Revised: June 10, 2002

					
The purpose of this charter is to describe how this list will operate and to provide some guidelines subscribers should follow to keep the noise level low and the information level high. Please read this message carefully. The entire message is of interest, even if you think you already know what's going on. In particular, sections I through IV dealing with moderation issues and acceptance of list submissions contain discussions of extremely important considerations for all participants. It is also likely that you will need to refer to this information in the future, so saving this file now may save a great deal of confusion at a later date. Before I discuss the list itself, please take note of these instructions on how to unsubscribe from the list. Unsubscribing & Leaving the List Temporarily If you wish to unsubscribe from the list (UNSUB), or temporarily turn off the flow of messages but leave your subscription in place (NOMAIL)
do NOT send your message to the list - it will be ignored. Send a message to the listserver at:
LISTSERV@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
with either:
SET CLASSICAL NOMAIL
to go to a "no mail" state, or:
UNSUB CLASSICAL
in the body of the message and you will be unsubscribed. In fact, this is the address you use for any change in subscription status. Write this address down (better yet save this file). No other address is valid. If you use the "NOMAIL" command, you may reactivate your subscription at any time by sending the command:
SET CLASSICAL MAIL
To the listserver address above. If you should have any difficulties, such as the listserver not recognizing your address (i.e., it tells you that you are not subscribed when you know you are), simply drop me a note at LAMPSON@pair.com with a specific description of what you were trying to accomplish. In most cases I will be able to correct your subscription parameters so that the listserver will recognize you in the future. Subscribing to the List By far he easiest way to subscribe to the list is to visit the Classical Net web site and use the subscription form. However, this for is simply for convenience and subscriptions may also be requested in the normal manner. To subscribe to the list via e-mail, do NOT send your message to the list - it will be ignored. Send a message to the listserver at:
LISTSERV@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
with:
SUB CLASSICAL your name for example:
SUB CLASSICAL Dave Lampson in the body of the message and you will be subscribed. This is the address you use for any change in subscription status. Write this address down (better yet save this file). No other address is valid. The subscription address used by the listserver will be automatically picked up from the header of your message, so the message must be sent from the address that you want to receive the list messages. Note to users of "free" e-mail services:
Due to increasing problems with a small number of users of anonymous "free" e-mail services, and the reluctance of these services to take appropriate and timely actions when problems occur, all requests for subscriptions for these accounts must be verified. Subscription from one of these accounts is a two-step process: 1) send a SUB message from your free account as described above, 2) verify your subscription by sending an e-mail message from your normal commercial ISP, school, or business account to verify your identity, and mention your account name on your free email service (this is required to match your identity to your free email account). When the validity of your account is verified, your subscription to MCML will be activated for your free email address. Free email accounts include, but are not limited to, those found at:
Brazilmail Excite FZ.ML.ORG
Geocities Hotmail iName Juno Lycos Netscape Rocketmail Yahoo Misrepresenting your identity when subscribing or posting to the list is grounds for immediate and permanent ejection from the list. --------------------------
MCML Charter, Instructions & Policies Table of Contents I. What is this group?
II. Who is the moderator?
III. How does it work?
IV. Are there any requirements for messages?
V. Is there a limit on list volume?
VI. Are there list archives available?
VII. How can you find out more about LISTSERV commands?
I. What is this group?
This group was set up to be a place where classical music enthusiasts can discuss music, musicians, composers, composition, instruments, performance, music history, recordings and all topics even remotely related to classical music from all periods. There is certainly room for levity and fun in the group, however, it is highly desirable to maintain wit and intelligence in even the most jocular posts. In addition, group informality and conviviality is healthy and highly desirable, but it should not take the place of the stated purpose of the group. The moderator is the final arbiter of what topics and messages are appropriate for the list. II. Who is the moderator?
The moderator is Dave Lampson and he can be reached at lampson@pair.com. For those of you not familiar with moderated discussion groups, I should point out that moderation does not entail rejecting messages I am not personally interested in, nor does it mean rejecting submissions that put forth a point of view with which I disagree. Rather, moderation means that I will be reading the messages that come through for content and some general style considerations (see below). If a message is abusive or off-topic, then I may work with the submitter to fix the problems, forward it if it is a reply to a specific message already distributed to the list, or excise those portions of the message that are unacceptable if doing so will cause the message to conform to the list charter. If there are style issues (method of quotation, size of .signature, etc.)
