First of all thank you to Steve Petersen, Gary Link, and Bruce White for
stepping into the breach. Normally i would have stepped in sooner rather
than later, but my new employer blocks access to gmail and I refuse to try
and write a long posting via my smartphone. That said here will be a brief
synopsis of the list's etiquette and rules. at the bottom of this posting
will be the Welcome to the List message that everyone receives when folks
subscribe to the list.

As Bruce White noted this list as been around since the early 1990s. Many
of us on the list are grey of beard and long in the tooth. We have a little
of 2500+ subscribers from around the world not jus America. Many have
duplicate subscriptions.

We are a community of professionals. Many of us gather each year at the
ARMA conference to play catch up, reminiscence, imbide in adult beverages
and to meet someone in the flesh that we only know via their email address.
I believe that these meetups that have taken place since about 1995 are why
we don't have flame wars on the list since once you've broken bread with
someone it is really hard to get nasty with them.

Now on to the reminders

1. Replies - folks we're records and information manager we should know how
to handle email. The default is that all replies go back to the list and
not to the original poster, so before you hit the send key ask yourself "Do
I want this to go to the list? Or do I want it it to go to the individual?"
If the former please remember to delete out the previous message. You're
more than welcome to retain a portion of the previous message to keep your
reply in context, but if the subject heading is clear there really is no
reason to  retain the entire previous message. Retaining previous messages
just makes the digest very difficult to read.

2. MeToos - no reason to post a message that says basically me, too ie I
want to hear answers or I want a copy. they only clog up the list

3. Where you reply from -- are you replying via your smartphone? if so,
don't. Why? because it is very very difficult to edit out previous
messages. Gmail does offer the ability to not retain the previous message
in a reply. There is no posting to the list that is so critical that you
have to reply using your smartphone. Wait until you get to a real keyboard.

4. Friday Ponderings/Friday Funnies/Non-RIM postings - Like I mentioned
earlier we are a community. Friday Pondering/Friday Funnies have been a
part of the list for almost 30 years. As mentioned in a previous posting if
you don't want to see a Friday Pondering set up a rule that will not just
send that message to a different folder but rather automagically deletes
the message before you even see it. Remember "all work and no play makes
Jack/Jane a dull child" we work hard all week and a Friday Ponder gets my
brain to think about something else besides records

5. Introduction - We've always asked new subscribers to introduce
themselves to the group. Think of the list as being a neighborhood pub with
all sorts here. they want to know who you are, where you're from, and the
type of industry you're in. Maybe PatC can repost his pub analogy

6 Signature blocks - all it takes is your name, email address and physical
location (generally city, state/province)

as mentioned at the beginning here is the Welcome to the List message. If
you haven't read it, please do. If it has been awhile since you've read it
please read it

Everyone have a good weekend

Welcome to RECMGMT-L the email list for all things related to records
management, paper or electronic

As a new subscriber there are just a few simple things you need to know
about the list. This list is for all topics related to records management
and related issues. BUT there are and will continue to be messages that are
not about records management. This is part of the list's culture. The list
has been in existence since the early 1990s. Don't ask which BBQ is better,
we've discussed that.

1. Who owns and operates this thing? Well the owner is Susan McKinney and
her able assistants are Marc Wolfe and Peter Kurilecz aka the listadmins.
Collectively known as the Management. The list is hosted on the University
of Florida's servers which is why the list address domain is @LISTS.UFL.EDU

2. Introduction – please introduce yourself to the other subscribers in
your first posting to the list. There are over 2500 subscribers from around
the world and they would like to know a little bit about you. Who you are,
where are you from, what type of work you do.

3. Signature block – we humbly request that you use a signature block when
posting messages. This block should contain your name, email address and
physical location ie city and state/province/country.

4. Commercial Messages – are verboten/forbidden unless it is of a short
informational nature related to list content. IF in doubt contact the
management at [log in to unmask]

5. Tone – This list maintains a civil tone and we treat each other like the
professionals we are. Legitimate and passionate disagreements may occur,
but “flames” are not allowed.

6. How to post a message – always use a good subject line, if you are
asking a question tell the list what sort of research you've done. Be clear
and concise with your question. Don't assume that everyone will understand
what you mean. Be patient. Replies don't come immediately. Friday afternoon
is not a good time to post a new question, people are off, headed out the
door for the weekend. Be patient. Post your message using this email
address [log in to unmask]

7. Replying to a message – the listserv is set up such that replies go back
to the list and not to the individual who sent the message. If you want to
send a private reply you will need to copy and paste the individual's email
address in the To line and delete the listserv address. Modify the subject
line to include private reply at the beginning of the subject line so the
individual will know it is not from the list. Now if you want your reply to
go to the entire list all you need do is hit the reply button in your email
client. Add your response and then hit send. BUT! Remember to delete out
the previous message.

8. Deleting out previous messages - there is no reason to retain previous
messages when replying. All messages to the list are maintained in the
list. Besides retaining previous messages greatly increases the size of the
digest

9. Digest - too many messages driving you crazy, your inbox flooded with
listserv messages? Then you need to get the digest version. This contains
all the previous day's messages in one message delivered the following day.
So how do you get it?

10. Managing your subscription – going on vacation and want to stop
receiving messages, want to get the digest or want to unsubscribe? All can
be easily done by you. There are two ways. First involves going to the
listserv archives located at http://lists.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=RECMGMT-L
and click on the Join or Leave the Listserv button. This will take you to
another page where you can change your subscription your email address,
your name or whatever. Just remember to click the Update button. You will
then receive a message from the listserv asking you to confirm the changes.
Just click on the link. Or you can do it via email. The commands you send
must be from the email address that you receive messages at. Commands are
sent in an email with a blank/empty subject line to [log in to unmask]
in the body of the message put one of the following commands

To Stop receiving messages when on vacation
SET RECMGMT-L NOMAIL

To Start receiving individual messages
SET RECMGMT-L MAIL

To get the Digest version
SET RECMGMT-L DIGEST

To unsubscribe from the list
UNSUB RECMGMT-L

in all cases you will receive a message in return asking you to confirm the
request just click on the link

11. PROBLEMS – everyone occasionally has problems with their subscription,
you will too at some point in time. All you need to do is send an email to
[log in to unmask] and the management will work to solve your
problem. If you received an error message from the list please forward that
to the same address. That error message helps greatly in solving your
problem.


peterk
listpa
recmgmt-l

-- 
Peter Kurilecz CRM CA IGP
[log in to unmask]
Dallas, Texas
Save our in-boxes! http://emailcharter.org
http://twitter.com/RAINbyte
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/RAINbyte/
http://paper.li/RAINbyte/rainbyte
https://groups.google.com/d/forum/archives-in-the-news

Information not relevant for my reply has been deleted to reduce the
electronic footprint and to save the sanity of digest subscribers

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]