Contents:
I. List Purpose
II. Topical Restraints
III. Moderation
IV. Etiquette
V. Posting to the EEF
VI. Membership and Recruitement
VII. The EEF List Moderator
VIII. Subscribing and Unsubscribing
Summary of Addresses
I. LIST PURPOSE
The Egyptologists' Electronic Forum is a membership-wide e-mail list for conferencing on the culture and civilization of ancient Egypt c. 5000 BCE - 641 CE. The EEF serves as a nexus for dialog between academics working in Egyptology and other persons interested in ancient Egypt.
II. TOPICAL RESTRAINTS
1) The list's topic is Egyptian culture (religion, history, literature, archaeology, art, etc.) from the fourth millennium BCE to 641 CE.
2) Questions should not be too broad or too basic, and answers not too sweeping.
3) Discussion of Islamic and modern Egyptian civilization is permitted whenever it relates to some feature of pre-Islamic Egyptian culture or to the concerns of modern scholars who wish to travel or work in Egypt.
4) Announcements about events, jobs, publications, and other news relevant to Egyptology are welcome and encouraged. In most cases it may be more appropriate to submit such topics to EEF NEWS (editor), the weekly bundled news feature.
5) Commercial advertisements will be limited to those which serve the Egyptological community. All solicitations must be approved by the moderator before distribution on the list. Repetitious posting is not allowed.
6) Discussion of relations between ancient Egypt and esoteric or extraterrestrial regions are off topic, as are a-historical, quasi-historical and pseudo-historical matters in general. So please avoid "New Age" musings, ufology, occultism, so called "secret societies", visionary experiences, dubious "revisionistic" theories, ethnocentric theories, Atlantis related theories, etc.
7) The imposition of modern political, religious, anti-religious, racial, or social agendas on ancient Egyptian culture is outside the defined topic.
8) Personal world views and philosophies shall be kept a private matter.
9) Personal matters (grievances, emotional reactions, accounts of daily routines, gossiping, chatting, etc.) shall be kept off the list.
III. MODERATION
1) Although the EEF's point of origin is Yale University, the postings and moderation of this list are not Yale-sponsored, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Yale administration or faculty.
2) The EEF is moderated to ensure that messages which are off-topic or clash with list etiquette are not posted. However, the moderator neither censors nor guarantees the scholarly soundness of postings. Each individual posting to the EEF is responsible for his/her own views, and is required to ensure that his/her contributions are in keeping with the scholarly standards of the list.
3) The use of aliases and pseudonyms is not permitted on the EEF. Members need to be guaranteed that they are communicating with real people (cf. VI.2). Falsified personae will be removed.
4) If a posting contains elements which break list rules, it will not be distributed to the list. Generally, the moderator will send it back to the author, time permitting, but is under no requirement to do so. If a member repeatedly sends unacceptable postings, the moderator may remove him/her from membership.
5) The moderator reserves the right to change inappropriate subject headers, to bundle messages of the same poster or of different posters, or to redirect mail to EEF NEWS instead of forwarding it seperately to EEF.
6) If antagonism develops over a particular topic, the moderator may close its discussion. The moderator may also close topics if they have already been discussed on the list at great length and no new information is being added by the current discussion.
7) If you are in doubt whether a post you want to make is appropriate for the list, then please contact the moderator first, at the list's address but marked "PRIVATE".
8) Moderator rule enforcement shall be directed privately, so as not to embarrass any posters; otherwise, the rules shall be restated to the entire list with no one singled out for public censure.
9) Misuse of information that is gained via the mailing list or the Membership List (see VI.2) for the purpose of mass-mailings and commercial solicitations will result in removal of the offender from the list.
10) Aggressive off-list harassment of fellow list members, for example as follow-up to a "heated" list debate, will result in removal of the offender from the list.
11) Using any EEF messages or parts thereof in other electronic or paper forums, without the consent of the original author, will lead to removal of the offender from the list.
12) Deliberately posting or quoting private mail of other members without their consent, will lead to removal of the offender from the list.
13) Comments and notes of approval or complaint regarding the functioning of the list should be addressed privately to the moderator (put "PRIVATE" in the subject header).
14) Any list rules in this Charter are provisional and subject to changes and additions by the moderator and his advisors as experience dictates. All members are responsible for reading and abiding by current list rules as soon as they have been announced.
IV ETIQUETTE
1) Discourse shall be conducted at a level appropriate to higher education. As a guideline, think of the EEF as approximating the atmosphere of an informal university seminar. All discussion should be appropriate to such a setting, whether questions, answers, or commentary. Participants shall be expected to remain collegial and congenial.
2) Healthy debate is welcome, however please adhere to the issues and refrain from "ad hominem" attacks. Posts which in words or tone show the intention to "flame" or belittle another person or his/her views (whether that person is subscribed or not) will not be distributed to the list.
3) The subject header of your post should reflect its contents. Please use specific, non-general subject headers.
