InfoNote
i050402
TROST
Contact & Feedback
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InfoNote
i050402 |
Check on-line at <http://TROSTing.org/contact.htm> for the latest version of this information.
This page is obsolete. It was supplanted by contact-page version 0.40.For a Failure or Security Incident involving TROSTing or any nfoCentrale.net site,
use the Emergency Contact Procedure. For a problem with SourceForge.net, contact that site.
Many users of SourceForge are already comfortable with the use of e-mail discussion lists. There are a number of tips and rules-of-the road that participants pick up over time. A number of these tips, and links to appropriate contacts and services, are gathered here for the newcomer to open-source community-participation practices.
The most important prerequisite is a respectable off-line mail reader. You might be able to work with an on-line, web-interface mail system, but it can be cumbersome and you'll need to be able to have it create plaintext and not go heavy on advertisements. I'm pretty sure you'll hate receiving TROST-Discuss mailings on your Personal Digital Assistant, iPod or cellular phone too. If, on the other hand, you require special arrangements for accessibility and these arrangements aren't working for you, let us know or have someone contact us. We want to have accessibility just work and we'll need your advice and assistance in whatever we have to make that happen and confirm that it is working properly.
With that basic ground rule taken care of, here's the rest that you may find handy to know about.
1. Need Personal Contact? Is It Urgent?
2. Using the TROST Discussion List
3. Viewing the TROST-Discuss List
4. Posting to TROST-Discuss
<mailto:trost-discuss-admin@lists.sourceforge.net> will be received by a person who can assist you in using the TROSTing.org site, the SourceForge project, and TROST materials. Use this if you are stuck and need personal assistance on working with TROST or the TROSTing.org site, for example.
<> will reach the project lead directly. This is recommended for communications to him personally. This is better for discussions not directly related to TROST work.
<http://NuovoDoc.com/contact.htm> provides additional ways to contact Dennis. Confidential conversations are generally to be avoided though. Dennis doesn't do non-disclosure agreements. Contact Dennis this way if you aren't sure what to do, if your need is urgent, or there is an availability or security problem with TROSTing.org or the SourceForge project that you want to report.
The TROST-Discuss list on SourceForge is the primary vehicle for TROST-related discussions, questions, feedback, suggestions and contributions.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS (ListInfo)
about the list are on the web at
<http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/trost-discuss>.
IF YOU HAVE DIFFICULTY with the list, are not sure
what to do to get a question answered, or want assistance in subscribing to
the list, <>.
The -admin address is for mail to reach a person, the list administrator (that's
currently <>).
FEELING ADVENTUROUS? Send requests to the mailing-list robot, <mailto:trost-discuss-request@lists.sourceforge.net>. The first request to make is one that has only the word "help" (no double-quotes) as the first and only text of your e-mail message. It's useful to repeat the request command in the subject line so you'll recognize what the reply is about when it arrives in your in-box or spam-review folder.
IT'S A PUBLIC LIST. Everything that successfully posts to the list is copied to an archive that can be viewed on-line. The web page for the archive is at <http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum=trost-discuss>.
Notice that e-mail addresses are redacted so they aren't so easily harvested by spammers, as in the "Welcome" post archived at <http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=11633260>. This alteration is not made to copies forwarded to subscribers.
Posts remain the intellectual property of their respective posters. Quotation and use off of the list requires observation of discussion-list etiquette. When in doubt about the permissibility of an usage that you want to make, contact the author of the post for permission.
Posts are viewable on the web and you can always link to posts on TROST-Discuss. This is much nicer than making extensive quotation from one post about another post too. To obtain the URL of a post, click on its archive-entry subject line until it goes no farther. The URL of that page can be used in links to where you are seeing the post.
If you're not sure what this description is all about, don't worry about it. Observe the archive and the posts that people make and you'll get the idea.
SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE NEW POSTS. The List Info page is where you can subscribe to the list (2, above).
Specify a password to use in having private control over your subscription settings.
Provide an e-mail address for receiving e-mail copies of all postings. This must be a valid address where you receive mail and can reply to mail.
A confirmation will be sent to that address. Follow the instruction in the confirmation message to activate your subscription.
There is no web interface for creating and replying to posts. The archive is not set up for use as a way to reply to or forward its material. Subscription is the best way to receive copies that have un-modified e-mail addresses and that can be easily responded to using e-mail software.
ANYONE CAN SEND MESSAGES TO THIS LIST. To post a message, <>
Plaintext messages work best because the list goes to a large variety of recipients. Many people (including the list administrator) treat non-plaintext mail as spam or have it be converted (often badly) to plaintext before reading it. Don't put people through that. So really, plaintext works best.
Plaintext is all that works for people who receive digests with several postings combined into a single e-mail. Digesting will invariably mess up messages that are sent in an HTML format or any other special formatting, nicely demonstrating coherence shear, abstraction leakage, and other exciting phenomena of this digital era. Digitally-signed messages probably won't fare too well either; we should test that just to see what the failure modes are. It should be obvious that encrypted messages are unwelcome here too. Did I mention that plaintext works best? If you're not sure what this is about, send an e-mail to the administrator and we'll see whether your mail is being sent in a format that works on the list.
Remember that you're posting in a public place and the archive lives long enough to haunt you.
Do not contribute anything that doesn't belong to you. Plagiarism is not tolerated and contributing something without the permission of whoever has an exclusive claim to it (such as an employer or some other intellectual-property owner) taints the work that we do and undermines our effort to foster trustworthiness. If you have any doubts, get permission. If permission is denied or unobtainable for any reason, don't post or contribute. This is one of those "just say no" moments in life.
Although anyone can post, there is a spam filter and anything the robot classifies as spam has to be reviewed by the administrator before it can be posted. Too many recipient addresses, blind copies to the list, and other features too numerous to mention will trigger diversion to the spam trap.
Review your e-mail signature. This is not the place to post messages that are claimed to be private, confidential, destined for specific parties or any of that. It will automatically be assumed that such messages violate the rule about personal contributions, above, and the administrator will waste valuable time sorting it out. Grr.
If you request a private or personal reply, you may not get it. You'll have to obfuscate any e-mail addresses given in your post in order for SourceForge not to redact them. Secondly, experts who do subscribe to lists and participate as members of a community often resent and ignore appeals for private communication. The idea is to build the knowledge of the entire community and participants yet to come. Some want to feel they are giving the most bang for the effort that goes into each contribution. Going private defeats that and some folks won't play. If you're afraid of something (asking dumb questions, being ridiculed, trying to get help with your homework, I don't know), this is a good place to get over that and step out. It's one of those, "if not now, when" opportunities.
THAT'S ALL IT TAKES.
If you want to see any replies or discussions of your post, it is wise to subscribe to the list first (3, above).
You don't have to subscribe in order to post. However, subscribers will often assume that you are subscribed and reply only to the list. It is sometimes safer to always reply to the author and also to the list, but people who are subscribed (especially to digests) object to receiving the extra copy.
If you haven't subscribed, you should visit the list for a time after you post. That ensures you don't miss a response that you are interested in.
Finally, if you haven't done so recently, it is wise to review the SourceForge privacy and terms-of-use statements linked at the bottom of all of the TROST-discuss web pages. Mostly, just use common sense. It's all designed to work and no one is out to make you fail. It just feels that way sometimes. For me, asking questions always helps.
-- Dennis E. Hamilton
2005 May 2
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created 2005-04-19-18:34 -0700 (pdt) by
orcmid |
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