OECN Distribution Lists - Frequently Asked Questions
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Table of Contents
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1.0 Introduction
1.1 Purpose of this document
1.2 How to get the latest version of this document
2.0 OECN Distribution Lists
2.1 What are they?
2.2 Why do they exist?
2.3 Why am I on one?
2.4 How do I get off the list?
2.5 Why do I get so much "junk" from the list?
2.6 Does the OECN or ODE filter "spam" and viruses from the list?
2.7 How do I report abuse of the lists?
3.0 Using the lists
3.1 What are the names of the OECN distribution lists?
3.1 When should I send mail to an OECN list?
3.2 What are some things I should never do?
3.2.1 Never do "Reply All"
3.2.2 Don't use the OECN lists for "Position Vacancies"
3.2.3 Don't send large attachments to the list
3.2.4 Do not send image attachments
3.3 You're telling people not to use the lists for position
vacancies. But how do I get "position vacancies" if I want them?
3.4 I tried sending to the list and says I'm "blocked" from using
them. What's up with that?
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1.0 Introduction
-----------------
1.1 Purpose of this document
This document describes the OECN (OECN_xxxx) lists operated by
the OECN and ODE.
1.2 How do I get the latest version of this document?
Updated versions of this document can be found at:
http://ssdt.oecn.k12.oh.us/faq/oecn-lists-faq.txt
This document is also mailed to a subset of the OECN lists on a
monthly basis.
1.3 Questions/Comments
Questions or comments regarding this FAQ should be sent to
postmaster@oecn.k12.oh.us or posted in the OECN Public Discussion
Forums at http://forums.oecn.k12.oh.us/forums/oecn/
2.0 OECN Distribution Lists
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2.1 What are they?
The OECN distribution lists are a collection of lists intended
primarily to allow ODE, OECN and others to communicate state wide
or regionally with various groups of people. For example, there
are lists for teachers, superintendents, treasurers, etc who have
email accounts with an OECN site.
The lists are managed collectively by the OECN ITC Sites. Each site
manages its part of the list. This allows management of the lists
and delivery of mail to the lists to be distributed across
multiple servers.
The list are not standard "LISTSERV" lists. You can't subscribe or
unsubscribe by sending mail to the mail server.
2.2 Why do they exist?
The OECN ITC Sites and ODE built the lists to allow ODE and the OECN
to communicate information to various types of people on a
state-wide or regional basis. ODE sometimes uses the lists to
communicate with large numbers of people instead of large paper
mailings, thus reducing ODE's mailing costs.
2.3 Why am I on one?
Almost certainly, you are on the list because you have an email
account with an OECN ITC Site, your schools mail server is part
of a OECN network, or your school receives other services from
an OECN ITC.
Virtually all OECN email users receive "free" mail from their OECN
ITC site and school district. Some of the network and equipment
costs for transferring your mail is funded by ODE. So one way to
think of this is being on the OECN lists is part of the "price"
you pay for receiving free (or cheap) email accounts.
For example, if you have a "hotmail.com" or Juno account you have
to see advertising. If you have an OECN account, you get some
"junk mail".
2.4 How do I get off the list?
You can't unless you are subscribed to the wrong list. That is,
if you are a teacher with an OECN account, you _should_ be
subscribed to the teachers list. Although your OECN ITC Site is
capable of removing you from the list, they are not suppose to do
so.
In any case, you can't get off the list by replying to it. Only
your ITC Site can remove you from a list.
2.5 Why do I get so much "junk" from the list?
The lists are sometimes abused or misused, sometimes
intentionally, sometimes accidentally and sometimes by spammers.
It is hoped that this FAQ will help reduce the misuse of the
lists.
The OECN postmaster aggressively filters the lists for viruses,
spam and other bulk email (see below). As of March 2007, 98% of
the attempted deliveries to the lists are being blocked as bulk
email. However, due to the nature of spam, it is very difficult
to accurately detect every instance of spam. Therefore, some
junk mail will be delivered to the lists.
2.6 Does the OECN filter "spam" and viruses from the list?
The OECN mail systems do scan the messages for viruses. We make
every attempt to ensure that viruses are not transmitted via the
OECN lists. However, due to the nature of email viruses we can
not guarantee that all viruses, specially new viruses, are caught.
Furthermore, beginning in March 2002, the OECN began more
aggressively filtering the lists for content. Messages will be
blocked if they apparently contain commercial "spam", adult-only
content, virus hoaxes, chain letters, etc. Although we attempt to
filters as much junk mail as humanly and technically possible, the
nature of spam makes it very difficult to filter completely. So
you will occasionally receive some junk from the list.
