Greetings -
It's time to post the FB list FAQs again, just as a reminder.
Best,
Walter Lenk (List Mom)
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FAQ - Frequently asked questions of the futurebasic@... list.
The FutureBASIC mailing list is a free service to the FutureBASIC
programming community, courtesy of ListServ@... providing
Mailing Lists like, Kid-MissionFriends, FutureBASIC, MediaWatch,
CultWatch, Ladies_Fellowship, CN-World, and Inspirations.
This list is available by subscription to anyone interested in Staz
Software's FutureBASIC programming languages for the Macintosh. Support
for older version of FutureBASIC (e.g. I or II or ^3) is available but
"limited"; please note in your message that you're using FBI, FBII, FB3,
or FB4 so the answers you get will apply! List members include "raw
beginners" through published "commercial" software authors; we are all
here to ask and answer questions, so don't be afraid to ask the one
that's bothering you!
This is however a support list - it is not a "chat line". PLEASE limit
your postings to FB-related questions and answers, or items of general
interest to the Mac programming community that are not better handled
"elsewhere". Many of the people on this list get literally hundreds of
email messages every day; "me too" posts and funny stories about what
your cat/dog/kid did last night are probably not appreciated.
PLEASE read the "netiquette" section at the bottom of this message!
Please contact the list moderator <Walter_Lenk@...> if you have
trouble subscribing/ unsubscribing, or if you have any complaint about
the postings of another list member.
Please contact the list owner <mailto:futurebasic-owner@...>
if you have any server- related questions or problems.
And please -- don't try forever and put off contacting us until you're
frustrated and angry. That doesn't do anything but create problems,
either. If it doesn't work the first couple of times, it won't work the
50th, and it isn't good for either of us if you wait until the first
message to the List Admin is incoherent and/or hostile. (Hint: users
should not be abusive to the person they're asking to do something for
them. Amazing how often this is forgotten...)
The List Server can handle administrative requests automatically. Just
send an empty note (It doesn't read contents) to any of these addresses:
<futurebasic-subscribe@...>:
Receive future messages sent to the mailing list.
<futurebasic-unsubscribe@...>:
Stop receiving messages.
<futurebasic-digest-subscribe@...>:
Receive mailing list messages at 5am & 5pm EST as a digest.
<futurebasic-digest-unsubscribe@...>:
Stop receiving digests.
<futurebasic-get.12_45@...>:
Retrieve a copy of messages 12 to 45 from the archive. A maximum of
50 messages are returned per request.
<futurebasic-thread.12345@...>:
Retrieve a copy of all messages with the same subject as message 12345
from the archive.
<futurebasic-index.123_456@...>:
Retrieve subjects of messages, including 123 though 456 from the archive.
Subjects are returned in sets of 100. A maximum of 2000 subjects are
returned per request.
DO NOT SEND ADMINISTRATIVE REQUESTS TO THE MAILING LIST! If you do, the
List Server won't see them, and subscribers will yell at you.
To specify God@... as your subscription address, send mail to
<futurebasic-subscribe God=heaven.af.mil@...>. The List
Server will send a confirmation message to that address; when you
receive that message, simply reply to it to complete your subscription.
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Netiquette; Being a Good Net Citizen
(Thanks in part to the "list gnome" at Apple, Chuq Von Rospach)
We request that everyone who uses this mailing list help us in making
this a fun, interesting, and useful place to be. There are certain
rules that we ask everyone to follow so that everyone understands what
is expected of them as a user of this list, and to make administration
and management of these lists as consistent and fair as we can.
**** The necessary disclaimers ****
If the Moderators decide a user is a destructive influence or is found
to be abusive to the list, its users, the hardware or the list
administrators, we may revoke your privileges to use the mailing list.
Using these lists is a privilege, not a right. We do have a Virtual
Bouncer. Ours is named Guido, and he's hung-over and grumpy. Do not
force us to wake him up.
We don't like pulling rank. Sometimes we have to. If a Moderator
writes you and asks you to do something, please cooperate with us.
Please, though, don't act like we're staring over your shoulders: if
you're doing something we'd rather you not do, we'll let you know. If
you don't get e- mail from the Moderator, then everything is fine. It
is our policy to try to work with people to get their message across in
the best way possible.
