1.   Managing Your Subscription

2.   Yahoo! Groups Help

Yahoo! Terms of Service ("TOS")

Yahoo! Groups Guidelines

Common Yahoo! Problems:

A. Missing Messages - If you feel that you have not been receiving list messages, it may be due to one of these problems:

1) The Yahoo! Groups databases may be holding mail.

2) Your account may be in bouncing status.

3) Your ISP may be deleting Yahoo! Groups messages.

4) Information from the email list managers mailing list.

5) Yahoo! Services Updates

5) Hotmail problems

B. No Mail, Vacation and Autoresponders

C. How can I link my subscription to silkribbon to my Yahoo! ID?

D. I created a Yahoo! ID, but when I try to access the Message archives or the Files area, I get a message saying that I am not a member?

E. When I click on the link to see a file that has been uploaded to the "Files" area, I get a message saying that the file is not available?

F. I have a new email address. How do I change my subscription to my new email address?

G. How do I change my name in my profile?

3.   Nettiquette

4.   Diversity 

5.   Off Topic Posts

6.   Message Format (HTML vs. Plain Text)

7.   Attachments

8.   Scanning Info & Tips

9.   Replying to Messages

10.  Copyright Issues

11.  List Content

12.  Files and Message Archives

13.  Virus Alerts & Spam

14.  Vendors

 1. Managing Your Subscription

The following clickable links for email commands will allow you to change your subscription settings without the necessity of obtaining a Yahoo! ID or logging in at www.yahoogroups.com with your Yahoo! ID.

NOTE: The one exception is that if you wish to set your subscription to "no attachments," you can only make this change at the list Home Page at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/silkribbon/ by loggin in with your Yahoo! ID, clicking on "My Groups," and then clicking on "silkribbon." This change cannot be made via email.

 2. Yahoo! Groups Information and Help

NOTE: Yahoo! does not currently have staff to respond to on-line support for Yahoo! ID or Yahoo! accounts problems.

If you are not able to resolve problems with your Yahoo! ID or your Yahoo! Account after reviewing the help information provided below, PLEASE call:

Yahoo! Support: 1.408.731.3300 +2 +3 on the menu
Fax: 1.408.731.3300
Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST
Yahoo! Inc. 3420 Central Expressway Santa Clara, CA 95051

or

Yahoo! Head Office: 1.415.546-2700

Yahoo! Terms of Service ("TOS")
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Yahoo! Groups Guidelines
http://groups.yahoo.com/local/guidelines.html

Common Yahoo! Groups Problems:

A. Missing Messages - If you feel that you have not been receiving list messages, it may be due to one of these problems:

1) The Yahoo! Groups databases may be holding mail - When the Yahoo! databases hold mail, you can check the list message archives to see if there are messages that you have not recieved. PLEASE do not send a message to the entire list asking if there are missing messages. PLEASE email the List Facilitator at wyldwmn@wyldwmn.com or the List Moderator at SREBrad@aol.com, with your questions.

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2) Your account may be in bouncing status - If the server at your Internet Service Provider ("ISP") has had a momentary "burp," this may put your entire Yahoo! ID in "bouncing" status. Log in at www.yahoogroups.com to check the status of your account, and if necessary, "unbounce" your ID.

There two types of bouncing status: soft and hard. "Soft bouncing" means that Yahoo! has been receiving error messages from your ISP. "Hard bouncing" means that Yahoo! has received numerous error meassages from your ISP within a certain time period, and that your entire Yahoo! Groups account has been "deactivated." The "cut off" time and number of error messages is not available to List Owners as of this writing.

While Yahoo! Groups will automatically send you a "Reactivation Request" via email when your account is in "hard bounce status," this can take up to three weeks or more. As well, even though your account may be in "bouncing" status, this information may not be posted immediately to the Yahoo! Groups home page for your account.

Once you have reactivated your account:

MAKE SURE TO GO BACK AND CHECK YOUR PREFERENCES.

The reason is that when you reactivate your Yahoo! Groups account, your preferences for *NOT* receiving email spam, junk mail by snail mail, telephone calls, etc., may have been re-set to the default of "yes," meaning that you DO want to receive all that stuff.

As well, if you previously set your preferences (for individual lists) to "DO NOT convert to HTML" (so that all of the messages you receive will be in Plain Text unless the original poster used HTML format), then you need to check to make sure that preference has not been re-set as well. Unfortunately, you may have to do this for each list to which you subscribe, which can be time-consuming.

