Purpose

The purpose of the CoF mailing lists is to facilitate and support ongoing connections, communication, and collaboration among CoF members to improve their careers, companies, and communities.

General Usage Information

For basic information on using the CoF Web tools, including the CoF mailing lists, please refer to the Help documentation on the CoF Web. Help tools are available on the CoF Web.

Things to consider doing:

• Introduce yourself. Who are you? What are you working on?
• Share useful tools and resources. What helps you work smarter?
• Comment on area or industry-related news or current events. How will this affect what we do?
• Ask a question. Need help? Want to learn something? We can help.

Usage Guidelines

• Please follow the CoF mailing list usage guidelines at all times. If you're not sure whether a given email or post is inappropriate -- or will be considered spam (impersonal, untargeted, and unsolicited commercially oriented email) by other members, please seek feedback and input from your CoF coordinator(s) or global coordinator Heath Row before you send it.
• Do not send HTML, rich text, formatted and stylized email, or messages in "quoted-printable" format. Not all CoF members use email programs that easily recognize such formats. Send messages in plain text.
• If you're new to the CoF, lurk for awhile, read some of the past discussions, and learn how other members use the group's mailing list before you post for the first time.
• Use common sense when posting. Be aware that you always have two options: responding to the entire list or to an individual member. If you'd like to reply to the entire mailing list, simply hit Reply. If you'd rather reply to the original sender individually, please copy and paste their email address from their original message.
• Do not blatantly promote yourself or your business or otherwise spam the list. Advertisement-, sales-, and marketing-oriented emails transmitted outside and independent of the context of current list discussions may be interpreted by other members as spam. Many CoF groups offer "Self-Promotional" and other offer/request days that you may be able to participate in instead. Touch base with your local coordinators for more information.
• Keep posts to the list brief. If your post doesn't add value to members and the ongoing conversation, don't send it. Example: Don't send a "thank you" or an RSVP message to the entire list. Send something like that directly to the person you're thanking or RSVP'ing to.
• Don't over-quote the message you're replying to. Include only the specific information to which you're responding, and edit out the rest. Including the entire previous message as a follow on to your reply is unnecessary and makes the messages and Web archives more difficult to read.
• Reread, spell check, and lightly edit your messages before posting. Members may judge the quality of your professional and personal work -- your expertise, skills, and talent -- based on the quality of your email communication.
• Be courteous to other list members. Respect other member's experiences, ideas, and opinions. If you disagree with someone's email or opinion, do so politely and professionally -- don't resort to personal insults. While it is OK to challenge ideas and facts, personal attacks are inappropriate and unprofessional.
• Flaming, sending hate mail, or otherwise reprimanding another list member is unnecessary. If you are concerned about a post, gently bring it to the attention of the original sender, the coordinator, or another member of the CoF's coordination team -- not the entire list.
• Do not cross-post or send the same verbatim message to more than one CoF list.
• Do not forward virus warnings and the like to the list.
• Do not forward copyrighted material to the list unless you have permission to do so. Similarly, please do not forward CoF group-related emails to other mailing lists without securing the original sender's permission.
• If you use information that is not your own in a message, be sure to give proper credit and a citation or link if possible.
• Do not subscribe to a CoF list with an email address that's set up with an autoresponder function. This includes "Out of the Office" and "My Email Address Has Changed" autoreplies and other features. Doing this creates a large amount of unnecessary email, which can be a significant burden on other members. If you need to set an autoreply, please set your CoF subscriptions to Web Only for the duration. And if your email address changes, please update your CoF profile.
• Do not subscribe to a CoF list with an email address that's screened by spam blocker that does not have a "white list" or exceptional handling of mailing list messages. Rejection notices, validation requests, and other spamblocker emails can clutter other list members' in boxes. As a member of the CoF, you implicitly agree to be open to communicate with other members.

Local Variations

Local CoF's and SIG's may have developed additional, locally and group-appropriate guidelines covering Self-Promotion days and other aspects of individual list usage. Please contact your local or SIG coordinator for more information.

Further Assistance

If you have questions about these guidelines, please contact global coordinator Heath Row.

These guidelines were written and edited in collaboration with CoF coordinators around the world. Page last updated June 18, 2003.