MARMAM email discussion list:

Marine Mammal Research and Conservation

Topics:

EDITORIAL POLICY

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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MARMAM EDITORIAL POLICY

1. The MARMAM list

MARMAM is an edited e-mail discussion list which focuses on marine mammal research and conservation, run through the University of Victoria. The list was established in August 1993 specifically for marine mammal researchers and graduate students,as well as those actively involved in marine mammal conservation and management. As of August 2005 there were over 5,000 subscribers from 72 different countries. Anyone may subscribe to the list.

Editors of the MARMAM list work on a volunteer basis. At any onetime there may be between three and five editors. We have endeavoured to make the editorial policy as uniform and explicit aspossible (detailed below), but there may be some individual editor variation in the standard of messages sent to the list. Posting of messages to the list is done at the Editors' discretion.

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2. Messages posted on MARMAM

A wide spectrum of message types are found on MARMAM, all related tomarine mammal research and/or conservation. MARMAM endeavours toprovide unbiased information these issues (ie. is not anti-whalingor anti-hunting per se).

Commonly seen messages include:

• requests for information regarding current or recent research projects, publications, orresearch techniques
• current or previously unreported unusual news events
• meeting announcements
• job announcements
• internship/volunteer opportunities. To help students discern thepros and cons of different research groups we ask that that postingsprovide details of the research experience that volunteers will gainfrom this position. Posts for volunteer opportunities (particularlypaying opportunities) that are not university-affiliated, shouldprovide a measure of their research output in terms of publicationsavailable. For groups that do not do this, we will add the note:NO PUBLICATIONS ARE AVAILABLE ON THIS WORK. If you are affiliated with a university research group, please make this clear in your posting. Finally, provide an indication of the level of payment required from the volunteers: whether the positionis paid, volunteers are subsidised in terms of accomodation but haveto provide their own flights, or whether there is a charge for theposition.
• abstracts from scientific papers or reports
• books/techniques/products announcements
• requests for products (eg. photographs) which will benefit MARMAM subscribers (eg. photographs that will be of widespread use or for payment)
• brief summaries of meetings or conferences related to marine mammals, including resolutions passed

Many messages ask for information which would be of interestto many of the list subscribers. We therefore ask that a summaryof responses is prepared and submitted back to the MARMAM list.Respondents to calls for information should therefore be awarethat their response may be resubmitted to the entire list. Authors should therefore state that they do not wish their reply to go to the list, if this is the case. Summaries to the MARMAM list should fulfil other editorial criteria (relevent, concise, no flames, etc)

Before sending a message to MARMAM, please read the following. An increasing number of messages are being sent to the list which require modification by the authors or the editors. As the editors moderate the list on a volunteer basis, there is often limited time available to help with or to facilitate such modifications. We askthat before sending a message to the list, the author ensure that:

• An appropriate and explicit subject heading is included
• Your name and e-mail address are included in the body of themessage
• Your message is interesting enough to go to 5000+ list members.
• Your replies are meant to go to ALL the subscribers of MARMAM,rather than just to the original author. If you feel yoursubmission is of general interest, please send it both to theoriginal author and cc it to MARMAM. (In many cases we ask thatsummaries of responses to questions are later posted to the list soindividual responses to the list are often unneccessary.)
• Requests for information provide details in the body of the messagejustifying the request (providing background information or detailson why the information is needed). Such requests should alsodemonstrate that available means to obtain the information requestedhave been exhausted. Please do not use the list merely because youhave not checked your library. A follow up of responses to any suchrequest should later be posted to the list.
• Messages in another language provide an english translation
• Messages do not include attached files. All information should be included as text within the body of the message.
• Messages are properly formatted and do not contain excessivenumbers of typos. Messages that are inproperly formatted (e.g.,missing a subject heading, missing the senders name and e-mailaddress in the body of the message, or formatted too wide for acomputer screen) or those full of typos may not be sent to the list.In most cases the author will be contacted regarding resubmittingtheir message, but at times of high volume, this may not always bedone.

Please note the following about message formatting. Different mail programs, texteditors and operating systems handle line wrapping differently. This may cause displayproblems, given that subscribers read their mail from a variety of platforms. Further,we have noticed that messages composed by cutting and pasting directly from WordPerfector Word can cause line wrapping problems. Therefore, messages should not be composedusing the latter method.

Several e-mail programs append encoded information (MIME, Metafile, and V-cardsare common ones). Web-based e-mail programs often append HTML tags by default. These"embelishments" cause display and readability problems and are strongly discouraged.Whenever possible users should disable HTML tags (or send the text-only version) andother encoding features when submitting messages to MARMAM. EVERY EFFORT SHOULD BEMADE TO SUBMIT MESSAGES AS PLAIN TEXT. These practices will greatly reduce the numberof messages with strange formatting that appear on MARMAM.

