I've composed some rules for this list. They are not hard and fast and may evolve over time. Suggestions are welcome. There are things I mention below that not all of you will understand, and that's ok too. I won't go lynching anyone. Remember this is YOUR list, this list belongs to the Band. I think these rules will maintain an easy to use discussion list. Please read them over.

1. CONTENT: Posts should primarily be about the Melbourne Municipal Band, any sub-groups or related musical issues.
2. BEHAVIOR: Email is a wonderful thing. However, when we cannot hear each other or see each other's nuances, it's sometimes easy to infer things you don't mean or offend people accidentally. I will not tolerate "flames" (emailed personal attacks) on this list at all. Do keep in mind that anything you post on the internet can be read by people for months, years, as eGroups archives everything that is on this list.
3. FORWARDS: Please limit any humour forwards to no more than 1 per month per poster. Trust me we all get these from our various aquaintences and mailing lists.
   EXCLUSIONS: I suppose it's ok if you send us music jokes, but we might change this rule in the future.
4. WARNINGS: Absolutely NO forwarded warnings about computer viruses, contaminated needles in phone booths or poisonous sweeteners are to be posted to the list. 99% of these are hoaxes or variations on urban legends. If you are concerned about one, read it over a couple of times and decide for yourself if it actually makes sense. Then visit About.com's Urban Legends & Hoaxes site to look for info about it there. As an absolute last resort, email it to me to ask if it is a hoax.
5. VIRUSES: Everyone on the list should have up-to-date virus protection software that has the ability to prevent viruses that can manipulate your email program without your knowledge. If you want advice on which to use, please feel free to contact me. Norton Anti-Virus and McAfee are primarily the most popular, here's more Virus info from ZDNet.
6. ATTACHMENTS: Currently email attachments are permitted on this mailing list, but if we could avoid sending everyone pictures of grandchildren, I am sure subscribers would appreciate it. It would also be appreciated if your email software was NOT configured to attach a .DAT or .VCF files to each and every email. Today I deleted 212 .VCF files from my Attachments directory and they were mostly copies of the same file from the same person.

Off my soapbox,

David Good, Moderator
david@dreamnetstudios.com