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]> Haruna Darbo <[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. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