State Bar of Wisconsin

Email List Policy

Approved by Executive Committee 6/13/08

Purpose

Subject to the rules of this policy, email discussion lists are an Internet resource provided by the State Bar of Wisconsin on the WisBar web site. These lists are a forum to facilitate the business of the State Bar and discuss issues or topics of interest to list members. Specifically, these discussion lists provide a way for State Bar members to:

1. share their collective professional knowledge and experience;
2. promote conversation on subject matters related to the topical intent of the email list;
3. communicate notices of meetings and the functions of the State Bar and its sections, divisions, and committees; and
4. provide a resource for law-related professional referrals.

Access

Access to a email lists will be restricted to members of the State Bar entity that hosts the discussion list, such as committees, sections, divisions, or other designated State Bar groups, and State Bar staff.  In some cases, participation in discussion lists may be extended to non-State Bar members, such as selected professionals or individuals employed in fields relevant to the topic of the elist.

Access to a particular email list, or to State Bar email lists in general, may be denied or suspended in response to violations of this Email List Policy.

Courtesy guidelines

1. To facilitate the productive and professional use of email lists, participants are expected to follow these courtesy guidelines:
2. Be relevant.  Your questions and comments should relate to the topic of the discussion list.
3. Be concise.  Keep paragraphs and messages short and to the point. Give your message a clear, concise subject line.
4. Be civil.  Do not post inflammatory messages. These discussions are public and they are meant for constructive exchanges. Emphasis should be conveyed by the use of _underscoring_ surrounding a word.  Capitalization of whole words that are not titles is considered SHOUTING! Capitalize words only to highlight an important point or to distinguish a title or heading.
5. No private discussions. Personal communications, such as “I’ll meet you in Madison,” should be conducted by individual email, not on discussion lists.
6. No inside references. Comments that can be understood or appreciated only by those who attended a particular seminar or event confuse and irritate others. 

Posting rules

Participants are required to follow these rules: 

1. State Bar email lists are not to be used for commercial purposes and the advertisement or promotion of commercial products or services is prohibited. 
2. Solicitations for and endorsements of political candidates on State Bar email lists are prohibited. Requests for financial contributions to any non-State Bar entity are prohibited.
3. Do not post copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright owner. 
4. Do not post any defamatory, abusive, threatening, offensive, obscene or otherwise illegal materials.
5. The knowing posting of false or misleading information is prohibited.
6. Postings shall not encourage or facilitate agreements between State Bar members concerning the following as they pertain to legal services: prices, discounts, or terms or conditions of sale; salaries; profits, profit margins or cost data; market shares, sales territories, or markets; allocation of customers or territories; selection, rejection or termination of customers or suppliers; or any other term or condition relating to competition.
7. Any attempt to tamper with or interfere with the operation of the email lists is prohibited.

Enforcement

The State Bar does not actively monitor the discussion lists for inappropriate postings. However, in the event that any inappropriate posting is brought to the attention of the State Bar, the State Bar will take appropriate action to enforce this Email List Policy.

Attachments

Attachments are discouraged as a courtesy to email list members who are concerned about viruses, large file size, low bandwidth connections, and so on. Avoiding attachments reduces the risk of propagating computer viruses and reduces the chance of inadvertent copyright infringement. As an alternative to attachments, refer to other useful online materials by providing a link to or the URL of those resources.

If you must include an attachment, the system enforces a maximum file size of 300KB. Certain types of files will be refused because they present a high risk of virus infection. The prohibited file types include: .exe, .bat, .chm, .cmd, .msi, .msp, .ocx, .pif, .scr, .vb, .vbe, and vbs.  Additional file types will be added as appropriate.

Temporary stop of delivery

Email list participants may want to temporarily stop delivery of messages while out of the office for an extended time period. To stop delivery, send an email message to lyris@elists.wisbar.org. In the subject line, enter, without quotes or brackets:

set [insert list name]nomail

Be sure to use the actual list name in the subject line, such as in the following example:

set famlaw nomail

To resume delivery of email list messages, send an email to lyris@elists.wisbar.org with the following subject line:

set [insert list name] mail; example: set famlaw mail

The State Bar’s disclaimers

The email lists are provided as a service by the State Bar of Wisconsin. The opinions and information posted to these discussion lists are provided by the participants, and the State Bar does not endorse or provide any warranty concerning the information posted to discussions.