The Raiders Fans Mail List FAQ
v1.0, 5/15/96
CREDITS: I would like to thank, in no particular order, the following people for proofreading and contributions, direct or indirect: Adam Fox <afox@auspex.com>, Richard Webb <rlwebb@puc.edu>, Gene Wicker <gwicker@netpath.net>, Cass Cunningham <cec@Dudley.aesthetic.com>, Erica Swain <erica@sgi.com>, David Brooks <dbrooks@vertgame.com>, Alan Brand <mmouse@inforamp.net>, Lance Crook <lancec@hwcae.Honeywell.COM>, Jeff Grier <0006998482@mcimail.com>, and John Cooper <jcoop@lsil.com>.
DISCLAIMERS: This FAQ and the Raiders Fans Mail List (RFML) are in no way affiliated with the NFL or the Oakland Raiders. All opinions expressed herein are solely those of the FAQ maintainer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Raiders, the NFL, or Teleport, Inc. All opinions expressed on the RFML are solely those of their authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Raiders, the NFL, the list administrators, or LSI Logic.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.01 What is the Raiders Fans Mail List (RFML)?
The Raiders Fans Mailing List (hereafter known as the "RFML") is
an E-mail forum for late-breaking news and meaningful discussion
about the NFL's Oakland Raiders. It's a place where Raiders fans
"meet" on the Internet to talk about the team, games, coaching,
or anything else related to the Raiders. This forum over the
past years has provided an excellent source of info for folks
who do not have access to the Bay-area media on what's happening
with the Raiders.
During the season, folks who were fortunate enough to see or
attend the game will post game summaries for those who don't
have that ability (due to lack of local broadcast, etc). It is
also a forum for fans to express their thoughts about the team.
To think that we all agree on anything about the Raiders is far
from true. Sometimes, it seems the ONLY thing we agree on is
that we like the Raiders!
What the RFML is NOT: It's not a "chat" channel like AOL has,
nor is it a "newsletter" like SABER (Silver and Black Electronic
Report). It's not an unmoderated USENET newsgroup either, where
"anything goes." There is a certain set of guidelines for
conduct and etiquette which should be followed.
[Sources: RFHP, raiders-request@lsil.com/info raiders]
1.02 How does the RFML work?
All of the folks who participate in the RFML have subscribed to
the list via E-mail (see SUBSCRIBING). Once subscribed, they are
on what is somewhat equivalent to a mass "carbon copy" list.
When an E-mail is sent to the address "Raiders Fans@lsil.com",
it is forwarded to everyone else on the list. In this way, you
can send a message to one address to be seen by everyone, and
they in turn can respond to that address so their reply will
also be seen by everyone. There is also a "digest" version of
the list which behaves slightly differently (see SUBSCRIBING).
1.03 Who started the RFML?
The mailing list was conceived by Raiders fans Scott Bryan and John
Andrews, and with the help of Richard Webb was implemented in 1993.
Richard adds:
"We had 15 subscribers for the initial post including Ken
Bullock, John Andrews, Donkey Don, Ernst, and myself that are
still on the list. (Actually, there are probably more original
members still on, although I know that Alan Atlas unsubscribed
recently because he lost his account. Others, like Pinhead,
have been off-and-on members).
"It took less than a year for the list to grow too large for
the computer I was using to handle it. It was then that I sent
out a call for a new home. Adam [Fox] responded and did an
excellent job as system administrator."
For more info on the history of the RFML, see the Oakland
Tribune article on the Raiders Fans Home Page (RFHP).
[Sources: RFHP, Richard Webb]
1.04 Who maintains and administers the RFML?
The mailing list is currently maintained and administered by
John Cooper of LSI, Logic (see Disclaimers). To contact John,
send E-mail to raiders-admin@lsil.com.
=======================================================================
2. SUBSCRIBING
2.01 How do I subscribe to the RFML?
It's easy. Just send an E-mail message to the following address:
raiders-request@lsil.com
For a regular subscription to the list, the E-mail message
should contain (in the BODY of the message, not on the Subject:
line):
subscribe raiders
-OR- if you would prefer to subscribe to the "digest" version
of the list, put the following into the body of the message:
subscribe raiders-digest
If you want the RFML E-mail to be sent to a DIFFERENT address
than the one you are subscribing from, you can add that address
to the end of your subscribe command, e.g.:
subscribe raiders-digest raiderfoo@bar.com
[Source: raiders-request@lsil.com/help]
2.02 What is the difference between the digest and non-digest
versions of the RFML?
