Please don‘t just keep it on your Hard Drive they have a habit of crashing!!
Do read and follow the instructions at all times ... it is vital to your remaining on the LIST
As with all usenet newsgroups and mailing lists, it is considered proper “netiquette” for you to carefully read the FAQ files before posting anything to the list
There I go......using words and terms that you may not be familiar with so let‘s get these out of the way before we go any further:- FAQ........Quite simply “Frequently Asked Questions” A list of questions and answers and “Do‘s and Don‘ts” some of which are specific to this list and some which are generic throughout the internet. This document also contains the rules and guidelines which MUST be followed by members
Nettiquette....Not too difficult to figure this one out, it is the etiquette or courtesies that are usually given and expected when posting to the internet in general and * this list in particular*
** Remember that people‘s opinions of YOU, of the List and of UK Masonry in general are formed from what YOU post**
1.1 What is the “UKMason-list”?
The “UKMason-list” is an e-mail address that relays messages to a moderated (regulated) list of subscribers who are interested in extending and sharing their knowledge of freemasonry and who wish to use the medium of the internet to widen their circle of Masonic friends. The list began in 1995 after extended e-mail discussions between Gordon Charlton and Chris White. As at March 2005 there were around 800 subscribers,
Go to the following URL www.ukmason.org.uk and complete the application form with all of the details, properly, as asked for.
Please visit the following URL http://ukmason.org.uk/mailman_doc.htm
-------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
Postings
are restricted to subscribers. If you want to send a message to the entire UKMason-list
mailing list, send it to this address:
UKMason-list@list.listserve.org.uk
WARNING: You really need to read section 2 of this FAQ before you send e-mail to the entire list. If you don‘t, you may be unaware of some of the ‘netiquette‘ conventions
Note that your acceptance onto this list is not an automatic process It relies on a real person reading your message and being available to add you to the list. In most circumstances the process will be complete in 24 hours; however, if that person is exceptionally busy or away your enrolment could take up to a couple of weeks.
PLEASE, don‘t panic and resend your subscription straight away. If you have not heard after a few days contact one of the list administrators
If you send e-mail to the list and it doesn‘t appear straight away don‘t panic-There could be any number of reasons why your mail did not get straight through. Mostly messages will appear within a few hours of posting however, it has been known for them to take a day or two if there is a problem with one or more of the internet gateways
DO NOT RESEND YOUR MESSAGE!!
If you really think that maybe your message didn‘t get through, then please go to your Sent box, pull up you‘re your posting and examine the Header of the message … 98% of failures occur here. Most often it is because there was no topic: placed before the Subject of your message - or the colon was missing from the topic: e.g. Masonic instead of Masonic: The JLA receives all of these messages from the Server, so be very careful … he‘s a nasty ruffian! g
The UKMason-list can often carry 50+ messages per DAY, which can be overwhelming. Before you go and unsubscribe though, you should know about some other options available to you.
To set yourself nomail / unsubscribe / digest / set topics etc. visit the
following URL:
http://list.listserve.org.uk/mailman/options/ukmason-list
You may also be able to establish an e-mail account just for receiving UKMason-list, thus freeing up your normal account for regular mail. Many commercial services, allow you to have multiple e-mail addresses for each account for no additional charge. Ask your service provider if you are not sure whether this option is available or not
You may have internet software that will enable you to use a mail filter.
You can set it up so that any message containing the string “ukmason-list” gets siphoned off to a file, rather than going to your main mailbox then you can read this file whenever you have time
The following TOPICS: are available to prefix all subject lines:
Special Notes: All items posted under Topics 1, 3 & 6 must carry the instruction, “Reply to Sender Only - Do Not Reply Through The List”. If a brother writes “ Replies to be sent privately”, DO JUST THAT!!
ALL CLEAR SO FAR? USE THEM. (It is a condition of your membership of the List)
Place the relevant topic header in your subject line followed by a colon : and THEN your subject and away goes your message (note that the colon: becomes part of the word - no space! No proper Topic: means no delivery of you message to the list … it only reaches the JLA … and he‘s a sad so & so to deal with!
You can decide which topics you want to receive and which you prefer not to have sent to you.
Yes....If you have access to the www you can use search engines to find Masonic sites and lists. Frequently you will find references to these in member‘s postings to the List, and you can always ask for information, the brothers are always most helpful on all matters of enquiries.
A reasonable guess is that three quarters of the list are members of the Home Grand Lodges, i.e. about 750. Of those remaining it has been estimated that somewhere between a third and a half are UK citizens living abroad, or overseas members of one of the Home Grand Lodges
Whether or not you can reprint articles you see on the Internet without asking permission is a matter of current debate in many newsgroups. On the UKMason-list mailing list, however, it is generally agreed that anything we write is fair game for publication in a non-profit making lodge newsletter, unless explicitly stated otherwise in the posting.
