Folks,

I am not sure whether the document below is meant to stipulate the required
regulations of Gambia-L or just a sort of  "How-To" magnificently parceled by
Momodou Camara, for the benefit of some of us who are laymen in Internet terms.
If it is latter, we say "THANK YOU, Momodou Camara. We will think about it."  If
it is the former, then it shows a degree of deficiency in the manner in which
the list is managed. I would never have entered the fray about Baba Keita (or
whoever he is) had these guidelines not been posted. If what is written by
Momodou Camara, on behalf of the Management Team,  is anything to by, I think
the Team owe an explanation to the rest of the List for the circumstances that
led to the unceremonious and prompt banishment of Baba Keita (or Whoever he is).
The first posting of Baba Keita ( or whoever he is) was on 10th February and two
postings on the following day led to him being de-listed. I have returned to
these posting to read what he has written that warrants a ban. I urge all
members of the Management Team to go back and read Baba Keita's (or whoever he
is)postings and tell us where he had gone against the very "guidelines" you
produced below. The person to whom his postings were directed, was more profaned
than many we have read on Gambia-L. Yet nothing was done or said about him.
Impartiality is a necessary quality in Management.
Furthermore, in your attempt to teach us the abbreviations of  Internet usage
you said: RTFM - stands for Read The Freaking Manual". Will you be more
explicit, because the word "Freaking" is neither English or American? If you
want to tell us the meaning of abbreviations then modesty should be put aside.
Just tell it like it is. Your inability to utter the correct meaning of the "F"
in the abbreviation, is what makes us different in this forum.
You people, the Management Team,  are not obliged to anything but I still
believe that you owe the rest of us an explanation on the Baba Keita (or whoever
he is) question. All we need are reasons why he was unsubscribe
However, Baba Keita(or whoever he is) will go down in the annals of Gambia-L as
the shortest-lived contributor on Gambia-L. He lasted only 23 hours and 7
minutes.
Thanks.

Prince
________________________________________________________________________
"If you want to read or hear good things about Yaya, go read the Observer or
listen to GRTS".
KB Dampha
________________________________________________________________________

----- Original Message -----
From: Momodou Camara <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2001 18:57
Subject: Gambia-l Guidelines


Dear List Members,
GAMBIA-L is not a moderated list, and for this reason, all postings are sent
directly to subscribers without intervention or screening by list managers. For
this reason, postings are the responsibility of subscribers, and not list
managers or St. Johns University.

Postings on Gambia-L are archived, meaning they are stored on the computer that
runs the program runs the 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://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html 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 and owners) has to subscribe
you.
When people send in their requests for subscription, it is received by all
managers 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 and the Managers can also see
who signed off.

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 have felt excited, nervous, 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.

One final note about lurking.  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
humour, you can be sure that some subscribers would either not get it, or be
outrightly 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 smileys) all offer some means of being funny without being offensive.
They are discussed in greater detail in the Power Usage section of this manual.

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 yourself.  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 favour 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 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
examples (culled from the ListProc Info file - the former server of Gambia-l)
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 ListProcessor(tm) which this
> system knows about), your request will be appropriately forwarded.
> Issue a 'lists global' request to get a listing of all local and known
> remote lists to this ListProcessor(tm).
>

b) shortened quotes (first, using ellipses, and tben 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 the St. Johns University, 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 for ever.  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
setup 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 was
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 artform 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.

You might, from time to time, come receive files appended to postings on Gambia-
L.  It is safe and sound policy to exercise caution with attachments.  This is
especially true of executable files (with the extension ".exe", ".bat" or
".com") since they are the most common ways for viruses to be spread.  To save
people the trouble of deciding whether to download an attachment or not, and
prevent spreading computer viruses, you should not send any executable files to
Gambia-L.

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 them 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 it's
asked a second time by the same person because no one answered it the first
time, send the poor fellow a reply to their 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.  We are being
hosted by St. Johns University 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.
 Gambia-L subscribers can then visit the Web site on their own to access the
information.  For those that don't have direct Web access, (e.g. in The
Gambia), you can fax or mail them the information, or by whatever other means
at your disposal.  But positively NOT via Gambia-L.

Power Users

You've by now seen them all: IMHO, BTW, FWITW, ;-), RTFM, and on and on.
Welcome to the Internet lingo called netspeak.  These abbreviations and symbols
are useful tools not only because they save a lot of time, but also because
they have provided a means to convey emotions over the Internet. To get you
started, here are a few common abbreviations that are used on the Internet:

Abbreviation    Translation
IMHO    In My Humble Opinion
BTW     By The Way
FWITW   For What It's Worth
RTFM    Read The Freaking Manual (you'll get this when you ask a question that's
answered this manual!) Smilies, or emoticons, are also often used on the
Internet to convey emotion in e-mail.  Smilies are composed using ASCII
characters such as the colon, hyphen, and left and right parentheses.  The
following are a number of commonly used smilies.

Smilie  Translation
IMHO    In My Humble Opinion
BTW     By The Way
FWITW   For What It's Worth
RTFM    Read The Freaking Manual (you'll get this when you ask a question that's
answered this manual!)


LIST MANAGEMENT
Gambia-L is managed by volunteers.  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 subscribptions.  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

Momodou Camara <[log in to unmask]> or <[log in to unmask]>
Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh <[log in to unmask]>
Sarian Loum <[log in to unmask]>
Soffie Ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
Ndey Jobarteh <[log in to unmask]>
Awa Sey <[log in to unmask]>
Anthony  Loum <[log in to unmask]>
Malanding S. Jaiteh <[log in to unmask]> or <[log in to unmask]>

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

Thank you reading.

The above is an edited version of an extract from the Gambia-l user manual by
Dr. Katim Touray a couple of years ago.


Best regards,

Momodou Camara
Copenhagen - Denmark

------- End of forwarded message -------

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Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
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