ActiveState Mailing Lists

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Purpose of the Lists

3.0 Topic Prefixes

4.0 Posting
4.1 Where to post ?
4.2 Replies
4.3 Quoting
4.4 Attachments
4.5 Style and Format Guide

1.0 Introduction ActiveState hosts numerous mailing lists to promote discussion about ActiveState products. Also, ActiveState hosts mailing lists that discuss the core technologies in which ActiveState is involved.

This document describes the charter for the ActiveState mailing lists, including the Perl mailing lists below.

About the Perl for Win32 Lists
Perl for Win32 refers to a port of the Perl programming language to the Win32 platform. There are some Win32 API calls added to the standard functionality of Perl. This charter also includes Perl for ISAPI (which runs Perl scripts in process with ISAPI http servers) and PerlScript (an ActiveX scripting engine). Perl for Win32 does not run on Windows 3.11 and Win32s. Perl for Win32 and PerlScript are trademarks of ActiveState Tool Corp.

2.0 Purpose and Description of the Lists
ActiveState's Announce lists are receive-only lists for product announcements (such as new builds and releases). The Discuss lists are unmoderated discussion mailing lists for ActiveState products and technologies in which ActiveState is interested (such as Perl). ActiveState monitors the lists, and, while we are under no obligation to provide support or answer queries, the discussions on these lists are one of the primary methods by which we provide support and discover the features our customers would like to see.

3.0 Common Topic Prefixes
On the lists described below, pre-determined topic prefixes are frequently used to indicate discussion on a particular topic. If your post is related to a topic, please prefix your subject lines with the abbreviation in CAPITALS and a ":" The topic lists are not exhaustive and serve as examples. Follow the spirit of the rules, not the letter. If there is no suitable prefix, don't use one.

3.1 Perl-Win32-Users
INSTALL: Perl installation on Win32 platforms (except HTTP servers)
CROSSP: Cross-platform issues related to Win32
SOCK: Socket programming (non-Internet)
OLE: Object Linking and Embedding, COM or Automation (except database related)

Any Perl for Win32 topic not mentioned in the topic lists for the other mailing lists (no prefix).

3.2 Perl-Win32-Web
CGI: CGI programming
ISAPI: PerlIS
INSTALL: Installation/Configuration of Perl on Win32 HTTP servers
SECURE: Internet system security related to Perl
PS: PerlScript on Web servers

All other Perl/Web related topics, e.g., Web search scripts,  HTML munging (no prefix).

3.3 Perl-Win32-Admin
USER: User account creation, modification, etc.
REG: Registry work
ELOG: Event logging
ACL: Access Control Lists (permissions)

All other systems administration topics (no prefix).

3.4 Perl-Win32-Database
ODBC: Open Database Connectivity issues
INSTALL: Module installation
OLEDB: Database access via OLE

All other database related topics (no prefix).

3.5 Cross-Topic Prefixes
These can be used in any list.
DOCU: books, Web tutorials, useful documentation

4.1 Where to Post ?
To post a message, send an email to (List Name)@listserv.ActiveState.com

Do not post to a list unless you have subscribed to it. Cross-posting (posting to more than one list) should not be necessary. Many people subscribe to more than one list, and cross-posting will multiply messages for such users (which will *decrease* your chances of getting an answer). If, for example, you are connecting a database to the Web with Perl and are in difficulty, try to ascertain if the problem lies with the database connection or the Web connection.

4.2 Replies
In general, reply only to the group OR only to the poster, not to both. Otherwise the poster will receive the same message twice. If you would like to receive a personal reply, say so in your post, ideally at the end (signature files are a good way).

Please check *whom* you are replying to! Make sure the list itself is not specified twice, and ask if you really need to cc: five people (just because they started the thread six messages ago) when they'll see your reply via the list anyway.

If a topic wanders, consider changing the subject line thus : SECURE: permissions for Perl.exe (was:INSTALL: which user rights needed ?) so it makes more sense, and those users filtering via prefixes can catch the thread.

4.3 Quoting Prior Posts
Please add your reply text below the relevant portions of the original text. Don't quote things like signature files, which don't contain any information, and don't quote the entire message if you are replying just to a small section.

4.4 Attachments
Please do not send attachments to the list. Send a URL instead, including the protocol prefix (e.g., http://) so email clients highlight it as clickable. As a courtesy, please offer to email the attachment privately to those who do not have Web/FTP access.

4.5 Style and Format Guide
Please read the product FAQs, manuals and prior list postings before sending a message to the mailing list. Include relevant product versions, operating system version, the exact error message (if applicable) and a small sample of code (if applicable). Use descriptive subject lines.

4.6 Inappropriate Posts
ActiveState frowns on inappropriate posts, and reserves the right to suspend user access if these guidelines are not followed. The following topics (among others) are considered inappropriate:

Topics not relevant to the mailing list
Advertising
Job offers/requests
Flame wars