---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dawda  K. Jallow <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 12:02 PM
Subject: Re: Welcome to Gambia-L
To: [log in to unmask]


Hello to everyone, it is pleasure to be back- after other priorities.
My regards to the noble management and friends.
Dawda Kabba Jallow.




-----Original Message-----
From: LISTSERV <[log in to unmask]>
To: Dawda K. Jallow <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Oct 26, 2011 11:06 am
Subject: Welcome to Gambia-L

YOU'RE ON...

 WELCOME to GAMBIA-L, a mailing list for discussions on The Gambia, and related
issues.  GAMBIA-L is geared toward providing a forum for the exchange of ideas
and information between people interested in developments in The Gambia, and
issues relevant to the welfare of the country.

The mailing list is an open, collaborative one aimed at being as inclusive as
possible, and at the same time fostering an atmosphere for healthy dialogue and
debate.  It is our sincere hope that you find the list enjoyable, and worthy of
your while.  This file describes the background, purpose, and features of
GAMBIA-L as well as guidelines on getting the most out of the service.


PURPOSE AND FEATURES OF GAMBIA-L
 The precursor to Gambia-L was a mailing list started in August 1994, following
the overthrow of the Jawara government.  This list was run manually by
Dr. Katim
Touray at University of Wisconsin Madison as a public service effort to
providing it's then handful of subscribers, with a means to discuss
developments
in The Gambia, and exchange ideas about the nation's future. The mailing list
was formally named GAMBIA-L in early 1996.

The rapid growth of the Internet resulted in more Gambians getting online and
consequently an increase in the number of subscribes to the original
mail list.
This, together with a number of factors, warranted a much more powerful and
flexible list management system.  The University of Washington in Seattle
provided this facility until May 1999 when St. Johns University agreed to host
it on its Maelstrom list server. On January 11, 2006 the migrated to
ICORS after
St John's University's decision to put Maelstrom out of service.

To attain the excellence we aspire to, GAMBIA-L has always relied upon the
service of its members. The management of the list is shared by a number of
volunteers that will be rotated as and when needed.  New subscribers are
expected to introduce themselves to the Gambia-L, thus helping people find
friends and give others an idea about the composition of the list.

GAMBIA-L is not a moderated list, and for this reason, all postings are sent
directly to subscribers without intervention or screening. For this reason,
postings are the responsibility of subscribers, and not list managers or ICORS
our host.

Postings on Gambia-L are archived, meaning they are stored on the computer that
runs the program listserver that sends mails to all subscribers.
Thus, you can obtain any and all postings that have ever been sent to Gambia-L
since it’s launch at the current location through the Web-interface at:
http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?REPORT&z=3#SUBSSUBSCRIBE whether
you are subscribed to Gambia-l or not.

Subscribing to Gambia-L

Gambia-L is a closed list, meaning that you cannot subscribe yourself to the
list. Thus, someone, (any of the list managers/ owners) has to subscribe you.
When people send in their requests for subscription, all managers
receive it and
the first one to have the chance adds the person. All managers can also see
which manager added a new member. People can only un-subscribe themselves
without the intervention of managers although managers see who signed off.

GAMBIA-L RULES.

1.  Postings on Gambia-L should not contain extreme insulting or offensive
language; pornographic material; notices of virus hoaxes; and chain letters.

2.  We're a diverse, worldwide group of several hundred people.  Our
emphasis is
on sharing information.  Flaming and personal insults (including name calling,
libelous statements) are out of place here.

3.  List Managers will, without warning, de-list members who constantly engage
in name calling and insults.

4. A List Manager can remove a subscriber for violating any of the rules after
having informed other Managers and waiting for a response within a period of 24
hours from other managers.

5.  Requests for subscriptions/unsubscriptions should be sent privately to
Gambia-L managers at [log in to unmask], or through
ICORS's web interface at
http://www.lsoft.com/scripts/wl.exe?SL1=GAMBIA-L&H=LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG

6.  Personal mail should be sent privately, and not to the List .

7. Any subscriber who feels that his/her parent has been abused has to send
evidence to the List management that someone abused his/her parents before
responding in kind on the L because this might result in the delisting of both
the offender and the person offended.

8.  Complaints about conduct of other subscribers must be sent directly to the
Managers and not to the entire List. Management will then write to the accused
subscriber in private with a copy of the mail to the complainant.

8a.  The accused subscriber must, within 72 hours, respond to the
complaint with
an apology and promise not to repeat the offence, or refute the allegations
against him or her.

8b.  In that there is a disagreement about the gravity of the allegation,
Gambia-L List Managers will vote on whether the accused is guilty or not.

8c.  If the offender is found by the majority of List Managers to be guilty of
the allegations, he or she must apologize to the person offended by his or her
posting within 72 hours.

