GUIDELINES
Membership is a privilege, not a right. Don’t abuse it!
All members are expected to read and follow the guidelines and FAQ.
This list is for all ages.
As a general rule, for each [NVC] message, you should have at least two viola-related messages to your credit.
As a general rule, response to [NVC] posts should be sent in private.
Please quote only as necessary. See below for more on this subject.
No computer virus warnings should be posted to the mailing list, period. There are other media (newspapers, TV, magazines, web sites, etc.) that can inform people of the latest computer viruses.
No religious and/or political messages should be posted to the mailing list, period.
Ads are generally discouraged, unless they are of special interest to violists. Please see below for additional info. When in doubt, please contact the list owner.
Please be considerate and forgiving of your fellow members. We are all human and will make mistakes and forget things from time to time.
Add content/substance to your message — e.g. don’t simply say “I agree” when responding to a message.
If an [NVC] topic develops into a thread, it is killed if three members vote to end the thread by posting as such to the list. Members who continue to follow up risk having their posting privilege revoked.
If two or more list members point out to the moderator (that’s me), via private email, that one list member’s last ten posts contain seven or more [NVC] messages, this member will be warned and the posting privilege may be revoked for a period of time at the moderator’s discretion. If posting privilege is revoked, messages from this member will need to be approved by the moderator before they are sent to the list.
If there are more than 70% [NVC] messages in the last 50 posts, the list may become moderated.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
I am having trouble unsubscribing to the list….
The amount of email is too much! What are my options?
My email address has been changed….
What should be included when I am quoting another member?
What are the guidelines regarding ads and promotions?
Is my message suitable for this mailing list?
How do I filter out [NVC] messages?
How do I keep all Viola Mailing List messages in its own mailbox folder?
I am going on vacation. How can I suspend subscription so I won’t come back to a full mailbox?
I would like to switch from single-message subscription to digest. How do I do that?
I would like to switch from digest subscription to single-message . How do I do that?
I am a violist, but this mailing list doesn’t talk about things I am interested in.
How do I unsubscribe?
To unsubscribe, send an email to viola+unsubscribe@groups.io . You will then receive an email to confirm your request; reply to the email to conclude the process.
If you encounter problems, please email the list owner.
See https://groups.io/g/viola for more info.
I am having trouble unsubscribing to the list….
Are you sending the email to the correct email address specified above? Are you sending from the same email address as when you subscribed? Did you try the Help pages at Yahoogroups.com? If you continue to have problems, please email the list owner and forward the original command email and any response you received from the list server.
My email address has been changed….
Please subscribe using your new email address and then unsubscribe using your old email address. If you can’t use your old email address anymore, please email the list owner.
What does [NVC] mean?
[NVC] means No Viola Content. This is a compromise designed to allow non-viola-related messages.General music discussions is no longer considered [NVC] as of 28 Mar 2000 because music is of interest to all violists.
When composing a message with no viola content, the tag [NVC] should be placed at the beginning of the subject line:
e.g.
subject: [NVC] I’ve just found a bag of money and I’d like to share it with members of the viola mailing list
Please refrain from [NVC] posts if there are already 3 or more [NVC] posts in the last 10 messages, whether or not they are labeled as such. The idea is to have a 30% noise level or lower. This guideline will be enforced when invoked by anyone on the list.
See also Is my message suitable for this mailing list? below.
Is my message suitable for this mailing list?
Here are the priorities of the viola mailing list:
| Viola-related messages Violist-targeted messages General music discussions (no longer [NVC] as of 28 Mar 2000 because music is of interest to all violists) List-administration-related messages [ADMIN] Violist-targeted advertisements [AD] Conversation [NVC] Prolonged discussion on viola society politics |
The lower priority items are the first to go when the usefulness of the list is threatened. The items above the line have legitimate presence on the mailing list, and therefore cannot be faulted for their presence.
What should be included when I am quoting another member?
