[TechAssist] List status

Hi group, the list has had more than it's usual share of
senseless posts Wednesday (several totally blank emails,
replies with no previous thread, not signing a name, etc.
etc.) and we lost a few members because of them.  These type
posts have been on the increase as of late.  I guess it's
time for a bit of Spring 'house cleaning'.  The only way to
stop those that continue to ignore guidelines is put the
whole list on moderation for a while until these 'disruptive
few' can be weeded out & axed.  This is a PROFESSIONAL LIST
and we intend to see that it STAYS that way.

I'm sorry that the vast majority of you that DO know how to
read and use your heads have to wait a few minutes (or
longer) to see your posts appear, but this is the only way to
keep the list's reputation as a professional list of
intelligent techs.  As soon as it's determined that those
that are posting ARE posting as per the guidelines, it will
be back on normal status.  NOTE: Those of you that are our
most frequent contributors WILL NOT HAVE TO WAIT to see your
posts, your posts are automatically approved (even regardless
if the whole list is on mod status or not, your emails are
always automatically approved).  Other members that are not
so frequent but DO follow guidelines, PLEASE be patient
during this period.  As always we thank both groups for your
continued support and understanding in this matter.

For the others that never see your posts:  Guidelines are
VERY SIMPLE, and are really just plain common sense & are a
courtesy to fellow members.  It does not take a nuclear
physicist to be able to comprehend them.  For the few (and
unfortunately growing) members that have the inability to
grasp this simple concept of a few basic guidelines, I'll
spell it out, and no further explanation will be given as to
why you are not seeing your posts:
---
If you don't not include the previous thread in your replies,
your emails WILL NOT get posted.  It is considered rude to
delete the thread you are allegedly replying to.  (See #1)

If your post or reply is totally off topic, your emails WILL
NOT get posted.  (See #2)

If you have a blank subject line, or a subject line with
something like only "Help!" in it, your emails WILL NOT get
posted.  (See #3)

If you start a completely NEW email for a reply or ongoing
subject instead of doing the sensible thing and replying on
the appropriate post, your emails WILL NOT get posted.

If you do not at LEAST sign your name (and preferably
business name too) on your original posts and replies, your
emails WILL NOT get posted.  It is considered rude & bad
'netiquette' to not have at least *some* "identification"
below your text.  (See #3)

If you remove the email address of the person you are
replying to, (as in removing the header), your emails WILL
NOT get posted.  (See #3)

If you hide your text in a reply so members have to go on
some treasure scroll and hunt to find what the most recent
text is for a thread, your emails will NOT get posted.  (See
#3)

If you 'cross post', your emails WILL NOT get posted.  (See
#4)

On emails that are posted to another list, then "forward" is
clicked to then put our list's address in the "To:" field,
then are sent to the TechAssist list, your emails WILL NOT
get posted if you do not remove the other email header from
the other list.

If it is determined you are not a technician, your subsequent
emails WILL NOT get posted and you will be removed.
---
ALL of this is spelled out in detail in the welcome message
everyone receives when they join, and agreed to by joining.
It
has been placed below.  PLEASE READ IT, PLEASE READ IT,
PLEASE READ IT and FOLLOW it.  Or, you will be removed from
the list.

Again, to the majority of you that do use your heads, the
administration AND your fellow members THANK YOU, and we
thank you for your continued support and understanding in our
ongoing efforts to keep this list the best around.
=======================
PLEASE read ALL of this important information below
and PLEASE SAVE THIS EMAIL!  It will HELP YOU.
FAQ's are below as well as information on the
Chat service, message boards and password protected
members' only areas!!

Please remember, your administrators are all UNPAID
volunteers who now or at one time were in your SAME
profession of repairing consumer electronics.  We too
have our 'real' jobs.  We created this list and
maintain this list for YOUR benefit, so YOU will have
a great list to post your repair problems to and save
yourself time, therefore money.  All we ask is you
respect the guidelines.  They are NOT there to annoy,
but are there to keep this list professional, and to
keep the list of USE to all of us.  So please, take
a few minutes to read below, it is to help all of us.
Any member found not abiding by the guidelines will
be placed on moderated status, then subject for
removal if any inappropriate behavior or posts
continue.

PLEASE DO NOT POST TEST EMAILS TO THE LIST,
EMAILS ASKING TO BE REMOVED, EMAILS
REGARDING PASSWORDS OR LIST OPERATION!!
Please see the info below regarding that.

