Guidelines
Welcome to bus! You've joined a unique online support group. Over the years, we've developed some guidelines that help us co-exist.
Boring technical stuff
Please don't send attached files to the list. They will bounce. If by some chance they don't bounce, they will generally produce hundreds of lines of gibberish in the digest. To share a file with everyone, put it on the web and post a description with the url, or describe it and offer to mail it privately to people.
For the same reason, please don't use stationery or pictures when emailing the list - these generate attached files. If you're using Outlook Express, please be certain your address book entry for bus is set to "send plain text only." html and rich text format and attachments make the digest difficult to read. If you seem to be having a problem with this, I may email you and offer to help you figure it out - don't feel like you're being reprimanded if I do.
If you want to forward something to the list, please forward just the text - delete headers and such. This is mostly a problem with AOL stuff - instead of forwarding, use cut and paste. Please don't forward virus warnings (unless you're certain they're not hoaxes), get rich quick schemes, letters about getting paid by Microsoft or icq or whoever for forwarding things, etc. If you get something in email that sounds interesting - an appeal, an 'illegal' chocolate chip cookie recipe - check it out with me before posting so I can spare you the trouble if it's a hoax.
Behaviors that are not tolerated
Reposting private mail is not permitted unless the person who sent you the mail agrees that it's okay. It's a good idea to drop me a note explaining, too. If you violate this rule, the first time I will assume it was an accident and help you figure out how not to do it again. If it happens again, you will be warned. If you do it a third time, in most cases, we will have to talk about your status on the list and you will be asked to be moderated (a system in which your posts are reviewed by a neutral third person before being passed on to the list) or to leave.
Suicide notes are not permitted. If you are going to kill yourself and want to say goodbye first, you can send email to me or someone else to send on to the list after you have died. If you post "I'm going to go kill myself now, bye," you are seriously screwing with people's minds and causing them a great deal of pain. There is absolutely nothing we can do in response to a letter like that. We have no way to stop you, and bus is not a suicide-prevention list. If you are hurting badly and want to die and want people to help you remember why you wanted to live before, you can post that. Just do not post "I'm going to go die now" and leave it at that. You will be placed on moderated status or asked to leave for doing that.
Do not post asking about better ways to hurt yourself. This isn't a methods-trading database. It's okay to ask about safe SI or about treating wounds, but asking us to help you hurt yourself just doesn't go. You are responsible for what you do to yourself; if you ask for suggestions, you're pushing that responsibility off onto us.
Personal attacks are not tolerated. We are all fragile here, and we succeed as a community because we are careful of each other's sore spots. If you have a gripe with someone, take it private; we don't need to read about it. If you have a serious problem with someone on the list harassing you in private, please come to me about it; often, we can work something out (or one person can be asked to leave, depending on what the situation is).
What is said here stays here. We strongly believe that people have the right to tell what they choose about their lives to whom they choose. It's not any of our place to decide for someone else that their partner or spouse or parent should know about their SI. bus is a sanctuary, and it works because we all keep it safe.
These are the basic guides that help us all stay safe and get along. If you have any questions at all, please let me know; I can be reached at llama@drizzle.com.
Please email suggestions/links to: webmaster@buslist.org
design © 2001 Ratatosk