Sweet Maria's plays host to a free mailing list discussion of home coffee roasting and other closely-related coffee topics. If you are not familiar with mailing lists, they are a way to exchange ideas through email about a topic. You subscribe to the list, and mail sent to the list address (homeroast@lists.sweetmariascoffee.com) is distributed to all list members. To date, the list has a lot of devoted members, and discussion is lively . Traffic has not been overwhelming as sometimes occurs on lists with several hundred subscribers. I want you to take a look at the rules of the list before subscribing:
List Rules
This is a free, commercial mail list (Sweet Maria's foots the bill to host this list), but you do not have to be a customer to join or participate:
In brief here's the list rules, which you agree to by subscribing to the list, (further explanations are below):
- No outside commercial posts or solicitations - we do not allow outside commercial posts of any kind. This includes regular emails with commercial references, URLs, addresses or 800 numbers of products.*
- No intentionally offensive language or posts - NO PROFANITY! Don't type anything that you would not say out loud - that is a good rule of thumb.
- No posts detrimental to our business
- Politeness and netiquette to other list members & the list administrator (that's me) is required. Feel free to disagree, but do it politely.
- "Bad Faith" posting or "Baiting"; this list is for people who say what they mean, not for those who want to purposefully antagonize. If the list administrator feels a person consistently posts statements in "bad faith" then they will be removed from the list.
- Off topic posting is discouraged, but if it is a spinoff of a coffee-related thread, please use the subject line convention "OT". OT is meant, as they say on the stage, as an "aside." People who consistently start off topic threads or don't properly label off topic threads are due for removal from the list. OT threads that have political, religious or other flashpoint topics and have the intent to antagonize will result in the removal of the poster.
- (List removal note: don't assume you have been removed from the list for any reason. 99 out of 100 times you are removed from the list due to email bouncing back to the list server. If you are removed for a reason, you will be notified why. Yes, you can re-join the list if removeal is the result of some misunderstanding).
- Other folks in the coffee trade may join, but please email me personally before attempting to join to introduce yourself.
Please communicate with me, Tom, personally at tom-at-sweetmarias.com if you ever have questions about the rules, or if something you want to post conflicts with them.
WE DO NOT SELL, TRADE OR SHARE CUSTOMER INFORMATION OR MAIL LIST SUBSCRIBER INFORMATION WITH ANYONE ...EVER! Privacy policy
How To Join The List
You must subscribe yourself to the list ...we can't do it for you. You must also unsubscribe yourself from the list, so bookmark this page!
As of January 1 2001 we have a new engine that runs the list. Follow this link to subscribe to the list:
http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/mailman/listinfo/homeroast_lists.sweetmariascoffee.com
How To Unjoin The List
See the instructions below to get to your Personal Settings Page. People have complained that our list is hard to unsubscribe from. It is true that it is not as easy as some mail lists, where you send a simple unsubscribe command to an email address. But if you bookmark your Personal Setting page (or follow the simple instructions below to re-locate it) and save your password, it is easy!
Digest Version
We now have a Digest Version of the HOMEROAST list, as well as an Archive! When you sign up for the list you can set your subscription to regular (individual emails), Digest (one daily batch of messages in one email), or you can simply browse the Archive. To subscribe or make changes in your subscription please go to this web page and follow the simple instructions there:
http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/mailman/listinfo/homeroast_lists.sweetmariascoffee.com
Some list members have set up their own digests, archives too:
- The CoffeeCafes Digest: If you are interested, you can subscribe by sending a message to listserv@coffeecafes.com with the command in the body of the message: subscribe homeroast It will automatically set you up for the digest. Responses or posts should still be directed at the regular list 'homeroast@sweetmarias.com' . If you have any digest questions or comments the kind host of the digest is Chris and his email is chris@coffeecafes.com
- Web-based Archive: There is also a really nice web page archive of the Sweet Maria's Homeroast List by topic available at the following link, and courtesy of the Meyers: http://TheMeyers.org/HomeRoast/index.htm
- Also check out the other web-based archive http://schwani.dynodns.net/ offered by Richard Schwaninger
- Changing from regular list to digest: see below
| Important! Your Personal Setting Page: Unsubscribing, changing from Regular Membership to Digest, setting to receive NO MAIL (vacation) You can manage your list membership, changing the type of subscription, or setting to receive no mail while on vacation or leave the list. Here's what you need to do
|
Okay, so you lost that email. ... here is a way to find your Personal Setting Page (this is easy, but read carefully:) |
1. Click on this link,
which will open a new browser window (you can also paste
this link into a new browser window): |
| 2. OOPS! You got an error message that "you@youremail.com" is not a valid list member. ... |
| 3. Just go to the URL
window in your browser and change the last part that reads you@your-email.com to your email address, the one you entered when you subscribed
to the list. Then hit Enter or Return on your keyboard. If it does not work
- try using all lower case letters in your email address. So if I subscribed as tom@bobo.net, I change the URL from http://lists.sweetmarias.com/mailman/options/homeroast/you@your-email.com to http://lists.sweetmarias.com/mailman/options/homeroast/tom@bobo.net |
| 4. To change any of the options (including unsubscribing) you need your password. The program will email it to you with a click of the button! Why so complicated? Why do I need a password? Well, our homeroast list receives little to no SPAM and the emails on the list are protected from SPAMMERS by this password system. If you think this unsubscribe process takes too much time, think how much time it takes to delete all your SPAM every day! I think the trade-off is worth it. |
| 5. Last, and most important, bookmark your personal settings page (i.e. add to favorites) and jot down your password. Then you never have to do this again!!! |
New: I Was Booted Off The List !!! ...
