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** Welcome to SHOWDOGS-L * *
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Your subscription to the SHOWDOGS-L list has been accepted. Please read this all the way through and then SAVE IT! If you don't have the disk space to save it, you should print it out and keep it near your computer!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Limitations of Liability
2. What's It All About?
3. Showdogs-L Website
4. Technical Information About LISTSERV And Useful Commands
5. Database Searches
6. Special Notice to Users of MS Exchange
7. Legal Stuff
1. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY
By continuing to receive messages from SHOWDOGS-L you agree to hold Terri Cude, listowner; Libbye Miller, first vice listowner; Karen Harbert and Vonnie Matheny, list administrators, and any such guest administrators as might join us occasionally, their internet service providers, and L-Soft International, owner of the system at which the list resides, harmless for opinions expressed on this mailing list as well as any list-related actions these administrators may take. The opinions expressed in this unmoderated mailing list do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the list owners, administrators, or L-Soft International.
If you do not accept these terms, unsubscribe NOW.
2. WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
Please read this section carefully!
SHOWDOGS-L is a discussion forum for all breed conformation issues. Absolutely anything that has anything to do with conformation, either directly or indirectly, may be discussed here, such as structure, standards, temperament, health issues, brags, contracts (pet/show puppy sales, breeding, co-ownerships, for example), friendly chat, etc. This, however, is NOT a place for flame wars, comments about specific judges, or blatant commercials. It is okay to ASK about specific judges but comments should be sent in private email. Litter announcements are welcome, but attempts to use the list to sell the puppies are not. Also, the presence of any breeder on this list is not to be construed as a recommendation by the list owners or administrators.
There are some topics that are monitored closely. These topics include but are not limited to AR, BARF or other diets and different techniques and equipment used for dog training. We have found that without careful monitoring these topics can turn into flame wars and heated discussion. While discussion on Showdogs-L is encouraged, arguments and hurt feelings are not. A topic may be shut down quickly by one of the LAGS when it is felt that the subject is getting out of control or coming close to crossing the line. We have found that the line seems to move on a regular basis, so it is important that you understand that when a topic is shut down, this means that even if you did not get your last word in, the subject must cease.
FYI, as part of list custom, Terri, Libbye, Karen and Vonnie are informally known as "LAGs" This came about when one of our original members made a plea for help and addressed it to the "List Administrator Goddesses" and we have been known as LAGs ever since. Some other lists use the term now, but it originated here on Showdogs-L. The first "LAGs" were Mary Siegel and Melissa Paul.
*ON SHOWDOGS-L THOU SHALT NOT FLAME! That means everyone, even when you are upset or angry or feel strongly about an issue. Keep your comments to or about other people within the bounds of courtesy. A flame is a nasty statement or crack, aimed at someone else. It includes holding another person up to ridicule, or making disparaging remarks about his or her motives, intent, intelligence or honesty. When you disagree, confine your public response to what that person said, not your estimate of his motives for saying it. Debate the issues by all means. But remember that the first rule of debate is that the ONLY issue under debate is your opponent's words, not his character or motives. This list is for the reasoned discussion of issues and ideas, not character assassination.
Do not send virus warnings to Showdogs-L. Most of them are hoaxes. If you think you have a real one, please send it to one of the LAGs first for verification.
Politics, religion, child-raising (human), etc. are not appropriate discussion topics for this dog discussion group. There are many online groups where you can share your personal, non-dog-related beliefs.
Do not advertise web sites you have set up for other people. This means you should not write about them in the body of the message and you should not have them in your sig file.
Do not use Showdogs-l to sell anything - not products, puppies, dogs, services or anything else. Not for yourself, not for your friends.
Membership in this list does not necessarily mean endorsement by any administrators, their internet service providers, and L-Soft International, owner of the system at which the list resides. Beware of any dealings with anyone only known by association through an email list.
Sig files are limited to 6 lines although we realize that sometimes the lines will be broken in transmission and carry over to 8 lines. However, more than 8 lines will require editing so that they only appear as 6.
The LAGs respect the intellectual property rights of others. You must have permission to post the work of someone else on Showdogs-L. That work includes private email, postings on other lists, newspaper and magazine articles, etc.
