The Groups Owners/Moderators
More on Groups
Every group has at least one group owner and some have more than one owner.
A group may also have moderators. These folks make sure the group is run in an orderly manner and also ensure the group rules are enforced.
(Please note, not all groups are like this but a good group is run efficiently and keeps the spammers at bay.)
Sometimes it's just hard to figure out what is expected of us in an email list, especially when there is so much information we are trying to absorb and process.
Forgetting to trim your posts! This is the number one thing that sets off the moderators. The first time I got a message rejected because I didn't trim (at the time I was new to Group lists), I was devastated. I thought the person who rejected my post was picking on me and I didn't dare post anything else for a long time. In fact, I left that list shortly thereafter.
The subject line is something else that sets a lot of folks off when the subject is changed, however minutely. This is because some people use a process called 'Threading'. Webopedia explains threading well.
There are other things that tick off the owner/moderators as well like cross posting. But the thing to remember, most of these rules are there for a reason. Folks in some places have to pay for every minute they are online. Trimming posts cuts expenses for some users that pay for internet connection by the minute.
Keeping the Subject line intact until the issue is resolved is necessary for the members that use threading to keep track of an issue. It also helps when searching for a message on the group's web site.
Remember, those seemingly un-necessary rules keep everything running smooth!
One thing to note, if you have a group and you don't get much traffic, maybe you are not sensitive to the members and come down too hard on members that don't always obey the rules. Moderation is the key, help your members, don't berate and punish them. (Unless of course they are spammers!)