We expect everyone to act like mature, intelligent adults, and to treat
each other courteously. Pretend you're all in a room together, and that
your Mother is watching. If you wouldn't do something while you were in
the same room with that person, don't do it here. That's all we really
ask.
**** Where to get more information ****
All of the services available on this system, and the instructions for
using them, are available by e- mailing
<futurebasic-help@...>. That will send you a file which will
help you find what you want and tell you how to use it.
**** Rules for using the FutureBASIC mailing list ****
1. Do not send list administration commands to the mailing list. All
subscribe or unsubscribe commands should be sent to the "command"
addresses listed above.
2. As a policy, we do not respond to mail sent to the wrong address
except to remind people how to do it properly -- this is to not
encourage people to develop lazy habits by being able to "get away" with
the wrong behavior. Our interest is in teaching you how to do it right,
even if it takes us more time as admins --because it helps people learn
how to work properly with all mailing lists.
3. Stay on topic. Each list has a charter of acceptable content and
topics. Do not post things to the list that are not part of that
charter, for any reason. It doesn't matter how important you think it is
-- if it's off-topic, it's not appropriate for the list. This rule
specifically includes postings on chain letters, new viruses, rumors,
warnings, and get well cards . Anyone who posts on the "Good Time
Virus" (which is a hoax) will be lined up against a virtual brick wall
and virtually shot.
4. If you DO have a "semi-acceptable" posting, that's only slightly off
topic, please include [X-FB] in the subject line.
5. This mailing list is rated PG-13. Strong emotions and heated
discussion happen and are part of discussing things people care strongly
about -- but that is no excuse for abusive language, using obscene
language just for shock value, or attacking other users. We do have
younger members, and abusive users WILL be removed.
6. VERY IMPORTANT: Do not play Topic Cop. PLEASE leave that to the List
Moderator. A lot of work is done behind the scenes via private e-mail.
Most of the time, people who try to do the List Moderators' job for them
only make the situation worse. If you have a problem with something
that's been posted to a list, e-mail your comments to the Moderators and
let the Moderators deal with it.
7. NO SPELLING OR GRAMMAR FLAMES. And having said that, while spelling
and grammar counts, flames about them are really lame, especially
because about 70% of the time the person doing the flaming misspells
something in his flame. Go figure. Don't embarrass yourself with
stupid kid stuff like this. We have more important things to argue
about.
8. Do not post to multiple mailing lists, or post the same request
multiple times. Find the most appropriate list and post it there. If
you don't get an answer the first time, asking again won't help (if we
knew the answer, we would have said so...) However, there ARE times that
a question can "slip through the cracks", so if you don't get ANY
response within a couple of days, a "gentle reminder" with additional
information, or rewording of your original request, might be advisable.
Please realize however that not all questions CAN be answered here -
some may better be addressed to Staz Software's technical support group.
9. You must be a subscriber of the list to post to it. We do not allow
non-subscribers to send messages to our lists. The server is very picky
about your address -- you MUST post messages and list administration
from the account you originally signed up from. If your address changes
or things stop working for some reason, please contact
<Walter_Lenk@...> for help in getting it fixed.
10. If you can't find the answer in the documentation, then help us
write new material for the FAQ or Web Page to answer the question for
the next person who needs it. Don't assume the Moderator will be able
to pull the answers off the list and add them to the FAQ -- we need
sleep like everyone else, and can't do everything, so please work with
us by writing up summaries of the answers and submitting them to the
Moderator for inclusion in the list's documentation. (We aren't talking
about FB questions here, but list questions.)
11. Do not post copyrighted material. It's illegal to type in an
article verbatim, or re-post one from an on-line service Yes, we know it
happens all over the net. That doesn't make it right or legal. If you
do it, you put yourself and the List Owners at risk if the copyright
holder decides to sue. You CAN post a pointer, summarize what the work
is saying, post quotes from the work within the boundaries of fair use.
If you aren't sure that what you want to do is legal, ask the Moderators
for advice.
