Mercedes E-Mail Discussion List Rules

1. This list is a closed list. Only subscribers to the list can post. The correct address for mailing postings to the list is mercedes@mercedeslist.com. Only mail posted from registered accounts will be posted to the list. Your posting e-mail address (myaddress@myhost.name) must be the address you used to register. If in question, review the headers of the e-mail you receive and make sure you are using that address. Mail from all other addresses is automatically discarded.

Items posted to this list are for the membership only, and should not be copied for use elsewhere without the express consent of the author.

2.The family ambiance. "Keep it clean and polite" is the order of the day when posting to this list. We want list members to be able to show messages from this list to anybody. Our desire is that your husband/wife, daughter, son, mother, or father will be able to read any of the messages from this list and not be embarrassed at the content.

• Expletives used as cuss words and scatololigical euphermisms are prohibited. This includes attempts to sanitize such words by substituting punctuation marks (e.g., "m**ks" for "marks"), and simply delete the expletive rather than posting or similar. In most cases there are adequate polite words to express emotion; choose one and use it.

• Explicit sexual references, discussion of sexual acts, and most "double entendre" comments with sexual implication are not appropriate.

• Ad hominem attacks ("flames") on others is prohibited. There is a huge difference between "Your mother wears army boots" and "I don't agree with you." Also don't slam someone with "you're wrong" even when commenting on a post. Choose something polite such as "Did you really mean to say that? I believe that ...." when correcting someone. Be gentle, keeping in mind that sharp words can come across much more sharply than intended on an E-mail list, where there are no visual cues to tone down the implications of those words.

• While the majority of listers are US citizens and residents, there are many on the list who are not. The primary list language is English, but in all its flavo(u)rs and spelling, and some listers use English as a second language. In addition, many listers, including Americans, are fluent in several languages. The list is distributed to several thousand readers. Be careful not to be obscure by over-use of slang. If using acronyms, spell them out; not only are many of them ambiguous, but they generally also imply cultural knowledge peculiar to the lister's home environment.

3. Discussion is not limited to MB vehicles although that is the primary list topic. If a member has a new born, is fired, is sick, goes on vacation, reads a poem or just had a wonderful foggy drive to work, we would all like to know about it. We are real people living real lives, and there is freedom to share that with others. Over the years, many listers have met and socialized at MBCA (Mercedes-Benz club of America) and other auto-related events, and on other occasions, including lister gatherings at places like Santa Fe.

• Religion and politics are two universally-recognized controversial topics. Casual references are acceptable, but espousals of beliefs, proselytization, and the like, are intrusions on people's freedom of belief and are prohibited. Keep in mind that this is primarily an automobile-related list, not a social-political blog. Ad hominem attacks on public figures are prohibited.

• Posting of chain letters to the list should not be done in most cases. In addition, posting material copied from political and social commentators should be avoided.

• Discussion of MBCA politics on the list is prohibited. The moderators have their own commitments to the club, and the editor of the club magazine, the "Star," is a member of this list. Discussion of local chapter activities and "Star" articles is allowed and encouraged.

• We have several vendors of automobiles, parts, and services present as listers. Most of these people are known to the list as sources of information more than as vendors. A commercial vendor may include a simple reference to the nature of the services offered and a suitable link to their business or e-mail for those listers who wish to contact them for business reasons. All such contacts must be initiated by the lister desiring a business transaction, never the reverse.

• A vendor who can supply items or services may respond to a specific post requesting where-to-obtain information from the list, with an indication that "we can supply" followed by contact information. Once again, any business transactions must be initiated by the lister.

• All business negotiations and transactions must be completed off-list.

• Listers with commercial connections who wish to make their services known to the listers must contact the moderators at mercedes-owner@mercedeslist.com before posting commercial information.

5. "Spamming" either the list or individual listers is prohibited. Our listers do not want to receive unsolicited E-mails with "have I got a deal for you!" offers of Bilstein shock absorbers or other items. Harvesting of list addresses for most purposes in an attempt to "go underground" to dodge list rules will be treated as equivalent to list posting activity.

6. Off-list conduct between listers. In general, list rules apply to private e-mails sent by listers to other listers. In general, the moderators encourage friendly e-mail contacts, but will take action if notified with evidence that e-mail is being used in a harrassing or annoying manner.

7.Use the Mailman list software resources to manage your account.  You should familiarize yourself with the user options in Mailman, accessed through main list web page, using your mail address and the password that is mailed to you. Don't e-mail the moderators with requests to do things that you can and should do yourself. In many cases, you are asking us to bypass security built into the software for your benefit,

8. Digest replies. Listers receiving postings in digest form need to format any responses to digest articles properly. Improperly-formatted digest responses are trapped by the Mailman software and will be rejected back to the lister; and will not be posted to the list.

• The digest subject line must be deleted and replaced with the subject line from the article to which you are responding.

• All of the digest contents except so much of the specific article as is needed to establish contect for the reply must be deleted.

• When composing a new article for posting to the list, do not use a response to a digest. Write and post it separately as a new article.

• All new listers are subscribed in digest mode. Many listers find it more convenient to receive list postings as individual e-mails. You may change this by going to the main list page and following the directions there.

9. Use appropriate subject lines. Make sure that the subject line for your posts clearly reflects the topit of the post. When responding to a topic, change the subject line if your response is not relavant to the original subject.

10. Reserved subject line words. The Mailman software is set up to trap several words in subjects that should appear on the list only with moderator approval. Significant among these are:

• "ADMIN" and "Please Read". These strings are reserved for moderator use only in initial postings. Responses to the initial posting will be trapped, but will be approved if the moderators deem them appropriate. All posting with ADMIN/Please Read in the subject line are policy statements or clarifications to be read and heeded by all readers.

• (offlist) This trap is provided to prevent mails intended for private offlist communication from going to the list.

11. Moderation policies and practices. The foregoing rules reflect considerable experience over several years. Most moderator actions are handled offlist, without posting any comments to the list. Both moderators read all postings, and coordinate all moderation actions closely.

The foregoing rules are general. There are specific cases where the moderators feel that a discussion thread has gone awry, which we address with an ADMIN/Please Read dealing with the specifics. Also, there have been a few cases where the list's best interests were not served by a strict application of the rules, and the moderators have posted indicating the limits to be applied to the particular thread.

The moderators also participate in list discussions, and it should be understood that unless we are specific, our comments are as list participants, whether we agree or disagree with aspects of the discussion thread.

©2005

Stu Ritter, Denver, Colorado.

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