DixieChicks frequently asked questions
about the eGroup mailing list
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All basic principles of Internet etiquette (Netiquette)
apply to this group, and everyone should familiarize themselves with them. Other than common courtesy, we only maintain
three (3) simple rules that must be followed by anyone who wishes to post
messages to this group:
1.
KEEP IT CHICKS RELATED. Unless your message is concretely related to
the Dixie Chicks, it is not appropriate here.
Period. No politics. No Tim and Toby. No virus alerts. No group
introductions. No prayer requests. No exceptions.
2.
HAVE A POINT. This is not a chat room. This is not a discussion board. And this is not a place to share your
thoughts and opinions. This group
exists strictly as a means of sharing news, information, reviews, sightings,
questions, answers, and intelligent speculation regarding the Dixie Chicks.
3.
DO
NOT TRY TO PLAY MODERATOR. Disputes and
other misconduct will be dealt with by the moderators off-list to avoid
disruption. If you have a problem with
the messages or behaviour of another member of this group, either tell them
personally, or tell a moderator. DO NOT
post your problems to the group! If you
tell somebody to "shut up!," "get over it!,"
"change the subject!," or "who cares!," your
posting privileges will terminated.
NON COMPLIANCE WITH THESE RULES
causes disputes, increases our mail volume to unmanageable levels, and
causes good fans to leave the group. To
prevent this, violators will have their posting privileges terminated without
further notice or warning.
Netiquette is a term for the widely accepted standards of
Internet etiquette and common courtesy.
They are the simple "playground rules" for getting along with
people on the World Wide Web. These courtesies are crucial for maintaining a
pleasant and civil atmosphere, free of disputes and with a minimum of
misunderstandings.
We expect all of the fans in the Dixie Chicks
eGroup to observe these simple rules of courtesy:
·
Read all of your mail before you reply to any of it. Multiple people asking and answering the
same questions over and over creates too much e-mail volume. Be sure that your input is still necessary
before you reply to a post.
·
Use an appropriate and descriptive subject line when
you post a message. Do not leave
it blank. Do not tease us with vague
subject names like, "Guess what!," "Check this out!,"
"You're not gonna believe this!," or "Does anybody
know…" And if you change the
topic of discussion to a different one from the one you are replying to, be
sure to change the subject line in your e-mail.
·
Sign your e-mails with your name. Your AOL or Yahoo screen name is
not a name. You do not have to give us
your real name, but at least give us some name other than your e-mail address
to call you by.
·
DO NOT TYPE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. It is hard to read, and it gives people the
impression that you are yelling.
·
Do not leave entire e-mails quoted at the bottom of
your replies. Before you send an
e-mail reply to someone, either edit or delete their original message from your
reply. Those quotes take up too much
space and are confusing. The best
practice is to highlight and delete all except the specific few sentences that
you are replying to. If you don't know
how, ask a moderator for help.
·
Do not ask people to repeat previously posted
information that you have missed, deleted, or simply forgotten. Go search for that information in the
archives, where you will find the text of every message ever posted here.
·
Do not answer questions without referring back to the
question you are answering. "Tomorrow
at 7 o'clock" is not useful to anyone if you don't clarify what the
original question was.
·
Do not cross-post, which is to post a
message to multiple e-mail groups at one time.
It creates mass confusion when the replies start coming in and getting
cross-posted to all of those groups.
And, some computer systems will see you as a Spammer and block you from
sending further messages.
·
Don't post with HTML, fancy or coloured fonts, or
"stationary." ESPECIALLY
IF YOU USE AOL! Normal, plain black
text is the ONLY font type allowed for this group.
·
Tell us where you are. Members of this eGroup are from all over the world. If you start talking about radio station
WPIG not playing the Dixie Chicks, or about buying the new DVD at the big mall
in Hooterville, nobody is going to know where that is. If you want to talk about what the Chicks said
at "my concert," tell us where it was.
