[TechAssist] posting guidelines
- From: Doug Keller <dek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "techassist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <techassist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 15:34:35 -0400
It has been awhile since these have been posted. Think of this as a
refresher course.
************
Tech-Email Guidelines
PLEASE read ALL of the important information below.
You cannot post unless the guidelines are followed.
FAQ's are below as well as information on the
service, message boards and password protected
members' only areas!!
Contents:
I. Administration information
II. Basic list information
III. Sales postings twice monthly
IV. Guidelines
V. FAQ's (Including password questions)
VI. AOL FAQ
I. ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION
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.
II. BASIC LIST INFORMATION
All techs 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!
Tech-Assist is not liable or responsible for any damage
or damages resulting from the use of our sites or lists,
or any use of information contained therein.
Not abiding by the guidelines will result in removal.
THANK YOU for your interest in TechAssist and welcome.
The goal of TechAssist 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
large fee for the same services. 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!
III. SALES POSTINGS
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. Listing 'for sale'
items or services in a sig file is strictly prohibited!
IV. 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.
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.
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 1000 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 brand, model #, CHASSIS & MODULE #,
(for RCA's & Zeniths for example) and a brief few words
on the problem. In the message body, please list the
brand, model # and chassis/module # again, and 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!! Techs like to know with whom they are
dealing. Easiest way to do this is to just create a
signature file. All email programs are capable of this.
*If you're retired, just put retired. If you're doing it
out of your back room part-time in the evenings and
weekends, just call it "John Doe's TV" or "JD's TV Repair".
(where 'John Doe' is your name)
In order to keep this list professional as possible,
this is a necessary requirement.
**Those NOT following this requirement may be removed from
the list without notice!!
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 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 or idividuals
at the same time.
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.
7. Inactive accounts will be removed.
8. "Vacation Status" is an option when you are going on
vacation, or will be away for any number of days.
HOWEVER, the "vacation" option is NOT a permanent
solution to not getting email. Accounts that have
been on vacation status for an indefinite length of
time will be removed.
V. FAQs:
1. With our list, "reply" and "reply all" ("reply to group")
have the SAME function.
2. Fully searchable email archives are located at
//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 LIKE IT STATES for the first time here:
//www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/lsg2.cgi 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.
Note that after logging in, you must select OUR list
(techassist)in the main menu at the left, then proceed.
4. Other members can subscribe to the email list
at http://www.tech-assist.org/secure/tip/join.htm
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/or 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 personal password protected member message board
forum (this is for MEMBERS ONLY!!!) can be found here:
http://www.tech-assist.org/secure/tip/mb/view.pl
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/main.html
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 are added to a searchable database for
all members to search.
Our NEW **PUBLIC** forum/message boards are here:
http://www.techassist.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi
Our CHAT email is chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
8. 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.
FYI: We lose 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 to 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, 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, therefore
we had to institute minimal dues. If one desires free
membership, it is available, however it must be renewed
on a monthly basis at this time.
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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx you can also receive information
on specific questions by writing to the addresses below.
Thank you for your time, your support, and for joining!
TechAssist Administration
Homepage: http://tech-assist.org
Email list: techassist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Email addresses:
(Please send ALL email here FIRST!)
staff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Secondary addresses)
support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
--
Doug Keller
Wis-Kel Electronics
101 Freeland Ave.
Terra Alta, WV
USA 26764
dek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
dek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.tech-assist.org
"Learn from the mistakes of others, because you
won't live long enough to make them all yourself"
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