All tech's are welcome, but note this is an ENGLISH ONLY
email list, based in the USA, so please post in ENGLISH
ONLY!  Posting in any other language will result in your
removal!  Also note that the vast majority of our members
are in the USA and only service USA products.  So,
knowledge on certain overseas ONLY products may be
limited; but, this is changing as our European & Asian
membership grows.

By subscribing to this list, you agree to the
following terms (and terms above):
ALL SUBSCRIBERS PLEASE READ (ESPECIALLY
AOL, WebTV, Juno, & CompuServe MEMBERS!)
Not abiding by the guidelines will result in removal.

THANK YOU for your interest in Tech Assist & welcome.
The goal of Tech Assist is to help fellow technicians
be more productive in their work.  Troubleshooting
electronic products can be both time consuming as well
as costly!  Someone out there may have an answer to your
repair problem that will save you time.  Your posts will
be seen by electronic repair technicians from all over
the world (currently, in every state & several countries
across the globe!)  This mailing list is intended to
save us all time and money.  Other servers charge a fee
for the same services.  This one is FREE!  Whether you
need help or you would like to help others, we feel you
will benefit from being a part of the TechAssist community.
Please give us a try!  Please be prepared (at this time)
to receive anywhere from 50-150+ posts per day (depending
on the day of the week & traffic) if you choose the option
of single emails.

PLEASE make a note of our few posting guidelines below &
FAQ's, as well as information on how to make this list
work better for you.  (AOL MEMBERS especially read!!)
Please see the update at the bottom regarding
modifications implemented to the server to make the list
the SAFEST email list around!

On the 1st & 15th of each month, members can post to the
list any electronic items you may have for sale.  This
is allowed ONLY, ONLY on the 1st & 15th of each month.
The exception is, if a member posts that they NEED a
certain item, feel free to respond to that post ON LIST
letting them know you may have what they are looking
for (so no other members will need to reply), and
continue any correspondence on the matter via
PRIVATE email and NOT ON LIST!!  Any member
posting ORIGINAL emails on items for sale other
than on these dates will be removed.  Please do NOT
REPLY to any sales postings ON LIST!  If you are
interested in something or have anymore questions,
send them PRIVATELY to the individual and NOT
to the list.

Guidelines: (of which most are just common sense ;-)

1.  Please include ALL PREVIOUS TEXT of an email thread
     when you reply to a post.  A reply without the original
     post is useless and is like listening to a one-sided
     telephone conversation.  This means the original post,
     and ALL replies (if more than one) that have been sent
     to a specific post (known as the 'thread').  In short,
     just click "reply" and BE SURE ALL OF THE TEXT is in
     YOUR REPLY that was in the post you are replying to.
     This way, ALL members can read any reply to post
     and get an immediate history of all replies up to that
     point, as well as the original problem.
     (See #5 in FAQ's below).

2.  OFF TOPIC (OT) POSTS: For example,
     THANK YOU's, PASSWORD QUESTIONS,
     "TEST" EMAILS, REMOVAL, etc:  Since this
     is now such a high traffic list, we're sorry but can no
     longer tolerate off topic posts!  We have members
     leave almost everyday due to receiving too many
     emails.  They all complain that there are too many
     OT posts, too many *thank you's* and too many
     emails regarding list operation or passwords
     posted to the list.  The administration is ALL FOR
     humor, and thanking fellow members for help, so
     PLEASE continue to do this, but unfortunately, it
     CANNOT be done ON list!  Please DO NOT post
     these type of emails to the list.  Send the thank
     you's (i.e. "thanks, I'll try that", etc.) privately to
     the individual's email address and not to the list.
     This INCLUDES emails asking to be removed!!
     Please DO NOT post emails to the list asking
     for removal!  This will do nothing but aggravate
     members as well as the administration.  (See
     #4 in FAQ's below).  For password questions
     see #8 in FAQ's below.

     If you have nothing to contribute to a post, please
     DO NOT reply to it.  By ONLY posting to the list
     emails that help ALL members, ONLY posting
     emails that are ON TOPIC and not off topic, and
     NOT deleting the previous emails on a thread, can
     we keep & insure that all emails posted to the list
     will be of use to ALL of our valued members.  To
     sum it up; just use your head guys!  :)  THINK
     BEFORE you "reply", just simply ask yourself,
     "will this reply make sense"?  And, "will this reply
     be of benefit to ALL members"?  Remember,
     your posts and replies to posts are now being
     seen by over 830 members worldwide!!  Don't
     forget we have a chat list just for OT posts!
     (See #7 in FAQ's below).

