Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Below are a series of frequently asked questions (FAQs). If you cannot find the answer to your question, please feel free to contact the

How to post an event on the PAA online calendar

We hope you'll want to add your events to the PAA online calendar to make it easy for others to learn about them. Events on our calendar show up automatically in the upcoming events list in the right column of our home page. Also, we place events entered here in the middle column of our home page as date for the event gets close, to give it more prominence. In addition, we include these events in our "Upcoming Progressive Events" e-mail sent to our announcements list every week or two.

Submitting your own event is easy:

1. Click on the "Submit an event" link at the top of the right column of the PAA home page at http://progressiveactionalliance.org

2. Fill in the boxes in the next page that comes up. You may leave some boxes blank if they do not apply, such as "Event web site" and "Event fee" (if there's no charge to attend). Be sure to include either a phone number or e-mail address for people who want more information, although you don't have to provide both.

3. Be sure to make the title descriptive. This is what shows up in the monthly calendar at http://paa-tx.org/event and in the upcoming events listing in the right column of the PAA home page. Don't make the title something ambiguous like "Special event-please come". You don't need to put the date in the title, because it will show up in the date field. A descriptive title also makes the event and its details easier to find with the Search capabilities of our web site, even long after an event has happened.

4. Add whatever text you want in the description box. It can be long, but put the most important information in the first paragraph, because that's what will appear on our home page when we move your event notice there as the date of the event approaches. If you include a web link somewhere (Http://...), be sure NOT to put a period immediately following it, or else a link will not be created automatically. If the link is at the end of a line, it's best to follow it with a space before entering a Return character.

5. Watch for these common problems:

5a. Date and Time: Be sure to enter the correct day and time for the event. It defaults to the current day and time, so if you don't fill this in, then the event won't show up on the calendar in the right place and no one will know when it occurs.

5b. For the location, in the Street address field, be sure to put ONLY a street number and street name ("100 Main St."), OR an intersection ("Main St. at Montrose Blvd."). If you add something else, like "1/2 block north of ...", then the Google map generator won't work to help people find your event. You can put brief comments - anything you want in the next line, labeled "Additional". Be sure to specify BOTH the city and the state so the map generator will work.

5c. Use the default (plain) text editor for the event description box. Do NOT click on the link for the rich-text (html) text editor. It has bugs in it and often causes more problems than it's worth. If you know how to use html tags, you can manually insert them into the text.

6. Click on the Preview button at the bottom of the form and make sure everything looks right at the top of the preview page that comes up next. If anything needs correcting, scroll down below the preview pane and fix whatever you need to.

7. *** VERY IMPORTANT *** Click on the "Submit" button at the very bottom after checking everything with Preview. If you don't do this, your event submission will be lost. On the other hand, if things have become all garbled up and you want to start over, just hit the back button on your web browser and you can re-enter everything.

If you have questions or problems, or want us to upload a flyer or other attachment to your event notice (attachments should be in pdf format), e-mail one of these people:

c.lee.

To enter your event information now, click on this link: http://www.paa-tx.org/event/submit

Remember that you can find this help page again under the "FAQs" (Frequently Asked Questions) tab at the top of any page of our web site. Thanks for using the PAA online event calendar.

How to join a committee / action group

The PAA has several committees / action groups working on issues. Below are the current committees. The most important step is to be sure to subscribe to mailing lists of committees you wish to participate in.

Truth in Recruitment - discussions and planning for military counter recruitment and truth in recruiting issues.
Department of Peace - discussions and planning for the establishment of a Department of Peace.
Election Reform - discussions and planning relating to election reform and the verifiable voting initiative.
Empire Building - discussions about the Iraq war, globalization, US aggression in the world and other issues pertaining to empire building.
Environmental Issues - discussions and planning relating to environmental issues including peak oil.
Houston Social Forum - discussions and planning relating to development of the Houston Social Forum.
Impeach - discussions and planning relating to the impeachment of Bush and dissemination of information surrounding the Downing Street Memo.
Media Reform - discussions and planning relating to media reform.
Webteam - discussions and planning for the website.