When subscribed to the regular, non-digest version of the list,
you will receive many individual E-mail messages throughout the
day from the list, as quickly as they can be propagated by the
list server. The non-digest version is good for people who want
a (pseudo) real-time involvement with the list; however, there
is still a significant delay between the time a message is
posted to the list and the time it is propagated to the other
list members (see question 4.01 under List Dynamics).
When subscribed to the digest version, you will receive only two
E-mail messages during the day, each being the accumulation of
mail messages sent to the list address up to the time the E-mail
was sent. The digest version is good for people whose companies
frown on too much personal E-mail, or for people whose Internet
Service Providers have a quota on the number of E-mails that can
be received, or for people who just don't want to get scads of
E-mail throughout the day.
2.03 How do I UNsubscribe from the RFML?
Send an E-mail message to raiders-request@lsil.com with the
command "unsubscribe <list> [<address>]" in the BODY of the
message, where <list> is either "raiders" or "raiders-digest"
and the optional <address> is the E-mail address you want
unsubscribed. If you do not specify <address>, the one you are
sending from will be unsubscribed.
[Source: raiders-request@lsil.com/help]
2.04 What other RFML commands are there besides subscribe and
unsubscribe?
Like the subscribe and unsubscribe commands, the list of
commands below can be sent in the BODY of the message to
raiders-request@lsil.com. In the descriptions, <list> means
"raiders" or "raiders-digest" (or other lists served by the
majordomo at lsil.com).
who <list>
will show what E-mail addresses are subscribed
to the list
info <list>
will send an information message about the list
specified
help
will produce a list of commands that the
list server will accept, along with some
other helpful information
which [<address>]
will show which lists you (or the specified
E-mail address) are subscribed to.
There are a few other commands too which aren't very useful
at the present time.
[Source: raiders-request@lsil.com/help]
2.05 Do I have to be a Raiders fan to subscribe?
No you don't, but you should be cautioned that if you decide to
start spouting meaningless drivel about your particular team of
choice, it will likely be met with an unrestrained stream of
"heartwarming" sentiments (see 3.03.01, "Flaming and Flame
Wars"). We do have a few tolerable misguided souls on the list,
like Chumpster Rey and Donkey Brian. Raiders fans and non-
Raiders fans alike are expected to follow proper conduct and
etiquette guidelines, although I suspect the leeway for known
non-Raiders fans is much smaller (see 3.04, "What happens if I
post inappropriate messages?").
=======================================================================
3. CONTENT, CONDUCT AND ETIQUETTE
3.01 Are there actually RFML guidelines for conduct?
There are a few guidelines for the list which can be obtained by
sending "info raiders" to the raiders-request@lsil.com address,
but they are somewhat sparse and incomplete. There were more
heretofore unwritten (but implied) guidelines, which this (version 1.0
of the FAQ) now attempts to document. The list administrator
and the established list membership have agreed that the conduct
and etiquette guidelines that follow are the basic "rules of the
game" for participation on the RFML.
3.02 What message content is appropriate/acceptable?
From the mailing list "info" file itself:
"While this group is unmoderated, we ask that all subscribers
try to keep their topics focused on the Raiders or the list.
Not that mentioning other teams is a problem, but if you just
want to talk about how good you think team X is, then there
are plenty of other forums to do so, (e.g. Team X's list, or
the newsgroup rec.sport.football.pro). Just try to use some
judgement, for example, talking about another team's strengths
and weaknesses is perfectly appropriate if the Raiders are
playing them soon." - [raiders-request@lsil.com/info raiders]
The following paragraphs further define what is generally acceptable
on the RFML.
3.02.01 Raiders Facts and News
Any Raiders news or credible rumors which have not been seen
on the list yet are welcome (see 4.02). List members in the
Oakland area often have access to more Raiders tidbits via
local radio and newspapers, and will post late breaking info
as they hear or read it [Ed. note: this is one of the best
things about this list]. Other list members continually surf
the net looking for Raiders news and contribute what they
find [but please read 3.03.02, "Copyrighted Info", before
contributing info from other sources].
3.02.02 Raiders Discussion & Debate
Most everybody has an opinion on what the Raiders should or
shouldn't do, what's right or wrong with the team, or what Big
Al is up to next. Some list members provide interesting and
insightful speculation on potential player moves and draft
picks, and more than occasionally a serious debate will break
out on some topic. These debates are almost always civil, and
disagreements with another's opinion should be handled in
a respectful fashion. [see 3.03.01, "Flaming and Flame Wars"].
