The TRANSGEN List

THIS MATERIAL IS REQUIRED READING FOR ALL TRANSGEN MEMBERS. FAILURE TO READ THIS MATERIAL MAY RESULT IN PERSONAL DISTRESS AND CHIDING FROM THE LISTOWNERS

Introductory Information

Transgen is a list specifically for and about people who are transsexual, transgendered and/or transvestites. However, the list is open to the public, so be forewarned that we can in no way whatsoever guarantee you any sort of privacy. Furthermore, it should be known that there are several local redistribution sites of the TRANSGEN list. While it's impossible for people not subscribed to the list to post to it, some can read it without being active subscribers (though this is discouraged). How much you choose to participate is up to you and you are under no obligation to post or make yourself known to the membership at large but posting an introductory biography of yourself or an explanation as to why you joined the list would be more than welcome.

To subscribe to TRANSGEN, send a message to listserv@listserv.brown.edu with the commands SUBSCRIBE TRANSGEN Your Name and REVIEW TRANSGEN, on separate lines. Then read the required reading for the list (this file). Once you've read it thoroughly, send a note to transgen-request@listserv.brown.edu saying that you've read the list header and agree to the terms.

How You Receive Mail

TRANSGEN may be received in three formats: As a DIGEST (the default for new subscribers) in which the reader receives messages grouped together into a single mailing; post by post, in which every messages comes through to the reader individually; or in indexed mode, in which the subscriber gets a daily table of contents of each digest and instructions on how to receive the individual messages within. To set TRANSGEN to post by post format the proper command is SET TRANSGEN MAIL. To set it back to digest format the command is SET TRANSGEN DIGEST. To set it to index mode it's SET TRANSGEN INDEX The proper address to which to send these commands is listserv@listserv.brown.edu.

The Rules

TRANSGEN now has a set of "rules" with respect to posting. By participating in TRANSGEN you are automatically agreeing to abide by these rules. The rules are subject to clarification and change, so feel free to contact the owners privately if you feel another rule is needed or that one needs to be removed at the TRANSGEN-REQUEST address listed above.

Here they are

Unjustified flames of a personal nature which target specific individuals on the list will not be tolerated. What does this mean? It means that if you have a legitimate issue with someone that there is nothing wrong with arguing with them but that if you simply attack list members without due cause you may be violating the rules. Carrying out a personal vendetta against an individual list member with the apparent purpose of driving them off the list is a similar offense.
Unjustified flames of whole classes of list members are to be treated as identical to ones that target specific individuals. I.e., if someone were to post to the list talking about how all transvestites behave, or claiming that all F->M TS's have a case of testosterone poisoning without due cause, then there is also cause for concern. Note that this is considerably different from saying "I've had a problem I need to deal with regarding the drag queens I've known and I'd like to talk about it." The former attacks all people of a given class. The latter talks about a personal issue with some individuals.
The above will only be acted upon if the listowners receive a complaint from a listmember. Complaints should be mailed to the following address:
TRANSGEN-REQUEST@listserv.brown.edu
While it's acceptable to post such complaints publicly, the only complaints that will be dealt with on an official level will be ones received in the TRANSGEN-REQUEST mailbox.
On first complaint, a poster will rarely be removed from the list. Instead, the individual shall most likely be warned if warranted, and possibly put on a probation of varying length. Only once on probation will the threat of forced removal from the list exist.
There are only two things that will get someone kicked off of TRANSGEN on a first warning:

Spamming the list
Spamming is defined in this case as "the practice of sending repeated identical pieces of mail to a wide variety of newsgroups and/or e-mail adresses."

Carrying out a personall vendetta against a list member
What defines a "personal vendetta" is up to the discretion of the list owners, but generally refers to using a member's posts to harm them in some sort of direct manner and does not necessarily require that the actions take place on the list itself. It could also include the practice of harassing a list member in order to drive them off the list.

The word of the listowners in such matters are final. While they may solicit advice from the list membership, once the decision is made, it is expected that it will be respected. Flaming the listowners for decisions with which you disagree is, well, kind of silly, when you think about it.

