LM_NET Etiquette

Last updated: August 28, 2003

   Guidelines that are expected to be used by LM_NET members.

Dear LM_NET Friends,

Thank you very much for cooperating to make LM_NET a successful, highly respected forum and virtual community!

The following guidelines have been developed over the past eight years.  They are the closest thing that we have to rules. The Hospitality Committee and the LM_NET moderators (Mike Eisenberg and Peter Milbury) expect our guidelines will be honored by all members.

** Please note the section toward the bottom which is especially for vendors, producers, authors, speakers, conference/workshop/seminar organizers, consultants, other producers of products, or people promoting any kind of causes.

NOTE:  LM_NET does not endorse or recommend any products. Individuals identified as LM_NET members in vendor promotional materials may have been quoted without their permission. We urge all LM_NET members to distrust any vendor who claims that LM_NET recommends or disparages a product.  Individuals identified as LM_NET members in vendor promotional materials may have been quoted without their permission and out of context.

Please see LM_NET On The Web for this document or other information:  http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
  1. LM_NET has its own character, just like any "real" grouping of people (such as a party, or a meeting). The list functions best when people respect the character of the list. It's also good to respect the differences among list members and have a certain tolerance for our individual eccentricities. It is recommended that folks new to the group "lurk" awhile, getting a feel for what is appropriate.
  2. Please assist us in managing LM_NET by keeping your e-mailbox available for incoming messages. Many of our 12,000+ LM_NET subscribers have e-mailbox size limits. When the limits are exceeded, messages are returned to LM_NET senders. Sometimes hundreds of such messages return to LM_NET administration in a day. This means that we must drop those persons from LM_NET, a lengthy process, since we first have to scan each "bounced" message, and delete it.
  3. In the event that you will be changing, dropping or losing your e-mail service, please be so kind as to first sign off from LM_NET, to avoid having us receive scores of returned messages due to "user unknown". The instructions are included at the bottom of each message posted to LM_NET.

    Note: Netscape and other graphical mailers may require confirmation. Please allow time for the confirmation message to reach you. This normally is sent to you immediately after the Listserv receives your command.
  4. All courses, programs, conference or workshop announcements or registrations, as well as surveys, etc., require advance approval before posting.  A preferred way (not needing approval) is to briefly describe the "item" in the message, and indicate where to obtain the form or detailed information (i.e., WWW, phone call, etc).
  5. LM_NET has adopted a policy of required identification within all messages posted to LM_NET. Please start the habit of including your:
          1. Name   2. Occupation/Job Title/Worksite   3. e-mail address
             Example:    Jo Booksworth, Librarian
                              Best Elementary, Bestville, CA
                              JBOOKSWORTH@BEST.K12.CA.US

    If you do not know how to automate this procedure, you may want to ask your network manager if there is an automatic way of including a signature file in your messages. Most are able to do so.
  6. Never post a message to the group which would not be of interest to thousands of people. It is considered wasteful of the time of list members to be pestered with meaningless (to them) messages which are of value only to a small number of people. LM_NET is NOT a newsgroup, where people reply to each other routinely posting to the group.
    Please do NOT recommend products, services, or websites unless you have personally reviewed or visited them. See also Item # 9, below.  If a vendor asks you to post a commercial endorsement or message on
    their behalf, please check with the moderator first. Normally, we do not allow such postings.

    Copyright considerations: Please do NOT post messages containing content which is under copyright. That includes messages that are posted to other online groups. Obtain permission first.
  7. All postings over 75 lines long (approximately four screens' length) MUST be approved in advance by the LM_NET moderators.
  8. If you are using Netscape mail (and perhaps other graphical e-mail such as Eudora) to post messages to LM_NET, please turn off the "send HTML" feature. It makes your messages arrive in many of our mailboxes full of garbled characters, and they are difficult to read.
    Likewise, if you are cutting and pasting files from word processors that create HTML, please turn off that feature when creating your messages for LM_NET.
  9. Commercial messages, chain letters, virus warnings, stumpers etc.
    Chain letters or messages requesting mass mailings to other addresses are strictly forbidden. So are unsolicited commercial postings (plus notices about the "Craig Shergold postcard request" or the "Good
    Times Computer Virus" -- Internet legends.) Please review our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) before asking "stumper" questions (i.e., for the three -gry ending words), or undocumented virus alerts.  If in doubt, please check with one of the LM_NET owners before posting "alarming" warnings or "stumpers" to the group.  Owners:  pmilbury@eduref.org or mike@eduref.org

