WGEN guidelines on email and other policy standards:

First and foremost: do NOT add the WGEN email address to any lists or other mailings.
I do not have time to deal with unsolicited emails. They get the DELETE button.

The URL for all articles is required - best to place it at the top of the article so it isn't missed.
The entire article is required (copy/paste it).
Sending a lonely link for me to go read isn't going to get my attention. I don't go to *links* without text as to what it is about.

Please note:
W.G.E.N. does NOT send any attachments to list mail.
W.G.E.N. does NOT open attachments - they get deleted without opening.
W.G.E.N. does NOT view You Tube or other videos.
W.G.E.N. does NOT hold polls or do surveys.
W.G.E.N. does NOT participate in on-line petitions.

• Emails with a URL but nothing else (no article) get deleted.
• Articles without a URL get deleted.
• Articles that contain lots of previous names and/or addresses and/or forwarding arrows ( >>>> ) get deleted.
• Clean out prior names and emails.
• If I can't do a fast copy/paste then I usually don't bother with it - I don't have the time.
• If you think the item is good enough to forward then make sure it is CLEAN and easy to read, just as you would send a Letter to the Editor.

SUBJECT LINE: The subject line explains the topic in the post.
Consider the subject line to be the label on the folder of information. Not only does it tell if it is of interest but for archiving it is a necessity.
Blank subject lines tell **nothing**
A year down the line I have no idea what URGENT - ALERT - MUST READ - contains.
Ever pack to move and label everything *miscellaneous* and then try to figure out what is in that box after it has been in storage for a few months? Same thing applies to Subject lines in email.

With so much going on TIME is what none of us have a lot of. Each step along the way makes it easier - or harder - for the next person to distribute the information and for the readers to read it.

Also, WGEN does not send attachments to list mail and does not open attachments. If it can't be copy/pasted into the email body then it gets dumped without being seen. Some folks have no idea how long some attachments take to download for those on dial up and there are still a lot of WGEN subscribers on dial up so that is part of the reason for NO ATTACHMENTS. I don't open them simply because of time and not caring to deal with all the sneaky ways viruses have of entering in. I have great firewalls and virus protection but I find that it is best for me to just dump all attachments.

Due to my tight time constraints I also do not join groups so if you are one of the many who send me invitations to JOIN (insert names) Group and you haven't heard from me - it is because I don't join any of them. I simply do not have the time to do so.

The WGEN Board  http://www.voy.com/19385/  is there for those of you who like to discuss things or post messages that don't fit the email format. Please make use of it - Posting is very easy - the people who provide the board have really done a lot to make posting a much easier deal than it used to be. I moderate the board so no message is seen until I have approved it. Check it out and you may find another outlet for things you are interested in but don't get posted to the list due to formatting or daily volume.
Do not post copyrighted material to the board. It is permissible to post the URL and the first paragraph with your comments if you have any.

W.G.E.N. hit the internet over 19 years ago. The letters stand for Washington Grassroots Electronic Network. I lived in Washington State at the time and the name became widely known beyond the state so, even though I left Washington, I decided to keep the name of W.G.E.N. I have now returned to Washington so it still fits.

W.G.E.N. is a conservative, politically oriented network. The purpose is to provide issues of interest to those people who have requested to be subscribed to W.G.E.N. It is not a "discussion" list as the purpose isn't to "discuss" things - it is to provide the information and the tools to ACT on issues.
Please note that W.G.E.N. is non-partisan and regularly bashes all political parties and politicians who operate outside of what is Constitutional.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO WGEN:
Subscriptions are easy to get. There is no fee and W.G.E.N. does not solicit donations for operations.
All you need to do is send a blank email to:
     W.G.E.N. <idzrus@earthlink.net>
     "SUBSCRIBE (STATE)[name state you live in]."
I do not want any other information, just your email address and the state you reside in. I file each address by the state they live in. The reason I ask for the state is that some posts are of interest only to a particular state and I pull those addresses for those posts. Otherwise all posts are distributed to the entire national list.

TO MAKE CHANGES to your subscription - to unsubscribe or take a vacation ALWAYS include the state you live in as that is how your subscription is filed. I am not going to sit here and go through each state to find your subscription.

Due to the volume of outgoing email, W.G.E.N. uses a topic "Coding System" in the Subject line to assist readers in sorting those of interest. Note that I do not use 'ALERT' - 'URGENT' - or such non-informative terms.

Topic coding [capital letters] used in the Subject line:
These codes have nothing to do with the way mail is sent out. (You cannot ask for only email on certain *codes* as I don't have a way to easily do that. I tried to accommodate that in the early years of W.G.E.N., but it became a horrible situation to manage.)

The *Topic Codes* enable the receiver to see right off what the subject of the email is without having to open it. Some folks have no interest at all in or in IRS so when they see one of those come through, they can hit DELETE without spending precious time opening the email. It also lets them know which ones they want to open at once - ie: INS (immigration issues) or ED (education issues) and it also provides a good filing track.

When I put the abbreviation for the {State} following the topic code - that lets the reader know where the news is coming from or what state it pertains to. For example: Subject: LEG{WA}: bill on same-sex to be heard (or bill number) -- tells the reader that it is LEGISLATIVE in the State of Washington and what the bill is about.

Please verify all *rumors* or those items that just have a *smell* about them. We all need to stop filling in boxes with JUNK. VERIFY THE INFO YOU SEND before sending it.

When submitting a post for the list be sure you submit it in a **clean** manner, just as you would a letter to the editor of your local paper.
Please remove all prior address tracks unless they are pertinent to the post.
Please remove all those >>>>>> (are added to most forwarded email) -- there is software that does this.
Always use BCC to protect your list names. Open cc's expose your lists to the world and opens those names up to spammers. Unless you have rec'd permission to expose the email addresses of others it is not netiquette to do so in open cc's.

Source location (URL's) should be included for others to check, this is especially needed when sending a news article. Please put the URL at the beginning of the article.

Subject line should clearly indicate what the post contains or refers to. Please do not use **ALERTS** URGENT** in the subject line as it means nothing unless the topic is clearly identified. Think of it as a headline in the paper.

It would help everyone if folks would stop hitting *forward* and sending list mail. Take the few extra minutes to do a copy/paste and then CLEAN out the garbage and open CC's. It not only protects prior open cc addresses but it makes it SO MUCH EASIER TO READ.

If you have a *column* type post you have written and you don't want your email address sent out with it - be sure to say so. I do know several on the list whose names and addresses I remove before sending their material out. This is done for a small number as their jobs would be at risk. If you do not want your name and e-dress sent out - SO STATE AT THE BEGINNING of each post. Thank you.

Feel free to forward any W.G.E.N. posts. I do not have any restrictions on LIST MAIL. If I send you an obviously *personal* or a *limited to a small number of people* post, I do expect it to be honored as that - personal or limited.

Feel free to make use of the many resources available on my Grassroots Granny web page.
http://grassrootsgranny.com/
http://grassrootsgranny.com/illegalinvaders.html

These have been sifted through over the years and have proven to be of great assistance to many readers. If you have some worthy of listing please let me know. If something isn't working, let me that as well.

I hope this provides you with a clear explanation of W.G.E.N. and Granny.