ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ INTRODUCTION ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ Thank you for your interest in The Annex (NX), a new mail transfer network. We're not a computer network -- we're a people network committed to bringing you a climate and forum for extremely good discussion. Why another QWK network, you might ask? We certainly did ask that from the very beginning. Our only answer that made any sense was "why not?" Many of us have been BBSing on networks for awhile. We wanted to try our own hand at providing a space for intelligent, vigorous discussion. We wanted to see if we could do this in a collaborative way with a minimum of rules, controlled growth and limited scope. You won't find a lot of conferences on the ANNEX. We would rather have broader conferences that cover several topics and even off-topic chatter from time to time. Your hosts are committed to facilitating discussion, not just policing it. We are definitely not a one-liner net -- our discussions are free-wheeling and lively, and can be extended (that means you should enjoy, at times, long messages). In this file, we keep all of the documentation with regard to ANNEX. This document is available to anyone who calls the network or anyone involved in managing the net. If you are a caller, we welcome your feedback in our CALLERS2NX conference. Let us know what you think. ÜÜÜÜÜÜ VISION ÜÜÜÜÜÜ We are an association of friends who want to provide for ourselves and our callers inviting, professional and interesting forums for discussion. We are responsive to our callers and each other. No idea is put down out-of-hand. No suggestion, from caller or admin team, is derided. All of us who put time and effort into the net are important. We are equals. Those in administrative positions are there as "public servants." We value participating in the network far more than we do administering it. We are aware that ASCII has its limits; therefore, we are dedicated to providing each other with benefit of the doubt. Flaming and snide remarks take the fun out of BBSing. We treat each other with respect and dignity. We are a net run by adults, for adults. We wish to use the minimum number of rules to achieve our goals. We don't promise that we'll hit this one on the mark all the time, but we do promise to accept feedback so that we can cut anything unnecessary. ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ MISSION ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ Our mission is really good, solid, lively discussion, facilitated by conference hosts and coordinated in a collaborative manner by sysops and team leaders who would like to get back to the basics of BBSing: exchanging mail, promoting communication across the miles, and exploring the possibilities of the electronic frontier. ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ DESCRIPTION ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ The Annex is a QWK-based network which seeks to maintain quality conversation and messaging among its members. We hope to achieve this by conferences that are facilitated by hosts and are broad in scope. We also hope to have minimal rules for as long as possible. Those who are involved with running the net have access to all management conferences (although these conferences are restricted from callers). We hope to keep things simple enough that, through collaboration and delegation, most of our member sysops and team leaders/members can spend more time participating in the net than in maintaining it. We do not seek to be the biggest or most comprehensive net. For instance, we are limiting technical conferences -- other nets already do this sort of thing and do it well. Instead, we would like to concentrate on quality discussion in our conferences. ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ TEAM LEADERS ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ Mike Meyer (Datawarp) Network Host Elizabeth Lipson (Seekers) Network Coordinator/Manager John Stewart (Lunatic Fringe) Admissions Team Leader Patrick Spreng (Blue Flame) Topology and Technology Leader Joe Rosenman (Invention Factory) Conference Team Leader Dave Bonds (The Cutting Edge) Publicity Team Leader Kathy Lessa (Blue Flame) Records and Voting ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ ADMISSIONS ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ ==Requirements== The following are considered minimum requirements. Exceptions may be made on an individual basis by a majority vote of the Admissions Team. A. Sponsorship of an Annex Candidate is preferred but not mandatory. Sponsoring sysops simply need to forward the completed application form to the Admissions Team Leader. Neither the capture file nor a separate review will be necessary as long as the admissions form is complete. B. A properly completed application form is required for all Candidates. Any intentional misrepresentation, including alteration of any required capture files, will be sufficient grounds for denial of admission or for expulsion from this network (if discovered after admission has occurred). C. The Candidate's system should show pride and enjoyment and reflect a professional approach on the part of the sysop. The system should be informative and fun for callers. It should be evident that the Candidate's system attracts quality callers who can contribute to quality messaging. D. There can be no hint of illegal activities. ==The Process== A. In the case of a sponsored Candidate, the sponsoring sysop will forward the completed application to the Admissions Team Leader. He/she will in turn post a notification in The KITCHEN conference (our management conference) for comments from the current members of The Annex. B. For unsolicited applications, once the Admissions Team Leader determines that the form is complete and that all required captures have been included, he/she will post a notification in The KITCHEN conference for comments from the current members of The Annex. C. After seven days have passed, the Admissions Team Leader will make a decision based on the application, the captures and any comments