Usage rules for the Tango-A mailing list

Subscription and other general information on the Tango-L and Tango-A mailing lists is available on the Tango-L home page at Tango-L.com.

Last revised: 11 September 1999 with edits 10 April 2007.

Note: Since Tango-A is a "simpler" list in the sense that it consists almost exclusively of announcements, the rules for Tango-A are simpler and shorter than those for Tango-L. However, Tango-A lists members are encouraged to read the Usage Rules for the Tango-L mailing list as well, since applicable parts of those rules also pertain to, and will be applied to, Tango-A.

CONTENTS/SUMMARY

Nature of Postings (and Relationship to Tango-L)
Use of Geographical Topics
Followups to Announcements
Frequency of Postings
Content of Postings
Formatting of Postings
Relationship to other local lists
Usage Policy, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers

DETAILED POSTING RULES

Nature of Postings (and Relationship to Tango-L)

Announcement of Tango Events. Tango-A is intended for Announcements of Tango events worldwide. General-interest discussion of Tango that are not event-specific are probably generally more appropriate on Tango-L. (If you have not subscribed to Tango-L, you may wish to do so by reviewing the subscription instructions.

These events could include Tango workshops or lessons, Tango weeks or weekends, Milongas, classes, etc. Information on Tango events that have interest only to a local geographical area are explicitly permitted. In this regard, Tango-A complements Tango-L, since the latter discourages announcements of local events and advertising owing to its more global scope and its focus on discussion. Thus, articles should not be cross-posted to both Tango-A and Tango-L since they are almost always more appropriate on one or the other.
Where to Dance Tango in <Some City>? Since Tango-A is geographically organized (see below), postings on "Where can I dance Tango in <some city>?" are also more appropriate on Tango-A than on Tango-L (put a question mark at the end of the "Subject" in this case to help readers identify it as a query).
Tango Community Accommodations in Buenos Aires. In general, advertising for travel-related services (transportation and accommodation) that is not directly tango-related is not permitted, although such information may be included as part of an announcement of a tango tour or event. The only exception, allowed by popular request, is that advertising for accommodation for Tango dancers in Buenos Aires (only) is permitted as long as it is (a) offered by someone in the Tango community (we don't want every real-estate agent in Buenos Aires posting here) and (b) follows the once-in-three-months frequency guidelines (it should use the geographical topic SA:).

Anything that is NOT directly related to Tango is not appropriate for Tango-A (or Tango-L)--this includes commentary (positive or negative) about how others post.

Use of Geographical Topics
1. Topics Selection for Subscribers
  
  The preceding paragraphs describe setting the topic when you submit an article to the list; the following paragraphs specify how you set the topics you want to receive.
  By default you are subscribed to all topics, so you will get all mail to Tango-A as long as the subject is preceded by one of the defined topics: SA, NA-E, NA-C, NA-W, EU-W, EU-E, AASP, MISC, ADMIN
  
  If you subscribe to the digest version of the list, you will always receive all mail posted to Tango-A on all topics regardless of what topics you select (this is because the server creates a single digest for the whole list, and not a customized digest for each user). So if you truly want your Tango-A mail filtered by geographical region, you cannot also use the digest feature.
  To add or remove topics to your Tango-A subscription, you need to take the following steps:
  
  Go to http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-A and login under the "Tango-A subscribers" section (at the bottom of the page, where it says "To unsubscribe from Tango-A, get a password reminder, or change your subscription options enter your subscription email address:" If you have forgotten your password, you will be provided with the option of having it emailed to you.
  
  You will be presented a list of various subscription options to change (this may be a good time to review the rest of them too ...). Towards the bottom of the page is a section entitled, "Which topic categories would you like to subscribe to?"
  
  Check the ones you would like and uncheck the ones you don't want. Make sure the ADMIN category always remains checked!
  
  Click on the "Submit My Changes" button on the bottom of the form.
  
  After this has been processed, click on the "Log out" button at the top of the form.

Followups to Announcements

Followups to announcements that are directly pertinent to the original event, are informative in nature and of general interest to the same group that the original announcement was directed towards may also be made to the Tango-A list. (If the followup is more discussive in nature, it may be more appropriate on Tango-L.) Note that the list processor will recognize the format:

Subject: Re: NA-W: Your subject here

as belonging to the topic "NA-W" even though it is preceded by "Re:".

Frequency of Postings

To avoid excessive volume and repetitious information, the following are the maximum frequencies for postings on tango-A.

One-time special events: One advance posting + 1 reminder close to the date. Additional postings may be made for major changes (e.g., a cancellation).

One-time major special events (e.g., Tango congresses of 1 week or longer):. Up to 4 postings as more details are available and as reminders. Additional postings for unexpected changes (cancellations, etc.).

Regular Monthly events: Once in 3 months (or when there is a change)

Regular Weekly events: Once in 2 months (or when there is a change)

Start of multi-week class sessions: Once per session but no more frequently than once per month (or for changes or updates)

Announcements other than forthcoming events: (a) An announcement that is by its nature 1-time but doesn't fall into the category of a forthcoming event (e.g., announcement of a new Tango research project) may, of course, be announced when it occurs or at the appropriate time. (b) Announcement of a regular or permanent Tango resource (e.g., source of Tango music) may be made once every 3 months, or if there is a significant change (change of address, phone number to order, etc.) (c) Announcements of Tango-related accommodation in Buenos Aires may be made once every 3 months, or if there is a significant change of information or an unexpected vacancy.

