[CS-FSLUG] Admin: Restatement of Posting Guidelines

[Ed Hurst]

Esteemed List Members:

First, a reminder of what this list is all about. The primary objective
is to provide a place to discuss the nexus of our faith in Christ and
our commitment to Open Source computing. For us, to advocate the use of
Linux and Unix is just one more expression of a consistent biblical
faith. A natural outgrowth of that is our willingness to share
solutions to technical problems, just as surely as we share answers to
spiritual problems.

In pursuit of that, it is hard to avoid discussing issues which are, in
the strictest sense, off-topic. Given your Moderators' inclination
toward openness, things have been mostly hands-off. We'd like to keep
it that way. In a certain sense, it's a good thing when most of the
list isn't really conscious of who the Moderators are. To that end, we
wish to provide this restatement of guidelines for posting.

1. The most obvious rule is civility. That's generally defined as
sufficient self-restraint to occupy close quarters without killing each
other. We'd like to assume Christian values alone covers this well, as
brotherly love covers a multitude of sins. Confrontation may be
unavoidable over contentious issues, but keep it gentle. If you are
jesting about something, it should be obvious. Because we cannot see
each other's faces, it is necessary at times to include visual clues in
typing, including smileys, faux code tagging, disclaimers, etc.
Creativity is encouraged.

2. Posting outside messages: Not everyone is a writer, and it's no sin
to post material and links from those outside the list who are writers.
It also doesn't take a genius to realize some things that really tickle
you are probably too rowdy for this list. Please keep in mind the list
membership includes a wide range of political opinion, and some who
don't live in the US (including one Moderator). Our new statement of
faith ensures a fairly wide range of faith convictions, too. Don't post
material which openly attacks anyone on this list not holding your
personal perspective. If you can't discern when you are doing that, we
Moderators will help you. There simply is no way to make hard and fast
rules on such things. Obviously, you should observe copyrights,
permissions and such.

3. Messages clearly off-topic, yet possibly worthy and edifying, should
still be tagged to provide easy filtering for those who would like to
avoid reading such discussions. Those tags should be placed at the
front of your subject line:

  NI -- "News Items" Links to stories found on news sites. It would be
  best if you took a moment to post a simple comment with such links,
  pointing out why you find it relevant. You may include reasonable
  quotes from the story, but avoid full quotations without permission.
  It would be wise to create your subject line from that of the story.
  If you write an analysis of a story, it's not a simple news item, and
  needs no tag.

  PD -- "Political Discussion" This one should be obvious. For example,
  discussing the fate of modern Israel, a constant favorite, is
  politics. That is, unless the discussion is about Israeli use of Open
  Source, or focuses more on Bible passages. Lauding your favorite
  statesman as a Christian public figure is politics, as are most
  comments regarding moral legislation, regardless of country. On the
  other hand, news about oppression of Christians is probably not
  politics.

  TD -- "Theological Discussion" Most people love a good discussion or
  debate about faith issues, and those with no bearing on computer
  technology should be tagged. This one may be a tough call, as so very
  many things are not obviously off-topic. For example, some
  discussions of Bible passages are more about history than theology.
  In general, plain Bible discussions don't require tags.

In using these tags, you'll have to decide if the main thrust of your
original post is one or the other. Hopefully we will never need any
other tags. In the past, members unsure of something used a general tag
OT ("Off Topic"), and that is acceptable still.

4. Repetition is for children. Most adults have little appreciation for
obsessive rehashing of some topics. Don't be afraid to carry on an
intense debate off-list. Story duplicates are mildly annoying. Before
you post a link to that hot story from the "Technology Super Site,"
perform due diligence to see if it's already covered. The value in
adding your own comments about stories helps keep them from actually
being duplicates.


This is not a change in policy for this list. Instead, we are sending
this simply to clarify any confusion about the existing policies of
ChristianSource. We are here to assist in anyway we can, so again,
please contact us if you are ever in doubt about a post. The ideal way
to contact us is by sending an e-mail to Christiansource-owner at ofb.biz;
this will automatically distribute your question to all of the
moderators, thus allowing us to best address your question.
 
Thank-you for being a member of this list and for your understanding as
we strive to keep this list the friendly, useful and enjoyable
fellowship of Christian FOSS users that it has become.
 
Your Moderation Team,

   Tim Butler
   Eduardo Sanchez
   Don Parris
   Ed Hurst