Dear OANDP-L,
I wanted to take this opportunity to review a few of the basic guidelines
for OANDP-L, and also review the subscribe and unsubscribe
procedures for later reference.
On a quick note, I am proud to announce that OANDP-L is now over 900
subscribers strong, and growing! The listserver is sponsored by
Shands Hospital at the University of Florida, and is endorsed by the
American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists and the International
Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics as a medium for the discussion of
clinical, academic, and political O&P related topics. The list has been in
operation since March of 1995, and remains a free service to the
worldwide O&P community.
1. Basic Rules
2. Posting Guidelines
a. How to post
b. Subject Line
3. Responding to a Message
4. Summarizing Responses
5. The “No-No’s”
6. Subscribing to the list
7. Unsubscribing from the list
8. Reaching the “Help Desk”
9. Closing Remarks
1. Basic Rules:
OANDP-L is intended for the discussion of clinical, academic, and political
issues related to orthotics and prosthetics. All submissions should be
signed, and it is expected that a summary or compilation of responses be
posted back to the listserver for the benefit of all other subscribers.
2. Posting Guidelines:
2a. How to post.
To post a message, send mail to : [email protected]
Please use a descriptive subject line.
When you send a posting to the listserver, you will NOT receive a copy
of the posting. This is normal, since we have set the listserver settings
to minimize the possibilities of mail loops.
2b. Subject Line
OANDP-L is an International forum. Out of respect for individuals from
nations other than your own, we request that when posting a message
which is political in nature, or specific to your region or country, that the
subject be prefixed with a general term describing the nature of the post.
For example, a posting related to an American O&P association’s bylaw
changes should be prefixed with:
USA Politics: Bylaw change discussion
This will allow subscribers who may not be interested to take advantage
of the powerful DELETE key in order to bypass the message quickly.
3. Responding to a message:
Please make an attempt to respond directly to the individual who posted
the question. That would mean that when replying, especially for the
AOL users, that you choose the “Reply to” option, and NOT “Reply to All”.
This will aid in the prevention of cluttered email boxes and never-ending
discussion threads. This rule is not set in stone, as some discussions
are best held in public. The tolerance level of the OANDP-L subscribers
will typically help limit discussions to a reasonable duration. Please be
respectful of others and know when to say when.
4. Summarizing responses:
When summarizing or compiling your responses, please include the
original question in the first part of the message, followed by the
responses. Users subscribe daily, and if they have not seen the original
posting, a review will help make more sense of the responses.
Also, please indicate that the posting is a summary in the subject line, as
well as the true subject of the posting. A good example is a recent
posting with the subject of:
“Respones:Liquid Powder”
5. The ” No-No’s”
-NO Commercial Postings- unsolicited postings promoting specific
products or services are considered commercial. If you are unsure if
your posting would be considered commercial in nature, feel free to send
me a sample posting before submitting it to over 900 others.
-No discussion of Pricing
-No salary listings
-No profanity
6. Subscribing to the list:
If you know someone that would like to subscribe to the list, have them
send a message to:
In the body, type:
Subscribe oandp-l firstname lastname, credentials
Send it, and then await an acknowledgement. Follow instructions, and
you are in.
7. To Unsubscribe:
Send a message to
In the body, type:
unsubscribe oandp-l
Send the message, and you should be unsubscribed. There may be
problems if there have been settings changed in your mail program since
your original subscription, or if you have switched network systems. if
this is the case, send a message to me directly at [email protected],
and you will be manually deleted from the list.
8. Reaching the “Help Desk”
If you have a problem, send a message to [email protected].
It is helpful if you include a copy of the error message that you received,
and a detailed description of the problem. It sometimes takes a while to
get things straightened out, but please be patiently persistent and we will
get things fixed.
9. Closing Remarks
Hopefully the above has covered a majority of the important issues. If
you feel that anything has been left out, please contact me. if you have
any difficulties, feel free to contact me and I will assist in clearing the
matter.
Enjoy the listserver, and share the information with others. The list is
only as strong as its membership, so please encourage other
practitioners to get involved and to share and gain clinical knowledge
through this forum.
Thanks for your participation.
Sincerely,
Paul E. Prusakowski, CPO
Shands Hospital at the University of Florida
Orthotics and Prosthetics Department
