Hi,

There seem to be lot of off-topic mails on the list at the moment, so 
I've decided it's probably a good time to post the "good practice" guide
to the list again.  This guide is intended to supplement rather than 
replace the FAQ I sent out recently, so please read both of them!

If anyone has any comments or suggestions for future inclusions in the
good practice guide please let me know at

     http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/allstat

Feel free to contact me with more general questions/comments too.
     
Cheers,

Matt
     
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matt Whiley

Department of Statistics                 Phone : +44 (0)141 330 6118
University of Glasgow                    Fax   : +44 (0)141 330 4814
[log in to unmask]             http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/postgrad
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[log in to unmask]    http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/allstat
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GOOD PRACTICE ON ALLSTAT 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Contents 
~~~~~~~~ 
1) Introduction 
2) Is Allstat the best forum for your message? 
3) What format should I use to post my message? 
4) What should my subject line be? 
5) Replying to messages on Allstat 
6) Problems 

1) Introduction 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
This is a intended as only a brief summary, further details can be 
found in the Allstat introduction and FAQ. You should always keep 
an up to date copy of both the FAQ and introduction to refer to, 
they deal with most of the day to day running of the list such as 
unsubscribing or suspending mail and should be your first point of 
reference if you have any problems or questions about the list. 
You can find copies of these files on the Allstat webpage 

     http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/allstat/ 
      
or you can obtain copies by email by sending a message to 

     [log in to unmask] 
      
containing the lines 

     send allstat introduction 
     send allstat faq 
     stop 

Please take the time to read them - it won't take long and they'll 
help you to get the most out of Allstat. 

2) Is Allstat the best forum for your message? 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Think carefully about whether Allstat is the correct forum for your 
message. Posting your message to the correct list means your message 
will receive the best possible audience and is more likely to illicit 
a response, for example, many software package have a dedicated list 
that you can post your queries to. A fairly comprehensive list of 
alternative lists can be found on the Allstat webpages 

     http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/allstat/ 
      
Also, if your message is likely to provoke debate please post it to a 
discussion list - Allstat is intended for broadcasting announcements 
only. 

If you decide Allstat is the best place for your message then you 
should also bear in mind that announcements for courses/seminars/etc 
should be sent in good time, and please don't send repeat postings - 
anyone interested in your message will read it the first time. 

3) What format should I use to post my message? 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Plain text only! There are a myriad of formats available and the 
only one that is standard to all systems and software is plain text. 
So please don't use fancy formats such as HTML, and definitely do not 
send Word documents. If you want to make a Word document available 
either offer to send it on to anyone interested or make it available 
to people by FTP. 

4) What should my subject line be? 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
To help people pick out relevant messages your subject line should 
*always* start with a keyword, use one of 

       JOB - jobs or studentships 
       SEMINAR - seminar announcements 
       CONFERENCE - conference announcements 
       COURSE - taught course announcements 
       WORKSHOP - workshop announcements 
       ANNOUNCE - other announcements 
       QUERY - for queries 
       S/W ADVERT - for a software advert * 
       BOOK ADVERT - for a book advert * 
       ADMIN - administration messages (from the list owner) 

* The ADVERT categories are only to be used by the list owner, in 
  forwarding messages from advertisers. See the FAQ and introduction 
  for details of Allstat's policy on commercial advertising. 

You should then supply a meaningful subject line, and where appropriate 
you should also include a geographical location. so an example subject 
line could be 

       JOB: Temporary Lectureship, Glasgow University, UK 
or 
       WORKSHOP: CTI Excel Workshop, Coventry, UK 
        
        
5) Replying to messages on Allstat 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
The golden rule: 

 ** Always reply to the sender of the message rather than to the list. ** 
    
Sometimes queries are posted to the list that might be of wider interest, 
if this is the case then the person who sent in the query is welcome to 
post a summary of responses to the list, however responses should still 
not be posted to the list. 

6) Problems 
~~~~~~~~~~~ 
If you ever have a problem with the list, if you're ever unsure about 
whether your message is appropriate for Allstat, if you're ever unhappy 
with the way the list is run, or if there's ever something posted to 
the list that you have concerns about then you should always contact 
the list owner at 

     [log in to unmask] 
      
After all, that's what list owners are there for. Please don't be 
tempted to post your concerns to the list - 3000+ people don't want 
to know that you're having problems unsubscribing! 

   Author : Matt Whiley (05/07/1999) 
   Any comments/queries to : [log in to unmask] 
   Allstat Web site : http://www.stats.gla.ac.uk/allstat/ 
   
   
   



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