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LOCAL UUCE e-COMMUNICATIONSWhat is a "list"?
The term "list" (or "listserv") refers to a group of subscribers who exchange messages as a group via email. People subscribe to a listserv because it has an expressed purpose in which the subscribers are collectively interested. There is no charge for participating in any local UUCE listserv, and several of our listservs are open to "friends" as well as members.
Messages arrive by email; you do not have to do anything or go anywhere to retrieve them. You may respond to a message, or you can "lurk" and just listen to the conversation. It is common to even delete messages unread if the subject line suggests that the topic being discussed is of no interest to the subscriber. All of the local lists are easy on/easy off, and you never have to explain your decision to leave or stay. All UUCE lists have a link at the very, very bottom of every single message that takes you to that particular list's admin page where you can Unsubscribe or manage your subscription (no-mail while on vacation, digest mode, etc). Email and the Web are different Email is like letters or notes and listservs/lists are like round-robin letters sent all at once to a whole set of "pre-interested" people; the Website is more like static flyers or brochures that you can read and move among the pages of. The whole collection of an organization's Web PAGES is called the Web SITE, although when speaking generally, people do say "My Web Page has that information..." when they really mean "My Web SITE has that information..." To view the web version of the UUpDate at any time (it is refreshed every Thursday morning), visit the church's home page (also called the "index" page) and click the UUpDate link in the table of contents. A web site's site map can show you *visually* how the whole site is organized, even though a site map may never be completely up to date for more than a day or two on a well-used web site. The spelling of web, Web, web site, website, site-map, site map, sitemap, web page and webpage is so new that it has not yet been standardized. The word Internet is always capitalized. PrivacyWe don't give/rent/sell/trade/share your email address with any other organization - ever. Period. That's final. Full stop. That said, email is not really private; it is logged out there on the web somewhere (although I can't find it) forever. Do not write in an email message something you won't want to see again 20 years from now. You can remove yourself from a UUCE list at any time by using the bottom-most link from absolutely any message from that UUCE list. For more help, ask the webmaster to subscribe you to or unsubscribe you from the list(s) of your choice. The webmaster LIKES this stuff, so it is not a burden to help out.
If you are having trouble using the lists, the webmaster would be delighted to help you with them. She likes this stuff, and helping is not a burden. Please contact webmaster@uueugene.org If your group or committee needs a listserv or page on the church's website, you may submit a listserv application or webpage application. More information, including WHAT a "list or Listserv" is, QUESTIONS about LISTSERVS· “Chat rooms can be dangerous places.” Possibly true, but UUCE listservs are not the same as chat rooms. UUCE listservs are where folks you already know from Sundays and other church events discuss things they are mutually interested in. · “Some folks don't have computers, so we shouldn’t rely on email for important communications, as they will be left out of the loop.” True, but those of us who do have computers can share information with those who don’t. And there are other ways to stay connected, such as the newsletter, the Sunday Order of Service, and by phone. · “Listservs and email are probably really difficult for those of us not familiar with electronic media and computers to subscribe to the listserv, right? And once you are subscribed, you can never get off, right?” Again, neither of these rumors are true. UUCE listservs are very friendly "places" and you have the guidance of an experienced webmaster and list moderator to help you through any potential pitfalls, should you encounter them. Just ask. · “Some folks have Web-TV for email only - they can't get the Web at all.” True again, but many folks - even most, according to national statistics - DO have access to email these days. Since we stil drive even those some folks don't have cars, let’s not limit those who do have email. · “I'll get spammed, right?” Nope! You will only receive one email a week on the “UUCE-News” listserv. More on the other UUCE listservs. Spammers do not have access to your email address from the listservs at all. · “I already have too much email and can’t even get through what I have.” Well… We wish we could help you there… many of us do get more email than we want, but we hit “delete” when necessary. And no feelings will be hurt if you delete even the “UUCE-News” without reading it whenever you need to. (But remember, there are three good quotes in the weekly UUpDate on UUCE-News, plus items are divided for quick skimming, and there is a section of national religion-related news items to laugh or cry with, learn from, or which will raise your blood pressure.) · Our webmaster enjoys this stuff. Rather than a burden, the webmaster sees teaching email, listserv and web skills as a way to empower others and is glad to help you with your email, listserv, and web questions. Application for new listserv for your UUCE committee or groupApplication for new page for your committee or group on the church's websiteContinental and even World Wide UU listserves
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The Ten Commandments of E-mail
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NETIQUETTE - expanded, with examples
Each mailing list has its own rules of list etiquette, as determined by the list managers and subscribers. Following are some additional netiquette guidelines:• Do not annoy the listmanagers. The listmanagers are volunteers who love this community, AND they won't tolerate abuse. They alone will determine when they are annoyed, and they will take appropriate action. Said actions can include a private warning, a public warning, a public demand, individual moderation, suspension, and expulsion from the list, not necessarily in that order and wholly dependent upon the magnitude of their annoyance. There is no appeal to a listmanager's decree. To be reinstated onto a list, it is considered appropriate to respectfully approach the annoyed listmanager with extreme courtesy and good chocolate (not just M&Ms and certainly not a mere Snickers bar), along with heartfelt promises to never do <whatever annoyed the listmanager> again.