The listowners are reasonable. Public apologies and acknowledgment of wrongdoing on the part of someone on probation may go a long way to shortening the duration of the probation. Furthermore, people are welcome to attempt to defend themselves. However, sometimes people can be their own worst enemies. For example, flaming someone because they accused you of flaming is not the best possible way to defend yourself. (Furthermore, it is strongly advised that you do not threaten to "out" the list owners if you either wish to be taken seriously or not to be laughed at for several days on end).

The listowners do not wish to baby-sit. Please be sure you have a legitimate complaint before contacting them. If possible, keep and quote the offending material (IN CONTEXT!) because they do not read every post which shows up on this list and may, in fact, already be in the habit of deleting unread some of the more vituperative commentary.

Nothing annoys the list owner more (well, a few things do, but not many) than seeing a ton of posts to the list saying "I'm not getting any posts-- what's wrong?" Logically, if there's something wrong with the list then posting mail to the list asking if there's anything wrong makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. The appropriate place for such posts is private mail to the TRANSGEN-REQUEST address listed above.

HOW DO I...?

A few important HOW DO I...? questions are answered here:

HOW DO I CHANGE MY ADDRESS ON TRANSGEN?

This is a three step process. First, send the command SUB TRANSGEN your name to the LISTSERV from your NEW address. Secondly, send a note to the request address listed above saying "hey, I'm just switching addresses so don't bother sending me all that intro stuff again!" (feel free to use your own words). Third, once you receive confirmation from your new address, send one of the following commands from your OLD address to the LISTSERV address listed above.

If you want to just switch accounts TEMPORARILY, send the command SET TRANSGEN NOMAIL to the LISTSERV . If you want to switch accounts PERMANENTLY, send the command SIGNOFF TRANSGEN to the LISTSERV .

HOW DO I SET MYSELF TO NOMAIL WITHOUT SIGNING OFF THE LIST?

The answer to this question is included in the previous HOW DO I...? answer, but it doesn't heart to explain it again. Simply send the command SET TRANSGEN NOMAIL to the LISTSERV . When you want back on the list, send the command SET TRANSGEN MAIL (or SET TRANSGEN DIGESTS, or SET TRANSGEN INDEX, depending on your preferences) to the same address.

WHY AM I NO LONGER ON THE LIST?

You will never get bumped from transgen on purpose without being informed so. If you have never received a warning from the list owners and you find yourself no longer on the list, it is most likely because your mail bounced enough times to generate an automatic bounce from the listserv (i.e., more than 500 bounces or four days solid of bouncing mail). If this happens, simply resubscribe and inform the list owners as to the situation.

HOW DO I DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT I'M STILL SUBSCRIBED?

If you send the command QUERY TRANSGEN to the LISTSERV address, you'll get a response explaining how all your options are set for the TRANSGEN list. If you are informed that you are not subscribed, then you are not subscribed via the address from which you sent the message. If you get a response explaining your options then you are subscribed. If you have been set to NOMAIL it is most likely because you were bouncing excessive amounts of mail. If this has happened, simply send the command SET TRANSGEN MAIL (or SET TRANSGEN DIGESTS, or SET TRANSGEN INDEX, depending on your preferences) to the LISTSERV address.

HOW DO I RETRIEVE BACK POSTS?

This is fairly simple. Send the command INDEX TRANSGEN to get a list of available digests. It will give you a list of files available for retrieval. Then send the command GET filename to the LISTSERV address to retrieve the file in question. The files are of the format TRANSGEN LOGYYMMW, where "YY" == the year, "MM" = the month (i.e., 03 for march, 12 for December), and "W" = a letter code (A-E) for the week. For instance, to get a log from the third week of December of 1993, you'd send the command GET TRANSGEN LOG9312C.

A WARNING ABOUT DIGESTS

Due to limited disk space, there is no guarantee that digests will be kept for more than six months prior to the current date. If you wish to keep material from old digests, it's expected that you will take on the obligation of doing so yourself.

A Word of Caution

If you have any complaints with specific members of the list then please direct those complaints to the individuals in question before bringing them up on the list or with the list owners. When private issues are brought into public forums tempers tend to rise at exponential rates.

If you have conflicts which are not resolved through private discussion that concern the list at large, or have problems with technical issues regarding the list, then please direct your queries to TRANSGEN-REQUEST@listserv.brown.edu

If you have questions about details of this list or think something in it should be added or altered in any way, please feel free to send a note to the request address and we'll consider it. Thanks for your time in reading this note, and please save it for future reference.