PAA e-mail lists & forums-how to subscribe, see archives

To get more information on each e-mail list/forum, and/or to subscribe to any of our e-mail lists

To get more information about any of our e-mail lists, and optionally to subscribe to that list

To unsubscribe from any of our lists

Guidelines for all lists

To read previous messages sent to the lists

archives

To get to the PAA discussion list archives

To get to the PAA announcements list archives

any messages you post to the e-mail lists will be seen by many people

you should NOT post any personal messages or information that you don't want others to see

PAA e-mail lists--Don't send attachments; put them on web site instead

This FAQ explains why you should not send e-mail messages with attachments to our lists, and how to share those files with everyone in another way. Many people want to share the latest political cartoon, photo, MS Word or Powerpoint file, MP3 song, or other file with others on our e-mail lists. This is a great way to communicate ideas, and can certainly be more interesting than reading a lot of text. It's easy to send an attachment, and most people can get and open most attachments without a problem. However, some people have problems opening attachments, and it also causes other problems, so we strongly discourage you from adding attachments to messages you send to our lists. This includes forwarded messages, too. There are better ways of sharing your files with others, and we'll help you do this-- see below. Some reasons why you should not send attachments to our list: 1. Attachments are one of the main ways that viruses, worms, and other malware spread, especially to Windows users. EXE executables are one obvious way they can spread, but not the only way. For example, MS Word files can also harbor viruses. Just because a message appears to come from someone you know and trust does not mean that it's legitimate. Many viruses use names and e-mail addresses from an infected user's address book as the "From" address when they generate messages to spread to others in that same person's address book, to make it look like a friend is sending you a file you should open. 2. People who use digest mode for our lists often can't open the attachments, and sometimes it interferes with them reading other messages in the same digest. (Digest mode is where the mail server collects messages sent to the list, and then sends them out at the end of the day in a single "digest" message, so you don't get so many individual e-mail messages each day.) 3. Large attachments take a long time to download for people using dial-up Internet connections. If they don't want the attachment, or are running short on disk space, they'll just delete it anyway, and it irritates people when you force them to download a file that they don't want just so they can delete it and get to their next mail message. 4. Large attachments eat up bandwidth and disk space. A single photo can take the same bandwidth and disk space as many text messages, and when you send it to everyone on a list, these requirements are greatly multiplied. 5. Netiquette guidelines say that you shouldn't send large files or messages to people unless you know they want it. 6. Attachments can't be accessed from the Mailman archives on our web site. Thus, people who want to find an attachment that was sent to the list in the past can't get to them, unless they personally saved the attachment on their computer. 7. Attachments can't be located with the search function on our web site. Text describing a file that is in our photo gallery or downloads sections can be easily located via by searching, though. 8. Not everyone may have the application needed to open your file. 9. People may not have the time to look at your attachment when you first send your mail message, but they may want to find it later (perhaps weeks later). It's difficult or impossible to do this if it's attached to a mail message, especially one without a descriptive title, or which the recipient deleted because it took up too much disk space. 10. One of the main reasons why some people don't want to be on our e-mail lists, or drop off of our lists after being on them for a while, is that they get too much e-mail and especially don't want to get messages that take too long to download or take up too much disk space. We don't want people to drop off of our lists because of this. We don't want to discourage you from sharing photos, cartoons, songs, or other files with people on our e-mail lists. We just want to keep from annoying those folks who won't be able to enjoy the file (see above), and to make it easier for people to find the file later. So, do this instead: 1. Make sure the file is in a format that everyone can open. This means it's best to avoid proprietary formats (for Microsoft MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, or Adobe Illustrator, etc.), or other formats that require a program that not everyone may have and which require non-free programs to open. RTF (interchange format) is best for formatted word processing documents that someone may need to edit. PDF (Portable Document Format) is best for formatted documents that don't need to be edited. MP3 is best for audio files. GIF is best for photos and similar graphics. If you aren't sure, or need help converting a file to a different format, send a message to our web team at webteam@paa-tx.org and ask. 2. Run a virus check on the file with your favorite virus checker, to make sure it's not going to infect other people's computers. This is especially important if you got it in an e-mail from someone else. 3. Rather than sending a file as an e-mail attachment, it's better to upload the file to the photo gallery or downloads section of the PAA web site, then send a text message to one or more of our lists, giving a short description of the file and giving the URL (address, link) on where to find it. For example, you could send an e-mail message that says "If you want to get the flyer we distributed at the 2006 Martin Luther King, Jr. parade in Houston, you can get it from the PAA's web site, in the Impeach downloads section, at http://www.paa-tx.org/?q=node/1244 . It describes how Bush is destroying MLK's legacy, why Bush should be impeached, and has contact information for Houston-area US Representatives. You can find other downloads at http://www.paa-tx.org/downloads ." A message like this makes it easy for people to find your file using the web site's search function, because the text of your message is posted in our forums, and all that is searchable. We don't have a way (yet) where you can upload a file to our web site yourself. So, in the meantime, please mail it to webteam@paa-tx.org and we'll upload it for you, and send you a link that you can include in a mail message like the example above, that you send to all your friends (on our lists or others). This may seem like a nuisance for you to do this, but it's often a nuisance or worse (in the case of a virus) for multiple people when attachments are sent to our e-mail lists. Let's please be courteous to others. Again, if you have questions or problems, please contact the PAA web team at webteam@paa-tx.org Thanks for your understanding and cooperation!