·
Do not post your problems to the group. Your problems with posting, receiving
messages, or the behaviour of other members is NOT on-topic for
discussion. E-mail
your concerns directly to a moderator.
We understand that many Dixie Chicks fans may be relatively
young and new to the Internet.
Therefore, we allow much leeway for behaviour, and will send reminders
before disciplining any member.
However, repeated violations of Netiquette will result in the
member's posting privileges being terminated.
This is a very large group that sends a large amount of e-mail. And our members come here for one reason
only: to exchange relevant information regarding the Dixie Chicks. When the amount of irrelevant chatter and
discussion exceeds the amount of useful information posted here, people begin
to leave. We will not allow that to
happen. Therefore, our three (3) simple
rules are an attempt to stop the three most common reasons that members give
for leaving the eGroup:
1.
Too much e-mail.
2.
Off Topic e-mail.
3.
Disputes.
We fully support the protection of Freedom Of Speech. It simply does not apply to this
eGroup. The United States Constitution
affords you the freedom of speech without governmental interference. It does not guarantee you a forum for your
speech. This group is private property,
and the owner is not a U.S. Government agent.
We are not required to allow anyone to speak without restriction. And we have every legal right and responsibility
to regulate your behaviour on our property.
All that we are asking for is the same
considerate behaviour that you would expect from guests in your home.
If you disagree with the rules or policies of this eGroup,
we encourage you to share your concerns with a moderator. All of our policies have come through the
feedback and suggestions of our members.
That is also how they will continue to evolve. If you have an idea or recommendation that would benefit the group
and it's members, we want to hear from you!
To post an original message to this eGroup, simply send it
in an e-mail to dixiechicks@yahoogroups.com
To send a reply directly to the author of the e-mail you are
replying to, simply click on the "Reply" or "Reply To
Sender" button in your e-mail program. Unless your reply is important for everyone in this group to see,
this is the preferred method.
To reply to a message and have it seen by every member of
the group, click on the "Reply All" or "Reply To Group"
button in your e-mail program. Before
you do this, be very sure that what you have to say is within group rules, and
is of probable interest to most group members.
The moderators of this group do not remove or ban anyone
from the group. And with the volume of
messages posted here, you should be receiving at least one, if not several
messages a day with the [DixieChicks] tag on the subject line. If you stop receiving e-mail from this
group, there is almost certainly a technical problem on your end.
The most common problems arise from your e-mail service
provider. What happens most commonly is
that you leave your mail un-checked for a couple of days and your mailbox fills
up to capacity. When that occurs, your
e-mail provider begins "bouncing" your incoming mail back to the
senders. After a short time of getting
it's messages bounced back, Yahoogroups! will stop trying to send you anymore
mail. Every couple of days, it will try
again to contact you, but if your mailbox is still full or not working, again,
you will not receive the mail from this group.
To determine if "bouncing" is the problem you are
experiencing, go to http://www.yahoogroups.com. If you are not already registered there, you
must register a Yahoo! account. Once
you sign in, you will immediately see your status, and if you are bouncing, you
will be reminded to correct the problem right there. If you are unsure, or unable to determine, then ask a moderator for help.
DO NOT post a "Why is everybody so quiet?" or "Is
anybody getting this?" test message to the group!
This is almost always explained by one of these five
reasons:
1.
Nobody knows the answer.
2.
You asked a question with an answer so obvious that everyone
assumed that somebody else would answer you.
Unfortunately, obvious questions can either get no answer at all, or
they can create a fifty-message flood of identical answers. Such is the nature of any group. You are welcome to try again.
3.
You posted a message that was so clear and intelligent, and
covered the issue so completely that there just wasn't anything else left to
say about it. That is a good thing!
4.
You posted a message that was so rambling, incoherent,
pointless, and/or silly, that nobody even bothered to read it all. This is not a good thing.
5.
