1. BREVITY. When responding to a previous posting, include the name of the earlier sender so that readers are oriented to the issue. But quote only those brief portions of the previous message that are necessary to make your point. Do NOT include extended passages or the entire passage, as this will needlessly clog our archives with repetitions of the same message and make reading digests difficult.
PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE THE ENTIRE PASSAGE. Instead respond with something like this:
2. REPLY. Send all substantive responses to the entire group so that everyone can benefit. If your response will be of interest to only one person, e.g., "me too" or "I agree" messages, send private e-mail to that person.
3. Subject lines. As a courtesy to your colleagues, please be sure that the Subject line of your message clearly reflects the content of your message. Do not leave the Subject line blank.
4. Plain text. Always send messages as plain text within the body of the e-mail message. Do not send attachments.
5. Mailbots. Do not use automatic responders, e.g., programs that send messages such as "Your message has been opened and read by ..." or "I am away from the office until...." If you do, you will be set to nomail. Please set your own option to 'nomail' before leaving (see Commands below).
6. CAPITALS. Do not use all capital letters, as this is considered SHOUTING.
7. Signatures. Include a brief "signature" with your postings. For example, end your messages with some combination of:
* name, professional designation
* job title* place of employment* geographical location* e-mail address or website
8. Review. MEDLAB-L is not moderated but every new subscriber initially is set to "review." This means that I approve messages that are sent by first-time posters. When you first post a message to MEDLAB-L, you will receive a reply similar to this:
For more information, see: