Le texte français est à la suite ("BIENVENUE À SOURISIE, LA COMMUNAUTÉ VIRTUELLE DU NPD CANADA!") --------------------------------------------------------- WELCOME TO MOUSELAND, THE VIRTUAL COMMUNITY OF CANADA'S NDP! You are now subscribed to Mouseland, a private e-mail forum for members of the New Democratic Party. Here New Democrats exchange ideas and opinions about party policy, federal politics and other issues of interest. It's a space for lively, informal discussion, debate, and dialogue-so jump in and have your say! This list is sponsored by the New Democratic Party of Canada as a service to its members. It is operated by volunteers, in cooperation with participating provincial and territorial sections. Hold on to this message, which contains important information about the list, some basic listserve commands, and guidelines for discussion. 1. What is Mouseland? 2. How do I participate in Mouseland? 3. Who participates in Mouseland? 4. Facilitators and the Facilitation Committee 5. Ground rules, guidelines and helpful Netiquette hints 6. Conduct and Discipline 7. Managing your subscription 8. Got a problem with your account? 1. What is Mouseland? ===================== Mouseland is a private e-mail discussion forum for NDP members. Its purpose is to facilitate informal discussion among New Democrats about the NDP, its policies and practices, and any other issues that may be of broad interest to New Democrats. Mouseland is a fable told by T.C. Douglas, the first leader of Canada's New Democratic Party. It's a simple story with a strong message about grassroots democracy and why we need the NDP. You can read Tommy's story at http://www.saskndp.com/history/mouseland.html. We hope the virtual community of Mouseland will help New Democrats from coast to coast to coast work together to strengthen our party and advance the cause of social justice in Canada. This list is sponsored by the New Democratic Party of Canada, in cooperation with participating provincial and territorial sections. It operates according to regulations approved by the Federal Executive and Federal Council of the New Democratic Party of Canada and those of participating provincial and territorial sections. In addition, the Facilitators may establish and enforce such rules and regulations as they deem necessary to facilitate open and courteous participation. This list does not alter formal structures of responsibility, reporting, and accountability for elected and party NDP officials, and staff members. No NDP official or staff member for any section shall be under any expectation or obligation to respond to any question or issue raised on this list. Unless expressly stated to be otherwise, any posts to this list by persons occupying NDP offices or staff positions shall be deemed to be their personal opinions, and not expressions of NDP policies or positions. Responses to questions or issues presented by other participants shall not be taken to authoritatively state the formal positions of the NDP or any of its sections. 2. How do I post to the list? ============================= Once you are subscribed, you will start receiving messages right away. To participate, all you have to so is send your message to mouseland-sourisie-l@list.web.ca. Your message will automatically be sent to all subscribers. When responding to someone else's post, make sure that you reply to all recipients (if you want to respond to the whole list, that is). For your first message, you might want to introduce yourself, and perhaps give list members a sense of the topics that interest you. 3. Who participates in Mouseland? ================================== In order to participate, you must be a member in good standing of an NDP section which has agreed to provide confirmation of membership status to the Facilitators. Requests to join this list may be sent via e-mail to ndpnpd@web.ca or through the Federal NDP website. Such requests must specify the prospective participant's name as it appears on their membership card, address and postal code, province or territory, email address and membership number. Upon a request to join this list, the appropriate participating Provincial or Territorial Office shall verify the membership status of the prospective participant. Membership will be verified annually, and lapsed members will be removed from the list. 4. Facilitators and the Facilitation Committee ============================================== This list is administered by two or more persons who serve as Facilitators and who constitute the Facilitation Committee. It is the obligation and responsibility of Facilitators to maintain a technically efficient e-mail list and a civil and courteous environment for all participants. Facilitators are appointed by the Federal Executive. The Federal Secretary may appoint Facilitators on an interim basis between Federal Executive meetings. Facilitators may establish their own internal division of responsibilities. New Democrats who maintain closed lists for provincial or territorial NDP sections are automatically invited to serve as federal list Facilitators. Facilitators are responsible for the efficient management of the list, including normal subscription matters. They are also responsible for ensuring that the rules and guidelines of the list are respected. Facilitators are not precluded from actively participating on this list. However, they are bound by the same rules and subject to the same penalties as other participants. Please feel free to contact the Facilitators if you have questions, comments or concerns. They can also help you with technical problems relating to subscribing, unsubscribing, etc. The generic address for Mouseland Facilitators is ndpnpd@web.ca. The Facilitation Committee consists of: Paul Gill (co-chair) Vicky Smallman (co-chair) Markian Beley Joanne Cook Ed Dale Allan Goulding Tim Hutchinson Bob Mackie Scott Piatkowski Joey Schwartz 5. Ground Rules, Guidelines and Helpful Netiquette Hints ======================================================== The best discussions take place in an open, inclusive, non-threatening environment. In addition to its formal rules of conduct (see below), this list is also governed by guidelines and informal conventions for making contributions to this list. Please take a moment and look them over. The list is not moderated, per se-that is, your messages will not be screened before they are sent to everyone-but we do ask that participants follow the guidelines below, be civil and courteous to one another. If a thread of discussion gets particularly acrimonious, or if a member persists in violating the guidelines, the Facilitators will