Summary
Content
Introduction
Logistics Cluster is activated within humanitarian crisis areas where humanitarian actors are deployed to areas where communication and land connection are neither always stable nor possible. Therefore, e-mail is one of the preferred ways to exchange information and discuss logistics issues across and within such crisis areas. Much of these exchanges among humanitarian actors focusing on logistics issues are managed through several mailing lists.
Within these humanitarian mailing lists, all subscribers receive via email everything that is posted by subscribers, and participate in the discussions. Everyone is encouraged to help humanitarian logisticians share their information on logistics.
All Logistics Cluster mailing lists run on a special server, using an automatic mail processing software called Mailman. All submission, subscription and unsubscription messages have to be sent to a particular address at this host. (see subscription/unsubscription section below)
Basic use
Each Logistics Cluster mailing list has a submission address in the form <listname>@logcluster.org,
To send an email to a list, simply send it to the submission address.
We also maintain some usage statistics (insert link to stats) for the mailing lists: check the average number of posts before subscribing to a list in order to avoid being flooded by emails.
Subscription / Unsubscription
All our lists use a control request address in the form <listname>-request@logcluster.org.
To subscribe to a list, in order to receive or send mails from/to the list, or to unsubscribe from a list, use the control request address.
Anyone can subscribe/unsubscribe to/from any mailing list, presuming the subscription policy for a particular list is `open'.
The requests for subscription or unsubscription are sent to an email, to the special control address, which is slightly different from the lists address. Subscription or unsubscription messages should NOT be sent to the address of the mailing list itself.
To subscribe to or unsubscribe from a mailing list, please send mail to
- <listname>-subscribe@logcluster.org
- <listname>-unsubscribe@logcluster.org
As part of the subscription/unsubscription process, the list software will send you an email to which you must reply in order to finish subscribing/unsubscribing. This is a security measure to prevent people from subscribing others to lists without their permission.
Please remember that an unsubscription request should be sent using the same email address used in the subscription.
To check if you have subscribed to a Logistics Cluster mailing list, kindly send an email to <listname>-owner@logcluster.org with your email address in the body.
Mailing lists Code of Conduct
Things to Keep in Mind When Sending a Message
When using the Logistics Cluster mailing lists, please follow these rules:
- Emails should be signed with the full name and status of the sender.
- Do not send spam; the advertising policy below refers.
- Stick to the topic of each list. Ensure you are using the relevant list. In particular, don't send specific crisis related questions or information to another crisis mailing list.
- Do not send automated "out-of-office" or "vacation" messages.
- Do not send subscription or unsubscription requests to the list address itself; use the respective -request address instead.
- Avoid sending messages in HTML; use plain text instead.
- When replying to messages on the mailing list, do not send a carbon copy (CC) to the original poster unless they explicitly request to be copied.
- If you send messages to lists to which you are not subscribed, your email will be rejected.
Subject Lines
- Always include a descriptive, but brief subject line in your message. Make sure it describes the main point of your message.
- Remember that with many messages each week, many people use the subject line to decide if they should read your message or not. Keep messages to only one subject; second subjects within a single message are often missed.
Common Courtesies
- Read carefully what you receive, to make sure that you understand the message and read carefully what you send, to make sure that your message will not be misunderstood.
- As most of the humanitarian actors work in hostile data communication environments, with limited and often expensive electronic mail facilities, kindly avoid causing cause unnecessary traffic, or sending unnecessarily long messages or large attachments.
Junk Mail, Viruses and Hoaxes
Do not post virus warnings, test messages, chain letters, political announcements, items for sale, unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, pyramid schemes, personal messages to Logistics Cluster mailing lists.
- If you receive such unauthorized mail, kindly delete it immediately.
- For information on virus hoaxes and urban legends see Symantec Security Response: Hoaxes.
Patience and Tolerance
- Send all e-mails in English. Only use other languages on mailing lists where that is explicitly allowed.
