoyed when they see the same questions every few weeks, or at the start of each semester.

Follow any and all guidelines and policies that the list owner has posted; the listener establishes the local "netiquette" standards for her/his list.

Please type using proper capitalization. Typing your messages in all capitals (i.e., with the CapsLock on) gives the impression that you are SHOUTING AT THE OTHER LIST MEMBERS. It makes your messages harder to read and gives the impression that you are too lazy to type with proper capitalization.

Keep in mind that some discussion lists or Usenet groups have members from many countries. Don't assume that they will understand a reference to TV, movies, pop culture, or current events in your country. If you must use the reference, please explain it. Don't assume that they understand geographical references that are local or national. The XS11 list has members in the US, Canada, England, Germany, South Africa, Australia, Japan, and many others.

Don't join a list just to post inflammatory messages - this upsets most system administrators and you could lose access to the net ("mail bombing").

Keep your questions and comments relevant to the focus of the discussion group. The focus of this group is the XS1100 and the XJ1100 motorcycles. Not XS850, XS750, XS650, XS400, Hondas, Harleys, Kawasakis, etc., nor politics, religion, sports, guns, etc.

If another person posts a comment or question that is off the subject, do NOT reply to the list and keep the off-topic conversation going publicly.

When someone posts an off-topic note, and someone else criticizes that posting, you should NOT submit a gratuitous note saying "well, I liked it and lots of people probably did as well and you guys ought to lighten up and not tell us to stick to the subject".

When going away for more than a week, unsubscribe or suspend mail from any mailing lists or LISTSERV services.

When quoting another person, edit out whatever isn't directly applicable to your reply. Don't let your mailing or Usenet software automatically quote the entire body of messages you are replying to when it's not necessary. Take the time to edit any quotations down to the minimum necessary to provide context for your reply. Nobody likes reading a long message in quotes for the third or fourth time, only to be followed by a one line response: "Yeah, me too." This is called "wasting bandwidth." Keep in mind that some people have to pay for internet access and quoting unnecessarily long portions means that they're online longer - and in some cases costing them lots more.

Sending attachments across the list is usually prohibited. (It is on our list but we do have available to us a new feature called the shared file area. With this feature comes responsibility. Please check out our policy on uploading files.)

Use discretion when forwarding a long mail message to group addresses or distribution lists. It's preferable to reference the source of a document and provide instructions on how to obtain a copy. If you must post a long message, warn the readers with a statement at the top of the mail message. Example: WARNING: LONG MESSAGE

Resist the temptation to post messages to more than one group with a single message. If you cross post messages to multiple groups, there is a very real possibility that when someone on another list replies, the reply will be broadcast to both mail lists. If you want to send the message to two mail lists, send one message to each list. It only takes a few seconds more and will eliminate a lot of problems.

Resist the temptation to "flame" or insult others on the list. Remember that these discussions are "public" and meant for constructive exchanges. Treat the others on the list as you would want them to treat you.

Be careful when using sarcasm and humor. Without face to face communications your joke may be viewed as criticism. Your sarcasm may be viewed as a personal attack. When being humorous, use emoticons to express humor.
(tilt your head to the left to see the emoticon smile)
:-) or :) = happy face for humor,
;-) or ;) = happy face for witticism (winking),
:-P = happy face for outrageous humor (sticking tongue out).
=8^0 = shock, horror, surprise

If you do need to offer constructive criticism, go out of your way to let the receiver know that you're not making a personal attack on (flaming) them. This criticism should not be made on the list. Do it privately. There is a chance that the receiver may feel humiliated and become very defensive if criticized in the presence of hundreds (or thousands) of others. Minimize the possibility of those feelings by being polite with your words. Public criticism can only lead to more problems - including a barrage of other criticisms (aka a flame war).

If you feel that you were unfairly criticized, don't just fire off a nastygram of your own - especially not on the list. Take some time to cool down. When you're calm, send a private message to the sender asking for clarification. Often, you'll find that the sender did not intend to upset you and your interpretation is just a misunderstanding. Most of the time, these misunderstandings can be worked out if discussed privately. Working out your misunderstandings publicly may turn into a flame war - upsetting everyone else on the mailing list or Usenet.

Flame wars usually cause a large disruption the list. Lots of people get upset even if only a few people are 'contributing' to the 'war.' The good thing is that they are usually fairly short - a few days - and most people forget about them within a week or two. Unfortunately, there may be some people who hold a grudge after them. The best way to deal with a flame war is to ignore it and refuse to participate. Be the model of civility and reason. People will think more highly of you if you just steer clear.

When posting a message that may have limited of interest to the discussion group, request that responses be directed to you personally. This is especially true when replying to a For Sale message. Nobody needs to see you conduct your business except the Seller & Buyer.

Sometimes people share parts of their lives with the list such as the birth of a child, report of an injury, etc. Please reply privately to express congratulations or condolences, etc. We do not need to see 50 one line messages of these off-topic variety.

If you need to discuss something with one particular member of the list, send them private mail. If you don't know their e-mail address, go ahead and post a message to the list asking the person to reply to you privately.

When replying to a message posted to a discussion group, check the address to be certain it's going to the intended location (person or group). It can be very embarrassing if you reply incorrectly and post a personal message to the entire discussion group that was intended for an individual.

When signing up for a group it is important to save your subscription confirmation letter for reference. That way if you go on vacation you will have the subscription address for suspending mail.

Use your own personal Email account, don't subscribe using a shared office account.

Occasionally subscribers to the list who are not familiar with proper netiquette will submit requests to SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE directly to the list itself. Be tolerant of this activity, and possibly provide some useful advice as opposed to being critical. Direct them to the unsubscribe page in a private message so they'll stop sending messages to the list.

Other people on the list are not interested in your desire to be added or deleted. Any requests regarding administrative tasks such as being added or removed from a list should be made to the appropriate area, not the list itself.

We have a lot of fun with the XS11 list and we are all in the debt of Greg Freeman who administrates the list for many years. The thing that makes the list great is that we have a relatively high percentage of 'signal' to 'noise.' Keeping the list 'on topic' is everyones' responsibility. The easiest way to do that is to keep our focus on the XS1100 and XJ1100 motorcycles.

So much for general guidelines. On to our policies.

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