True Lawyers User Guidelines

General Guidelines & Tips for Success

True Lawyers wishes you the best experience possible while on our site and in our forums. We ask that you respect each other’s opinions, use common courtesies and always remain polite. In case that does not come natural the following are just a few guidelines to get you thinking in the right frame of mind:

Do not send a reply just to point out someone’s spelling or grammar mistakes. We agree, no one is perfect and one can certainly overlook those mistakes.
Subject lines should not be left blank or filled with "(no subject)". Whenever sending a message, fill the subject with appropriate content.
Using someone else's identity, without the permission of the owner is forgery and fraud.
Advertising is unacceptable behavior. Advertising via True Lawyers wastes resources that neither belong to you, nor have you paid for them.
When attaching a signature to your message, make sure it does not have email address, phone number, or any contact information.
Refrain from offensive messages. You will not only make some people very angry, you may also get in conflict with the law. What is offensive? This depends on who is going to read the message, so choose your words carefully.
Use symbols for emphasis. That *is* what I meant. Use underscores for underlining. _War and Peace_ is my favorite book. Do not forget to place something in quotation marks, if it does not fit into the current context.
Please use English. Any derivative or online typing abbreviations will only confuse the reader. Most lawyers do not speak instant messenger language.

True Lawyers Guidelines & Tips

Before you post to a Newsgroup, read some of the messages there to get a feeling for the group. Find out which kind of posts the readership accepts and which kind of behavior is seen as undesired.
If a post is of interest for more than one group or fits into more than one group, you can cross post it to more than one group.
If you see an error in your message, correct it as soon as possible, by posting the corrected version as a reply to your original message (Do not create a new thread).
Never cancel other people's articles without their permission. If this is proven you do that, you will be blacklisted.

E-Mail Guidelines & Tips

Unless you are using an encryption device (hardware or software), you should assume that mail on the Internet is not secure. Never put in a mail message anything you would not put on a postcard. (e.g. do not put bank account or credit card number)
If you are forwarding or re-posting a message you've received, do not change the wording. If the message was a personal message to you and you are re-posting to a group, you should ask permission first. You may shorten the message and quote only relevant parts, but be sure you give proper attribution.
In general, it's a good idea to check all your mail subjects before responding to a message. Sometimes a person who asks you for help (or clarification) will send another message which effectively says "Never Mind". Also make sure that any message you respond to was directed to you. You might be cc:ed rather than the primary recipient.
Watch cc's when replying. Do not continue to include people if the messages have become a 2-way conversation.
Remember that people with whom you communicate are located across the globe. If you send a message to which you want an immediate response, the person receiving it might be asleep when it arrives. Give them a chance to wake up, and login before assuming the mail didn't arrive or that they do not intend to respond.
Be aware of the size of the message you are sending. Including large files such as Postscript files or programs may make your message so large that it cannot be delivered or consumes excessive resources. A good rule of thumb would be not to send a file larger than 50 Kilobytes without asking the recipient for permission first. Consider direct file transfer as an alternative.