Momwriters Rules & Policies

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Momwriters Mission Statement

Momwriters is dedicated to creating and maintaining a personal and professional support network to assist women who are juggling the double responsibilities of managing a family life and a building a professional writing career.

Momwriters (tm) Information
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO READ AND BOOKMARK THE MOMWRITERS POLICY -- THERE ARE MANY CHANGES THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR KNOWING:

To unsubscribe from Momwriters: momwriters-unsubscribe@egroups.com

****EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY*******

Momwriters is implementing the 1-2-3 rule. Those who blatantly ignore the Momwriters' Policy will be given 3 warnings, then will be unsubbed without further notice. With 800 members as of today, Momwriters list is getting too big to have to baby-sit those who don't want to follow the rules.

The Momwriters Volunteers, who give so unselfishly of their time and talents, have their own writing work to do and shouldn't be spending the ridiculous amount of time that they do on reminding members to follow the rules. It matters not if you have been here a week or two years. No one is an exception to following the rules.

Carma, Sage and Linda S. have joined the Momwriters Administration Team as Admin Managers. Along with Sharon and I, they will be moderating posts and keeping track of violators. Please keep in mind that moderating a list this size is not a fun job. The MW Admin Managers have volunteered their precious time to make the list a better place for YOU. Please be kind and courteous. They hold has much authority as the list owner. If you have a question or concern, please feel free to e-mail one of the MW Admin Managers:
Nikki Boehm MomWriters1@aol.com
Carma Haley Shoemaker Carmicwords@aol.com
Kate Rauhauser-Smith momkate1@gte.net
Karen Hawkings (AKA Barefoot Karen) barefoot@offthewallemporium.com
Bobbi Dempsey bobbidee@hotmail.com
Anna Morvee amorvee@adelphia.net
Crysty Riggs geekymom@bellsouth.net
Linda Sherwood linda@lindasherwood.com
Lisa Beamer lisab@lisabeamer.com
Barb Huff fbahuff@adelphia.net
Kimberley Schmahl kschmahl@sympatico.ca
C. "Sage" Zackey sage at erols.com
Yvette DeLuca ydeluca@QuixNet.net
Mary Dixon Weidler mweidler@snip.net

1. Poems, personal writing, jokes, anecdotes, cutsie stories and the like are not allowed on the list. In addition, urban legends/virus/hoax info are also prohibited. Please contact Anna Morvee , Momwriters Virus/Hoax/Urban Legend Coordinator, at a.morvee@verizon.net if you have virus/hoax info you'd like to share. Anna carefully and meticulously checks out all that tech stuff and graciously reports back to us.
****Please note, forwards (and copies of personal e-mail and/or quotes) are not allowed on the list. As writers, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard when it comes to copyright issues.

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I'm going to try and clarify this issue. In the TOS, rule number one states, "Poems, personal writing, jokes, anecdotes, cutsie stories and like are not allowed on the list."
Ok...let me take these one by one:
Poems and personal writing--This refers to poems and pieces of writing (as in articles, essays, etc.) that you have written with the intention of publishing. These have never been allowed on the list. They are welcome to be shared through the Critique list or individually between members who want to see them. This DOES NOT INCLUDE any personal stories that you would like to share in a conversational manner about what is going on in your life. Stories like Gloria's, Melody's and others are more than welcome. We are moms. We are writers. That is what the list is here to share.
Jokes, anecdotes and cutsie stories -- These would be those things that have been forwarded around the web forever. They would also include things you receive in other personal emails directed to you. They are things written by other people, people who we usually can't identify because somewhere along the line someone took the liberty to share that piece of writing with others without properly attributing it or (probably) asking for permission to do so. This is a COPYRIGHT violation, pure and simple. If you feel you must share these things, then do so off list by telling people you found such and such story and if they are interested, write you off list for it. Or provide a link where it can be seen. This DOES NOT INCLUDE personal anecdotes from your life or cute stories about your kids or the like. We are moms. We are writers. That is what the list is here to share.

Listmembers, the rules are not overwhelming or unreasonable. They are in place to keep the list moving efficiently and to avoid legal repercussions. As list owner, Nikki holds sole legal responsibility for this list. Why would we want to contribute things to this list who could jeopardize her?