2.7 How do I report abuse of the lists?
If you wish to report abuse of the lists, please send mail to
postmaster@oecn.k12.oh.us. Please forward the complete message
(as an attachment with complete headers).
DO NOT EVER REPLY ALL to the list to report abuse. That just
makes the problem worse!
3.0 Using the lists
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3.1 What are the names of the OECN distribution lists?
The OECN tries not to put the names of the distribution lists on
publicly accessible areas to reduce the number of "spammers" that
use the lists. Therefore the names of the lists are not included
in this document. If you have a clear need to use one of the
state-wide or regional lists, then contact your ITC Site and they
can give you the address for the appropriate list.
3.1 When should I send mail to an OECN list?
You probably shouldn't unless you are very certain that your
message is useful to a large number of people. Depending the list
in question, there are between 2,000 and 10,000 addresses on the
list. This is a lot of people to make angry if you send garbage
to the list.
If you think you want to send mail to one of the OECN lists, we
suggest you sit down for a while and wonder if there is some other
way to get your message to the appropriate audience. Your ITC Site
may be able to provide advice about which medium to use for you
message.
3.2 What are some things I should never do?
3.2.1 Never do "Reply All"
If you receive mail from one of the OECN lists, do not use your
mail client's "Reply All" or "Reply to Sender and All
Receipents" unless you are very, very certain you want the
message to go to several thousand people.
For example, if you do "Reply All" and say "UNSUBSCRIBE" to the
teacher's list, approximately 50,000 people will receive the
message. Probably not one of them can actually remove you from
the list. So don't do this unless you're looking for a very
quick way of getting a large number of people mad at you and
calling you bad names.
If you want to reply to a message from the OECN list, then
reply only to the sender of the message, not the entire list.
3.2.2 Don't use the OECN lists for "Position Vacancies"
The vast majority of people on the OECN lists don't care to see
"job postings" on the list. Don't send them to these lists.
The OECN provides a more appropriate way to send position
vacancies to just the people that want to see them. See
http://listserv.oecn.k12.oh.us/archives/jobs-l.html for
more information about the JOBS-L list and why you should
use it.
3.2.3 Don't send large attachments to the list
As mentioned earlier, there are tens of thousands of people
on the OECN lists. If you send a large file, document
or image to an OECN list, that message will take a great
deal of computer resources to send and store in everyone's
mailboxes.
If you must make a large file available, consider placing
the file on your school or ITC's web site and send just
the URL to the OECN list.
Also, keep in mind that not everyone can read Word documents
and other proprietary formats. So sending a Word document
or other document will not be useable by many people.
Furthermore, viruses can be spread through such docuemnts
so many people will not risk reading your attachment because
it may contain a virus.
3.2.4 Do not send image attachments
The OECN spam filters automatically block or sideline
messages that contain image attachments. Spammers routinely
send there messages as images to circumvent spam filters.
Therefore, the OECN list will never delivery a message with an
image attachment. This includes images that have a "graphic
signature" or fancy "stationary" supported by some mail
clients. If you want your message to be delivered with
less hassle, please do not use graphic signatures or
stationary.
3.3 You're telling people not to use the lists for position
vacancies. But how do I get "position vacancies" if I want them?
The OECN operates a "LISTSERV" called JOBS-L which is explicitly
intended for posting position vacancies. If you wish to receive
these mailings or want to search the list's arechives, go to:
http://listserv.oecn.k12.oh.us/archives/jobs-l.html
3.4 I tried sending to a list and says I'm "blocked" or
"not allowed" to use them. What's up with that?
If you attempt to send a message to the OECN lists and
the message is returned stating that you are "blocked from
using the OECN lists" or "you are not allowed to use this list",
it means that your email address has been "blacklisted" by
the OECN postmaster.
This means that sometime in the recent or distant past, you
have sent an inappropriate message to an OECN list and the
OECN postmaster noticed it. The postmaster then added your
address to a list of people who are no longer allowed to
post to the list.
Reasons you might be blacklisted include are (but not limited to):
- Using Reply All
- Sending to the list to ask to be removed (see 2.4 above)
- Sending large attachments, especially position vacancies
- Sending commerical Unsolicated Bulk email (spam)
- Being infected by a virus that attacked the OECN lists
Note: Although we discourage sending any type of vacancies to
the OECN lists, we do not currently block vacancies
unless they also include large attachments.
Once blackedlisted, you will remain blocked until you
send mail to postmaster@oecn.k12.oh.us.
[End of FAQ]
