The CICSIG-L email discussion list lets consultants and contractors ask questions, exchange ideas, and share information with other CICSIG-L members.
Members may receive the emails posted as follows:
- Regular delivery, as the messages are posted
- Daily digest, one message that contains all messages posted the previous day
- Index of messages posted, which can be read from the CICSIG-L website as desired
List Etiquette
This email discussion list is a forum for issues related to technical communication, specifically for independents. Please treat this forum, the members it serves, and the volunteers who maintain it with respect.
While this list is unmoderated (messages are not screened before they are posted), the list manager and SIG manager monitor list activity, stop threads that they deem inappropriate, and suspend and revoke posting privileges, as needed.
As a general rule, if the matter is about technical communication and if you would not mind if your next client saw your post and knew it was from you, it is probably okay to post. When in doubt, ask the SIG Manager.
Message formats, signatures, and quoting
- Create messages as plain text, not HTML.
HTML messages may contain malicious code, and also repeat lots of text and code in the daily digest. - Sign messages with your first and last names.
We are all colleagues, and it is nice to know who you are, especially if you post a question and want useful responses. - While it is helpful to have the context of the question you are responding to, quote only the specific questions or issues.
At a minimum, delete the series of messages that may be appended to the end of your message, keeping only the last message that you are responding to.
Posting Rules
To post a message to the CIC SIG discussion list, send an email to stccicsig-l@mailman.stc.org .
What Is Okay to Post?
Post anything related to technical communication and working as an independent, including (but not limited to) the following:
- Questions related to working as an independent technical communicator
(taxes, expenses, contracts, dealing with client issues, etc.) - Questions about matters of interest to technical communicators
(tools and techniques, portfolios and resumes, gathering information from SMEs, etc.) - Requests for brainstorming on technical or design problems
What Is NOT Okay to Post?
List members who violate the following list rules will be removed from the list, as explained in Posting Rule Violations:
- Do not post announcements of events (meetings, seminars, workshops, etc.). If you know about an event of interest to CIC SIG members, send a message to the CIC SIG Manager with the following information:
- date, time, location, and a short description
- link to a Web site with more information.
- Diatribes about anything may not be posted.
- Do not post negative comments about individuals.
- Off-topic posts are not permitted.
- Do not post humor, personal opinions, or other information that is not directly related to the response to a question posted.
- Obnoxious posts will not be tolerated; rudeness and flaming are prohibited. Avoid personal insults.
- Do not copy other mailing lists in your postings to the CIC SIG list. If you wish to post the same message to several mailing lists, send the post to each list in a separate message.
- Simultaneous posts to multiple lists encourages nonmembers to post to our members-only mailing list. This generates numerous error messages for the list owner, and tells nonmembers the address to our private list.
- Simultaneous posts to multiple lists encourages nonmembers to post to our members-only mailing list. This generates numerous error messages for the list owner, and tells nonmembers the address to our private list.
- Do not reply to everyone on the mailing list if you just want to reply to the person who sent the posting. Make sure your email reply is going to the recipients you intended.
Posting rule violations
Anyone who violates the posting rules will receive one warning from either the list manager or the SIG manager. A second violation will result in permanent removal from the list.
Creating a summary of postings
When you post a question to the list, you usually receive many responses. We want to capture these responses and post them to the summaries page of the Web site.
As the original poster, you are responsible for compiling a summary of all responses you receive, both those that were sent to the list and those sent directly to you, and sending the summary to the list. SIG volunteers then do a light edit of the content and post the summary to the summary page.
A Word of Caution
Remember that messages posted cannot be revoked. You never know when a colleague today will become a client tomorrow.
New Subscribers
Subscription to the CICSIG-L list is available only to members of the CIC SIG. To subscribe to the CIC SIG email list please go to http://mailer.stc.org/mailman/listinfo/cic-discuss. If you have questions, please contact Ann Wiley.
Existing Subscribers
To access the discussion list archives and edit your subscriber options, go to http://mailman.stc.org/mailman/listinfo/stccicsig-l.
If you have any problems logging on, email the SIG Manager.
Summaries of CICSIG-L topic discussions are avaialble. These summaries are compiled by the original poster, and are lightly edited for relevance, grammar, etc.
