Bird Records Committee Forum (BRCF-L) Guidelines

March, 2000

I. INTRODUCTION.

The Bird Records Committee Forum, also called BRCF-L, is a mailing list hosted by the University of Indiana Listserv system.

Bird Records Committee Forum Philosophy. Avian records committees review and judge observational reports of rare or unusual birds for defined geographic or political jurisdictions. The Bird Records Committee Forum provides an electronic discussion list to share information on records committee operation and policy issues. Discussion on these topics is invited.

Message exchanges should be informative and respectful. This Forum is open to the public; current, past or future committee members are welcome, as well as anyone with an interest in how these committees function. Members are encouraged to feel a sense of community in which they can post without risking humiliation or personal attack.

These guidelines clarify permissible and impermissible behavior in this list. The listowners intend to guide Bird Records Committee Forum with a common-sense approach that permits free and open discussion.

Listowners. The Bird Records Committee Forum co-listowners are:

Phil Davis: Secretary, Maryland/District of Columbia (USA) Records Committee
E-mail: PDavis@ix.netcom.com
Focus area: Mailing list discussion and policy issues

Laurie Larson:Secretary, New Jersey (USA) Records Committee
E-mail:

Focus area:Mailing list technical issues (subscription, list maintenance)

Backup listowners. If you cannot reach either of the above list owners (allow 24 hours), contact one of the backup listowners:

Dr. Susan Hengeveld: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN (USA)
E-mail: shengeve@indiana.edu

Phil Kelly: Chair, Indiana (USA) Bird Records Committee
E-mail: pkelly@IQUEST.NET

Bird Records Committee Forum Web Page. Guidelines for this mailing list can be found at: http://www.princeton.edu/~llarson/brcfhome.html (the same file you are presently reading.) At this time, no storage is available for photographs, documents or other materials, but subscribers are welcome to post materials to their own sites for the use of the BRCF-L community.

Unacceptable Forum Topics. Discussions of individual decisions and records in progress are not appropriate on Bird Records Committee Forum. Specific bird identification issues are not within the charter of the Forum. The Birdwg01 mailing list ("Frontiers of Bird Identification") is dedicated to such discussions. See note on "Bird Identification Issues," below.

Other unacceptable topics for the Bird Records Committee Forum, in common with most of the NBHC mailing lists, include bird feeding, pet birds, virus alerts, chain letters, and the ethics and/or morality of hunting or falconry. Topics of general birding interest may be acceptable for the Birdchat list and will be referred there when appropriate.

Special Note on Bird Identification Issues. The National Birding Hotline Cooperative hosts Birdwg01 (Bird Working Group 01), known as "Frontiers of Bird Identification." This list is devoted to discussions on challenging and subtle field birding identification issues. The Birdwg01 lists is the proper forum for bird identification issues. The Bird Records Committee Forum listowners will interrupt and redirect any identification discussions over to Birdwg01, where these topics are expected. For more information about Birdwg01, please e-mail a listowner.

II. JOINING THE BIRD RECORDS COMMITTEE FORUM.

There are two ways to subscribe to the Bird Records Committee Forum, via a web interface or via e-mail Listserv commands.

Subscription via the Web Interface. Visit the University of Indiana web archive page.

Subscription via Listserv E-mail Commands. Send an e-mail to the list server address: listserv@indiana.edu with the following message: SUBSCRIBE BRCF-L Yourfirstname Yourlastname (substitute your full name, of course).

Subscription Waiting Period. Currently, there is no subscription waiting period for charter subscribers. If "spam" becomes an issue, this policy may be revisited.

III. MESSAGES.

Posting Messages. You must be a subscriber to post messages. Once you have subscribed, post messages by e-mail to: BRCF-L@indiana.edu or use the web interface at http://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/brcf-l.html

Message Format.

Required Message Elements. Your real name and your e-mail address must appear in the message (to use your e-mail address as a hotlink, precede it with "mailto:"). Please also include your city, state/province, and country so that other subscribers can place your message or questions in a local, regional or global context. Optional message elements include your website link, GPS, or other info. Most e-mail programs include an option to use a signature text file so that this information can be added automatically.