If you have problems, PLEASE do not send a message to the entire list. PLEASE email the List Facilitator at wyldwmn@wyldwmn.com or the List Moderator at SREBrad@aol.com, with your questions.

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3) Your ISP may be deleting Yahoo! Groups messages - Most Internet Service Providers ("ISPs") hold Yahoo! Groups mail as "bulk mail" and deliver it at times when their servers are not busy. However, they don't hold it forever--they will automatically delete it after holding it for a certain time. AOL is one of the many ISP's that do this, and while AOL has stated in writing that it does this, it's support staff, like the suppor staffs of many other ISP's, is not authorized to give you this information if you call them. If you are missing messages, the best idea is to log in at www.yahoogroups.com, go to the home site for silkribbon, and read the messages that you have missed. If some of those messages have attachments that you missed, PLEASE write to the author of the message to request the attachment, or email the List Facilitator at wyldwmn@wyldwmn.com or the List Moderator at SREBrad@aol.com, with your questions.. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL THE ENTIE LIST requesting a copy of the message or attachment.

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4) The following information is from the email list managers mailing list:

Q. Why does list mail come out of order or hours/days late or never appear at all? Why do my AOL members not get all the list mail or digests? Why does it take hours or days for list mail to get to my Hotmail or Yahoo email box?

A. Because AOL, MSN, Yahoo email, Hotmail, Earthlink, et al, are large email providers. They get literally tons of email and they have to watch their servers carefully because they can get overloaded. So they prioritize. They give private email priority over group or
list mail.

Yahoogroups is the largest email list provider (pay or free) and they send out literally tons of mail. Large chunks of that mail go to the largest email providers like AOL, MSN, Yahoo email, Hotmail, Earthlink, etc. Since those large email providers give priority to private email, when their servers are busy, they will refuse connections with Yahoogroups.

In other words, Yahoogroups tries to connect to them but their incoming mail servers say no, try again later. So Yahoogroups holds the mail and waits, tries again later until the email provider (AOL, MSN, Yahoo email, etc) will accept the connection and receive the mail from Yahoogroups.

So that's why things come late and out of order. In addition, AOL has admitted that they trash email from Yahoogroups when their servers are busy, so some Yahoogroups mail is lost and never delivered to AOL members.

This also applies to the confirmations sent by Yahoogroups to confirm your email address or your subscription or unsubscription requests as well as notices to listowners and moderators about pending posts or members. Sometimes these confirmations and notifications take hours or days to get to you or never show up at all.

If you really want to check things out, you can review the full headers of delayed messages. The Received: lines at the top of the headers are the most recent, the top one will be when your ISP or mail provider received it from Yahoogroups. The Received: lines before that one are transfers between internal Yahoogroups servers. So look at the time on the topmost Received line and compare it to the time on the Received line just below that. Adjust for time differences if necessary and if there's a big gap, it means Yahoogroups was trying to contact your ISP or mail provider and couldn't get thru, so they waited and tried again
and again until they got thru.

In the case of AOL, it's also possible there's a delay after AOL received it and before they delivered it to the AOLer's mail box as AOL has admitted that they do sometimes accept mail from Yahoogroups and then hold it somewhere in their system until their servers are not so busy and then deliver it to the AOL member's mail box.

Sometimes an ISP or mail provider isn't reachable after hours or days or trying to send mail and then Yahoogroups considers it a soft bounce. Some Yahoogroups list owners that use Yahoo email have reported seeing a message in their bounce history (go to My Preferences and click on Bounce History) that says "Yahoo mail servers unreachable for too long". This means Yahoogroups tried to send mail to them for a long period and finally gave up. This may happen with any of the large ISPs or mail providers if they experience temporary server problems and have to severely curtail their incoming mail for a period of time until the
servers are fixed and list mail like Yahoogroups is always the first thing they restrict.

Please feel free to pass this info on to any interested parties.

hth,
texas critter

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5) Yahoo! Services Updates:

The following web page was created to inform list members of Yahoo! problems when list messages are not accessible. Please bookmark this site:
http://www.silk-ribbon-embroidery.com/updates.htm

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6) Hotmail problems:

If you use a Hotmail account to receive list messages, Hotmail may have blocked all Yahoo! mail unless you set your preferences to accept messages from silkribbon. To do this, after logging in to Hotmail, look for the "Options" section of your Hotmail account, and then look for "Safe List." Then enter "@yahoogroups.com" (without the quotation marks) so that your Hotmail account will receive messages from all Yahoo! Groups mailing lists. If this option is not set, all Yahoo! Groups may be automatically deleted by Hotmail.

