HomeGeneral InformationAbout ISAPrivacy and Legal PoliciesEmail List FAQs

Community List FAQs and Policies

(Note: When sending the following commands to the list server, replace [listname] with the name of the list. For instance, a request to join the Safety List would be sent to join-safety@isa-online.org.)

Q. What are the Community Lists all about?

A. ISA makes the Community Lists available to both members and nonmembers as a place where people can go to discuss technical issues and ask technical questions. We have professionals from all over the world on the lists, which provide a place for each to share their expertise.

Currently ISA features community lists for those interested in topics covered in ISA's Technical Communities, and a number of lists for ISA Technical Divisions and ISA Sections.

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Q. What are the rules for using this list?

A. The rules for using the lists are outlined in the FAQ and ISA's Terms of Service. Some of the rules in the Terms of Service include:

  • Do not post or transmit any message or materials that are not reasonably related to the purpose of the bulletin board as stated on the subscription page for that bulletin board. (Under the TOS, "bulletin boards" include the lists.)
  • Do not restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the bulletin boards, by means including, but not limited to, the posting of harassing, annoying, inflammatory, insulting, rude, or otherwise unprofessional messages directed at any other individual, group of individuals, or entity.
  • Do not post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any local, state, national or international law.
  • Do not post or transmit any information, software or other material which violates or infringes upon the rights of others, including material which is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or which is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or right holder.
  • Do not post or transmit any message, information, software or other material that contains a virus or other harmful component.
  • Do not post or transmit any messages, information, software or other material for commercial purposes or post or transmit messages, information, software, attachments, or other material that constitute or contain advertising for or promotion of any product or service.
  • You understand that ISA has no obligation to monitor the bulletin boards or e-mail lists, but reserves the right at all times to do so and to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any law, regulation or governmental request, or to refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, that in ISA's sole discretion are objectionable or in violation of these terms and conditions. Other conditions may apply to a specific service or bulletin board and will be posted as part of that service.
  • Users who violate ISA's terms of use may have their rights of access to the ISA site withdrawn with or without prior notice.

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Q. What is a moderated list?

A. Each message sent to a moderated list must first undergo the scrutiny of a human moderator before it is mailed to the list members. This moderation is done to protect you, the list member, from getting dozens of completely irrelevant messages per day. The moderator is also tasked with helping the list grow into a healthy community of professionals, so messages not conducive to that goal (such as personal attacks) will be rejected.

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Q. What is an unmoderated list?

A. Each message sent to an unmoderated list goes out immediately, without filtering. It is the responsibility of the list members to follow the rules.

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Q. How do I subscribe to the list?

A. If you aren't subscribed to the list and have access to the Web, head to the ISA community mailing lists' Web interface and click on the name of the list you would like to join. You will be presented with the option to sign in, read the messages in the list archive, or join the list.

You can also sign up by e-mail by sending a message to join-[listname]@isa-online.org.

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Q. How do I send a message to the list?

A. After becoming a list member, you can post messages to the entire list by sending them to [listname]@isa-online.org. You can also use the Web interface to send messages.

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Q. I'm getting too much mail. Can I just get all of the e-mail in one message?

A. List messages can be sent to you in three different ways: as they come in, once a day as an index of subject lines, or once a day as a digest with the complete messages for that day. You can arrange to receive the digest by changing your options through the Web interface, or you can send a message to lyris@isa-online.org with

set [listname] digest

in the body of the message.

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Q. How do I get the index version?

A. You can receive an index of the day's subject lines, along with instructions on how to retrieve individual messages, by changing your options through the Web interface, or sending a message to lyris@isa-online.org with

set [listname] index

in the body of the message.

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Q. How do I unsubscribe from the list?

A. You can send a message to lyris@isa-online.org with the text

unsubscribe [listname]

in the body of the message. You must be sending the message from the address from which you are subscribed.

You may also unsubscribe from the Web interface.

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Q. How do I change my e-mail address?

