New Moderator for Cancercure List

[Guest guest]

List Members:

After several months of excellent service, Tom Roper has resigned as

moderator of the Cancercure list. He is suffering from reduced

vision as a result of past operations on his eyes. I shall take

over his duties.

I sincerely and gratefully appreciate the fine work Tom did in

imposing a rigorous discipline to make our list readable, even

though a number of members resigned, went elsewhere, or started new

lists in protest. As a result of his efforts and your push, list

membership has risen 20%. I thank you for that.

As new moderator, I shall continue in a similar vein with Tom's

posting rules and editorial policy, with only minor changes. Here

are the rules:

1. What Posts Should Be - Posts must stay on-topic, be reasonably

brief (citing, as necessary, web site addresses for full technical

details), be polite, be non-redundant, use reasonably proper

English, refrain from religious or political proselytizing, and

refrain from quoting other posts except where absolutely necessary

to avoid confusion. You may post " long " articles of 2 or 3 pages if

doing so lets you present a complete treatment of the topic, but

longer articles must be broken up into separate postings or they

must refer the user to some other web site. Advertisements for

cancer-related products or services are permitted once (use the on-

site links to list your commercial site). Please don't push the

envelope or try to test me on these rules. If you have a long

document you want to post, rewrite it carefully and send it to me

privately. If I think it's worthy, I'll post it on

http://cures for cancer.ws. ' TAC article is an example.

2. My Editing - I shall delete (without notice), reject (with

notice to poster), or edit any and all posts as I choose, in order

to conform to the above rules. Regarding this policy, brilliant

writers need not be offended, poor writers should be grateful, and

readers can continue breathing a sigh of relief.

3. Why You Should Write Well - If I have to rework a member's

postings too often, I might just stop posting them altogether.

After all, I, too, have a " life " outside the list, and limited time

to edit postings. Therefore, I encourage all of you to muster up

any needed self-discipline to post well-written articles. For some,

it takes effort, but that will be rewarded in the satisfaction of

knowing that others will read what you have to say without thinking

you are barely literate or a moron (the natural result of confused

or bad writing). Remember that if it's worth saying, it's worth

saying properly. See below for composition suggestions.

4. Be Brave - Do not let your lack of command of good English deter

you from writing to this list. English is not the native tongue of

some members, and others for whom it is native might be barely

literate. Thus, they might struggle to compose the simplest

sentence. This will be obvious to me as the editor, and I shall

make all due allowances, with suitable corrections and no

condemnation.

5. Composition Suggestions - Think through what you want to write,

organize it from general to specific, write an introductory summary

sentence if the post is to be several paragraphs long, break it up

into small and readable sentences, and add topic headings for

thought groups. Use proper case in composing sentences (not all

lower or all upper case. Leave out superfluous tag lines, thank-

yous, chit-chat, disparagement, and politeness.Hammer yourself with

self-discipline, rewrite your own postings before submitting them,

and chop out all unnecessary verbiage. Sign each post only with your

name and (if any) your personal or company web site.

6. Fellow Moderator Needed - Tom did a lot of work moderating

postings, and now I shall take on that burden. There may come times

when I am absent from home and cannot perform these duties. I'd

like a volunteer or two to shoulder the burden for me at such

times. If are willing and you think you have the requisite skills,

let me know.

7. More Members Needed - Please encourage everyone you know who has

cancer, is a care-giver for a cancer victim, or is a cancer

treatment practitioner, to join and contribute to this list. All

past members are welcome back with open arms, so long as they agree

to follow my editorial guidelines.

Bob Hurt

Cancercure List Owner