ÖÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ÖÄÄ¿ ÖÄÒÄ¿ ÒÄÄ¿ Ò Â Ò ÄÒÄ ÖÄÄ¿ Ò Ú º º ³ º º ³ ÇÄÄÙ º ³ ÄÄÄ º º º ³ ÇÄÁ¿ º ÓÄÄÙ Ð Ð Á Ð ÓÄÄÙ º ÄÐÄ Ð Á Ð Á º º ÓÄÄÄÄÄÙ Echomail Network ÐÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º º Dedicated to º º º National º becoming your º Tech º º Echomail ºÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͺ Help º º ºÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͺ º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ favorite modem ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ link to the ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ world! ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³±±±±±±±± ÕÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ ³±±±±±±±± ÕÍÍÍÍÍ͸ ³ ³±±±±±±±± ÔÍÍÍÍÍ;ܳ ³±±±±±±±± ÔÍÍÍÍÍ;ܳ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Compuphile Family & Business Echomail Network =============================================================== 08/01/93 The main CompuLink guiding philosophy is gratefully albeit shamelessly borrowed from an old Fido saying, which has been rephrased to fit our style. The worst echomail 'offense' is being excessively annoying, but never forget that it's excessively annoying to be too easily annoyed. The CompuLink Guidelines: 1.0 Users Guidelines 1.01 Flaming and/or baiting and/or bashing is forbidden. a. Any personal remarks or comments that would make a reasonable person angry or offended constitutes a flame. These include ethnic or religious slurs, or demeaning remarks about another person's intelligence or "worth" as a human being. b. Various people are sensitized on various topics. These sensitivities are not always logical, but we know they exist. Baiting is intentionally and knowingly posting in such a manner as to annoy a user or some group of users. This doesn't mean users have to walk softly all the time, but no one should go out of their way to offend either. c. Bashing is mindlessly disparaging anyone or anything. For example, saying brand X sucks... would be bashing, saying I think brand X is a bad buy because... and offering reasons for that impression/feeling is fine. 1.02 Language within CompuLink must be kept "G" rated at all times. We are NOT going to provide a list of what is and what isn't acceptable, but if the moderator or admin personnel says a given post is unacceptable, then that's it... end of story. Ignoring net official requests to cease and desist using a given phrase or word in messages posted within CompuLink will be dealt with summarily and effectively. 1.03 Over-quoting is discouraged, continual over-quoting is a network offense. Very few good reasons exist to ever quote more than 7 lines of the message one is replying to, and it's never justifiable to quote the whole message back including taglines. 1.04 Use of elaborate quoting utilities is discouraged; in any event no more than two characters per line of quoted text is permitted, with one char width above or below. In other words, a single char box is allowed, a fancy double char width quoter style isn't. 1.05 Signatures are limited to 80 chars total, no more than 2 lines of text. Titles or offices held on another network are expressedly forbidden for use in CompuLink as signatures. Tends to confuse people and that office held has no signifigance within CompuLink. CompuLink moderators, regional sysops, officers, will use their network title only when they are speaking formally and directly addressing their area of responsibility. 1.06 Only one "user" tagline, one line, per message is allowed. 1.07 Outside of the EMail conference, no CompuLink conference offers or supports "private" tagging of messages. Even there, privacy is NOT guaranteed by any means. All sysops, and their designated parties can and may read any messages passing through their BBS, and a software glitch can and sometimes does throw such a message into publicly viewable status. If you *need* real privacy, send a letter via the US Post Office. 1.08 Never argue with a moderator. If you disagree with a moderator and wish to appeal his ruling or official request, ask your sysop to contact the network administration on your behalf. Then desist until you receive response directly from the network administration. DO NOT argue or continue the behavior/subject that you received a "moderating message" about. Be AWARE... if you argue with a moderator in his conference, even if administration agrees with you on the subject disputed, you may be suspended for the act of arguing with the moderator. 1.09 It's "bad form" to directly post to another user concerning a message they have posted to the moderator in his official capacity. For example, if a user says YOU were flaming him, let the moderators do their job... if you respond to the user making this claim directly, it will only make matters worse. 1.10 ANSI coded or @ codes macros that produce color messages or offer cursor control codes are prohibited in CompuLink, excepting in the ANSI Paint conference and BBS Ads. 1.11 Any items you wish to sell, should ONLY be offered in the BUY n SELL conference. Placing for sale ads in other conferences is strictly prohibited. If you quote a price and/or contact information and it's your (or a friend's/employer's info), it's a for sale ad. It is permissible to post in a related conf, that you are offering a related item for sale and to direct people to see your post in the Buy N Sell conference for details. 1.12 Stick to the conference topic, if the subject changes move the thread to a more appropriate area, preferrably before the moderator has to remind you of this rule. =============================================================== 2.0 Moderator Guidelines: 2.01 All moderators are appointed by the administrator, usually based on sysop recommendation. They serve at the pleasure of the network and can be removed from office at any time should it be felt that this would serve the best interest of the network. 