However, any debate that rages on too long with no sign of
resolution in sight will begin to irritate the list member-
ship. In other words, have the sense to realize when the horse
you are beating is dead.
Don't post things that say simply "I like Harvey" or "Rocket
sucks"; if you must take a position like this, present
a new/different/non-lame/fact-based perspective as to why
you believe this.
3.02.03 Raiders Game Updates
During the season, list members will post Raiders game
updates throughout the course of a game, and game summaries
and statistics after the games are over. This is a great
service to those less fortunate souls who do not have
live local coverage of the Raiders. However, there are
a few guidelines to follow when doing this:
- if you post partial scores or highlights, put a warning
in the subject field. Something like #mid-game update#.
- when posting about a game, keep the result out of the
Subject line. Talk about it all you want in the body,
but keep it out of the subject so that folks who have
taped the game can hold onto your message until they
have seen the game.
3.02.04 NRC - No Raider Content
Occasionally interesting information is posted about other
teams, players moves, general league news, as well as list-
related information such as what happened at the last TE(tm),
or what is planned for the next one. Such information should
be posted with the text "(NRC)" somewhere in the subject line,
so people who are interested only in Raiders news know to
skip past these messages.
3.03 What message content is inappropriate?
3.03.01 Flaming and Flame Wars
Flame wars (personal attacks between list members) that take
place via the list are quickly condemned and can result in
expulsion from the list if they continue. If you must flame,
FLAME IN PRIVATE!
3.03.02 Copyrighted Info
If you are reporting information from any other published
source (such as a newspaper, magazine, newsletter, web page,
etc), please PARAPHRASE the text of the article, and always
cite your source (cite even when paraphrasing). Do not post
articles verbatim from newspapers, magazines, newsletters,
web pages, or other copyrighted places. This helps keep the
the company that provides the list server out of legal
trouble and keep the list on the air.
3.03.03 Unnecessary Vulgarity
I suppose it could be argued that vulgarity in general is
unnecessary and uncalled for, but hey, shit happens.
Seriously, list members are not prudish about this sort of
thing; sometimes you can't help it (like when your backup
QB throws 4 int's the weekend you proclaim that having him
on the roster gives you a warm fuzzy). But it is recommended
that if you really feel the need to swear, please go bleep
yourself (literally). For example, I shoulda used sh**
instead of sh**.
3.03.04 Advertising, Solicitation
No commercial advertising or solicitation is allowed. Items,
tickets, etc. for one-time sale by individuals are
occasionally posted directly to the list, but I think most
list members would prefer that this type of post be kept to
a minimum.
Occasionally a list member will find a place with great Raider
merchandise, or hear of an autograph signing someplace, and
post this info to the list for the benefit of other list
members. This is usually acceptable.
3.03.05 Messages intended only for a specific person or people
Be careful not to send messages intended only for one or a
few people to the entire list. Occasionally it is ok to
pose an NRC question to the list, but please request that
responses to your question be sent to you privately. Sometimes
people will also post a message to the list for a specific
person because they do not have that person's E-mail address.
To them I say see section 2.04 of this FAQ.
3.03.06 Any other meaningless, valueless, pointless post
One word messages such as "*LOL*" are pointless and idiotic,
so don't do that.
3.04 What happens if I post inappropriate messages?
Depends on the severity of the offense, but you will usually receive
a few warnings before you are permanently kicked off.
3.05 Is there a generally accepted RFML etiquette?
Yes, mailing list etiquette is essentially the same as newsgroup
and E-mail etiquette. Rather than reinvent the wheel, this section
of the FAQ and section 3.06 have been shamelessly plagiarized (but
with written permission) from Gene Wicker's E-mail etiquette web
page, located at http://www.netpath.net/~gwicker/email.htm (minor
modifications have been made, and a few additional paragraphs
added).
3.05.01 Message Length
Messages should be concise and to the point. Think of it as a
telephone conversation, except you are typing instead of
speaking. Nobody has ever won a Pulitzer Prize for a telephone
conversation, nor will they win one for an E-mail message.
It's also important to remember that some people receive hundreds
of E-mail messages a day (yes, there are such people), so the
last thing they want to see is a message from someone who thinks
he/she is the next Dickens.