- Remember that not all readers have your native language as their native language, so make allowance for possible misunderstandings and unintended discourtesies. Be tolerant of newcomers; none of us were born knowing all. If you are using humor or sarcasm, be sure to clearly label it as such.
- Insults or "flaming" (flame)will not be tolerated. If you're unhappy with the content of a posting, please refer the issue to the administrator; do not comment on the list.
- Do not post messages that may be considered libelous, defamatory, false, obscene, indecent, pornographic, violent, abusive, threatening, harassing, or disruptive, or that may constitute grounds for civil liability.
Replying To a Message
- Feel free to answer questions or provide clarification or comments in response to any posting you see on the list. However, please post replies to the list only if you think your comments will be of interest to other readers and you wish your answer to be sent to all subscribers. Otherwise, you should reply directly to the poster. Do not use the list for personal correspondence.
- If you are responding to a message, either include the relevant part of the original message, or make sure you clearly refer to the original contents. It is very common for people to read your reply before they read the original message. However, please avoid unnecessarily lengthy quotations from the messages to which you are responding.
- Don't send a meaningless message with no content, such as "I agree."
Complaints
If you disagree with the relevance/usefulness of posted information, don't send a complaint to the entire list. Instead, please send an email message to <listname>-owner@logcluster.org and express your opinion. If useful, the lists moderators will address the posting.
Logistics Cluster mailing lists advertising policy
This policy is intended to fight mailing-list "spamming
" and 'Out of subject' posting.
Spamming:
The sending of unsolicited bulk email to any of the Logistics Cluster lists is prohibited. Failure to follow this rule may result in the senders of such messages being blocked from posting on lists and/or reported to the relevant authorities.
The Logistics Cluster List Moderators endeavor to prevent such emails reaching the lists.
Out of subject:
The sending of non-logistics related messages to any of the Logistics Cluster lists is prohibited.
The Logistics Cluster List Moderators do their best to ensure that subject discussed within the lists focus on Logistics issues.
Many of the rules we use to block spammers and out-subject posts have been reported to us by subscribers. If you wish to help us reduce the amount of non solicited messages even more, it will be very much appreciated. Please refrain from sending Logistics Cluster pre-packaged lists of rules sourced elsewhere. They provide poor results on our lists as they receive some pretty unique traffic.
Report Spams or Out-of-subject:
To report spam or out-of-subject post, you will need to do the following:
- Send a copy of the message to our Lists Moderator (listname-owner@logcluster.org)
- For Spams, find a SpamAssassin rule or a procmail expression to catch this type of spam. Keep in mind that this rule will be applied against all lists, and that we want to keep the false positives to a minimum.
For this to be effective, the message needs to have been sent in the last few hours. The older a message gets, the less chances you have of your change being applied.
To register your request, please email <listname >-owner@logcluster.org. You will be alerted when we resolve your issue.
Do not allow any emails from any Logistics Cluster mailing lists you are subscribed to be sent to an automated spam reporting system.
Doing so will prohibit you from receiving traffic from any Logistics Cluster lists, until you successfully show the Logistics Cluster Listmasters it won't occur in the future.
Disclaimer
The mailing lists are humanitarian logistics forums.
All emails sent to the lists are distributed to the list subscribers only. Emails are not copied to the public website and are not available to non-subscribers.
However, we request that subscribers never send any confidential or unlicensed material to the lists such as e-mail addresses.
Please note that spammers, viruses, worms etc could abuse e-mail addresses posted in a messages sent to the mailing lists.
Advice on the Reliability and Confidentiality of Email
As electronic distribution lists become more pervasive as a means of communication while performing our daily tasks, it is important to remember that email should never be viewed as a 100% reliable and confidential means of communication.
Disclaimer
Logistics Cluster maintains the mailing lists in good faith and will take steps to curb all noticed abuse and maintain uninterrupted normal service.
Logistics Cluster assumes no responsibility for the opinions and information posted by others. The Logistics Cluster shall not be held liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of any info