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B. No Mail, Vacation and Autoresponders

If you need to suspend messages to your inbox for a short time because you are swamped with work or going on vacation, PLEASE set your subscription to "No Mail". By using the "No Mail" function, you will be able to pop in from time to time to skim the archives, and also enjoy the Files area. If you unsubscribe, you will not have access to either the archives or the shared files in your absence.

PLEASE do not allow your autoresponder to respond to list messages. This is a violation of generally-accepted "Nettiquette" rules, and it is rude to expect other list members to read your autorespond messages repeatedly.

Additionally, Yahoo! has recently implemented technology that detects autorespond messages. When Yahoo! technology detects a number of messages sent by you to Yahoo! mailing lists in a short period of time, it will automatically deactivate your account. Because Yahoo! does not have staff to deal with deactivated accounts, the time period for reinstating your account can be up to twelve weeks or more. If you use an autoresponder and you do not set your subscription to "No Mail," autoresponder messages may result in your Yahoo! account being deactivated, and it may result in your being unsubscribed from the list.

C. How can I link my subscription to silkribbon to my Yahoo! ID?

http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/groups-51.html

D. I created a Yahoo! ID, but when I try to access the Message archives or the Files area, I get a message saying that I am not a member?

The problem is probably that when you created your Yahoo! ID, the process of linking your list subscriptions to your Yahoo! ID was not fully completed. Go to http://yahoogroups.com. and sign in. Click on "My Preferences" and then click on the Email Addresses "Edit" button. Click on "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page. This should fix the link between your Yahoo! ID and your email address. However, changes may take up to 48 hours, so be patient and keep checking.

E. When I click on the link to see a file that has been uploaded to the "Files" area, I get a message saying that the file is not available?

This can happen for several reasons and appears to be related to a glitch in the Yahoo! system for obtaining a Yahoo! ID. The first thing to check is that you have clicked on the entire URL, and not just the portion that shows on the first line before the line has been "wrapped" at the right margin of the page. If the URL is "wrapped," you may have to copy and paste it in sections to the "Address" window at the top of your web browser.

Another reason this can happen is based on a glitch in the Yahoo! software. When you receive the "Oops" message that the file is not available, and you are sure that you have a Yahoo! ID, just click on "Files" at the left side of the page. This should result in the Files area being available to you. You will have to refer to the message where you found the link to find out the name of the folder and the name of the file you are seeking. This will most likely be a folder in the name of the poster, and inside that file you will find the files that the poster has uploaded, including the one for the link. Once you have clicked on "Files" and then found the file you are seeking, the next time you click on a link to the Files area, it should work for you. Apparently this is a glitch with respect to cookies on your computer with regard to Yahoo!

F. I have a new email address. How do I change my subscription to my new email address?

To Change your email address:

1. Subscribe your new email address by sending a message from your new email address to silkribbon-subscribe@yahoogroups.com;

2. After you begin receiving messages at your new email address, then unsubcribe your old email address by sending a message from your old email address to silkribbon-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

If you have a Yahoo! ID, continue with the following steps:
(Note: If you do not follow these remaining steps, you will not have access to the list home page, and you therefore will not have access to the messge archives, files, photos, links, chat room, etc.)

3. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/ and sign in with your password.

4. Click on "My Groups" in the upper right hand corner.

5. Click on "Email Preferences" in the middle of the page.

6. Click on "Add/Edit Email Addresses" on the left side.

7. Under "Email information" in the middle of the page, enter your new email address.

8. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "Finished" at the right hand side.

9. Wait 15-30 minutes for the Yahoo! database to update, and then return to http://groups.yahoo.com/. Note: It is not uncommon that the database will take 48 hours up to 3 weeks or more before it updates, or for a Yahoo! database error to occur such that the Yahoo! database never updates. It is important that you print out the pages as you go through the process so that you have reference materials should you need to contact Yahoo! Support.

10. Click on "My Groups" in the upper right hand corner.

11. Click on "Edit My Groups" on the left side.

12. For each group for which you are changing your email address, use the spin box under "Email Adress" to change to the new email address. When you are finished resetting your email address in all of the spin boxes, click "Save Changes." If you do not click "Save Changes," the email address will not be changed to the new one for any of your subscriptions.