received. If he/she approves the application, the necessary information is passed to the Topology/Technology Team Leader for Hub assignment. A Candidate's application should be processed in a timely manner, with two weeks being the approved time frame. D. Should he/she decide not to approve, the Admissions Honcho forwards the application for automatic review to the Topology /Technology Team Leader and the Network Host (or their designates). Should they both disagree with the Admissions Team Leader, the Candidate shall be considered approved and the Topology/Technology Team Leader will proceed with the Hub assignment. E. If either the Topology/Technology Team Leader and the National Host (or their designees) agree with the Admissions Team Leader, the Candidate will be notified that his application has been denied, along with a brief explanation of the cause. F. All information relevant to each application shall remain private between the Candidate and The Annex Management, including any comments posted in The KITCHEN conference. This is to protect the Candidate system from being stigmatized by The Annex's views. Rejected Candidates may re-apply for membership after a 4-month waiting period. G. All admissions applications must be submitted to the Admissions Honcho, as detailed in ANNEX.APP. ==Miscellaneous== Any situation not covered by these rules, with regard to admissions, shall be the sole responsibility of the Admissions Team Leader, including the delegation of duties, as they relate to admissions. As always, the Admissions Team Leader is expected to act in collaboration with The Annex management. ==Member System Responsibilities== All systems in the network shall conform to the following general policies and bylaws: 1. Cross posting of Annex network mail to other systems or networks is not permitted, nor is posting of other networks into The Annex. 2. In the interests of fostering open communications between our callers, "real names" are the rule. There may be cases where individual callers have arranged with their sysop to use normal- sounding aliases or pseudonyms instead. As long as the board involved asks that the alias be used only if needed, and the sysop has the means of contacting the 'true identity' if needed, they will be allowed. Each sysop should determine need on a case-by-case basis. 3. To the extent that it is within a system's reasonable control, no Annex system shall allow, promote or in any way condone any activity in any Annex message base that violates any law, regardless of whether the specific law that prohibits that action is local, state or federal. Because Annex originates in the United States, the test of illegality shall be United States law. 4. Members should pick up and deliver mail daily, if at all possible. Transfers are required a minimum of four (4) times (for domestic systems) and two (2) times (for international systems) in any seven (7) day period. Members should maintain contact with their direct host if a long interruption in mail transfer occurs. 5. Fees EXPRESSLY implemented to access The Annex are prohibited. 6. Member systems will adopt certain system-wide conventions regarding conference names, taglines and bulletins. Network taglines shall conform to the following convention: ž ANNEX: BBS_Name ž City, State/Provence ž Country (if not USA) The BBS's phone number, etc, optionally may be added after all of the required information. 7. The use of Annex-approved mail software is mandatory. Currently this includes QNet, RNet, RoseMail and Cam-Mail (PCBoard); TNet (Wildcat); BgNet (GT-Power); FidoQWK (FIDO) and MkNet and M/A/X (Remote Access). 8. The Annex expects its members to actively participate in the success of The Annex. As a minimum, members must monitor the CALLERS2NX Conference for personal messages from Conference Hosts and other Annex members concerning user or mail problems. This is also the forum for policy and grievance discussions among members and the administration. The KITCHEN Conference is a limited access conference. Access is limited to full sysops as well as any team leaders/members. Access to other system operators of The Annex is at the member's discretion. 9. All Member systems shall carry the Callers2NX conference for the benefit of their callers. This conference is a public conference, and is to be accessible to all fully registered callers of the system. Required conferences are: KITCHEN (restricted) VOTES (restricted) CALLERS2NX Participating (non-hub) boards should also carry at least three other conferences. Exceptions to this policy are up to the discretion of the Admissions Team Leader. Hubs, however, must carry every conference. In addition, we *strongly* recommend that, when it is offered, member boards carry the RO_MAIL private mail conference. 10. Member systems should offer the Annex conference list, member list, policies, guidelines, etc., for download by callers. 11. Network members are to share the costs of mail distribution with their respective hosts, as in any cooperative venture. At this time, the authorized amount is a nominal fee of $52 per year. Members who carry all of The Annex's conferences will be allowed a 25% discount, paying $39 per year. International members are exempt due to heavy mail transfer costs. 