Listserve Guidelines and Etiquette for RUC listserve

INTENT: All church members may post, within guidelines. The intent of the RUC listserve is communication of church business - reminders of special events, notes from the denominations or organizations we contribute to, updates from our committees, information that could be included in the print newsletter, and for members to ask questions or for more information on the above topics.

In order to facilitate communication on the RUC listserve, we are asking all members of our listserve to please be aware of and abide by a few basic rules of Internet etiquette and specifically our listserve's guidelines.

1) Please post information relevant to a large RUC group, or the entire RUC community.

You may "reply to sender" to reply specifically to an individual. We are all very busy people. To reach the largest audience, keep your thoughts focused on issues and positions or you will lose your audience. Please no "joke, FWD, or scam-alert" type emails. Irrelevant information turns your audience away.

2) Respect the privacy of individuals

Please do not post pastoral care/health information unless it pertains to yourself or your immediate family.

3) Please trim your replies.

It is helpful if you can remove all but the pertinent thoughts you are responding to when you reply. For instance, if the message you are replying to contains three paragraphs of ideas, and you are only commenting on what is said in the first paragraph, delete the second two paragraphs before adding your own thoughts. Even if the entire message is relevant to your response, please delete the footer information, since Yahoo groups add the footer automatically to all messages it sends. If you leave the original message you are replying to intact, and then add your comments, the footer of the message appears twice in the message. Imagine what happens to a message that is replied to multiple times and not trimmed! Doing this simple thing cuts down on the length of your reply, and is especially important for those list members who are reading the list in digest form.

4) Help reduce the number of messages.

Typically, it is considered bad form to reply to the entire list with a message that only says "I agree" or "well said" or "me too." Those types of messages are best sent only to the author of the message. If you want to respond to the entire list, then try to add a reason for your agreement, or some other additional thought.

5) Make sure the subject is descriptive.

Please be sure to put a descriptive subject in your message. This helps people who are scanning their email for subjects of interest to them. If you are reading the list in digest, and reply to a message, be sure to change the subject or it will just say "re: digest (number)."

6) Sign your post with clearly identifying information.

Please be sure to sign your message, with your name and email address, since people reading on the web may not be able to capture your address.

7) Be respectful.

Please refrain from any personal and direct retorts on individual RUC members, council, or staff by name. Please disagree in a friendly and respectful manner. E-mail feels like a private discussion, but it is not. A good rule of thumb is, "Never post anything you wouldn't want to read on the front page of the Washington Post."

8) Reread posts before sending.

Since email is in itself a very impersonal type of communication, in which we are not afforded the benefit of body language or facial expressions to judge the intent or tone of the sender, we need to all be vigilant of our words. Some people use emoticons to try and add helpful "tone" information. Regardless, it is helpful to read each message knowing the sender may have meant something entirely different from the meaning you ascribe to it. In the same way, it is always a good idea to re-read you own message before you send it, to make sure it is conveying your intended meaning. Sometimes, with a hot issue, delaying the sending of your response and re-reading it hours later is a good course of action.

9) Political campaigning for individuals is prohibited.

Please refrain from referring to voting for or against specific candidates on the list-serve.
RUC is a non-profit religious organization, and its tax exempt status requires that it refrain from electioneering with regards to specific candidates. Penalty for electioneering is loss of exempt status; penalty for lobbying above a de minimus amount is a fine. It's easy to talk about the issues without taking the next step and specifically suggesting how people should vote.

10) Be patient!

Everyone needs to remember that the members of this list vary in their computer savvy and expertise. Please be patient and remember all of us make mistakes, even the most expert!

Finally, the moderator is here to help you with any problems you may have. Please do not hesitate to ask for help!

Amy Soldavini
RUC listserve moderator
amy@soldavini.net

February 17, 2006