2.02 Moderators should attempt to read all messages in their assigned conference regularly, and take an active interest in that conference. It's expected that a moderator will be posting at LEAST one message per week in the conference. 2.03 The primary duties of the moderator are to see that users are in compliance with the CompuLink User guidelines, and to watch out for messages without taglines or duplicate posts appearing in their assigned conference. Moderators should note though, that messages posted by fellow local BBS users will not normally have taglines on them. 2.04 The process for moderating a user is... a. send a friendly worded reminder about CompuLink rules and what concerns you about the user's style/tone. b. If ignored, *allowing for mail transfer time!*, send a quiet warning that continuing the same behavior will result in your requesting administrative review and possible suspension. Be sure to state in the message that you are sending the user an official warning; send a copy of the warning to the network administrator, and if you can ascertain the user's sysop... to that sysop as well. c. If ignored, *again, allowing for mail transfer time!*, send a request for a network suspension of the user. Suspensions will usually be granted, although subject to administrative review. Typical conference suspensions will be for a period of 30 days, but may be longer or even permanent at the discretion of the network administrator. d. Keep a record of the name, date, and reason for ALL moderating messages sent. Preferrably, including the offending post in it's entirety. This will save a lot of grief when an angry sysop wants to know why one of his favorite users is in trouble in the network! Chances are, the initial offending post(s) may have already scrolled off of the user's BBS and the guy's sysop may NOT have any idea of what has been going on. 2.05 Moderators must show respect for other moderators! Disputes between moderators must be taken to the moderator's private conference immediately. =============================================================== 3.0 Sysop Guidelines: This is a network that believes 99% of sysops are responsible people who have and maintain a reasonable set of standards on their BBS's. Thus, no lenghty list of sysop rules and what-if's should be needed. More formal sysop guidelines may be created, if it proves necesary... however it shouldn't! 3.01 The node minimum requirements are... poll your hub for mail at a minimum of 3x a week. The Admin conf is mandatory, the other ones are elective. 3.02 Hubs should attempt to poll every day and carry all CompuLink conferences. In addition, hubs are requested to carry the four MSI piggy-back conferences. 3.03 Nobody wants dupes or cross-conference problems. Hubs are responsible to see that their nodes do NOT continue to have a problem along these lines... any system echo'ing dupes or crossed configured for three consecutive days must be shut off until the problem is located and fixed. Any hub shutting off a node for cause, or that is going to be off line for more than 48 hours MUST contact the net administrator and advise him of the problem. Failure to notify the administrator promptly will result in the reassignment of nodes to another location and probable termination of the system's membership... unless clear extenuating circumstances warrant leniency in the opinion of the administrator. 3.04 An ongoing repeated failure to maintain configuration is likely to cause a system to be expelled from the network, however hubs are expected to work with their nodes and make a sincere effort to resolve the problem before it gets out of hand. 3.05 Hubbing systems will shut off any node upon receipt of verbal or written notice to do so from the administrator. Failure to do so promptly will result in the hub losing access as well. 3.06 All applications received MUST be forwarded to the administrator immediately. No system should be allowed net status access to CompuLink until approval and acknowledgement from the administrator is received. Regional hubs may, at their discretion, waive the above waiting requirement until August 1, 1993; after that, the logistics of the application fee etc. will require administrative handling of ALL node coordination and this waiver clause will be null and void. =============================================================== General Administrative Guidelines, Plans, and Announcements The network administrator reserves the right to modify or change any rules as needed, to better serve the intended pupose of insuring smooth and hastle-free echomail for us all. The letter of the rule shall not take precedence to the spirit of the rule; an act that is not proscribed may be deemed severely not in the best interests of the network and thus action might be taken to eliminate the problem. Those given to looking for and arguing about loopholes will be sorely disappointed. Conversely, an action proscribed by the letter of the rule may still be deemed understandable under the circumstances and no given administrative action or "penalty" should be considered mandatory or automatic. Starting September 1, 1993, a $10 application fee will be charged to new systems wishing to join CompuLink. Those applying before that date will not be charged the fee. Starting September 1, 1994; all member nodes will be charged a $10 annual dues to access CompuLink. These funds will be used to further promote the network and cover the administrative expenses (long distance voice calls, new application BBS reviews, etc.) of the network. Any system not remitting dues by the deadline when required will be shut down after 15 days grace period. Should the host system and/or the network administrator be unable to continue operation of the network, the network administrator will assign a replacement host system and administrator from within the ranks of the membership. ===============================================================