The following Guidelines for use of the NPS GIS-L listserv (gis@webmail.itc.nps.gov) are authorized by the NPS GIS Committee.

NPS-GISL Mission Statement and Listserv Rules

I. NPS-GISL LISTSERV MISSION

NPS-GISL is intended primarily to expedite communication among NPS employees and other professionals in related disciplines on important issues related to the use of GIS in the NPS, to related technologies, and to federal GIS professionals.

II. RULES FOR POSTING TO NPS-GISL

A. Who May Submit Messages to the Listserv: Subscription to NPS-GISL is open to the public, so appropriate postings from non-NPS members are welcome, but strictly within these rules. The listserv is primarily a focus forum for GIS within the National Park Service. All NPS employees are encouraged to read postings, remembering however that existing channels of technical support are certainly not meant to be replaced by this listserv.

B. The Prime Consideration for Those Submitting Messages: Please do not submit messages to NPS-GISL unless you are reasonably certain your message is of sufficient professional concern to a subset of NPS-GISL subscribers--or that a reply would be of sufficient professional service to yourself--that it warrants delivery to hundreds of subscribers.

C. Submission Requirements: Each submission must contain the following
i. A "Subject" line descriptive of the content of the message.
ii. A brief and concise substantive question, comment, or information which meets the description of an "Appropriate Submission" as described below.
iii. The submitter's full name, institutional or professional affiliation, and email address at the end of the message.

D. Appropriate Submissions: Postings about substantive issues covering the range of Geographic Information Systems and which are relevant to at least a subset of the membership are generally appropriate, except as described below.

E. Inappropriate Submissions: The following types of submissions are inappropriate:

i. Commercial advertisements (SPAM's) or any unrequested commercial solicitations. A specific solution to a listserv request may be offered directly to the requester by a commercial vendor. Endorsements of quality products or services may be shared, however, if these are reports of personal experiences and discretion is observed.
ii. Topics generally irrelevant to the GIS subject itself, such as budget funding or pending contract details before an award, and most matters of politics or policy.
iii. Polls or surveys. Besides being of little statistical value and often wasting time, there are federal restrictions on polling that can be legally allowed within the workplace.
iv. Any attachments whatsoever.
v. Replies to individuals' requests for information, which are deemed obviously not of significant interest to the membership at large and should be sent "back-channel."
vi. Personal criticism of individuals or even general dissatisfaction with government practices, and including substantive contributions which violate professional ethics of fairness, impartiality, and integrity.
vii. Private or confidential information about others, including residence telephone numbers, or personal communications between individuals.
viii. Messages whose content might present legal problems for the NPS or subscribers.
ix. Messages of inconsequential or non-substantive content, such as merely posting "I agree" without contributing substantively to the discussion. Such replies should be sent directly to the author of the original message "back-channel," if sent at all. Before posting an opinion, consider if it contributes new substance to the discussion.
x. Messages devoted solely to humor or light conversation.

Attachments of any kind are not permitted due to the risk of transmitting computer viruses. The NPS-GISL software will automatically reject attachments, and may reject certain signature files which "look like" attachments to the software. If, by some chance, an attachment should accidentally go through, subscribers are advised to open them at their own risk. To this end the listserv has not been configured to handle attachments and they may be bounced.

F. Bypassing "No Attachments" with Long Messages: The mode of the listserv is one of concise statement within a forum. Including a large amount of text in a posting may cause problems for some subscribers with limited email storage. Persons wishing to share large documents should instead announce that the material can be directly obtained from the person making the offer, and the file(s) should then be sent directly to the interested parties' email addresses. Large files might also be posted on the NPS ftp site, if considered appropriate under its management rules. There is a .5MB upper limit on message size, at that size message will be bounced. Also, if the "To:" line exceeds 1024 characters the message will bounce. In other words do not cc everyone you know.

G. Replies to Requests for Consensus: Requests for consensus differ from polls in that a specific target group is asked to return an explicit response to a single question. As this method serves an isolated bit of information for one's own need, responses should be sent directly to the inquirer, NOT the entire listserv. The inquirer should state that all responses should be redirected to him or her. When appropriate, the inquirer can later post a single summary of multiple responses to the listserv; the title should begin "SUM: the question..."

H. Decorum: Messages posted to NPS-GISL must be courteous (at least civil) and professional in tone. Communication via NPS-GISL cannot provide the same freedom of expression as would be possible in a private conversation among confidants.

I. Liability: Neither the National Park Service, nor the administrators of the NPS-GISL listserv's host site can verify the content of postings for accuracy or be held accountable for message content. Parties submitting messages to NPS-GISL bear sole responsibility and liability for the content of their postings.

J. Sanctions: Egregious disregard of NPS-GISL listserv rules will ultimately result in revocation of the offender's NPS-GISL subscription. Violations of law will be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible by the appropriate authorities.

III. HOW TO SIGN UP

Use your browser to goto http://webmail.itc.nps.gov/mailman/listinfo/gis enter your email address and click on the Submit button (other information is optional).

IV. QUESTIONS

Please do not hesitate to contact the NPS-GISL Listserv Manager with any questions or problems you might have:

David Duran
IT Specialist
david_duran@nps.gov