Procedures
List MechanicsThis is a reference page for those already included in a Project E-mail list. It is stated in terms of the WSW list. Those on other lists should make the necesary substitutions, by substituting your list (eg, sjs) for the "wsw" in URL references.
Initial Problems / Archive Access
Messages are distributed from, and the message archive is housed at, a server recently incorporated into Yahoo Groups.. By general agreement, the archive has been defined as open only to current members. You must thus be recognized by the Yahoo server to access it. When you are added to the distribution list for WSW (or another list; substitute as necessary in what follows), you will receive a Welcome message. First go to the archive, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wsw/messages, to verify that you do indeed have access. If not, go to the Yahoo Groups main page, http://groups.yahoo.com. Log in de novo at that page, choosing a password you can easily remember. You may need to construct what is called a Yahoo ID, in order to get full access to the archive. The password you choose should then work for that list, and for any other Yahoo lists to which you belong. Sign in at that page, with your password, when you wish to access the archive from a different computer (as, when traveling).
Problems with posting to the list are nearly always caused by a difference between the address you were registered under and the one your computer actually uses. Certain small differences do not prevent E-mail delivery, but for security reasons, they will prevent archive access. This problem particularly common if you were directly subscribed by the List Manager, who may have used the simpler E-dress. If other solutions fail, go to the list home page (its URL is of the form http://www.egroups.com/group/wsw) and subscribe de novo. The List Manager will approve this request. This should automatically enroll you under the address your computer or server is actually using (the shorter address can be deleted later).
If you regularly need to access the archive from more than one computer (for example, from your office as well as your home computer), you may wish to register under both of those E-dresses, so as to be able to post to the list, or access the archive, from either. This double registration avoids the need to log in, with password, when using the second computer.
There is a sensitive problem with junk mail ("spam") which Yahoo will send you. There is no longer a way to avoid this; see the separate Yahoo Problems page.
We ask that all entries in the WSW (or other) Members List display a personal name, as a courtesy to others who may wish to write you individually, and in line with our our posture as a conversation among known individuals. This may require editing your "Yahoo ID" so as to include what Yahoo calls your "real name." Regrettably, the List Manager can no longer make these adjustments for you, and of necessity, a transparent Yahoo ID has thus been made a condition of entry for new members.
For old members: Go to the WSW Members Roster and find your place in the Members List (which is alphabetized according to Yahoo ID). If your name does not display beside your address, do the following: (1) click on your ID, (2) in the resulting form, click on Edit, and (3) enter your "real name" in the space provided. It is helpful if you will also add your institution, and, if yours is a romanized Chinese name, your gender. Then (4) click on the Save Changes button at the bottom. Your name (and other data) should now display properly. Thanks for your consideration in this matter.
You may at any time adjust your own delivery mode. Go to the list in question (its home page is of the form http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wsw). From the options listed at the left side of the page, select Subscribe (it is indented under the top entry, "Main Page"). Then choose one of the following: (1) E-mail option; you receive all posted messages as E-mail; (2) Summary option; (3) Web option, where you receive no E-mail but can still read messages in the archive, and (4) Unsubscribe. There is also a place to chose HTML format for messages you receive directly. When you have made your selection, click the Save Changes box at the bottom to put your choices into effect.
Delivery options may be changed as often as you wish.
Please observe list etiquette by posting to WSW (or another list) de novo, with a New Message form, and not by using the Reply option with a WSW message you have received. The problem is that many people set their E-mail program to append the full text of the message to which they are replying, and since original WSW messages may already be long, this stacking-up quickly leads to unmanageable length. It is better to specify by number the message you are referring to, or to paste into your new message the specific paragraph on which you want to comment closely. The date of the original message is a sufficient reference for WSW purposes, and also for most formal citation purposes (see below on citation guidelines). If the message to which you are replying was posted a long time ago, it will help to give the archive number (archive users can directly access earlier messages by number, thus saving time).
(Bibliographic Note: A total of 1400 WSW messages were distributed before there was a text archive. Historically speaking, the true WSW number of a message is the archive number plus 1400. This is of no consequence for references in current discourse).
Address your message to: wsw@yahoogroups.com (etc). It may be helpful to write this address out and tape it to the edge of your monitor.
If you have a point-by-point response to a previous message, it is acceptable and efficient to interlineate your remarks within the text of the original message. Be sure to indicate changes of speaker clearly. The format we have used, which has caught on in disciplines into which it has been introduced, is
JIM: The Hanfeidz says . . .
BILL: The Han Feidz isn't a text, but a collection of tracts, and it is important to cite the particular one you rely on. . . .WSW and its satellites are moderated lists, in the sense that the Project imposes, and the List Manager will enforce, certain standard ethical expectations. They are not moderated in the sense that messages need to be approved by the List Manager before being posted. All messages sent to the posting address by a member are immediately posted to all other members.