PAA e-mail lists--Guidelines for posting messages

To make our e-mail lists work better for everyone, and to minimize the workload for our volunteer list moderators, we ask you to please follow these guidelines when sending messages to our e-mail lists: 1. Put the list address (discuss@paa-tx.org, etc.) in the "To" or "cc" field, and never in the "Bcc" field, when sending your message. 2. Send your message to NO MORE THAN 10 addresses (including the list address--it counts as one). 3. Please do NOT send e-mails with attachments to our lists. 4. Please delete advertisements and extraneous text from messages when you forward or reply. Details and explanations are below. - - - - - - 1. Put the list address (discuss@paa-tx.org, etc.) in the "To" or "cc" field, and never in the "Bcc" field, when sending your message. Our list server, as do almost all others, intercepts each message that you send to the list, if you put the list address (such as discuss@paa-tx.org) in the "Bcc" (Blind carbon copy) field. This is because spammers often put addresses in the bcc field, and we don't want our lists used to propogate spam. Then a list moderator has to take time to manually deal with your message (to see if it's spam, and then approve or reject it.) - - - - - - 2. Send your message to NO MORE THAN 10 addresses (including the list address--it counts as one). This is another spam-prevention measure. Messages with more than 10 addresses in the "To" or "cc" field are also intercepted by our list server and a moderator has to take time to manually deal with it. If you need to send your message to more people, please send it separately to the others. - - - - - - 3. Please do NOT send e-mails with attachments to our lists. With a few exceptions, the general rule is please DO NOT send any attachments with your e-mail messages. Attachments can cause various problems, and require a moderator for the list to take time to manually deal with each such message that you try to send to the list. I know it's very easy to send an attachment with a message, but it sometimes causes problems for others (and potentially very serious problems if the attachment contains a virus). We have other things to do than spend time checking on every message posted to our lists that has an attachment. There are better and safer (but sometimes, less convenient) ways of sharing photos, other graphics, audio, and text files with others. If you want to send a graphic, pdf, or other file that is already on another web site somewhere, just send a brief text message describing it, and include the URL (web address, http://www....) where people can get it. If you want to send us a file that is not already on a web site and available to the world, we can upload the file to the PAA web site to make it easy to access. Please see the FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) about this at http://www.paa-tx.org/node/1282 It describes the many reasons why sending attachments is a bad idea, and tells you what to do instead to make your file available to others. I don't want to discourage you from sharing files of interest -- we just need to be considerate of others on our list, and careful not to spread viruses. There are better ways of making the files available than sending them as e-mail attachments. One of these days, when we have time to implement it or get some more volunteers to help with the web site, we hope to be able to let any members of our lists have an individual logon that will let you upload your own files and have your own blog on the PAA web site. Until then, though, we can upload the files for you, if you want to make them available to others. See the FAQ above for details. - - - - - - 4. Please delete advertisements and extraneous text from messages when you forward or reply. Please take a few seconds to be courteous to others on our e-mail list. After you click on the "Reply" or "Forward" button with your e-mail program, but before you hit "Send", please do this. Select (drag across with your mouse) and delete material that you don't need to send to everyone on our list. This includes ads from e-mail services like Yahoo, extra graphics, and text from an earlier message that isn't relevant to your reply. If you don't do this, it just eats up network bandwidth and disk space for everyone on our list, and it makes it extremely difficult to find the material of interest if you are looking through the list archives or for people who use Digest mode with our e-mail lists. It's also annoying, to say the least. - - - - - - Thanks, everyone, for your understanding and cooperation.