11. We have few rules, so they must be kept. Disregarding network rules can result in a member system being disciplined or expelled from Annex. Grounds for dismissal from The Annex shall include, but not be limited to: Evidence of any illegal activity. Refusal to comply with one or more member requirements. Misrepresentation on the application form. Refusal to cooperate with the moderation procedures. Not echoing the messages for extended periods of time. 12. Please remember that our purpose is quality communication. To achieve this, all member boards should promote The Annex as much as possible. We request that member boards have a bulletin devoted to The Annex. We also strongly suggest that you promote The Annex through messages in your news file and on your main board. We appreciate any efforts member sysops make to provide quality callers. The ANNEX application form can be found in ANNEX.APP within this archive. ßßßßßßßßß STRUCTURE ßßßßßßßßß Our structure is pretty simple. We have moderated conferences. A team approach is taken to running the network. Anyone who is a team leader, team member, or sysop has access to the network management conference, The KITCHEN. We are committed to building a collaborative relationship. We actively seek feedback from our callers and we will respond to this feedback. While the network management is not a democracy, the Network Coordinator seeks input from everyone involved in running the net. If a vote needs to be taken, each board has one vote (the sysop of each participating board may make that vote or delegate it to someone else). We are very concerned that everyone have a fair hearing and that we do not make major decisions without collaboration and advice from our management team. ==Users Guide== The Annex is a network dedicated to providing open and friendly message forums on a variety of subjects. Rather than aiming for as many conferences as possible, or to be the biggest network around, we're trying to be the best at what we do: namely, to provide comfortable communications areas for friendly discussions. Our conferences should be seen as coffee table discussions, or perhaps as salons, each with its own focus. We've kept topics broad, and that's part of our philosophy. Conversations often jump to and fro, and we want callers to be able to follow an idea wherever it leads. It might, on occasion, lead directly to another conference -- but most of the time there will be sufficient overlap to give a conversation free rein. Because we're keeping the conferences loose, rather then strictly focused, traffic may get rather high in some conferences. You can help keep things tidy by changing the Subject line when appropriate. Some callers are shy about doing that, figuring that it isn't *their* thread. Nonsense! If you ever think the topic has changed, YOU change the subject line to reflect it. The Annex will eventually offer a "private" conference called ONE2ONE. This is the only conference in which you may leave R/O mail -- it will not echo in any of the other conferences. What *IS* R/O mail? It is a message that is semi-private. Most callers won't be able to read it, but every sysop and cosysop on every participating BBS *will* be able to read it. It is not confidential, and it is not secret. In general, the sysops on a BBS can't be bothered with other people's private messages, but you need to be aware that the messages CAN be read. The ability to send private messages is a service provided by the sysops to our callers. By all means use it, but please don't abuse it. If *all* you do is send R/O messages, and you never participate in the forums, you are not a participant in the net! The Annex has a special conference specifically set aside for callers to talk to the network administration, ask questions, make suggestions, heap praise, complain, or ask for Aunt Maggie's secret recipe. That conference is Callers2NX, and all member systems carry it. It's not a chit-chat conference, but it is the place to speak to The Annex management and hosts if you need to. The following section includes the rules that we expect all callers to be familiar with and to abide by. Please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with them. ==The Annex Conference Rules== All conferences on The Annex have a few simple rules that all callers are asked to respect and follow. These guidelines are designed to help make messaging on our network an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. Individual conferences may have additional rules that callers are asked to observe. If so, they will be explained in a message to ALL every month, or else they will appear in the official network conference description. 1) No attacks or personal insults This first rule is the most important. The whole idea of our network is to provide a place for friendly and comfortable communications. That means that courtesy is required at all times, and by all participants. You may disagree with ideas, and you may express that disagreement, but you may NOT insult or otherwise attack other callers or their beliefs. This extends to snide and provocative comments as well--they simply don't belong here. This also means that you must not mock or belittle other people's beliefs, religious views, or politics. 2) Keep it legal If it is illegal, it doesn't belong here! We expect all callers to obey all Local, State and Federal laws. Within this heading includes compliance with copyright laws; for this reason, it is inappropriate to post the text of entire articles from a copyrighted source without prior written consent, although short quotes or extracts may be posted occasionally. 3) Mind the host The conference hosts are the representatives of the net in charge of the conference. They make the rules, they interpret the rules, and they decide if someone breaks the rules. If it sounds like they are in charge, well, they are! Conference hosts are chosen because we believe them to be fair, and because they have the interests and skills needed to host a conference. Their jobs are not always easy, and there will be times you disagree with the conference host. You can always talk to the host about your concerns, but part of their job is to strike a balance between the wishes of the many callers who participate. Try to accept the host's decisions with good grace even when you disagree with them. 4) English, please In order to facilitate communications between the many callers of our network, English will be the official language of the net. If it is appropriate to post a message or quotation in some other language, please provide an English translation as well. This ensures that everyone on the network will be able to share your message. 