E-mail Structure. Format messages with plain text (ASCII) only. Anything else may be unreadable to many subscribers and can wreak havoc with some subscribers' e-mail software. Prohibited are HTML; UUENCODE; specially formatted documents such as Word, WordPerfect, and RTF; and ALL ATTACHMENTS.

Subject. If the topic is new, choose a brief, informative title. Remember that many people (and many search engines) look for keywords in the subject line, so give some thought to this often-ignored aspect of your message. Do not leave subject line blank. If your post falls into any of the following categories, please use these formats:

Language. International readership and participation in the Bird Records Committee Forum is invited, although discussions are in English. Please bear in mind that not all subscribers are familiar with your country, state, or province. Scientific (Latin) names for birds are recommended.

Restrictions: Posting of copyrighted material for which the poster does not own the copyright (e.g., newspaper or magazine articles) is not allowed. If you think that the Bird Records Committee Forum subscribers need to read such material, please send a brief message to the list, indicating the topic and including the URL (web address) for the material.

Any offer of a product or service for sale is considered advertising. Advertising is not allowed on the Bird Records Committee Forum, with the exception of brief one-time announcements by nonprofit organizations of events in which they participate or new products they produce. These should be in the form of a single sentence, indicating a link to either a person or a web site where additional information can be obtained.

Comparisons or reviews of products/services by Bird Records Committee Forum subscribers who have no financial stake in them (in organization, operation, manufacture, marketing, or as a competitor) are not considered advertising.

The simple mention of a subscriber's occupation, business or employer, and/or web page in a signature of 5 lines or less is permitted.

If in doubt about the appropriateness of a proposed posting, please contact one of the listowners. If in doubt about the appropriateness of a posting that has already appeared on the list, please do not post a public comment or question about it, but please do send a message to one of the listowners. In most cases the listowners will have already privately contacted the sender of a questionable message, and in all cases it is neither necessary nor desirable to start an on-list discussion about such administrative matters.

Guidelines for Posting.

Frequency: Limit messages to 10 or fewer typewritten pages (about 10K). It is not necessary to weigh in on every topic.

Brevity: If you quote a previous message in your reply, please snip unneeded portions, particularly the headers from forwarded messages!

Guidelines for Reading: Not all topics are of interest to all subscribers. The subject line is your guide to weeding out posts. A thread has run its course when no one is interested in posting further. Use the DELETE key if you've seen enough. If your blood pressure is rising, consider taking a break -- go on NOMAIL or INDEX (see LISTSERV COMMANDS).

IV. NETIQUETTE.

Public messages. Messages should offer intelligent, reasoned debate in a civil tone . Those which argue different points of view, while remaining respectful of other contributors and the list as a whole, are welcome. Posts that belittle, nitpick, ridicule, attack, or insult another contributor and his/her ideas are unacceptable.

Subscribers' expertise, both in Bird Records Committee Forum topics and in the use of the Internet, varies widely. Show tolerance of posts by new subscribers and posts that are occasionally off-topic, poorly written, or not up to your personal standards.

Be slow to take offense to a post. You may have misjudged the poster's meaning. Tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language--especially to convey humor--are absent in this forum!

If you do take offense, allow yourself a cool-down period before you hit SEND. Even then, consider sending your message privately rather than to the list.

Retain a sense of proportion. Most of the world, believe it or not, is totally oblivious to the Bird Records Committee Forum!

Private Messages: The above rules of netiquette also apply to private messages from one subscriber to another.

Private posts are appropriate for "me-too," "attaboy," "hear, hear!" and information not meaningful to most other subscribers. Do not send such content-free posts to the entire list, please.

Be aware that no Internet message is truly "private," and be careful what you reveal to unknown correspondents.

Responsibilities of the Listowners: The listowners will not publicly chastise or humiliate a subscriber. A private message may be sent, reminding the member of the Bird Records Committee Forum guidelines.

