These guidelines were developed and approved by the AMPPR Board (March, 1999) to clarify what is and is not appropriate for subscribers to post to the AMPPR ListServ. They have been prompted by concerns expressed to the board about the content and volume of posts by some individuals. The ListServ moderator will attempt to be fair and interpret these guidelines broadly. However, flagrant abusers of the rules will be removed from the ListServ. We respectfully request your cooperation in the following these guidelines. 

     Credit where credit is due: these guidelines are substantially, and occasionally, literally, based on PUBRADIO's rules for posting. 

            Guidelines for Posting to the AMPPR ListServ

          1. Please observe a limit of two postings per day per participant (the AMPPR ListServ is not a chat room!) 

          2. Try to keep the length of your posting as short as possible.  When you reply to message do not include the entire messages you responding to in your posting.  It is far more useful to quote only the essential elements of the original message or briefly restate the points you are responding to. 

          3.  Do not use REPLY to respond to a posted message unless it is intended to be posted to the AMPPR ListServ.  Remember,  REPLY sends mail to everyone on the ListServ (it's very easy it to get caught on this.)  Instead, use your mailer program to send a direct e-mail message to that person. 

          4.  If you feel you must flame someone, do not do it on the AMPPR ListServ. This rule is not meant to squelch legitimate, sometimes heated discussion.  It is meant to discourage publicly waged attacks. 

          5.  Avoid attachments. Attachments are frowned upon on all ListServs.  Attachments also can and do carry potentially harmful viruses (witness the most recent outbreak of the Melissa Virus.) 
          You should not send anything to the AMPPR ListServ that existed as a word processing document--UNLESS you FIRST convert it to plain ASCII text. In most cases, you can simply cut and paste from your original document to your e-mail message. If you have any questions, please contact your local network administrator.  Do not use your browser to send e-mail (HTML script is embedded in the message that looks like garbage to most of us.) 

          6.  Promotions or solicitations of recordings, programs, or other materials by anyone who has a vested interest in those items are prohibited. If you are rolling out a program, please use theDACS. If you are a record company representative, please contact individuals directly with announcements of future releases, reviews, etc. It is acceptable to make announcements about premiums if those premiums are available to all subscribers associated with a public radio station. 
          Vendors may respond to queries made by ListServ subscribers about specific products. Program producers may solicit comments about their programs. 

          7.  Job announcements for positions in public radio are acceptable. We encourage users to include detailed job descriptions and salary ranges whenever possible. However, announcements for specific positions should not be posted to the ListServ more than once in any seven day period. 

          8.  Posting of copyrighted material is prohibited. Do not post clippings from the New York Times or other copyrighted publications. Instead, provide a web link in your message, along with a summary of the article's content. 

          Thanks in advance for your cooperation and attention to these items. 

© 1999-2005 Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio

Updated 06/16/05