Goanet, the first and largest Goa-related mailing list, offers a unique platform for communication on issues pertinent to Goa and Goans worldwide. In order to maintain a high quality of dialogue and information-sharing, this decade-old network has established rules to encourage smooth and conflict- minimized interaction between members. The rules are outlined below.
If you subscribe to any of the Goanet mailing lists, it is your responsibility to review the rules and to follow them. By becoming a member of Goanet (signing up on the mailing list implies 'membership') you agree to abide by the rules. If you violate the rules, you are liable to action which may range from your post not being circulated via the list, to a reprimand, or even a suspension or termination of your membership, depending on the seriousness of the issue involved and/or the frequency of breaches. Please note that membership to this discussion group is provided free of charge. In the event any person soliciting a financial contribution for membership to the list approaches you, report the incident immediately to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note, however, that the Goanet administration does seek voluntary contributions to support and expand the network from time to time. Donations can be made using Paypal by clicking on the "Make a Donation" link at http://www.goanet.org. Volunteers are not paid for their services. RULES 1. Post material which is relevant to Goa and Goans. In the event that the volume of emails in a day is high, posts on topics directly pertinent to Goa and Goans and those of higher quality will be given a preference. 2. Do not use foul, offensive or abusive language. Maintain a level of decency and respect to fellow Goanetters at all times. Flame-baits and flame-wars will be rejected. Goanet will also reject all posts which are derogatory or offensive to any group based on gender, religion, caste, class, nationality, race or other such grounds. This does not mean that Goanet disallows discussion and debate on these issues; but all discussion should be conducted in a polite, non- derogatory and non-offensive manner. 3. Do not engage in personal attacks. This includes name-calling of any sort. Discussion should focus on the facts and ideas being discussed, and not the person posting the same. 4. Do not post spam. Goanet treats repeated postings, commercial posts, lengthy reposts of an original email, among other things, as spam. If you're replying to an email and quoting it, quote the minimum and trim the rest. Members will be limited to a maximum of four emails a day on the list. The moderators may relax this rule in the exceptional circumstance that more than four of a members posts are of a high quality and/or add an important perspective to a time-sensitive or on-going discussion. 5. Do not forward private emails to the list without permission from the author. 6. Do not forward copyrighted material to the list in a manner that could lead to objections from the copyright holder. Previously published material should cite the source of the same, and, in every possible case, the web site address where it is located. Goanet believes in giving authors full credit for their work. 7. Do not send attachments of any kind to the list. Emails to Goanet that contain attachments will be rejected. 8. Use your real name as the sender, not an alias. The Goanet Admin team reserves the right to ask members for proof of identity or contact details, if it has any reason to suspect their identity. Members suspected of using an alias may be suspended until satisfactory proof of identity is provided. 9. Use a meaningful and appropriate subject line for your posts to Goanet. Make sure it is concise and informative. When replying to an email do not change the subject line unless the topic of discussion has changed significantly from the original topic of discussion. This ensures continuity in the discussion thread. It also allows the archives to be sorted by thread. In case you need to change the subject line mid-way through a discussion, it should include the earlier subject-line as follows: Subject: New subject-line (Was: Old subject-line) Subject lines poking fun of others taking part in a debate, or having the possibility of acting as flame-baits, will be rejected. 10. Use plain text format only when sending messages to Goanet. Do not post messages in HTML or MIME formats, i.e. no bold, italics, colored text, etc. If you require assistance in this matter, please review the online tutorial on how to post in plain text at http://www.goanet.org Messages that are non-plain text are bound to be delayed or discarded altogether. 11. Do not post lengthy articles from other web sites in their entirety. When you wish to draw attention to a lengthy article on another web site, post a brief description of what you would like to communicate and include the web site address. 12. Do not post advertisements. Commercial postings have to be paid for if circulated via Goanet. Goanet treats repeated mention of a product or service, more so if you have some commercial stake in the same, as commercial postings. If you have any doubts about whether your post could be treated as a commercial posting, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Signature files should not contain advertisements. They should be brief, and to the point, and in no case more than three lines in length. Goanet accepts paid commercials, the funds of which go to support this non- profit, volunteer-driven network. For more details about advertising, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] 13. If a discussion on a particular subject or "thread" is closed, do not insist on continuing a debate on the subject. Every effort will be made to keep discussions democratic, free and open. But, when a topic goes on endlessly in circles or threatens to transgress decent debate, or for any similar reasons, the Admin Team will declare that discussion "closed." Closed subjects are not allowed to be reopened by switching subject lines and then returning to the original theme. Goanet's intention in closing threads is not to avoid discussions on certain subjects, or ignore certain points of view, but rather to ensure that any subject does not drag on inordinately, causing a loss of readership interest and a decline in the quality of discussions. 