• Don't "flame." "Flaming" is sending messages that are far more belligerent, sarcastic, accusatory, or just plain mean than you would be in person. Something about E-mail prompts otherwise polite, kind people into acting like TOTAL JERKS on mailing lists (see -- that was a flame right there!). If you are tempted to send an angry message, take a walk around the block first. Folks have even catalogued various unpleasant internet behaviors: http://redwing.hutman.net/~Emreed/ and http://home.att.net/~penn/addict2.htm (substitute "listserv" for "newsgroup") and
• Don't talk if you don't have anything to say. Put that way, this rule seems pretty obvious. But lots of people post messages that say "Me too!" or "I agree!" when they don't have anything to add to the discussion. There is no need to respond to every message, and indeed you will annoy people if you try to.
• Use plain text as your default. Do not send messages with fancy fonts, colors, different sizing, bolding, underlining, fancy lettering, "rich text", or attachments (photos, documents, PDFs, software, graphics, music, or other programs). The best way to do attachments is to 1) describe what you have and ask those who want to receive it to contact you offlist with their request, or 2) upload what you have to a website and give the URL (website address) to folks in your message to them.
• Don't be fancy. www.expita.com/nomime.html .
• Use descriptive subject lines. When writing a new message or replying to a message, make sure that the subject line describes your message as specifically as possible. Never send a message with the subject "Help!" when it could say "Need 4th grade curriculum about Islam."
• Identify yourself. Most E-mail programs let you define a signature which appears at the end of each message you send. Your signature should be no more than four lines long and include your name, your E-mail address, your Web home page (if any), and a pithy quote or tag line. Don't include "ASCII art" (pictures made out of punctuation), your mailing address or phone number, or more than four lines.
• When replying, include only the most relevant part of the original message. Most E-mail programs provide way to "quote" the text of the message you are replying to; learn how to use your email program. When people read your reply, they may not remember exactly which message you are replying to. Including the message puts your message in context. On the other hand, delete the parts of the message that aren't relevant, so each reader doesn't have to wade through headers, signatures, and other stuff that doesn't pertain to your message.
• Reply privately when your message isn't of interest to the group. When you reply to a message, consider whether to send your reply to the mailing list or to the person who wrote the message you are replying to. If you want to make a point that contributes to the group discussion, post your reply to the mailing list. If you want to criticize, ask a personal question, or ask something off the topic of the list, send your reply directly to the person who wrote the message.
• Don't post chain letters and virus messages or unverified sob/disaster stories. It doesn't matter how worthy the chain letter sounds! Don't post messages to a list unless you personally know the information in it to be true (ie, the little English boy who wants postcards from around the world before he dies of cancer is now 35 and does not want any more postcards thankyouverymuch...)
Reducing SPAM
How do I reduce/prevent spam?
