Frambors Posting FAQ

Welcome! FRAMBORS is intended to be a friendly, medium-traffic list about information relevant to the residents of Framingham, Mass. Discussion has ranged from politics to restaurants to schools to questions about home repair. The list is a privately-owned forum for residents, neighbors and friends of the town of Framingham, Mass operated by community volunteers. It is not affiliated with the Town of Framingham.

How do I post a message to FRAMBORS?

1. ONLY SUBSCRIBERS CAN POST TO FRAMBORS: To subscribe, go to this link and answer the questions. You will have a confirmation emailed to you. You must respond to the confirmation for your subscription to be completed.(If you subscribe from one address but want the option to post from another, let us know and we can set up an "alias" that will allow that to happen.)

2. STARTING A NEW TOPIC: To start a new topic, simply compose a message and send it to frambors@syslang.net. (If you are not logged in, then know that AT=@ and DOT =. in the e-mail address. Formatting it this way helps prevent the address from being harvested by automated "spambots" for spammers).

   1. Write your post and sign your full name (and title, if appropriate) in the body of your post.

   2. Your subject line should describe in some detail what is in your post. Subject lines are valuable in helping people figure out which posts to read and which posts to ignore.
3. REPLYING TO A POST ON THE LIST:
   1. Preserve the original subject line (Hitting Reply or Reply All is the easiest way to do this if you subscribe to individual messages)

   2. Make sure that frambors@syslang.net is in the "To:" line.

   3. Remove the sender and individuals from the To: line* so they do not receive duplicate copies of the same message.
   4. Delete the header and footer from the previous message, (Otherwise, your message will automatically be sent back to you by the list management software with an explanation why.)

   5. Minimize quoted text from the previous post, leaving ONLY the point you are addressing, and ONLY if it is needed. Most of the time, no quoted text is best.

   6. Write your reply.

   7. Sign your full name (and title, if appropriate)in the body of your post.

What are the general posting requirements for FRAMBORS?

1. SIGN YOUR FIRST AND LAST NAME IN THE BODY OF YOUR MESSAGE. It is mandatory. Your message may have your full name in your From line, but not everyone can see it unless it is in the body of the message. In addition to making your identity known, we also ask that you identify your title as it is relevant to the discussion. For example, you might hold multiple positions, but one of those might be more relevant to what you are discussing. In such a case, please state at least the most relevant position. If you have a financial or personal interest in a topic being discussed, it is considered good etiquette to disclose that interest if you choose to post on that topic. For example, if you or a member of your immediate family were employed by the town, and the topic related to that department, it is better to state that in your post. If you had a financial interest or contract in a developer that was being discussed, it is better that you say so. If you sit on the Board of a non-profit that is a subject of discussion, say so. Etc.

2. KEEP POSTS RELEVANT TO FRAMINGHAM:
   1. Are you asking for general advice on a topic that isn't specific to Framingham? Are you asking something that you could easily Google instead (like "best dishwasher" or "dog breeds")? If you are, it probably doesn't belong on this list.
   2. Please do not post on issues that are being debated primarily at the state or national level, rather than the local level (e.g. immigration, income taxes, state and federal education policies, abortion, global warming, etc.)

   3. Do not forward virus warnings to the list. They almost always cause more confusion than clarity.

   4. Avoid complaints about the civility of posts and commentary about list operation and/or policies. These issues should either go to the list operators frambors-owner <frambors-owner AT syslang DOT net> rather than frambors.

3. PLEASE POST SUBSTANTIVELY AND THOUGHTFULLY: Most people of the 1700+ subscribers are too busy to read all the posts on this list, and we need to respect each others' time when posting.