PAA e-mail lists--How to change your e-mail address or name

Go to http://paa-tx.org/mailman/listinfo/announce_paa-tx.org
Enter your old e-mail address in the very bottom blank (by the "Unsubscribe or edit options" button), then click on that button.
On the next page, enter your password for the list. If you don't know it, click on the "Remind" button at the bottom of that page and it will be e-mailed to you, usually within a minute or two. Then go back to that page and enter your password.
On the next page ("Announce mailing list membership configuration"), enter your new e-mail address. You have to enter it twice as a guard against typing errors, and if you don't enter it the same both times, it will warn you. Don't click on the "Change my Address and Name" button yet.
Check the "Change globally" box so your e-mail address will be changed for each PAA e-mail list (Announce, Discuss, Impeach, HSF, etc.) to which you are subscribed, so you'll only have to do this once.
Click on the "Change my Address and Name" button. If you didn't change your name in the name field, it will keep it as it was.
If you get a subscription confirmation e-mail message sent to your new address, be sure to follow the instructions in order to confirm the address change. This is to prevent someone from changing your address without your permission.

PAA web site content guidelines

Here are some suggestions/guidelines for content on the Progressive Action Alliance web site.

If you feel the need to make an exception, or have questions or suggestions, please contact one or all of the PAA web site admins first:
* Charlie Lindahl
* Sarah Gonzales
* Bill Crosier

For all content:

* No video or audio files should be uploaded (with the possible exception of short MP3 audio files). They take a lot of bandwidth and our server can't handle that. If we need this later, we'll have to pay extra for this. Instead of uploading such files, include a link to where people can find it elsewhere on the web along with a short description.

* Minimize the size (resolution) of photos and other images that are on a web page. This means no 1 megapixel images, for example. They take too long to download (especially on dial-up links and cause the entire web page to take too long to load. A good guideline is about 100kB for the maximum size of pictures and graphics (preferably 25 kB or less). For our photo gallery or an attachment to a web page, larger files/resolutions are OK, but it's still best to keep them to 500 kB or so, and be sure to also upload a thumbnail image (small, low-res) for the gallery index.

* For attachments, make sure they are in a universal, non-proprietary format if at all possible. This means no Microsoft or Pagemaker formats, for example. MS Word documents (and Windows executable files like EXE's) are among the worst, as they can also harbor viruses, as well as being unusable by people who don't have MS Word or a Word converter. Plain text is OK. PDF is best for documents where you want to retain the formatting, and these can also include graphics as well as text. If your PDF converter has this as an option, make sure that it embeds fonts with the file, so it will display properly on other computers that may not have the same fonts loaded. (The PDF converter built into the Mac OS X operating system does this automatically, and there are several free PDF converters for Windows XP.) JPG's are fine for photos or other graphics that don't need to be scaled.