 G. How do I change my name in my profile?

The following information is from the email list managers mailing list:

If you are posting off of the Yahoo! Groups site and find the wrong name showing up, the following will correct that:

1. Log onto groups.yahoo.com with your Yahoo ID

2. At the top right are 4 links. Click on the one that says "Account Info"

3. You will now be on an "Account Information" page. On the right hand side of the "Yahoo ID Card" is something that says Public Information, then a link right underneath your Yahoo ID that says "Edit/Create Profiles." Click on this link.

4. The next page should have an [Edit] next to your Yahoo ID -- click on that.

5. On the next page, there's a link in a box that says "Edit Profile Information." This link is right below the box towards the top that says "xxxxxxx's Profile" [xxxxxx being your Yahoo ID]. Click on the Edit Profile Information link.

6. NOW this new page is where you put in your name -- In the "Your REAL Name" box is where you want to put the name you want to show up in emails to your list *when posting from the website*.

 3. Nettiquette

"Nettiquette" refers to commonly accepted Internet ettiquette for communicating via email to individuals and mailing lists.

List members who violate "Nettiquette" and/or List Guidelines, will be gently and respectfully reminded by the List Facilitator in private email, with assistance offered as appropriate. It is not the desire of the List Facilitator to unnecessarily embarrass anyone on or off the list. Gentle, private email reminders are the preferred recourse for keeping us all on track, as is offering help to those who are still learning about rules of "Nettiquette." If necessary, your subscription may be put on "moderated" status if you are having problems with posting issues. "Moderated" status means that the List Facilitator will review and approve your post before it is delivered to the list. If your post violates Nettiquette or any of the List Guidelines, then your message may be rejected.

Below is a list of URL's to Netiquette sites which will provide helpful information to both novice and seasoned users.

http://pixel.cs.vt.edu/class1/spinners/InternetSpeak/nettiquette.html
http://www.rangenet.com/mainhtml/nettiquette.html
http://home.wish.net/~sparhawk/nettiket.htm

 4. Diversity

We are a very diverse, world wide list. PLEASE do not make religious or politically-oriented posts, or post "jokes." Your religion is not the right one for everybody. PLEASE do not represent it to be so. PLEASE be sensitive to diversity by not making negative statements or jokes about ethnic groups, sexual orientation, men, "teenagers," etc.

Gender bias is a form of discrimination. PLEASE do not exclude the male gender by addressing your posts to "ladies," "gals," "girls," "the women on the list," etc. We are very fortunate to have many male members on our list, and it is important that this list be a safe forum for everyone, without leaving anyone feeling that they are excluded or that they are in any way an 'exception' to the norm.

 5. Off-Topic Posts

Our list enjoys off-topic comments and posts from time to time. As a courtesy to those on the list who do not wish to read information not related to silk ribbon embroidery, PLEASE add "OT:" (off-topic) to the subject line of your post if you are making brief comments about things not related to silk ribbon. Private conversations between you and another list members about where you live, the weather, children, etc., should always be sent privately. Other list members who pay for telephone time by the minute, and ISP time by the hour, do not wish to pay for downloading messages that are very off-topic.

Likewise, from time to time list members may experience personal emergencies. PLEASE send personal condolences and offers of assistance via private email. If you are a list member who has experienced personal challenges, PLEASE request that responses be made to you in private email and include your email address in the body of the message.

 6. Message Format

Whilte Plain Text is preferred, HTML code is allowed for list messages due to the fact that some service providers do not allow the option for Plain Text messages in their email programs. If you do send your messages in HTML format, please send very plain messages without colored backgrounds, stationary, or flashing .gif files. The following are *some* of the reasons that HTML can cause serious problems for recipients:

1. HTML colored backgrounds and HTML stationary frequently cause email program to stall or crash, causing loss of mail messages and possible damage to systems.

2. HTML code may carry special coding that sends information back to the originator. For example, if you forward an HTML message, information about the persons to whom you forwarded the message together with any new text that you included, may be sent back to the originator without your knowledge.

3. HTML Code displays differently on different systems, and in may cases, the HTML message cannot be viewed at all. The result is that not all list members will be able to receive all the messages.

4. HTML Code picks up extra code as it travels over the Internet, which can result in very large messages that cause problems for recipients. These problems range from drastic increases in telephone and connect time, to complete loss of mailbox (and all messages contained therein) due to the large file size of the HTML message. Additionally, HTML messages frequently cause problems with email programs, again causing the loss of mail messages not to mention problems that may occur when the program and/or computer "crashes" due to the HTML code.