You didn't actually ask a question, or your question
appeared to be rhetorical, not requiring an answer. Most members of this group are not interested in idle chit-chat
without a specific point. Therefore,
people are not anxious to compose answers to pointless questions like, "What
does everybody think about…?" or "What is everybody's
favourite song?" Messages that
are posted solely to provoke discussion are prohibited. If the answer to a question is not truly
important to you, then it probably should not be posted to the group.
If none of these explanations apply to your situation, then
there is the rare possibility that your question never made it to the
group. If you suspect that this is the
case, see "Why aren't my messages getting through to the group?"
Occasionally busy servers, system crashes, system
maintenance, or administrative matters at Yahoogroups!, or at your Internet
service provider (ISP) can cause delays in your message being posted to the
group. You should allow several hours
time, and check the message archives for your message, before assuming that your
message did not get through. Just
because you did not receive your message back does not mean it did not get to
the group. If your message still cannot
be found after several hours, one of these explanations applies:
·
You typed the address incorrectly, and therefore it never
made it to dixiechicks@yahoogroups.com.
·
You clicked on "REPLY" instead of "REPLY
ALL" when answering another member's post, so it went only to that member,
not to the group.
·
You sent your
message from an alternate e-mail account which is not subscribed to the eGroup,
so it was rejected.
·
You sent an attachment (photo, video, sound clip, virus) or
used HTML fonts that were discarded by the system.
·
Your message was rejected, or your posting privileges have
been terminated, for violation of eGroup rules.
If, after consideration of the above factors, you still
believe there is a problem, please contact a moderator
for assistance.
Although the mail volume can occasionally rise in response
to breaking news and current events, this is very rare. Ten or more messages in one day is extremely
uncommon. Fifteen or more is almost
unheard of, and never persists for more than a couple of days.
PLEASE do not unsubscribe from the group
before checking out these options:
If mailbox clutter is a problem, you can
change your subscription to the "Daily Digest" mode. You will then receive only one e-mail per
day from this group. That single e-mail
will have all of the day's messages in one.
To choose the digest mode, simply send any blank e-mail to dixiechicks-digest@yahoogroups.com.
If the volume of mail is filling up your inbox to capacity, you can
change your subscription to the "No Mail/Web Only" mode. You will then not receive any e-mail from
this group unless somebody replies directly to you. When you want to check the group messages, you can go to the
eGroup homepage and read the message archives just like a message board. You can also post messages from the homepage
without using your own e-mail program.
To choose the "No Mail/Web Only" mode, simply send any blank
e-mail to dixiechicks-nomail@yahoogroups.com.
Another great option is to open a web-based e-mail
account especially for receiving Dixie Chicks messages. That way the messages from this group will
not fill or clutter your primary e-mail box.
Also, you will receive all of the messages as they are posted, without
having to go to the group website or wait for the once-a-day digest. One source for free web-based e-mail is http://www.hotmail.com. Another is http://www.yahoo.com. Once you have your web-based account
subscribed to the group, you can simply unsubscribe
your current e-mail address.
Many e-mail programs allow you to pre-sort incoming mail
into folders. Programs such as
AOL, Netscape, and Outlook can be set up to sort all mail coming in with the
[DixieChicks] tag into a separate folder, away from your main inbox. That keeps your inbox uncluttered. If you need further assistance, please contact a moderator.
Send any blank e-mail to dixiechicks-nomail@yahoogroups.com. This will put your subscription on hold
until which time you are ready to receive the messages again. This is good for when you are away from your
computer for long periods like vacation, or spring break.
To resume receiving mail from the group, send any blank
e-mail to dixiechicks-normal@yahoogroups.com. You can catch up on what you missed by
reading the archives at the Yahoogroups! website.
Do not ever set your e-mail account to send "I am
away from the office" or "I am on vacation"
auto-response messages! Every one of
those messages will be sent to over two-thousand people several times a
day. The chances that one of those
people will take malicious action to shut down your e-mail account is
great. Don't tempt fate by annoying
people with an auto-responder.