3.05.02 Punctuation
Don't get caught up in grammar and punctuation, especially
excessive punctuation. You'll see lots of E-mail messages where
people put a dozen exclamation points at the end of a sentence
for added emphasis. Big deal. Exclamation points (called 'bangs'
in computer circles) are just another form of ending a sentence.
If something is important it should be reflected in your
verbiage, not in your punctuation.
3.05.03 Signatures
If you had to guess what a signature was (the E-mail version),
you would probably be close.
On a paper document (save a tree, send E-mail) it's typical to
close the document with the following:
<signature>
Isaac Asimov
Nightfall, Inc.
where the signature is where you have signed your name. Since it
is not possible (yet) to sign your E-mail, users will sometimes
include the same information (minus the signature) at the bottom
of all E-mail messages.
I would highly recommend this practice because it's not always
clear to a message recipient as to the originator of the message.
Lots of companies use abbreviated names or numbers to identify
employees and those abbreviations and /or numbers will mean
little to someone not familiar with their significance.
I would also recommend that you include your E-mail address in
this information. Sometimes it can be very difficult to locate
your E-mail address in the information that's a part of
transmission, especially if it's going across the Internet.
You will sometimes run across a user's signature that contains a
quote (as in "...the secret to life is that there is no secret.")
after the person's name. This has become a fairly common
practice. If you choose this option I would recommend that the
quote be something that is a reflection of yourself. Keep it
short. You don't want the quote to be longer than the message.
Also you will run across signatures that contain images built
out of keyboard characters (ASCII art). These are kind of hard
to describe unless you've seen one, but you will surely know
one when you see it. As with the quote, the image should be
a reflection of the person.
Whether you choose to add a quote, an image or both, I would
recommend that you keep the total number of lines for the
signature down to four or less. There is actually a technical
reason for this, but I'm not going to provide it here.
3.05.04 Threads
When you send an E-mail to the list, it will probably get a
response. If you want to reply to that response, what should you
do? The wrong thing to do is to start a new E-mail message. This
breaks the link (called a thread) between the original message,
the response and your soon-to-be-created response. Without the
link, it can get difficult for the users on each end to follow
the sequence of messages, especially after several exchanges.
This is especially a problem when you are dealing with mailing
lists like the RFML where several people may be replying to
messages and trying to follow the thread of information being
exchanged. The correct thing to do is to reply, which is
essentially the same thing as creating a new message, but
maintains the thread.
3.05.05 Reply and Quoting
NOTHING IS MORE WASTEFUL than to reply to an E-mail by including
a complete copy of the original with the words "I agree" ,
"Okay" or "Ditto" at the bottom.
The correct method is to use quoting. This is best explained by
an example:
On Mar 13, renhoek@spumco.com wrote:
> and do you agree with the proposal to hire the
> Raiderettes for the vacant positions in support?
Yes
The '>' in front of the text indicates to the recipient that
this is quoted material from his/her last E-mail message. The
word 'Yes' is your response to the quoted material. The key with
quoting is to include enough material in the quote so that it
will be relevant to the recipient. Imagine that the original
message was a hundred lines long and the only question that
required a response was located in the last sentence. Why send
the whole message back in a reply? That would cause the
recipient to scroll through the hundred line message again just
to find your response at the bottom.
Also note that the date and the person the quote is attributed
to should always appear before any quote.
Most E-mail programs (worth their salt) have a "Reply" command
that will automatically insert the date and the quote
attribution, along with the '>' quoting characters, in any
reply that you send.
Quoting can occur again and again as in the example:
On Mar 14, stimpy@litterbox.edu wrote:
> On Mar 13, ren@spumco.com wrote:
>
> > and do you agree with the proposal to hire the
> > Raiderettes for the vacant positions in support?
>
> Yes
I have contacted them and they have agreed to start
next Monday.
From this we see both two level quoting (> >) and one level
quoting (>). The (> >) indicates that the sender is quoting your
quote and the (>) is a quote of part of your message you sent in
reply.
Don't get too hung up in quoting. After so many levels, all you
end up with is a bunch of these '>' and very little else.
REITERATING AND STRESSING A COUPLE OF POINTS:
When REPLYING to a list message and quoting previous
message text, DO NOT INCLUDE the ENTIRE text of the message
in the reply. Please edit your reply to include only the
important text to which you are replying. Otherwise it
aggravates people and wastes bandwidth. But always make it
clear to whom and what you are replying. Include identification
of the author of the quoted text.
