• Keep the content of your messages `wise, gentlemanly and devoid of personal animosities and prejudices' in the spirit of our old School.The manager of the group has the option to `moderate' messages before allowing it to be relayed to other members of the group. This option has not been invoked presently and will not be invoked unless future compulsions arise.

• Be considerate to the sensitivities and view points of others.

• Personal accusations, slander etc would be deemed totally taboo and the the member would be `unsubscribed' from Rimcollians Yahoogroup.

• Maintain a certain quality and decorum in your messaging.

• Don't post anything which may not be of interest to all Rimcollians.

• When you compose e-mail, all the email addresses listed in the `To' and `CC (Carbon Copy') column of the address block are mutually visible to all recipients.  This is a breach of privacy and security. Except when absolutely necessary, list `second to last addressees' in the `BCC' (Blind Carbon Copy) column so that the addresses stay mutually hidden. There are software programmes snooping out e-mail addresses from internet to add to their bulk mailing or spam list. So it is critical to prevent e-mail addresses from being unnecessarily publicised.

• Don't type your message in all-uppercase . In cyberspace use of all-uppercase is tantamount to shouting and rudeness. Neither should you type everything in lowercase. Follow the standard rules of usage of English.  Use correct grammar and spelling. Electronic mail is all about communication. Poorly-worded and mispelt messages are hard to read and potentially confusing. Just because electronic mail is fast does not mean that it should be slipshod, If your words are important enough to write, then they're also important enough to write properly.

• Almost all mailers present you with the subject line when you browse your mailbox or when you are composing your reply. It is  often the only clue the recipient has about the contents when filing and searching for messages. Always choose and enter the `subject' header appropriately. If you are replying to a message, and the subject matter veers away from the original thread, then modify the subject header to reflect the subject of your new message. All messages are archived on Rimcollian Yahoogroups web page. Facility exists to retrieve the messages by `thread'. This facility is useful only if subscribers are careful about entering the `subject' appropriately.

• When you click the `Reply' button, please do not quote the full message. Restrict `paraphrasing' to include only the minimum you need from the original message. One of the most annoying things you can encounter in e-mail is to have a chain of previous messages paraphrased and attached to the main message. Use some kind of visual indication to distinguish between text quoted from the original message and your new text. This makes the reply much easier to follow. ">" is a traditional marker for quoted text, but you can use anything provided its purpose is clear and you use it consistently.

• E-mail is a treacherously double edged weapon. So easy to 'launch off' but impossible to recall. Vitriolic outpourings composed in solitude or in a moment of aberration, and sent off a jiffy are capable of conveying a far more strident and accusatory tone than intended. Messages sent in the heat of the moment  generally only exacerbate the situation and are usually regretted later. It is prudent to think and pause before hitting the `send' button. Avoid public "flames" or messages sent in anger.   Sometimes even innocent   messages could be open to misinterpretation (especially in the absence of emoticons and smileys)                    

• Avoid the typical novice syndrome of `forwarding' hackneyed Internet jokes,chain letters, hoaxes, useless jpgs, greeting cards  and such other trivia.

• Do not send huge file attachments without seeking prior sanction from the recipient. Mail box disk quota is extremely limited and your message may cause the mail box of the recipient to exceed the disk quota . The mail server will refuse to accept further messages and will bounce them back. Thus the  recipient may lose critical  mail because of the frivolous attachment that you have sent.

• If your mail program supports fancy formatting (bold, italic and so on) in the mail messages it generates, don't be assured that the recipient will see it that way. Most people configure their mail packages to receive pure text mail only (i.e. HTML disabled).

• Private email exchanged between members of the Group remain `private' between the parties concerned. If any such message needs to posted for public view, under any context, prior concurrence must be obtained from the parties involved. Ideally, after obtaining such a concurrence,  one of the involved parties may publish it. Ordinarily, a  third party would not be deemed to have any locus standi to publish it.  Breach of  these provisions could result in  the subscriber being `unsubscribed' or placed under selective `moderation'  depending on the sole discretion of the manager of the Group.

• Don't remain a `lurker' content to read all messages but never willing to contribute anything. Your participation and views on areas of your specialisation are welcome. Yahoogroups forum can discuss any subject under the sun. Therefore do not restrict your inputs to only Rimcollian/ROBA affairs.

Smileys and Emoticons

Electronic mail has very nearly the immediacy of a conversation, but is totally devoid of "body language". The Internet "counter-culture" has had an answer to this problem for years - "smiley faces", or groups of ASCII characters that are meant to look like a face turned on its side.

The most common smiley faces are probably these:

• A smiling face seen side-on; generally used to indicate amusement, or that a comment is intended to be funny or ironic.
• An unhappy face seen side on; generally used to express disappointment or sorrow.
• A winking smiley face; usually indicates that something should be taken "with a grain of salt".
• A mischievous smiley face; usually indicates that a comment is intended to be provocative or racy.

A file of Smileys are Emoticons are available in `Files' section of Rimcollian EGroups Webpage. There are thousands more available on the Web.