Abolish List FAQ

The Mailing List For People Working to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Abolish is a semi-moderated discussion list pertaining to the abolition of the Death Penalty, primarily in but not necessarily limited to the USA. Abolish does not nor will it ever serve as a forum for debate regarding abolition vs. retention. It does serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas and information, political as well as philosophical, by people who support the immediate abolition of Capital Punishment in the United States and abroad.

Some background:

Abolish was created back in April of 1996 by Gail Carelli. Shortly thereafter, Gail asked Moses Klein to share in the many responsibilities that go along with running a listserv. After nearly six years of maintaining the list, Gail got tired and turned listowner duties over to Karl Keys and Abe Bonowitz, in September of 2001, Teresa Norris joined shortly thereafter. Here are a few important things the listowners would like all subscribers to know: They don't get paid for this. It takes an enormous amount of time to administer a list as active as this one, not to mention patience. They are called "list owners" because, although the list and its contents are in the public domain, it is a private entity. In other words they run the list, they rule the list,  they own the list.

It should be noted that for the most part, however, they do try to allow the list to run itself and are by no means authoritarian or as meglomaniacal as that last paragraph may have made them sound. (For more on this point, please see #12 of the "Posting Guidelines" below).

What sort of postings are appropriate for this list?

• News items pertaining to Capital cases
• Calls for action
• Any discussion, be it religious, political, sociological, philosophical, etc, pertaining to abolition of the Death Penalty

(PLEASE SEE MORE DETAILED POSTING GUIDELINES BELOW)

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR FREE EMAIL USERS:

• Many anonymous, free email services (such as Rocketmail or Hotmail) cause problems for the list owner, as limits are set on the number of email messages a user is allowed to receive in a day. When users are over their limit, mail gets bounced back to the listserv. Be warned, the first time this happens with your account, you will be deleted from the list. You are of course welcome to re-subscribe when the problem has been corrected.

 
• The listowners strongly encourage subscribers to use "real" email addresses, however, when this is not possible, we recommend getting a free email account from Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com). They seem to offer the most reliable service. The listowners strongly discourage subscribers from using Hotmail, as this email provider has in the past caused a plethora of problems for both the subscribers and the listowners.

Searchable archives of this list are kept by St. John's University, the list's host, at http://npogroups.com, however you must be a member to use these archives.

Archives are also available at http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~archives/ABOLISH/abolish.html and are maintained by the ASC's Critical Criminology Division.

Why are the archives in two places? Because it's a nice safety precaution to have them in two places, and there are other advantages, depending on how you like your archives served. If you like fast, then go to the ASC's archives. If you like a searchable archive, then go to St. Johns. In either case, the list owners do appreciate both sources offering all that disk space to us! (for more on the list's archives, see #7 of the "Posting Guidelines" below)

The volume of the Abolish List can be quite high at times. Be prepared to receive anywhere from 20 to 50 messages per day. Although the owners are trying to work out a solution, we ask that subscribers be mindful of this when posting. We also want people to be aware of the high volume before they subscribe, so there are no surprises.

POSTING GUIDELINES

Here are some basic guidelines:
 

1. Quoting messages: When quoting someone else, remove what isn't directly applicable to your reply. Don't automatically quote the entire body of messages you are replying to when it's not necessary. Leave only the minimum necessary to provide context for your reply. Sending a list of email messages from a forwarded message header is especially annoying. Also, nobody likes reading a long message in quotes for the third or fourth time, only to be followed by a one line response: "Yeah, me too." Even when you don't quote an entire message, one liner messages like "Well said!" or "I agree with you" or "That's great news" or "That's a load of crap" etc, in general contribute nothing of value to the list and are, in a word, annoying.

 
2. Personal attacks: Will absolutely not be tolerated on this list. If you have a problem with a subscriber (or even with one of the list owners/moderators), then send an email about it to the list owner(s). Do not take personal gripes and issues with another subscriber to the list. Taking a gripe or issue with the listowner to the list is a really good way of getting yourself removed from the list permanently.

As a general rule, if you do not have anything good to say about another list member or abolitionist group participating on this list, then do everyone a favor and keep your comments off the list. There is a difference between constructive criticism and destructive rhetoric. Abolition of the death penalty makes for strange bedfellows; many of us have little common ground other than the fact that we are all working to rid our respective countries of the evil that is capital punishment. The only way for us to work together effectively is to do so with a modicum of respect and consideration towards one another. Sometimes this is hard, because sometimes we do not all agree on the best course of action, and this is an issue for which we all feel passionate, else we wouldn't be here. Just keep in mind, before you hit that "send" button, that beyond the fact that you are asked to participate here being mindful of list rules, it behooves the movement for you to do so in the most constructive way possible.

