KCAnimalTalk

KC Animal Talk is sponsored by No More Homeless Pets Kansas City
President - Gail Longstaff

Purpose
To build cooperation and support among organizations and individuals concerned with the welfare of animals, toward the ultimate goal of no more homeless pets in the Kansas City area.

KC Animal Talk Netiquette
Your participation in KCAT constitutes an expressed agreement of the Netiquette listed here.

Since this is a high-volume list with a large number of members, we've compiled a checklist of basic etiquette ("Netiquette") that we'd like everyone to keep in mind when participating in the group. Please refer to these guidelines before directing your questions or comments to the moderator.

Message posting

1. Please post only communications which affect animals in the Kansas City area. There will be exceptions to this, but for the most part our focus is to help the animals of our local community and communities near Kansas City.

Postings should be about animals, animal issues, animal legislation, and the needs, help available, support given and received and the successes of rescue, spay and neuter, adoption and caring for animals.

2. When sending a post to the list, make your subject header as specific as possible. Instead of saying "DOG needs rescue", say "DOG FOSTER NEEDED: spaniel mix in Independence". Members tend to miss or delete emails with vague subject headers.

3. DON'T SHOUT: Typing in all caps is considered shouting. It is much easier to read a mix of upper- and lower-case letters. Newsgroups can sometimes be considered impersonal, you cannot see the other person's expression, so a little extra effort is needed to communicate the message.

4. If you're sending several posts to the list at once, combine the same types of posts into one single email.

5. Replies to posted messages should be sent only to the originator of message privately, off-list. You should only try to contact a member on-list if private emails are being returned to you. In this case, please state this in your email.

6. When following up on a previous post, either find the original message in the archives and reply to it or use the same subject header. This makes it easier for other members to keep track of the issue.

7. Each member should include their name and the name of the organization they represent. Unless the member states that they are speaking for the organization in their official capacity, it will be assumed that they are speaking as an individual. If not affiliated with an organization, the member should state they are an independent. This identification is helpful for other members to identify organizations that they may want to assist.

8. Please do not post jokes, anecdotes, poems or other types of chain letters. They clog up the internet and annoy people just like they do in normal mail.

9. Members who wish their message not be forwarded shall state this at the top of their message. (Do not forward.)

10. Postings shall be positive, respectful, honest and concise. Inflammatory statements or statements that do not further our cause are not to be used - our mission is to build cooperation.

If arguments or disagreements occur, please contact the moderators off-list so that we may act as mediators. Do not respond to the individual yourself and do not, under any circumstances, bring the argument on-list! Bring any instances of harassment to our attention. Safety is important to us. Those acting in an inappropriate manner will be removed from the list.

11. Do not delete your posts from the message archive without prior approval. This makes moderating more difficult. We do have an archive history that displays deleted emails along with who deleted what and when. In other words, we'll still be able to see the offending post, along with your attempts to remove it.

Managing your Yahoo Group account

If you find you're receiving too much email you can set your email options to "Special Notices" (this way you can check the messages on the group's site) or "Daily Digest" (you receive all the day's messages in one large e-mail). Just go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KCAnimaltalk. Click on "edit my membership" and choose "Special Notices" or "Daily Digest" under the "message delivery" heading.

To unsubscribe, you can either edit your membership on the group's page or send a blank e-mail to KCAnimaltalk-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. Do not send un-subscription messages to the list.

Netiquette violations

Please note that you may receive a reminder email for breaches of Netiquette. If there are repeated violations, the member will be place on moderation. If arguments begin on-list, moderators may place individuals or the entire membership on moderation. Once on moderation, your messages will need to be approved by the moderators before they're sent to the list. You will stay on moderation until the moderators determine that you’ve been consistently following List Rules and Netiquette. Moderation is not a punishment, but rather a means to ensure that inappropriate messages are not sent to the entire membership. However, if there is intentional and repeated abuse of the Netiquette, the member will be notified and removed from KCAT at the determination of the moderator or the President of NMHPKC. Please don’t email the moderators asking when you’ll be taken off of moderation - that’s up to you, after all!

The Netiquette rules may seem trivial, but in a group of 200+ members, they're essential for maintaining a manageable list. Please respect the moderator’s time, as well as your fellow list members' and learn the Netiquette BEFORE participating in the list!.

Questions?

Please refer to the Yahoo Groups help pages, http://help.yahoo.com/help/groups, before bringing your questions to the moderators.

Please allow 1-2 days for a reply to your email, and up to 1 day for approval of messages if you’re on moderation.

If you have any questions or comments, you can e-mail the moderators at KCAnimaltalk-owner@yahoogroups.com.

Kimberly Adwell & Glenda Burns
KCAT List Moderators

7/21/2006