LL-L: "Administrativa" LOWLANDS-L, 23.JAN.2000 (08) [E]

[Lowlands-L Administrator]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 23.JAN.2000 (08) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Web Site: <http://www.geocities.com/~sassisch/rhahn//lowlands/>
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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Administrativa

Dear Lowlanders,

Here are three reminders.

(1) Once in a while, someone -- usually a new subscriber -- asks me if the
masthead and the footer that come with each LL-L issue can be dispensed with or
can somehow be turned off by individual subscribers.  The answers are "No" and
"No."  You are dealing with a template into which postings are inserted, and
masthead and footer are integral parts of this template.  They are there for
very good reasons.  In the nearly five years in which the List has been going,
we arrived at this solution through trial and error.  The masthead and the
footer contain vital information, including instructions.  Experience has shown
that most new subscribers discard the instructional message they first received
and were asked to keep for later reference, and that many of them later turn out
to be ignorant of this information and make various mistakes because of this.
Most of this is dealt with by me and never reaches the List.  Occasionally I get
messages from irate subscribers demanding information about how the XXX they can
get of this XXX list, etc., when the information had been given initially and
appears in each and every issue.  Thus, not even the masthead and the footer
help in these instances.  In a couple of cases, the people *complained* that
they had not been given the information!  Some people simply will not look at or
follow instructions, no matter what you do, and it is a matter of insult added
to injury when they then vent their frustration in hostile and even threatening
messages to me, usually to the wrong address (<rhahn at u.washington.edu> or
<lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>).  At least it can be said that such
incidents are less numerous now that we have the instructions in each issue.
The benefits outweigh the minor inconvenience of having to scroll through the
front and end parts.  In fact, I am adding an item to the footer instructing
subscribers to write to me at <sassisch at yahoo.com>, as initially they had been
instructed to do.

(2) If you respond to someone's posting and press the reply button, please edit
out from the quoted text everything that is not relevant, leaving only the parts
to which you are replying.  However, you must make sure to identify the
originator of the posting to which you are replying, which means in many cases
exchanging my name for the actual person who wrote it, unless I happened to be
that person.  At the very least, you must remove the masthead and the footer.
In the case of new subscribers I tend to let mistakes pass the first time they
post, hoping that my editing and other people's examples will be instructional
to them.  Thereafter I will bounce their submissions back to them with the
request to resubmit them properly edited.  If the problem persists thereafter, I
will ignore any such unedited submission by that person without notifying them.

(3) Anonymous postings will be ignored.  You must identify yourself in your
postings.

(4) Please, as much as possible confine postings to the Lowlands-L area of
relevance as it is outlined at
<http://www.geocities.com/~sassisch/rhahn//lowlands/>.  Extraneous information
may not constitute the main focus of a posting, and mentioning it must be in
some way relevant to a given Lowlands-relevant topic.

I will send new subscribers a message that explains all of the above.  They will
receive it in addition to the automated one.

Best regards,

Reinhard "Ron" Hahn
Lowlands-L

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