The Conservative Friend

Folks, we welcome you to the Conservative Friend Email Forum.  The online world is a bit different from face-to-face discussion, and we want to help you understand what will make it smoothest for everybody.  Here are some guidelines:

• Be polite.  It's hard to gauge tone and nuance in an email conversation, and many times people are quick to take offense at remarks or observations that weren't intended to be offensive.  So err on the side of good manners in whatever you post.  Insulting or hostile messages will be disappeared without comment or notification.
  
  
• Be tolerant.  Remember that someone's poorly worded phrase may be the result of innocent misunderstanding or unfamiliarity with English (we have members around the world).  Give other list members the benefit of the doubt, and don't respond to challenges from someone having a bad day.  And remember that not everybody with useful things to say will share even the most basic assumptions about what we believe.
  
  
• Be thoughtful.  Take some time to let a message season before you send it.  An hour might be long enough for some posts.  For others, maybe a day, or even longer.  Don't reply immediately to a post that you read.  There may be a message maturing from someone else that might pertain to your own response and make it better.
  
  
• Be concise.  We have a lot of bandwidth on this list, but space costs money, and unnecessarily long notes cost more than short ones.  Delete all the replies-to-replies that trail off the bottom of your note.  If the subject header doesn't give enough context, then keep  the note you are replying to, and if possible, edit it so that only the relevant portion accompanies your own note.  Your readers will appreciate your extra effort.
  
  But feel free to take as much space as you need to express an idea.  Some forum formats make longer messages awkward--not this one.  Too short is often confusing.
  
  
• Be welcoming.  We have many list members who are new to Friends, and who may not immediately understand something that seems clear to others.  Be prepared for the same questions over and over.  And be prepared for diverse points of view.
  
  
• Avoid sending clutter.  This list is intended to provide information of general interest to Conservative Friends.  Don't clutter the member's inboxes with advertising, chain-letter-style forwarded junk mail, or other stuff.  People have left the list because they percieved too many posts as frivolous.  Humor is fine--but make it your own, rather than a forwarded list of someone else's jokes.
  
  But don't hesitate to send something that you think might be of interest.  That's what's the list is for.
  
  
• Be discreet.  Email lists are full of people who prefer to remain anonymous or who use pseudonyms, for various reasons.  Sometimes their reasons are very good.  Millions of people potentially can read whatever you write (and we hope they do), so respect anonymity and confidentiality if people want it that way.  By the same token, don't post anything that you would rather not read in the newspaper next to your photograph.
  

That's it.  There are no preconcieved limitations on subject matter--these guidelines are mostly just reminders to be Friendly.  This list is intended to facilitate the exchange of ideas among people about Conservative Friends, and of related subjects, with the widest possible latitude.  Feel free to ask questions, provide answers, post news announcements, invite people to dinner, call attention to new signs of the end times, and exchange succotash recipes.  This is a community we're putting together, so enjoy each other's company.

In Christ,
The Management