5. HTML Code frequently sets of virus software, causing the recipient to believe that a virus has been received from you or the silkribbon list.

6. HTML Code allows Yahoo! Groups to attach very large graphic files in the form of advertisements. These advertisements not only create large messages that are time-consuming to download, but they may contain spybots. Spybots are programs that are not detected by virus software, that sit on your computer and send your personal information (such as your email address, name and address, phone number, credit card information, social security number, passwords, etc.) back to the owner of the spybot. You should obtain and use spybot software with the same care and concern that you use virus and firewall software. Additionally, spybot software uses a tremendous amount of resources, and may lead you to believe that your hard drive is dying. Before you go buy a new computer, make sure that you have installed and run spybot removal software. Some sites for spybot software and information are:

Spybot Search & Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/

Ad-Aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Norton AntiVirus - Windows version
http://www.symantec.com/smallbiz/nav/

If you prefer to set your email program to send messages in Plain Text format, you will find information at this website for configuring your email program for Plain Text. http://www.expita.com/nomime.html.

In addition to the information provided by the above-referenced website:

-Your email program *may* pick up HTML format from someone else's message, even though you have your default for outgoing mail set to Plain Text format. PLEASE double check your outgoing messages to make sure they have not picked up HTML format.

- Check your preferences for your subscription to silkribbon@yahoogroups.com, to make sure that you have selected "Do not convert to HTML." If you do not check this box, then all list messages will be converted to HTML format when they are sent to you by Yahoo! Groups.

 7. Attachments

One of the strengths of our list is the enthusiasm of list members in scanning their work and sharing with the list. In order that all list members may view attachments without problems, PLEASE follow these guidelines:

- PLEASE do not post scans that you have made from books, magazines, other websites, or any material that you do not own. Not only is this a Federal copyright violation, but *many* companies employ indiviudals and utilize search engines on a full-time basis to detect these kinds of violations. Likewise, Yahoo! utilizes a full-time search engine to detect copyright violations. When a copyright violation is detected, the entire list is *immediately* deleted in its entirety, with *no* notice to the list owner or the list members.- PLEASE make sure that your attachments to the list are in .jpg format, and that they do not exceed 300K in size.

- PLEASE try to send attachments one at a time. When you send multiple attachments with your message, you may cause other list members to suffer extremely long download time which often results in nothing more than pages and pages of code. Sending more than one attachment can also corrupt and "explode" the mailboxes of other list members, causing them to lose *all* of their incoming mail. For those list members paying for their connect time by the hour, multiple attachments can use up their connect time for the entire month. This is very frustrating for people who live in areas where additional (or faster) connect time is not an option.

8. Scanning Information and Tips:

Basic scanning information and tips can be found at the following website: http://www.scantips.com/

If you need assistance scanning and/or adjusting the size of your files, PLEASE contact the List Facilitator at wyldwmn@wyldwmn.com or the List Moderator at SREBrad@aol.com.

Don't have a scanner? The List Facilitator or List Moderator can scan in your color photocopies and photos. Send email to wyldwmn@wyldwmn.com or SREBrad@aol.com for more information.

 9. Replying to Messages:

When replying to list messages, PLEASE quote only the portion of that message that clarifies your response. Delete all of the footers and advertising, as well as portions of that message that are not pertinent to your response. Because our list members subscribe from all over the world, many of them pay for telephone use time by the minute, and are limited to the number of hours they can connect to the Internet each month. When you quote the entire message with footers and advertising, it increases the cost download time for these list members, uses up the time they have available to be connected to the Internet, and it makes the Digest version of the list extremely time-consuming and difficult to read. To edit the message to which you are replying, use your mouse to highlight the text that you wish to delete, and then press your delete key.

Below is a URL with information about how to edit messages:
http://learn.to/edit_messages

 10. Copyright Issues:

The following URL is provided for your reference:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html#wnp

Posting Private Email and Posts from Other Lists

It is illegal to post private email posted by someone else without the express permission of the author. This is a Federal copyright issue. If you wish to post another person's private email, PLEASE place a clear disclaimer at the very top of your post stating that you have permission to post.