   1. Avoid sending personal replies, thank you's, one-liners and things that do not contribute to substantive discussion to the list.
   2. If someone expresses an opinion, then amplify on why you agree or do not agree. Posts which are not more than simple agreements even have a name. We call them MEETOOs
   3. If you have multiple related messages that you want to send out, please consolidate whenever possible.
4. MINIMIZE QUOTED TEXT: Please take an extra few seconds to edit the amount of quoted material down to the bare minimum so that your reply will make sense. Often this is nothing at all, or only a small snippet. This is a courtesy to those who subscribe to the digest version of the list, where one long reply thread might fill a whole digest message.
5. PLEASE COMMENT ON ANY LINKS: Do not post a link to a web page without explanation of what it is, how it relates to issues in Framingham and why you are sharing it with the list.
6. POST LINKS TO WEB PAGES, NOT THEIR ACTUAL CONTENT: Never post the text of an article if you can post a link instead. Think of it as being kind to our mail server and respectful of other people's copyrights.

7. KEEP IT CIVIL: (Click here for more details on civility rules and enforcement.)

   1. Issues, not people, are to be the subject of the debate. Personal attacks, including insults, name-calling and unfounded accusations (especially with respect to legal and ethical violations), are not allowed on the list about anybody at any time. Posts should not attack or question the unstated motivations or character of another person.
   2. Insulting characterizations of groups of people, (such as immigrants, opponents of illegal immigration, social service clients, those who oppose social service expansion, legislators, members of a town board...) are not permitted.

   3. Personal attacks are also not allowed off-list (a.k.a flames) in response to a post. Contacting someone off-list about a post after they have made a personal request that you not contact them anymore, or contacting someone anonymously off-list is also prohibited. LET US KNOW IF THIS HAPPENS TO YOU. WE CAN ONLY HELP IF YOU TELL US. How to make a complaint

8. REPLY TO THE POSTER ONLY, NOT TO THE LIST, IF EITHER THE POST YOU ARE RESPONDING TO OR YOUR RESPONSE INVOLVES:
   1. Selling or giving away stuff
   2. Advice on narrow topics not likely to be of general interest to the list and not likely to result in recommendations for local businesses
   3. Political topics that are not primarily related to Town Government, but at the state, national, or international level.
   4. Long, heated arguments with one or two other people.
   5. Highly technical discussions about computers, networking, and the Internet.

What other posting guidelines are relevant to FRAMBORS?

Why do my posts show up without bold, underlining, pictures, and attachments?

FORMATTING (Bold, Underline, etc), PICTURES OR ATTACHMENTS ARE REMOVED AUTOMATICALLY all posts automatically by the list management software. You may see formatting translated to something that you might not have intended. (Usually, that can be a question mark.) Composing your message in a word processor can have the same effect.

The list software filters out all the formatting and delivers only the plain text part of your message. This keeps the digest version from becoming cluttered with HTML, and prevents viruses from being transmitted via the list. When you compose your messages using characters that do not map to plain text, the translated result is often difficult to read.

If you want to know in advance exactly what it will look like before you send it, your best bet is to configure your mailer so that it just sends plain text. and the list management software will sometimes add random characters to your post.

Can I post an e-mail from someone else to the list?

DO NOT REPOST A MESSAGE YOU RECEIVED PRIVATELY UNLESS IT IS SIGNED AND YOU HAVE THE AUTHOR'S PERMISSION: For the purpose of this guideline, private means not posted to these lists. Exceptions to this rule include e-mails from public officials in response to inquiries about issues, or e-mails that have had broad distribution in other venues other than frambors.

What are the rules about publishing posts to FRAMBORS to other sites?

DO NOT REPOST A POSTING IN ANOTHER FORUM OR WEBSITE: Do not publish a list posting in a public location, such as a website or online forum, whether signed or unsigned, whether copied privately to you or not, without the author's permission. Note that forwarding a list message via private e-mail without the author's permission is okay, though it is considered good e-mail etiquette to ask first.

What are the special rules for the press about citing from FRAMBORS?

