List usage

[Cary Karp <ck@nrm.se>]

Howdy!

There are a few aspects of the way automated distribution lists work
which seem to be causing enough confusion among the (116!) members of
this list to warrant the following comments.

MICAT-L is a moderated list. This means that list members are *NOT*
authorized to address communications directly to micat-l@nrm.se and 
any attempt to do so will result in your message being returned to
you. Your communications must be addressed to the moderators, who 
will then either forward them to the list, or return them to you with
explanations about why they are not deemed suitable for the list.

Every subscription to this list is acknowledged by a detailed text
describing the use of the list and the mail server that manages it.
Please take a careful look at that document if you find anything about
this to be confusing.

The moderators should be addressed collectively at:

micat-l-moderators@nrm.se

This address may also be abbreviated as:

micatmod@nrm.se

If you send anything to an individual moderator, that person may well
assume that you have sent a personal communication and not forward it
to the list.

Please note that a communication which is forwarded to the list by a
moderator will have the moderator's name in the "From:" line of the
e-mail address. The first line in the body of every message therefore
contains a second "From:" line, with the name of the actual
contributor.

If you ask your e-mail program to send an automatic reply to a message
which you receive from the list, please be *ABSOLUTELY SURE* that the
message is addressed to micat-l-moderators (or micatmod), and not to
the individual moderator who forwarded the message to the list. Be
sure, as well, that you indicate the name of the actual contributor
when quoting from a previous message.

Virtually everyone is now sending material for the list directly to my
personal e-mail address, often with a cc: to micat-l. Please cut this
out, folks. I have massive headaches managing an e-mail system which
consists of a lot more than micat-l, and can simply not correct
manually all of the errors that result because my myriad clients are
not careful enough in the way the address their e-mail.

Also, I've recently let a few communications slip through which I
think are pretty much off-topic. Thus far, I've only revealed my
editorially grouchy side to people whom I know well enough not to need
fear their being frightened into silence. From here on out, I think it
reasonable to expect that all contributions have some clear relevance 
to the theory or practice of musical instrument conservation. There's 
plenty of latitude here, but micat-l is *NOT* intended to serve as a
forum for the general discussion either of musical instruments or 
musical instrument making.

The moderators are currently discussing how we best may share our
joint burden. Until the next guy is at bat, though, you'll have to put
up with my irregular griping. On the other hand, I'm easy compared to
what Prof. Hellwig is going to be like!

Best regards to you all!
Cary


Cary Karp <ck@nrm.se>       Department of Information Technology
Phone: +46 8 666 4055       Swedish Museum of Natural History
Fax:   +46 8 15 22 77       Box 50007, 104 05 Stockholm, Sweden