14. Do not post administrative requests to the lists. Administrative requests (such as requests to unsubscribe, subscribe, change the subscription address, feedback to the admin team, etc.) should be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] 15. If you face a problem with another member, or their postings, please bring your grievance to the Goanet Administration rather than to the list. The decision of the Goanet Admin Team in all matters related to the interpretation and enforcement of the rules is final. Goanet's Admin Team takes it on as its responsibility to encourage quality dialogue and information-sharing on all issues directly pertinent to Goa and Goans in a free and fair manner. Our goal is to contribute significantly to the creation of social capital that serves Goa and its diaspora, regardless of whether they are connected with Goanet or not. Goanet was set up with the purpose of acting as a channel for communication among Goans and people interested in Goa, and we will work to ensure this happens efficiently. As such, the Admin Team may choose to relax certain rules to accommodate some discussions - without fear or favor -- which it sees to be in the interest of Goa and Goans worldwide, or of readership interest on the list. However, this is not to be treated as a precedent to argue for a relaxation of the rules in other cases. Please note that it is impossible for the Goanet Admin team to verify the accuracy of all the information posted on its web site and mailing lists. Goanet, therefore, take no responsibility for the information provided on its web site from outside sources or from members posting information on the mailing lists. All posters take the responsibility for the content which they provide to the mailing list and website. TIPS A. Use a "smiley" to indicate a light-hearted comment, e.g. =) :-) B^) See http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Visual_Arts/ASCII_Art/Smileys/ B. New members are requested to carefully observe how the list works or check out the archives before posting. The Goanet archives can be accessed at http://www.goanet.org C. Pay attention to where your reply is going -- do you really want the entire list to receive your message, or would you rather limit the audience? D. Post content (discussion, comments, questions, news, articles) that could be of wider relevance to Goa and Goans worldwide. E. Post a brief profile of yourself to the list as soon as possible after joining. F. Goanet accepts posts in English (the main language for discussion), Konkani, Portuguese (limited) and any language that a significant section of Goanetters might use or understand. Currently, we are able to process only Roman-script posts. Members are requested to write in a simple, unambiguous language that can be easily comprehended by others on the list. G. If you have problems with the volume of mail on the main Goanet mailing list, shift to Goanet-Digest. You will receive one to four e-mails a day, depending on the lists activity, which include unabridged posts on Goanet but batched together. To shift over to Goanet-Digest send in a request to goanet- [EMAIL PROTECTED] WE NEED YOUR HELP! A. Publicize the existence of Goanet's mailing lists and web site. Share Goanet emails and copies of Goanet News Bytes with your friends and family. Urge them to sign up for a free subscription. You can also link to us from your website. Goanet encourages non-commercial reproduction of its content. If you would like to reproduce our content on a regular basis, contact goanet- [EMAIL PROTECTED] B. Volunteer with us. Goanet is a non-profit volunteer-driven organization that provides a valuable public service. Goanet News Bytes, in particular, needs volunteers to keep track of Goa-related news and events in the Goan world and cyberspace. Volunteer to help in running and ensuring growth for Goanet's ventures - including its Cybermatrimonials, recipes section, birthday and anniversary greetings, etc. You are also welcome to come up with new suggestions that would make Goanet more popular among a wider section of readers, including youth. C. Advertise on Goanet. The money collected from advertisements goes specifically towards the maintenance and growth of Goanet. Volunteers are not paid for their services. D. Encourage the newer and silent members to participate in discussions on Goanet. F. Send us the email addresses of people who might be interested in joining Goanet. We will send them a trial subscription (without charge or obligation), which they are free to continue or discontinue after evaluation. G. Send us your feedback! Your feedback is important to us. We appreciate all comments, complaints and bouquets. You can reach us at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] GOANET ADMINISTRATION TEAM Herman Carneiro, Boston, MA, USA Frederick "FN" Noronha, Goa, India Viviana Coelho, San Francisco, CA, USA Bosco D'Mello, Toronto, Canada