Likewise, PLEASE do not post messages from other lists or websites without permission from the author and/or the list owner or website owner. Yahoo! Groups has strict policies about this, to protect the privacy of their subscribers. PLEASE be respectful of the policies of other list services and other mailing lists and websites, by obtaining permission from the list owner and/or the author before posting to the silkribbon list. If you have permission to post a message that you have seen on another list, PLEASE place a clear disclaimer at the very top of your post stating that you have permission to post.

Picture attachments

PLEASE do not post scans that you have made from books, magazines, websites or any material that you do not own. Not only is this a Federal copyright violation, but *many* companies employ indiviudals and/or utilize automated search engines on a full-time basis to detect these kinds of violations. Likewise, Yahoo! utilizes a full-time automated search engine to detect copyright violations. When a copyright violation is detected, the entire list is *immediately* deleted in its entirety, with *no* notice to the list owner or the list members.

 11. List Content:

If you have questions, suggestions, objections to list content, or concerns regarding the postings of another list member, PLEASE email the List Facilitator privately at wyldwmn@wyldwmn.com or the List Moderator at SREBrad@aol.com. PLEASE do not post your concerns to the entire list--you may not be aware of issues that have already been addressed.

 12. Files and Message Archives:

If you have a picture of your work and would like to share it, you may send it to the list with your message, or upload it to the "Files" area and then send a note to the list. When uploading files, PLEASE make a folder for your name, open the folder, and then upload your pictures to that folder.

To get to the Files area, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/, and sign in with your password. Click on "My Groups" and then click on "silkribbon." Click on "Files" on the left side where you see "Files" in the list of options. The next page you see will be the shared files area. You may view files, or upload your own.

There is also a section at the Yahoo! site called "Photos." Please be aware that when you upload pictures to the Photos section, Yahoo! automatically reduces the size of your file, and clarity may be lost.

The Messages area is a collection of each day's posts. To get to the message archives go to http://groups.yahoo.com/,click on "My Groups" and click on "silkribbon." Click on "Messages" on the left side where you see "Messages" in the list of options. The next page you see will be the message archives area. You may read messages or search for words or phrases. Our message archives contain a wealth of information, from stitching technique to dying your own ribbon. We highly suggest that you read them as you have time. Note: When you enter your search terms, the search engine will return a partial listing of messages containing your search term. To see additional search results, click "Next" at the bottom of the page.

RAPIDLY FLASHING ADVERTISEMENTS: When you encounter flashing advertisements in the Message Archives, hitting the "Esc" key on the upper left hand side of your keyboard will disable them. Flashing messages can be a serious issue for persons with epilepsy. To see the Yahoo! disclaimer regarding this issue, please visit see Section 17.e. of the Yahoo! Terms of Service at http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/.

 13. Virus Alerts and Hoaxes:

PLEASE do not post virus alerts or other hoax, SPAM or chain-letter type information to the list. If you have a question about information of this type that you would like to share, send it to the List Facilitator at wyldwmn@wyldwmn.com or the List Moderator at SREBrad@aol.com.

PLEASE pay particular attention to the following types of hoax messages:

- asking you to "forward this message to as many people as possible." These items are hoaxes and they are intended to create conflict and/or collect email messages for illegal purposes. They are also illegal chainletters the same as if you mailed them at the USPS.

- indicating that a class at a school is tracking email all over the world. These are most often messages perpetrated by people who are trying to cause servers to malfunction when they suddenly received many thousands of messages.

- asking you to send a post card to a sick child. These are most often messages perpetrated by hoaxters.

- asking you to forward information about a missing child. These are most often messages perpetrated by hoaxters.

- asking you to "feed the hungry" or "click to provide a mammogram." Many of these projects are for the purpose of advertising consumer products, and they are exploiting the misfortune of other people for their own financial gain.

You may also wish to utilize the following websites to check out the validity of any such alerts and hoaxes:

http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/

http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes//

http://www.mcafee.com/anti-virus/default.asp

http://www.datafellows.com/vir-info/

 14. Vendors:

Vendors who are list members are invited to post advertisements on Saturday each week with "SRAD" preceding the subject line. This allows list members who do not wish to read advertisements to simply delete the message. Advertising during the week is not allowed, although vendors are encouraged to contact list members in private email when questions arise about the availablity of products.

For information about being included in the Vendor Directory and to see the Vendor, Designer and Teacher Guidelines, PLEASE go to: http://www.silk-ribbon-embroidery.com/vendor.htm or email the List Facilitator at wyldwmn@wyldwmn.com or the List Moderator at SREBrad@aol.com.