4) If the answer to your question could be found in basic literature, then please do not ask it. Participation on the list is expected to be at a more advanced level. Also avoid asking questions of a very broad nature. In the light of both points: it's generally a good idea to mark your interest as being genuine by giving references (thus showing that you have first exhausted any reference materials at hand).
5) Please do not copy long, irrelevant stretches of previous discussion, and do not include a previous post in its entirety at the beginning or ending of your own remarks.
6) In general, it is best to avoid one line messages, unless they are bibliographic references or other such pertinent information asked for in a previous post.
7) Please do not send long articles or e-mail attachments to the list. If you have pictures that you think are crucial for list debate, submit them timely to the Bulletin Board section (BBS) of the EEF website. If you want to offer an essay of over 10 kB, please refer people to an e-mail address or website (e.g. the BBS) where they may obtain it.
8) Do not forward private messages to the list without the permission of the author, and do not post copyrighted materials beyond fair use without permission of the copyright owners.
9) Do not quote or cross-post material from other electronic forums without permission of the original author nor without permission of the EEF moderator.
10) Do not quote or reuse postings from the EEF in other forums or in any written media without permission from the original author. Copyrights always remain with the original poster. If you want to use a citation from an EEF message, or work on an original idea expressed in a post, always contact the poster first for permission. If you get permission, act as if you are quoting from a paper journal: cite the name of the author/poster, mention the EEF mailing list, the date on which the message was posted on EEF, and refer to the EEF website (http://www.egyptologyforum.org) so that any reader can find the original message in the Archives.
11) Please avoid responding to your own messages or continually re-introducing topics which have generated no responses.
12) There are some subjects that come up very often, and are at the risk of being rerun every few months, without each successive run adding something new or useful. Please browse the EEF Archives before asking a question, notably if your inquiry is about popular subjects like the Family Relations/Coregencies/Mummies/Tombs in the Amarna Period.
13) If on one day you post more than one message belonging to the same thread of discussion, then it is strongly recommended that you bundle these messages into one post. In general, please avoid posting more than one or two messages in a single day.
14) Consider whether answers to your question need to be posted to the list or whether they can be returned to you privately and mark your post appropriately.
15) Always sign your posts with your real full name.
16) Additional posting suggestions and clarifying examples may be found in the EEF Home Notes file on the EEF website. Reading these suggestions is particularly recommended to those who have little experience with mailing lists, and to those who might be insecure about what a scholarly level of discourse requires.
V. POSTING TO THE EEF
1) To send a post to the Egyptologists' Electronic Forum, write to EEF
2) Please remain aware that the list is moderated, meaning that postings may not appear immediately. There may be short periods when no postings will be distributed.
3) All postings are archived and can be accessed through the EEF's website.
4) Only EEF subscribers may post on EEF. Non-members will have to request the moderator or an EEF member to forward any messages. In the latter case, the forwarding member is responsible for the post, and must see to it that all its contents conform to list rules.
5) EEF is an international list. In principle, members may post in any main language used in Egyptology. In practice, however, this will mean: English, French and German. If other languages are used, a short summary in English is requested.
VI. MEMBERSHIP AND RECRUITMENT
1) Membership is open to all applicants who agree to comply with the list rules and submit a completed application. Membership includes both professional and amateur Egyptologists.
2) If a member wishes to learn about the backgrounds of other list members, the moderator may at request send him/her relevant parts of the Membership List. This List contains information which is voluntarily submitted by each member upon application (with full knowledge that it will be made available to other members, and only to them) and which is protected by section III.9-10 above.
3) Recruitment will remain non-aggressive. Members may invite their friends and associates to join. However, no one has permission to send mass-mailings about the list or advertise it widely in public forums.
VII. THE EEF LIST MODERATOR
1) The EEF is moderated by A. K. Eyma, who makes all executive decisions regarding list operation.
2) If needed, he may delegate moderation to an associate of his choosing. Such person will be announced to the list membership once, upon his/her first assumption of moderation duties.
3) An EEF Advisory Board of approximately fifteen people exists with whom the moderator confers when making decisions concerning list administration.
VIII. SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING
1) Membership in the Egyptologists' Electronic Forum can be obtained only through application at the EEF website: http://www.egyptologyforum.org
2) Subscription to the EEF is available in three different options: Regular Subscription (the default option), Weekly Digest Subscription, and Daily Digest Subscription. See the EEF Home Notes on the EEF website for details.
3) In the application, subscribers shall submit their real names, e-mail addresses, degrees, and affiliations (if applicable).
4) Subscription to the EEF and participation therein will be contingent on receipt of a completed application. It may take a few days before your application is processed.
5) Submitting an application constitutes your agreement to adhere to the list rules (as set out in the latest version of the Charter) and to accept the decisions of the moderator.
6) In order to cease receiving postings from the EEF, just write a private note to the moderator with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject header, with the request to be taken off the list. Your membership information will also be removed from the Membership List within one or two days. It is also possible to request temporary unsubscription (the On Hold/No Mail option), e.g. if you are travelling, in which case you will remain on the Membership List.
SUMMARY OF ADDRESSES: