- About This Series
- Hanging Out 'Round the Water Cooler
- Rules for Participation
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Like this article? We recommend
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Rules for Participation
Why stop at just lurking at the water cooler? There's also value in participating.
All of the previously mentioned discussion lists are moderated, which means that all messages sent by list members are received by a moderator, who reviews each one and selects the most pertinent messages for inclusion in the published issues. If you want your posts to the list to be accepted, memorize these 12 rules:
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Messages should be succinct and to the point.
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Signature files are limited to three lines with a maximum width of 40 characters, and may include the following information:
Title
Email address
Phone number, fax number, cell number
Company name
URL
If you have a business connection to a product or service mentioned in your post, this should be clear to anyone reading the message. Blatant commercial advertisements will be rejected by the moderator.
The moderator will reject inappropriate posts, including but not limited to overt solicitations and personal attacks; for example, if the post was clearly submitted to ask the list to visit your web site or was a clear promotion of your company or business.
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Don't send attached documents or graphics. Send your messages in unformatted plain text.
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A post will be rejected if it was submitted by replying (hitting Reply in your email client) to a received digest, which quoted the entire body of the publication in your message. Such submissions are a waste of bandwidth and time-consuming for the moderator.
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Posts must be on-topic (related to the subject matter of the digest).
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Posts should not cover a topic that has been thoroughly discussed in past issues of the digest. Be sure to check the list archives using the search feature if you're unsure whether the topic of your post has been discussed previously.
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The moderator will reject any post that's full of misspellings or typographical errors, or has an overall unprofessional appearance.
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Posts must be signed, with a minimum of the submitter's name. Anything less reduces the credibility of the post.
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No HTML backgrounds or HTML tags are allowed. All posts submitted should be unformatted plain text.
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Posts must be relevant to the entire list, not direct responses to individuals.
The Net can be a valuable source of education to keep your staff up to date and web-savvy on e-business matters. Encourage them to use it.