Messages
which you want read by the entire subscribership are sent to an address
in the following form:
xxxxx-L@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Example: to post on TESL-L, send it to:
Note about replying to messages: Using your 'reply' function after reading a TESL-L message will direct your message to the original poster of the message, NOT to TESL-L. You most likely will have to enter the TESL-L address manually in order to post
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When posting
please be SURE that your message follows the TESL-L posting guidelines:
All messages
posted to TESL-L need to
1. have a
clear, informative and relevant entry on the subject line;
2. have a
clear focus on classroom issues in TESL/TEFL in the body of the message;
3. be signed
at the end with a clear signature of no more than 4 lines, including frames;
the signature must include the full name of the poster, his/her personal
email address, and location. A sig can also have the poster's personal
and private URL, but cannot include in it a promotion for any thing or
person or site;
4. have all
irrelevant matter (including headers) edited out of any quoted or previously
posted material;
5. be neatly
and clearly formatted. Netters who use MIME need to turn it off when writing
to TESL-L;
6. be addressed
to ALL netters, not an individual, even if replying to an individual's
post;
7. BEGIN with
a clear reference to a previous posting (if part of a thread or a response
to a posting);
8. contain
ONLY as much as is necessary of a previous message (3 - 5 lines, tops)
to establish the reference; parts of postings that are are quotations from
previously posted messages must appear at the BEGINNING of your messaage
to serve as an introduction and to help readers understand the context
of your message;
9. contain
no more than 55 lines of text (that's about 2 - 3 screens);
10. have a
clear and direct focus on classrom issues in teaching English as a second
or foreign language and/or TESL/TEFL teacher preparation. Discussion about
the TESL-L list itself are not relevant to classroom issues and should
not be posted to TESL-L. Instead, comments about the
TESL-L forum
should be addressed as private mail to the list management at TESLHELP@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
11. BEGIN
with a brief reference to a previous posting (if part of an exiting thread),
so that all will understand the topic of the message;
12. be respectful
and friendly and never contain personal attacks, reprimands, ridicule or
criticisms. TESL-Lers are expected to be civil at all times;
13. be free
of all commercialism or profit motive. Promotion of a book or product is
acceptable IF it clearly and logically relates to the topic under discussion;
messages that are "covers" for commercial announcements are not accepted
for posting on TESL-L;
14. contribute
a specific question or new information what could be of use to many other
TESL-L members and the field in general (not just one person); personal
messages should be sent as private mail to the individual;
15. be "fresh";
in other words, postings should not repeat what has already been said on
the topic (on TESL-L or a branch);
16. contain
enough specific detail or reference to a specific previous TESL-L discussion
to allow adequate response from netters and to contribute to the forum;
all postings on TESL-L should be CONTRIBUTORY;
17. be of
interest and potential value to the forum and field in general and NOT
just to the writer; messages should be CONTRIBUTORY;
18. be universal
in appeal and not confined to the interests and of one national group or
country; TESL-L has members from 140 countries, and the majority of the
membership is not from the USA;
19. not contain
reposted messages from other lists without the express the majority of
its members live outside the USA consent of the original writer.
20. not ask
for private replies;
21. not make
requests for third parties who are not on the list.
22. not be
on topics covered by TESL-L branches; for example, all WEB discussion and
announcements are on the TESLCA-L (technology) branch, messages about jobs
and working conditions on the TESLJB-L (jobs) branch, etc.
23 not be
duplicates of what has already appeared on a TESL-L branch;
24. not be
commands (such as SUBSCRIBE or SET NOMAIL), which should be sent to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU The TESL-L editors make no evaluation about the veracity or taste of messages,
and they do not tamper with content. Editors use the above list for editing.
25. observe the 100-line posting limit. This limit includes headers, signatures, and blank lines as well as the message itself. Headers can be as long as 30 lines, and posters have no control over them (they are added by the IPs). With this in mind, it is best to assume that a message should not be more than 2 screens of PLAIN TEXT. The line limit exists because we are housed on an old machine by an institution that requires limits on the size of TESL-L postings if we wish to have posts saved in searchable logs, which is the option we chose.
As always, if you need help, write to TESLHELPL@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
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