Subject: [CivilSoc] CivilSoc List Business
From: Center for Civil Society International (ccsi@u.washington.edu)
Date: Sat Oct 21 2000 - 15:34:38 EDT
Dear CivilSoc members:
First, my apologies to Ed Corcoran and others for the recent posting
that was something like 100 KB in length. We have a moderated list
precisely so that we can control the size (and sometiems the content)
of postings. It is definitely NOT our policy to allow messages
through that are that long and the mistake was ultimately mine.
Some postings to CivilSoc come from non-list members, so they would
not know our guidelines in advance. For the record, however, please
try to adhere to the following posting rules:
1. Always submit your messages for posting to CivilSoc to
<civilsoc@friends-partners.org> and not to <ccsi@u.washington.edu>.
Indicate prominently the appropriate e-mail address for responses to
your posting.
2. Keep your postings concise. Think of this message (which is a
little more than 6 kilobytes long) as more or less the upper limit
for your postings. (Another way to measure--try keeping your message
to 3-4 screenfuls of text.)
3. Send your message as a simple text file, and NOT as an attachment.
I realize that appending an attachment is easy. But attachments have
disadvantages:
* the act of opening them can insert a virus in your computer
* they tend to be lengthy (and getting lengthier!)
* sometimes they require software to open them that not all list
members have
By contrast, when you receive a CivilSoc posting that is a simple
text (or ASCII) file like this one, you can be confident it does not
carry any virus, or worm, and it will be universally readable.
4. Use 4-6 words on the Subject line of your posting to CivilSoc to
be *as descriptive as possible* about the contents of your posting.
This saves CivilSoc members with no interest in that subject the need
to open the e-mail, and makes it MORE LIKELY that those who would be
interested WILL read your message.
Blank subject lines are the worst. Just one step higher in the
circles of hell are subject lines with words like "Please post" or
"Announcement." If you have been a CivilSoc member for a while, you
should know the difference between good, helpful Subject lines, and
useless ones. With just four or five well-chosen words, you will
surprise yourself with how much you can communicate in that short
Subject line.
5. Finally--and this may seem to border on the trivial--please don't
write your Subject line message in all caps (as I just did with the
words "more likely" and "will" two paragraphs above). I agree with
the Netiquette rule which says it is like shouting. A capital for the
first letter of each word is OK, but when all the letters are caps,
the text actually becomes less readable.
I am gratified to report that our list continues to grow, and it
seems that increasingly the growth comes from overseas subscribers.
This month we topped 1,900 subscribers and if we continue to expand
at recent rates, we should go over 2,000 by the end of 2000!
Another good development is that since May we have had an improved
Archive system for CivilSoc postings. You can check it out at the
following Web page:
http://fpmail.friends-partners.org/pipermail/civilsoc/
This list is provided as a service of Center for Civil Society
International and is not funded by foundation grants or government
money. In fact, it is very badly funded. But we continue to provide
the service because it seems to be useful and important. At least we
think so.
We are very thankful to Greg Cole's Center for International
Networking Initiatives in Tennessee for the Internet platform and
software support that CivilSoc requires. This gift-in-kind has been
invaluable.
Your feedback or comments about the list are always welcome. Please
let us know what you like, and don't like, or just let us know that
"steady as she goes" is fine.
And if you can afford to make a financial contribution to help
CivilSoc along, this would be very warmly received! Donations of
$10, $25, $50 or more--all help solve the problem of how to make
CivilSoc long-term "sustainable." If you would like to use our online
Pledge Form, it is located at:
http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/info/pledge.htm
You may also send checks made out the "CCSI" to the address below, or
use your credit card. If you choose the latter, you can feel fairly
secure in sending the card number and expiration by e-mail, but even
more secure methods would be to fax or call us. (If the line is busy
or we are not in when you call, our voice mail is secure; if you
leave a credit card number on it we are the only ones who can access
it.)
Thank you all for your participation in CivilSoc!
Holt Ruffin
--------------------------------------
CENTER FOR CIVIL SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL
--------------------------------------
2929 NE Blakeley St. Tel: (206) 523-4755
Seattle, WA 98105 Fax: (206) 523-1974
USA Email: ccsi@u.washington.edu
Subscribe to CivilSoc, CCSI's free e-bulletin, at:
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