Joining the Forum:

UNG maintains several mandatory distribution lists for official communications to its employees, such as "faculty" and "faculty-staff." UNG employees are automatically subscribed to these distribution lists as recipients, and only certain individuals can send messages through them for the purposes of official campus business.

However, the UNG Discussion Forum is a voluntary distribution list whose membership is comprised of UNG employees who have requested that they be added as members. To subscribe, you must open up your UNG e-mail account in the OWA (Outlook Web App) and follow these instructions, which I have copied from the OWA help file and adapted for this list:

• Select Settings > Options > Groups > Distribution groups I belong to.
• Select Join .
• In the dialog box, select the group you want to join, which in this case is entitled 'Discuss-UNG' <Discuss-UNG@ung.edu>. You can search for this or any group by typing all or part of its name in the search window, and then selecting the search icon . To clear the search results, select Clear .
• Select the Discuss-UNG group.
• Select Join .

At this point, you will see a pop-up box indicating that a request for membership has been sent to the list owner. That's me. It's a 1-click operation, and although it may take me a few days to get around to enrolling you, I will. If you make the request and don't get a confirmation within a week, please let me know!

   Posting to the Forum:

At the point you get an e-mail confirming your enrollment, you will begin receiving messages posted to the group. You can also post messages to it. To do that, you will need to need to click on "New E-mail," just as you would for any new message, and enter the group's e-mail address. It is Discuss-UNG@ung.edu. It should work in your desktop client as well as the web app. Once you send a message to the list, it should come up via the autofill feature when you start to type the word "discuss."

Important Note: If you were also a member of the old discussion list, you will have to be sure that your autofill feature does not default to the old list address, which was discussion@northgeorgia.edu. Once you've entered the new address manually, however, at worst you should get a choice between the two in your autofill window. You can then, if you choose, just delete the old one from your address book.

  Appropriate Topics for Discussion:

Topics that are appropriate for discussion include (but are certainly not restricted to) the following:

• Current issues of interest at UNG

• Inquiries, concerns, or observations about teaching, research, and service at UNG or elsewhere

• Reviews or opinions on articles, books, films, software, concerts, sporting events, etc.

• Announcements of or invitations to conferences, workshops, or other events & meetings not related to general faculty/staff concerns

• Opinions on local, state, national, and international events, affairs, and politics

• Thanks, kudos, suggestions, critiques, or other recognitions of individual or group achievements, conduct, and efforts

• Items wanted or offered for purchase, sale, for rent, or without charge.

• ??

   UNG Notice Board:

Please note that the UNG Faculty/Staff Notice Board is also available for multiple purposes. It's a destination website that you can simply visit when you wish, but you can also choose to get instant notifications on your desktop when things are added, or receive daily email summaries of selected items posted that day. Also, items posted in the NoticeBoard as University Business or Announcements are included in the daily email that goes out to faculty and staff.

  Inappropriate Conduct:

The Discussion Forum Committee, when it still existed, believed that as a constitutional right and fundamental principle to democracy, free speech should be supported and encouraged in this forum. As the Discussion Forum owner, I completely agree. However, the Committee also felt duty-bound to strongly discourage the following, as do I:

• Using the list to distribute obscene materials or circumvent copyright restrictions

• Revealing another's personal or professional information inappropriately

• Intruding on or revealing another's private or professional affairs

• Name-calling or other "ad-hominem" attacks

• Offensive, threatening, or otherwise harassing language

• Threats of violence or harm of any kind

• Any form of conduct prohibited by UNG Faculty & Staff Handbooks, UNG & USG policies, or applicable laws and statues

Subscribers engaging in such conduct should realize that they are subject to the same sanctions, disciplinary actions, and prosecution they can expect in any other institutional or public domain. I, as did the Committee, encourage members to consult the the State of Georgia's AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) for information technology resources for any questions they might have:

http://ung.edu/information-technology/_uploads/files/Appropriate-usage.pdf 

Finally, if a discussion thread points out the need for administrative or other attention to human or physical resources at the university, please don't assume that mere discussion will result in such services being performed. These needs should always be communicated through normal university channels (immediate supervisors, help desk, etc.).
 

  Some "Netiquette" Tips:

The following helpful hints will help make discussions more substantive and pleasant and, as more subscribers come on-line, keep the overall volume of communications at a tolerable level:

• When you respond to a posting, consider whether you should address the whole list ("Reply All") or respond to the sender privately ("Reply"). Making a mistake on this can cause a lot of embarrassment, or worse, compromise your credibility or your employment status. I fully support free speech, but since this organism is in fact the property of the State of Georgia, I recommend caution. In the electron stream, it's often less about what you say than it is about your choice of addressees.

• When you're ready to post to the forum, reread your message. Considered composition and correct spelling lend it credibility, giving you time to think about what you are sending. Once you hit "send," it's too late!

• Before you forward a message or other content from someone else to the list, consider whether or not s/he sent it to you in confidence. If s/he did, you may lose a friend or gain an enemy!

• Remember that what you write may live in someone's archives until it comes back to either lend you glory or haunt you forever!

  Unsubscribing from the Forum:

1. Select Settings > Options > Groups > Distribution groups I belong to.
2. Select find and select "Discuss-UNG" or whatever distribution group you want to leave.
3. Select Leave and say goodbye to to your fellow co-listers!