ANG-List Rules

The ANG-list is an un-moderated e-mail list, and is intended as a forum for peer-to-peer communication about needlework and needlework educational opportunities.  For more information on e-mail lists, click here. All subscribers are required to read and understand the ANG-list rules before sending messages to the list at ang-list@needlepoint.org

A. Basics

B. Posting Messages to the List

C. Responding To Postings by Others

D. Problems Receiving or Posting Messages

E. What To Expect If You Violate The Rules Of Etiquette

F. Violations That Warrant Intervention By The Postmaster

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A.  BASICS 

1.  Do not contact either the list or the postmaster to be subscribed or unsubscribed.

To subscribe or re-subscribe to the ANG list, fill out the form at 
http://www.needlepoint.org/ListSignUpForm.htm 

To unsubscribe or change your list options, fill out the form at 
http://www.needlepoint.org/ListChangeForm.htm 

Please make certain your subscription address EXACTLY matches your address in your email program configuration. Failure to do so will result in your messages being bounced back to the postmaster, rather than being posted to the ANG list.

Another way to subscribe, unsubscribe and change list options is to use email commands. These are found at http://www.needlepoint.org/ListCommands.htm .

2.  Do not harvest email addresses of list subscribers for mass mailings or commercial uses of any kind.

3.  Be aware of the consequences of not downloading your messages frequently.

Many Internet service providers (such as AOL) allot a limited amount of space for user mail messages. If your provider does this, and if you are unable to read your messages for several days (for example, while on vacation), please unsubscribe yourself from the list. If you don't unsubscribe, any messages beyond your mailbox capacity will be bounced back to the postmaster who has no other option than to terminate your list subscription.

4.  Do not send to the ANG list any mass-mailing messages, pass-along email messages, or warnings/information about viruses. If you have questions or information about a possible virus, send private email about it to the ANG Postmaster postmaster@needlepoint.org. Do not include the ANG list address among the recipients when sending mass mailing messages.
 
5.  Do not send to the ANG list any personal contact information about yourself or another individual. Including private contact information such as street addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, etc. in list messages is strictly prohibited. If you must send this kind of information, do so only in a private message that you send to the personal email address of the individual who made the original request.

The only exception to this rule would be if that individual's personal information already resides on his or her own Web site or on someone else's Web site and can therefore be assumed to have that person's consent to be published in a public forum such as the ANG list.

6. From time to time, ANG volunteer staff will post announcements about ANG programs. Questions about these programs and operational matters should be directed to the appropriate volunteer staff member. A list of ANG staff and whom to call with questions is located here.

7. NOTE: Enhanced security used by some internet service providers may cause a high message reject rate. You may be notified that an alternative email address is required to allow you to fully participate in this list. We regret this inconvenience, but we will offer information on how to obtain an alternative email address.

B.  Posting Messages To The List  

1.  Keep your posts on topic - The ANG-List is an email list that focuses on needlework-related subjects.  

2.  Use common sense when posting - Be aware that you always have two options available to you - responding through the list or to a member personally.  The content of your message should determine which of these options you choose. 

For example, sending one-liners, me too(s), I agree(s), thank you(s), congrats and announcements of births, marriages, birthdays, etc. should be sent by personal email.  

3.  Make the “Subject” field informative - When you compose a message, include in the subject field a few words that describe the content of your message.  There are many messages on some days, and this will aid other members in deciding whether your message relates to a topic they care about reading. 

4.  Volunteer to summarize and repost – If you post an inquiry for specific information that is not of general interest, include in your message a request that others respond directly to you, and state that you will prepare a summary of responses.    

For example, if you post an inquiry asking for information on stores in Bismarck, ND, give everyone seven days to respond.  At the end of the time, compile the responses into a single message, which you then repost to the list.  If you prefer, ask people to send a note directly to you if they also need the information, instead of posting the summary to the list.  

5.  Anonymous posting is discouraged – Please make a habit of posting with your real name (last name is optional) either in a signature at the end of your message or as part of your “From” header with your email address.  Let people know who you are.  