If you do reprint an article, or part of an article, please give credit to its author, and to the UKMason-list. Not doing so is plagiarism.
Also, as a courtesy to the author, you really should send him e-mail to let him know that his article will be appearing in your publication.
If you are publishing something other than a non-profit bulletin, then you should work out some arrangement with the author.
If you are writing an article for the UKMason-list and do NOT want it to be used freely in Lodge newsletters, then you must state this explicitly in your posting. (Otherwise, it will be ASSUMED that it is reprintable.)
You could have a disclaimer like this: “For electronic distribution through the UKMason-list ONLY. Reprinting PROHIBITED without express permission of the author.”
Private email is just that-PRIVATE. When someone is writing to you alone, their comments are private between you and them. You should NEVER, EVER repost their private email in a public forum without their permission.
Doing so is like secretly tape-recording a telephone conversation, and then walking up to the podium in a crowded convention hall and replaying their conversation over the loudspeakers for all to hear. People have different “tones” when talking/e-mailing to one person than they do when addressing 200 people, and rightly so Please respect this
At this writing, the following people can intercede on your behalf to help you solve problems with your UKMason-list subscription (or they will find a man who can!) W. Bro Chris White cwhite@radarhouse.net - the Senior List Administrator, who is charged with the well-being of the listserv and computers. If you have a technical problem, he‘s your man. W.Bro Geoff Barry geoffrey.barry@btinternet.com - the Junior list Administrator will be keeping the list under control. (Beware the wrath of Geoff... Do read the FAQ & do use the most appropriate TOPIC: for the Subject of your posting )
As a courtesy to these guys, please do everything you can on your own to solve your problem before asking them to help. (Start by reading the UKMason-list FAQ!) However, there are times when the only solution is to ask them to help, such as when you need to CHANGE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS :
Send a private posting to geoffrey.barry@btinternet.com and in the body of the message, state your old address, followed by your new address and full name, stating when you wish it to be changed. Please be timely in this matter!
Newcomers to electronic communication need to learn a whole new set of rules, known as “netiquette” (net etiquette). Most Internet service providers will provide you with files containing all sorts of good netiquette tips; take advantage of them. Here is a brief summary of some of the more important ones:
If you‘re new to the UKMason-list, please consider introducing yourself to us! Give us a few details, such as where you live, Lodge, rank, side degrees etc - no more than four lines however!
Feel free to let us know that it‘s your first post...You will find that a lot of people want to say Hi and greet you well
If you want to see if any of your friends are on the UKMason-list, you can get the complete list of subscribers by following the instructions above at 1.6b
If you‘re trying to decide whether to send a post to UKMason-list, keep in mind that you will be addressing a LOT of people! There will be well over 1000 (see section 1.8 for more details) who will get your message instantly, and many more who may get your e-mail forwarded.
Also, beware that anything you send to the UKMason-list may be reprinted in a lodge bulletins (see section 1.9)
If you were to speak at the Festive Board in front of that many people, you would take time to prepare and you would be very careful in what you say.
Please have the same respect for this electronic audience ALWAYS ASK yourself the question “Is it relevant for this message to be posted to the entire List or is a private posting more appropriate”
Please, PLEASE post only relevant material to the UKMason-list. If you heard a good computer joke, or have hot news about the latest Internet virus, or information about a dying child who is collecting business cards, resist the temptation to send it to UKMason-list...many of us have heard it before.
Special note:
All members of the List are required to have an Antivirus Programme installed on their computer and it must be kept right up to date. No Member shall post Virus warnings to the List. Only the Antivirus JLA, the JLA and specially appointed professional brothers may post virus information to the Members List. If you haven‘t got, or can‘t afford a virus programme, go to www.grisoft.com and obtain a free copy of AVG.
Please ALWAYS use a SUBJECT in your e-mail and prefix the Subject line with the TOPIC: most appropriate to your subject. If you‘re replying to another message, your subject should say “Re:” followed by the subject line of the original message (this is probably automatic, depending on your Internet Service Provider) Be sure that the sender used a proper Topic: !!!
It is considered rude to have a blank subject line, or an unrelated one. Please be considerate and make the effort to have an accurate subject line -- many readers choose which messages to read based on their subject lines. More important, the server archives all messages based on the Subject Line.
Your message should be under 80 characters wide, PREFERABLY 72 characters, with hard carriage-returns at the end of each line. There are many different computer systems that people use, and this is the only way to keep everyone happy
Try to avoid the use of control characters in your e-mail... not even tabs!
