NCC - afraid to post? (please read)

[Guest guest]

At 05:39 PM 9/10/1999 -0400, you wrote:

> I am one of those lurkers who read the

>mail everyday and sometimes twice and to this day I still remember someone

>else months ago commenting of someone elses mistake. It fears me to think

>that I will make a mistake when sending mail.

Just so it's clear, here's what it says after our list of guidelines

(http://www.pressenter.com/~wacma/wacguide.htm)

======================

" We don't expect everyone to remember all this every single time they post.

We all forget occasionally, so don't feel you need to apologise if you

realise that you've done that. And *please* don't apologise through the

list :-) The point is to *try* to remember, and hopefully it'll become

nearly-automatic after awhile. "

======================

So there's no reason to be afraid of posting in case a mistake is made.

Several hundred people post regularly. We all make occasional mistakes.

It's only when someone who's been around for a long time proves they don't

care about the guidelines that we get upset about it.

A few folks (a very few) seem to believe that the guidelines exist for some

other reason than their true purpose - that is, to allow the sickest and

busiest among us to have easy access to the important chiari info that

passes through the list daily. Trust me, none of us enjoy the duties of

" policing " the list *whatsoever*. It's by far the most tedious and

unpleasant part of the job. But, in order to fulfil our mandate of

spreading awareness, it has to be done to reach as many people as we can.

No-one has ever been chastised by a list manager just for making a simple

mistake. We do, however, send them a copy of the guidelines so they can

help us try to keep the list as productive as possible. The message has

been carefully worded to prevent any misunderstanding, so if it offends

anyone, that's their problem.

Most seem to understand this. They aren't afraid to post and they're not

afraid to make a mistake. But they do try to follow the guidelines out of

plain courtesy for others.

As for that unsubbing request, the person was unsubbed immediately without

a word from *any* list managers. If someone posts an inappropriate message

to the list, please leave it to us to take care of it instead of responding

with flames - that does *nothing* to help matters. It just results in more

people unsubbing due to excessive non-chiari material being posted.

Whenever anyone unsubs because of this, wacma's efforts have been undermined.

Thanks,

ronny

World ACM Association http://www.pressenter.com/~wacma