then I will either fix these and/or work with the submitter to clear up any issues related to style. Trivial "me too", "I don't know", or one-liner posts WILL NOT be distributed in most cases. I emphatically DO NOT see my job as one of list censor, but rather as a facilitator and mediator at the service of the group. III. How does it work?
This list is moderated and distributed using the premiere mailing list management software, L-Soft's LISTSERV. I don't expect that this list will operate in a way that is substantially different from other Internet mailing lists. In fact, I plan on doing nothing which is not already common practice, or at least was common practice before the huge influx of new users decimated the culture of the Internet. In case you may not be familiar with other mailing lists, I provide the following information. The mechanics of posting to the list will be:
1. Send your submissions to the CLASSICAL@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
address. Please try and follow the basic guidelines for proper net interaction. I reserve the right to reject or modify postings which do not comply with following basic guidelines:
- Sign all of your posts, but keep signatures to a minimum. Optimum content is your name and e-mail address. Common netiquette indicates three lines as a maximum length for signatures. It is my feeling that this is often too much. I do realize that some companies/organizations require that all outgoing email contain a certain minimum amount of information. If you have such restrictions, please let me know. Otherwise, the list would appreciate signatures giving simply name and email address. I reserve the right to trim overlong signatures, or delete them altogether. - Do not arbitrarily change subject lines on your responses to messages sent to the list. If you are quoting a previous message, the subject line must be preserved even if the subject has drifted. It makes it very difficult for people to follow specific discussion threads that might be of interest. In addition, consistency in subject lines makes it much easier to follow the discussion when accessing the list archives. - Quoted material (i.e., material from a previous post) must be properly attributed. The attribution precedes the quoted material. - The standard format for responses to messages already distributed to the list is for any quoted material to be followed by a specific response to the quoted material. It is not acceptable to simply append the entire post being responded to the end of your submission. Quoted material should be kept to a minimum and is used to provide context to your response, not to rehash the entire discussion. Only that part of a previous post that is actually being responded to, with proper attribution, should be included. IN NO CASE SHOULD THE QUOTED MATERIAL
INCLUDE THE SIGNATURE OR HEADER INFORMATION. Remember that everyone has seen and read the message to which you are responding, so all that is needed is enough of the previous post to provide a context for your response. The majority of mailer programs have some provisions for including and editing text from the message being replied to. The mechanisms of this vary widely depending on the hardware/software installed at your site, so it is best to check with your system administrator or other knowledgeable person at your site for specifics. - Try not to duplicate information already provided. This can be a tricky proposition, but one of the ways to avoid doing this is to read through all of of your waiting messages before responding to an inquiry, particularly if the answer is common knowledge. - Please do not try to combine multiple, unrelated responses into a single post to the list. This also makes it difficult for discussion threads to be maintained, and responding to such a post poses problems for other subscribers who often try to change the subject lines once again to develop a thread. - The use of any "special" characters, international characters, or symbols is not allowed at any time. See the web version of this charter for information on why special characters are not allowed. - The use of any special formatting, or the use of embedded formatting such as HTML is not allowed at any time. - Make sure quoted material and your response have line lengths less than 75 characters. 2. I will review the message and distribute it to the group. In some cases I may edit the format or content to satisfy list guidelines and follow common netiquette. I expect both of these circumstances to be rare. 3. In some few cases, I may feel that a reply to a list message is completely personal. In those cases, I may forward the message to the person being responded to and notify the sender that the message was forwarded. 4. In even fewer (hopefully zero) cases, I may be inclined to reject a message for one of three reasons: the submission includes an inappropriate, ad hominim attack on another subscriber; the post does not address issues relevant to classical music in some way; or the submission is a trivial remark or one-liner. In the first two cases, the originator will be notified only if the moderator believes the post can be saved through revision. 5. Subscribers will receive the distributed messages. The header will simply show that the message came from the submitter with that shows the list address. The "Subject:" line will show the original subject of the message. The body of the message will contain the original message including any reformatting I felt was necessary. If you notice a change, please take note of the nature of the modifications made to ensure that future submissions follow the same format. 6. If you wish to respond privately to the submitter of the post, please do so by using the address shown in the "From:" field of the header, or in the body of the message. If you wish to respond publicly to the list, simply reply to the message, edit the quoted material appropriately, and send the message just as you would with normal mail. Private messages misdirected to the list will, in most cases, simply be discarded. 7. If you wish to receive the daily digest instead of the individual messages, please send a message to the listserver at:
