RE: [TCML] Reminder about Off-list posting

["Jim Mora" <wavetuner@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Gary, et al,

One of the main things I have been bounced for is the imbedding of group
interest in replies to individuals. This is easy to do as a "correspondence"
can quickly become a group issue. I will make a concerted effort to separate
the two in the future or by using the "was, is now" subject tweak.

I do not envy the never ending speed reading and rapid decision making our
esteemed moderators have at task.

Best Regards,
Jim Mora

-----Original Message-----
From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Lau, Gary
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 8:17 AM
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
Subject: [TCML] Reminder about Off-list posting

Dear TCML subscribers,

One of the things the moderation team spends a lot of time on is rejecting
posts that should be sent off-list to a single individual.  For those of you
that understand the difference between on-list and off-list and when to use
each, we thank you. (Hint - subscribers who do not often need to be reminded
are typically granted more leeway.)  For those who do not, let's try to
break it down.

If someone posts that he is selling an item, he will hopefully include
enough basic information about the item (specs, condition, price, geographic
location, shipping arrangements, complete eBay URL, etc) that prospective
buyers have a reasonable idea if this is something they might be interested
in.  The reason that this is an appropriate post is that the number of
potential interested readers (buyers) is greater than one.

Now if a reader sees this post and has something ask the seller, it may or
may not be appropriate to send the question to the List.  If the question is
to clarify something of interest to ALL potential buyers that was not made
clear in the initial for-sale post, it may be appropriate to post the
question to the list, so that others will see the question and hopefully,
the answer.  However, we would encourage the seller to make every effort to
make the original post as complete as possible, as we really don't want to
encourage list traffic based upon for-sale posts.  If a seller makes a habit
of posting insufficient selling information and generating unnecessary
traffic, we may reject them.  Questions to/from the seller about if an item
is still available should be off-list.

If the question you have is only pertinent to you, (i.e. will you take this
item in trade, what is the shipping cost to Mytown, etc) you need to send
the question off-list.  This means that you should not hit REPLY, unless you
immediately replace the To: field with JUST the seller's email address.
It's silly and wastes everyone's time to reply to all 700(?) TCML
subscribers to say that you might be interested in buying something.  No one
but the seller cares if you're interested.  Except for announcing a for-sale
item, if you find yourself saying in a post that some individual should
contact you off-list, odds are that YOU should be contacting THEM off-list.

The TCML is a technical forum, not a social network or chat room.  While we
encourage civility, the moderators face a difficult choice in balancing
social chit-chat with the goal of staying technical and minimizing
inbox-fluff.  Please help us by asking yourself:
. Can your post stand on its own?
. Is it of general interest to all, or just one person?
. Have you added anything to the discussion (beyond "cool", "me too", or "I
agree")?
. Does your post deserve to be archived?
If not, please consider sending off-list, rather than have us ask you to.

Thank you for your cooperation,
The Mod-squad (Chip, Gary, Greg & Dave)

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