The e-mail list is a moderated list of announcements, event listings, requests for storytellers and a few miscellaneous items, all relating to the subject of traditional oral storytelling or other matters related to the Society for Storytelling. Items to be distributed are sent to the editor, and are distributed in batches as they gather.
The e-mail list is open to all members of the Society for Storytelling, and certain other individuals the editor considers appropriate. The e-mails are addressed as if to members, and non-members are asked to accept material irrelevant to them, and respect the privacy of Society matters. Members of the Society and others are invited to join the e-mail list, or may ask to join, they will not be added without their explicit consent.
The e-mail list is moderated, only items that seem appropriate to the editor are forwarded, and those items may be edited. There is no charge for sending items to the list, or being a member of the list. Items outside the topics of the list will not be forwarded, no matter how worthy. Items sent to the list will be annotated by the e-mail address from which they were apparently received, unless the editor is asked to do otherwise.
Items are not filtered by the e-mail list members location or interest. A member may thus receive many items that they will not be able to take advantage of, or be interested in.
Items are forwarded in good faith by the editor, and it is for the reader to determine what level of trust to put in them. Items sent in the list are in no manner endorsed by the Society for Storytelling, nor do they represent the opinion of the Society or editor, except insofar as the original author of the item may be an officer of the Society. Any commentary on items solely represent the opinion of the editor, and not the Society. The editor is selected by the board of directors of the Society, and may be replaced by the board.
The editor must be expected to make mistakes! Past mistakes have included incorrect removal of addresses from the list, losing or delaying items to be forwarded, corrupting the text of items, and forwarding material that wasn't intended for forwarding. Do feel free to inform the editor of mistakes, but remember that they are a volunteer, with imperfect tools.
The e-mail addresses on the list will be kept private, and only accessible to the editor, Chair, Secretary and Membership Secretary of the Society. All bar the editor will normally make no use of the list, but hold it for archiving purposes or similar. E-mailed Society announcements will normally come through the editor. In particular, the list will not be sold, or otherwise provided to advertisers, event organisers or others for direct mailings. This is a matter of best efforts on the part of the holders of the list, mistakes or attacks may compromise the list. If the editor becomes aware of such a compromise, members of the list will be informed.
E-mail sent on the list will always be in plain text, and will have no attachments. This is both to keep the e-mails compact for those with limited Internet connections, and to reduce the possibility of being a vector for computer virus attacks. If e-mails appear to come from the list, but have attachments or unexpected formats, they should be deleted unread. To this end, items received by the editor for the list will be converted to plain text in the manner that seems best to the editor. Those submitting items to be forwarded to the list may like to bear this in mind.
Items usually should be responded to via the contact details given in the item, or via the e-mail address of the source, rather than via the editor. When you respond to items, it would be appreciated if you indicated where you came across the items (i.e. the SfS e-mail list), and for you to consider the reputation of the Society and e-mail list in your reply and any subsequent dealings.
Unless otherwise noted, recipients of mailings are welcome to forward announcements of public events as they wish, though an acknowledgement of the source would be appreciated. However, where an item is requesting the services of storytellers, recipients should not forward items except to individuals (not mailing lists or websites) they would personally vouch for the integrity of, and to indicate to those sent the item this condition. This is because the items may come from those working with children or other vulnerable people, or people who are naive about hiring entertainers. This limitation still only offers scant protection to the source of the item, but as the editor may have invited the source to make use of the mailing list, the editor wishes to retain some control of the distribution of such items. This in particular means that complete mailings from the e-mail list should not be automatically posted on a web page, or automatically forwarded to a mailing list.
The editor at their sole discretion may remove individuals from the mailing list if they have reasons not to trust how that individual will treat or respond to sensitive material sent via the mailing list. This applies even if the individual is a current member of the Society. Any complaints about the exercise of this right of the editor should be sent to the board of directors of the Society.
If a member of the e-mail list changes e-mail address they should inform the editor, stating both the old and new address. They should not assume that the editor can link a person's name to an e-mail address. A confirmation e-mail will always be sent to the old and new addresses (in case of malicious actions).
If a member wishes to leave the list, they should inform the editor of the e-mail address to be removed. A confirmation e-mail will always be sent to the addresses (in case of malicious actions).
If an e-mail address on the list generates “bounce”, “reject” or “over quota” messages for over a month it may be removed from the e-mail address without notice (as no means of giving notice exist for the e-mail address in question). If possible, please don't send “Out of Office” messages in response to mailings, but this won't cause removal from the list.
If a member doesn't receive messages from the list for over a month without explanation they are strongly advised to contact the editor.
If you receive a message rejection from the editor then review the original message. Was it sent to the exactly correct e-mail address? Might a filter interpret the message as spam? Are you trying to send a message from an ISP notorious for spam? If nothing else works, one thing to try is responding to an old e-mail sent from the e-mail list.
The editor of e-mail list is Kevin Blackburn, SfS@fairbruk.demon.co.uk
Society for Storytelling Home Page
V1.2 30/5/2005
E-Mail Webmaster© 1998-2005 Society for Storytelling