Fibrom-L
HELP PAGE continued
The prime purpose of the FMily is to help people deal with difficult long-term health
problems. They are not helped if the list is in turmoil. Therefore, if members engage in
flaming, profanity, advertisements, personal attacks or other particularly disruptive
behavior, or post a private email from another person ON THE MAILING LIST OR IN
PRIVATE EMAIL to any subscriber of the Fibrom-L discussion group, ONE OR MORE of the
following four steps will happen:
#1 The member will receive a warning from the Co-Facilitator team.
#2 They will be placed on REVIEW status until the Co-Facilitators are confident the member
will not continue to violate the rules. If this occurs, all posts from that member will be
reviewed by the Co-Fac on duty before being forwarded to Fibrom-L. The member will not
post from any other address during their review period, or request any other member
forward posts or messages for them.
#3 The member will receive a notice from the Co-Facilitator team and will be suspended
from the list for a period to be determined by the Co-Facilitators. A suspended person
(either temporarily or permanently) will not post to the list under any address, nor ask
another member to post for them. Should that member be allowed to return and again offend,
removal from the list will be permanent.
#4 The member will be permanently removed from the list by the Co-Facilitators.
In addition:
A. Attachments are *NOT* allowed.
B. DO NOT send unsolicited emails to any of our members - this is considered
"spam", whether it is commercial or not. This is not allowed under any
circumstances. Also, if it is found that a member has been collecting email addresses off
our list for this purpose, the member will be banned and their ISP will be notified.
C. Remember that this list is here but for the grace of MIT, which allows us to use their server space. Therefore, it is a MODERATED list. As moderators, we have the often difficult job of keeping the list running smoothly. Anything found to be inflammatory or otherwise inappropriate will be reviewed by the moderators and appropriate actions will be taken. Please refer to the section on freedom of speech for clarification on this item.
D. DO NOT send computer virus alerts, warnings, or chain letters to the list. If you think that you have something that is important, like a notice about a computer virus or a warning of any sort, please send it to the co-facs. We will review it and forward it to the list if it is appropriate. If a message states, "Send this to everyone in your address book" or something similar, there is a very good chance it is a hoax.
It is a valuable aspect of the list that several doctors and other consultants
subscribe and read messages. Please don't send them mail directly unless they have
specifically asked you to do so. Instead, post your questions to them under the MEDQ:
topic.
The Doctors need to be able to quickly identify questions on medical issues, i.e., with a
subject line "MEDQ: for (consultants name here) subject". While others are
welcome to reply to such messages, please REMOVE the DR. reference from the subject line
so that there is not a whole thread following with their name on it, when they have
already replied. We value their time.
DISCLAIMER: Any advice which may be given on this list regarding diagnoses or treatments,
etc., reflects only the opinion of the individual posting the message. Those who have
fibromyalgia or other conditions are urged to consult with a licensed health-care
practitioner who is familiar with the illness.
If you are looking for a doctor referral, feel free to post your request to the
group or check out one of the many
resources located
HERE.
Check your email program settings before posting. The list server only handles 'plain
text' without coding, such as HTML. Set your mail program to send in plain text. Some mail
programs, such as Outlook Express, have a default setting which is NOT plain text. Check
carefully. If you send a message which has code in it, your message will come back with
strange extra coding letters and numbers all over it and will look silly. Attachments are
not accepted.
Set the mail program so that line length is no more than 80 columns - otherwise your
message will be a mess of short lines and long lines when it comes back, because lines
longer than 80 columns will be wrapped.
There are people here who can help with computer or email program problems if they are
fairly straightforward. If you need help, write your message in the ADMIN
topic and specify the problem as clearly as possible.
We KNOW that you will not have list problems by not knowing how to change your settings,
because you are RIGHT NOW <grin> putting the key commands (No. 3
above) right by your computer, and showing them to someone else, if possible. But if you
have to do so, please write to the group under ADMIN or to one of the
facilitators (address at top).