* Don't use the Safari web browser for editing event pages -- Civicspace has a bug that keeps it from working properly. We recommend using Firefox, but I think Internet Explorer also works OK.

* Use Civicspace's plain text editor if possible. The HTML (rich-text) editor for events has some bugs in it (apparently affects all browsers). It sometimes won't allow you to unbold text that you previously set to bold, for example. It also puts some extra and unnecessary html tags into the source for the web page, although usually this does not affect the display. I recommend using the plain-text editor (selected by clicking the "disable rich-text" button in most cases. If you are familiar with using html tags, you can still insert html tags and edit them using the plain text editor, and then use Preview to make sure it looks OK. If you go in and edit the HTML code, be sure to use the close (end) tag for any open (start) tag.

* Don't allow content on the PAA web site that says that the Progressive Action Alliance endorses a candidate for political office. We can have stuff like that in our e-mails because they don't go to the entire world, and PAA members are free to endorse whoever they want, but we are not a PAC and we're not supposed to say that we endorse a candidate as an organization. It's OK to post events for candidates, though, as long as we allow other candidates to have the same opportunities to do this. it's also OK for PAA to endorse issues.

* Don't forget to click on "Submit" when you are done entering or editing a web page. No changes will be saved until you click on the "Submit" button at the bottom of the web page for entering or editing the entry. It's best to first Click on "Preview", though, so you can make sure everything looks right, then you can click on Submit. If you forget to hit Submit, then everything you entered will disappear when you close that web page. This can help you, though-- if you are editing a web page and it gets really messed up, just click on the Reload Page button (or select it from the drop down menu) to delete your changes and go back to the previously saved version of the page.

For calendar entries (events):

* Watch for these common problems and either correct them if the right information is supplied, or call the contact person indicated for the event:
- Title isn't descriptive about the event (This is the only thing that appears on the monthly calendar and in the upcoming events list in the right column of our home page.) Vague event titles like "
- Date is the current date (that's the default -- they forgot to enter the date)
- The incorrect event type (Meeting, Fundraiser, Social Event, etc.) is specified (default is "Conference") - Note that you can select more than one type. If this is not specified correctly, the event may not show up during searches for the desired event type.
- There's an extra "http://" entered for the event web site (The Civicspace software inserts this automatically, so if they don't read the instructions and also include "http://" then the link won't work.)
- Address isn't specified properly so the automatic map generator (to help people find the event) won't work. The "street" entry must be either a number and street name (like 1000 Main St.), or an intersection (like Main St. at Congress St.) -- if you say 1/2 mile north of XXX St., it won't work. Also, both the city and state must be specified. Be sure to click on the map link to test it -- some people apparently don't do this for events they enter.

* Don't approve entries that are anonymous and have no contact info (phone number or e-mail address) or web link listed. This is rare, but it happens occasionally. People don't have to provide all of that info, but they should include at least one.

Participating In Or Chairing Your Democratic Precinct Convention

Participating In Or Chairing Your Democratic Precinct Convention Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Prepared by: Stan Merriman Updated by: Bill Crosier and Sarah Gonzales

WHY? Because this is your opportunity to impact the affairs / direction of the Democratic Party of Texas. It is the most basic grassroots expression of participatory democracy, right in your neighborhood. This is where Parties get built and changed. The main business is to elect and become a delegate to your Senate District or County Convention (NOTE: counties where the entire county is in the same Senate District have County conventions instead of Senate District conventions) to be held on Saturday March 25, 2006 where delegates to the State Convention are elected and resolutions passed on issues of the day.