LISTSERV@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM
with the following command in the body of the message:
SET CLASSICAL DIGEST
to switch back to individual messages, send the command:
SET CLASSICAL NODIGEST
The "NODIGEST" setting is the default for new subscribers. IV. Are there any requirements for messages?
There are no requirements beyond those that constitute a good posting to any discussion group. As such, contributions should be clear, concise, and, as a basic courtesy to your readers, as well-written as you can make them. Messages should have a point and convey information. Though the anonymity of net communications can provide a healthy environment for people to express themselves perhaps more forcefully than they might in non-net interactions - and I believe this is a good thing - by and large a posted message should be one that you would not hesitate to read aloud in a face-to-face group discussion. Please keep this in mind when composing your message. Due to the large volume of mail now handled by the list and the increasing time required to moderate the group, I'm asking that subscribers take great care in formatting their submissions to conform with the charter and guidelines for the list. I ask that subscribers compare their postings as distributed to the list with what was originally submitted, note any differences, and incorporate these changes into future submissions. Please note that there is nothing unusual about the format and guidelines specified for the list. They are consistent with the core Internet guidelines, as can be found in numerous netiquette files available on the net. Your use of this format for all submissions will not only save me much time, but will also enhance the effectiveness of your postings by ensuring that your messages follow a common, familiar, and efficient format. See the web site version of the charter for:
Special Instructions for Microsoft Exchange & Outlook users. Special Instructions for Eudora users. Special Instructions for Netscape Communicator users. Because of the many different mail systems and computer platforms used around the world, special characters (i.e., characters not part of the ASCII character set) are not allowed in messages sent to the list. This includes accents and other international characters or special embedded formatting. Check the web version of this charter for more a more detailed discussion of special characters and the net. V. Is there a limit on list volume?
I don't anticipate there ever being a restriction on the number of messages per day that the list may generate. However, I do believe that the overall quality content of the messages distributed to the list should be maintained at a high level. If there are 100 high-quality, interesting posts per day, so be it. The current average list traffic is approximately 50-75 messages per day. VI. Are there list archives available?
LISTSERV has a function to create and maintain archives for any list. If you are familiar with LISTSERV commands, then you will be able to access the archives for this list just as you would for any other LISTSERV mailing list. The address for archive access is LISTSERV@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM. In addition to the normal LISTSERV
database functions, MCML features a web archive interface which allows viewing and searching of the archives using an easy-to-understand web browser interface. The web archives can be accessed through the Classical Net home page, or directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/WA-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=CLASSICAL
VII. How can you find out more about Listserv commands?
Users new to the use of L-Soft's LISTSERV are encouraged to read the on-line files LISTSERV REFCARD and LISTSERV GENINTRO, which can be obtained by sending the following commands in the body of a mail message to LISTSERV@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM or LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NET:
INFO REFCARD
INFO GENINTRO
The list is sponsored and supported by L-Soft International Inc., and fully administered using LISTSERV functions, therefore all commands/features described in the standard documentation are applicable to this list. SUBSCRIPTION FEES: Well, if you have made it this far, that probably got your attention. No, there are no fees for subscribing to the list. In fact, I consider myself lucky to have each and every one of you here engaging in discussions with us. However, what I am asking is that all subscribers send me a postcard. That's it. This in NO WAY a requirement for subscription to the list, and I will not hold it against anyone who does not send a card. With the list an international entity, I simply think it would be nice to have a souvenir of the global nature of our group. If you feel so inclined, please send a card to:
Dave Lampson 7080 Hastings Place Windsor, CA 95492-8760
Thanks very much for reading this list charter. If you have any questions or problems, please contact me at the addresses listed below. webmaster@classical.net (personal)
lampson@pair.com (List or LISTSERV list problems)
Remember, the important list addresses are:
classical@home.ease.lsoft.com (list submissions - this is for messages intended for distribution to the whole list)
listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com (listserver commands to control your subscription to the list)
If there is something that is not covered or unclear please don't hesitate to ask for clarification. Ultimately, I would like this to be a fun, interesting and educational group for all participants, and I'm open to suggestions on how this might be accomplished. 

Dave

webmaster@classical.net

http://www.classical.net/

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