Guidelines for the NorthEastFolk@NorthEastFolk.org discussion list

The list is open to anyone who is interested or involved in Folk Music in the area, and who "plays well with others".

The list is minimally moderated only to the extent necessary to prevent spam and to maintain a friendly community. Messages on the list are not otherwise censored.

The list has no particular agenda. People are welcome to express their opinions with the understanding that other members are equally welcome, even encouraged, to express contrary opinions. However, please treat other list members with respect while disagreeing.

Trolling, posting deliberately provocative messages in order to provoke disagreement, is forbidden.

The list is available for any topic or use which supports the Folk Music community. Examples of appropriate uses include, but are not limited to:

• Announcements of upcoming performances
• Announcements of new venues and festivals
• Significant news related to the folk music community, either locally or nationally.
• Reviews of venues, concerts, artists, CDs, books, movies, ...
• Discussion related to the above
• Discussion of list policies and of services on the NorthEastFolk.org web site.

As a practical matter, list members should remember that messages go to a large audience. Not every message posted is expected to interest everyone, but it is part of your responsibility as a poster to exercise some judgement and avoid posting messages which will not provide value to a significant part of the membership.

For example:

• Discussions of "What is Folk Music" are rarely productive. They are not forbidden, and if you have something genuinely new to say then go ahead. But in general the list assumes a broad definition, and that the membership is self selecting. In other words: Folk Music is music that the list participants perform and/or support.
• Following from that, attempts to denigrate particular artists, venues or organizations for not being "folk enough" are strongly discouraged.
• Posting of event announcements by someone involved with the performance or the venue is encouraged. But please exercise restraint: one announcement of a show, and possibly a reminder within a week or two of the show is probably sufficient. The site calendar is also available for posting shows and reoccuring events.
• When posting news stories, or other interesting information you have found on the web, remember to respect copyright: in general one should post an excerpt and a pointer to the original article rather than cutting and pasting the entire article. Please be accurate and complete in identifying the source of information. Instead of posting a message consisting only of quoted material adding some original content is encouraged. Exercise some restraint in choosing which stories to forward. For example:
  • Posting an announcement of the death of a significant figure in the folk music world is appropriate, posting multiple news stories about that death is overkill.
  • If Pete Seeger wins a significant award, then posting a pointer to a story might be appropriate. Posting every news story which mentions Pete Seeger is not.
  • In general, it is probably not appropriate to use the list as a clipping service for your particular list of interests. If you want to run a clipping service, then start a blog and post an announcement on the list.

Gaming the rules is discouraged. Play fair. Before exploiting a loophole in the guidelines consider the result if everyone did so.

Thanks for reading these guidelines and honoring them, and thanks for your interest in and support of NorthEastFolk!

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