Here are some guidelines regarding Netiquette.
(Extract from Aikido-L.)
Before posting a question, please consult the FAQs links. Quite often, these websites may contain answers to your questions and queries. If they don't suffice, then please ask away!
When you first subscribe to the mailing list, you may be tempted to jump right into the foray. However, you may wish to wait a few days or even a few weeks before doing so until you understand the "rhythm" of the mailing list and get to know some of the "personalities."
Never forget that the person on the other side is a human being. Even though you are using a computer to communicate, don't forget that other people are on the receiving end. Hundreds of people all over the world are reading your words. Avoid personal attacks. Don't speak (type) hastily -- try not to say anything to others that you would not say to them in a room full of people. Remember that you are playing an important role in building an online community -- and we all want this community to be a good, friendly place.
When you are subscribing to a mailing list, it's usually because you want to discuss a special subject. Try not to post irrelevant messages which don't have anything to do on that list.
It's a part of human nature to digress and veer off toward "off-topic" subjects. When this happens, please mark your post with "OT" in the subject line (eg Subject: OT: Star Wars Techniques). This way, people who are not interested in that particular thread or all "off-topic" subjects can easily filter them out. Please do realize, however, that this is not a license to abuse the OT marker; this is, after all, an aikido mailing list...
Long lasting subject titles are no longer relevant after a while because the actual content has drifted into something entirely different. A subject title like this is a suggestion:
Subject: new_subject was Re: old_subject
In those cases where people simply want to say "Me too!" to a previous post, whether in agreement with a point well-made or to ask for a copy of requested info, please use an editor to strip away unnecessary text. In addition, send the "Me too!" to the original poster, not the list.
Please try to edit quoted text down even when you have substantive comments, as most of us who read what you have to say will have read the previous entries in the thread as well. On the other hand please do include some minimal text to give the rest of us a clue as to what you mean by an otherwise cryptic post consisting solely of: "Yes, but only with nikkyo, never sankyo" (or whatever). The subject heading is seldom not enough to understand.
When quoting someone, please try to keep attributions (who said what) accurate. Most good e-mail programs will do this automatically for you. For example:
Bobo Smith said:
>> I hate nikkyo!
Deedee Brown replied:
> I love sankyo!
I like yonkyo more!
Remember to direct your replies appropriately. Most of us have made the mistake of sending to the list something intended as a direct reply, but please take a moment to check that a direct response is being sent where you want it to go. Most mailers will send replies back to the list if you simply "reply" to a posting without intervening to change the recipient address.
Conversely, if your reply is really just directed toward the person who wrote the e-mail, please just send that piece of e-mail to that person rather then sending it to the list.
Summarize what you are following up
When you are making a follow-up comment to someone else's message, be sure to summarize the parts of the message to which you are responding. Summarization is best done by including appropriate quotes from the original message. Don't include the entire message, since this could be irritating to people who have already read it.
Please try to observe some of the more "friendly" formatting conventions. Please set your line width to 70-75 characters wide; some mail programs will automatically wrap lines if they are too long, and it wreaks havoc with long lined messages. Don't double space! And lastly, turn off HTML encoding; not everyone uses a web browser to read their e-mail, and all of the HTML tags usually makes your e-mail unreadable.
Do not post binary attachments
Please do not send binary files (pictures, executable files) to the List. With hundreds of subscribers, a single one megabyte file could take up hundreds of megabytes of bandwidth! If you feel the need to share such things, please put them onto a website for downloading and merely post the URL or ask people to send you requests in private e-mail for the file.
Commercial postings onto this list are NOT welcome!
Do not forward chain letters to the list
Chain letters may be cute at times, but to many people they are annoying. In many places, they are even illegal and have in the past led to individuals losing their net access. So, please -- if you receive a chain letter, don't pass it onto the list. A good site regarding chain letters is:
Virus Alerts, and Other Hoaxes
There are lots of hoaxes floating around the internet, such as warnings about the nonexistant Good Times virus (which was never true), pleas to send cards to Craig Shergold (which was true many years ago but is no longer relevant) and a cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus (which was never true).
Please do not perpetuate these hoaxes. Not only are they often irrelevant, but they are almost as bad as chain letters. If you receive e-mail that's supposed to be redistributed to other people, please send a few copies to people you know asking if it's true before redistributing it to lists of hundreds of people.
A couple of good sites on this subject are:
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html