|
|
For a Failure or Security
Incident involving ODMA or any
nfoCentrale.net
site,
use the
Emergency Contact Procedure. For a problem with
SourceForge.net, contact that site.
1. Need Personal Contact? Is It Urgent?
2. Using the ActiveODMA Discussion List
3. Viewing the ActiveODMA-Discuss List
4. Posting to ActiveODMA-Discuss
- Latest version: The latest version of this FAQtip is available on the Internet at <http://ODMA.info/contact.htm>.
- This version: <http://ODMA.info/faq/2005/07/Q050701c.htm>. Consult that page for the latest status and for the most-recent electronic copies of the material.
<mailto:activeodma-discuss-admin@lists.sourceforge.net> will be received by a person who can assist you in using ODMA materials, the ODMA.info site, and the SourceForge project. Use this if you are stuck and need personal assistance on working with ODMA, for example.
<mailto:orcmid@users.sourceforge.net> will reach the technical coordinator directly. This is recommended for communications not directly related to ODMA work.
<http://NuovoDoc.com/contact.htm> provides additional ways to contact Dennis. Use this if your need is urgent or there is an availability or security problem with ODMA.info or the ActiveODMA SourceForge project.
Confidential requests are discouraged. Contributions to the ODMA community as a shared commons is the preferred approach to discussion. Anything that you want to know or suggest is probably of interest to others and is valuable if kept on-line.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS (ListInfo)
about the list are on the web at
<http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/activeodma-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, <mailto:activeodma-discuss-admin@lists.sourceforge.net>. The -admin address is for mail to reach a person, the list administrator (that's currently <orcmid@users.sourceforge.net>).
FEELING ADVENTUROUS? Send requests to the mailing-list robot, <mailto:activeodma-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 in the message body. 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.
2.1 The ActiveODMA Discussion List is the primary vehicle for public engagement and participation in ODMA and ActiveODMA projects. Blogs and wikis are great additional instruments for more-elaborate, evolving discussions. ActiveODMA-Discuss is the assured way of being able to interact with the ODMA community, ask questions, find resources, provide feedback, answer questions, and participate in other ways.
2.2 It takes a little work to use a discussion list well. There isn't much guidance for beginners though. A great way to get the hang of it is to observe how others use the list: review the archive and watch discussions thread along. Many users of SourceForge are already comfortable with e-mail discussion lists. They've picked up tips and rules-of-the road that make discussion-list usage pretty smooth and effortless. This page gathers some of that lore for newcomers to open-list participation practices.
2.3 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. You're likely to hate receiving ActiveODMA-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, please make that known and arrange to 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.
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=activeodma-discuss>.
Notice that e-mail addresses are redacted in the archive so they aren't so easily harvested by spammers, as in the ActiveODMA-Discuss "Getting ODMA Questions Answered" post archived at <http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=10724986>. 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 ActiveODMA-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 POST AND RECEIVE NEW POSTS. The List Info page is where you can subscribe to the list (section 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.
You'll probably want to confirm that your subscription is working and post something. Please review the guidelines, below.
ONLY SUBSCRIBERS CAN SEND MESSAGES TO THIS LIST. To post a message, <mailto:activeodma-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net>. The recent change to require subscription in order to post is because these lists are now being attacked heavily by spammers. We keep spammers off of the list by requiring subscriptions before posting is permitted.
Don't post "Test" messages. It's considered rude to fill other people's mailbox with something that there's absolutely nothing they can take part in. If you want confirmation that everything is working the way you think it should be, send a short message that offers something: an introduction of yourself, what brings you to the ODMA site and projects, what you're hoping to discover, and so forth. If you're not receiving your own posts and don't know why, ask people who see it to reply directly to you (and please folks, don't reply to such requests on the list itself).
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 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. It looks like some spammers have found around the traps, but it is not clear how the list is being exploited. This is under investigation.
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 list 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.
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 ActiveODMA-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
updated for ODMA 2005 July 6
revised 2008-04-26
|
You are
navigating the ODMA Interoperability Exchange. |
created 2005-07-04-22:45 -0700 (pdt) by
orcmid |