The standard for Showdogs-L (and most email lists) posts is plain text. Please do not send images, Winmail.dat files, messages filled with html coding, or messages in RTF (Rich Text Format). Everyone can read plain text, but many people cannot read messages in other formats. If you have trouble setting your mailer to Plain Text, please go to http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/help/html-off.html for assistance.
Please try to keep your subject headers appropriate to the topic discussed in your mail and change the subject headers if your reply drifts from the original topic. You should not leave the name of a particular digest in your subject line--change it to reflect the actual topic of your message. The list software is set to reject posts with the digest number as the subject line.
When replying to messages on Showdogs-L, please DO NOT quote the entire original message. Include only the pertinent parts about which you wish to comment. Listmembers will have already seen the original message, so there is no reason to repeat the whole thing again. Repeating the entire message makes it difficult to read the digest form of the list, and because archives are kept of Showdogs-L, excessive quoting will take up a great deal of space on the hard drive that could be used for unique material. Please keep quoting the original message to a minimum - just enough to remind the list of what you're replying to.
If your mailer automatically includes the "To:", "From:", or "Subject:" lines from the message to which you are replying, please delete those lines from the body of your message.
You are required to subscribe to Showdogs-L using your real first and last names. In addition, please remember to sign your posts and include your email address. This is a courtesy to those who wish to respond to you directly. The mail program on some machines hides or strips off the names and/or addresses of the senders, so unless you sign your posts some members will not be able to reply to you privately.
New members will serve a probationary period during which time their posts will be read and approved by one of the List Editors prior to appearance on the List. This is known as being on "Review." The List Editors only have the choice of either accepting or rejecting a post in its entirety. They may not alter the contents. However, they may write to the poster and request that he/she change something in the post and then resubmit it. This often happens because of a technical problem with the message (such as including images, Winmail.dat files, or html coding) or because of over-quoting. Review is also used to prevent someone from joining and posting an advertisement and to prevent a "troll" from joining and posting inflammatory material in order to start a flame war.
Established list members may have their account set to Review because of technical problems (see above). They may also have their account set to Review for other reasons at the LAGs' discretion. There is no such thing as "free speech" on a privately owned email list. For a member to be on Review causes the LAGs extra work, so we would prefer that no one on the List was on Review! For this reason, if a list member does not adhere to the List Rules and the LAGs interpretation of same, they may be removed from the list by agreement of the LAG-team and perhaps even barred from rejoining the list.
A WORD OF WARNING--We cannot guarantee that your mail to the list will not be forwarded, but if you find out that it has been forwarded without your permission, inform us and we may remove that list member. However, we reserve the right to judge each case on the circumstances.
3.SHOWDOGS-L WEBSITE
Our website is constantly changing. If you are looking for the fabled "How to grow hair on a doorknob" recipe, or if you have a brag, need some crime scene tape, or have something to swap or sell, go have a look at http://SHOWDOGS-L.COM There is also an "Advice" column where you (or your dogs) may ask questions and receive a humorous answer. Since you cannot sell anything on the Showdogs-l email list, the Swap Meet is a way to reach fellow dog enthusiasts without breaking list rules.
We will be adding other features from time to time, so check in periodically.
4.TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT LISTSERV AND USEFUL COMMANDS
Please save the following for future reference. This might look like a waste of disk space now, but in six months you will be glad you saved this information when you realize that you cannot remember what lists you are subscribed to, or what is the command to leave the list to avoid filling up your mailbox while you are on vacations. In fact, you should create a new mail folder for subscription confirmation messages like this one, and for the "welcome messages" from the list owners that you will occasionally receive after subscribing to a new list. This message was last updated on July 5, 2011.
To send a message to all the people currently subscribed to the list, just send an email to SHOWDOGS-L@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM. This is called "sending mail to the list," because you send mail to a single address and LISTSERV makes copies for all the people who have subscribed. This address (SHOWDOGS-L@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM) is also called the "list address." You must never send any command to that address, as it will be distributed to all the people who have subscribed. All commands, such as "set showdogs-l nomail" and the like, *must* be sent to the "LISTSERV address" LISTSERV@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM.
