Welcome to soc.history.moderated, a newsgroup for general historical
discussion, presently moderated by a group of four people.  We are
volunteers who do our best to make the group useful for you.  While
that sometimes involves making difficult decisions, we want to be
helpful, and we hope in turn that you can be understanding.

The following email addresses may be of use, and are included in the
news headers of postings:

Article submissions: soc-history-...@bcm.tmc.edu
Administrative questions: history-...@medieval.org

Our most basic policy is "content neutral" moderation.  In other
words, we do not care which "side" of an issue you take.  We will,
however, be forced to reject articles which begin making political
rather than historical arguments.  We will also redirect topics
for which dedicated newsgroups of greater focus exist.

To make everything proceed more smoothly, please make note of the
following points of format:

1.  Edit your text.  Include some whitespace between paragraphs,
and do not use lines longer than 80 characters.  Do not include
special characters which might be mangled in transit.

2.  Edit the text you quote.  Some of us cannot approve articles
which do not include more new text than old text.  Also, please
remove signatures and other personal items from quotes, but give
a proper attribution note at the beginning.

3.  Read the thread before posting.  Do not post the same thing as
someone else.  You need to add something new, or your article is
not interesting to someone else.  Send personal notes of support
directly to the appropriate person.

4.  Do not post the same thing more than once.  We will usually
reply in less than a day, but sometimes things do interfere.

5.  Do not post inquiries directed at us.  Use the administrative
address given above.

6.  We will make an effort to reply to you, whether your article is
rejected or accepted (which the vast majority are), unless you make
life more difficult for us by mangling your email address.

Articles are distributed to one of us at random, in order to speed
up the approval process.

If you appeal a rejection, all of us will have a look at the situation,
and if one of us wants your article posted, it will be.  That is our
"err on the side of inclusion" policy at work, and so no matter who
happens to see your article first, it will have an equal opportunity.

More details on our policies can be found in our "official" and rather
lengthy Guidelines document on the web at:

http://www.medieval.org/history/guide.txt

Thank you for your support.

--The History Moderator Team