If you find you have been removed from the mailing list, there are several possibilities
why this happened. It is either because of not reading your mail frequently enough, or
because LISTSERV could not locate your ISP, or because
your ISP has told LISTSERV that your account does not
exist. The last 2 reasons can occur because of network or software problems. If this
happens more than once, the FIBROM-L facilitators will be glad to try to
help you determine the problem.
If you fail to read your mail, it will back up, and your internet service provider may
have limits on the size of your mailbox. If your mailbox fills and messages are bounced
back, you impose work on us. Your subscription will automatically be set to DIGEST
(see No. 3 above) to reduce the problem at our end. You will have to reset your
mail later. If mail to your address continues to bounce for more than a few days, you will
be removed from the mailing list.
If you will be unable to read your messages for an extended period, please consider
setting your subscription to NOMAIL to stop messages from being sent to you.
(see No. 3 above).
NETCOM, COMPUSERVE, JUNO, and (especially) AOL are among the ISPs
that limit the number of messages customers may have in their mail boxes. Subscribers
to these services MUST download mail at least once a day. If your mailbox
does fill up, you will automatically be set to DIGEST mode
(see No. 3 above).
Click Here of the Ten Commandments of Email
This mailing list has several very useful files of information on FMS which
have been submitted by members of the list. They are:
FMS-MPS HANDOUT - Handout about FMS and MPS by Dr. Devin Starlanyl
TELL-DOC INFO1 - Handouts by Dr. Devin Starlanyl on what you
TELL-DOC INFO2 - What you should tell various non-FMS doctors about FMS
FMS PT-INFO - Patient Handout about FMS by Dr. Nye
FMS MD-INFO- Physician Handout about FMS by Dr. Nye
FMS-MEDQ-INF - Current bios on our consultants
TECH TIPS - Email addresses and tips you need to manage your subscription
5HTP INFO - 5-htp/tryptophan info by M. Williamson
ALT INFO - Info by S. Emerson on alternative treatments
FREE MEDS - Info on how to get free meds
PAIN PROGRAM - Cedar/Sinai Pain Program
OTHER LISTS - A list of other mailing list of interest to PWFMS
CSSA PAMPHLET - An educational pamphlet about chronic syndromes
ACRONYM INFO - A list of Three Letter Acronyms and keyboard shortcuts.
SS FORM - A form for use in applying for Social Security Disability Benefits
If you are looking for a caregiver to diagnose or treat your conditions, you can either ask for referals on the list, or go to Devin's care provider list or the Finding a Doctor page.
To obtain any of these papers, send a message to
LISTSERV@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM with the text GET FILENAME
EXTENSION LISTNAME, e.g., GET WELCOME FIBROM-L
You can put more than one GET command in your message, but each GET must be on a separate
line, e.g.:
GET FMS PT-INFO FIBROM-L
GET ALT INFO FIBROM-L
There is a second email support group out of MIT, called - FMS-CHAT, it was born on the
Fibrom-l list, as a less formal place that encourages chatting and simpler email.
There are no topics to use and fewer rules. Just join and talk about health issues, your
family or the weather. While it's called 'CHAT', you don't need chat software. It's
all e-mail.
To subscribe to FMS-CHAT, go HERE
Then just fill in a user name of your choice and a password so you can manage your own subscription, and you will start to receive messages from the group as soon as you answer your confirmation email. Moderaters of the group are Maggie and Jane, you can contact them if you have any problems or questions about signing up for the group.
Read more tips for "newbies"
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PLEASE NOTE: The original concept, content and design of this page from Moira A. Smith's Canberra FM/CFS Page: http://www.spirit.net.au/~masmith/ and has been moved to its new home here with the kind permission of the author: Moira A Smith (masmith@spirit.com.au) - Canberra, Australia
Designed, developed and owned by
The
Fibromyalgia Community,
a
CSSA Partner, (a 501(c)3
non-profit corporation)
maintained by Chip Davis
and Jane
Kohler
Copyright (C) 1997-2006 The
Fibromyalgia Community.
All Rights Reserved.
Page Updated:
March 21, 2006
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