The GPigs Daily Digest FAQ and guidelines

The Guinea Pigs' Daily Digest (GPDD) is a daily newsletter where all the
people who have interest in Guinea Pigs may discuss and share their
experiences about these little pets.

It was founded on March '95, thus resulting one of the oldest forums
on the net - the first entirely dedicated to the guinea pigs - and
it has reached more than 1500 subscribers.

Usual themes of discussion are: health, feeding, housing, care, shows,
books, breeding, poetry (!) and funny stories about GPigs.

The list is mainly moderated.

02) Is it free ? TOP

Yes, it's completely free. Once you're subscribed, you'll receive
your everyday-copy in your E-Mailbox at absolutely no cost.

The mantainer of the GPDD (Carlo Ferrari) has no relations with vets,
Gpigs breeders or other animal-related companies : he's only a GP fan
just like you.

03) I've a small E-Mailbox: how large is the GPDD ? TOP

Well, at present time each issue has a medium size of less than 50Kb.
It may eventually vary from 25 to 75kb.

04) How can I receive it ? (subscribing) TOP

1. via the web: http://www.gpdd.org
You will be sent email requesting confirmation, to prevent
others from gratuitously subscribing you.

2. via E-mail: send mail to gpigs-request@gpdd.org
using "help" (without quotes) as the subject or the body
of the message: you'll receive detailled instructions.

05) How do I unsubscribe from the GPDD ? TOP

1. via the web: http://www.gpdd.org
The right section of the page will lead you to unsubscribing.

2. via E-mail: send mail to gpigs-request@gpdd.org
using "help" (without quotes) as the subject or the body
of the message: you'll receive detailled instructions.

06) How can I have my articles published into the digest ? TOP

Send your article to:

gpigs%40gpdd.org

it will appear in the very next issue of the digest.

07) I'm going to change my E-Mail address: what do I do to continue receiving my daily copy of
the digest ? TOP

First, you must unsubscribe your old address, then you can resubscribe
your new one.
In case of troubles, contact the mantainer at the address stated below.

08) My articles are rejected saying that I'm not subscribed.. but I am ! TOP

Unluckely these days the mailing lists on the internet are afflicted
by heavy spamming and not publishing any message coming from
no-subscribed people is the only defense.

If you want to post you've to subscribe first.

If you're subscribed but your messages are bounced back to you, then
you're probably sending them from a different E-Mail address then the
one you're subscribed with.
Please contact the mantainer for inserting your alternate address in the
aliases file.

09) I'm a subscriber, but I've been missing the GPDD for days ! TOP

If you've been missing the digest fore more than three consecutive days,
please contact the GPDD mantainer at gpigs-owner@gpdd.org
If you've missed some issues sometimes, this is normal: it depends upon
the net (problems at my site, at your site or along the way..), then
just retrieve the missing issue using one of the methods that follow
here below.

10) How can I receive elder/missing/evaluation copies of the digest ? TOP

- Just go to: http://www.gpdd.org

You'll find there also the complete digest's archive, plus a month
by month zipped archive (easier if you need more than just a few
back issues).

11) Is there a way to search for articles covering a certain topic ? TOP

Yes! Now there's a fully configurable search pad on the web site.
The index is compiled on a monthly (more or less) base.
Only the latest (a couple of years) messages are indexed and
retrievable.
Before posting a question, you may wish to look if the topic
had already been covered on the GPDD pages...

12) My mail is rejected saying something about HTML code.. what's that ? TOP

If you're using fancy coloured character in your messages, or if
your mail program gives you the opportunity to do this, you may
be sure that you're sending messages containing HTML code.

HTML is the name of the "programming" language that's used to write
Web pages and many Windows (but not only) mail programs may use this
'enhanced' way to send posts, thus allowing for different fonts, colors
etc. Programs like MS Outlook, Eudora, Netscape Composer, and so on,
may send HTML code and sometimes do this by default.

Things are fine until you read these mails with a HTML enabled
mail client, but if the reader uses a normal text client, or if
your mail is addressed to a mailing list, what people will see is a
double copy of your message: one plain text and one - almost
unreadable - HTML coded.

The GPDD automatically rejects mail containing HTML code, thus saving
space and preserving good readability for every user.

To avoid using HTML code in your mail (at least in that addressed
to the GPDD) you must configure your mail program: somewhere in the
configuration (setup, options etc.) menu is buried a tiny option
that lets you choose between plain text, text+HTML and HTML;
go for the plain text one and that's it.

If you really can't get rid of the HTML thing, my humble rate is
to use another mail address dedicated only to the GPDD using some
free mail provider (ie: www.eudoramail.com)
This could be a very good solution, considering the concerns espressed
on point #22 (see).

13) How can I receive the most up-to-date GPDD FAQ ? TOP

With regards to its topics, this FAQ shouldn't need to be updated
very often. You may always retrieve the latest version at
www.gpdd.org

14) How can I contact a human being ? (I hate those dumb processors!) TOP

You may contact me at this address: gpigs-admin%40gpdd.org

Please note that I mantain the GPDD in my spare time, so
please don't get angry if I won't answer as soon as expected (or not at all).
I'm trying to do my best and your mail will be carefully considered anyway..