It is especially important to edit your reply if you are
doing so from the Digest version of the list. Please don't
include the entire digest in your reply! Also, edit the
subject header so that it does not read something like
"Re: Digest #324", because that has no meaning to anybody.
3.05.06 Uppercase words
Use of upper-case words is the equivalent of shouting in some
one's ear. ONLY use upper-case words when trying to make a point
(such as I just did). Even at that, you should be careful with
whom you are exchanging messages. Do not send messages composed
entirely of uppercase words!
3.06 What do those funny abbreviations and symbols mean?
3.06.01 Abbreviations
Abbreviation usage is rampant with E-mail. In the quest to
save keystrokes, users have traded clarity for confusion (unless
you understand the abbreviations). Some of the more common
abbreviations are listed in the table below. I would recommend
you use abbreviations that are already common to the English
language, such as FYI and BTW. Beyond that, you run the risk
of confusing your recipient.
This... Means This...
BTW by the way
FWIW for what it's worth
FYI for your information
IMO in my opinion
IMHO in my humble opinion
OBO or best offer
RTFM read the [funky] manual
3.06.02 Symbols/Smilies
Part of the nature of a good one-on-one conversation is the use
of visual cues. How important are facial expressions and body
gestures to a conversation? A simple eye movement can mean the
difference between yes and YES. What about auditory cues? The
results are the same as with visual cues.
Since there are no visual or auditory cues with E-mail, users
have come up with something called smilies, or emoticons. They
are simple strings of characters that are interspersed in the
E-mail text to convey the writer's emotions (cues). The most
common example is :-). Turn your head to the left and you
should see a happy face (the colon is the eyes, the dash is
the nose and the parentheses is the mouth). Here are some
more examples.
This... Means This...
:-) smiley face
;-) wink (light sarcasm)
:-/ perplexed
:-( frown (anger or displeasure)
=======================================================================
4. LIST DYNAMICS
4.01 Why does it take so long for my message to get echoed
back to me?
The RFML, at press time, is composed of some 500 members. When
you send a message to Raiders Fans@lsil.com, it takes a little
bit of time to traverse the Internet and reach the mailing list
server at LSIL. It then takes quite a bit of time for the server
to send out 500 copies of your message to the other list members.
Then it takes a little bit more time to come back across the
Internet to you. With variables such as how much traffic there
is on the Internet and how much mail is being processed by the
mailing list server, it's anybody's guess as to how long it will
take for a message to be redistributed.
4.02 Why does everyone redundantly report the same news
at the same time?
Keep in mind that there is a significant delay from the time
someone posts a message until the time it is echoed to
everyone else (especially in the digest version); thus
several people may appear to report the same news at the same
time, but that's because at the time they sent it, they thought
they were the first. But also, please verify that news you are
about to report hasn't, in fact, already been reported in mailing
list messages you've already received.
=======================================================================
5. MISCELLANEOUS
5.01 Who do I talk to if I have a question that isn't in
the RFML FAQ?
If it's a question about subscribing or unsubscribing, or any other
topic relating to the operation of the list, you can send E-mail
to raiders-admin@lsil.com. If you have a conduct, content, or
etiquette question, you may contact the maintainer of this
FAQ. If you have a question about the Raiders, post it to the
mailing list itself!
5.02 Is there an RFML Web Page?
Yes, the Raiders Fans Home Page (RFHP) located at
http://www.teleport.com/~dbradfor/raiders
It is maintained by yours truly!
5.03 What is the "Pick-the-Score" contest?
During the regular season, we run a "Pick the Score" contest.
Entries are accepted between midnight after the previous game and
midnight of the day before the game being picked. Full rules can
be obtained by mailing raiders-admin@lsil.com or look on the
RFML web page (The RFHP).
5.04 What is ORIB?
ORIB stands for "Oakland Raiders Internet Boosters", and is a
newly forming booster club of the Oakland Raiders football
organization. This club started as a dream of some the members
of the RFML and is quickly becoming a reality. Stay tuned for
further announcements about ORIB!
5.05 What is the TE(tm) and how can I partake of said
inebriatorial revelry?
TE(tm)'s are TAILGATE EXTRAVAGANZA's (tm) and are the prime
social events of the football season! At Every Raiders home game,
a large (and getting larger) group of RFML members gather in
a certain area of the OACC parking lot [ask on the RFML for the
exact location, since it'll be different for the '96 season].
It's a BYO beer, food, and barbeque fixins pre- and post-game
celebration! All RFML members and their friends are welcome
at the TE(tm)!