And you need to bear in mind that the rules, silly or not, are probably mandated by state law in this case. Dan's suggestion about the automated FAQ sent to new subscribers is a good starting point, and Mike's reminder (or one like it) when there is an occasional breach of conduct is perfectly appropriate.
Has this thread run its course? Regards, Richard Schuh > -----Original Message----- > From: The IBM z/VM Operating System > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of IBMVM Moderator > Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 9:18 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Moderator comment Re: [IBMVM] z/VM/ Linux Systems > Programmer Opportunity ... > > It's not just an issue of narrow-minded corporate management > on theoretical remote systems. Please bear in mind that we > are hosted, for free, by a state-run, tax-supported > institution. For better or ill, UARK has a long-standing > policy about not using their infrastructure for that type of > traffic. It happens rarely enough that the occasional > "trivial, though potentially conspicuous" breach of protocol > hasn't caused us any grief. I am, understandably, motivated > to ensure that it does not become a point of pain for our > gracious hosts. > > I don't pretend to understand why the rules are there, nor do > I care to engage in debate on the topic. It's UARK's > hardware, their network, and their rules. Silly-seeming > policies at third-party organizations are my favorite kind of > problem: Problems for other people. > > Admittedly, this isn't necessarily clear at present to "drive-by" > subscribers like the individual who posted the announcement. > It's not feasible to put the list on full moderation. I > don't have the bandwidth available to eyeball-inspect every > single post and bounce the rare exceptional case back to the sender. > > However, here's what I *can* do: Another list hosted by U. > Arkansas (SAG-L -- Software AG products discussion) has a > long-standing FAQ which includes policy statements regarding > this sort of posting. I'm acquainted with the list owner, > and will obtain his permission to grab a copy of that FAQ as > a starting template -- and then I'll file off the serial > numbers, strip out the stuff that's specific to ADABAS / > NATURAL / etc, and adapt the rest for use on IBMVM. While I > can't force anybody to actually *read* it, LISTSERV provides > a way to deliver an FAQ to all new subscribers. > > Interested parties are welcome to send me suggestions for > VM-specific FAQ items - but please bear in mind that much of > the heavy lifting on this matter is already addressed via > http://www.vm.ibm.com, and it seems pointless to duplicate > the resources already available there. > > -dan. >
