Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about using RevList
Last modified 10/14/2001
Table of Contents
1. About RevList
[101] What is RevList?
[102] How do I subscribe to RevList?
[103] How do I unsubscribe from RevList?
[104] How do I introduce myself?
[105] How do I post to RevList?
[106] What are appropriate and inappropriate topics for RevList?
[106a] Sales and Want Lists
[106b] Gossipy or Slanderous Posts
[106c] Public vs Personal Responses
[106d] Public vs Private Email
[106e] "Signature" Files
[106f] Flame Wars
2. General Questions
[201] Can I share RevList postings with others?
3. Miscellaneous
[301] How did the RevList list start?
[302] What other Revolutionary War resources are available?
[303] Email communication, etc.
[303a] Common email vocabulary
[303b] Common email acronyms
[303c] Some 18th c. reenactment acronyms; vocabulary ("farby")
[303d] Putting non-verbal communication into email (smileys, etc.)
[304] What about the "Good Times" virus?
If you have additional questions you would like to see covered in this FAQ, please send email to the list owner: Cathy Johnson. Please note that this FAQ is specifically about the mailing list. Additional information regarding the subject of Revolutionary War era reenactment is covered elsewhere.
1. About RevList
101. What is RevList?
RevList is an electronic mailing list which provides a forum for living historians of the American War of Independence and its era to discuss all aspects of the AWI era, particularly as it applies to reenactment. We do living history by utilizing a combination of lifestyle representations, military impressions, modes of dress, foodways, crafts, and battle reenactments. We attempt to transport the observers to another time and place, to better understand the very human and often mundane experience that accompanied what we now consider crucial events in our country's history. Topics in the past have included: event announcements, musket cleaning, castrametation techniques, 18th century typesetting, and children's roles.
The RevList list is an unmoderated list, which means that messages are not reviewed by anyone before being posted to the list. Therefore, the list owner is not responsible, nor cannot be responsible for the list content.
See below for more specific details regarding appropriate topics and other etiquette.
102. How do I subscribe to RevList?
Revlist exists independently from the engine that delivers the mail. Currently, the engine that Revlist employs is onelist.com.
To subscribe to RevList, point your web browser at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Revlist/join . You may then follow the directions to register yourself and subscribe. Be prepared for a lot of email! RevList can generate as many as 100 messages a day. If this sounds like more than you can reasonably handle, then you should consider subscribing to the digest version, a single piece of email that has multiple postings in it.
[103] How do I unsubscribe from RevList?
To unsubscribe from RevList, point your web browser at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Revlist and follow their instructions.
104. How do I introduce myself?
Newcomers are encouraged to post a brief introduction of themselves. Give your name and your unit affiliation. Tell us what state (or country) you and/or your unit is from -- not everyone knows where the 1st Loyal Footstompers are based. If you're willing, tell us a little bit about yourself: what most interests you about reenacting, what attracted you to reenacting, anything else you think is relevant.
It's polite to introduce yourself when you join the list, but if you're feeling very shy, you could lurk for a while. Introduce yourself as soon as you feel ready. In any case, you should introduce yourself the time you first post something to the list, if you haven't already.
See below about how to post your introduction.
105. How do I post to RevList?
It is often a good idea for newcomers to the list to sit back and read for a week or two ("lurk") to get a good idea of what is appropriate to post. Newcomers are encouraged (but not required!) to post a brief introduction (see above).
When you're ready to take the plunge, address your email to:
Please use the best possible Subject line. Good examples are:
o Powder: Good source of supply
o Event: Announcing School of the Soldier May '98
o Wanted: Linen thread
o Seeking: Ancestor Jones of 5th Maryland
o For sale: Brown Bess
o Discussion: Children's roles in camp
o Question: How to make spruce beer
o Disc., various: Blankets, tents & safety, patches, & more
Good Subject lines help everybody to sort out what's important to them and to delete/ignore the rest. People either delete messages with bad Subject lines or waste time and resources reading them. When replying to a message, PLEASE change the subject line if you change the topic!
Keep subject lines short and put the most important information near the beginning. Some mailers truncate subject lines to 40 or 50 characters and most truncate them to 80 or less.
Posts with the word ADMIN: or ANNOUNCE: in the Subject line are from the list owner and should be read for important information regarding the list.
In order for other subscribers to know who you are and how to contact you directly, please remember to use your real name and your email address at the bottom of your email. You're also encouraged to include your unit affiliation. For example:
Your Humble & Obedient Servant,
Joe Reenactor
Sgt, 34th Reg Loyal Green Pigtailed Native Australian Light Umbrella Corps
The RevList list is a recreational forum. If you aren't willing to sign your real name to a message, you shouldn't be sending that message to the list. Remember, you can always send private mail to an individual if you need to send confidential information, such as your U.S. Mail address or telephone number.