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3. Messages not posted on MARMAM

Examples of messages not posted to the MARMAM list include:

• THOSE UNRELATED TO MARINE MAMMAL RESEARCHAND CONSERVATION
• ANIMAL RIGHTS CALLS FOR ACTION
• "COMMUNICATION" BETWEEN HUMANS AND OTHER ANIMALS
• "CASUAL" REQUESTS" for information that is easily availableelsewhere. A specific request, with a brief description of what theinformation is to be used for, is most likely to stimulate feedbackfrom other subscribers. If the author lives in a country wherelimited library resources are available and is conducting originalresearch, exceptions to this rule may be made (though the messageauthor must state that they have no easy access to library resources).
• INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION: information requests without details asto why this is being requested. Messages which include only aninformation request without providing any background informationjustifying the request and demonstrating that available meansto obtain this information have been exhausted, will not be posted.
• COMMON EVENTS: news reports of common events (e.g. strandings ofcommon species of marine mammals, deaths of captive animals, etc)
• MEDICAL REPORTS ON CAPTIVE ANIMALS FOR WHICH HELPIS BEING SOUGHT
• REQUESTS FOR SMALL NUMBERS OF SPECIFIC ITEMS (eg. photographs)that would be better directed to individuals workingon the species in question.
• OPINION STATEMENTS OFFERING LITTLE OR NO NOVELINFORMATION. Messages of a duplicative nature which donot contribute new information are generally not posted to the list.Exceptions include event-related postings, such as conferenceinformation, job openings, and surveys. New subscribers are stronglyencouraged to monitor MARMAM for a period before submitting messagesto the list, or to review recent archived messages, to reduce thenumber of duplicative submissions.
• CRITICISMS OF RESEARCHER'S STATEMENTS QUOTED INNEWSPAPER ARTICLES, unless they are corrections from the person beingquoted.
• 'FLAMES'. Messages which are derogatory or serve to insultrather than contribute to the discussion at hand are not posted to thelist.
• RHETORIC: messages with some substance surrounded by a lot of rhetoric
• HUMOUROUS ANECDOTES
• JOB/ VOLUNTEER POSITION/ INTERNSHIP WANTED. Requests foremployment or volunteer opportunities are not posted to the list.Persons seeking such positions are encouraged to monitor MARMAM foropportunities, which they can apply to directly. Students interestedin careers in marine mammal science are encouraged to consult theSociety for Marine Mammalogy's 'Strategies for Pursuing a Career in Marine Mammal Science', which can be found at the Society for MarineMammalogy's website: http://www.marinemammalogy.org/strat.htm
• JOB OFFERS FOR ANIMAL TRAINERS OR FOR NATURALISTSON WHALE WATCH BOATS

MARMAM FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

4. How do I post messages to the list?

All messages meant for MARMAM subscribers should be sent to marmam (at) lists.uvic.ca (edit if you are not a spammer)

Messages should include the sender's name and e-mail address within the body of the text, and a detailed subject heading.

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5. How do I reply to individual messages?

Messages meant soley for a particular subscriber and not for MARMAM may be sent directly tothat subscriber using his or her e-mail address, which will appear in the header of the message and/or in the body of the message. Subscribers are asked to include their e-mail address within thebody of their messages, as not all subscribers receive headers including this information with their messages. If your reply is of general interest to the subscribers, please reply to the list, otherwiseyou should reply directly to the individual posting the original message.

NOTE: Many subscribers will find that use of the 'reply' option will reply to MARMAM, not tothe intended recipient. Please check your header when using the 'reply' option.

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6. How do I subscribe/ unsubscribe/ temporarily signoff?

To subscribe go to http://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam

NOTE: If your email address is going to change and you will loseaccess to your old address please unsubscribe that address from MARMAM, and then subscribe under your new address. If you nolonger have access to the email account from which yousubscribed, send a brief message to marmamed (at) uvic.ca,providing the email addess that you no longer have access to, andthe editors will delete this address from the list. You can thensubscribe from your new address.

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7. How do I receive MARMAM postings as a single daily digest rather than asindividual messages?

To receive marmam messages daily as a single file, go to http://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam

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8. How do I retrieve messages previously sent to MARMAM?

All MARMAM messages from 1995 through August 2005 are archived and are retrievable by sending the message:

get marmam logxxyy

to the listserver (listserv (at) uvvm.uvic.ca), where xx = year and yy = month (e.g. get marmamlog9601).

Messages sent since August 26, 2005 can be found at http://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/private/marmam/

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9. Subscriber list

Due to mis-use of the subscriber list, the list is no longeravailable through a listserv command. To find out who subscribesto MARMAM, you must send a request to the MARMAM editors (marmamed (at) uvic.ca) and it will be sent out to you along with arequest to not mis-use the list and guidelines to proper use ofthe list.

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10. Why did my MARMAM subscription stop?

Your subscription may be cancelled if your email is undeliverable. This can happen, for example,if your in-box is full or if your server is down for a period of time. When this happens themarmamed account will receive error messages, and those whose accounts bounce back are eitherautomatically deleted from the list or manually deleted by the list Editors every once in a while. Ifyou find that you receive no MARMAM messages for a few days, try subscribing to the list again.

Users of the web-based e-mail provider HOTMAIL should be awarethat the "block sender" feature (used to avoid "junk" mail), if active, will also block listserver messages. Therefore, make sure you have "block sender" feature turned off. This may also apply to other e-mail programs with equivalent features.

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11. What notices from regional groups are posted?

Submissions from regional groups (for example, but not restricted to, the regional student chapters of professional associations such as the European Cetacean Society or the Society for Marine Mammalogy) should carefully consider whether their announcements are relevant to 5,000+ recipients in 72 countries. Announcements about meetings of short duration and with little or no scientifc content are discouraged. Notices dealing with internal chapter businesses or organizational matters will not be posted.

Notices from regional student chapters should be restricted to:- a single message announcing each new student chapter (including contact details, website address and website contents).- a single message concerning each regional meeting (providingdetails as to the time and place of that meeting, schedule ofspeakers or events, and a website or email address to contact forfurther information).___________________________________________________________________________

12. Useful websites

Detailed below are a few World Wide Web Marine Mammal related links. Many of these containfurther links to other sites.