_|_ | C O P | N E T F R E Q U E N T L Y A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S Copt-Net is a Christian fellowship dedicated for the service of the emigrant Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox community. For more information may we recommend that you consult Copt-Net's Charter as well as the table of contents of its Archives. These and many more documents are available on-line via Web & FTP. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coptic Network Web Home Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . Http://www.Coptic.Net Coptic Network Web Archives. . . . . . . . . Http://www.Coptic.Net/Menu.html Coptic Network Public FTP Archives . . . . . . . Ftp://pharos.bu.edu/Coptic/ Email for inquiries and comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Admin@Coptic.Net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- How is the Copt-Net Daily Digest compiled and what messages are filtered out? Copt-Net Digest is e-mailed daily at midnight (EST). The emailed digest contains *all* messages from *current* CN members received by the cn@cs.bu.edu alias during the preceeding 24-hour period. These messages are included without any editing or reviewing of their contents. The only messages that are taken out (automatically) are those posted from unregistered addresses. This is why it is important to send your mail to CN Digest from the address that you have registered with the server when you joined in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What type of moderation or editing is done on Copt-net Digest? Copt-Net Digest is not filtered, screened, or moderated for content, neither by the maintainer, nor by any other members of the Governing Board. The process of compiling the digest is automatic and no intervention by the maintainer takes place. Although no moderation or editing takes place prior to issuing the daily digest, the Copt-Net Governing board does monitor the content of the digest for violations of Copt-Net's Charter. If such violations---repeated ones in particular---are detected by the Copt-Net Governing Board, an appropriate response in the form of a communique (or a CN GB Notice) is issued and communicated either privately with the member(s) involved in such violations, or publicly with the entire CN membership. For more details, please refer to CN Charter for the mission of Copt-Net and for guidelines regarding postings on its digest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If Copt-net Digest is not reviewed for its contents, then how is it possible to avoid having incorrect information or opinions propagate to Copt-Net membership, especially, when such opinions are not in line with the doctrines of our Orthodox faith? Unfortunately, it is impossible to preempt the posting of such incorrect information or unorthodox opinions. Copt-Net Governing Board does its best in terms of monitoring such postings and alerting CN's membership of offending postings and for taking the steps necessary to avoid the repeat of such incidents, including membership revocation as outlined in the Charter. This being stated, it must be clear that the Governing Board itself cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of every statement expressed on Copt-Net, and it is beyond Copt-Net Governing Board's capacity to check the authenticity of every teaching posted on the pages of the digest. Thus, it is the duty of all members---especially the well-endowed in matters of theology and orthodox faith---who feel that such incorrect information has been posted to correct it and/or to communicate their concerns with Copt-net's Governing Board. Also, it is the responsibility of all members to take particular care in what is posted, recalling the warning of our Lord ``But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.'' The fact that CN Digest's content is not reviewed for full compliance with issues of faith and orthodox teachings should not be viewed as a dis-service to CN members. Copt-Net Charter is very clear on this issue. It carefully states that ``Opinions expressed on Copt-Net belong to those individuals voicing them. In particular, they do not represent in any way or form, directly or indirectly, the positions or opinions of the Coptic Orthodox Church, its hierarchy, or its lay councils. Any member of Copt-Net who uses Copt-Net's name or Logo to suggest or mean the contrary is violating this Charter.'' This clear disclaimer in Copt-net's charter is meant to encourage discussions and questions by members of Copt-Net, by relieving them from the burden of making sure that every word and opinion they express is in agreement with the official church positions. If that were the case, then only those who are fully vested in Coptic theology and dogma would be fit to post on the pages of CN Digest. This would obviously mean that Copt-Net Digest will become an offcial (or semi-official) publication of the Church, which defeats its purpose as a forum for all those interested in the service of our church at all levels from youth and lay people to sub-deacons, deacons, and arch-deacons, to members of the clergy, including priests and bishops. In summary, CN Members are asked to always bear in mind Copt-Net's disclaimer quoted above, and to always consult their fathers of confession if in doubt about any opinions or positions expressed on the digest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How could one convey his/her dislike for a particular posting or a thread on Copt-Net Digest? As an open forum, and despite the membership's agreement on Copt-Net Charter (a pre-condition for membership), Copt-Net Digest is likely to contain opinions or postings that may not be deemed appropriate by all its members. Among other things, this may be due to differences in interpreting the Charter's language or due to the different expectations of CN members regarding the mission of Copt-Net's Digest (this mission is clearly stated in the Charter as ``the service of the emigrant Coptic Orthodox community''). To keep postings on the Digest from degenerating into meta discussions of what is appropriate to post and what is not appropriate to post, it is highly recommended that criticisms reagrding the appropriateness of specific postings be communicated privately with those involved in that posting or thread. Also, it may be useful to communicate such concerns with members of CN Governing Board. In any case, one should always be careful to abide by the spirit of Copt-Net's charter---love. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What format should one use to post messages to Copt-net Digest? All messages to Copt-net digest should be plain ASCII messages written using the Western character set. This means that your email should not contain any enclosures (e.g. pictures or sound) and should not be uuencoded or MIME-encoded. Also, members should be careful not to quote the digest to which they are responding (some mailers do this by default). Quoting a digest in your reply is very inconvenient for those trying to read the digest as it lengthens (unnecessarily) the digest and confuses the automatic table of content generator of the digest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Is there a limit in terms of length for messages posted on Copt-Net Digest? No. There is no hard limit on the length of messages. However, it may be prudent not to post very long messages on the digest, as such messages may prove problematic for some mail readers and for members with slow connections. As a general rule, it may be a good idea not to post messages longer than 3-4 pages at a time. If such a message is to be communicated, then perhaps it makes good sense to send it in installments over several days. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How could one post a message that contain Coptic text using the Western (Latin) Alphabet? Copt-Net has adopted a transliteration system to enable its members to communicate Coptic expressions. This transliteration system is availabe from http://pharos.bu.edu/articles/CopticAlphabet.txt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How could one access missing or old Copt-Net Digests? One way of accessing the private archives of Copt-Net, including all digests since Copt-Net inception is to use the special FTP account available through Copt-Net Server as shown below: % ftp pharos.bu.edu % Name: cn <---- Type "cn" (no quotes!) % Password: ************ <---- Type Copt-Net's password The above sequence of command at the Unix prompt will put you in Copt-Net Archive directory. Now at the FTP prompt, type ftp> cd private This will put you in Copt-Net's private directory and at this stage you can go to Copt-Net various directories (using the "cd" command), or get any file you want (using the "get" command). Copt-Net's private directory is only accessible through CN's FTP account on Pharos.bu.edu. To obtain the password for this account, please contact Copt-net's maintainer. Please do not communicate the account's password with any non-member. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Is the Copt-Net Mailing List available publicly? No. The email addresses registered with the Copt-Net Server are not available for redistribution. This ensures control of unsolicited emails and of the use of the mailing list for purposes other than what is prescribed in the Copt-Net Charter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How could I send an urgent email to all recipients of Copt-Net? Only Copt-Net's maintainer could broadcast messages to the Copt-Net membership. If there is a need for such an urgent communication, please contact Copt-Net's maintainer at , but keep in mind that only under rare circumstances would such a request be granted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------