6.  Be tolerant, polite and respectful of other people’s opinions - Personal attacks, rudeness and flaming will not be tolerated on the ANG-list.  This does not mean you may not disagree or that you cannot post an opposing opinion.  It simply means that those who are disrespectful of others and their ideas will be subject to removal from the list.  This will be at the sole discretion of the list management.  

Likewise, persons posting inappropriate and/or offensive material to the ANG-list are subject to immediate removal from the list, at the sole discretion of the list management.

C.  Responding to Postings By Others  

1.  Responding to the list vs. responding to an individual – The list is set up so replies go to the entire list, NOT to the individual who posted the message.  If you hit “reply”, compose your message and then send it immediately, your response will go to everyone who is subscribed.  If you want to respond to an individual, make sure to put only the address of that individual in the “To:” line of your message BEFORE sending it by copying and pasting the individual’s email address.    

If your message is of a personal nature or of limited interest, replying only to the individual is appropriate.  For example, replies written just to say “I agree”, “Me, too”, Hear! Hear!”, “Thank you” or “Good Luck”, should be sent only to the individual.    

2.  Do not repost or quote the entire message you are replying to and do not requote an entire digest – Edit and cut out or delete all of the original post except the few sentences that you are replying to. Besides being a huge waste of network bandwidth, many subscribers are limited in size with their mailboxes, and the ANG-list digest readers find wading through entire re-quoted messages a particular nuisance.     

Remember the reader – recognizing the topic is what quoting is all about.  In almost all cases, one or two re-quoted sentences are enough for readers to recognize the topic.  Make certain you have included the person’s name you are quoting.  There are many messages sent to the list each day, and you can’t expect everyone to remember the content of every message and who said “what” based on the subject alone.  

Each email program handles the job of deleting or cutting out unnecessary text in replies a little differently.  Become familiar enough with your own email software to accomplish this editing.   

Place your reply after the message portion you are quoting, so the information appears in a logical order, and your signature is at the bottom.  

3.  Make the “Subject” field informative – This same rule applies in responding to a posting as it does in sending a “new” message to the list.  If you are replying to a single message, which is part of a digest, do not use the digest title as your “Subject”.  Change the “Subject” header to reveal what it is you are writing about.  Many readers automatically delete and will not read messages containing digest titles in the “Subject” header.  

Sometimes, the dialogue on a topic drifts from its original subject matter.  If this happens, revise the subject of your message to reflect the actual content.  

4.  When a discussion drifts from a subject relevant to the list - take the discussion to private email.  

5.  Make sure you are not repeating information that has already been given by reading previous messages on any one day and being aware of what has already been said.  Repetition is poor Netiquette and a waste of resources and the readers’ time.  The readers of the ANG-list are interested in useful information and opinions, not in reading repetitious messages.  

D.  Problems Receiving or Posting Messages  

1.  If you have problems receiving the list or posting messages to it, please send email to the postmaster@needlepoint.org describing the difficulty.  

2.  Do not send a message to the list describing your problems for the following reasons: 

• If the list is not functioning, your message will not be delivered until it is functioning, at which time the messages will be list-clutter.  

• If the list is functioning, the messages are, again, needless list clutter.

• The list members cannot answer questions regarding your difficulties.

E.  What to Expect If You Violate The Rules of Etiquette –  

1.  If you do something that is inappropriate, the postmaster will send you a note explaining what is wrong and ask you to correct it.  People who continue to violate the rules of etiquette will be removed from the list, at the sole discretion of the list management.   

2.  Those subscribers who choose to post offensive, inappropriate material or who personally attack or flame others, harvest email addresses for commercial purposes or mass mailings (see below, section F.1.) or otherwise significantly abuse these rules are subject to immediate removal from the list, at the sole discretion of the list management.

F.  Violations That Warrant Intervention by the Postmaster –  

The determination of whether or not a posting calls for intervention on the part of the Postmaster will be made solely by the Postmaster. The following discussion list abuses will not be allowed:

1.  DO NOT include attachments or images - This can be very frustrating to other users for the following reasons:

• Documents that contain graphics can be very large, and downloading these documents can take a great deal of time.   