Some people's mailers don't show the sender's email address by default, so you should always include it in your signature. (Your mail program doesn't show the sender's address? Ask your system manager or read the documentation. Unless your software is very old, there is a way to make it show the sender's address.)
It's recommended that you don't include your telephone number or U.S. postal address, or anyone else's, anywhere in a message to the list. Cases of harassment and stalking have occurred, though not to members of this list, thankfully. If you want to give out a phone number or address as contact info, ask interested people to email you privately to request the address and send it privately to people who respond. For people whose business is in reenactment (notably sutlers), it's appropriate to give out a business address. For others, keep in mind that some people's companies frown on personal mail at the office.
You should realize that your posts are made freely available through various means. People share email with those not on the list, and even with those that don't have email access, etc. A good rule of thumb to use is, if you would not want to see your email on the front page of the New York Times, don't send it. See also "Can I share RevList postings with others?", below.
The list owner strongly discourages sharing emails of opinions off the list. There is a certain form that email takes that folks off the list may not understand. Reprinting of an email without the expressed consent of the author is prohibited -- if you publish a newsletter and wish to use an email in it, ask the authors permission -- most are very willing to share that information.
You may want to keep this checklist somewhere convenient, so you can run through it before you send email:
- Is the tone ok?
- Did you call anyone names or insult anyone?
- Do you really mean to send it to the whole list?
- Do you need to update the subject line?
- Did you delete irrelevant parts of old messages?
- Did you say something new/has your point already been made?
- Is it a relevant topic?
106. What are appropriate and inappropriate topics for RevList?
Topics should relate to Revolutionary War era reenacting. For example, caring for equipment, setting up a camp, event announcements and reviews, event safety, military and non-military activities for events, etc. Discussion about the Revolutionary War era is proper when it applies to reenacting (for example, equipment lists, availability of fabrics, conditions of life on campaign, museums with exhibits of 18th c. articles). Please don't post messages concerning other eras (e.g., F&I, War of 1812) or other places (18th c. Egypt) or modern practices (modern health care, gun laws) unless they are relevant to the Revolutionary Era and reenactment of it (e.g., F&I weapons used in the Revolutionary War, Egyptian cotton imported to American colonies, avoiding Lyme disease at reenactments). Non-Revolutionary War topics are not appropriate; while RevList list members are a chatty and (mostly) friendly group, the list owner asks that posts that are not about reenacting the Revolutionary War era be sent privately to the individual posting the message rather than to the whole list.
Other lists are available for discussion of various aspects of the Revolutionary War era as a historical period, unrelated to reenactment. The Internet is filled with newsgroups (Usenet) and a multitude of publicly accessible mailing lists that cover every topic under the sun. Please use the appropriate forum for the subject you wish to discuss.
Do not post messages that are repetitive. It is particularly important that you make sure you have downloaded messages recently before sending a response in order to make sure that no one has already made the point.
Do not post messages that are vulgar, irrelevant, or personally derogatory. Even if the people involved in the thread might tolerate the language, there are many other participants on the list who should not have to "listen" to it. In addition, avoid sharing your negative comments on units, individuals, businesses, or umbrella organizations. There are people that care deeply and invest themselves in all these organizations. If you have a constructive comment, please share it; however, when you make negative comments people have to defend the organization and it just gets ugly -- if you must send the message, send it privately. Try to be concise, as some list members are charged by the volume of mail they receive. If you persist in derogatory messages, your privilege to sent email to the list will be revoked.
If someone posts a clearly irrelevant message, such as an Internet scam offer or a chain letter, DO NOT post to the list saying "why did this show up on the list". Either ignore the message (this is best), reply to the sender, or contact the list owner Cathy Johnson.
[a] Sales and Want Lists
Commercial messages should be relevant to reenactment; individuals may post listings but businesses should restrict themselves to contact information and a brief description of the type of goods or services provided. Please use a clear Subject line (e.g., "For sale: Brown Bess") and ask people to reply to you privately. If you have several items for sale, collect them into a single message.
If you're responding to a "For sale" posting PLEASE respond privately to the seller, NOT to the whole list. (Be careful using your mailer's Reply feature. It will reply to the whole list by default. If you mean to reply to an individual, check the address!) The RevList List and its owner are in no way responsible for the accuracy of any advertisement on the list or the quality of any goods bought through the list, nor do they endorse any merchants in any way. "Caveat emptor;" let the buyer beware.
1. The subject line should include, at a minimum, FOR SALE: After that, if you can include an item name, it would also be appreciated. This lets people delete or skip the message right away if not interested.
2. Keep the posts as short as possible, infrequent, and make sure you are clear how to reply back to you! Do not ask for replies to the list, please. They are infrequent, to the point, and, according to many in the survey, much appreciated by many on the list.