WHEN? Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at 7:15pm in the building where your precinct has voted on election day. A notice should be posted at the polls to announce the meeting, right after the polls close at 7pm.

WHERE? In or very near the building where your precinct voted during the primary election. Call your County Democratic Party office during the daytime of the week prior to election day to confirm the location. It will also be listed in the newspaper and should be posted on the web site of the County Clerk’s office.

WHO? Anyone who has just voted in the Democratic Primary election starting with early voting through election day on March 7.

HOW? First, just show up! Better yet, call friends and Democratic allies in your precinct who share your views on issues you care about and recruit them to join you. Typically these meetings last about an hour.

BRING? Your voter registration card, a pen, paper, and if you wish, a copy of the Democratic Party Rules from the Texas Democratic Party website. Also bring several copies of issues Resolutions you are interested in presenting to move up the Party chain. The goal is ultimately to write these resolutions, vote on them at the various conventions (precinct, senate district, county and the state convention) and get approved resolutions included in the state Texas Democratic Party platform.

Bring a copy of the two attachments listed at the bottom of this web page, too (this precinct training information, plus the 2-page summary from Democracy for Texas on how to be effective at your precinct convention).

WHAT? The Democrat Chair typically runs the meeting, but if not available, or preferred by the group assembled, any participant can be elected to Chair the meeting. A packet is provided to guide the convention Chair through the meeting steps, agenda and reports that have to be completed which ultimately document the proceedings.

The major business conducted at the precinct convention is to elect delegates and an equal number of alternates to go to the March 25, 2006 Senate District or County Convention and vote on resolutions. Major meeting steps are:

All participants sign in.
Call meeting to order.
Elect meeting “Permanent” Chair and Secretary (to take minutes and prepare forms).
Chair announces the number of delegates assigned by a formula set by the Party Rules and an equal number of alternates to go to the March 25, 2006 Senate District or County Conventions.
Participants nominate and elect Delegates to go to the March 25, 2006 SD or County Convention. You can nominate yourself and vote for yourself. Delegates elected do not have to be at the precinct meeting, but must have voted in the Democratic Primary. That is verified at the SD or County Convention where lists of the voter rolls are maintained.
Chair calls for reading of Resolutions. Participants vote for or against Resolutions to go forward to the SD or County Convention. This is a simple majority rules vote up or down.
Logistics of SD or County Convention are discussed and a motion to Adjourn is called for by the Chair. Assignments are made to call Delegates and Alternatives not attending the Precinct Convention.
The Chair and Secretary complete and sign the forms provided in the Convention packet, including copies of Resolutions accepted, and follow instructions on disposition and filing of the forms and reports.

There is another very useful 2-page handout on precinct conventions from Democracy for Texas.

2006 Convention Details and Useful Information

Important Dates

January 6, 2006 - First Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail
February 6, 2006 - Last Day to Register to Vote
February 10, 2006 (if did not request runoff ballot on application for primary ballot) - First Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail
February 21, 2006 – First Day of Early Voting
February 28, 2006 - Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (received not Postmarked)
March 3, 2006 - Last Day of Early Voting
March 7, 2006 - Primary Election Date

If runoff elections are required, the following dates apply

March 13, 2006 (March 12th is the 30th day, but deadline moves to next business day) - Last Day to Register to Vote
April 3, 2006 - First Day of Early Voting
April 4, 2006 - Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (received not Postmarked)
April 7, 2006 - Last Day of Early Voting
April 11, 2006 - Primary Runoff Election Date

Attend the Senate District (or County) and State Convention!