    We do allow for leeway when a school library media professional, who is currently employed in a school, district or academic position, would like to announce a book that they have published. Please feel free to post a very brief message with a very brief description. We suggest including: the Title, (co-author(s)), Publisher, Date of Publication, ISBN, price (if known), URL  to publishers website for more information.
  10. Be sure of the To: address you have typed. Did you intend it for all LM_NET members to read? Or were you sending a command to the listserv to set NOMAIL, SIGNOFF, DIGEST, etc.? The listserv address for
       changing your settings) is: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
  11. To post to LM_NET, send to:  LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
    Think before you post. Do I really want to say this to the entire world (and have it posted to the LM_NET Archives as well?) Reread what you wrote. Did you really say what you intended to? Once a message is sent, it can't be retrieved. Sending to the individual or to the entire group is an important consideration.
       Please send information only to the individual person who requested it, NOT the entire group. If they receive a lot of replies, hopefully they will post them to the group. Please use our Target/Hit procedure to gather information, and share later with the group.
  12. In the event that you have additional information to add to someone's posting, we recommend that you NOT respond to the group UNTIL after you have read through the rest of the mail for the day. Maybe the question has already been answered, and you will save us all a lot of time in not having to read it again.
  13. When replying to an LM_NET message, please do *not* include the entire message quoted. Paraphrasing or quoting selectively are both kinder to people's eyes and e-mail boxes and it is also kinder to persons with CTS or tendonitis. Brevity saves money for those who are paying for their time online.
       Especially for those receiving the LM_NET in Digest form: If you use the reply option, be sure that you change the Subject: line to indicate the section or subject that you are replying to. Also, please do NOT include the entire digest in your reply.
  14. Be extremely careful when replying to the sender of an LM_NET message. Many e-mail systems will automatically send your reply to the entire list of LM_NET members if you simply use a reply command. When an individual asks a question that you can answer, just send it to the individual who posted the original message to which you are responding. Imagine how it would feel to have a very "personal" or revealing message read by thousands of people!
  15. Requests for information: LM_NET has developed a policy of sending information privately to the requester. The requester then summarizes to the list. This can cut down on traffic, but it tends to reduce the "give and take" that some lists value. See the LM_NET TARGET/HIT-- information for the LM_NET policy, in the "Welcome to LM_NET" message you received.
  16. If you send a message to all members stating that you have received the answer that you asked, even if not a Target/Hit, please include the information you received, so that it can be checked by others (just in case your information is wrong, and can be corrected).
  17. Please include a subject line in your postings (a good idea for ALL e-mail). The LM_NET "Welcome" document has a list of highly recommended subject headings. The use of these headings allows members to
       efficiently handle the high number of postings to the group each day.
  18. Long signatures are discouraged. They may be humorous the first time, but get old quickly (and take up valuable net bandwidth and computer space). Some folks tire of the time spent having to skim over them.  2-5 lines should be sufficient to include any necessary information.
  19. Flames: a "flame" is an emotionally charged posting, and is often directed at an individual who has posted to the group. Be sure you really want to post it, and remember that LM_NET does not tolerate flames. We will immediately drop members posting rude, inflammatory or grossly inappropriate messages.
       In this category we include messages that are denigrating to any group of people (e.g., racial, religious, geographical, national, etc.) Please remember that LM_NET is an international electronic community, comprising many countries and their peoples.)
       Note: This guideline includes private e-mail sent in response to something that an LM_NET member has posted. It doesn't matter if you send the rude message to someone in private. If you reply to an LM_NET posting, please remember to be polite and civil.
  20. To signal humorous intent, use some sort of "smiley", such as :-).  Facetiousness and sarcasm can be misunderstood easily in electronic communication. (See Arlene Rinaldi's excellent Netiquette Guidelines:  http://www.fau.edu/netiquette/net/.
  21. Please be considerate of others. Through inexperience or limited local software, list members may inadvertently violate these guidelines. A private message to the offender from an experienced friend or from the list owners is more appropriate than a public flame. Our LM_NET Hospitality Committee may have already contacted the person regarding the inappropriate posting.
  22. Keep each line in your message shorter than 70 characters. Longer lines can cause problems with some e-mail systems. Before sending, check your message for typos and other errors that may make it hard for others to read or understand. Hot tip: USING ALL CAPS IS CONSIDERED YELLING. Save this style for a special occasion.
  23. Please participate! Your ideas are important. Just because you think everyone knows something doesn't mean they do. If you're not sure, send the posting to an experienced friend on the list (or the list owner) to see if the information may be valuable.

* *  VENDORS, AUTHORS, WORKSHOP SPONSORS, PUBLIC RELATIONS FOLKS, ETC.:
 The following section is especially for producers, authors, speakers, plus conference, workshop, or seminar organizers, consultants, and other vendors of products or people promoting causes. Actively employed school library media professionals are allowed to announce their publications (See #9 above.)

Virtually,

Peter Milbury   PMILBURY@ERICIR.SYR.EDU
Michael Eisenberg mbe@u.washington.edu

 Return to LM_NET On The Web.