First, unsubscribe your current e-mail address by sending
any blank e-mail to dixiechicks-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Next, subscribe your new e-mail address by sending any blank
e-mail to dixiechicks-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
If you no longer have access to the e-mail account you are
trying to unsubscribe, please contact a moderator for
assistance.
With nearly two-thousand members here, there are a lot of
eyes and ears constantly looking for Dixie Chicks related news and information
everyday. Fans like you are constantly
searching through Dixie Chicks websites, radio station websites, country music
and entertainment news websites. They
are reading newspapers, magazines, and message boards all over the world. They are listening to country radio and
watch CMT and GAC twenty-four hours a day.
And don't forget that there are plenty of group members who
personally know the Dixie Chicks, their friends, families, and business
associates who can occasionally share their insight with us. It is a combination of all of these
techniques that allows us to keep you up to date with the latest and best news
about the Dixie Chicks.
Yes! And we
encourage you to visit these archives often.
There you can see what you missed yesterday, last week, or even last
year. Go back and read the reviews from
the Fly Tour. Go back and read the
original group messages from 1998. The
messages are listed chronologically and can be searched by date, author,
subject, or message number. From the
archives, you can also post replies to the messages without using your own
e-mail account.
To access the message archives, simply go to http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/DixieChicks/messages
If you have concerns about the behaviour of any group
member, contact a moderator at dixiechicks-owner@yahoogroups.com. The first moderator to receive your message
will look into the situation and determine what measures are appropriate. They will handle all corrective measures and
discipline behind the scenes, so you will not see anything posted to the group
about it. However, you will receive a
reply to your e-mail, and you can rest assured that the situation will be dealt
with.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PLAY MODERATOR! This only compounds any problem you are
replying to, and it is a very serious violation of group policies. If you do not approve of a discussion taking
place, report it or ignore it, but do NOT attempt to stop it. Violators will have their posting privileges
terminated without any notice or warning.
The group moderators are not interested in punishing
anyone. We do not remove or ban members
from the group. But we do have to
maintain a disciplined atmosphere here in order to protect our members from
misconduct and keep good people from leaving.
Moderators will not publicly criticize or
discipline anyone. All discipline will
be handled off-list by e-mail.
Group members who violate standards of Netiquette will
receive suggestions from a moderator.
Those who are still having problems may begin to see their messages
rejected without notice or warning.
Group members who violate one of the only three (3) simple
rules of this group will have their messages rejected, and may have their
posting privileges terminated without any notice or warning.
To prevent the posting of viruses or other inappropriate
material, only group moderators may post attachments. If you have photographs or other files that you would like to
share with the group, please contact a moderator. Send us the file, along with any information
you want posted with it, and we will distribute it to the group as soon as
possible.
Attachments posted to the group must abide by all group
rules, as well as with these guidelines:
·
If you are not legally entitled to reproduce an image, do
not do so. If you did not take the
picture, you need permission from the photographer to distribute it.
·
Give credit to the photographer and source of any photo you
post.
·
Keep the file size small and manageable, preferably 50kb or
smaller.
·
Choose quality over quantity. More than three or four photos is too much for the mailboxes of
most people.
·
Use only the .jpeg, .jpg, or .gif file types to post
photographs. Others are too large and
present security risks.
If you have more than three images to share, or photos which
are too large to send by e-mail, consider posting them on a website where
people can go view them on the web. A
moderator will be happy to help you do this.
No. It cannot
happen. The moderators take
extraordinary measures to assure that no damaging file can be transmitted through
this group. Any attachment you receive
from this group will come only from a group moderator. And even then, only after it has been
thoroughly inspected for safety.
There have been instances where people received viruses they
thought came from this group, but they did not. This usually only happens to users of Microsoft Outlook or
Outlook Express. For that reason, we
seriously discourage the use of either of these programs to send or receive
e-mail.
