Guide to TIG etiquette

I'll post the following here to the group once, and make it available on the website. Thanks to Bill Hogan for suggesting it.

It is a guide, and is not meant to stifle our often-lively discussion. Suggestions for additions welcome.

--Rob

Guide to etiquette on the Telecine Internet Group

• When you try to determine whether to reply to someone via private e-mail or with a posting to the entire group, remember to "praise in public, criticize in private." It's OK to disagree technically but be careful not to attack the person with whom you disagree.

• Before you send your posting, ***double-check the addressee***. This is extremely important, as 1) you may inadvertently send very private thoughts to 800 people around the world, perhaps jeopardizing your job, and 2) you may be-- and in fact many times are-- much better off just sending your reply to the original poster, not the whole group.

• When posting a followup message, *always* try to minimize the number of lines of quoted material from the previous message. Quote only for contextual clarity.

• Use a descriptive subject. For example, a message subject of "telecine" tells the reader nothing about the contents of your article since the mailinglist is about telecine. Other examples of subjects which are so broad that they become useless might include "Help," "A Question," "Color," "Cintel," or "Philips". Maybe "Help on DUI window placement" or "Cyan: is it closer to green or blue?" In a busy mailinglist some users decide which messages to read from the subject line alone. Also, the entire message database is archived on the World Wide Web, and descriptive subject lines are extremely useful when there are several hundred messages on the screen.

• Many subjects have been discussed before, and are available as archived threads. Look at 'http://www.alegria.com/tig3/archives.html' for the archive/webpage search engine and complete message archives, dating from May 15, 1994. Your post will be added, immediately, to the archives.

• Include your name and preferably, also your job title/location in your posts. Many subscribers at AOL and other providers have no identification string in the 'From:' header field, so an unsigned post can be impossible to attribute. If you post without signing your message, expect to be treated anonymously in return, i.e. you may be ignored.

• When being especially "flame-buoyant", some find it helpful to go to the bathroom before actually sending. Then, the tone often changes considerably. :-) Take a break before posting something in anger or that might hurt or anger others.

• Don't overdo signatures. A signature that is longer than the message itself is considered to be in bad taste.

• Try to use 70 or fewer characters per line, as this allows quoting without exceeding the normal 80-column line limit.

• Try not to use control characters, 'quoted-printables', or other 8-bit data. It will not be passed by most mail servers and gateways.

• Be considerate with your use of network resources. Your individual usage may not seem like much compared to the net as a whole, but in aggregate, small savings in disk or CPU add up to a great deal. For instance, messages offering thanks, jibes, or congratulations will only need to be seen by the interested parties -- send these by mail rather than posting them. The same goes for simple questions, and especially for any form of "me too" posting. Each message sent via the TIG is relayed out to hundreds of other sites, so make your message count.

• Advertising is not permitted on the main TIG mailinglist. If, in your zeal for a particular product, you want to deflect impressions of impropriety, disclaim your message at the end, e.g.: "I am not in the employ or service of the manufacturer(s) above". Advertising by manufacturer/vendors who have contributed to the TIG is permitted on the telecine-announce list, 'telecine-announce@alegria.com'; this is a digested mailinglist published every three days or so, and sent to TIG subscribers.

• Remember-- this is an international network of several hundred professionals... your current or future employers may be reading your messages.

• Enjoy and make use of the TIG, it can be a powerful resource.
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