FRAMBORS is run for the express purpose of building community. As such, it is important for people in the community to learn of the existence of these lists. Therefore, it is important for newspaper articles to explicitly provide the following URL when making reference to these lists so that more people can know to subscribe. The required text is either

• http://frambors.syslang.net or frambors.syslang.net

with preference to the first form.

There are regular references to frambors in newspaper articles and it is important that when those references occur they explicitly provide the necessary information instead of referring to, for example, "a local email loop", or "a local Framingham mailinglist".

Your cooperation is both expected and appreciated.

What are the special rules in force for elections?

The public is allowed to ask questions of the candidates, and, of course, the candidates are allowed and encouraged to answer. If a question is not answered by a candidate, the same question may not be repeated. Consider it asked and answered. Candidates and the public are allowed to make political announcements. Examples of things that are of an announcement nature might be "I am running", "I am holding a fundraiser", or "I have a website to provide information". Whenever possible, the operator of FRAMBORS will provide hosting for anyone's webpage if they do not have access of their own facilities. This is what the wiki is for and we even have a CampaignTemplate created to help get you started.

All messages that refer to a candidate's name will trap for review by the moderating team when during campaign season. Such posts by and about candidates will be reviewed before going to the FRAMBORS to ensure that they do not contain either campaigning or endorsements according to the following guidelines:

1. No campaigning is allowed, and all candidates' posts will be moderated to enforce this policy. During elections, candidates may discuss issues, answer questions, and announce campaign events. However, if it seems like you are blowing your own horn, then it is not allowed. The moderating team will decide whether or not posts comply with this rule.
2. No endorsements are allowed, and all posts that mention a candidate's name or e-mail address will be reviewed by the moderating team. You may discuss issues but anything that might be construed as favoring a particular candidate will be rejected. Likewise, anything that might be construed as a personal attack, will be rejected. However, members may post a link to their endorsements, and use the Framingham Wiki to post their endorsements.

Are commercial postings allowed?

You are allowed to make commercial postings to the framcom list as long as they are relevant to Framingham and relatively infrequent. "Commercial" means that the primary purpose of your posting is to advertise something about your business or service -- advertising to sell your car, for example, doesn't fall under this guideline unless that's your business. "Relevant to Framingham" means that, for example, your business or service is located in Framingham, or you live in Framingham, or your posting is very likely to be of wide interest to Framingham residents. "Relatively infrequent" means that postings from your business or service should occur no more often than every twelve months or so.

Since one of the primary uses of the framcom list is for residents to exchange recommendations for and against local businesses, you should expect that advertising your business may spark discussion, both pro and con, about the business. Civil criticism of or concerns raised about your business will not normally be considered a personal attack.

These are guidelines, and, as always, the final judgment as to the appropriateness of a commercial posting rests with the list owner.

What should I include in a recommendation for a local business or service?

When supplying a recommendation for something, please remember that you're talking to a lot of people. Do not give just name and an address. There is a difference between a directory entry and a recommendation. We are not running a directory. We are running a wiki of recommendations. Do include as much as possible:

1. The name of the business/person you are recommending
2. Address (not necessary if the person comes to the home to provide services).
3. Phone numbers like business, cell and/or fax.
4. Website and/or e-mail address.
5. Your recommendation. It is helpful when you are as specific as you can be about why you are recommending the person or business. If you are, in addition to a customer, a family member or friend of the person being recommended, please state that in your post.
6. Your first and last name.
7. The date you are making the recommendation (I know it is in the e-mail. It just makes posting easier.)

Since the recommendations end up on the wiki, it also means that you can add them there yourself. Just follow how others do it and everything will just work.

What should I include in a post about a free item, private sale or yard sale?

• If it's free then you have to say so. If it's not for free then you have to list a price.

• Subject lines should be descriptive. For example:
  Subject: YARD SALE,123 MAIN ST,Sat Sun 9-3, Lots of old broken glass
  so we have a clue why we would want to read your ad in the first place.
  If you have a couch to sell then please be descriptive.
  Subject: Brown smelly couch for sale. $2000
  Do not say:
  Subject: Couch
  

• No pictures! You are welcome to create a home page for yourself here on the wiki and upload your pictures. Your email to the list can reference your picture. If you need help then we are here. Remember that all framborsposts are plain text and your attachments will be stripped.