8d. Failure to respond to an alleged offence or apologize after 3 working days
will result in removal from the List.

9. Forwarding responses or emails by someone who was de-listed will result in
the delisting of the person who forwarded the mail, especially if it is to
insult or castigate others.

10. All those who threaten the existence of this List or otherwise impersonate
others by means of "spoofing" e-mail headers including addresses of other
subscribers, will be banned from re-subscribing to Gambia-L.

11. An expelled subscriber may apply to rejoin the list three months after his
or her expulsion.

12. Applications to rejoin the list must be approved by a simple
majority of the
management team.


PARTICIPATING IN DISCUSSIONS

It can be very rewarding to subscribe to a mailing list.  This is even more so
if, like Gambia-L, the list you subscribe to links people of the same
nationality, or interested in the affairs of a nation and it's peoples.  The
constant exchange of ideas, information, greetings, and yes, harsh words is
indicative of how helpful mailing lists can be to people all over the world.

Along with all these and other benefits come some pitfalls, and drawbacks that
must be borne in mind when you communicate with Gambia-L subscribers.  The
following is aimed at providing you with a brief introduction to the do's and
don'ts of mailing list usage and should hopefully help you make the best of the
list.  Further, it is hoped that by using Gambia-L more efficiently, you will
also be of even greater value to it's subscribers, and hence The Gambia and her
friends.

At First

There's always a first time!  For this reason, we've all at one time or the
other has felt excited, nervous, and unsure or whatever about our first message
to a mailing list.  Thus, you're not alone in feeling like a newbie; new
computer and Internet users are called.

Your first message to Gambia-L should be your self-introduction.  The next step
after sending in your self-introduction is to do nothing!  Don't send any
messages to the list.  This might sound bizarre advice, but your silence will
help you learn about the atmosphere of the list, how people debate, and what
issues are of concern to subscribers.  Just sit back and read postings
that come
your way.  This act of lying down low in a mailing list is called
lurking.  Once
you feel that you're comfortable with the list, you can start sending postings.

How long should you lurk?  Well, it depends on a number of issues such as the
amount of traffic when you subscribed, whether you've had experience with other
lists, etc.  For example if you subscribe at a time when there's not
much debate
going on, it will take you a while to get a healthy number of messages that can
be used to judge the atmosphere on the list.  On the other hand, if you join in
the midst of a raging controversy, you can bet that the volume of traffic
generated in a day will be enough to tell you what you've gotten into.

Even though it is important to keep quiet for a while, it doesn't mean that you
should not send in replies to questions that are time-sensitive.  For example,
if you just subscribed and someone asks about something you have knowledge of,
please feel free to help and answer the question.  This is especially
true if no
other responses are forthcoming from other list subscribers.  You might very
well be the only person who knows the answer to a question.

Human Issues

Perhaps the most important consideration in your mind is the fact that even
though we are all communicating through the medium of computer networks, we are
all human beings.  This means that we have feelings, a sense of justice, and a
desire to be treated with respect.  For this reason, please ask yourself the
simple question: would I appreciate someone telling me what I am about to say?
This is especially important when you are inclined to respond to a posting, or
send out one in a fit of rage.  In times like these, we are especially prone to
say things we do not really mean, and live to regret.  And given that
everything
sent to Gambia-L is archived, you really can't take back what you said.

It is important that you work toward mature and responsible postings.  This is
for the simple reason that a lot of people on Gambia-L have nothing to
judge you
by other than your postings.  What you say reflects you a lot, and you'd be
advised to make sure that it is the best of you that comes out.  And it's a
small world.  You never know when you're going to run into someone who's been
reading your postings on Gambia-L.

We all like to be humorous and even sarcastic sometimes.  However, desirable as
these traits are, we should be very careful with them in e-mail because of the
potential for being misunderstood.  Unless you use some well-known jokes or
humor, you can be sure that some subscribers would either not get it, or be out
rightly offended.  Even when you say you're just joking! So what's one to do to
avoid being a bore?  Well, necessity they say is the mother of
invention, and so
some conventions styles have been developed to address the need for conveying
emotions and jokes through e-mail.  ASCII art, emoticons (sometimes called
smiles) all offer some means of being funny without being offensive.

Gambia-L is about sharing.  So it is important that you give back as
much as you
can.  It doesn't take much to send a short e-mail message with the address of a
Web site you think might be of use to someone on the list.  Passing on such
information will not only help people, but will also make you valuable to many
people.  And you never know when they are going to feel obligated to
return your
kind gesture!

You should also remember to never be personal.  At all costs, avoid getting
dragged (downward) into fruitless arguments and wars of words.  Such personal
verbal fights are called flame wars, and can only poison the atmosphere of a
mailing list.  The best service you can do to Gambia-L, and indeed The Gambia,
is to refrain from flaming.  If you get attacked anyway, you should respond to
that person in private.  Between the two of you, you can engage in any kind of
argument you want, and for however you want, as long as it is between the two
of you.

