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How to Use Club E-mail

The purpose of this mailing list is the discussion of all things to do with CONFUSED members. Members are people who day hike, backpack, mountaineer, fine dine, rock climb, fly fish, kayak, spelunk, mountain bike, downhill ski, theatre watch, ice skate, cross country ski, snow camp, attend symphonies, rollerblade, run marathons, through-hike, randonee, car camp, river raft, snow board, telemark, water ski, photograph, windsurf, wine taste, road bike, ice climb, tour museums, scuba dive, watch videos, ballroom, swing or club dance, hang out, etc. From the vastly experienced to absolute beginner - all are welcome. It is the diversity of our group that makes us who we are.

CONFUSED is a basically bunch of cool people who happen to mostly enjoy the outdoors (and indoors!) or want to learn. Please post only club related material to the list. Keep in mind that the club is a forum, where people who enjoy the outdoors can communicate with like minded people for activities. That is our common bond. Non-outdoor related items are posted on occasion (such as someone looking for an apt, attending a museum exhibit, gear/furniture for sale, etc.), so please be patient if you see a post you think is unrelated to our club purpose - it is related because someone on the list may be interested.

Before you post

Before you post to the group, be aware of the traffic previously generated that week. There is "just the right amount" of traffic on the list server now because everyone uses good judgment - we hope to keep it that way. Just try to keep your posting pertinent to club members interests. If you have more than one trip to announce or more than one question to ask, try to compile it into one e-mail so that you don't clutter the list. If you are responding to a trip announcement or posting, respond back to the individual who sent the e-mail and not the whole list. Only respond to the whole list if your response is pertinent to the membership at large. Likewise, if you are putting the final touches on organizing a trip and already know e-mail addresses, post privately to those who plan to go and not the whole list.

Note: If you hit "reply" to a message generated by the member list serv, the return address will default to the original sender only. If you hit "reply all" it will default to the original sender AND the whole list. Try to keep traffic on the list to a minimum. If a lot of mail has been sent out recently and your posting can wait til next week - send it next week. Be aware that many people are subscribed to our list at work, as well as other lists. This means they have a lot of mail to go through. So make sure to properly label your e-mail with a descriptive subject to help people decide if they want to read or delete the post.

Always try to give a category for the post in the message subject, followed by a short description. Below are a few example subjects:

BACKPACK: Death Valley Jun 9-15
CLIMB: Yosemite day trip Aug 12
GEAR: Recommendations on x-c ski brand
FOR SALE: Mountain bike
INFO: Good day hike destination?
DAYHIKE: Pt. Reyes this weekend
SKI: Squaw Valley w/cabin Dec 12-19

No ads or politics please

While Confused welcomes all posts of interest to members, we have always had a restriction on commercial posts. Our club is what it is because everyone volunteers their time to teach others and organize events on their own, and no one has ever profited. Chaos, the Sierra Club, Stanford Hiking Club, etc. also run similarly and all are non-profit organizations. Confused may offer fewer events than a commercial company, but our events will always be accessible to everyone qualified and interested, and you don't need a guest pass or member fees to participate. Don't post advertisements here.

We encourage discussion of the merits of gear and other trail related items from a users point of view, as well as announcements of store or personal sales of gear or other items of interest to members. We discourage general discussion of politics. However, if an issue is relevant to our members, such as banning of fixed anchors in national forests, user fees in national parks, etc., we welcome this information.

If you are going to be gone from your computer for an extended period of time, please use the member options page to suspend your mail delivery, or your mailbox may fill up and begin bouncing posts. The "I'm on vacation" message is also annoying when it's received from 10 people in response to a post. Don't flame, flirt or disrespect someone on the list. If you have something harsh or personal to say then say it back-channel in a private message. You get the picture. Enough lecturing! We are all mature adults. Just be nice to one another and the world will be a better place.

OK, let's go to the next page

 

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