U.S. Department of Defense - Webmasters List FAQ Guidelines

DoD Webmasters List FAQ

List Guidelines

DOD WEB FORUM GUIDELINES:

GENERAL INFORMATION:

The DOD Web Forum mailing list (and associated digest) has been created for use by DOD and other interested federal government personnel (including contractor personnel) assigned duties related to DOD website development, content management, communications, operations, and administration as a forum to openly discuss issues related to website implementation support, including, but not limited to, discussing existing and future policies related to the management, maintenance, security, manning and doctrine of DOD websites.

YOU CAN USE THE FORUM TO:

Learn about all aspects of website development and operations and improve your own skills.
Keep up-to-date on the latest policies and information practices related to your career.
Be part of a real knowledge management practice community with the chance to develop professional relationships and key contacts in the DOD information community.
Exchange official as well as technical information on website implementation support topics.
Advise others of training or data they have relating to website implementation support topics.
Provide a method for higher Echelon Commands to pass immediate information to field activities regarding - instructions, notices, requirements, etc.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of the DOD Web Forum is two-fold. It is intended to serve anyone interested or involved in web development, content management, communications, operations, and administration by facilitating the sharing of ideas, "how to information" and more. Most importantly it is an information sharing self-help forum. It is also intended to be a productive forum resulting in the improved delivery of web services both to the public and to personnel within DOD.

We recognize that the Internet's World Wide Web is rapidly becoming the primary means of sharing information both with the public and DOD personnel. This forum will support DOD's efforts to expand the use of the Internet, including the World Wide Web, and other information technologies as force multipliers, information distribution vehicles, knowledge management systems and public relations tools. By so doing, we hope to improve many facets of our operations, improve our service to DOD employees, military members and their families, and to assist in telling the DOD story.

Only unclassified information will be discussed when using any information transmission method associated with the DOD Web Forum. All information transmitted to and from the list is subject to security monitoring. Specific postings may be referred for review by your respective public affairs office or other appropriate authority for accuracy and suitability should this Forum be subject to an OPSEC review.

Participants in the DOD Web Forum should be aware that their postings may be subject to public release under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. (See, http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/).

Membership is open to all DOD and other interested federal government personnel assigned duties related to website development, content management, communications, operations, and administration. Prospective members who do not have a valid .mil or .gov email address must provide proof of status. Contractor personnel requesting membership must provide the URL of the supported website and the email/contact information for their immediate Contracting Office Representative (COR) or other applicable responsible representative in their chain of command. The Forum is not open to commercial vendors, news reporters or others not involved in DOD/federal web development.

POLICIES:

1. Screening/Moderation.

E-mail postings sent to the DOD Web Forum list are not screened prior to distribution to subscribers to the Forum, although we do reserve the right to place any individual subscriber in a moderated status allowing pre-screening of messages. Individuals may, at the sole discretion of the ListOwner, be moderated, if they fail to adhere to the guidelines set forth herein. You may post messages directly to the list; therefore, please consider carefully if the message you want to post is DOD Web Forum-related.

2. Property and Copyright.

This list and all communications sent to or from the list regardless of method are the property of the Department of Defense and owned by the public. All subscribers agree that all postings to the list are without copyright and non-proprietary. Information transmitted via this list may be released to other agencies or the public without further consultation with individual subscribers. If you do not agree with this policy, you are encouraged to participate in a "listen only" mode.

3. Release of Information.

All postings are intended for government use and not for republication or release to the general public, except as noted below. All requests for the public release of a posting to the list will be forwarded to the ListOwner for disposition. This restriction shall not apply when a member's e-mail is subject to any release determination and that release determination only affects the individual member's e-mail. This restriction shall not apply to the distribution or dissemination of information via e-mail or re-publication of information as public web content when the information is:

a. A Link(s)to resources identified on the list; example, you may republish a link to a software program, website, etc., that is mentioned on the list.
b. A quoted official statements that have already been released on a public website
c. The sharing of code samples, provided they are not related to site security
d. An officially released alert or warning related to site security or information related to responding to a threat or attack situation, when the redistribution is limited to DOD or other federal webmasters, web teams, security personnel, or system administrators, provide the redistribution is in a manner consistent with any restrictions noted in the message or on the site of the organization authoring the alert or warning.

When in doubt consult one of the listowners for guidance.

4. Non-Attribution.

To encourage full, frank, and free discussion, we encourage members to respect the postings of other members and not to forward postings by other members to other government personnel without the prior permission of the member who authored the message to be forwarded. We realize that in some circumstances rapid responses to information security threats may require immediate response without the formality of obtaining courtesy permissions. In such cases, we encourage members to give the original author a heads-up as to where messages have been forwarded and to what addressees.

5. Conservation of Information Resources.

Also, when replying or responding to previous messages, the portions which do not pertain to your reply need to be deleted. This helps cut down on email size and server traffic.

6. Professionalism and Ethics.

All personnel participating in the DOD Web Forum will at all times comport themselves as professionals in accordance with the DOD Standards of Ethical Conduct and will avoid any conduct that would be in violation of law, regulation, or policy.

A friendly, informal atmosphere is encouraged. However, the listserv is NOT intended for recreational use, jokes, virus reports or chain-letters. Chain-letters are covered quite extensively at http://urbanlegends.about.com mailto:urbanlegends.guide@about.com Please email or visit this site before considering chain letter posting.
Please note that this listserv is for INFORMATION EXCHANGE. It is NOT intended to be a forum for debating any topic not germane to webmaster issues. Check http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8d/user/user.html#2.3>to ascertain if a list exists for the particular topic you want to discuss if you find it is not appropriate for the DOD Web Forum.
Keep in mind that your emails will go out to DOD Web Forum members globally so excellent net manners are not only encouraged but requested. Guidance on email conduct is available at <http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05386>.
Do not engage in PREACHING or trying to convert someone to your specific software or hardware platform specifications.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

This is a Department of Defense forum designed for webmasters and operated according to the list's rules found in this document and http://www.dod.mil .
Participation is voluntary and subject to these rules. The Web Forum ListOwners are charged with operating this list in compliance with federal law, DOD regulations and policies, and the list's rules and may delete, disable, change, or modify a subscriber account and/or access to list resources without prior notification.