Cascadian y2k Forum: Guidelines and Posting Protocol

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Cascadian Year 2000 Regional Preparedness Forum - What we're about

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This is most of the document you get when you sign onto our forum. It is real, and the moderators abide by it. Please read it carefully, or you may have trouble getting posted to the list, although anyone can subscribe and read.

The Cascadia Year 2000 Regional Community Preparedness Listserv focuses on the Northwestern US and other connected areas. We are a geographically based group working on community preparedness for the Year 2000 in our region.

This list is a place to ask questions and offer any advice that you may have cultivated through your exposure to community preparedness and problem-solving for y2k thus far. Technical questions can get routed.

Community preparedness for y2k glitches is completely uncharted territory. No one knows what to do that will work for everyone. A few people have very good ideas about ways to tackle aspects of the challenge, but awareness and validation of y2k as a "serious problem" is very behind schedule, and is hampering effective development and equitable implementation.

LISTSERV CONTRIBUTION PROTOCOLS

Three Year 2000 Lists on Oregon Public Networking's Listserve are NOW OPERATIONAL:

1) y2kforum@efn.org - MODERATED forum for Northwestern US preparedness; predominantly community

Message to: listproc@efn.org Body: subscribe y2kforum [your name, no brackets]

2) year2000@efn.org - Full-on Discussion Listserv on community and personal predparedness - UNMODERATED

Message to: listproc@efn.org Body: subscribe year2000 [your name, no brackets]

3) alert2000@efn.org - Y2K Announcements only - MODERATED Message to: listproc@efn.org Body: subscribe alert2000 [your name, no brackets]

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1) The Cascadia Forum - Year 2000 Regional Preparedness List (y2kforum@efn.org) Currently, the working TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT for our discussion are as follows:

This list discusses community preparedness issues resulting from potential century-date-change (CDC) complications impacting the nationally and internationally shared infrastructures of power, fuel, food, telecommunications, currency, and community services through several means:

A) Information sharing: a) Offering specific reportage of the state of CDC preparations in your own community where you live, and in your arenas of social interest relevant to shared infrastructures. b) Describing specific processes your organization or family are doing to address CDC issues, both potential and real-time

B) Useful debate - i) Restricted to CDC specifics or tangents that strongly relate to community preparedness (in the moderator's opinion) ii) Intended to inform in a manner that promotes: a) active and efficient mitigation of CDC-created problems b) effective management of potentially dangerous risks to: public and environmental health liability and fiscal exposure of citizenry c) personal and community contingency planning iii) When significant concerns arise, collectively mobilizes a) contingency operations planning - private & public b) disaster recovery planning - private & public C) Use of The Millennium Salons: http://www.angelfire.com/mn/inforest/grassroots.html

i) Interest specific forums and salons to debate/archive: a) Topics past the "saturation point" for subscribers b) Strategies/processes relevant to industry/interest c) FAQs and URLs that take folks into the Web d) Official policies/laws that become public record

How to get posted:

1) Submit an intro., and post it in the Millennium Salons, under Cascadia Forum - Introduction Letters; it should say your name, where you are, what's going on in your area, and how to be in touch with you. You will not be posted without this information, either here, or linking to a web page on yourself and your work. Log your web pages in the Salons, too - Casdadia Preparedness Forum; Participants' Web Pages.

2) Be working actively in your community on preparedness, and talk about what you are doing, and the obstacles you're encountering, and the people you're connecting with, and what is working for you where you are.

3) Announce your meetings, publications, and activities. Share your web pages, and other findings. Strive to bring the larger body of your community into a dialogue about y2k and how it affects you and where you live.

4) Post your area reports.

5) Help craft a list that your city councillors, county commissioners, utility workers, public safety personnel, business peers, community advocates and service providers, and others can use on a regular basis to move forward on year 2000 preparedness work in your community.

6) Do not include unnecessary parts of other peoples' posts. Your post will not be included if you don't delete long tails.

7) Please be extremely self-reliant. Do your research, and please don't ask others to spend time helping you if you can find your answer another way. On the other hand, please don't hesitate to make suggestions at any time.

8) Cite your references whenever possible. Do not send small posts of acknowledgement, concurrence or affirmation unless really called for - people on this list have very full mail boxes. Trust that your sentiments of support are recognized by the rest of us - we wouldn't be here otherwise.

9) Avoid sending mail, or news that is widely circulated, and try not to send anything that you don't connect up specifically to your community preparedness efforts. This is not a newsgroup - News can be found at any of a number of sites. If there's a piece of very relevant news, please send it - we'll post it if the load is light enough and it's significant for everyone to read.

10) This is not a beginner's Y2k list. All participants on this list are well aware of the basics of the Year 2000 problem. If you're new to the issue, please visit the Millennium Salons and check out the web pages of our List's members. Searching their links will give you a deeper y2k education, and you can then participate in our list as you build your own network of action in your community.

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2) Year 2000 Community Preparedness Discussion Group

year2000@efn.org

This is an unmoderated discussion list focused on the same topics as listed above, but it is unmoderated and does not request the same posting protocols.

3) Alert2000 is a light list, moderated, announcement only.

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How to signoff any of these lists:

message to: listproc@efn.org

body: signoff year2000 or body: unsubscribe y2kforum

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Thanks for your participation. We look forward to making changes, and making a difference!

-- cynthia (cabeal@efn.org), June 16, 1998


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