Regarding Private Sales

• If you tried to sell it before and you did not succeed, then it might be time to move along. Multiple attempts to sell the same thing are not welcome.
• If people are breaking your doors down to buy something that you have already sold, please let us know that the item is gone. If you were lucky to find that buyer, then please feel free to not inform the thousands of people that it is gone.
• If you have multiple items to sell, do not send a message for each item. One message should contain all consolidated items. Conversely, if you have sold two of twenty things then we want to hear about that even less than we wanted to hear about your sale.
• If it seems like sales are too frequent or that there is a commercial flavor to things, we may suggest an alternate approach.

Regarding Yard Sales

• A Yard Sale is not a business. It's a one time event. If it has been posted before then you can't post it again.
• All Yard Sales must say when they begin and end.
• All Yard Sales must have directions. It doesn't have to be fancy, but if you think the people who want to buy the stuff you're selling already know where you live, then you don't have to post here in the first place.
• Tell us in gory detail what you're selling. Give some clue about prices. If you have a hundred things to sell then give us a hint, maybe a dozen or so, of what you have and how much you're looking for them. Pretend that we're trying to increase the overall literacy of the town.

• Clean up after your sale. Please take your street signs down. Your ability to post future yard sales may be impacted.

How is FRAMBORS moderated?

When, why and how are posts reviewed prior to being posted to the list?

The lists are not "moderated" in the technical sense of of the word, which would mean that there is someone approving each and every message to the list. We manage the lists, which means that we deal with subscriptions and answer questions, but we normally do not exercise any control over the content of the lists as long as what people post conforms to the rules for what is allowed.

Individual posts are reviewed by someone on the moderating team that have been flagged for a consult for one of the following reasons:

• The sender is not a subscriber to FRAMBORS;
• The sender is on a list of posters who are supervised because of noncompliance with posting rules on civility;
• The sender is a subscriber who has not submitted contact information to the moderating team;
• The sender has sent more than 4 posts in 24 hours;
• The sender is a subscriber who has not yet posted a message that conforms with posting guidelines;
• The sender is a subscriber to FRAMCOM who has had difficulty consistently complying with posting guidelines, or
• The message includes text, either in the headers or the body, that the moderating team has flagged for review, such as swears, common insults, a topic that is starting to get "heated" or is inappropriate for the list.

The moderator has the option to reject or accept a message that flags for review before it goes to the list, based on conformance to list rules. If it is rejected, the sender is notified with a reason or reasons why, and a copy is sent to the list of people who help. Sometimes people think that the decision to reject their post is arbitrary and want to complain. Feel free to respond if you disagree or do not understand, but the decision is always known by more than one person. You may be asked to revise your post and resubmit it. When posts are flagged for moderation, there may be a significant delay in those posts getting posted to the list. Moderating is a part-time volunteer job, and moderators are not online, waiting for your posts, 24/7. Please be patient if there is a delay. And feel free to volunteer to become part of the team!

What are the rules regarding the civility of posts?

It would be nice to be able to state simple definitions for civility and then let everyone exercise their common sense. However, experience has shown that it is necessary to define what civility means in as much detail as possible, so as to make as many people as possible understand our intent:

Posters are expected to show basic respect for other list members in their posts. It is considered more polite to refer to the author of a previous message as "a previous poster", and are generally encouraged not to use the name of other posters in their responses. While we do not operate under Robert's Rules of order, basic etiquette is always encouraged. The list moderators will ultimately make the determination about violations of civility rules, as one person's opinion or description is another person's insult.

