Cob: Coblist Kahuna is back and cranky

[Shannon C. Dealy]

Well, I've been rather busy lately (doing something stupid: building
with cob, in winter, in a wet climate) and have been letting the list do
it's own thing, unfortunately, it's own thing has been to degenerate into
off topic posts and assorted other offenses, so here I go again:

1 - PLEASE keep it on topic, this means if the essense of your posting is
    "I agree" or "I disagree" with no other real information, send it
    privately to the person rather than posting it to the list.  It also
    means if it is a conversational post or not specifically cob related,
    it should also be sent privately rather than to the list.

2 - BE POLITE, even if you think the person is completely wrong,
    ignorant, arrogant, stupid, or whatever you find to be unacceptable
    about them or their posting to the list.  If you can't find it in you
    to be polite, than at least show some consideration for the rest of
    the list and send the email to them privately.

3 - If someone on the list responds to you privately in an obnoxious
    manner, please keep your response to them private as well, or better
    yet, just ignore them.  In other words, keep the argument off the
    list.

I have included below, selected sections from the current coblist
policies which all of you have received previously, and at least some of
you would do well to review.  The full list policies are available at:

    http://www.deatech.com/natural/coblist/coblist.info.txt

If you have any questions or comments about this message, please email me
privately, NOT on the list.

Shannon C. Dealy      |               DeaTech Research Inc.
dealy at deatech.com     |          - Custom Software Development -
                      |    Embedded Systems, Real-time, Device Drivers
Phone: (800) 467-5820 | Networking, Scientific & Engineering Applications
   or: (541) 451-5177 |                  www.deatech.com


=== SELECTED LIST POLICIES ====

[snip]
2 - This list is not a democracy, it is a (mostly :-) benevolent dictatorship.
    If you don't like the policies of the list, send a private message to
    owner-coblist at deatech.com to voice your concerns, not to the list.
    On occasion I have made adjustments in the list policies where I
    felt the person's concerns were valid, but none of the policies were
    created in a vacuum, they are the result of hard learned lessons and
    are not likely to change.
[snip]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
9 - POSTING POLICIES:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic list posting policy:

Do whatever you like until it irritates me, then I will tell you to do
something else.  If you ignore me after being warned then I kick you off
the list.  Sorry if some of you want a more cut and dried answer, but
this is how I manage the list.  If you wish to avoid irritating me, all
that is really necessary is to show consideration for others on the list
by considering ALL the consequences of your actions.  In order to aid
those of you who are newbies or who for whatever reason haven't picked up
on the basics of being a polite member of a mailing list, I will try to
spell out in gory detail what I mean by this and why.

1 - When responding to a posting by someone else, remove from your reply,
    all portions of their posting that you are not responding to, and
    make note of where the deletions occurred using "[snip]" or a similar
    notation.  It may be necessary to have multiple "[snip]" marks if you
    are responding to several different points and interleaving your
    responses with their messages.  This is particularly important for
    people who subscribe to the digest version.
[snip]

2 - Keep your postings on topic.  This does not mean you can't discuss
    anything other than the specific topic, but it does mean there should
    be a DIRECT connection with the list topic.  In other words, for
    the coblist it is appropriate to discuss any aspect of house building
    as it pertains to cob, as well as any other possible uses of cob.
    Examples of appropriate cob discussion would be:  Cob ovens, cob
    furniture, cob sculpture, how to make cob, plasters, foundations,
    floor systems, roofs, attaching cob to other materials such as
    strawbale, related earth building techniques such as rammed earth,
    design of buildings using a mix of techniques including cob, etc.
    Inappropriate postings would include how to feed the world, what is
    wrong with our government (except of course where it pertains to
    buildings, permits and approvals), and any other topic which does
    not pertain to creating buildings using earth and straw or other fiber.
[snip]

4 - Viruses and other warnings - it doesn't matter how dire the warning,
    or how reliable the source, virtually all virus warnings passed around
    the internet are hoaxes, and even for those that aren't, the coblist
    is not an appropriate place to post them.  If you think that your
    computer sent a virus to the coblist, or that you have received a virus
    from the list, please send a message to: owner-coblist at deatech.com
    NOT the list.  I will take any appropriate actions.
[snip]