HELLO, and welcome to the Online Parish Clerks for Cornwall Message List reference sheet
(whew, that's a title!)
Welcome to our group. This is your chance to share ideas and concerns. Ask questions. Offer advice. Forge meaningful connections, and make groundbreaking discoveries. It's your opportunity to collaborate and share with fellow OPCs who share your commitment to our goals.
Below we've tried to answer questions we expect new listers to the group may have, and explain procedures for participating in the List. Please feel free to contact us off-list (privately) if you have a question that isn't covered below, or would like more information on something mentioned.
DETAILS, DETAILS
HOW TO POST MESSAGES TO THE LIST, UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THE LIST, and CONTACT THE LIST ADMINISTRATOR(S)
GUIDELINES FOR USERS
As an Online Parish Clerk community member, please consider the following:
1. This is a private list, as far as we know. (see #3) It is not archived by Rootsweb. or any other repository. If you wish to retain a copy of any particular message, you are free to do so. However, list business stays with the List; we do not share messages which appear online with others who are not in this group.
2. This list has been organized specifically to address OPC concerns, so all messages should be related to that topic. Topics could include challenges you've encountered, questions re practices, and sharing genealogical information, as well as praise received from researchers.
3. We don't want to attract attention to the existence of this list. A non OPC person once discovered us, monitored us without our knowledge, then suddenly joined a discussion in progress. Rootsweb corrected the problem, but we must still be careful. Don't advertise this list on any other message list, please.
4. List Etiquette - If you disagree with something in a post, respond to the subject, not the person. Cordial and non-personal responses are the most productive.
Follow the Golden Rule. Be polite and collegial. Reread your post before sending and check that you have not made any negative personal comment. Members represent different countries and cultures, and a remark that works in your country may sound insulting in another. Think, then send.
You may contradict an idea expressed on this list as vigorously as you like, if your language is cordial and non-personal and you are not disrupting the List as a whole. But if you flame*, you will be moderated. It doesn't matter who you are, or how much you believe you have contributed to the list. See information on moderation below.
5. The List is for active OPCs. Retired OPCs may remain as members on this list if they choose because we value their experience and knowledge. Non-OPC people are not members, except for Ken Ozanne, who is a historian with an extensive library, which he makes available to us. He's very, very helpful; feel free to contact him. .
6. Praise publicly, complain privately. Except to provide evidence correcting statements of fact, all criticism of messages sent by others should be sent to me, privately.
7. Please accept slightly off-topic messages, the opinions of others, and the like, with good grace, or if you can't manage that, with silence.
If you feel a need to add a rhetorical "hear, hear", or "way to go", please try to stifle the inclination. If you must, be sure to remove appended messages. This is not the same as a message of agreement, which states why you share the opinion or advice, and gives additional information.
8. Everyone has been a newbie. Don't insult or patronize new people on this List. (Or even doddering old genealogists who sometimes make mistakes.)
9. It's been estimated that only 10% of list members post to a list, and only 5% post routinely. Many do not participate for a fear of embarrassment. We want to encourage people to share in this experience - questions are gladly received, and as there are many excellent genealogists in the group, you may receive more than one response.
What if the Guidelines aren't observed?
We're subject to the Rootsweb guidelines and their Acceptable Use Policy; moderation and blocking are possible results, as is banning. . You are responsible for following the A.U.P.(see it at https://sites.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/aup.html )
Unacceptable*