About PFW-L

PFW-L provides a forum in which to share questions and knowledge concerning birds and bird feeding. Discussions on topics related to these subjects are invited.

Exchanges should be informative and respectful. Members are encouraged to feel a sense of community in which they can post without risking humiliation or personal attacks.

PFW-L as an open forum. Messages are not moderated. Instead, it is up to every member of the list to monitor his/her own behavior on the list.

Please review the list guidelines, which are intended to make the list fair and to clarify permissible behavior on the list. As a list member, you are expected to follow these guidelines when posting and interacting with others on the list. We reserve the right to delete any member who  violates the guidelines.

How to Join

1. Create an e-mail message to:
   PFW-L-request@cornell.edu
   
2. Leave the subject line blank.
   
3. In the body of the message type in plain text--no special fonts, stylized text, colors or html formatting:
   join
   
4. Send the message.
   
5. You will receive the PFW-L Welcome Message. Read it carefully and save it. The message contains valuable information.

How to Post a Message

To send a message to the email discussion group, send an email to PFW-L@cornell.edu. DO NOT send postings to the subscribing address above.

How to Unsubscribe

To stop receiving messages at a particular email address, send email from that address as follows:

1. Create a message to PFW-L-request@cornell.edu
2. Leave the subject line blank
3. In the body of the message, type in plain text--no special fonts, stylized text, colors or html formatting:
   leave
4. Send the message

If your email address changes

If your email address changes, be sure to update your address in order to continue receiving posts in the future. First unsubscribe from your old email address by using your old email address to send the unsubscribe message per instructions above. Then sign up your new address by following the How to Join instructions above.

  List Guidelines

All list members are expected to follow these guidelines to maintain an enjoyable atmosphere for sharing each other's thoughts and ideas on birds and bird feeding.

Stay on topic

The PFW-L was created as a place for FeederWatchers to discuss birds and bird feeding with other FeederWatchers. Please limit your discussions to these topics.

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Signatures

Signatures are important. Please tell us where are you from. Sign each post with your name, city, and state.

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Use Plain Text, Not HTML or Other Formatting

Most email software now automatically sends in HTML, which allows you to use fancy fonts, bold or itallics, and colors. When messages are combined by Cornell's email list software into the daily digest, all HTML markers that tell email software how to display the formatted text are converted to plain text, which makes the messages hard to read. Please explore the HTML settings in your email software. Most software provides an option to alert you whenever you send HTML and allows you to instantly convert the message to plain text. When this conversion is down by your email software rather than Cornell's email list software, the cumbersome markers or tags are removed, making the message look normal in plain text, albeit without any special fonts or formats.

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Attachments: Do not send attachments of any kind to the list

Like HTML markers, attachments (photographs, text documents, etc.) cannot be translated into digested email, and they appear in the digest as hundreds of pages of indecipherable symbols. Also, attachments can carry computer viruses. If you have an image or document that you would like to share, send a note to the list explaining what you have and inviting them to contact you privately so that you can send the attachment directly to those interested. Or post the image or document onto a web site and then post a message with the web link so that everyone can go and see it.

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The SUBJECT Field

• Be specific about the subject you are actually discussing.

• Be consistent. When replying to a message, keep the same subject line as the original message; that way, readers can go right back to the original message and others' comments on the same subject.
  
  
• If you are changing the topic of your message from the topic originally discussed in a message you are replying to, be sure to update the subject line to reflect the new subject.

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Brevity

Quoting prior messages. Delete unnecessary or irrelevant text. Keep the quoting to a bare minimum. Quote only those small sections absolutely necessary to clarify what you are writing.

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Miscellaneous "Netiquette"

• Posts that offer intelligent, reasoned debate in a civil tone or argue a different point of view but are respectful are welcomed. Posts that belittle, nitpick, attack, or insult another poster and his/her ideas are unacceptable.

• Be slow to take offense to posts. You may have misjudged the poster's meaning. Remember, tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language--especially to convey humor--are absent in this forum.

• Individual back-and-forth discussions should be sent between individuals, not to the entire list. It is great to learn that there is rapport between individuals on PFW-L. However, these discussions can get tedious for others to read.

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Unexplained Deletion from PFW-L

If your email account is generating "error messages" (sent to the list managers at Cornell), you may be deleted from PFW-L. There are many reasons why this may happen (see below); once the source of the problem is found, all you need to do is subscribe again.

• Full mailboxes. Many Internet providers limit the amount of space subscribers can have for their "inboxes." Please check to see if your Internet provider has limited your storage space.

• Your Internet provider is unable to receive your message (e.g., your server is down.) When your service provider is unable to receive your messages, for whatever reason, any emails being sent to you from PFW-L are sent to the list manager as error messages.

• The list owners reserve the right to delete members from the email list for repeated or flagrant violations of the list guidelines. Members will, however, first receive a warning message and be given the opportunity to use the list within the guidelines set forth in this document.

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List settings

All list members receive a single PFW-L message per day, in digested form, unless they choose to change their list configuration to allow each posted message to be sent to them in real time. To switch out of the digest option or to learn more about other list options, such as postponing the list while you are away, go here!