You may leave the list at any time by sending a "SIGNOFF SHOWDOGS-L" command to LISTSERV@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM. You can also tell LISTSERV how you want it to confirm the receipt of messages you send to the list. The system is set up initially to send you a copy of your own messages, so that you can see that the message was distributed and did not get damaged on the way. After a while you may find that this is getting annoying, especially if your mail program does not tell you that the message is from you when it informs you that new mail has arrived from SHOWDOGS-L. If you send a "SET SHOWDOGS-L ACK NOREPRO" command, LISTSERV will mail you a short acknowledgment instead, which will look different in your mailbox directory. With most mail programs you will know immediately that this is an acknowledgment you can read later. Finally, you can turn off acknowledgments completely with "SET SHOWDOGS-L NOACK NOREPRO". Some email readers such as gmail may not send you copies of your own postings - we have no control over this.
Be warned that Showdogs-L can be a relatively busy list, and there are sometimes 100 to 150 messages per day. If this is problematical, you may wish to set yourself to receive Showdogs-L in either Digest or Index format.
If you change email addresses, you can CHANGE your address on the list as long as you still can send mail from your old one. This will preserve your option and keep you from being put back on Review as a new subscriber. To do this, you send FROM YOUR OLD ADDRESS: CHANGE SHOWDOGS-L your-new-address (using your new address, of course.) You then must accept a cookie from the new address to complete the change.
Here are some other commands you will find useful. For all of them, you must send email to LISTSERV@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM. Leave the subject line blank and put the appropriate command in the body of the message. Do not type anything after the commands. If you have a signature file, disable that feature before sending your message or your commands may not take effect. Type only the words which are not enclosed in parentheses.
SET SHOWDOGS-L DIGESTS
(You will not receive each message at the time it is sent to the List, and instead you will receive a collected email from the List containing all the individual messages. This command will not affect your ability to send messages. You will still be able to post at any time.)
SET SHOWDOGS-L NODIGESTS
(You will receive individual messages instead of the collected digest)
SET SHOWDOGS-L NOMAIL
(Temporarily suspends your subscription while you are on vacation, busy, etc.
SET SHOWDOGS-L MAIL
(Resumes your mail in individual messages.)
SET SHOWDOGS-L DIGESTS
(Resumes your mail in Digest format.)
SET SHOWDOGS-L INDEX
(You will receive the List in summary form one or more times per day. This will show a limited amount of information about each post, such as the name of the poster, the subject line, and the number of lines. You will then be able to order any posts you wish to read--please note the special address for ordering posts which will come in the Indexes . This option is very helpful if you want to reduce the volume of mail you receive from Showdogs-L. This command will not affect your ability to send messages. You will still be able to post at any time.)
SET SHOWDOGS-L DUALHDR
(Some subscribers use mail programs that only show SHOWDOGS-L as the sender of any message to the List. Since people are notorious about not signing their names to their messages, this can cause a lot of confusion in trying to decide who is saying what, and can make it impossible to send mail privately. If you send this command to LISTSERV, it will duplicate key elements of the original message within the message itself so it is apparent who sent it)
5. DATABASE SEARCHES
For those interested in retrieving messages from the Showdogs-L archives, here are some examples of what you can do. In order to search the database, you need to send a command (or more than one at once) to LISTSERV@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM. The general format for the command is:
Search 'string' in Showdogs-L
Of course replacing "string" with what you want (and in the actual command you must use single quotes ')
So, if you wanted posts that mentioned a particular dog, like Ch. Tryst of Grandeur, try sending this command:
Search 'Tryst' in Showdogs-L
if that returns too many results, add a word or words in the single quotes to narrow the results, like
Search 'Tryst of Grandeur' in Showdogs-L
You can also narrow a search by date (using the "since" predicate) or by sender and/or the subject line (using the "where" predicate). Here are some examples:
Search 'puppy match' in Showdogs-L since 99/08/26
Search 'bait' in Showdogs-L where sender contains 'Fred'
You can even use a wildcard (the "*") AND combine other parameters:
Search * in Showdogs-L where sender is anybody@wherever.com
Search * in Showdogs-L since 99/01/12 where subject contains 'Crufts'
After you send a command or commands to LISTSERV, you will get a message which contains excerpts of the Showdogs-L posts (up to 100 in one search) that fit your search criteria. The message will give you instructions about how to retrieve those posts. After you request the ones you want, LISTSERV will send you all of them together (so be careful how many you ask for because this could be a BIG message!).
