Beit Am Listserv
The Beit Am listserv is an email discussion forum for Beit Am members.
By default all Beit Am members are subscribed to the Beit Am Listserv.
Messages sent to the listserv are automatically forwarded to all listserv
subscribers (essentially all Beit Am members). To send a message to all
listserv members,
you send email to beit-am@peak.org.
Only listserv
subscribers can send email that will be forwarded to the listserv.
To opt-out of being on the Beit Am listserv, send your request to
Ken Bronstein, ken.bronstein@gmail.com.
The listserv is meant to serve the good of the Beit Am community.
It is an open forum that is lightly moderated, so members need to be
thoughtful about the content of email sent to the listserv.
Email sent to the listserv goes to nearly all Beit Am members.
Open communications on the listserv is encouraged as a way of
building community and helping each other.
If you are sending email that is only targeted for a few people
then using the listserv is not the right email tactic.
When replying to messages on the listserv, please realize your
default reply is going to all the Beit Am members!
It is a common and embarrassing mistake to send a reply to a
listserv note that is seen by hundreds of people, when it was
really only intended as a reply to one person, or a few people.
FAQ for the Beit Am listserv:
Who is a subscriber?
Who can send email out to listserv members?
How do I send an email out to the listserv?
How do I know if my message has been forwarded to everyone on the listserv?
What is the purpose of the Beit Am listserv?
What can be sent out on the listserv?
Can I include pictures in a listserv posting?
Can I send an important message to all of Beit Am on the listserv?
What happens when inappropriate email is sent out on the Listserv?
What constitutes inappropriate email for the Listserv?
Can I send an electronic greeting card to everyone on the listserv?
How do I reply to a listserv email?
How is the listserv hosted?
How did the listserv get started?
Are there other options for how the Beit Am listserv can be managed or hosted?
Who is a subscriber?
All Beit Am members with email addresses are listserv subscribers.
Any subscriber can choose to unsubscribe by sending a request to Ken
Bronstein, ken.bronstein@gmail.com.
Who can send email out to listserv members?
Any listserv subscriber can send email to beit-am@peak.org and
that email will be forwarded to all listserv members.
Messages must be sent from the same email address that is subscribed to the
listserv.
Email sent to the listserv from non-member email addresses is
ignored and will not be forwarded. This prevents the listserv from being
used by spammers.
How do I send an email out to the listserv?
Send email to beit-am@peak.org
How do I know if my message has been forwarded to everyone on the listserv?
When the listserv forwards your message to the entire listserv, a copy is sent
to you.
You should see your listserv message come into your email inbox.
If you do not receive a copy of your message then it is likely that
it was not forwarded.
If you have any question about this, contact the listserv administrator. Ken
Bronstein. The listserv administrator will be able to tell you whether the
message was received and forwarded by the listserv, or whether it was
ignored due to some technical problem (i.e. a message with a large attachment is
not forwarded). The listserv administrator will also provide instructions
that will enable the proper sending and forwarding of messages.
What is the purpose of the Beit Am listserv?
The listserv is intended to help build the Beit Am community through the
facilitation of easy broadcast email communication among members.
What can be sent out on the listserv?
Subscribers can send email text messages to the listserv.
Acceptable content for email on the listserv can be wide ranging.
Anything of interest or helpful to the general Beit Am community is appropriate.
The content of the message sent to the listserv needs to only be textual.
The listserv does not support email attachments.
Any email sent with attachments will not be forwarded.
Can I include pictures in a listserv posting?
Yes and no. Technically the guideline is that there is a size limit for
all messages. The listserv will reject any message containing more than
40,000 characters. Most pictures and graphics and attachments will
exceed this limit. If you know about downsampling images and understand
image resolution, then you can probably construct a legal listserv message
including nifty graphics. In general, stick to text only messages and it will work fine.
Can I send an important message to all of Beit Am on the listserv?
