ADMIN: Welcome To Our New Members! Please Read...

[hpfgu_elves]

No: HPFGUIDX 159388

Hello, everyone!

As many of you may know, Yahoo Groups is spotlighting
HPforGrownups this week in their "Inside Yahoo! Groups"
section:
http://groups.yahoo.com/

We're honored to have been selected. This spotlighting has
brought us great numbers of new members, so welcome to you
all! We're very happy to have you join us! We'd also like
to mention that, to our knowledge, there is no date yet for
the final book's release. Perhaps Yahoo has some inside
info <g>, but as far as we know, there is *no* release date.
We can hope for next summer, it's still possible, but could
very well be 2008 as well. Sorry to disappoint everyone. ;-)

HPforGrownups (HPfGU) has been around for a few years now
(founded as a Yahoo Club in September 1999, moved to Yahoo
Groups in August 2000), and is a very large and busy group
with a diverse membership. Due in part to these factors,
HPfGU has a fairly sturdy structure of posting rules, moreso
than many other groups.

So, we'd like to take this opportunity to direct you to our
Humongous BigFile (which we refer to as the "HBF"). A
lengthy file that is sent to our new members upon joining
(HBF_Text__MUST_READ), it explains the "things you need to
know" when you post here:
http://www.hpfgu.org.uk/HBF21Sept06.html
It can also be found in the "Admin_Files" folder in the
Files section of the group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/files/Admin_Files/

Section 1 explains such things as Legal Issues all members
must be aware of; account settings; moderated status; our
'sister' groups; who we, the List Elves, are, and how we may
be contacting you, how you can contact us with any questions
or problems, and so on.

Section 2 lists our Posting Rules. These are indeed rather
long, we apologize for that, but we wanted them to be as
detailed and clear as possible.
http://www.hpfgu.org.uk/PostingRules_22Sept06.html

Two things we'd like to note here:
One -- we ask folks to limit themselves to 5 posts a day;
this is both to help keep volume down to a more manageable
level, and also to encourage everyone to make more
'substantive' posts -- rather than just dashing off a few
lines in reply to a message, instead make one post that
comments on a number of posts in that discussion thread,
or make a longer post of your own, elaborating on your
various HP thoughts. The idea is to try to advance
discussion, to give your fellow list members something they
can really think about and respond to.

Two -- we ask that members not 'top-post' (replying to a
message by putting your new comments at the top of the
message leaving the quoted message to follow). Instead,
please write your post *below* the quoted material (quoted
material is the content from another post you are replying
to). This is mentioned in our posting rules, but here is
an admin that explains it as well:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/154637

Please, please, *please* make sure to read at least sections
1 and 2 of the HBF! Additionally, a good way to learn the
posting standards is to follow the posts of your fellow list
members; it can help to get a look at the posting rules
"in action," so to speak. :-)

Sections 3 through 5 give information we think you may find
useful -- info about our FAQs, abbreviations you might see
here, the "Fantastic Posts", the Lexicon and other excellent
HP resources, and so on.

One last note: it's extremely important that all members,
especially those who post, frequently check the email
account you are using for this group. All new members start
out on moderated status, so if you don't see your post coming
through to the list, it may be because the elves are trying
to reach you. Also, please realize that with the greater
number of messages being sent, your message may still just be
in the 'pending' queue. The Elves are working hard to make
sure messages get handled in a timely manner, so we thank you
for your patience, but please feel free to contact us if you
don't see your post show up. Again, the email account you use
for the group is the Elves' primary means of contacting you,
so please remember to check it!

So, again, welcome to everyone; we hope you enjoy yourselves
here! If you have any questions at all, please let us know.
Ask your personal List Elf, and/or just write to us at
HPforGrownups-owner at yahoogroups.com and we'll do whatever
we can to help!

--The Elves

Alla -- Alika Elf
Amanda -- Amandageist
Betsy Hp -- Oopsie Elf
Ceridwen -- Vexxy Elf
Charme -- Bex Elf
Debbie -- Speedy Elf
Dhyana -- Nani Elf
Jen -- Ari Elf
Kathy -- Zaney Elf
Kelley -- Kelley Elf
Laura -- Wilder Elf
Mary Ann -- Dizzy Elf
Melody -- Aphrael Elf
Nora -- Alto Elf
Petra -- Penapart Elf
Pippin -- Peppy Elf
Shaun -- Crikey Elf
Sherry -- Blinky Elf
Sheryll -- Rylly Elf
Susan/RB -- Smiley Elf
SSSusan -- Shorty Elf
Tim -- Kroppy Elf

Specialized Elves:
Heidi -- HPEF Liaison
Paul -- TechnoGeist
Steve -- Keeper of the Lexicon