5) Language guidelines We expect adult behavior from our callers, and in recognition of that, we don't want to burden anyone with unnecessarily restrictive language. In general, please try to use the same kind of language you might read in the newspaper or see on TV. Certain conferences are described as "open language." In those conferences, we're relaxing the language guidelines even further, and some callers may chose to use profanities or vulgarities in their messages. If this offends you, you might choose to not read those messages. The idea behind this distinction is to enable open communications, not provide "naughty" conferences. Please note that despite the relaxed language rules, the rule against personal attack or insult remains in full force. 6) ASCII reduction act It costs money to run a network, and it's to everyone's advantage to keep costs down. You can help by keeping your quoting small, not using unnecessary headers and avoiding large, garish signatures. While using such ASCII-eaters is not an offense, we do ask your cooperation in this matter. What do I do if I have a question? You can either ask the host in the conference, or post the question in the Callers2NX conference. Someone from the network's administration will always be available in that conference to answer your questions or listen to your concerns or ideas. What should I do if another caller insults me? The best thing to do is to NOT answer the caller; instead, post a message to the conference host and ask for their assistance. ==Hosts Guide== As conference host, you are given a free hand to run your conference. This means that you have a lot of power -- and with that comes a lot of responsibility. You must be fair and even-handed in the way you resolve problems or decide issues. You are responsible for ensuring that our network's rules are all observed within your conference, and that all callers are addressed with courtesy and dignity. As a host, you are expected to read the management conference and be aware of the net's concerns. If a sysop or fellow host disagrees with something you are doing, they may decide to send you a _polite_ message. Please be prepared to consider their concerns if they do! You may decide to change your methods, or you may re-confirm that they are the right way to handle things. That is your choice as host! Always try to keep an open mind, and always reply and acknowledge other's concerns. If there are any serious concerns about events in the conference, the Conference Team Leader may discuss them with you. In extreme cases, it is possible that the Conference Team Leader will ask that policy be changed in the conference. We don't expect this to be a problem, of course, but you should be prepared for the possibility of official review. Hosts are appointed by the Conference Team Leader, and their terms are open-ended. In other words, they will remain the conference host until they resign or until the Conference Team Leader asks them to step down. If a host wishes to resign, we ask that 2 weeks notice be given if at all possible. All discussions about appointments, conference problems, resignations, etc. should take place in the KITCHEN conference. ==User Relations Procedures== Before getting to the material about problems with callers, please remember that the overwhelming majority of callers are terrific. Please let them know this in as many ways as possible. While problems might take up a lot of time, let's not let that put us in an us vs. them situation or take away from the good things that are going on. In the event there is a problem with a caller, we ask you to first inform them in as friendly a fashion as possible that they are breaking the network or conference rules, and that they need to change their behavior if they want to participate. It is our experience that, among problems that come up with callers, a good number can be cleared up if your approach doesn't escalate the problem. If they ignore this message and continue their improper behavior, issue them an informal warning. Tell them if they don't stop, they risk losing access to the conference. You may prefer to move an extended discussion about rules out of the conference and into the Callers2NX conference. If you chose to do this, ask the caller to see your message in Callers2NX, or to ask further questions in that conference. Since all member systems are required to carry that conference, every caller has access to it. In general, moderation should be done in public. While you may answer certain questions using the private mail facility when it is offered, public moderation means fair moderation -- and it means that other people benefit from learning about the rules, plus it means you can't be accused of something you didn't do! If they ignore the informal warning, issue them a formal warning. In the formal warning, tell them that they have ignored requests to correct their behavior, and the NEXT rule violation will result in a conference suspension. If they violate the rules again, you must suspend them for 30 days at this point. Please post a message to the caller's sysop at this stage of the proceedings. In the event that the caller continues to violate the rules, suspend them. To do this, leave them a message that says "You have been given a 30 day suspension from this conference for violating XXX rule(s). At the end of this suspension, you will be welcome to participate in this conference again provided you are willing to abide by the conference rules." Send a message to the caller's sysop informing him or her of the suspension. When a caller returns from a suspension, they should be welcomed back. Keep the welcome low-key, but try to have a friendly attitude towards them. They have already paid for the consequences of their actions. If they persist in the behavior that got them suspended, or knowingly break other rules, give them a Formal warning and notify the Conference Team Leader. Please remember to leave sufficient time for your official messages to reach the caller and be reflected in their messages. Messages may cross in the mail, and you shouldn't punish someone for mail-delay! Suspension is a serious tool in the moderation arsenal. When needed, it should be used without hesitation. It should NOT be needed very often! Most problems are resolved at the informal warning stage. Most callers *want* to be responsible participants, and given half a chance will be very cooperative.