At present, the WSW (and other) options are set so that replies to messages go to the whole list, and not only to the author of that message. If you wish to reply privately to the author, obtain the address from message itself, or from the Members list.
There can be delays in the distributing and/or posting of messages received at the archive. These are especially likely between sundown Friday and dawn Monday. Maintenance downtimes are also usually scheduled over the weekend, and for this and other reasons, the archive itself may sometimes be unavailable. If you do not receive within 90 seconds a copy of the message you have just posted, either you have made an error in sending it (or your computer or network is having difficulty), or there is a delay at the Yahoo end. Delays due to backlog can last for six hours or more. There can be a delay with the distribution of a message, or with entering it in the archive, or both (we know of no rationale for this, but all varieties occur). If your message as sent shows no problems, and your own program seems to be in order, and six hours have passed (don't immediately resend a delayed message, it will merely add an extra copy of that message), write the List Manager.
Apart from delays, some messages are simply lost, or are posted in the archive in a garbled form. This is rare, but it happens. The only remedy is for the List Manager to delete the garbled message, and for the sender to post it anew. When a message is inadvertently sent twice in rapid succession, the List Manager will without being prompted delete the second of them.
It is not necessary, and it may be annoying, to copy ("Cc") your message to the List Manager or other individual on the list, unless you know that an individual is on Web status and will not automatically receive it. Similarly, it is not advisable to post a message simultaneously to two different lists. Yahoo will perceive this as a "spam" message, and may query the List Manager before posting it, thus causing delay. If you want to duplicate a message to a second Project list, wait a moment and send the second message de novo.
For convenience to all, please keep messages as short as practical. We have lost the company of several members who found long messages impractical for them, and we wish to minimize such losses in future. But if your topic is complex, use what space you need. If your message will run over one page in printout form, begin it with a statement of the point you are making, or the conclusion you will eventually reach, to guide those who need to know, at first glance, if it is worth their time.
For longer contributions, including full-length papers on which comment is invited, a Files facility is available on each list; it allows text to be posted where it remains available even as the E-mail discussion proper moves to other topics. For instructions, see Uploading Your Paper.
Attachments to messages are not readable by all members, and they carry a risk of contamination by E-mail viruses. Beginning on 12 May 2000, all attachments are stripped from incoming messages, in the interest of the general security. We recommend the above Files option for material you would have sent by attachment. In special cases, the setting of a list can be temporarily altered to allow an attachment to go through; ask the List Manager. It is a requirement of good citizenship to scan your computer for viruses before requesting this change for an attachment you wish to send.
It will aid understanding, and facilitate retrieval from the archive, if you use meaningful subject headings in your message, and follow exactly the subject heading of the first message in the thread (even if you like another romanization). Variations in subject headings simply prevent the entire thread from being accessed by the archive search engine. Cryptic or humorous subject headings also make it hard for those who receive only a Digest of subjects posted to know if they wish to access that message in the archive. Please forbear.
Note that two-letter subject headings (eg DJ for Dzwo Jwan) do not work; the minimum is three letters (eg DDJ for Dau/Dv Jing).
We may call attention to the new (since April 2000) archive search engine, which will find terms, not only in message headings, but within messages. This is a great help when you need to fish up an earlier message to which you wish to reply, and recall that it mentioned "rhotacism." It is not necessary to enclose phrases in quotes before searching them. You may also jump directly to a message if you know its archive number.
By convention, all topics once introduced are permanently open for discussion, and may be revived, preferably under their original subject heading, at any later time. Those who have taken time to research a comment are urged to post it, even if the conversation seems to have moved on to other matters.
The archive, like the Internet in general, is not kind to tables or other formatting devices which use the TAB stop or multiple SPACE BAR entries. In technical terms, HTML limits apply. The safest style is to begin paragraphs at the left margin, separating them from the previous paragraph by a blank line.
Your message will be formatted in the archive with a heading consisting of your name (after "From"), the date of posting (in terms of Greenwich Mean Time), and your supplied Subject. If you wish to include a further heading inside your message, the archive will accept one of up to two lines. A reference (see above) to the number of the message to which you are responding may be helpful to others, especially if that message was posted some time ago.
At present, no system for including Chinese characters in Internet messages is uniformly readable. If you include characters, therefore, it is a kindness to add romanization on first occurrence, and to use romanization thereafter. Mention which word-processing and character-insertion programs you are using. Characters may also be identified by Mathews (Mt) or Morohashi (Mh) number, or by any other self-evident or locally explained convention. Indicate tones in romanized forms by postposed numbers, eg shu4 "tree." Full character or mixed text may work better as a document posted in the Files section of the list archive. Of those options, rich-text format (RTF) is more widely readable than some word processor output. PDF format is perhaps most successful of all; it also allows characters to be included.
Thanks for your patience with these sometimes vexing details, and for your courtesy to other list members.
26 Oct 2012 / Contact The Project / Exit to Project Home Page
