The purpose of the WSBA Labor and Employment Law Section's e-mail list (message board) is to facilitate discussion between members of the WSBA Labor and Employment Law Section.
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Basics: When a member of the list sends an e-mail message to
wsba-laborandemployment@yahoogroups.com, the e-mail list computer will send the message to everyone who is on the list. That's all there is to it!
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Replying to a message: A reply to a message from the list works just like an original message. If you reply to a message that came from the list, your reply goes to the whole list. Usually this is what you intend. But if you want your reply to go only to the individual who sent it, be sure to delete the group's e-mail address from the "to" line in your reply message.
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Sign all your messages: Put your name, not just your e-mail address, on your message. You may also wish to include contact information, such as your business address and phone. It's much more useful and fun to know who is communicating with you, and it may lead to the occasional referral.
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Searching Archives: E-mail list messages are retained in an archive. After a while, this archive can develop into a huge base of practical knowledge that you can search. Access to the archive is limited to members of the e-mail list by a user id/password combination. Information about this will be posted soon.
- WHAT SHOULD BE SENT TO THE E-MAIL LIST?
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WSBA does not censor or moderate the list. What is posted is up to the section and its members, subject to reason.
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Keep it substantive: This is a professional board, not a social one, so don't forward jokes, inspirational messages, sales pitches, etc. Let's keep the signal-to-noise ratio high so that we all look forward to reviewing our group's e-mail.
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Give a very clear subject header: Headers like "Labor and Employment Law" or "Question" do not tell recipients that your message is on a topic that interests them. The more explicit you are, the more likely you are to attract the attention of the person who can help you. Also, when replying to a message you received in a Daily Digest, be sure to remove the subject header "Re: Digest Number 509" and replace it with the subject header of the message you are replying to.
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Be very polite: It is too easy to write something in a moment of passion that is regretted once it's publicly posted. (And think about how it might affect referrals!) Be particularly wary of posting negative comments about judges, other attorneys or experts (your words always get back to them somehow); things like that should be handled via privately.
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Trim replies: When writing a reply to someone else's post, your e-mail system may automatically insert all of that post into your reply message before you even started typing. In a spirited discussion, the tail of old messages can build up fast! You may want to just quote the relevant point and then respond to it.
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Don't feed the trolls: Some people love to provoke a fight and every e-mail list suffers from them. They are referred to as "trolls" because they are "trolling" for a fight. There is nothing you can say that won't encourage them, so the most effective response is complete silence.
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Avoid politics: Of course there are "political issues" in Labor and Employment Law; no-one can agree on every point of law and those are fair game. But debates about politicians or current events can quickly turn personal and aren't worth the damage it does to the group. Take it offline!
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Be discreet: You may wish to limit any unnecessarily particulars about a matter you wish to discuss, to avoid embarrassing your clients or an Opposing Counsel who may also be on this list.
