posting
to SPALS Please
think carefully about what you send to SPALS Some additional
representative comments we have received, and related
tips: Articles, inclusive
humour and the occasional off topic post are all a valuable
part of SPALS -- although it is a good idea to identify
these clearly in the subject of your post. However, our SPALS
Guidelines do ask people not to post chain letters to SPALS.
Many members are stressed by chain letters, particularly
ones that say certain things will happen if you don't
forward the letter. Some chain letters
are not so obvious. Many virus "hoaxes" and well-intentioned
but poorly-structured petitions are circulating in the
Internet -- and these exploit the innocent good will of
people who want to help others. Our SPALS Guidelines ask
people not to send petitions or surveys of any kind, without
prior consultation with Sara or Michael. If you are concerned
about a virus and think we should know about it, please
check out http://www.mcafee.com/anti-virus/default.asp
under "virus hoaxes" before posting. And feel free to
consult with Michael before posting -- he can check out the
information to be sure the warning is necessary. Those who send email
with formatting should be aware that not all SPALS members
have email readers that can read the formatting. This is
also true of certain enclosures. The formatting codes can
make a message unreadable. Most SPALS Digest readers also
have trouble reading formatted messages. And when these
messages are quoted in a reply -- it compounds the
problem! This can be due to
formatted posts -- as noted above -- and also posts that
quote lengthy messages. If you are
forwarding or replying to posts, taking time to edit
unnecessary quoted information from your post is an
important courtesy and will save time (and possibly money)
for your fellow members. A couple of SPALS Guidelines are
worthy of repeating: - Wherever possible,
please avoid including another person's entire post in your
reply. Quote only the appropriate part(s). In other words,
delete *all* of the previous post except the part to which
you are responding. - If you are
forwarding poetry or material you have received in the mail
from others, please remove *all* the previous headers and
copies of the message.
<<
I've noticed since returning to the list that people seem
to be posting more off topic material, including chain
letters, humour, articles, and sometimes very long
attachments. This can be very tough to deal with,
especially for those of us who receive the digest --
because you have to scroll through the whole thing to get
to the next message. >>
<<
I've noticed a lot of people are sending out their posts
in weird formats (I believe some are in HTML). Some other
posts come ending with weird signs that go on forever and
ever and actually fill up an entire digest.
>>
<<
Do you know why when many of us post to SPALS, our sent
post is repeated right after the initial post, but mixed
in are codes and symbols and extra letters? It is weird
and takes up so much extra space. >>