This SPECIFICALLY includes "third party" source code, such as snippets
from commercial or copyrighted FutureBASIC Libraries, etc. Not everyone
here owns every FB-related product, and the authors of those products
will be quite unhappy to see their hard work "given away" here.
12. No Piracy or "Warez" discussions, please, other than relating to
programmatic methods of avoiding the same.
13. We do not allow any kind of buy/sell messages in the mailing list,
except with previous approval of the Moderator. Yf you aren't
absolutely sure, ask for permission first. However, announcements of
FutureBASIC developed applications, Libraries, or other code types is
encouraged.
14. Commercial postings are not allowed on the list except by previous
approval of the Moderator. We do not want blatant sales hype and
pitches. The Moderator is willing to help you write your posting to be
acceptable if it's possible. Again, we DO want announcements of new
FB-related products, so please do ask if you need help!
15. You may not use addresses obtained from this list to harass others
or send them offensive, abusive or commercial e-mail. If we find out
that people are sending commercial solicitations or abusive e-mail to
users of our lists, the offender will be removed from the lists and
possibly reported to his site administrators.
16. Anonymous remailers may not be used to subscribe or post to mailing
lists. Any user found subscribed from an anonymous account will be
removed from the system. We believe everyone should be responsible for
what they say, and sending mail anonymously defeats that. If you aren't
willing to sign your name to your posting, we aren't interested in
reading it.
17. If you use a "vacation notification" program while away from your
e-mail, make sure that it is smart enough to not send messages to the
mailing lists or to users who post to the mailing list. If your
"notification" program starts nattering at the list or list members, we
will unsubscribe you until you return.
18. Please don't send "me too" messages to the list. All they add is
noise. If someone else has answered the question before you, don't
answer it again. If someone offers to send something to people, then
e-mail them privately. Don't send the "send it to me" message to the
list.
19. Do not post any files that use MIME or include enclosures. Not
everyone can read MIME files, and large, attached files are not
appreciated by many. If you have something you want to make available,
put it on a web or FTP site and send the URL or address to the list.
Please do not attach large files of any type, no matter how generally
useful they may be.
20. Watch your "reply to"s! If you want to reply to the individual who
sent a message, and not to the entire list, you'll normally need to do
that manually. The "default" reply-to address is the list.
21. Please avoid copying a list members email address into the body of
your message. Associate.com does a good job of hiding our email
addresses from prying eyes, but it cannot scrub them from within the
body of an email message. Providing the first and last name of an
individual is good enough.
**** Suggestions for improving your messages ****
22. Keep postings as short as possible. The longer your message, the
more it rambles, the harder you make it for someone to figure out what
you need or what you're saying -- the fewer people will read or respond
to your message. However, small "snippets" of troublesome code are
usually easier to "debug" than even the best verbal description of the
problem.
23. If you include quoted material, edit it ruthlessly. Edit, edit,
edit! Delete ALL text in the reply except the phrase you're responding
to. There is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- more frustrating to users
of mail lists than people who include 200 lines from a previous message,
and tack on a two or three line reply to it. It's an amazing waste of
bandwidth and list-goodwill, and lazy to boot.
24. Keep signatures as short as possible. Or don't use them.
Signatures are there to identify you, not to be used for ascii pictures
of the Death Star or copies of War and Peace.
25. Keep Subject lines relevant. If the topic changes, change the
Subject.
26. If you read the DIGEST and respond to a message in it, CHANGE THE
SUBJECT. If you don't, it'll read "Re: Digest #...", which many users
won't read and which doesn't tell people what the message is about.
27. Ask yourself if it's necessary to post to the entire list. If you
aren't sure, e-mail it privately to the person you're responding to.
28. Spelling, punctuation, grammar, formatting all count. Take some
time to make your messages look good. If you don't take pride in your
words, why should anyone read them? Just tossing off text that looks
like it was printed by a malfunctioning printer serves neither you nor
your ideas well. Take a few minutes to clean things up and make them
look like you care -- or nobody else will, either. (iF yOU LiKe tO USe
fUNny CaPS, grEAT; but do it ElSeWhErE!)
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Walter Lenk Cambridge Ma 617-547-7781
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