15) The GPDD rejected my message because it was too long! TOP

Sorry, but because of the increasing size of the GPDD, and to avoid fancy things
like quoting entire digests into a reply, messages longer than 7K will be
automatically rejected to the sender.

If you have something absolutely important to say that cannot be shortened, you
may consider sending it in two parts.

16) May I send a picture to the GPDD ? TOP

No, absolutely not. Besides size concerns, it would be impossible to be
viewed.

17) May I send attachments to the GPDD ? TOP

No, absolutely not. See #16.

18) But.. do you really compose by hand the GPDD ?? And how much time does it take ? TOP

Really not! There is a program - called 'mailman' (a listprocessor) that
automatically (more or less) handles the list, the incoming messages
and the subscription requests. This would have been a full time job
for a human ;)

19) Someone used offensive words toward me on the GPDD - or
That person used offensive (or rude) language on the GPDD.
What can I do to made him/her stop ? (the Fire Brigade) TOP

While neither the GPDD (or its maintainer) can be concerned about what
happens in your private e-mail, we'd nevertheless like to keep this
list a pleasant place to be.

Following this idea, a mediation board (called 'The Fire Brigade') has
been established to help minimize disputes and to arbitrate conflicts
between subscribers.

This volunteer panel *if and when requested* will arbitrate
disagreements, offer help/guidance/solutions if you are being sent
private flames, and will generally try to make the GPDD a nice place
to be.

The Fire Brigade intervention could also be requested by the
mantainer himself and has then the right to rate suspensions and bannings
from the digest. The final decision will be anyway taken by the mantainer.

The list of board members with their e-mail addresses is located at:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/2517/board.html

20) How can I join the Fire Brigade ? TOP

Fire brigade members are selected by the mantainer between the most
equilibrate and helpful subscribers. Fire Brigade's members themselves
may ask the mantainer to request a subscriber to join them.

21) What is the "Digest Safety Net" ? TOP

(this answer courtesy of Helen - DSN Mantainer)

The Digest Safety Net (DSN) was started when Carlo (the list-owner)
needed to shut down the GPDD for a while due to computer problems; it
was designed as a way of having help always available to piggy people
even if the Digest was 'out' for some reason.

It consists of a list of several piggy people (all GPDD subscribers),
all of whom are highly knowledgeable in various guinea pig matters and
are willing to answer questions on pig-related matters. The DSN members
are a mixture of all sorts of people who have owned pigs long enough to
gain expertise in one area or another - breeders, rescuers,
breeder/rescuers, and so on.

The DSN is _not_ intended to replace the advice of a qualified
veterinary surgeon, but is there as an aid for worried owners; sometimes
you aren't quite sure whether a pig needs to see a vet or not for
example, and asking someone with experience may save a piggy's life.
Perhaps the vet has said something that you don't quite understand, or
you aren't too sure that your vet is good with pigs and want to ask
someone who knows, so that you can change vet if necessary.

You do not need to subscribe separately to the DSN; it is published in
the GPDD around the first of every month, and will shortly also be going
onto a webpage.

22) What is the privacy policy of the GPDD ? TOP

First of all, please allow me to repeat that the GPDD is not in anyway affiliated
to any business company. We assume as a fundamental duty not disclosing, selling
or giving away the subscribers' address.

Nevertheless, there are some peculiar aspects regarding posting to a mailing list
on the internet that you should be aware of; as said, we will not give away your
address, but a malicious person still has many ways to gain a bunch of good addresses
from the digest: first by subscribing and taking the addresses of the posters,
second by looking at the archives and - as the GPDD archives are also public - this
could be done via a robot (crawler).

Generally speaking, you should consider that everything going into the GPDD will
possibly be widely accessible on the Internet.

So my rate is: do not use an important address of yours (job, home main address)
but use instead one of those services (hotmail-like) that allows you to change it
as soon as the spams reaches it.
For more information on this topics, I'd rate you to read this page: Newsgroup and Spam

23) Is advertising allowed on the GPDD ? TOP

Strictly speaking no.

It may be discussed what we do intend for advertising: we do not accept to be
payed to insert commercial communicates within the GPDD, but the concept of
advertising may be stretched to include comments over a brand or a site, or
also the communication that there's an opportunity to buy something that could
be interesting for this community.

In this second case, we adopt a much more open-minded approach, and this
kind of "advertising" is allowed until it remains into normality (ie: it's
obviously an abuse to post an "advice" too often).

Anyway, the mantainer may reject messages that he believes to be too "commercial
oriented".

24) I've heard something about "pigiquette". What is it ? TOP

The "pigiquette" (the Guinea Pigs' etiquette) is a list of some simple rules
that apply to all the messages sent to the GPDD.

It contains some obvious things that people sometime forget to respect when
using e-mail, like avoiding inappropriate language.

At present time the official "pigiquette" page is kindly mantained by Dale Sigler
and you may find it here.

Carlo Ferrari
Mantainer of the GPDD