T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum Guidelines

The object of T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum is to promote t'ai chi ch'uan as taught by Professor Cheng Man Ching. We hope that this mail list will facilitate healthy and productive discussions between its subscribers, while at the same time protecting their privacy and intellectual property rights. To accomplish this, we have come up with the following policies. It is our hope that everyone who posts to the mail list will take a few minutes, and go over these policies.

Most of the T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum policies are based on common "netiquette". There are, however, some policies that are unique to this list. These policies are based on two main principles:

A) T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum is a closed, private list.
B) T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum seeks to maintain the highest possible "signal to noise ratio".

These "special policies" are described below and have been developed over several years by other list owners and more recently by Tom Krapu and Malcolm Tobias in an effort to protect T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum subscribers. The policies are simply stated below.

1. The topic and content of messages sent to T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum must be be consistent with the purpose of the list. Those messages judged inconsistent with this purpose will result in a warning message sent to the author. Repeated warnings will be grounds for expulsion from the list.

2. Lengthy messages that advertise commercial products or services on the list are strictly prohibited. Messages should provide a minimum amount of information, along with a contact person who can provide specific information to those who request it. Under no circumstances should an event be announced without the sponsor's permission. We provide the following as an example:

Who: Mr. Robert Smith
Where: Bethesda, Maryland, USA
When: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday July 7-9, 1996.
What Cheng Man Ching 37 posture Yang Style Workshop including form correction, push hands instruction, and films.
Contact person: Tom Krapu,

(314) 842-XXXX
URL (optional): http://www.krapu4.com/taichi/

We realize that not all messages will fit such a format, so we include the following exceptions and caveats:

Brief messages that are direct responses to a posted question regarding (for-profit) products or services are allowed.
Requests for teachers along the lines "my friend is moving to wherever and is looking for a teacher" are always welcome.
Brief announcements of new books, articles, and other publications (such as web pages) are also welcome.

For profit, or not-for-profit conference announcements, workshops, or seminars.
Ads for special programs or course offerings.

Finally, any announcements related to other styles and arts other than Professor's 37 posture Yang Family form are strictly banned.

3. You may, of course, tell fellow CMC practitioners about the list. If they are interested in joining, please direct them to http://www.krapu4.com/taichi/taitlkin.htm. There is no other subscription method.

4. Only INDIVIDUALS may subscribe to the T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum list. USENET, NETNEWS, or any other type of redistribution of the list is strictly prohibited. Archiving of the list (including on servers, LANS or corporate intranets) is prohibited.

5. If you save T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum messages, they should only be used as a PRIVATE archive. Archives should not be shared with non-subscribers. The only exception to this, is the sharing of messages with other practitioners of Professor's 37 posture form who do not have email. Usually, this will consist of fellow classmates or students. The importance of this rule can not be stressed enough. In the past, we have had several messages leak out to other lists and news groups. This has had a chilling effect on the group. Many subscribers only feel comfortable when sharing their thoughts to a closed list of people. If people feel that their messages are being redistributed they will simply quit posting. This deprives the list from its only source of information, and means that wisdom learned from thousands of practice-hours will be lost by the group.

If you make any posted message available to anyone outside of the list (except as outlined above) you are effectively functioning as a "redistribution server" and will be removed from the list.

6. Messages posted to the list should NOT be quoted elsewhere. The only exception to this, is if the original author gives his or her consent. In this case, it is essential that all references to the T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum list, including the email address, be removed from the quote.

7. Substantive debates and even disagreements are inevitable. While these discussions can be highly productive, they can also be highly destructive. Please keep the tone of the message at the highest level of professionalism; flaming, sarcasm, or personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please try to honor the Professor's memory and spirit in each of your postings.

Please refrain from getting in long, drawn out debates, especially when it appears that the majority of the list may not be getting anything out of the discussion. In such cases, we suggest that the debating parties move their discussion "back channel" and continue the discussion via private email.

8. Responses to a posting should be edited and contain the minimal amount of the previous post to allow readers to familiarize themselves with the discussion at hand. This will make the discussion and response easier to follow, and helps to keep the "signal to noise ratio" as high as possible for the group.

9. All postings should be signed by the author in a manner which is identifiable by the entire group. No anonymous posts, or signatures with only nicknames or email address should be used.

11. If your email account begins generating repeated error messages, you may be removed from the list. In such cases, each message posted to the list will generate error messages that are sent to the maintainers. With the large number of subscribers and high bandwidth of the list, this quickly becomes too much for the maintainers to handle.

12. The use of auto-reply mailers is prohibited. These programs are often used by people who will be away from their email for extended periods of time, and automatically respond to all email with a message to this effect. Since auto-replies would normally get redistributed to the entire list, any user who sets up such a program, will be temporarily removed from the list.

Now for the legal stuff. Dr. Tom Krapu reserves the right to determine membership of the T'ai Chi Ch'uan Forum. The statements made by list members do not necessarily reflect the thoughts of either of the list cofounders, or the list moderator. Every attempt will be made to moderate the list in a manner which respects the beliefs of others and honor Professor Cheng and the other list members.