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(meteorobs) PLEASE READ: Posting guidelines for 'meteorobs' ("Netiquette")

[This message was first posted last December: the rules here are
ones we have followed on 'meteorobs' since we started in 1996...]


In response to some private suggestions from readers, I thought I
should mention a couple of quick "netiquette" rules which we try
to maintain for our list, so that everyone enjoys participating.

Here they are! Comments are welcome, but PRIVATELY (to our "List
Elf" address of owner-meteorobs@atmob.org). Those wishing me to
forward or summarize their comments to the list at large, please
just state that wish in your private comments email to me...

In summary:
1) During busy times, stay on topic: meteors
2) During quiet times - NOT the Leonid peak! - secondary topics
   (meteorites, comets, mosquitoes, sleeping bags, ...) are OK.
3) Be decent to others
4) Limit quoting in your replies
5) Please do NOT post in HTML format
6) Have fun, and ask questions!


In detail:

1) During busy times of the year, such as the peak weeks of the
Leonids, Geminids, Perseids, etc. please REMAIN ON TOPIC! If
you have any doubts about what is on topic, a message which I
sent out last August [August 2000] should be helpful:

    http://www.meteorobs.org/maillist/msg22686.html


2) During quieter times of the year, feel free to "go out on a
limb" and discuss less meteor-specific topics. But PLEASE keep
these to a reasonable (low) volume of posts, and as near our
area of mutual interest as you can. (This is hard sometimes.)

[NOTE: The month of the 2002 Leonid storms (we hope) is NOT a
"Quieter time of the year"! So please stay very on topic with
your posts to 'meteorobs' over this next month or so...]


3) Do NOT use derogatory or inflammatory language on our list.
We are a diverse community, of individuals from ALL age groups,
nations, and cultures, and such posts cannot be tolerated. You
will be removed, and very possibly banned for good.


4) When you REPLY TO ANOTHER POST, please *do not* include the
entire text of that previous post! Try to limit your "quoting"
to only the paragraph, sentence, or even just the *phrase* in
the original post to which you are specifically replying.

This last act of common courtesy is particularly important to
our *200* digest users, who must wade through all posts, line
by line - and have no desire to read the same message 4 or 5
times, because it was quoted over and over again in replies.


5) Whenever possible, do NOT send HTML to our list. Basically,
if your email looks pretty to you - lots of nice color, fonts,
etc. - it will also look pretty to about 1/4 of the people who
read it on 'meteorobs'... But to the other 3/4 of your readers,
your message will just look like incomprehensible gibberish!

And for our many subscribers in places around the globe where
Internet connections are slow, like Irkutsk, New Caledonia, or
even more exotic spots, the extra size of your HTML can really
interfere with their use of 'meteorobs'... Please don't do it.

If you need help to figure out how to tell your email program
NOT to send HTML messages, just email us "Elves" privately at:
    owner-meteorobs@atmob.org
We'll help you do this in Yahoo, Hotmail, Eudora, Outlook, etc.


6) That's all there is to it! Otherwise our most important rules
are simply: (A) HAVE FUN and (B) Do not ever be afraid to ask a
meteor-related question at any "level"! That's why we're here. :)


Clear skies to all for the Leonids!


Lew Gramer (GRALE), IMO, NAMN
owner-meteorobs@atmob.org
Webmaster: http://www.meteorobs.org
Webmaster: http://www.visualdeepsky.org
Assistant: http://www.namnmeteors.org

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