Zon, Will these ‘recommendations’
become official at some point or are they just intended to be general ‘rules
of the road’? If these
recommendations become official will they be posted on the WEDI SNIP listserv
web page for reference? Thanks for
your efforts on this. Regards, David Frenkel Business Development GEFEG USA Global Leader in
Ecommerce Tools 425-260-5030 -----Original Message----- Aloha! (A) Some Notes on WEDI SNIP Transactions
Workgroup Listserv Usage We need to clarify the purpose and proper use of the
various listservs established to support the WEDI SNIP Transactions Workgroup
and its numerous subsidiaries. I have volunteered to write some
general guidelines and run them by the BI SWG so that we can get some
feedback on them during Tuesday's conference call. At this point, I will
describe them very informally. After discussion I can recast them in a
briefer and somewhat more prescriptive format. First, all listserv discussions are to be
understood to be the opinions of the participants, and not the positions or
recommendations of WEDI SNIP. Those wishing to receive a formal or official
response should submit their questions via the SNIP Issues Database (IDB)
process. In some instances, it might make sense to post a question to
the Transactions WG listserv for general discussion first, and only use
the IDB for critical items that cannot be adequately addressed in that forum. Next, we need to clarify that, within the
Transactions Workgroup, only the Transactions WG listserv is intended as an
open forum. Postings to all subordinate listservs should be relevant to
the specific activities and work products of those subgroups. [This is a
substantive clarification for me, and probably a helpful one as
well. I know that I have not understood it to work this way in the
past.] Postings to multiple listservs within this workgroup
are to be mildly discouraged, but not forbidden. Use your judgement on
this. The presumption is that all SWG and WPAG members are also members
of the Transactions WG listserv, so that a single posting there will reach
everyone within that WG who wants to hear about it. For example, both the
Transactions WG and the BI SWG listservs now have nearly 1,000 members, and
it's probably pretty much the same 1,000, so you shouldn't need to hit on both
of them at once. And people should also be able to follow a specific
issue, such as a single white paper development effort, without getting
inundated by messages on numerous other issues. Also give some thought as to whether a given posting
really needs to go to everyone on a listserv, or if it could just go to the person
you are responding to (e.g., the "I agree." or "Thanks!" or
the "But what about XYZ?", where only the answer would be of interest
to the whole group.). (B) Some Closing Thoughts on Listserv Etiquette Personal criticisms and venting of frustrations
("flaming") should be avoided, regardless of who is doing
it. Listserv discussions should be limited to defining the issues, and to
identifying both the merits and the weaknesses of various proposals for dealing
with them. They should not disparage or ridicule the opinions of
other participants. If your point isn't getting across, try a different
way of describing or expressing it. If people still don't "get
it", let go of it. Avoid lectures. If you feel that you simply must challenge someone's judgement
on a somewhat personal level, do so one on one, and not on one of the
listservs. And don't insist on a response; we should all have the
right to ignore things that we don't want to hear about. And, if you
think that you have been unduly abused or offended on one of our
listservs, complain to one of our cochairs, and not to the whole listserv. Finally, repeated and substantive transgressions
of these guidelines could result in the loss of listserv privileges.
We are all presumably adults, professionals, etc., and hopefully we will
never need to exercise this prerogative. But the effectiveness of a group
can be placed at risk when a few people make consistently poor choices in these
matters, and the affected group needs to have some way of dealing with that. So, what do you think? Does this stuff make
sense? What would you add or remove? And what else can we do to
improve the value and effectiveness of our listserv discussions? - Zon Owen - BI SWG Cochair (808)597-8493
To be removed from this list, go to: http://snip.wedi.org/unsubscribe.cfm?list=business and enter your email address. The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. Posting of advertisements or other commercial use of this listserv is specifically prohibited. |
- SNIP Listserv Usage & Etiquette Guidelines Zon Owen
- David Frenkel