Generally one needs to include the name/email address of the writer, date/time of the message, and the part of the message to which you’re replying. Please also check the subject field to make sure the subject is relevant to the message.
For Eudora users, please note that if you replied to a message with the OPTION key pressed down, the name of the sender and time of the message will be automatically added before the quoted message. You then need only to reduce the quoted message down to include only the relevant part.
There are many benefits to this practice:
- Digest readers won’t have to scroll thru the long quote to find the next new message.
- Many people can save money on Internet connection — A lot of ISPs in the world (US is not exempt) charge by connection time.
- Almost all of us can use the time spent on downloading messages on something more productive (like answering/writing more messages) 🙂
- It saves bandwidth — one message may seem small, but remember each message is delivered to everyone on the list. For a mailing list of 500, sending a 5K message would mean nearly 2.5 meg traveling in cyberspace. Ten 5K messages exchanged would be nearly 25 meg traveling in cyberspace…you get the idea.
- It simply makes your message more concise.
What are the guidelines regarding ads and promotions?
Please put the tag [AD] (with square brackets) at the beginning of the subject line.
When posting to promote an event, group or product, please include only a short description and its web site address (and/or email address) so that interested parties can contact you directly.
Repeated ads, especially in a short period of time, are frowned upon.
Please make sure you have read everything in this document to avoid potential conflicts.
I know this message is not related to the viola, but I’d really like to share it with my friends on the viola mailing list….
You may do so if you affix the tag [NVC] (meaning No Viola Content) at the beginning of the subject line. However, you probably would find a more appreciative audience if you send your message to the right group, which should be easy as Internet accommodates all kinds of mailing lists and newsgroups. Remember, there is no limit to how many mailing lists or newsgroups one can use.
For example, if you want to share cooking tips with people who appreciate them, you may do so in a number of newsgroups such as alt.cooking-chat, rec.food.cooking, rec.food.veg.cooking, etc.
Share your cooking tips with them, but if you have a viola-related issue, share it with the viola mailing list!
How do I filter out [NVC] messages?
All email clients and services work similarly but probably differently. Search on the Web and you will find more instructions.
For Gmail: see .
How do I keep all Viola Mailing List messages in its own mailbox folder?
You should feel free to experiment with filters in whatever email client you use. The worst that can happen is some messages may be placed in the wrong folder (within your mail client), and that can be easily fixed.
For Gmail: see .
I am going on vacation. How can I suspend subscription so I won’t come back to a full mailbox?
You may unsubscribe from the mailing list and subscribe again when you come back. Alternatively, you can change the delivery option to Web-only. To catch up with the list, you may read the Viola List archive at https://groups.io/g/viola (older archives are kept here: http://www.viola.com/archive/)
I would like to switch from single-message subscription to digest. How do I do that?
Please visit https://groups.io/g/viola for instructions.
I would like to switch from digest subscription to single-message . How do I do that?
Please visit https://groups.io/g/viola for instructions.
I am a violist, but this mailing list doesn’t talk about things I am interested in.
Why not put out your own questions or issues you’d like to discuss?
There are students, teachers, professional violists, amateur violists, composers, viola makers, doctors, engineers, record collectors…violists from all walks of life on this list. Chances are very good that you will find people who are interested in your subjects.
One thing to keep in mind is you don’t have to read everything sent to the list. Not all things discussed will be of interest to you. However, sometime in the future you may become interested in topics that you previously had no time or desire to read. To avoid repeating subjects that have been discussed before, you can search the archive and read up on it. If you would like to bring back the topic, you may then post your question or comment to the list.
The amount of email is too much! What are my options?
First of all, you can try filtering the messages to its own mailbox/folder. Please see How do I keep all Viola Mailing List messages in its own mailbox?. Non-Eudora users should also consult the Help menu in your email program.
You can also choose to receive digests, and you can also choose to read on the website only. For more info, see https://groups.io/g/viola
Where do I find the polls?
Please see https://groups.io/g/viola/addpoll