To provide for useful and timely communication between members on subjects of interest to songwriters, the North Carolina Songwriters Cooperative hosts the NCSC member email list on Yahoo! Groups, the NCSC Member Forums, and the NCSC Website. These guidelines describe the preferred uses and groundrules for these member communication methods.
Guidelines for the NCSC Member E-mail List on Yahoo! Groups:
We encourage all members to do join the members-only NCSC Member email List on Yahoo because it is the main method used for important co-op announcements.
Over the first 6 years that the NCSC Member e-mail List has been in existence, it has averaged 34.5 e-mails per month (slightly more than 1 per day) with a maximum of 127 (February 2006) and a post-start-up minimum of 8 (October 2004). The list is currently set up to block attachments, thereby preventing any possible use for virus attack. The list is also set up to allow members to choose to receive daily digests instead of individual e-mails, a feature used by roughly 16% of the members.
At the 2006 Annual Membership Meeting, there was broad consensus that establishing member forums could be more appropriate for several types of member communications, and that this would help cut down on the number of general emails. These forums have already been established (see Forum guidelines below). For the NCSC Member email List on Yahoo, please use the following guidelines:
1. Please only send general emails that are related to NCSC sponsored activities or are of broad interest to the majority of the NCSC membership. Examples would be notices of upcoming NCSC sponsored activities, meetings, and shows, notices of schedule changes or cancellations of those activities, and general announcements to the membership of items likely to be of interest to the majority of members. This can also include notices that important new updates have been added to the forums on various topics.
2. Nothing profane or illegal will be permitted. Flame wars will not be useful or tolerated on the email list.
3. The webmaster will moderate the NCSC member email list so that messages that don't meet these guidelines will be redirected either to the appropriate Forums or directly to appropriate board members.
Guidelines for the Member Forums:
1. The webmaster has created the members-only NCSC Member Forums. These are organized by topic and will help to reduce the number of general emails coming to all members. Members may post useful information on any of the existing forums, or start new ones.
2. Spirited debate on the forums is encouraged. Nothing profane or illegal will be permitted. Flame wars will not be useful, but may be somewhat more tolerated on the forums. Keep in mind this is a co-op, and we are all working towards the same goal of becoming better songwriters.
3. The webmaster will moderate the NCSC members forums so that posts that don't meet these guidelines will be removed from the forums or redirected to a more appropriate forum or the appropriate board member.
Guidelines for the NCSC Web Site:
1. The webmaster maintains the NCSC Web Site. All requests for web site updates should be sent to the webmaster@ncsongwriters.org. Each member generally may post the following items on the NCSC website: a bio with a photo and links to their own website, two song samples, a promotion of any CDs they have produced on the member CD page, and a songwriting or performing related business promo item on the Services page.
2. Nothing profane or illegal will be permitted on the website, nor links to same.
3. The webmaster will moderate the NCSC web site submissions. Submissions that don't meet these guidelines will be redirected either to the appropriate Forums or to the board for consideration.
For questions regarding this policy, please contact the NCSC Webmaster at webmaster@ncsongwriters.org.
