Contents

• List Privacy
• Book/Article Writing
• Posting guidelines
• What's that "[AS]" in every post's subject line?
• Surveys
• Virus Warnings, Hoaxes, Etc.
• Whitelisting
• Reporting Spam
  

Posting to Asperger

Before clicking on reply-to-all or the list address, think about whether your post will benefit many subscribers, only the person you are responding to, or needs to be seen only by the listowners, and send it according:

If your message will benefit many on the list, send it to the list. Use "reply all " and remove the sender's address.

If your response will be of interest mainly to the person you are responding to, use "reply".

If your message only needs to be seen by the listowners, send it to asperger-request@listserv.icors.org.

Please do not respond on the list to mail that was sent privately to you. There are several ways to tell if the post was sent from the list or privately:

On most readers Reply and Reply-all will bring up both the list address and the sender address. If only the sender's address comes up the post was probably private.

List posts will have a 'banner' on the top and bottom of the post. The bottom banner will start with: "Subscription changes, FAQ, Posting Guidelines, more!" and have the address of our support site in it. A post sent privately will never, ever have that banner unless it has been quoted by the sender.

A person sending something privately might remove the [AS] in the header. But they might not, so this is only a way to tell if the post once did come through the list. However, if it isn't there then the post came privately.

A sender might use the extra step of putting 'PRIVATE' in the header or on the first line of the mail.

Another way to be sure that mail comes from the list and not privately is to use filters, and filter all list mail into a separate folder.

For this, do *not* set your filter by the subject line. Instead, use the
"To" line, and the filter is the list address -- ASPERGER@listserv.icors.org. All mail sent from the list will have this (it may not display on your headers, but it is there).

The most important thing to do is pay attention. People who have been burned by others carelessly posting their private details to the list may be very reluctant to respond the next time someone needs help. Look at what was sent to you. Is it likely that the sender wanted personal details posted and archived?

Please use the same care and consideration for others that you want them to use for you.

Moderated lists have expected social behavior. This was written to help you understand these rules or behavior, known as "netiquette." These are some of the rules.

List Privacy

Anything sent to the list (with the exception of jokes that have already been forwarded all over the Internet) is considered private and is not to be shared with non-listmembers without obtaining the consent of everyone quoted or referred to in that post. No posts may be sent to another list or shared off the list unless everyone referred to the in post, whether directly or indirectly, gives permission.

This is to protect your privacy, as well as that of everyone else on the list. Members may not feel safe about posting if they feel their posts or their situations may be used outside of the list. If you have explicit permission from everyone quoted or referred to (even if only their situation is discussed) to forward posts, remove all identifying list headers before passing them on.

If someone writes to you privately, that post is not to be forwarded or replied to on the list without permission from the author. Willful violation of the privacy guidelines is grounds for removal from the list.

Book/Article Writing

While we (the listowners) agree that the word needs to be spread about AS, our first and foremost concern is that our listmembers feel and are completely safe in divulging their thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc. here without worry that their words will be taken off the list. We will therefore prohibit anyone from using the list archives to search for any material, regardless of whether the author of the desired post has been contacted about its use outside of the list. We do not want members to feel inhibited about posting for fear that they will later be asked to grant permission for their words to be used elsewhere. Should a member of this list be looking for contributions to a literary work, they are encouraged to contact listmembers that they feel might be interested by private e-mail. A one-time post to the list as a whole requesting that interested contributors respond by private e-mail will be accepted but is discouraged if sufficient information can be gained by private posts.

Posting Guidelines

It is fine to disagree with what someone has written, but personal attacks are out. There is a big difference between writing:

"I disagree with what you are doing because..."

...and...

"You are such a jerk and a worthless human being to have written..."

Sending abusive, threatening, or flame mail to the list or privately to list members will result in the subscription being set to NOMAIL NOPOST while the incident is sorted out. If it is determined that the person subscribed or someone in their household was at fault, their subscription will be removed from the list. If you receive mail you feel fits this category, *forward* it WITH ALL HEADERS INTACT to the listowners at asperger-request@listserv.icors.org. We cannot do anything without a full copy of the headers.

Think before you speak (lurk before you post)

If you don't, the readers may think you are stupid and/or thoughtless, not to mention all kinds of other bad things. When you first join Asperger, read a few days worth of posts. Get a sense of who the people are. If possible, search the archives (instructions are in the FAQ) to see if your questions have already been answered in the past. If not, then go ahead and post.

Respect the Culture

Poor manners are not respected on the list. Always be civil, don't use profanity. Don't be lewd, abrasive, argumentative, or rude.

Stay on Topic

The majority of posts sent should be on topic. While a small number of off-topic posts (jokes, other family situations) are permitted, these should be kept to a minimum as we have lost many members because of the list volume and the large number of off-topic and "me too" type posts.

We have also used up way too much of Maelstrom's archive space; our older archives have been off-loaded and are not as readily accessible.

When sending an off-topic post to the list, please label it as OT, off-topic, or joke so the people who do not wish to read them can skip over them.

