[xml-dev] [Admin] XML-DEV Posting Guidelines

[Leigh Dodds <ldodds@ingenta.com>]

Hi,

XML-DEV has a good track record of being a high-quality discussion
forum with a great deal of informed (if at times, heated :) debate.
This has happened for two reasons. The first is some early shepherding
by Peter Murray-Rust, which encouraged list members to stay on topic,
be receptive to newcomers, and generally play nicely. The second,
and most important, is the due diligence of the individual list members.

However a few times recently some consternation has arisen over
advertising and/or marketing material that has been posted to the
list [1]

Does anyone consider it worthwhile to gather together some posting
guidelines for XML-DEV, perhaps as an FAQ suitable for new members
and as guidelines that can be referred to as necessary? Hopefully OASIS
would be amenable about adding this content to the existing XML-DEV
homepage

This might usefully include:

1. What to do about bouncing email addresses [2, 6]
2. References to list history [3, 4]
3. How and whether to post job offers (at least one member has
been uncertain whether this is suitable [5])
4. How to go about posting product announcements. What information
is required? [7, 13, 14]
5. Guidance for software vendors about plugging their own products,
and the appropriate level of debate when comparing products.
6. Quoting policy [8, 9, 11]
7. Posting policy (e.g. well labelled subject lines [10], cross-posting
[12])
8. Suggestions on how to go about organising an 'XML-DEV Project'. Perhaps a
grandiose title, but there's been more than one successful joint
venture carried out on this list, so the processes might be worth
documenting.
9. Places to go for more/better information, e.g. xsl-list for XSL specific
issues.

I'm sending this email merely for discussion. I claim no authority, nor
wish to introduce any unnecessary moderation or 'nannying' to the
list. Indeed many may consider the guidelines referenced above as
not worth effort documenting (being in general advice for any forum)

It just struck me that there's some 'XML-DEV best practices' which
might be worth capturing - as I noted above, this is a very successful
community.

Cheers,

L.

[1]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200109/msg00658.html
[2]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200108/msg00633.html
[3]. http://www.xml.org/xml/xmldev.shtml
[4]. http://www.xml.com/pub/2000/02/09/deviant/
[5]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200002/msg00311.html
[6]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200109/msg00503.html
[7]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200005/msg00165.html
[8]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200002/msg00382.html
[9]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/199806/msg00347.html
[10]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200001/msg00854.html
[11]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200005/msg00029.html
[12]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200003/msg00194.html
[13]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200005/msg00176.html
[14]. http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/200108/msg00096.html


--
Leigh Dodds, Research Group, Ingenta | "Pluralitas non est ponenda
http://weblogs.userland.com/eclectic |    sine necessitate"
http://www.xml.com/pub/xmldeviant    |     -- William of Ockham