Different systems interpret these differently. UKMason-list readers are using Macs, PCs, Unix workstations, stone tablets, etc; What may look nice and clean to you may look garbled to others when you send it out. The only safe thing to use is the plain old space bar
For your convenience, you‘ll find it useful to use a mono-spaced font (where the width of each character is the same), such as courier, when viewing e-mail. When ‘composing‘ e-mail, especially when trying to line up columns of information, you really MUST use a mono-spaced font. Otherwise everything will look very crooked to the rest of us!
Since there are often several subject “threads” going on at once, it is good practice to include a SMALL portion of the message you‘re replying to.
A reply such as “I agree” or “Me, too!” is often meaningless, since we don‘t know which message you‘re responding to. Usually you do not need to include the entire message; JUST A FEW LINES
The convention is to offset the quoted text by inserting “>” or another character before each line. This is inserted automatically in most e-mail applications
Many people have a “signature” file (or “sig”) at the bottom of their message. This is very helpful, since the person reading the message doesn‘t need to scroll back up to the top to see who wrote it. Don‘t just put your first name, we have many Jimmys, Peters etc; on the List
If you create a sig. file keep it short-general netiquette says that a sig should be FOUR lines or less. If you don‘t use a sig, please at least type in your name and e-mail address at the end of your message. The most informative signature will contain the following information:-
Name, Rank
e-mail address
Lodge name and number
Town (or province) and Grand Lodge if not UGLE
Quotes and witticisms are OK as long as they do not take up too much space - and are not the only thing which you write! :-(((
Please be careful in your replies...a common mistake is to send a personal reply back to the entire list. Please check your “To:” and “Cc:” lines before sending the message. You may also want to set the Listserv default option to send your replies back to the sender only, and not to the entire list (see section 1.6a)
Also, you can irritate other readers by posting UKMason-list replies that contain only a word or two, such as “Amen!” or “Yes, I agree.” If you can‘t add something substantial to the discussion, then please Reply Privately -better still, not at all!
Please DO NOT send test messages to the entire list! Wait until you have something useful to add, then you can “test” your post (And keep in mind, you won‘t get a copy of your own message by default...see 1.6c)
Ever since computers have been able to use lowercase letters, the use of uppercase letters has been reserved for special emphasis. If you use all capitals, people will think you‘re SHOUTING!!
In an electronic medium, your writing is always vulnerable to the reader‘s delete key. If your message gets too long, not many will wade through it in its entirety. Keep it short! **The list is set to 150 lines maximum message size**, exceed this and your message will be rejected!
When you join a new Internet newsgroup or mailing list, it‘s always a good practice to refrain from posting or sending messages for a couple weeks, or at LEAST for a week. That way, you can start to get a feeling for where the discussions are going before jumping in. Use the time to become really familiar with the FAQ
Please do NOT send an attached file to the UKMason-list! It might look fine to other members of your particular on-line service and/or other users of your particular brand of computer, but it can get totally garbled on its way to the rest of us
The only safe thing to do is copy the text to the clipboard and paste it into your mail window. Before you do this, please bear in mind the comments above about line widths, spaces, and fonts.
If you have a huge text file that you think might be interesting to others, say that you have the file and that it is available on request privately.
DO NOT POST LARGE FILES DIRECTLY TO THE LIST, AND DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS TO THE LIST
HTML may be used in postings to the Members List address: UKMason-list@list.listserve.org.uk However, there must not be any fancy coloured background, pictures or borders. Coloured print is ok! Keep to these lines or the facility will be withdrawn!
Do remember that, although you might have your tongue in your cheek when you post a statement, the rest of us will not have the benefit of your smile or your intonation. Many an innocent quip has led to irate flaming (that‘s when smileys noted below can prevent misunderstanding most of the time Here‘s a quick glossary of the most-often-used Internet abbreviations and emoticons:
:-)
.....happy face,
BTW......by the way,
:-( .....sad face
OTOH.....on the other hand,
:-/ .....mixed emotions
LOL......laughing out loud
IMHO.....in my humble opinion
G.G......Grin, grin
S & F....Sincerely & Fraternally
P&N......Pint & Natter
ROTFL....Rolling on the floor laughing
PAW......Pint after Work
There are literally hundreds of emoticons and abbreviations you will get to know most of them after a short while.
You will occasionally see “Merkins”.......Americans and “Strines”.......Australians
Chris White. Senior List Administrator and Owner UKMASON-LIST Lodge Boadicea 3147 Essex, Internet Lodge 9659. East Lancs. UGLE.
Geoffrey Barry. Junior List Administrator. P.M. Falcon Lodge 1416 PPJGD Yorkshire N & E Riding.