3.  When posting to the list, in subject lines please put
     what the problem unit is: TV, VCR, monitor, etc,
     along with the model #, CHASSIS & MODULE #, (for
     RCA's & Zeniths for example) and a brief few words
     on the problem.  In the message body, please give as
     much information as you can on the problems/symptoms
     and what you have checked so far.  (If there is no
     known chassis or module #, then PLEASE STATE THIS).
     This makes it easier for all of us to sort the email out
     & save it by subject, and also much easier for members
     to get replies to their posts.

     Please SIGN YOUR NAME and BUSINESS NAMES to
     your posts!!  Tech's like to know to whom they are
     replying.  Easiest way to do this is to just create a
     signature file.  All email programs are capable of this.

     Also we have noticed that when some members reply,
     for some reason they feel the need to *butcher* the
     email or "hide" their text, where one then has to go
     on some "treasure hunt" to find it.  Please, after you
     click 'reply', just put the new text at the TOP of the
     email like most others do, so members can see the
     newest, latest reply to a post at the top of a thread
     without having to search for it.  In addition, please do
     not remove the previous header information from the
     email thread.  This means, when you reply to a post,
     please do NOT remove the email address and name
     from the email for the member you are replying to.
     When this is done, members have no way of knowing
     who sent the original post (or the last email in an
     ongoing thread) or how to respond to them if a private
     email is warranted.  It is up to you if you want to
     remove the footers.  It is not necessary, but it is kind
     to those who opt to receive the 'digest' version (see
     #3 in FAQ's below) of list if the footers are deleted
     in your replies.

4.  Please do not cross-post to multiple lists at the same
     time.  (See FAQ's #6 below).

5.  NO ATTACHMENTS allowed.  Attachments CANNOT be
     posted to this list.  They are automatically
     stripped by the server.  This is to keep our
     members safe from viruses & worms.

6.  NO HTML (RICH TEXT) EMAILS allowed.  HTML or
     'rich text' format emails CANNOT be posted to
     this list.  They are automatically converted
     to plain text by the server.  Again, this is
     to keep our members safe from viruses &
     worms.  In our ongoing efforts for your safety,
     everyone can read and reply to posts here with
     more confidence than any other list.

FAQ's:

1.  With our list, "reply" and "reply all" ("reply to group")
     have the SAME function.

2.  Fully searchable email archives are located at
     http://www.freelists.org/archives/techassist
     All messages posted to this list will be archived there
     and they are fully searchable.  You can search for any
     word, and the results will show even if the word is in
     the message body.  Good for looking for specific tips
     that are not in the subject line of posted messages.

3.  Each member can access their accounts VIA your own
     "personal web interface".  Here members can set the
     email list to 'vacation' if ever required, or set the
     list to "digest" mode.  AFTER you have been subscribed
     and you login for the first time, you will be emailed a
     code, simply copy & paste it into the appropriate area
     on the next page you will see, then you can set your
     passwords & access the list's options.  This area can be
     accessed here:
     http://www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/lsg2.cgi
     Note that after logging in, you must select OUR list in
     the main menu at the left.

4.  Other potential members can subscribe to the email list
     at this link;
http://orpheuscomputing.com/technicians/list-subscribe.html
     Please refer other techs to that link or the TechAssist
     homepage at http://www.tech-assist.org  Unsubscribing
     can be accomplished by sending a BLANK email to
     techassist-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with   unsubscribe  in
     the SUBJECT field, or at your personal web interface
     listed in #3, or by simply looking at the bottom of
     every email that is posted to the list.

5.  Regarding including all previous text in your replies:
     For "Outlook Express" ("Outlook" should be similar):
     go to 'tools', 'options', then click the 'send' tab.
     CHECK the box 'include message in reply'.  It is set
     this way anyway by default.

     For AOL one way: First drag your mouse over the ENTIRE
     email thread keeping the left mouse button down, and
     then hit 'Send Now' and low a behold there is your
     message you are replying to.  Another way to describe
     it: just highlight the text and click reply, the
     original comes up with the insert mark flashing
     underneath, add you response at this point and click
     send.

     For those of you that doesn't know what "highlight"
     means, simply hold the left mouse button down while
     'dragging' the mouse cursor over the previous text.
     Another way: go to www.aol.com and read your main in
     AOL netmail, just above the send to boxes is a check
     box to include original message in response. You just
     have to type in your screen name and AOL password at
     the AOL netmail log in.