Fyi, using the database search features is an option for someone who does not like to receive lots of email. It would be possible to set yourself to nomail and just periodically request posts that fit
criteria you select.
6.SPECIAL NOTICE TO USERS OF MS EXCHANGE
MS Exchange cause problems on the list unless it is configured correctly. If you are using Exchange, the built-in mail program that came with some Windows versions, be sure that you change the "properties" for the list's address in your "Personal Address Book" to be sure that you do NOT send mail in "Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format." To do this, double click on the address, and unclick on the box that says "Always Send To This Recipient In Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format."
This will eliminate the WINMAIL.DAT file garbage that sometimes appears at the end of messages. This file contains the font type and color information and other things that can corrupt other mail readers.
You also need to turn off RTF and MIME.
Pesky "=" signs. The following information is from Microsoft:
Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Lines End with "="
When you send SMTP (Internet) mail using Microsoft Exchange, the recipient may see an equal sign (=) at the end of each line. In addition, the following text may occur in the mail message:
<Sender composed mail containing characters not in the US-ASCII set.>
<These characters have been transformed into a printable form.>
CAUSE
=====
Microsoft Exchange uses an enhanced character set. The default MIME character set for Microsoft Exchange is ISO 8859-1. Some gateways do not support the way this character set issues a soft return for line feeds. When this occurs, each line is terminated with an equal sign showing the line break where the gateway's line-length support ends.
RESOLUTION
==========
To work around this behavior, use either of the following methods:
- 1. In Control Panel, double-click Mail And Fax.
2. Click Internet Mail, and then click Properties.
3. On the General tab, click Message Format, and then click Character Set.
4. Change the option from ISO 8859-1 to US ASCII, or click the "Use
MIME when sending messages" check box to clear it.
- 1. In Microsoft Exchange, click Address Book on the Tools menu.
2. Use the right mouse button to click the recipient's address,
and then click Properties on the menu that appears.
3. Disable the "Always send messages in Microsoft Exchange rich text
format" option.
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If you are using any other kind of a mail program, it is just good form to be sure that the mail program is sending out mail in "text only" format, as many people don't have a GUI (Graphical User Interface) based reader.
7. LEGAL STUFF
Before you begin, please read the following carefully.
L-Soft International ("L-Soft") provides this Internet site to the owner of this List and its subscribers as a service to the Internet community. Access to and use of SHOWDOGS-L@APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (the "List") is subject to the following terms and conditions and all applicable laws. By subscribing to and/or using this List, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. These terms and conditions may be revised from time to time by updating this posting.
You should consider any communications and other materials you transmit to or via this List to be non-confidential and recognize that they may be reproduced, republished, or rebroadcast by L-Soft, the List Owner or any other subscriber to this List. By using this List you agree that L-Soft is not responsible for any errors created in or damage to any such communication or material or for the use of any such communication or material by anyone accessing this List.
You are responsible for complying with applicable laws and regulations when using this List. You agree that you will not use this List to reproduce or publicly distribute or broadcast copyrighted material (including, without limitation, e-mail messages, newspaper and magazine articles, digital images and sound recordings, and computer programs) without the author's permission. By posting materials to or sending them through this List, you represent and warrant that the reproduction, distribution, broadcast and use of such materials will not violate anyone else's copyright or any other proprietary right.
You also agree that you will not post or transmit any defamatory, abusive, harassing, obscene,pornographic, or indecent communication or material to or through this List, nor will you use this List to advocate illegal conduct or to commit, or aid or abet the commission of a crime.
Finally, you agree that your access to and use of this List and its contents is at your own risk. L-Soft does not monitor or control this List or any communication or materials sent through or posted to it. The statements, views and opinions contained in such communications and materials are those of the author and are not endorsed by, nor do they necessarily reflect the opinion of, L-Soft. L-Soft does not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations, express or implied, with respect to any information or material sent through or posted to this List, including its accuracy, completeness, quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. L-Soft will not be liable for any direct, incidental, consequential, indirect or punitive damages arising out of your access, use or inability to use this List, or any errors or omissions in the List or its contents.