Gambia-L is not just about agreeing all the time.  By all means, feel free to
disagree with postings sent to the list.  However, you should be aware that you
are most helpful to the list if your criticism is constructive and helpful.
Shouting down people, personal attacks, and the like help no one on the list,
including you.  Also, you should cite references to support any claims you make
in your postings.  Or at the minimum, be prepared to give people who ask
evidence to support whatever it is you are claiming.

E-mail Style Guide

E-mail is a wonderful medium, no doubt, but it also is different from other
forms of communication in many respects.  For this reason, it is
important to be
aware of certain issues when you do e-mail.  This would not only save you
trouble, and embarrassment, but it will also save a lot of people a lot of
trouble.

Perhaps the most important habit to develop in using mailing lists is to be
brief.  Gambia-L subscribers receive an average of 10 messages a day from the
list.  Considering that people subscribe to a number of mailing lists, it is
easy to see that many people are barely coping with a lot of e-mail already.

For this reason, you'd be doing everyone a great favor if you are brief, and to
the point.  People who want more detail about whatever it is you're talking
about can always ask that you send it to them in private.  Toward this end, it
is advisable that you always indicate in your posting that you can send details
to anyone who asks for them, if that is, you have any more details to give out.

You can also help people a lot by using descriptive titles in your Subject
headings of your e-mail to Gambia-L.  An e-mail with a Subject titled "Request
for help on locating Gamtel's phone number" is much more informative than one
that simply says, "Help!"  The first heading will help people decide
faster than
the second whether they can be of any help or not.
And every second saved is a second that can be spent doing something else, or
helping people!

Gambia-L has a diverse base of subscribers.  This should be an important
consideration as you compose your e-mail to send to the list.  Thus, you should
avoid being too technical, because not everyone is, or too casual (because not
everyone is your acquaintance), or too for this reason, you should think about
your audience.

You should avoid being redundant, or repetitive.  Because people get a lot of
e-mail, you should not waste their time by repeating what's already been said.
Although most e-mail packages will append a copy of the mail you are
replying to
your reply, you should not include all of it when replying to a
posting. You can
summarize what you are following up on, and if you have to quote the original
posting, do not quote everything. To indicate that you're leaving material out
of your quote, uses ellipsis (...) or *SNIP* as shown in
the following examples below:

a) Full quote
>
> Keep in mind that when referring to a <list>, that list may be of two
> Kinds: local or remote, unless otherwise noted. When referring to a
> local list, your request will be immediately processed; when referring
> to a remote list (a list served by another LISTSERV(tm) which this
> system knows about), your request will be appropriately forwarded.
>

b) Shortened quotes (first, using ellipses, and then using *SNIP*)

>
> Keep in mind that when referring to a <list>, that list may be of two
> kinds:

>
> Keep in mind that when referring to a <list>, that list may be of two
> kinds:   *SNIP*

Note the dramatic reduction in the amount of reading you have to do when the
shortened quotes are used.  Also, because people reading these shortened quotes
already received the original message, they still can follow your argument with
just one sentence long reference to the posting you are responding to.

Another important issue to be constantly aware of is the fact that
Gambia-L is a
public forum.  This means that there's no privacy in the e-mail you send to the
list.  Indeed, everything sent to the list is archived, meaning that it is
stored in a computer at ICORS, and can be retrieved by anybody with Internet
access.  This sounds so obvious that it seems dumb to talk about it.  However,
it is important to emphasize the point, for the simple reason that some people
think that it is enough to delete an e-mail message to ensure that it's gone
forever.  Nothing is further from the truth.
A simple rule of thumb when using e-mail is that because of the lack
of privacy,
you should not write anything you would not want to find in the newspaper
tomorrow.

Do not type your e-mail message all in UPPER CASE LETTERS.  For one
thing, it is
much harder to read stuff in ALL CAPS than in regular mixed-case format.
While you might be tempted to use all caps to emphasize a point, this
is not the
way to do it.  You should sparingly use caps for emphasis.  For example, the
sentence: "I would like to express my strong DISAGREEMENT with the fellow" is
much better than: "I WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS MY STRONG DISAGREEMENT WITH THE
FELLOW" Obviously, the point you are emphasizing is lost in the second
format of
the same sentence.


Gambia-L Etiquette

There is no point in sending certain messages to the list.  Anything
that should
be taken care of by list management should not be sent to Gambia-L.
They simply would not be able to help.  For example, sending a "Please
unsubscribe me" message to the list would not do you, or any one any good.
Such issues are best addressed to list management, if you want to save people
trouble, and have your problem dealt with.