     For other email programs; sorry we don't have that
     information now, but just ask your ISP if it is their
     email program you use, or just simply post it to our
     list and someone that uses your email program will
     reply.

6.  Cross-posting (sending to more than one email repair list
     and to an individual at a time) is not allowed because
     of the following: When a member of any email list is not
     a member of ALL email lists someone cross-posts to, and
     they "reply all" to one of these posts, the email will
     be not only bounced back to the persons trying to reply
     to your post, but also cause bounced error messages at
     the email lists.  Please send to ONE LIST at a time with
     nothing in the CC: OR BCC: field.  Send to one, then
     simply copy and paste the text into another email, then
     send it.  Or, simply go to your 'sent email' folder then
     re-send it, remove the previous header and put the other
     email address in the "To:" field.  If you are NOT
     sending email to any lists, then of course it is OK and
     up to you if you want to CC or BCC to more than one
     INDIVIDUAL.

7.  Your chat service can be found here;
     http://network54.com/Hide/Chat/26306

8.  Your personal password protected member message board
     forum (this is for MEMBERS ONLY!!!) can be found here:
     http://tech-assist.org/secure/wwwboard/wwwboard.html
     This would be for those of you who choose not to receive
     email from the repair email list, and only want to post
     your repair problems at this message board.

     Your personal password protected member download area
     and UPLOAD area can be found at
     http://tech-assist.org/secure/members/  Please upload
     any documents you may have to share in this area
     and FIRST PLEASE READ the 'readme' text on that
     page so you will upload the correct way and in the
     appropriate folder.  Please notice that at the bottom
     of every email posted is where you can submit your
     personal fixes.  http://www.tech-assist.org/secure/tip/
     These tips (MANUALLY added to appropriate areas by
     a volunteer) are added to a searchable database for
     all members to search.

     PLEASE NOTE: Passwords for the members area are not
     generated automatically.  Your TechAssist administration
     are ALL UNPAID VOLUNTEERS and assign the passwords
     in the order of date subscribed.  At times due to many
     people subscribing there becomes a backlog of members
     who have to be issued a password, please be patient and
     you will receive access to the members area ASAP.
     Again, please send all password requests or any
     password questions, to admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or
     help@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

9.  NOTE!!!!  In order to cut down on certain ridiculous
     posts, emails containing certain specific words or
     specific phrases will get rejected.  This is to help
     our members and cut down if not eliminate unwanted
     or offensive traffic.  If any member posts a LEGIT
     post or reply to a post and you happen to have it
     rejected or bounced back to you, don't worry, it
     WILL GET APPROVED and POSTED to the list.
     Just delete the rejected email warning, and ignore
     it.  Since these type emails must be approved,
     please BE PATIENT for the email to appear.

     FMI:  we loose members for NOT having this
     function!  Members that leave ALL leave for the
     same reason, (at least those that do respond to
     the email as to why one left) and it is ALWAYS the
     same: "Too much email".  You'd be surprised how
     many TRY and post ludicrous emails the list
     everyday, but thanks to this function, members
     NEVER have to see them and put up with that type of
     ridiculous traffic!  This function cuts down on DOZENS
     of unwanted posts everyday!  We UNDERSTAND that
     having your emails rejected at times can be annoying,
     but this function is there for a PURPOSE, and a GOOD
     one.  Again, just IGNORE those rejection warnings &
     delete them.  As it states in the rejection: "The post
     has been forwarded to the list administrator in case
     it is a real post."  or in other words: "a legit post".
     The posts WILL get posted if it is a legit post, you
     need to do nothing other than just be patient.  :-)

10. Please remember, your administrators are all UNPAID
     volunteers who now or at one time were in your SAME
     profession of repairing consumer electronics.  We too
     have our 'real' jobs.  We created this list and maintain
     this list for YOUR benefit, so YOU will have a great
     list to post your repair problems to and save yourself
     time, therefore money.  It DOES COST to maintain
     the TechAssist website & member benefits.  The
     administration of course has to pay for this, so we
     DEEPLY appreciate any and all donations, no matter
     how small.

11. To close; Guidelines are NOT there to annoy, but are
     there to keep this list professional, to keep the
     list of USE to all of us and to maintain it's standing
     as the best electronics repair list around.  So please,
     follow them, they are to help all of us.  Any member
     found not abiding by the guidelines will be placed on
     moderated status, then subject for removal if any
     inappropriate behavior or posts continue.

12.  Finally, you're ready to post, send your emails to
     techassist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your time, your support, and joining!
TechAssist Administration
http://tech-assist.org
techassist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



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