- Yes, the list has a real live admin and we read eveything; yes, we do remind people of the rules; no, we have never booted a non-obliging poster without their full awareness (and I think this has happened once in 5 years).
- But ... as of 1/10/04 if your email address bounces messages back to the list 8 times within one archive cycle then the address is removed from the list, and you have to re-subscribe. This might happen if your email box goes over-quota. We previously had it set just to disable the address to "no mail" but were left with hundreds of dead addresses in our admin interface.
My Posts Are Not Reaching the List ...
- The most common cause of BOUNCED messages (that is, messages not successfully processed by the automated Majordomo and bounced to me, the list owner) is that the email address YOU subscribed is somehow slightly different, or perhaps very different, than the one you are trying to post from. You must subscribe to the list with the same address you post from.
- The other cause of BOUNCED messages
is the use of certain words in the message that are considered " administrative"
such as :
- subscribe
- unsubscribe
- help
- get homeroast
- who homeroast
- list homeroast
- which homeroast
- ... and more
- To use these administrative words in a post AND have it reach the rest of the subscribers, you can misspell the word ...such as "hey all you svbscribers" with a "v" instead of a "u".
- I cannot help you with list problems because I am way way too busy, and will only do so in extreme cases. You need to learn to "manage your own affairs" in terms of adding or removing yourself from the list, or figuring out why a message doesn't reach the list. These skills will be very useful to you in all your future net experiences!
- Filtering Messages: This is an important function to learn ...a way to manage your incoming
email and send it automatically into a folder or mailbox in your email program.
I use Eudora and its called Filters. But the name varies from program to program.
I can't help you set it up but I can tell you this:
- See the + sign at the beginning of every Subject line in every list email? I put that there so you can set up a filter to look for a + sign in a message, then send it to the HomeRoast mailbox or folder you create
More Info about List Rules:
*Since we pay for the list, we do not allow outside commercial posts of any kind. This includes regular emails with commercial references, URLs, addresses or 800 numbers of products we offer or like products. That may seem harsh, but think of it this way: the discussion on the list takes place in our establishment ...it's as if 300 homeroasters are sitting around a cozy (albeit a very large) table in our shop. It would be rude to come in our shop, where we work so hard to offer so much, and talk about the guy down the road who sells xxx for $x.xx! If in doubt, please send the email with commercial reference to me first (tom@sweetmarias.com) for approval. Obviously, some commercial references are necessary for constructive dialogue. But this list IS NOT alt.coffee!!! Paying for the list also insures that your email address is not exposed to spam-sending folks who buy email lists from "free" web-based mail list servers.
We reserve the right to post notices about new green coffees arriving and other coffee merchandise periodically. Those familiar with us know that we are extremely "low-key" in our commercial post, and feel that our approach is not blatant, obtrusive ...and are actually quite informative. Nobody is ever under any obligation to buy from us, and you will never receive a direct email or other uninvited solicitation from us.
Homeroast List Archives
It's always a good idea to look over the archives when you join a list, or want to look up a topic that has been discussed in length (or ad nauseum as the case may be). It covers the topics we have already been over so you won't raise the same old boring issue, or will be able to put a fresh spin on old material. Please visit this web page to view archives (your list password is required):
http://host.sweetmariascoffee.com/mailman/private/homeroast_lists.sweetmariascoffee.com/