• Not all mailers will be able to translate a given attachment.

• Large documents can fill some users’ mailboxes, causing subsequent messages from the list to bounce.   

• Many viruses/worms are transmitted via attachments. 

Do not send attachments to anyone unless you are certain the person wants them and is expecting to receive them. With the problem of viruses hitching a ride in some attachments, some recipients take the precaution of deleting attachments they are not expecting.  

2.  DO NOT post virus warnings or other pass-along email messages to the list - If you receive an email message that says, “Please send this to everyone you know”, it is most likely a hoax or urban legend, and in any case, irrelevant to the purpose of the ANG-list.  If you are concerned it might be true, please send it to the postmaster@needlepoint.org and ask if it is appropriate to post before sending it to the list.  

Random spreading of these messages when people willingly forward them on to their entire address book causes needless email traffic that can slow down servers.  

A good source for more information about urban legends is http://www.urbanlegends.com/.  A good source for more information on virus-warning hoaxes is on Symantec’s Web site - http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html or on McAfee’s Web site - http://vil.nai.com/VIL/hoaxes.asp  

3.  DO NOT USE THE ANG LIST FOR ADVERTISING -- The ANG-list is the sole property of the American Needlepoint Guild; use of this list as an advertising vehicle by other entities is not permitted. 

 What the word "advertising" means in these list rules "Advertising" means language that appears to offer products (including freebies), services, events, classes, etc. that appears anywhere in a message posted by the seller/sponsor of those products, services, events, classes, etc., or the seller's/sponsor's employees. Likewise, if you are a private individual with something for sale, you may not post about it to the list.

"Advertising" does not mean recommending shops, products and services to other members of the list when the poster is not in any way affiliated with the recommended item. Posting about a class you are attending, a product that works well for you, or anything connected to stitching that you think would interest the list members, is fine. In fact, we encourage it!

Business owners or their employees may reply privately and individually to subscribers who have posted to the list that they are looking for information or products.

Business owners, we welcome your posts of opinions and comments about stitching, but you must not post anything that can be construed as a "come-on."

A three- or four-line signature file of standard business information following a poster's signature is an acceptable practice on the Internet and on this list. Standard business information consists of business name, URL of Website home page, and any contact information (postal address, phone, fax, email address, etc.) that will fit into no more than three or four lines of type. This includes all businesses, needlework-related or not.

We respect the right of business owners to post messages refuting what they believe to be incorrect or misleading statements about their businesses or products, as long as they check first with the Postmaster at postmaster@needlepoint.org.

Harvesting of email addresses from posted messages for business purposes or mass mailings of any kind, business or private, is prohibited. Violation of this rule is grounds for immediate and permanent removal from this list.

ANG Policy on CHAPTER Advertising on the ANG-list - There is no objection to an ANG chapters posting a notice of an item it has generated for sale as a fundraiser, as long as these guidelines are followed:

• The first word in the subject line must be ANG, followed by an identifier of the project, such as ANG (Product) or ANG (Event). 

• The project must be needlework related. 

• The project should be an item unique to the chapter and not available within the needlework retail industry in the form you are using. (Tote bags with chapter logos are acceptable, etc.) 

• Chapters should not post more than once per month to prevent the list from turning into a marketplace, which is not its purpose.

4.  DO NOT use the ANG-list for personal messages – In the course of discussing a particular posting, members may find themselves drifting into a personal conversation with someone else on the list.  If a general list discussion evolves into a personal conversation, please use individual email instead of the list.

5.  DO NOT post jokes to the ANG-list – Aside from the fact that everyone’s sense of humor differs, distribution of jokes does not lie within the mission of the ANG-list.   

6.  DO NOT post copyrighted material to the ANG-list without permission of the author – A copyright notice is not required for material to be protected.  If you did not write it, you do not have permission to reprint it.  Repeating a small portion in order to reply is fair use, reposting the whole thing (with or without attribution) is not.  Obviously, offering to copy commercial charts is prohibited and messages containing such offers will not be tolerated.