Issues, not people, are to be the subject of the debate. Personal attacks, including insults, name-calling and unfounded accusations (especially with respect to legal and ethical violations,) are not allowed on the list about anybody at any time. Posts should not attack or question the unstated motivations or character of another person. Insulting characterizations of groups of people, (such as immigrants, opponents of illegal immigration, social service clients, those who oppose social service expansion, legislators, members of a town board...) are not permitted.

Personal attacks are also not allowed off-list (a.k.a flames) in response to a post. Contacting someone off-list about a post after they have made a personal request that you not contact them anymore, or contacting someone anonymously off-list is also prohibited.

Sometimes the actions of a public official or representative of an organization can be a legitimate topic of conversation or criticism. It is important both that these people be held accountable for their actions when they affect the general public, and that criticism not be discouraged. However, in this forum, the actions of the people and their impact should be the focus of discussion, not the character or motivation of those people.

The question of civility is one of the biggest reasons for people to be placed into supervised mode (where an operator has to review the postings of an individual to confirm that it is in compliance). A goal of this list is to supervise the minimum number of people. Ultimately, the decision to supervise someone is in the hands of the list moderators.

Examples of statements that would be unacceptable include:

• John Doe has obviously lost his marbles if he is so naive as to believe that.
• Jane Doe is a liar for saying that.
• John Doe is a bigot and a racist if he makes statements like that.
• Town Board member Jane Doe must be on the take if she voted that way.
• I heard a rumor that John Doe is selling illegal drugs from town offices.
• That Town Board hearing looked like it was fixed from the start.
• That newspaper reporter has it in for this town.
• The previous poster's mother used to be the town drunk. Maybe he has taken up the bottle as well.
• Opponents of the expansion of social service agency programs are prejudiced against people with disabilities.
• Drug addicts are losers who are like leeches draining away the vitality of our community.
• Non-profit executives are really more interested in lining their own pockets than helping others.

Examples of statements that would be acceptable include:

• I believe this writer was mistaken about this. This is what I see about the situation.
• By failing to act on these issues, our town officials are jeopardizing the quality of life in our community.
• The legislators do not appear to care about this issue, based on their actions.
• Articles like this that put our community in a negative light, hurt our town's public image, which contributes to falling property values.
• The Board took action that will have a negative impact on our town, one from which we are unlikely to recover.
• I disagree with the previous writer who said "The quick gray coyote jumped over the lazy brown deer." Obviously, the coyote was just leading the hunter to the deer.
• The legislators have shown no interest on moving forward on this issue, and I believe the consequences for Framingham are terrible.

Note the difference between the first and second set of examples: In the first unacceptable set, observations about other people are really assumptions of their motivations. The second set of acceptable examples are statements of the author's own opinions.

Feel free to state what you think and base your points on the actions that you see have happened. Forming opinions based on other peoples' perceived motivations will never be acceptable as well as not convince the people you are trying to reach.

How do people get on and off the supervised list, and how does it work?

People's posts can be supervised for several reasons, as listed in the previous section.

On FRAMBORS, when people violate list rules, sometimes they are warned before they are placed on the supervised list, and sometimes not, at the discretion of the moderating team. Some people are supervised for a short period, and some people are on for as long as they subscribe. If you are supervised, you will be informed of your status, and why. In general, people who have problems with the technical requirements of a list will be given specific instructions on how to fix the problem in subsequent e-mails. All new subscribers are in a supervised state until they post a message that conforms to list rules (Warning: we have to remove subscribers from supervised mode individually, and we don't always remember to do this, especially for people who post infrequently.) If you unsubscribe and resubscribe, your first post will be moderated.

Do people ever decide to have their posts reviewed on a voluntary basis?

Sometimes people choose to have their posts reviewed on a voluntary basis. Typically, these people fall into 1 of 3 categories: 1) they find that that the technical requirements of the list are confusing, 2) they sometimes respond to messages while they are still mad, and send messages that they would rather not have go to the list, or 3) they accidentally send personal replies to the list by mistake. These people would rather have a post delayed waiting to be reviewed than have a potential mistake go to the list. We have even been known to do a quick spelling check. Let the owners know if you are interested in this option.

