Subject: FAQ: CFS alt.med.cfs/CFS-L Topics, Rules and Information
Supersedes: <medicine/chronic-fatigue-syndrome/cfs-guidelines_828893990@rtfm.mit.edu>
Date: 15 Apr 1996 04:54:21 GMT
Summary: This posting contains information and discussion guidelines for
          the participants of alt.med.cfs, the discussion group for those
          who are ill with CFS/CFIDS/M.E. (chronic fatigue syndrome).
X-Last-Updated: 1995/11/11

Posting-Frequency: weekly


    Topics, Rules and Information for CFS-L / alt.med.cfs

This discussion group on chronic fatigue syndrome is distributed both by
e-mail subscription as the CFS-L list, based at LISTSERV@LIST.NIH.GOV, and
as Usenet newsgroup alt.med.cfs.  Please read the following rules and
notices.

   TOPICS:

Most messages can be appropriately posted to the basic 3 topics of
<none>, MEDical, or RESearch.  The definitions of the designated
topics are as follows:

<no keyword>:  This open category is appropriate for almost all postings
               except those dealing with medical issues, research, social
               chatter, and other special topics as listed below.  (When
               using Listserv commands, refer to this topic as OTHER.)

MEDical:  medical care issues which are likely to have been discussed before,
          i.e. treatment and diagnosis questions for individual cases, for
          CFS or any related condition (warning: messages on this group cannot
          serve as medical advice); how to find a doctor; how to handle your
          doctor.

RESearch:  scientific discussion and news items about the illness; treatment
           and diagnosis issues which pertain to CFS patients as a class (i.e.
           not individual cases); news items about new research,
           publications, conferences, media reports.

CONJecture: speculative discussion about the origins of the illness;
            recommendations to medical researchers about ideas to explore

CHAT:  social discussion about non-CFS issues.

HUMor: humor

ADMIN:  for discussing issues about this group itself; the rules, how they
        are applied, possible new topic categories.

FAQ:    special notices for "frequently asked questions"; the formal notices
        will be posted by the moderator only, but follow-up discussion about
        them or how they may be improved may be posted here.

CONJ:  Conjecture, "brainstorming"; patients discuss potential research ideas
       regarding CFS; this is an 'informal' topic, that is, the moderators
       will not direct messages that may be posted under other topics to
       instead be posted here.

Please see that your messages contain a designated topic keywords (see
below) in the Subject: line when appropriate.  These keywords enable
greater participation from the e-mail side of this group.  The keywords
must end with a colon with no intervening blank, e.g. ADMIN: .  Multiple
keywords must not be separated by a blank, e.g. ADMIN,MED: .

E-mail subscribers can restrict received messages to only selected topics
by sending a command in the form of SET CFS-L TOPICS topic1 topic2 etc. as
an e-mail message to the address LISTSERV@LIST.NIH.GOV.  By default, all
new subscribers receive all topics.  To later add additional topics, you
can send a command in the form of SET CFS-L TOPICS +topic1 +topic2.  To
delete certain topics, send a command like SET CFS-L TOPICS -topic1 -topic2 .
The open, "no keyword" topic may be refered to as OTHER.  To see your current
topics setting, send the command QUERY CFS-L. Digest and Index subscribers
receive all messages regardless of topic.

An abbreviation unique to the topic keyword vis-a-vis the other keywords
may be used in place of the full keyword, and is encouraged.  Please use
the abbreviations as shown.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
               CFS Group -- TOPICS Cheat Sheet
           (print out and keep near your keyboard)

<none>  all except medical, research, chat and others shown below
MED:    medical care, individual cases
RES:    scientific discussion about the illness, CFS patients as a class

CONJ:   "brainstorming" about the causes of the illness
CHAT:   social talk
HUM:    humor
ADMIN:  about the CFS group
FAQ:    special notices on "frequently asked questions"

never reply blindly, always check your Subject:
topic keywords always include a colon, never a blank
example of a cross-post:  CHAT,OTHER:

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------


   RULES:

1. On topic:  Messages posted to this group must be limited to the topic of
chronic fatigue syndrome.

2. No advertisements:  Commercial advertisements are not allowed on this
group.  This rule is in place in part because of group sentiment, but also
because this group's messages are distributed through the assistance of the
NIH Computing Center, a U.S. government agency, and allowing commercial
advertisements through the group would be an improper use of government
facilities.  Participants may post reviews of consumer products or services
in which they have no financial interest.

