The co-owners of TRNSPLNT are Dan Flasar , list founder, and Mike Holloway , principal operator. Contact Mike Holloway if you have problems with the list. Please read through this introduction, and the LISTSERV instructions you received with your subscription confirmation, and save them for future reference. You will be glad you saved them when you need some command or procedure later on. TRNSPLNT is a discussion list for organ transplant recipients and anyone else interested in the issues, experiences and realities of living with an organ transplant. It also serves as an open forum for discussing, and learning about, current issues affecting the practice of transplantation and organ donation. An alternative method of participating is through our Usenet mirror, bit.listserv.transplant. Our web page at http://home.columbus.rr.com/mhollowa contains a link to a web page form for sending commands (such as unsubscribe and others) to the server. Our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is posted monthly to bit.listserv.transplant and archived in many sites that carry Usenet FAQs. Two of these are: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-newsgroup/bit/bit.listserv.transplant.html ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/bit.listserv.transplant/ There are physicians participating in this forum who will ocassionally be able to offer advice, and answer medical questions. They do this on their own time in order to pass on information, and only with the understanding that anything resembling medical advice is offered strictly as something for you to discuss with your physicians. Never act on anything you see posted without consulting your own physicians. You should consider sending a message introducing yourself. We have various special interests, and localities from around the world, represented. Things you should not do (please) in posts to TRNSPLNT --------------------------------------------- * TRNSPLNT is a cooperative venture. You are expected to be able to handle sending commands to the LISTSERV server by yourself. Commands are always sent to LISTSERV@WUVMD.WUSTL.EDU, not to the TRNSPLNT address. You can also use a web page form at http://home.columbus.rr.com/mhollowa for sending commands. If there's an emergency, or if there's a problem, you should send a message to the listowners. * Do not copy the headers of a message you're responding to into the body of your message. LISTSERV will not distribute your message if the body of the message contains a header line (like From:) followed by the list's address. * Do not repost the previous message. If you copy the message you're responding to you should erase lines that are not necessary. * Do not send personal messages over the list. If, for instance, you want to send a very short message just stating that you agree with a previous message, please send it directly to the author's address. * Do not send a message designed specifically to insult another participant. This doesn't have to entail censoring your own opinion. You won't always see things that you like in TRNSPLNT, and the manner in which you react will very often determine what comes next. Sometimes the best response is to ignore it. * Off-topic commericial advertisements are not tolerated, and will violate the Terms of Service agreement of your Internet service provider. Materials that are transplantation related (on topic) are usually acceptable. The author must plainly differentiate their message from a mass posted (off topic) advertisement, and keep the announcement discreet. * Chain letters, including warnings of things having nothing to do with transplantation, are not tolerated. Any non-transplant news of sufficient importance can be obtained from other, more appropriate, sources. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suggestions for Using E-mail and Mailing Lists Written by: Louis Bushfield Mike Stroukoff Dorothy Bourdon September, 1996 This is a group of commonly asked questions which we feel will add to your enjoyment of our group and to the enrichment of your life from the information you will receive. Q & A: Q. I want to ask a question, but I'm afraid people will think it's a dumb one. Should I ask it anyway? A. YES! There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers. The readership of TRNSPLNT changes constantly so you may not be the only one who wants to know. You might also look at the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). Q: What is a Header? A: A header is the group of lines at the beginning of a message which contains information about the origin of that message. Much of the header contains information which is of no use to the casual reader. For our purposes, there are five lines which are important. These are: *Date:* The Date: contains the day of the week, the date, and the time at which the message was transmitted. *Sender:* If the message comes from the ListServe this line will contain a reference to . *From:* This line contains the address of the person who originated the message, regardless of whether the message is coming to you directly or coming from the ListServe. *Subject:* This line contains the subject of the message if one was provided. *To:* This line is the recipient of the message. If the message comes from the ListServe then this line reads "Multiple recipients of list TRNSPLNT." Q: Should I include my name and email address in the body of my post? After all, it's on the header. A: Definitely YES. Many people put this information in their signature blocks. The FROM line is not present on all header options. Q: Should I include my postal address in my post? A: Since there may be unscrupulous people monitoring this list, we would say NO. However, you might wish to include the city where you are located. You may likely meet some new friends by the list who are close enough to meet face to face. That is an experience you probably don't want to miss. Q: When replying to a post, do I want to use the original subject? A: Possibly not! If you are replying to a small section, you probably want to create a new subject. Q: When referring to a posted message, how much of the message should I repeat? A: No more than is absolutely necessary to get your point across. Especially with long messages, DO NOT repeat the entire message. Q: Does this message *really* need to go to the entire group? A: Quite possibly not. Think about it. If you're simply agreeing with what someone says, let them know privately. Unless you feel your response would be of interest to the entire group, then send it privately. IF YOU USE MICROSOFT EXCHANGE (part of Windows 95) PLEASE READ THIS: (Otherwise you may ignore it!) Q: Why do some messages have all of that extra stuff at the end? A: The Windows Mail package has an option which duplicates the entire message in RTF format. This is unnecessary for our purposes, and in fact, only works if the receiving person also uses Microsoft Exchange (Part of Windows 95). The solution is to create a special address book entry for use when posting to the list, and to *always* use that entry whenever posting to or replying to the list. A) CREATING THE TRNSPLNT ADDRESS BOOK ENTRY: 1) Open your address book (Ctrl-Shift-B) 2) Create a new entry (Alt-F, Alt-E) 3) Select the entry type (Internet Mail Address) and press ENTER. 4) For the "Display name," put TRNSPLNT. 5) For the E-mail address, put TRNSPLNT@WUVMD.WUSTL.EDU 6) Make sure that the box "Always send messages in Microsoft Rich Text Format" is NOT CHECKED. 7) Press ENTER. B) WHEN POSTING TO THE LIST: 1) NEVER simply reply to a message from the list. If you do,you will end up posting an RTF message. 2) ALWAYS erase the "To" field and enter TRNSPLNT for the "To" address. 3) Enter other "To" addresses, as desired. 4) Proceed with posting your message normally.