intervene. CONFIDENTIALITY: DO NOT forward messages from the list to other lists or individuals without asking the permission of the author. Mouseland is a private forum, restricted to members of the NDP. The author may not have intended his/her comments to be circulated beyond the Mouseland community. Similarly, if you receive a personal comment to one of your messages, keep it personal. Do not post it to the list. If you really want to post it to the list, ask your correspondent's permission first. This said, the nature of e-mail precludes any guarantees regarding the confidentiality of posts to this list. Please do not post messages to this list containing highly confidential or political sensitive information. SUBJECT HEADINGS: Please choose brief, easily understandable, and topically accurate subject headings, so that list members can be selective in choosing the threads to follow. If a post relates specifically to a particular city or region of the country (even if it may be of interest to those living elsewhere), it is helpful to highlight this in the subject heading, e.g. "[ON] Harris shuffles cabinet". KEEP IT SHORT: EDITING YOUR RESPONSES If you comment on someone else's message, cut out those parts of the original message that do not pertain to your commentary. Only quote as much as you need to, and make sure that you credit the original sender when you quote their message. KEEP IT RELEVANT: GUIDELINES FOR REPOSTING Please use judgment in posting material from other lists, the world wide web, and other sources. Keep the posts pertinent to ALL list members (i.e., don't post about demos in downtown Calgary or Toronto that are irrelevant to anyone living elsewhere). This is not a general bulletin board for causes or concerns that are not directly relevant or related to the NDP-however progressive they may be. Make sure your posts are written in a way that clearly indicates their topical relevance to the NDP. DO NOT condescend to those who are not similarly interested in the topic of the repost, object to repeated reposts on the topic, or who disagree with the positions presented. Always remember that the primary purpose of this list is to facilitate the exchange of views written *by* New Democrats, not reposts. DO NOT post material from widely available sites, such as web sites. Rather, summarize the information available and provide a URL. Similarly, multiple posts (substantial parts of a thread, for example) from a single mailing list are discouraged. Instead, instructions for joining the mailing list in question should be posted. AVOID CROSS POSTING: Many internet users belong to more than one electronic discussion list. While it might seem convenient to send one message to several different lists at the same time, cross posting can cause all sorts of problems once people start replying to your message. Keep it simple-post your message to one list at a time. AVOID ATTACHMENTS: Please do not send attachments with your messages to the list. If you have a document that you think would interest listmembers, send a brief note to the list, then send the attachments to the individual members that indicate their interest. DISABLE HTML FORMATTING: Many listmembers are unable to read documents formatted in HTML. Disable the HTML format option in your email software, and send your messages in TEXT only. DON'T BE A SUCKER: E-MAIL HOAXES DO NOT send virus alert messages, e-mail petitions or e-mail chain letters under any circumstances. Forwarded calls for boycotts must be substantiated as authentic and timely to the satisfaction of the Facilitators before being posted to the list. Most of these are hoaxes, and are not relevant to Mouseland discussion. 6. Conduct and Discipline ========================== Participation on this list is bound by the same rules of conduct as normally apply to New Democrats at party events. Further, Facilitators have the authority to establish such additional rules of conduct and participation as they deem appropriate for this list, and are responsible for enforcing them. Participants shall behave towards each other in a mutually respectful and courteous manner. Discourteous or abusive conduct, including accusations of personal misconduct or disreputable behavior leveled against other participants or non-participating New Democrats, may result in summary suspension of posting privileges. This list is not a substitute for the formal deliberative bodies of the NDP. It is not an appropriate venue for serious allegations of improper conduct by party officials. These are more appropriately addressed to NDP Secretaries, Executive Committees, Councils, and Conventions. Persistent efforts to employ this list as such a venue in lieu of the appropriate bodies of the party may also result in the suspension of posting privileges. A Facilitator has the authority to immediately suspend, for a period not exceeding seven days, any participant who posts in a manner that he or she believes contravenes this list's rules of conduct. A Facilitator may also suspend, for a period not exceeding seven days, one or more participants engaging in a particularly acrimonious exchange in order to preserve norms of courtesy and civility on this list. Such suspensions may be referred or appealed to the Facilitation Committee which may remove, shorten, uphold, or lengthen them. Facilitators have the authority to suspend any participant, for a specified period, who posts or persists in posting in a manner that contravenes this list's rules. Suspensions exceeding sixty days may be appealed to the NDP Federal Secretary, whose decision shall be final. In instances of the breach of party rules of conduct, and at their discretion, Facilitators may also present formal complaints against participants to the Federal Secretary. Appeals and complaints addressed to the Federal Secretary shall be forwarded to the Federal Executive, or the Officers of the Party should the next Federal Executive Committee's meeting be more than 60 days from the date the appeal or complaint is received. All decisions of the Federal Executive or Officers of the Party are final. 7. Managing your Subscription ============================= To unsubscribe or change any subscription settings (e.g., temporarily unsubscribe, resubscribe, change to or from digest mode, or change your e-mail address), you can use the web interface at http://list.web.ca/lists/listinfo/mouseland-sourisie-l. If you need assistance, please send an e-mail message to ndpnpd@web.ca. To request a NEW subscription, please see the information under item 3, above. ====================================================== last updated Tuesday, November 23, 2004