A. The best way is to first unsubscribe from the original address before it is disabled, and then re-subscribe from your new address. If you have had to suddenly change e-mail addresses, then you can contact the list moderator to get your address changed.

You may also change your e-mail address from the Web interface.

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Q. I'm not getting my e-mail messages any more. What happened?

A. In order to weed out old or bad addresses, our list server automatically puts list members on "hold" if they "bounce" too many messages. In other words, if a message is sent to your address, and for some reason your mail server refuses to pass it on, then that will count as one bounce. After a member's e-mail address has bounced for a certain number of days straight, the member will be put on hold and will not receive any more messages from the list. A reminder will be sent to the member's e-mail address for a period of 10 days with instructions on how to release the hold on your e-mail address.

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Q. How do I access past list messages?

A. You can access past messages through the list's Web interface.

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Q. How do I reply to a message?

A. Simply use the reply functionality of your e-mail client and the message will automatically go back to the list. If you wish to reply directly to the message's author and not to the list, copy and paste the author's e-mail address into the to: field in your message. (Don't forget to take out the mailing list address.)

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Q. What is this message about?

A. Conversations tend to wander off the original topic, whether they're held around the water cooler or on an e-mail list. If the message thread (or list of messages based on the same subject) start to wander, please let the list members know by changing the subject line to something more descriptive of the new topic. When replying to the digest version, please copy and paste the subject line of the message you are replying to into the subject of the e-mail. That way it is possible to tell what the message is about by scanning the subject line.

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Q. Can I post anonymously or without a signature?

A. No. You must include your name and e-mail address with every post. Posts without a name and e-mail address may be rejected. (It is often quite helpful to other list members for you to include the company at which you work as well.)

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Q. Can I send an attachment to the list?

A. We request that list members do not send attachments to the lists to protect other list members from viruses and long download times.

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Q. What happened to my formatting (bold, italics, etc.)?

A. Most e-mail programs that offer text formatting, such as making the text bold, do so by either using Rich Text Format (RTF) or HTML coding. Several widely used e-mail programs render either as an illegible mess, so we ask that list members always try to send their postings in plain text format only. (However, we realize that certain mail clients do not give you a choice in the matter.)

Spacing and line break issues also come up every once in a while. Given the fact that e-mail clients format an e-mail in a certain way, then the list server formats it again, and the recipient's e-mail program formats it again, it's amazing it doesn't happen more often.

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Q. Can I send an off-topic message to the list?

A. In general, messages sent to the list must be within the subject area of the list.

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Q. Can I send press releases, help wanted ads, resumes, etc., through this list?

A. No, the list is for technical discussions among professionals, not commercial purposes. Since we live and work with products, some mention of the commercial aspects of the industry is impossible to avoid, but actually "conducting business" through the list is outside its purpose.

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Q. Why can't I call [insert name here] a [insert epithet here] on the list?

A. One of the keys to building a healthy e-mail list community is respect for each other and for the list's diversity of opinions. Argument and debate are fine. Personal attacks are not. Remember that posting to the list is like talking to thousands of people at once, not just the person to which you are replying. You are responsible for what you write. Those who cannot be civil will be removed from the list of subscribers.

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Q. Can we contact each other offlist?

A. Of course. If you are concerned about the appropriateness or private nature of your message, or you just don't feel like sharing the message with the list, feel free to contact each other offlist.

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Q. Why can't I register my opinion about ISA policy on the list?

A. Occasionally list members who are also ISA members want to express their opinion about an ISA policy to the entire list. If that is the primary purpose of the message, we ask that you do not post the message. Why? The best answer is that it goes against the purpose of the list, which is technical discussion. Also to the point is that the lists are not for ISA members only, and why would a non-ISA member want to read a twenty-message thread of what went on at the last President's Meeting? We ask that ISA members contact the Society at info@isa.org or go through their local governance structure with their policy concerns.

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For help on e-mail commands, send a message to lyris@isa-online.org with the word "help" in the body.