Content of Postings

In addition to the information needed for list members to attend the events in question, all announcement postings should contain the following information:

	Full name of poster (pseudonyms may not be used)
	Name of organization
	Telephone number of poster or organization
	Relationship of poster to event (organizer, friend of organizer, unaffiliated member of local Tango community, etc.)

("Where can I go dancing in <city>?" postings do not need to contain the above information.)

Tango-A is primarily for postings on Tango events and secondarily for updates on those events and for inquiries on where one can find Tango in particular regions of the world. Objective review of an event, or pertinent and informative review of teachers are permitted; however, "bashing" of an event or a teacher (e.g., by a competing organizer, or someone acting on behalf of a competing organizer), is not permitted. See the Tango-L rules on No Flames and Reviews.

In all cases, announcements and followups should stick to being informative. Brief biographical information on teachers (in the case of a class or workshop) are fine, but no "marketing hype," please. (You may include a link to a web page that has additional information, more verbose details on detailed timing and description of workshops, etc., if you wish, as well as all the marketing hype you want!)

Formatting of Postings

This is a summary of the formatting requirements. For further details, please see the corresponding section in the Tango-L rules on formatting.

	Plaintext formatting (no HTML)
	No attachments of any type (including V-Card and MS Exchange attachments)
	Limit your signature to 3 lines.
	Don't quote the entire message you are responding to (just the few lines that are truly directly pertinent to your response).

Relationship to other local lists

Lists for local communities serve a useful community-building function in addition to being a resource since these lists often serve just one city. Where local lists exists, members of those communities are encouraged to continue to use them, and also encouraged to cross-post announcements to Tango-A as appropriate.

Usage Policy, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers

Privacy Policy. Within the security mechanisms available to the list administrators, they attempt to keep the membership of this list private, i.e., the list of members is not openly available. However, anyone posting to the list has his or her email address publicized to all members of the list, and potentially to the entire Internet by virtue of publically accessible archives of this list. This may subject the list member to unwanted email ("spam") or similar abuse, over which the list administrators have no control. Human error, on the part of the administrators or this list or the computer systems that support it, may also inadvertently make the contents of the membership available to a wider audience than intended.

Posters of articles to this list should not assume any privacy with respect to the contents of their postings. Specifically (a) postings cannot be withdrawn once they have been made; and (b) postings are archived on one or more archives on the Internet (which the administrators may have no control over) and which may be publically accessible or searchable by commonly available search engines, not just to the membership of this list but to the entire Internet community..
Responsibility for content lies with posters. This list is only a distribution medium. Submitters are wholly responsible for the content and appropriateness of all mailings made to the list.
Usage Policy. All members of the Tango community worldwide are invited to join Tango-A as guests of the list maintainers and the sponsoring organization, subject to their agreement to observe the list rules, as they exist at the time, and as they may be modified from time to time.

List members' privileges on participating may be limited, suspended or eliminated, at the sole discretion of the list administrators or sponsoring organization, or person(s) delegated by them, for any actions inconsistent with these list rules or the spirit of these rules, or actions that may jeopardize the computer facilities or networks supporting this list or those of its other members.

Any subscriber or poster to the list agrees with all the terms and conditions stated in these rules, including any modifications that may be made from time to time. Although the list administrators attempt to limit abusive behaviour, and retain full authority to remove members from the list or restrict their access to the list, with or without cause, list members acknowledge that this is an open and public list and the list administrators, list owners, and sponsoring organizations are not responsible for the policing of this list or their members, or for the content or source of information that appears on this list. Any members subscribing to this list agrees to unsubscribe immediately if they do not agree with all the usage rules stated her, and agree to seek help in unsubscribing if they cannot do so themselves by sending an email to tango-A-owner@mit.edu requesting such assistance.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about the operation of Tango-A, please send e-mail to <tango-A-owner@mit.edu>.

Shahrukh Merchant
"Tango-A" co-administrator
tango-A-owner@mit.edu

	By default you are subscribed to all topics, so you will get all mail to Tango-A as long as the subject is preceded by one of the defined topics: SA, NA-E, NA-C, NA-W, EU-W, EU-E, AASP, MISC, ADMIN
	If you subscribe to the digest version of the list, you will always receive all mail posted to Tango-A on all topics regardless of what topics you select (this is because the server creates a single digest for the whole list, and not a customized digest for each user). So if you truly want your Tango-A mail filtered by geographical region, you cannot also use the digest feature.
	To add or remove topics to your Tango-A subscription, you need to take the following steps: Go to http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-A and login under the "Tango-A subscribers" section (at the bottom of the page, where it says "To unsubscribe from Tango-A, get a password reminder, or change your subscription options enter your subscription email address:" If you have forgotten your password, you will be provided with the option of having it emailed to you. You will be presented a list of various subscription options to change (this may be a good time to review the rest of them too ...). Towards the bottom of the page is a section entitled, "Which topic categories would you like to subscribe to?" Check the ones you would like and uncheck the ones you don't want. *Make sure the ADMIN* category always remains checked!** Click on the "Submit My Changes" button on the bottom of the form. After this has been processed, click on the "Log out" button at the top of the form.