[Husker] Reminder: Posting Guidelines

[Mike Nolan]

Here is the latest revision of the posting guidelines for the Husker List:

Posts from subscribers are welcome providing they conform to the following
guidelines.  I apologize for the detailed nature of these guidelines, but
it seems that common sense and courtesy must be defined.

1.  Posts should be relevant to the Huskers or the University of Nebraska.    
In general this means that we do not need to know your opinion on non-sports 
matters, especially your political or religious beliefs.
   
If you are the recipient of an e-mail or Internet virus warning or any 
other form of chain letter, please do the rest of the net a favor and 
don't forward it to everyone you know.  Most chain letters are scams or 
at the least a waste of everyone's time and computer resources, and 
virus information should come from experts in the field, not from 
randomly circulated letters of dubious origin and accuracy.  Even though 
there are now true e-mail viruses, those warning letters are not always 
accurate or don't always contain the correct steps to avoid sending a 
virus or removing one from your system.

If you have serious concerns about any computer virus information, 
consult a computer security expert.  Here are several URL's for more 
information on computer viruses and e-mail:
    http://www.kumite.com/myths/
    http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html
    http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/data/jtch.html

The Husker List software filters out non-text segments and attached files, 
including HTML encoded mail.  This should also filter out most e-mail viruses.

The following are grounds for immediate and permanent removal from the 
Husker List:  Sending a chain letter of any kind or sending posts with 
excessively foul or abusive language or inappropriate graphical images.  

It is possible to be articulate and erudite without being crude.  If 
your post would not be appropriate for publication as a letter to the 
sports editor of a newspaper, it isn't appropriate here, either. 

Your posts should be well-reasoned, thoughful, and informative.  Good 
writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar are always appreciated; 
bad writing habits will diminish the  effectiveness of your message.  

However, comments on the writing skills of other posters will be 
considered personal attacks on those posters.  

Refute their logic, not their grammar.

You should attempt to make your point as succinctly and clearly as 
possible, and with a minimum amount of quoted material.  Quite often 
it is unnecessary to quote ANYTHING from the previous post, the subject 
header is sufficient to clue the reader in.

2.  Commercial posts (including  anouncements of web sites with 
Husker-related pages from sites that accept commercial advertising or 
sell products) are permitted providing permission has been received 
from the Husker List Manager prior to each post, and as long as there 
is there is sufficient newsworthiness and relevance.  

This policy will be modified if commercial messages become repetitive 
or excessive.  Post your press releases or URL  _ONCE_, please. 

The Husker List does not accept paid advertising, nor is it intended 
to replace more traditional marketing channels.  

The following policy is now in effect for posts regarding tickets 
and videotapes:

One 'tickets wanted' post per subscriber for any game is permissable, 
for up to 4 tickets, intended for use by direct family members.  

One 'tickets for sale' post per subscriber for any game is permissable, 
for up to 4 tickets and no more than face value plus reasonable shipping 
costs.  "Best Offer" posts are not permitted.  
 
Posts from non-subscribers, or posts for a 'friend' are not permissable. 
Commercial ticket broker posts are not permitted.  Take out ads in the 
newspapers, the Husker List is not here to help you scalp.

One 'tape wanted' post per subscriber for any game is permissable.  
'Tapes available' posts are not permitted except for occasional 
information about commercial sources for such tapes.  

Please keep in mind that videotaping of games is covered by US Copyright 
law, and that there are organizations that have paid for the rights to 
broadcast games and market videotapes of them. 

Violaters will be restricted from posting for a suitable time frame.

3.  Trivia questions, polls, surveys, and the like are discouraged, 
they tend to cause a lot of traffic but don't really have much newsworthiness.  

Graphical images, sound files, and other non-textual items are not permitted.

Exceedingly long .sigs, digital signature tags, MS Word formatting 
information and other non-textual items are also not universally 
appreciated by subscribers and should not be included. 

4.  Be polite--we're all friends.  

Namecalling, berating or belittling other posters for their opinions 
or writing skills, baiting, responding to posts in a hostile or 
argumentative fashion, or any other type of 'flaming' will not be 
tolerated, nor will foul or abusive language.  

This applies equally to comments about other posters, about Husker 
players, coaches and university officials as well as their counterparts 
at other schools, and to fans and supporters of Nebraska and other schools.  

It is possible to be both partisan and polite.  

The best way to stop a flame fest from happening is to ignore the folks 
who try to start them.  Let the List Manager take care of warning or 
sanctioning violators, please.  

5.  This is a discussion forum, not a fan board.  The root word for 
'fan' is 'fanatic', which my dictionary defines as 'unreasonably 
enthusiastic or overly zealous'.  

On the other hand, under 'discussion' my dictionary says 'talking 
about something in a deliberative fashion, with varying opinions 
offered constructively and, usually, amicably, so as to settle an issue.'

6.  Excessive overquoting (especially reposting the entire text of 
an earlier post when adding just a few lines of comments) is highly 
discouraged.

Please learn how to use your mail program or a text editor to quote 
only the most relevant sections of a previous post.  Do not send 'me too' 
posts that don't add anything new to the discussion.  This is not an 
opinion poll or an election, if someone has already said what you wanted 
to say, there is no need for you to repeat it.  

When list traffic gets heavy, subscribers are encouraged to combine 
their posts to respond to several threads at once rather than post 
numerous small messages one after another.  

When responding to a question raised by another poster, direct your 
response back to the individual unless you feel the issue is of 
sufficient interest to warrant sending another post to everybody.  
(It's also a good idea to wait to see if someone else answers the 
question first.)

