[Sust-mar] Size limit and tips on posting to sust-mar

[Peter Watson]

Greetings Sust-martians,

 From the moderator's chair, a few friendly suggestions for getting your 
messages approved and promptly posted on sust-mar, and tips on how 
sust-mar works. Please do save this message for future reference, as it 
covers our policies, why some messages get rejected, and almost all of 
the issues and problems that cause you to contact us or us to contact 
you. We hope you will find it helpful.


10K SIZE LIMIT:

We hate the occasional task of rejecting good messages. ALMOST ALWAYS 
the reason is because they are too large.

Our size limit for years has been 10,000 bits (more commonly known as 
10K in the "size" field of your email).

Text messages almost never exceed this size. The only messages that 
exceed this generally are html emails and emails with attachments. To 
stay under this 10K size limit, simply change the settings on your email 
program to transmit your message in plain text format (no html, no rich 
text, etc) and almost all of your messages will get through. With most 
email programs, these settings can be changed at the top of the page, 
usually under the 'Options' or 'Format' headers (depending on the program).

This size limit exists for a lot of good reasons. Many readers have 
older computers or dial-up access and can't handle larger messages. It 
also makes for easier reading. Giving a summary and providing a link 
works better for time constrained readers than providing multiple pages 
of detail.

We now dont reject messages strictly because they contain html or rich 
text, but we do encourage submitting in plain text. It greatly increases 
the chances of your message being approved, saves bandwidth, eliminates 
the risk of computer virus transmission, and reduces the need for people 
to buy new computers every three years so that they can handle your 
state-of-the-art attatchments.


SUBMIT EARLIER RATHER THAN LATER:

Sust-mar is a moderated list and we (the moderators) approve one message 
a day. Experience has told us that a moderated list posting a limited 
amount of messages works best for members, most of whom dont want to 
deal with multiple messages arriving daily in their inbox.

A queue of messages awaiting moderator approval does frequently develop, 
and this queue has at times exceeded 10 messages. Please be patient. To 
ensure that your time-sensitive message gets submitted to both the 
digest and non-digest lists in time for members to see it, it's best to 
get your message in well in advance of the event or deadline. Two weeks 
early is recommended.


LOCAL NEWS TAKES PRIORITY:

We have always prioritized events, announcements, and news from or 
pertaining to Atlantic Canada specifically. And yes, this does include 
Newfoundland and Labrador! You can always submit messages regarding 
general or more distant sustainability news, but they will be placed in 
the queue behind local messages. The same applies to messages that are 
opinion pieces, or replies to or comments/discussion on previously 
posted messages. You can send them in, but since we're not set up as a 
discussion forum they wont be prioritized and may wait longer before 
approval.


EVERYBODY DESERVES A CHANCE TO CONTRIBUTE:

The great news is that sust-mar continues to grow and every message 
posted now goes out to over 400 subscribers. However, in order to give 
everyone a fair chance to contribute messages, we give priority to 
subscribers who have not yet posted in a given month. That is, those who 
have not yet had messages posted in a given month will have their 
submitted message moved up in the queue in front of any messages from 
those who have already posted that month. The slate gets wiped clean at 
the start of each month.


CONSOLIDATE IF YOU CAN:

If you have more than one news item or event to announce, consider 
consolidating everything into one message. This is especially true if 
the messages are related in some way, such as coming from the same 
organization or about the same issue. It will all get approved and sent 
out to members quicker in one message than in two or three different 
ones. Shortens the queue too.


WHAT YOU SEND IN EQUALS WHAT GETS SENT OUT:

We are unable to edit any messages that get submitted to sust-mar, so 
what you send us is exactly how it goes out to subscribers. Every word 
and space, the Subject bar, the Address bar - everything gets included. 
We cant clean it up.

*IMPORTANT* If you send your message to multiple addresses, everything 
in the address bar (ie in the To: bar) will be sent out on sust-mar as 
is for 400+ subscribers to read. So please Bcc (blind carbon copy) any 
other addresses or send to them separately. This is advisable to do at 
any time due to privacy issues.


SUBMIT MESSAGES FROM THE EMAIL ACCOUNT YOU SUBSCRIBED FROM:

If you submit a message from an email different than the one you 
subscribed from, the sust-mar server will not recognize it and will send 
you an automatic rejection message.

Please note: The sust-mar server will only recognize the exact email 
address you used to subscribe. It will not recognize any variations in 
the lettering used for the same email account on your own server. For 
example, my Chebucto server will recognize either pwatson at chebucto.ca or 
pwatson at chebucto.ns.ca, but sust-mar will only recognize the one I sent 
in as my subscription address.

If you change emails, simply subscribe the new email address and 
unsubscribe the old one.

You can subscribe, unsubscribe, and change your settings yourself by 
visiting the sust-mar home page and following the appropriate links.

www.sustainablemaritimes.ca

If you regularly use two different email accounts, you can subscribe 
both addresses and set 'Mail delivery' on one to 'disabled'. This is 
done by going to the sust-mar home page (above) and following the 
'Unsubscribe or edit options' link to the 'sust-mar mailing list 
configuration page'. You can then submit your messages from either 
address, but not receive duplicate copies of everything.


CONTACTING THE LIST MODERATORS:

As always, remember that we are here to serve the membership and we do 
try to run things as a democracy. If you have any problems, or any 
comments, questions or feedback about sust-mar and how it is run, please 
do contact your volunteer sust-mar moderators Paul Falvo and Peter 
Watson at sust-mar-owner at list.web.net
.
Note that this is different than the address for mailing list 
submissions, which is sust-mar at list.web.net .


And finally, a big thank-you to the membership - everyone who 
contributes to sust-mar - for making it the success it has become!

Sustainably yours,

Peter and Paul