Look your best

Without visual cues, people will view your grammar, spelling, and punctuation just as people view your attire and cleanliness. Be sure your text is clear and logical. It's possible to write a paragraph that contains no errors in grammar or spelling, but still makes no sense. That's why many people prefer to compose offline. If you have language difficulties, compose offline and use your word processor's spell/grammar checker. If English is not your first language, do your best. Other members will respect your efforts. Above all, proofread!

Standards

Adhere to the same high standards (or higher) of behavior online that you follow in real life. In real life, mostpeople are fairly polite and law abiding. The same rules of behavior are expected in Asperger.

Religion

As a list, we represent possibly every major religion, and quite a few minor ones. Some listmembers from minority religions feel threatened and unwelcome when the list takes a decidedly religious slant. For that reason we ask that religious discussions take place off of the list, other than posts about reaching a major religious milestone or how to get a child to behave during religious services.

Politics

We also represent possibly every political party and potential candidate. Legislation that affects children and adults on the autism spectrum is an appropriate topic for the list. But campaigning for specific politicians or ideologies is not.

Solicitations
Do not send requests for people to buy merchandise from you or contribute to your causes. If you are participating in a fundraiser you may mention that and give a link to a site with more information -- and the people who are interested enough to check that out can see the request for donations there.

No @#$%^&@*$#%^ Profanity

Asperger is not your personal toilet. Many people are offended by swearing. If you feel that cursing in some form is required, it's preferable to use amusing euphemisms like "effing" and "sugar." You may also use the classic asterisk filler -- for example, s***. And everyone will know exactly what you mean.

Don't use obscure "insider" abbreviations or obscure smilies.

Most people know:

• IMHO - in my humble opinion
• AFAIK - as far as I know
• LOL - laughing out loud
• ROTFL - rolling on the floor laughing
• OT - off topic
• BTW - by the way
• IIRC - if I remember correctly
• FWIW - for what it's worth
• :-) - smile
• :-( - frown
• - grin
• - very big grin

Many abbreviations common to special education and/or the list are defined at this site; just click the "Abbreviations" button to your left.

Attachments and formatting

Do not send attachments to the list unless they are in plain text (.txt). Many people cannot receive them properly, and they have been known to crash some mail programs.

Send messages in plain text. Turn off HTML, rich-text, and anything else on your reader. Many listmembers have readers that cannot handle these formats and a two-line message becomes 30 lines of garbage. It also takes up more room in our rapidly decreasing archive space. Please see http://www.expita.com/nomime.html for information on how to send plain text from different software programs.

In an effort to keep out some of the nastier email viruses, we have a line limit of 125. If your post is longer than that you will need to split it into two or more parts. If a post that is well under 125 lines is sent back by the listserv for being too long, then you may have a virus.

Use both upper and lower case in your posts. Typing in only one case is difficult to read. All uppercase, in particular, IS GENERALLY READ AS SHOUTING. See? In addition, paragraph breaks in long posts can make them much easier to read. Imagine trying to read this FAQ without spaces between paragraphs :-).

Watch those margins! The maximum number for the right margin is 72. Otherwise, text wi

ll "wrap" at the end of the line and your post will resemble this one.

Annoying, isn't it? If you can't set the margin, setting the font to Courier New 12 or 13 pt should do the job.

Cross posting

Do not cross post, X-to:, or cc: messages sent to the list to other lists or non-listmembers. Send separate copies if you want the info to appear on other lists.

Replies, Quoting and "Me, too"

Reduce quoting to the absolute minimum to get the meaning of the post across. Quoting a 20-line post and adding only "I agree" serves only to take up more space in the archives and clog listmembers' mailboxes. Do quote enough so that people know what you are referring to, and delete the rest. Keep the quotes under 5 lines. Do not forward posts unless you can delete all header and forwarding information first. If you can't edit a forwarded post, create a new post and paste the information there. And think carefully about whether your response needs to be seen by the hundreds of people subscribed to Asperger. "I agree", "Congratulations", and "My sympathies" type posts, as well as others that add no new information to the discussion, should be sent privately. If you like someone else's post, compliment them via private email. Because space is at a premium, we have been asked by our hosts to set subscribers to review if they are unable or unwilling to edit their posts.

It is bad netiquette, for example, to quote a 50 line message with only a few words of original text. It is also bad form to fail to quote a message on which you are commenting. We realize that there are some systems where the only option is to quote all of the post (including headers, which tend to really mess up the listserv software and then bounce) or none of the post. In that case, don't quote, but do include something like:

"In response to Jane Doe's post about getting OT services for her 6 year old son, I feel that..."

Sig files and personal info

Also in the interests of space, whittle down large sig files. There is no reason to post a sig file of more than three lines to the list, especially if you post frequently. And, in the interests of your own safety, don't post info such as addresses and phone numbers to the list. Everything is archived, and someone may pull this info with less than noble intentions.

Don't publicly post questions to the listowners

It's okay and even encouraged to ask the moderators questions. It is not okay to post these questions to the list. Use private email to the listowners' address -- asperger-request@listserv.icors.org. If you are having technical problems with the list (unable to post, problems executing listserv commands, etc.) it is essential that we receive a copy of what you sent to the listserv, and the response (if any) from the listserv. It is extremely difficult to figure out what is going on without a copy of the problem post(s).