3. No flames.

   a. Accent the positive:  When posting messages, please comment on ideas
and make positive suggestions.  Please do not personally criticize other
participants.  Also, political discussions should be brief, and for the
most part should be conducted on the CFIDS-L group (see notice B below).

   b. Refer flames to the moderator:  If you are personally criticized,
please do not respond directly on the group but instead bring the matter
to the attention of the moderator privately (at address
CFS-L-REQUEST@LIST.NIH.GOV).  If everyone responds directly to "flames",
then the other person may exercise their right to respond, and soon we'll
have a spiraling melee.  Please bring concerns to the moderator.

4. Proper subject and topic keywords:  Post your messages to the
appropriate topic keyword, as described in the scheme listed above.  Also,
when replying to messages please don't automatically use the original
message's Subject:, but review your message and alter your Subject: if
your message contains key ideas that are not captured by the default
Subject.  Pay special attention to insert the proper topic keyword for
your reply and don't automatically use the keyword for the original
message you're replying to.  This will make message-searching more
effective for all.  The special topic keyword ALL: is reserved for use by
the moderator only.

5. Brief quotes only; no gifs, periodicals or long documents.  Many of our
ill readers shouldn't need to deal with unusable or unnecesarily long 
documents that are available elsewhere.  This group's messages are 
archived, and that costs money.

   a. When replying to messages, please don't quote the entire original 
message, but only that part of the message you are commenting on.  A little
bit of cutting will save much reading time for the hundreds of readers on
this group.

   b. Encoded text is not allowed.  This includes GIFs and other pics, 
compressed files, and word-processing documents.

   c. Periodicals may not be regularly posted to the group.  Announcements
should be made as to where they can be obtained.

   d. Long documents (over 100 lines of prepared text) may not be posted.
Instead, the moderator should be contacted about how to make such documents
otherwise available, and an announcement should then be posted about how 
to get them.  (Or you should email the document to those individuals who 
may be interested.)  Clarification: personal messages that are intended to 
be a one-time posting to this group only shall have no length restriction 
on them.


   NOTICES:

A. Disclaimer:  Any advice which may be given on this list regarding
diagnoses or treatments, etc., reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual
posting the message.  Those who have CFS are urged to consult with a
licensed health care practitioner who is familiar with the illness.

B. Posting privileges:  This group is moderated.  Those who would like be
able to post messages directly to the newsgroup alt.med.cfs should register
for direct posting privileges by doing the following: send the commands

   SUB CFS-L YourFirstName YourLastName
   SET CFS-L NOMAIL

as an Internet e-mail message to the address LISTSERV@LIST.NIH.GOV.  
Contact the moderator at email address CFS-L-REQUEST@LIST.NIH.GOV if you 
need any assistance.

C. Technical advice / message archives:  For advice and information about
this group and its message archives, and about other CFS groups and
resources on Internet/Usenet, read the CFS Internet help file.  To obtain
the file, send the command GET CFS NET-HELP as an e-mail message to the
Internet address LISTSERV@LIST.NIH.GOV.

D. News sources:  Readers of this group are advised to also follow the
CFS-NEWS electronic newsletter and the CFS Newswire service.  These are
described in the CFS NET-HELP file mentioned in notice C above.

E. CFS info:  A document which answers frequently asked questions about
CFS can be obtained by sending the command GET CFS FAQ as an email message
to the address LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU.  A listing of several other
helpful documents can be obtained by sending GET CFS INDEX to that same
address.  Many specific information files, some of which contain the text
of medical journal articles, are stored at the CFS-FILE and CFS-D file
bases, which are described in the Internet help file mentioned in notice C
above. 

F. Other networks:  For information about CFS discussion groups and
resources on other networks and on BBSs, read the "CFS/ME Electronic
Resources" guide.  To obtain an electronic copy, send the command GET
CFS-NET TXT as an e-mail message to address LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU.

For further advice, contact the moderator Roger Burns at address
CFS-L-REQUEST@LIST.NIH.GOV. 


====================== From: CFS-L@LIST.NIH.GOV ======================