3. The list is only the messenger, so please do not blame or hold the list in any way responsible for:
a) not enough responses
b) too many responses
c) a response you do not like
d) inaccurate descriptions
e) misrepresented goods
f) outrageous pricing
g) &c.
[b] Gossipy or Slanderous Posts
Gossip and slanderous and/or libelous posts are NOT allowed. If you're not sure what constitutes gossip, slander, or libel, replace your name with name of the person you're targeting and ask yourself how would you feel if 1000+ people within the hobby were going to read that about you and you wouldn't know it or see a copy of it. Libel and slander are serious business and there are serious consequences for these sorts of posts.. Constructive criticism and opposing views on a particular subject are welcome; personal attacks are not. Profanity, unless from a period source, is NOT ALLOWED.
RevList is not the proper forum to deal with private conflicts. Please use private email, phone calls, etc., to keep private issues off of RevList. If you need to request recommendations or are trying to track someone down because of money owed, equipment borrowed, etc., then please request private/direct responses. If responding to such a request, do so using private email. Last but not least, don't respond to posts that violate this rule -- it only makes the problem worse. If you persist in derogatory messages, your privilege to sent email to the list will be revoked.
[c] Public vs. Personal Responses
When responding to a post made to RevList, take a moment to consider if your response is of interest to the majority of list members (some 1000 subscribers). If not, consider emailing it directly to the original poster instead. Many subscribers to RevList pay by the hour to access their email and/or have other limiting resources to large amounts of unnecessary email.
When replying to a previous posting, PLEASE trim down "quoted material" BUT leave at least the From line and enough information to figure out what you're replying to. (Including the Date, From, and Subject lines is usually a good idea.) Please don't quote an entire post just to add something like "I agree". In fact, if all you have to say is "I agree", it's best not to post at all! Replying without quoting anything, so that no one knows what you're commenting on, is also strongly discouraged.
It's also helpful to RevList list members if you use the same Subject line when appropriate or change the Subject line as needed to reflect the topic of your post. For example, when replying to a post with a Subject line like "Question: How to make spruce beer", you may want to modify the Subject line to "Discussion: Making spruce beer". Or if the topic changes, for example, change "Seeking: Ancestor Jones of 5th Maryland" to "Discussion: Welshmen in Maryland".
[d] Public vs Private Email
It is general netiquette not to publicly post email received privately. Ultimately, the rule of thumb is: don't send email (private or otherwise) that you wouldn't want to become public knowledge within or beyond RevList.
[e] "Signature" Files
Some mail systems allow for "signature" files to be included automatically in email. Long time netiquette encourages that these files be no more than five lines in length and typically include your real name and email address.
For those on systems that do not provide this functionality (e.g., AOL and other "online services"), it is requested that you manually "sign off" with your name, email address, and unit affiliation -- see "How do I post to RevList?".
[f] Flame Wars
Certain topics on the RevList list -- how shall one say? -- inspire fervid opinions. Every so often, someone will post a message on one of these topics and a flame war will start.
PLEASE be aware that some topics always seem to start flame wars, like modern gun laws, or my umbrella organization is better than your umbrella. PLEASE don't make one worse by contributing to it.
2. General Questions
201. Can I share RevList postings with others?
We strongly discourage sharing emails of opinions with people who are not on the list. There is a certain form that email takes that folks off the list may not understand. It takes on a different form of communication. We trust that you will use your good judgment. If you're passing on postings for their personal use to those who don't have email access or aren't list subscribers, alright, but please consider supplying those people consistently (or asking them to subscribe if they can); discussions take shape over time and it can be important that people receive the same amount of information as much as possible.
Reprinting of an email without the expressed consent of the author is prohibited -- get permission before redistributing their message or a part of it to a public forum, such as posting it to another mailing list or publishing it in a newsletter. Feel free to redistribute portions of a message which quote other works without the poster's permission (e.g., quotes of AWI enlistment statistics), but keep in mind that these other works may be copyrighted and subject to restrictions.
Notwithstanding the above, posters should realize that their posts are made freely available through various means (forwarding, archives, backups of people's computers). Although we _ask_ list members to get permission before redistributing messages, it is not possible to control what list members do with postings. If you absolutely do not want your message to go further than the list, do not post to the list in the first place.
3. Miscellaneous
301. How did the RevList list start?
The list started in the summer of 1994 at the BB/CL event in Quebec by Sean Kelleher of 2nd Massachusetts Regiment and Brian Cortez of the 2nd Massachusetts were talking on the Plains of Abraham about work, the Internet, and wouldn't it be fun to develop some Internet sites for living historians.
In October of 1997, the list was transferred to Gary Liming who added web access and the supporting website, www.liming.org/revlist/
In July of 1999, Gary passed list ownership to Living Historian Cathy Johnson, while Gary still maintains the website.
302. What other Revolutionary War resources are available?
Please see the RevList webpage of links.