1. Take responsibility for keeping your computer's anti-virus software up-to-date and install a firewall. Unprotected high-speed Internet connections are vulnerable to infection by viruses that are programmed to open gateways, also known as proxies, to relay spam. By not keeping your PC secure, you may unwittingly be a courier for spam.
2. Give your primary e-mail address only to friends and family. Give a different e-mail to others on the Internet. Although this second address will likely receive unwanted e-mails, it is more disposable and can allow you to better control the e-mails you receive.
3. Do not post your primary e-mail address in newsgroups, bulletin boards or chat rooms. [The UUCE email lists are not newsgroups, bulletin boards or chat rooms.] Spammers use software programs, often referred to as spiders, web crawlers, or (ro)bots, to search for and harvest e-mail addresses on public forums. To prevent this, use a secondary e-mail address or alter the primary address so that it is not deliverable in that format. For example, if your e-mail address is test_account@comcast.net, you could post it as test_account@NO.SPAM.comcast.net or "test _ account at comcast dot net".
4. Do not post your primary e-mail address on a Web site. Use a secondary address for placing on Web sites. [This is a good idea if your address is on the UUCE website.] Spiders also scan Web sites for e-mail addresses. You can alter your e-mail address to help protect it but remember that e-mail harvesting software can read HTML code, so remove the "mailto:" tag.
5. Do not reply to unsolicited e-mails. NO bank will EVER send info to you via email. Ever. If the e-mail does not appear to be from a trustworthy or legitimate source, delete it without replying. A federal anti-spam law called The Can Spam Act, went into effect January 1, 2004, requiring a functioning "opt out" link or a legitimate "reply to unsubscribe" e-mail address. Note: Some unscrupulous spammers have ignored this law and continue to trick recipients into unwittingly responding to a fake "opt out" link, which actually verifies their e-mail address as a valid one. Therefore, it is still strongly recommended that recipients of unsolicited e-mail carefully consider whether an "opt out" or "reply to unsubscribe" seems legitimate and act accordingly.
6. Consider using an alternate e-mail address when signing up for services, filling out forms or taking surveys on the Internet. Read the privacy policy of these sites. Keep in mind, if the service is "free" they often need to generate revenue in some manner. Advertising is often used to do this, selling your email address is another way.
7. When signing up for a mailing list, read the terms and policies. Signing up should result in wanted or solicited e-mail (such as at yahoogroups.com), but the list provider should disclose whether signing up will result in the sale or trade of your e-mail address to other parties. [The UUCE email lists protect your privacy and never give out, trade, sell or share your address for ANY reason.]
8. Let friends and family know that you do not wish to have them share your e-mail address.
9. Make sure your e-mail address is difficult to guess. Don't use a common name or common words. It is not uncommon for spammers to use software programs to generate random user names based on common names and words in the dictionary. In addition, common e-mail addresses may have been used previously and may still be on old mailing lists.
10. Check "sent mail" folders for suspicious messages. Take responsibility for your PC by checking your "sent mail" folder regularly to ensure that all sent mail is really being sent by you and not by a spammer using an open gateway (proxy) on your computer.
Courtesy: the Comcast.net website
IDENTIFYING SCAMS, HOAXES, some SPAM
This is how I determine whether something is one of those Urban Legends (fibs, rumors, deliberate lies, fear-mongering, spam) that unknowing or unscrupulous folks like to start around the Internet so much. Sometimes these are just fun to send around, and thus there are other reasons to send them on besides whether they are true or not. But IF you feel annoyed or manipulated when you find out that these are untruths (some of which can be harmful), here are some ways I sort them out.
1. Look for a DATE IN THE BODY OF THE MESSAGE.
Not a timeframe such as yesterday or last week or next week, but a full date like January 15, 2008 or August 11, 2005. If there is no date in the body of the message, be suspicious and move to item 4 below.
2. THINK a moment.
That story about the dog saving people from the 118th floor of the WorldTrade Center? Well, there were only 110 floors.