"It's ironic, really. Computer networks bring people together who'd otherwise never meet. But the impersonality of the medium changes that meeting to something less -- well, less personal. Humans exchanging email often behave the way some people behind the wheel of a car do: They curse at other drivers, make obscene gestures, and generally behave like savages. Most of them would never act that way at work or at home. But the interposition of the machine seems to make it acceptable. " --from Virginia Shea's Rules of Nettiquette

3. Respect people's time and bandwidth. Some people have slow connections, or limited use of their mailboxes and limited space in them. Please refrain from sending email attachments to the list. Don't be a list hog, and above all please adhere to rule #1 when posting responses to others! Here's another tidbit from Virginia Shea's book:

"You Are Not the Center Of Cyberspace --
Presumably, this reminder will be superfluous to most readers. But I include it anyway, because when you're working hard on a project and deeply involved in it, it's easy to forget that other people have concerns other than yours. So don't expect instant responses to all your questions, and don't assume that all readers will agree with -- or care about -- your passionate arguments." --from Virginia Shea's Rules of Nettiquette.


4. CAPS: Typing mail messages all in upper case is considered SHOUTING! and rude.


5. Lurk before you post. You'll get an idea of what's relevant and what's not and a general "feel" for the list. When you are comfortable, feel free to post. Posting a brief bio about yourself is also strongly encouraged.


6. Read before responding: Just like thinking about an appropriate response to a message is important, so is reading through a thread first before jumping in with your own comments. You may find that others have responded already, which may change what you end up adding to the conversation. A typical example of this is when a specific question is asked and answered over and over again by people who didn't bother to see if someone else responded before them.


7. Archives: Many folks do not realize this, but the Abolish List archives are open for the world to see, even folks who do not subscribe to the list. This may change in the future, but let this serve as a word of warning: be careful what you post, since you never know who is going to see it!
   

8. HTML Formatting: Turn it off! For those of you using graphical Windows or MAC based POP-mail email software, please note that many people on this list are not, and so receiving HTML formatted email messages is extremely annoying. If you need help with this, email the list owners.***
 
9. Illegal activity of any kind is strictly prohibited.
 
10. Email Attachments, Virus Warnings: are discouraged. Chain letters are prohibited (even if they have to do with the death penalty!). Since 99% of virus warnings and chain letters are hoaxes, we ask anyone with virus concerns please contact the list owners*** and refrain from posting to the list about it. Why? Take a look at this very useful web site that will explain what a chain letter and/or internet hoax is. It's called "Don't Spread that Hoax!" and it is online at: http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/hoax.html
    
    
11. Out of Office/Vacation Auto-Responders: If you use one of these progams, please unsubscribe from the list before leaving, or you will be removed from the list by a very annoyed list owner.
     
12. List Moderators: Abolish is a "semi-moderated" list. For the most part, the list owners, who are its moderators, try to keep a hands off approach to moderating discussions. One or both of them will, when necessary, jump in and take action when they feel the discussion warrants. This is important to remember because there are only two people on the list whose job it is to determine what is appropriate and/or relevant to post: Karl Keys, Teresa Norris, and Abe Bonowitz. While the list owners are the final arbiters of what is and is not appropriate for the list, they welcome input from subscribers. The guidelines concerning what is appropriate are vague, and may get clarified as a result of the experience of the list and the suggestions of list members.

 
13. Last but not least, some final and VERY important notes: This list deals very specifically with the abolition of the death penalty. There are many, many issues that may crop up from time to time that are peripheral (for example, prison reform or the moral issues surrounding life without parole). Please try to keep the discussion focused: People on the list are working to abolish the death penalty. That and that alone is the reason for the Abolish List's existence. If you have the need to post a message that you are unsure of in terms of its appropriateness as a topic for the Abolish List, please feel free to email the list owners*** about it first. Generally, most list members are tolerant of one message here or there asking for assistance, as long as it specifically asks for replies to be sent to the poster off the list. Just don't make a habit out of it! (please see #3 - "You Are Not the Center Of Cyberspace.") If you are concerned about an issue likely to interest abolitionists, but not directly related to the death penalty, it is not appropriate to post repeatedly about that issue, but it is acceptable to post ONCE directing people to where they can get more information and updates (a website, another mailing list, etc) as long as further discussion on that topic stays off the list.

JOINING OR LEAVING THE LIST

To join the list send a message to abolish-subscribe@npogroups.org

To be removed from the list, send any message to abolish-unsubscribe@npogroups.org

If the above instructions don't work for you send an email Karl at KarlKeys@aol.com.