303. Email communication, etc.
[a] Common email vocabulary:
to flame - To complain at length about something. Especially, to complain at length, insultingly, and to no purpose. Please don't send flames to the list.
flame-proof suit - When you say something provocative (e.g., for RevList, that no bearded men should be allowed to reenact soldiers, or that gun laws are too restrictive or not restrictive enough), you might first say that you are "donning your flame-proof suit", in expectation of being flamed by someone who disagrees with you and doesn't know how to argue civilly.
flame war - A series of posts on a topic in which people lose their tempers and flame at each other without saying anything new or useful. (Before posting a message on a provocative topic, please read the archives if possible. Whatever you have to say has almost certainly been said before.)
to lurk - To join a mailing list and just read what comes in without ever posting anything, so that no one realizes you are reading messages. "How do I post to RevList?", above, explains lurking etiquette for the RevList list.
to post - To send a message to a mailing list.
soapbox - What you climb onto when you're about to state an opinion that you know others may disagree with.
thread - A series of messages on the same topic; a "conversation" on a mailing list. Threads often drift onto another topic, or splinter into multiple threads. When this happens, be sure to update the subject line!
[b] Common email acronyms
BTW - by the way
FAQ - frequently asked questions (pronounced "fack")
FYI - for your information
IMO, IMHO - in my (humble) opinion
LOL - laughing out loud
ROFL - rolling on the floor laughing
TIA - thanks in advance (rarely abbreviated)
[c] Common 18th c. reenactment acronyms; vocabulary ("farby")
AWI - American War of Independence
F&I - French & Indian (War)
YH&OS - Your Humble & Obedient Servant
farby -Inauthentic.
No one can prove where this term came from, but the consensus is that it came from people saying "FAR BE it from me to criticize, but your clothing/uniform/kit/equipment/way of holding your musket/etc. is not authentic/correct/accurate/etc."
This term can indicate anything from mild and constructive disapproval ("When you can manage it, you ought to replace those farby black sneakers with proper shoes") to unleavened hatred and scorn ("Farbs like that shouldn't be allowed to reenact!"). Some people find the term offensive (probably ones who've heard a lot of the latter usage). At any rate, it's nastier to call a person a farb than to call their kit farby. And how you say something counts for a lot, so keep in mind that in email, people can't hear your tone of voice.
"Farb" may be more common as a noun and "farby" as an adjective, but if so, the preferences are slight.
[d] Putting non-verbal communication into email (smileys, etc.)
Emphasis: Most people surround emphasized text with the underbar character; for example, "I _really_don't_ want you to do that!" Some people use asterisks; e.g., "that's *really* good". There are also various other less common methods in circulation.
Shouting: Uppercase letters mean shouting ("I'M SHOUTING!"), which is _not_ the same as emphasis. Don't "shout" unless you mean it.
Smileys: Smileys, also called emoticons, concisely indicate emotion in email. To understand smileys, tilt your head all the way over to the left (or in rare cases, to the right). Most smileys consist of three characters, for the eyes, the nose, and the mouth. There are hundreds of possible smileys, but the most common are these:
:-) The Smiley Face. "Just kidding" or "no offense".
Sometimes indicates happiness, for example: I just got a raise! :-)
;-) The Winky Face. "Just kidding", sarcasm, or facetiousness.
:-/ The Wry Face.
:-( The Sad Face.
Descriptions: Following Charles Shultz's fine tradition, you may see descriptions of non-verbal communication surrounded by asterisks, e.g., *sigh*, *smile*, *moan*. Some people use <g to mean "grin".
304. What about the "Good Times" virus?
The "Good Times" virus is a hoax that has been floating around the Internet for several years now. If you get email talking about a virus spread through email with the Subject line of "Good Times", return it to the sender and let them know that it is a hoax.
You can NOT infect your computer by simply *reading* email. However, you should be EXTREMELY careful running any programs you retrieve over the Internet regardless of you how you get them (email, FTP, the Web, etc).
Should it ever become necessary to inform subscribers of a virus, the list owner will use a Subject line containing the keyword ADMIN in it.
If you have any questions or concerns about viruses, talk to your local Internet provider.
There are several sources of information regarding viruses and this particular hoax. Please see one the following URLs:
o http://www.usit.net/public/lesjones/goodtimes-faq.html
o http://www.usit.net/public/lesjones/goodtimes-mini-faq.html
o http://users.aol.com/macfaq/goodtimes-faq.html
o http://users.aol.com/macfaq/goodtimes-mini-faq.html
This FAQ based on the Haynet FAQ developed by Darci Chapman. Adapted and expanded by Sue Felshin. Modified by Gary Liming and Cathy Johnson The list owner is Cathy Johnson Please send comments and suggestions for the FAQ to the list owner.
Last Updated 10/5/97
This page is maintained by Gary Liming, and your comments are welcome!