If the violator continues to abuse the guidelines, the listowners may set the subscriber to NOPOST. Serious or repeat offenders may be expelled at the listowners' discretion.

Remedies for Offensive Behavior.

If you feel abused by another subscriber to the list, use that DELETE key. Ignoring the offender is often the best policy. If ignoring doesn't work, try responding to the author that you do not wish to receive personal messages from him/her, and ask the person to desist. Then ignore again.

If the offenses take place in private e-mail, contact the offender's Internet service provider and report the harassment. Investigate the "filter" or "kill" capabilities of your e-mail software.

If the offenses continue, contact the listowners.

If you are threatened or menaced, call your local law enforcement authorities.

V. SUBSCRIPTION MAINTENANCE.

Listserv subscription maintenance includes: subscribing, unsubscribing, temporarily suspending service, changing message modes, and changing addresses. Users have two basic options to perform maintenance -- by means of an easy to use web interface or by specific e-mail commands to the list server.

Subscription Maintenance via the web Interface:

1. Visit the URL http://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/brcf-l.html.
2. Next, click on "Join or leave the list or change settings".
3. The first time you do this, you will need to set a password of your choice. To do this, click on "Log in with your Listserv password" to get a password. (I know, it's not logical!)
4. Once you have a password, you will have a menu of choices and options to access.
5. Select the option you want, for example "Mail delivery suspended temporarily."
6. Click "Update options" and you should be done.
7. Repeat the process as needed, for example to resume e-mail delivery. Please make a note of your password so you don't have to set a new one next time. The listowners cannot help you discover a forgotten password.

Subscription Maintenance via E-mail Listserv Commands:

Address for Listserv Commands: E-mail all commands to listserv@indiana.edu

Listserv Commands.

1. To Subscribe: Send the message subscribe BRCF-L Yourfirstname Yourlastname
2. To Unsubscribe: Send the message signoff BRCF-L
3. Change of Address: If your e-mail address has changed, two commands are required:

   from old address: signoff BRCF-L

   from new address: subscribe BRCF-L Your Name

   If you cannot send the message from your old address, contact one of the listowners to make the change manually.

4. To Suspend Mail temporarily: Use this command to turn off the Bird Records Committee Forum mail if you are going away for a vacation in Attu, for example: SET BRCF-L NOMAIL
5. To Resume Mail: To resume getting the Bird Records Committee Forum mail when you return from that vacation!: SET BRCF-L MAIL
6. To turn on Digest Mode: Send the command SET BRCF-L DIGEST In this mode you get only one LONG message per day, including all Bird Records Committee Forum messages for a 24-hour period. If you use the DIGEST option, and want to reply to a message, please do not include the entire digest in your reply!.
7. To turn off Digest Mode: Send the command SET BRCF-L NODIGEST
8. To request a Daily Index: You will receive only one daily message indicating message subjects, lengths, and authors. Send the command SET BRCF-L INDEX You can then retrieve any messages of interest from the archives (see below).
9. To Request Help: Send the command HELP
10. For more Information on Listserv Commands:
    Send the command INFO REFCARD

VI. ARCHIVES.

There are two ways to access the Bird Records Committee Forum archives, via a web interface or via e-mail commands to the Listserv.

Archive Search via the Web: Visit the following URL: http://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/brcf-l.html

Archive Access via E-mail Commands to the Listserv: To get an index of the entire archived Bird Records Committee Forum messages, send the following message to the Listserv address (listserv@indiana.edu): INDEX BRCF-L

To get a file from the archive, send a command in this format: GET BRCF-L LOGyymmx where yy=year, mm=month, x=week of month; week1=a, week2=b, etc.

VII. SUMMARY.

Although this seems like a lot to remember, it won't take long for the guidelines to become second nature for you. In fact, if you participate in other mailing lists, you will find that these guidelines are helpful there as well. Thank you for joining the Bird Records Committee Forum, and please help us all learn more about the issues facing records committees worldwide.

The listowners have borrowed from the Guidelines of theBirdChatmailing list, drafted by Dave Rintoul and a committee of BirdChat community members. Our debt is gratefully acknowledged.