I know everyone is never going to agree with all these rules. That's fine. We know we can't please everyone. That isn't our goal. Our goal is to provide a safe, friendly place for moms (and dads) and writers to share, ask questions, find friendship and grow their writing careers. If our list rules are too impeding for you, then maybe you have the wrong list. I hope not, but that might be the case. I really would encourage you to stick with it and enjoy its benefits, and live with the things that are not allowed. After all, isn't that what we all have to do in many areas of our lives? Life isn't' a free for all, why would you expect this list to be one?

Lisa
MW Administrative Manager
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2. It is Momwriters' policy that if you wish to share something you've read, written, or that has been written about you, you either:
a. Post the URL so that members may go to the site to have a look for themselves
~OR~
b. If seeking feedback, run it through the Critique List for comments and suggestions.

The MWCritique List consists of members of Momwriters who are more than happy and willing to critique your work. You can subscribe to the Momwriters Critique list at: http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/MWCritique
The exception to this would be work you've written for the weekly exercises. Please feel free to share those onlist if they are 500 words or less.

3. If you are writing an article and would like to query the list for interview subjects, please ask for subjects onlist but continue the process OFFLIST. If everyone posted their interview questions onlist, we'd be reading E-mail all day long.

4. Please remember, you must be a member of Momwriters List to participate in any other Momwriters-affiliated list. In addition, you must be listed in the MWDirectory if you wish to be a member of that list. When you unsubscribe from Momwriters, you are automatically unsubscribed from the other Momwriters lists as well.

5. Please trim your posts to include only 3-4 lines of the point you are responding to.

****Effective immediately******

You will be given three warnings to trim your posts, then you will be unsubbed from the Momwriters list with no further warning.

6. If you are on digest, please change the subject field to the topic you are responding to. Some people filter their mail and this makes it easier to filter out subjects some members are not interested in reading.

7. Announcement to the list about writing contests, events or information about other writing lists, should be directed to Nikki (momwriters1@aol.com) to be posted on the MWMarketswatch list.

8. The Momwriters Bulletin Board and the Momwriters Chat Room are available anytime to discuss writing and off-topic threads. You can directly access the chatroom at http://www.egroups.com/chat/momwriters. The Momwriters BB can be accessed at http://www.myria.com/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number=93. Please keep in mind, Momwriters rules apply for courtesy and respect.

9. Please remember to be kind in your responses. Differences of opinion should be stated in a respectful manner. This applies to replies both on and off list. If you have a problem with another member, the Momwriters' policy or a Momwriters' Volunteer, please bring it to the list owner. Flaming Momwriters' Volunteers will not be tolerated.

10. SPAM or direct advertising of a business or a business you're involved with is not allowed on Momwriters (please note, this does not include signature lines). Also, using this list to invite members to join another list needs to be checked with the list owner BEFORE posting to the list. This is common courtesy.

11. If you have a job listing, either for something you are personally involved with or know of one you'd like to share, please contact the Markets Manager (Julia -- feistywriter@home.com) or Nikki (momwriters1@aol.com) to have it posted on the MWMarkets list.

**** Effective immediatley********

All writing job listings MUST go through the Momwriters' Markets List. NO EXCEPTIONS!

12. There are WAY too many posts on the list that should be send OFFLIST in personal e-mail. Cyber high-fives, congrats, happy birthdays and information that is of a personal nature to the person you are responding should be sent OFFLIST. Momwriters' replies are defaulted to be sent to the original poster; hitting *reply all* will send it to the list also. Please be mindful of this when sending a personal reply.

13. Please check out the Momwriters' affiliates on the Momwriters.com site. The pennies that come in are used to help defray the cost of the web site.

14. MWMom-Mart Day is limited to Saturdays ONLY and ends Saturday midnight, your time. Please limit your ads to SATURDAY ONLY. ..."

15. Momwriters and momwriters.com are trademarked names. Use of the name Momwriters or momwriters.com without the expressed permission of the owner is strictly prohibited. If you have an idea for a Momwriters' project/list, please contact the list owner.

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to e-mail me OFFLIST.

Nikki Boehm momwriters1@aol.com
List Owner, Momwriters LISTSERV

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