What should I do if I see a post that seems inappropriate?

Because we do not typically review posts before they go to the list, you may occasionally see posts that you feel are inappropriate. When that happens, do not complain about other people's posts to FRAMBORS. However, feel free to call it to our attention by e-mailing <frambors-owner AT syslang DOT net>. (AT=@ and DOT =. in the e-mail address. Formatting it this way helps prevent the address from being harvested by automated "spambots" for spammers).

What are the most common reasons that posts get rejected?

FRAMBORS and FRAMCOM are automated as much as possible by some very sophisticated software called Majordomo2. Sometimes you may get automated messages from the server that are not coming from a real person.

There are a number of conditions that will cause messages to be rejected automatically. These conditions are:

• When you reply to a message and you do not remove the unsubscribe footer from the end, the robot can not tell whether the message it is processing is intended to be commands or a message intended to be sent out to a large group of people. In other words, if you reply to a message and do not remove the footer, then your message will be instantly rejected.
• If you try to send a message using Bcc, it will be rejected. You have to address your message to Frambors either on the To: line or the Cc: line.

Besides automatic rejections as described above, it is possible for some messages to be rejected by the moderating team.

• Sometimes the moderating team will decide to place an entire topic under supervision because of a past demonstration of that topic being used inappropriately.
• If a person is in supervised mode and the post is inappropriate, then the message will be returned will an explanation why it was rejected.
• If a person repeatedly violates the same posting guidelines, messages will be returned so that the poster has the opportunity to address the issue.
• Only people who are subscribed can post. If you are not subscribed then your message will be rejected. If your are posting from an address different from the one that you are subscribed from and we can figure it out then we will allow it, but we are not perfect and your message may be rejected. (Let us know if you plan on sending from multiple addresses and we can add an alias to your account.)

What are some tips for writing better posts?

The principles that guide these tips are simple: we want our e-mail list to be interesting, civil, and manageable.

• Interesting means posts that are on-topic, make for good reading, and substantively contribute to a discussion.
• Civil means posts that treat list members with respect, though it doesn't rule out a good argument once in a while.

• Manageable means fewer e-mails are better than more if they say the same thing. We all have enough noise in our lives. Posts that simply agree or disagree with a previous message without contributing anything new to the discussion, are called MEETOOs and are not welcome.

CONSIDER ASKING FOR REPLIES TO GO TO YOU. If you're asking a question that is of limited interest, you might consider asking people to e-mail you directly. When you do this, you provide a very helpful service to the entire list, because you consolidate all the useful info into one message which can be saved if it's of interest, or skipped if it's not.

IF YOU ARE ASKING FOR A RECOMMENDATION check the wiki first. Do not ask people to reply to you directly. If they have something to say that is recommendation oriented then it won't ever get to the wiki unless they post it on the list.

ASK YOURSELF: WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE? Think about whether your message is of interest to the whole list, or just the person you're replying to. If it's just the person you're replying to, consider sending it just to that person rather than the whole list. Note that when you reply to a list message, by default your reply will go to the individual person; if you want it to go to the whole list, you'll need to edit the "To:" field of your reply. In any case, please note who your reply is going to and make it a conscious decision.

TAKE A DEEP BREATH. Did someone just say something that annoyed the $#@! out of you? Don't you just want to write back to the whole list and tell them what you really think of them? Well, go ahead and write it! Just don't send it for a few hours or a day. Re-read it before you send it. Rewrite it so it's civil. We'll all appreciate your efforts.

Don't write in all capital letters. IT'S COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS SHOUTING. PEOPLE WHO READ IT WOULD ALWAYS PREFER TO READ MESSAGES THAT CAPITALIZE IN A PROPER FASHION. There. Isn't that better?

WHEN IN DOUBT? ASK! We're happy to answer questions of style, form, etiquette, or even spelling