If I send a petition to a hundred people, and each of them sign it and send it to 100 more people and they send it to 100 more people, my signature is suddenly on 10,000 petitions, and each of the earlier people's names are on 1000. Multiply this out, and then THINK: what in heaven's name is the (supposed) receiver (Is there a receiver, in reality?) going to do with all these thousands of lists of huge numbers of names that are repeated many thousands of times? Often, the clue that I am being manipulated is right there in the message. I can just say no--or move to item 4 below.
3. URGENCY.
Does it say to send this immediately to everyone in my address book? Such as "PLEASE tell everyone ASAP not to open the Life is Beautiful virus." On the Internet, the more urgent the message, the more I am suspicious and move directly to item 4 below.
4. VERIFY.
To check whether a message can manipulate me into "spamming" everyone I know and being someone else's unwitting pawn, I can check with SNOPES.com before sending that message on to all my friends. If the message isn't in Snopes, or if Snopes declares it to be true, then I can send it on with a clear conscience. Even if the message itself says it has been verified by Snopes as true, I check it myself. (From the Nigerian scams, I know that just because General Mbosa's wife says she is a Christian does not mean she is a Christian OR his wife, assuming he or his rank even exists in the first place.) Snopes makes it easy by having a good search engine so I can chose any main word and get a few choices that should lead I to the one I want to verify.
Just to prove myself wrong, though, remember the message where women were (urgently) told to avoid placing their purses on the table at a restaurant or on a kitchen counter at home because of how filthy the bottom of most purses are? And to send the message to everyone in your address book? Well, Snopes says it's TRUE. <grin> http://www.snopes.com
And to put us in our places:
An unemployed man is desperate to support his family of a wife and three kids. He applies for a janitor's job at a large firm and easily passes an aptitude test. The human resources manager tells him, "You will be hired at minimum wage of $5.35 an hour. Let me have your e-mail address so that we can get you in the loop. Our system will automatically e-mail you all the forms and advise you when to start and where to report on your first day."
Taken back, the man protests that he is poor and has neither a computer nor an e-mail address.
To this the manager replies, "You must understand that to a company like ours that means that you virtually do not exist. Without an e-mail address you can hardly expect to be employed by a high-tech firm. Good day."
Stunned, the man leaves. Not knowing where to turn and having $10 in his wallet, he walks past a farmers' market and sees stand selling 25 lb. crates of beautiful red tomatoes. He buys a crate, carries it to a busy corner and displays the tomatoes. In less than 2 hours he sells all the tomatoes and makes 100% profit.
Repeating the process several times more that day, he ends up with almost $100 and arrives home that night with several bags of groceries for his family.
During the night he decides to repeat the tomato business the next day. By the end of the week he is getting up early every day and working into the night. He multiplies his profits quickly.
Early in the second week he acquires a cart to transport several boxes of tomatoes at a time, but before a month is up he sells the cart to buy a broken-down pickup truck.
At the end of a year he owns three old trucks. His two sons have left their neighborhood gangs to help him with the tomato business, his wife is buying the tomatoes, and his daughter is taking night courses at the community college so she can keep books for him.
By the end of the second year he has a dozen very nice used trucks and employs fifteen previously unemployed people, all selling tomatoes.
Time passes and at the end of the fifth year he owns a fleet of nice trucks and a warehouse that his wife supervises, plus two tomato farms that the boys manage. The tomato company's payroll has put hundreds of homeless and jobless people to work. His daughter reports that the business grossed over one million dollars. Planning for the future, he decides to buy some life insurance. Consulting with an insurance adviser, he picks an insurance plan to fit his new circumstances. Then the adviser asks him for his e-mail address in order to send the final documents electronically.
When the man replies that he doesn't have time to mess with a computer and has no e-mail address, the insurance man is stunned, "What, you don't have e-mail? No computer? No Internet? Just think where you would be today if you'd had all of those five years ago!"
"Ha" snorts the man. "If I'd had e-mail five years ago I would be sweeping floors and making $5.35 an hour."
Which brings us to the moral of the story: Since you got this story by e-mail, you're probably closer to being a janitor than a millionaire. Sadly, I received it also.
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Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, Oregon
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