Remember, although you cannot get a virus from this group, there are still many
ways to receive a virus on the Internet.
For that reason we highly recommend that you keep your anti-virus
program up to date and activated to automatically scan all incoming and
outgoing e-mail. The finest quality
anti-virus software can be obtained from any one of these vendors:
http://www.datafellows.com http://www.symantec.com http://www.mcafee.com
F-Secure
Anti Virus Norton Anti Virus McAfee Anti Virus
Yes! Most of us are
interested in what the other fans are thinking. But, as stated in our group rules, have a point. Pointless questions such as, "What
is everybody's favourite song?" and "Who is your favourite
Chick?" are not worth wasting the group's time or bandwidth on. If the answers to this poll are not truly
important to you, then it is not important enough to post to nearly
two-thousand people.
In order to prevent your poll from causing a flood of e-mail
replies to the group, you MUST state in your poll that all answers should be
sent directly to you, and not to the group.
Be sure to keep a total of your responses so you can share the final
results with us.
Nobody is assigning these nicknames. Some fans simply choose a name and use
it. If you too are having an identity
crisis, feel free to choose one for yourself.
Yes. Some of our
members meet up frequently for concerts and other social activities, especially
in Texas. There have even been a couple
of "love connections" from among the fans. However, most members live too far apart to meet with others. And, if you decide to meet with anyone you
meet from the Internet, use caution and common sense. People are not always whom or what they seem or claim to be
online.
Minors should never meet with anyone they met
on the Internet without parental supervision.
We cannot say for sure.
But they do seem to have an uncanny way of knowing everything that is
said here, so it is a very definite possibility. Of course, if they are members, they are not using their actual
names. The Dixie Chicks would NEVER
contact a fan by e-mail or Instant Messenger, even if you are their "biggest
fan." Never believe anybody
who contacts you claiming to be a Dixie Chick.
Never. It will not happen. Don't let them make a fool out of you.
Minnesota college student Nicole "Nici" Larson
founded this group on 18 April 1998 when she was a thirteen-year-old middle
school student. She is also the founder
and webmaster of the very first ever – and still the very best – Dixie Chicks
fan website on the Internet. Her
efforts to promote the Dixie Chicks and to help their fans have earned her the
recognition, gratitude, and friendship of the Dixie Chicks and thousands of
fans. You can visit Nici's website and
learn more about her at http://www.DixieChicksFans.net.
Dallas, Texas nurse-paramedic and safety engineer Rob Davis
manages the day-to-day operations of this group. He is deeply involved in the Texas country music scene, and has
known the Dixie Chicks since they were just teenagers playing bluegrass music
with their schoolmates. He has also run
the Dixie Chicks Frequently Asked Questions Page since 1999. You can see Rob and learn more about him at
the "About The
Author" section of this website.
ONLY YOU CAN GET YOU OFF OF THIS MAILING
LIST!!! Nobody else can do
it for you, so don't waste your time asking.
There are two ways to remove yourself from the Dixie Chicks eGroup
mailing list:
·
Send any blank e-mail to dixiechicks-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. Or…
·
Go to http://www.yahoogroups.com,
sign in to your account, and click on the "Leave Group" link.
If for some reason neither of those methods succeeds in
stopping the [DixieChicks] e-mail from coming, contact a
moderator.
Sending "unsubscribe" messages, or
posting "TAKE ME OFF THIS LIST!" to the group will not get you
off the list.
E-mail sent to dixiechicks-owner@yahoogrops.com
will be immediately distributed to all group moderators. The first moderator to receive your message
will assist you. Also, you may contact
these moderators directly at their individual addresses:
Nici Larson webmaster@DixieChicksFans.net
AOL Instant Messenger: ChicksRule3
Rob Davis Rob@DixieChicksFAQ.com
AOL Instant Messenger: rsdrn31
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Copyright
1999 – 2005 by Rob Davis
All Rights
Reserved