7.  A good rule to follow is, 'Would I pay money to read this?'  If 
the answer is NO, don't send it.  

8.  Absolutely no violations of copyrights, trademarks, service marks, 
logos, etc. will be permitted.  Do not repost news stories or pictures 
from wire services or online services, material you found on web sites, 
or type in stories or someone's column from your local newspaper.  

Under copyright law, it makes NO DIFFERENCE whether the material is 
marked as being copyrighted or not, though if you look closely at 
most online news services you will find a copyright banner somewhere.  

The author of private e-mail also holds a copyright on it, and has a 
right not to have that e-mail reposted anywhere without his/her consent. 
(It is also considered very rude.)

The simple rule to use is that if YOU didn't write it, it is copyrighted 
by someone else, and you MUST HAVE permission to post it to this list.

The obvious exception is when you quote a previous post to the list, 
since that is continuing a discussion.

However, e-mail sent to the List Manager not specifically marked as 
private mail will be treated like mail sent to 'letters to the editor' 
at a newspaper and may be posted to the list.  

For a brief introduction to the issue of copyrights, especially in 
cyberspace, see http://www.clarinet.com/brad/copymyths.html.  Also see 
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html.

Posting the URL of web pages with Husker content on them is both 
permitted and encouraged, but posting text from someone's web page 
without explicit permission is a copyright violation and is not permitted.  

Posters are strongly encouraged to give a short summary of the information 
to be found on a web page when posting its URL, both as a courtesy to 
those subscribers who do not have web capability and as an aid for those 
with limited time, so that they only need hit the sites that they are 
the most likely to find informative.

If you must quote from a published source, do so very sparingly, 
paraphrasing is better.  Raw facts cannot be copyrighted, so game 
statistics are permitted, but published analysis of those statistics 
would be an 'intellectual act' and thus protected under the copyright law.  

Posts that violate other laws or encourage someone else to violate 
the law are also forbidden.  Significant copyright violations, whether 
inadvertent or otherwise, will result in immediate sanctions against 
the poster.

9.  Only valid subscribers to this list are authorized to post to it.  
We reserve the right to periodically re-verify your e-mail address 
and perform other checks before granting posting privileges, and to 
place subscribers into administrative review mode at any time.    

10. E-mail programs that automatically format text as a web page 
(in HTML) cause problems for digest subscribers and others on older 
e-mail packages or mainframe systems.  As a result, posts that are 
formatted in HTML will either be filtered by the list software to 
remove the HTML component or will be rejected.  

Generally all it takes is to change the configuration of your mail 
program to correct this, though recent versions of AOL (starting with 
version 6) appears to support only HTML encoded mail.  

Similarly, binary attachments, such as jpegs, gifs or uuencoded files, 
are not permitted.  These files are often very large, tying up a lot 
of bandwidth, and many readers can't display them.  And a large part 
of the time, the images are copyrighted.  

11. The list software we use is very fussy, minor differences between 
your e-mail address as entered on our subscription list and the one 
it derives from your post can cause your post to be rejected.  

This is especially true if your mail goes through any kind of mail 
delivery gateway at your end.  If you get a 'rejection notice', this is 
the most likely cause.  

We will work with subscribers to resolve these problems as they arise.

12. Subscribers are urged to take reasonable security precautions 
with their computer accounts and passwords.  Posts originating or 
appearing to originate from a subscriber's e-mail address that violate 
these guidelines may be subject to sanctions even if the posts are 
fraudently generated or result from unauthorized access to your account.

13. The use of anonymous mail services is not permitted, and such 
subscriptions may be deleted at the sole discretion of the List Manager.  

Violations of any of the above guidelines may result in private or 
public censure, suspension of posting privileges, or removal from the List,
depending on the severity of the infraction or repeat offenses.

Disclaimers and other excess baggage:

The Husker List is provided to the Internet community as a free service
and is not intended to promote or be affiliated with the University of 
Nebraska-Lincoln or any other organization.  We do not charge anyone to subscribe to or participate in the Husker List, although you may incur 
charges from your Internet provider or online service.

By posting to the Husker List, you are granting non-exclusive redistribution
rights to that message to all individuals and organizations who receive 
or transmit it.  We cannot control nor do we attempt to control any 
redistribution of posts to other mailing lists, to any USENET newsgroup, 
via the web, or any other type of redistribution, retransmittal, or 
reproduction.

The Husker List holds a compilation copyright over the collected postings
to it.  Unauthorized archiving of the collected postings of this list is
not permitted.  At this time there is only one authorized archive, the 
one maintained by the maiing list software, which is accessable only 
to suscribers.

Unless specifically denoted as personal mail, e-mail sent to the List 
Manager dealing with the Husker List that is deemed to be sufficiently 
interesting to list subscribers will be treated as if it was sent to 
the List for the purpose of being posted.

We do not distribute or sell the list of subscribers.  (As far as we 
know, the list management software does not give out the list of 
subscribers.)

The Husker List is not responsible for any errors in posts or 
delivery problems, and the opinions expressed are those of the 
individual posters.  

We do not endorse or approve any commercial products, nor can we be 
responsible for any problems you may encounter in dealing with any 
individuals or organizations who post to or participate in this list.

Because of the volume of mail generated by the Husker List, especially at 
certain times of the year, addresses that bounce mail may be purged from 
the list of subscribers after several rejected messages.  If your system 
has problems, your subscription will probably be cancelled automatically.  
You may re-subscribe once your system has resumed normal processing.  

Bounced mail from systems incorrectly configured to return mail to the author 
of a post rather than to the list administrative return address have to be 
manually processed and will generally result in immediate removal of the 
non-deliverable address from our mailing list.