ADMINISTRIVIA: 2 - Etiquette

This is the Warhammer 40K Mailing List ADMINISTRIVIA, part 3 of 11.

This is a mailing about the Warhammer 40,000, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Epic 40K, GorkaMorka! and Battlefleet Gothic games discussion mailing list.

It was last updated 08/26/2004 10:30AM CDT by Edwin Voskamp

Table Of Contents

This Mailing is split in 11 parts:
   0. Subject
   1. Things Not To Mention
   2. Etiquette
   3. Intellectual Property Rights
   4. How To
   5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
   6. Other mailing lists, Web Rings, Websites and 40k.org
   7. Who's Who
   8. Commercial Postings
   9. Acronyms
   A. Changes

Do the list and yourself a favor, and read this post. Do the list and yourself a favor, and save this post so you can unsubscribe from the list without sending e-mail to the list.

ETIQUETTE

Both Chris and I have been on the 40K list a while and enjoyed its atmosphere. We would like to preserve that and list, up front, our do's and don'ts for this list:

DON'T:

1. Discuss the pricing or Intellectual Property Right policies of Games Workshop in any way. This includes how expensive the figures are, how GW treats affiliated stores that stock Games Workshop products and how GW deals with controlling its Intellectual Property Rights.
2. use excessive signatures, especially with ASCII character drawings. They are cute once, but rapidly wear out their welcome.
3. quote a complete thread, just refer to the main points. Don't quote other people's signatures, rather leave in the header line with their e-mail name.
4. flame, either members on the list, or Games Workshop. Pointing out problems, in a reasonable manner, ideally combined with constructive criticism, is okay.
5. post personal mail, including criticism, to the list.
6. post anything not related to the mailing list subject. This does include warnings about viruses, questions if the list is down, if anyone gets your mail, if anyone else is getting any mail, etcetera. You can send these to the list owners; they will put it out on the list, if they feel it is warranted.
7. send administrative mail, like questions on how to do things with the list, criticism about other people's postings, etcetera, to the list. Send them to the administrators in private email.
8. Use ADMINISTRIVIA in the subject of your posts, ever. Don't send them, don't reply to them on the list.
9. Send out auction updates more than once per day.
10. Auction items that are not part of the subjects covered by this list (i.e. Warhammer 40,000, Necromunda, Space Hulk, Epic 40K and GorkaMorka!).

DO:

1. keep postings relevant to the list.
2. keep replies relevant to the subject. This excludes one line replies like 'I agree' and 'Me too'.
3. start a new thread, by changing the subject, if the topic starts to drift.
4. put in a relevant subject when replying to a digest.
5. get in touch with Chris or Edwin if there is anything you do not like.
6. try and add something to the discussion thread you're posting on
7. cut your inclusions.
8. read your email before winging it of to the list.
9. read an inflammatory message twice and give the sender the benefit of the doubt.
10. remember that the list is for the discussion of games we enjoy.

Now we are not going to police the list; consider it a neighborhood watch program, since both list maintainers are on the list and read it

The rules for posting to the list can be boiled down to this: add new content, make it 40k related, make it polite, trim inclusions.

Following these rules is a very good idea. If you don't, you'll get a friendly letter with a subject of: 'your posting to the 40k-list'. Following warnings will be less friendly, and will eventually lead to loss of posting privileges or suspension from the list.

A rough guideline is that the third warning is a final warning, and the fourth post of this type describes the sanctions.

This is a rough guideline. Some of the longer lived veterans have more than 4 warnings, some people managed to offend enough to get removed after one (one that sticks in memory is someone stating that they were in the FBI and the person they were replying to would not be missed).

About Inclusions (a.k.a. The Weekly Contest)

The contest is the suspension of posting rights for at least a week as a result of failing to trim inclusions. Inclusions, for those of you who do not know are what your mail program puts in your reply when you hit the reply button. Something like this:

--example--

Graham said:
>Bolters are for wimps

--end example--

Prizes are usually awarded Sunday, but for special cases, the prize is available at any time.

Here's a quick insight into the contest rules: adding one line of text to a complete post is much worse when you add it in the begining than when you add it to the end.

Tacking the whole post to the back end of your reply is much worse, since what you have to say obviously doesn't need what came before it (the previous post) to be read - or else you would have put it before instead of tacking it on the end. Tacking it on the end of a complete post - to us anyway - appears to be lazy, rude and indifferent to other people's time (or lack thereof). Since we don't have a lot of time, we get annoyed.

Take heart. One bad post a week will not qualify you for the prize. The winners usually have 5-10 posts a week that qualify them for the prize.