The list is a place where fans of the cartoon User Friendly talk about anything under the sun. In the beginning, there was only one rule: be nice.

However, as the list grew and things progressed, we discovered that there were in fact things that would do well to be mentioned, especially since they bugged the heck out of some of us on a regular basis.

Out of this was born the UserFriendly Mailing List Charter. Below, you will find just what that is :)

In this, our charter, we endeavor to set forth guidelines for all list members, and notification of consequences when our few rules are broken. We strongly suggest that you actually read this, even though we know you may not want to. Just do it anyways, and take one extra karma point for today.

This UserFriendly Mailing List is all about community and friendship. We all joke and laugh and discuss and flirt on just about any topic imaginable, and some that are unimaginable as well. If you're looking for a group of intelligent, highly individual, eccentric and interesting people, you're in the right place.

However, keeping this eclectic list such an enchanting place to be, requires everyone respecting the rules. They're all pretty much common sense (which is, as we all know, not so common ;), and here they are:

1. Snip and attribute your quoting, reply on the bottom.
2. Stay on subject, or change it to suit your needs.
3. Language, people! And this list is in English.
4. .sig? .sure, just not too .long!
5. HTML mail? No way!
6. Spam, spam, flame, spam, slander, and spam. Nope! Not even with eggs.
7. To get the Big Boot, this is what you have to do. Repeatedly.
8. And the Boot is...

What this means:

1) Snip and attribute your quoting, reply on the bottom.

When you reply to a post, leave enough of the text to make sense of your response. Differentiate between the previous text and your reply - adding ">" at the beginning of each line of previous text is standard, and done automatically in many email clients.

Leave credit where credit is due - let us know who wrote what you're responding to. On the flipside of that, cut out unnecessary text, headers and signatures.

Insert your text *below* that of the post you're responding to. Ideally interject it throughout - makes for great readability!

2) Stay on subject, or change it to suit your needs.

Sometimes subject threads mutate into being completely unrecognizable from their original. When this happens, try to change your subject accordingly, keeping the original subject as a (Was:) or a ==>. Here's an example where a discussion about ice cream suddenly goes horribly wrong:

Post 1  Subject: Ice Cream

Post 2  Subject: Re: Ice Cream 

Post 3  Subject: Guns, sex & violence (Was: Re: Ice Cream)

OR

Post 3  Subject: Re: Ice Cream ==> Guns, sex & violence

And please, when a subject becomes interesting to only you and the person you're tag-teaming with posts - take it to private mail.

3) Language, people! And this list is in English.

Gratuitous cussing and foul language doesn't quite belong on the list. We talk about sex and we flirt a lot (no, really, we mean *a lot*) - however, we keep it clean, and avoid getting too graphic.

Also, while this list is rather international in scope, we do ask that posts be made in English. Showing off your knowledge of French 15th century poetry is probably something you'd want to do elsewhere, regardless, but a .sig in your native (or other) language is fine. Which leads us to...

4) .sig? .sure, just not too .long!

A signature usually holds some personal info and/or a cool quote. General Netiquette dictates a .sig to be no longer than 4 lines. While exceptions *can* be made, your .sig is too long if it is frequently longer than your message. Please prefix your .sig with

-- 

(that's dash-dash-space-enter)

5) HTML mail? No way!

Not all of us use mail readers that deal with HTML mail, and when HTML mail gets sent to such readers, it shows lines upon lines of completely unnecessary code. Don't use HTML in your mail, period. If we wanted your email to blink, we would have set our fluorescents to "strobe".

6) Spam, spam, flame, spam, slander, and spam? Nope! Not even with eggs.

Do not send chain letters, ads, slanderous garbage or flames to the list. The occasional rant is ok (heck, that's the sole reason some of us are here, it seems ;), and arguments (as in *discussions*, not fist fights) are frequent. Agree to disagree! :)

7) To get the Big Boot, this is what you have to do. Repeatedly.

There are few things that a person can do on-list which will result in action being taken against them by the list administration. We will not tolerate

• Trolling, aka Flamebait - obviously trying to start a fight, flamewar, or argument.
• Slander - defamation of another member's character will not be tolerated. Saying "he's a Windows user!" doesn't count, but it's borderline... ;)
• Spam - unsolicited advertisements for goods or services posted repeatedly. If you happen across a killer deal like "$50 brand new 19" monitors", letting people know by a link is one thing, but forwarding your shopping club's newsletter is entirely different. There's a line, and you know when you're about to cross it. Don't do it.

8) And the Boot is...

If you choose to break the list's charter, this is what will happen:

First time:

You will recieve a warning email privately from a member of the list pantheon requesting that you stop whatever you were doing.

Second time:

You will recieve a warning email publicly on the list from a member of the list pantheon requesting that you stop whatever you were doing.

Third time:

You will be unsubscribed temporarily from the list and notified of that via private email. ("Hey, chill out for a week, and then come back.") You will not be prevented from re-subscribing.

Fourth time:

You will be unsubscribed permanently from the list and both you and the list will be notified of that via email. You will not be allowed to re-subscribe unless there are *very* special circumstances. Email your explanation to pantheon@uflist.org, and if 4 out of the 5 agree to allow you back, you're back.

Thanks for reading this far. Your prize is a happy, harmonious list - a truly nurturing enviroment on the otherwise so barren wasteland that is the Internet. We are nowhere near as serious as we sound, and you *will* very likely have a bunch of fun.

Welcome to our madness! :)