Don't harass the listowners

Each of us puts in a lot of time to add new members, execute list commands, keep the list running smoothly, and help out listmembers. We receive no compensation other than the occasional thanks for the work we do. We have to abide by the guidelines of our hosts at ICORS -- who have generously donated the space and resources that make this list possible. You may not like having to follow the rules, but it is important that you do so if we are to keep these resources available for others. If you've failed to follow the posting guidelines, you may receive a message letting you know what happened -- and how to prevent it in the future. This is not a personal attack branding you as an unworthy list participant. Please take it in the spirit intended, and do not attack the listowner who has sent the reminder.

If you have a problem with the way the list is run take it up with the listowners. Do not go to ICORS (our hosts) unless you feel that the Terms of Service at http://www.icors.net/tos are being violated. Under no circumstances should you contact L-Soft, which has generously donated the hardware, space, and software to run the ICORS lists, and should not have to spend their time dealing with ICORS subscriber issues. Should you do so, you may find that you have been removed from all ICORS lists, and blocked from resubscribing.

Asperger is a part of ICORS -- http://www.icors.net, and is being hosted by L-Soft -- http://www.lsoft.com. You do not have to pay anything to participate in this list. However, if you are so moved, ICORS welcomes donations to cover the costs of running these services.

What is that [AS] that I see on every post? And should I be putting it in my posts?

The Listserv automatically inserts a [AS] in the subject line of all new posts to the list. If the post is a reply, and already has the [AS], the Listserv will not add another one. If someone manually adds the [AS], the Listserv will add another one. In other words, don't do anything. The Listserv takes care of this for you.

Surveys

If you are planning to survey the list regarding a particular topic (e.g. "How many people have used method/med X and what effects have you seen with it?"), ask that responses be directed to you privately. Then, when you have tallied the responses, post the results to the list so that others who are interested can also benefit from the information. If you are responding to a survey question, send your response only to the person taking the survey, not to the entire list (in other words, don't use "reply to all").

Virus Warnings, Hoaxes, Etc.

If you receive one of those warnings, prayer messages, Disney passes, whatever, messages that have been forwarded all over the internet, do not pass them on to the list. More detailed info on checking out hoaxes is found in the FAQ, but you can take care of it easily by using the following service. When pleas to forward hoaxes arrive in your mail box, you can redirect the email message to hoaxkill@hoaxkill.com.

The website is at http://www.hoaxkill.com.

This is a free service offered by Oxcart Software. If a well-meaning person sends you a hoax alert, you can forward it to a special address at hoaxkill.com. An automated service will identify all the individuals who received the alert and will reply to each one of them with information about hoaxes.

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Whitelisting

Anyone who uses a whitelist (a spam filter where posters must confirm that they are not spammers before you will receive their mail) to filter their mail must set their Asperger subscription to DIGEST or INDEX. It is not fair to expect everyone who posts to the list to have to confirm that they are not a spammer. Also, please be aware that you will miss many private replies when people don't want to jump through hoops to contact you.

Whitelisting is not a recommended way of filtering mail when people are subscribed to large lists. It places too much of a burden on other members.

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Reporting spam

NEVER report ANY list message traffic as 'spam' to anyone and most especially NEVER to your mail provider.  If you feel you must report it, report it to a listowner, and we will deal with the sender.

All the larger ISPs use a scoring method and look very closely at user complaints.  As few as 3 complaints from the sum total of all subscribers (thousands) of all ICORS lists can cause our IP address to get blacklisted.  So, do NOT to use the handy 'report as spam' button for List Message traffic.  It's OK for other mail but not List Messages. Please configure your mail client to automatically route all list emails to a separate folder so they know what mail is list messages and what is not.

Mail from the list will always have:

Reply-to: ASPERGER@LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG

so that is a good thing to filter on. It will also have [AS] in the subject line, unless you have changed your settings. You should also filter anything from LISTSERV@LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG to the same folder. Confirmation messages will come from that address.

Listowners are willing to help anyone who needs help setting this up.

One thing that those of you who are still subscribed under addresses that use MAPS spam services (Comcast, Road Runner, Optionline, Adelphia) need to be aware of is that confirmation messages are still being sent under an IP address that MAPS has blacklisted. The reason it was blacklisted was because confirmation messages -- implemented to prevent spammers from subscribing and from posting to the listowner address -- were being sent to the invalid spammer addresses, so you really can't win. Any IP address that is sending those confirmation messages will be blacklisted, so there is no point in changing it. The result is that if you write to the  listowners at asperger-request@listserv.icors.org, you will not receive a confirmation message, and the message will not be delivered.

While I generally prefer to have subscribers write to asperger-request if they need help with their subscription -- I have been known to take weekend camping trips without internet access -- if you use one of the above IP addresses it is better to write directly to one of the listowners.

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Thank you for your attention to this.

Karen Reznek
co-listowner, Asperger
Keeper of the FAQ