This is an “occasional reminder” about our list guidelines that I will be sending out as needed. Most of you reading this now, do not need to read this message. 🙂
If a message you have sent does NOT appear on the list, this page may explain why.
Don’t worry, you will never be banished from the list for any of these peccadillos. It’s not a big deal — everyone forgets now and then, or accidentally forwards a message with an attachment.
At worst, you might be added to “moderated” status list, which means that your messages are checked (and then must be approved) before they reach the whole list.
You (almost always) get back to full posting privileges when you email me to tell me that you understand that [___fill in the blank ___ ] is not allowed on the list.
These are the most common peccadillos — the “seven deadly sins of FCNA list posting”:
1. File attachments are not allowed:
they carry viruses, clog our FCNA archives, slow down the email for people who download email, and cost money for people on plans that pay by the megabyte.
Instead of sending us an attached file, you may send us a link to a file that is stored elsewhere.
Then we have the option to click your link to view the image or attached file — or not to click. Either way, this attachment does not fill up our inboxes.
For example: Dear List, While walking my my pet platypus around the intersection of Lincoln St. and N.Tioga, he suddenly sprinted after a white-tailed deer. Click the link to see the a photo: hhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus#/media/File:Platypus_BrokenRiver_QLD_Australia.jpg
2. Selling or buying or bartering is not permitted on the the FCNA list.
Instead, you can much more easily buy or sell by using Craigslist Ithaca, or Freecycle, or your own FaceBook or Twitter pages.
The FCNA list is not for “things” — the list is for “people”: for building community, for the communication of ideas and information, and for help with solving personal, interpersonal, and neighborhood problems.
However, if you ever have a genuine need, then of course you can ask the FCNA list for help.
3. Borrowing is permitted ONLY IF THERE IS AN URGENT NEED.
For example:
–Your house heater just broke, you need to borrow some electric space heaters.
–You have a visitor and you need a child’s car seat.
–You are a homebound senior citizen and you need something that you cannot go out to get.
Do not bother the whole list just to save yourself a little money, or a little trouble.
When the FCNA list was small, we could manage these little requests, but now we are too large.
Call or email your friends, or contact your FaceBook/Twitter friends, or
send out a request on FREECYCLE ITHACA, which exists for that purpose.
4. Commercial Messages that promote a product or business — are not allowed.
Instead, we have a monthly newsletter to promote your Fall Creek business.
5. Announcements about Events that are not “free” are not allowed —
but you may post messages about free events,
and you may post messages about fundraising events for non-profit organizations.
Some exceptions (to the 4 above) are explained in the FAQ; other exceptions can be approved by the List Manger.
6. To send a new message to the FCNA list, do not just hit “reply” to your digest.
If you do, then the entire digest goes to every member under your message.
Why does that extra information matter ? It adds a lot of data to each message, and some people are paying for how much data they download. And also it clogs our list archives, which has limited space.
To send a new message, just use this email address — send the message with this email address in the “To” field:
fcna-ithaca@googlegroups.com
Remember to use a clear and brief title for your message.
If you forget this email, just look at the bottom (the footer) of EVERY message sent to the FCNA list.
7. Messages replying to “the whole list” instead of the individual person who asked you to reply “off list”, will not be posted (if they fall into the List Manager’s moderation box).
For information about How To Reply to One Person (not whole list) see this web page:
Our guidelines/FAQ …
— is easily available, via a link to the web page at the bottom of every message sent to the FCNA list. Or, click here to read our FAQ and Guidelines.
Thanks … Michael Pastore
FCNA List Manager