Do not send your response to a posting to Gambia-L if it is not going
to benefit
others on the list.  In this case, send your response privately to the person
who sent the posting you are replying to.  An example of this is if one writes
to ask if anyone knows of the whereabouts of a friend he or she would like to
contact.  Obviously, there is no need to send the friends phone number to
Gambia-L.

In the same vein, do not send private replies to Gambia-L without the
consent of
people who sent them to you.  If some one sends you information, it is safe to
assume that they meant it for your eyes only, and it would be polite to seek
their permission before sending it to Gambia-L.

Replying to Gambia-L can be a potential source of embarrassment.  The list is
set up such that if you press the reply button of your e-mail program, it's
going to send your reply to Gambia-L.  Thus, make sure that e-mail you are
sending is going to where you think you want them to before you press that send
button.
Otherwise, you'll find all of Gambia-L being privy to what you thought were
strictly between you and the person you wanted to send your e-mail to.

It is common courtesy and professional to sign your postings.  This is
especially important given that you can use almost anything as your
username and
e-mail address, rather than your real name in e-mail messages.  For
example, if your e-mail address is [log in to unmask] how would anyone
know that
your postings are from Lamin Sanneh of Juffureh if you don't tell them?

Besides your name, your signature can also include other information such as
your address and phone number.  It might even include what's called ASCII art,
an art form that uses characters and numbers to draw pictures.  Whatever you
want to include in your signature, please keep it short (5 to 6 lines), and do
not include any blatant advertising of commercial products and/or
services. It's
just plain bad taste.

Try limiting the number of questions you ask in a posting to one or two.  This
is for the simple reason that it's a lot easier to deal with one issue
at a time
given the large number of subscribers on Gambia-L.  The practice of
limiting the number of questions you ask per posting not only saves
you trouble,
but also makes it easier for subscribers to follow the progress of debates on
the list.

Still on the issue of asking questions, it is also good citizenship to
summarize
responses to a question and send it back to the list.  For example, if I ask
about choosing a school for my child, it would be great if I summarize
all responses I received to the question and post it on the list.
This will not
only provide a neat synopsis of what the responses were, but it would also
foster a spirit of cooperation and collaboration on the list.  And that's what
it's all about in the first place.

No matter what, DO NOT ever, ever post "Me too" or "I agree" type messages to
the list. If you agree with what someone says, please reply to him or her in
person, and not send out a two-word message to the list.  This practice is
especially annoying if you quote the original message you are replying to, only
to add, "I agree" at the end of it.  And it's not enough to say, "I disagree"
either.  If you disagree with the contents of a posting, you should elaborate,
to keep the discussion going.

People sometimes ask questions that have been answered before on the list. This
might be because they joined after the question was asked, or simply forgot.
Such questions should be answered in private, or left to less busy people to
deal with.  Don't worry about the question going un-answered because the person
asking it will repost it in the event no one answers it.  If the same person
asks it a second time because no one answered it the first time, send the poor
fellow a reply to his or her e-mail address.

Gambia-L is not for chain letters.  Please save us the trouble and refrain from
sending chain letters to the list.  Obviously, you can send petitions for to
raise funds for charitable and philanthropic causes and the like, given that
Gambia-L is for helping Gambian progress.  If you have chain letters that you
think are interesting, please send them to your friends, and not to Gambia-L.
If you must inform us, you can post a brief description of it and ask people to
request that you send them copies of it privately.

With regards law, never post copyrighted material on Gambia-L, unless you have
permission from the copyright owner to do so.  Although it is common occurrence
to find copyrighted material being distributed at will on the
Internet, Gambia-L
cannot afford to openly flout laws that regulate these issues.  ICORS
is hosting
us on the understanding that our list will not be a forum for people to break
laws.

If you really want to inform people about material that's copyrighted, the best
thing to do would be to send the Web address of the publication or information
and Gambia-L subscribers can then visit the Web site on their own to access the
information

LIST MANAGEMENT
Volunteers manage gambia-L.  Gambia-L managers are responsible for subscribing
new members, and helping them make the best of the facilities offered by the
list.  They should be contacted if you have any problems with your
subscriptions.  But before you contact them, please make sure that
your problems
are not originating from your e-mail provider but from Gambia-L server.

The following are the current people responsible for the management of Gambia-L.

List Managers
Abdoulie Jallow (BambaLaye) <[log in to unmask]>
Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
Ousman Ceesay <[log in to unmask]>



All the List Managers will receive mails sent to:
[log in to unmask]

Important references:
Gambia-L is run on LISTSERV 1.8d software and the online manuals can be found
at:
http://www.lsoft.com/info/default.asp?item=manuals

An interesting manual for you to read there is General User's Guide to
LISTSERV®
1.8c
http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8d/userindex.html

Thank you for reading.



-- 
-Laye
==============================
"With fair speech thou might have thy will,
With it thou might thy self spoil."
--The R.M

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To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
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To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
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