Acceptable User Policy & Statement.
The list owner, editor and moderators of Remote Support Medics Online
Updated 21.07.2008

To all list members,

Please find below our acceptable user policy for the Remote Support Medics
online mailing list and website.

1. Abusive behaviour or slander

The nature of the list encourages debate; along with this a certain amount of
friendly banter and Mickey taking will undoubtedly be present. This is only
natural and something we encourage to build a friendly atmosphere. However
percieved personal abuse and any directed foul language and or nasty and abusive
comments will result in the sender being removed from the list and their details
passed to the abuse section of yahoo groups, subsequently you will be removed
from all of yahoo's groups and mailing lists.

2. No 'them and us' threads.

Many other similar lists have dissolved into endless and unresolved arguments
about private, public, military and voluntary services, generally about who has
the right to use what title and what colour overalls we should all be wearing.
Please help us to stop our mailing list going the same way by nipping these
pointless debates in the bud early. Repeated them and us postings will result in
the sender having all their postings temporarily moderated before being released
to the list. Second offensives of the above will again result in the senders'
removal from the list.

3. Spamming

The Remote Medics mailing list is a closed list. Either the Listowner or Editor
approves all new members, usually on a trial basis; therefore any spam has to
come from within. It is fair play to advertise course places, second hand
equipment, or related websites etc. Even a subtle mention of what you do and
whom you work for as part of your signature are acceptable. Providing it is
relevant to the Remote Medics field. We will however not tolerate get rich
schemes, irrelevant email i.e. jokes or chain mail or any like-minded "spam
mail", This especially includes pornography. Remember many of the members will
receive the list messages via their employers email service and as such are
subject to their companies IT and disciplinary procedures.

4. Employment Vacancies

Any member wishing to post a job vacancy or employment opportunity to the
mailing list must first seek the permission of the Editor or Listowner. This may
sound harsh but usually permission will be given immediately, however permission
is required for two purposes,

a) It safeguards our impartiality. We have already had an incidence of being
accused of "poaching" medics. This is not what our site and mailing list are
for, our aim is to promote an atmosphere of unity for medics not drive members
away because they work for one particular provider. We are not and have no
intention of becoming an employment service. Whilst we do advocate members
sharing information about vacant positions, we must always remain on good terms
with all our potential sponsors, contributors and in some cases our employers.
At the end of the day we do not wish our image to be tarnished because somebody
believes that we are conducting ourselves as something we are not.

b) It allows us to check the authenticity of the source, prior to any news of
vacant positions reaching the membership. We would hate to think that we had
posted a job vacancy only to find it was a malicious hoax.

The safeguards with reference to job type posting are there to protect our
members and our good name. We would ask all members to abide by the AUP. Failure
to do so will again result in the offender being removed from the list.

5. Simple Guidelines to posting to the list

a) Keep it short and to the point.
b) Keep personal message offline direct to the recipent
c) Be courteous at all times
d) Edit "reply" messages where possible. If you just hit the reply button the
original message is tagged on the bottom. This adds unecessary electronic
weigth to the message and clogs bandwith.
e) Try to remember that we have a wide range of medics, not just offshore guys,
try to avoid abbreviations and explain key words where necessary.

6. Virus Policy

The listowner and editor have done all they can to limit the spread of viruses
from the list. We have banned the sending of attachements, files and pictures.
Yahoo also run reasonable anti virus software, and the owner and moderators run
the latest versions or anti virus software updated with the key definitions on a
regular basis. So far in the fight against viruses we have been fairly
successful.

However recently both the editor and owner were hit the same amount of times on
the same day with the same viruses (all Remotemedics addresses were hit) we can
only assume this came from a list members personal address book, probably
unknown to the owner.

We have now decided that the policy needs to be somewhat more stringent. IT IS
THE INDIVIDUAL LIST MEMBERS RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE THEIR MACHINES ARE VIRUS
FREE. In future if virus are received as attahcements from a list members
address, the individual member will be asked to clean his machine. He will then
be given a 3 day grace period to sort the problem out, if after 3 days the list
or individuals still recieve viruses from that memeber he will immediately be
removed from the list.

There really is no excuse for passing on a virus, anti virus software is not
especially expensive and certain versions are even free, coupled with good
practice you can elimate most of the threats. There are obviously the odd
exceptional circumstance and we will take these into account at the time.

In summary the list owner, editor and moderator do not want to act as policemen,
essentially we want to keep the list as open and Unmoderated as possible however
for the protection of the majority and the continued goodwill of the list we
must have an acceptable user policy. We want to protect the value of the group
for all members current and future. If you have any questions regarding the list
and its use please feel free to contact one of us directly.

7. Moderation Policy
The list owner and moderators reserve the right to moderate any thread or
individual if for whatever reason they feel that the thread will negativly
impact on the list or an individual. This may be considered by some as
censorship, however it is done with the sole intention of benifiting the
majority.

All new list members are moderated for a trial period, usually 30-60 days. This
moderation is usually lifeted immediately they prove to be genuine members.

The moderation policy is clear, by accepting membership to the group, you are
accepting to abide by the AUP, and ergo you accept the moderation policy.
Thank you for your time and consideration,

Ian Sharpe List Owner

Ross Boardman Editor