Rules of the herblist.

About this list

Welcome to the medicinal herblist, a list for the discussion of medicinal herbs and herbal medicine.

This list used to be herb on vm.ege.edu.tr. That listserver had too many unexplained and unannounced gaps in service, so I moved it to herb on mylist.net in August 98. Unfortunately, the majordomo provider pulled the plug on us listowners with no warning in December 99, so I moved it to herb on franklin.oit.unc.edu. That lyris server had grave database stability problems, so I moved it to the mailman server on ibiblio in March 02. Thank you ibiblio and UNC!

List Commands

You can subscribe, unsubscribe, and set list options on the web. The URL is:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/herb.

Archives are available on the web; these can only be read by listmembers. Monthly zipfiles (from 1994 to the first half of 2003) are available here: http://www.henriettes-herb.com/ftpfiles.html.

You need your password to get at the newer list archives. If you have forgotten your password:

  1. go to this page: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/herb
  2. enter the email address you get list mail to at the very bottom, next to the button that says "unsubscribe or edit options"
  3. press that button
  4. on the next page, before the gray bits, there's a button that says "email my password to me"
  5. press that button
  6. you're set.

List commands should be sent to herb-request@lists.ibiblio.org.
Postings to this list should go to herb@lists.ibiblio.org.

Posting guidelines

With hundreds of members it is crucial to have clear rules of the game:

  1. Ads aren't welcome. If you endorse a product or such please add 'nci' (short for 'no commercial interest'). There is no need to flame an ad - the poster is probably unsub'd. You can debunk the 'info' in an ad, if you so wish.
  2. Flames (posts to make people angry) aren't welcome. Defenses against flames are also considered flames, unless they are factual and non-emotional.
  3. The subject of the list is herbs and herbal healing. There's been some lengthy off-topic threads over the years, so the following topics in particular aren't welcome:
    1. Your religion(s).
    2. Vaccinations and genetic engineering - these generate -unending- amounts of noise (for this list - I'm sure there are forums where discussions of these topics would be welcome).
    3. MLMs (distributors are not trying to spread valid information, they're trying to sell you something - see topic (1)).
    4. Idle chit-chat. This is a very busy list, we don't have room for chatter.
    5. 'Thank you' notes. While they're polite, they're not what hundreds of people want to see in their inbox. Use private email.
    6. Hysterical anti-herbal headlines. I'm allergic to them, and there's far too many of them in the popular press: we don't need them on this list, too. Well, unless of course they do actually contain a smidgen of truth. 99.9 % of them don't: so this particular isolated single constituent causes cancer in a glass vial? Y-a-w-n.
    7. If you post an URL: add a short note that tells people why you think it's a worthwile one. URLs without notes are ditched, if you're moderated. If you're not moderated, well, lookit that, you are now...
    8. Don't cut-and-paste large amounts of text from a webpage. Give the link, and possibly cut-n-paste the bare minimum you're commenting on. Posting things to a mailing list is republishing things, and you're violating copyright.
  4. You may offer things to people on the list, free of charge naturally; however, you may -not- do it without the words 'please send your requests by private email' or similar.
    Ditto for asking for things on the list.
  5. On the topic of .sigs: 4 lines are considered polite; please do not go above that.
  6. Before you send something to the full list: ask yourself if your post is something hundreds of people would want to read. Please bear in mind that these folks signed up to read/talk about medicinal herbs and their uses.

Finally, and this is very important: snip as you go. That means that you should cut down on all and any text that's been to the list at least once already. Include a sentence or two, the barest minimum needed to see what you're replying to, and ditch all the rest. The people on digest in particular will thank you for your consideration.

Disclaimer

The list is not a substitute for professional healthcare, nor should any post be construed as such.

It is, to me, folly to expect anybody to cure you sight unseen over the internet.

Because I get a lot of private requests for magic pills ("I have Crohn's, and my grandpa has Lyme's disease, and my boss has lung cancer, is there an herb for those?") I've long ago put together a list of referral sites /addresses /phone numbers. This list of addresses is found in the medicinal herbfaq, part 5.6: How to find an herbalist / ND.

For internet newbies

If you're completely new to the net you'll benefit from reading all about netiquette.

Related mailing lists

The medicinal herbfaq lists related lists you might be interested in.

Comments? Please send them to me.

Enjoy the list!
Henriette, listowner, medicinal herblist.