March 25, 2006 – Senate District (or County) Convention
June 8 – 10, 2006 - Texas Democratic Party State Convention - event information + map

Harris County Clerk’s office
Phone: 713 368-POLL
Election information including poll locations and sample ballots
Website

Harris County Democratic Party Office
1445 North Loop West, Suite 110
Phone: 713-802-0085
Website

Texas State Democratic Party Office
Democratic Party Rules for 2004 – 2005

Other Randomly Useful Information

You can calculate, in advance the number of Delegates to your SD Convention by visiting the election results archive. (Note these election results pertain only to Harris County, for other counties, please visit your County Clerk website or call if the information is not available online)

Locate the Nov. 5, 2002 General & Special Elections CANVASS REPORT (HTML or PDF available)
find the Democrat “governor” results for your Precinct, (Sanchez)
Calculate the total of all votes in your Precinct for Sanchez, divide 25 into that total. This should be the number of delegates assigned to your precinct. You will also need an equal number of Alternates. Typically, in non-Presidential years like this, anyone who wishes to be a Delegate or Alternate will get to attend. Note that this information IS included in the packet the convention Chair receives, this is only a formula if you want to calculate that information in advance.

A note about voting for delegates.

(a) one vote for each of three candidates;
(b) two votes for one candidate and one vote for one other candidate; or
(c) three votes for a single candidate. Only a full vote may be cast; fractions of a vote are prohibited. Persons receiving the highest number of votes shall be the Delegates elected by that caucus.

Secret ballots are prohibited by the party rules!!

What is a trackback and how do I use them?

The purpose of a trackback is to let a site know that you are referencing them on your on site. A much more detailed explanation is here. Only blog entries provide tracksbacks on our website currently. There are 2 options for trackbacks using our website.

Allow trackback - checking this box will automatically generate a URL that may be used from other websites to reference your entry. Example, person A comes across your blog entry and would like to reference it on another website. Person A would copy / paste the trackback URL onto THEIR website (providing a reference back to ours) and then write or comment on your entry.

Enter one URL per line for each trackback you wish to send - a PAA user comes across a page(s) on another website that they would like to reference or comment on and a trackback URL is provided for that page. Copy the trackback URL from that page and paste it into this area and write up your comments. You are commenting on someone else's page on the internet and providing a reference to the original content for users to follow.

Why is my email bouncing?

When you send email to any of our mailing lists, you may receive a message back indicating that your message did not post and "bounced". There are several reasons this could occur, however, the most common problems are mentioned below. Rest assured that the PAA list moderators will get in touch with you if there are problems and they will respond to these requests as quickly as possible.

Q1:
Your mailbox may be full and not accepting email. Particularly if you use AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail or any other free email service, keep in mind that you have a mailbox quota. Once your mailbox is full, email is no longer delivered to your address and a returned message gets sent back to our mailing list administrators. Mailman will keep trying for a period of time to send email, but if after 10 tries, it still fails, Mailman will automatically disable your account from reception of mail. This is the most common problem.

Solution: it's time to delete some mail or increase your disk space (quota).

Q2:
What does it mean when I see the message that my post is held because "message has implicit destination". How do I avoid this?

Solution: The list address must be explicitly specified. Mailman lists can not be blind carbon copied (i.e. the list address can not be in the bcc: field). In order to avoid this message, you need to specify the list address in the to: or cc: fields.

Q3:
Do I have to subscribe to the mailing lists in order to send email to the lists?

Solution: Yes. We do this to eliminate spam as much as possible. If you wish to send email to a list, please subscribe to that list. You can subscribe to any of our mailing lists here.

Q4:
My message was rejected and I received this message - Reason: Message body is too big: XXXXX bytes with a limit of 30 KB

Solution: Email is a wonderful thing allowing individuals to forward documents / images, etc... in the form of attachments. However, please consider that we may have several hundred people on a single mailing list. Forwarding documents that are large in size can flood our lists. Attachments are also the typical mechanism that spreads viruses from one computer to another. For that reason, the PAA web administrators have set the allowable attachment size to be very small. That doesn't mean that your message won't be approved, it simply means that messages with attachments over a certain size will be reviewed by the web admins prior to posting. If the attachment is indeed too large, your message will be rejected and a suitable note will be attached indicating why your posting was rejected.