Please consider that:
- Not all Beit Am members are on the listserv, as some may have opted-out
- Official notices from Beit Am should be sent out by the Beit Am office
This means the listserv should not be used to circumvent making officlal
announcements through the Beit Am office.
What happens when inappropriate email is sent out on the Listserv?
Sometimes people make mistakes and send email on the listserv that is inappropriate.
The listserv moderator will privately and respectfully let people know if they have
sent out email inappropriately. Listserv members should not blast replies
to the entire listserv publicly shaming the sender of inappropriate email.
If a listserv member wants to take action related to an inappropriate email
they should notify the listserv administrator. The listserv administrator
will take the appropriate action. Gross email offenses can result in a
person being removed from the listserv. It is expected that all communication
on the listserv be respectful of the broad population of readers, regardless
of religious, cultural, political, or sexual orientation.
What constitutes inappropriate email for the Listserv?
Email messages posted on the listserv can violate the few basic etiquette rules.
Etiquette rules for the listserv are:
-
All communication
on the listserv must be respectful of the broad population of readers, regardless
of religious, cultural, political, or sexual orientation.
It is not ok to denigrate other people, either individually or as a group.
-
Commercial messages are frowned upon. Essentially any message that is
intended to provide some financial gain for the poster is not a good practice.
Of course, as with all rules, there are exceptions.
An exception to this rule is that it would be fine for a Beit Am teenager to
post a note providing a service like baby sitting or help with yard work.
-
All messages on the listserv should have some relevaence or interest to the
Beit Am community.
-
Private emails or emails intended for a small number of people are not
apropriate on the listserv. They should be addressed by email only to
the people to whom they are directed.
Can I send an electronic greeting card to everyone on the listserv?
Unfortunately we live in an age of "spam" (unwanted email).
So there are technical rules adopted to prevent spammers from using the
Beit Am listserv. One rule is that only Beit Am listserv members can send
email messages using the listserv. Now consider what happens when you send an
electronic greeting card. You pick out the card from some online company, like
BlueMountain.com. Then BlueMountain sends the card on your behalf.
In this case the listserv sees a card from a third party card company (i.e. BlueMountain)
and the listserv notes that BlueMountain is not a Beit Am listserv member, so the
posting is disallowed. This is a feature to only allow only members to use the listserv, and to prevent
unwanted spam. Legal posting must come directly from a listserv subscriber.
How do I reply to a listserv email?
Often it is appropriate to reply to a listserv email, by sending email
simply to the one person who posted the message.
If that is the case please inspect who your
email is being sent to, as often hitting the "reply" button in your email
program can result in email being sent to the listserv (beit-am@peak.org)
which then goes to the entire membership list.
At times it is appropriate to send a reply to the entire listserv.
For example, you may have an important point of information to add to a listserv
email, in which case a reply to all is entirely appropriate.
How is the listserv hosted?
PEAK, an internet service provider in Corvallis, hosts the Beit Am web site (www.beitam.org), Beit Am office email, email for the Rabbi, and the Beit Am listserv. The listserv is actually executed by an internet server program called majordomo.
How did the listserv get started?
The Beit Am listserv was started by Rabbi Michael Tayvah, who wanted to
create an open electronic forum for Beit Am members.
He asked Donna Kuttner to administer the listserv. The listserv persisted
under Donna's management as an "unofficial" Beit Am service for many years.
Recently the Beit Am Board wanted to adopt the listserv as an Official Beit Am
service. Management of the listserv was shifted to Ken Bronstein.
Ken is the current listserv administrator.
In February 2008, the listserv membership policy changed to include all
Beit Am members, except those who opt-out of listserv membership.
Are there other options for how the Beit Am listserv can be managed or hosted?
Sure, in fact there are many many ways to do this type of thing.
Some email lists are moderated, with content being pre-screened and
then compiled into digests that are sent out daily or weekly.
Pre-screened digests require more administration work, and slow down communication.
Some email lists allow people to sign up themselves.
The policies as described in this note are current for February 2008.
