Welcome to
The Virtual Consulting Discussion List

Thank you for your interest in The Virtual Consulting Discussion List.

We are pleased to have you join us and expect that this list will continue to be an active and content rich forum for discussion of topics related to Virtual Consulting and consulting in a “Virtual World”.

The address for sending posts to the list is:

'Virtual-Consulting@topica.com'

The web page supporting this site contains links to the list's archives, information on sponsoring this list, guidelines for list posting (also included below) and links
to some useful Virtual Consulting web sites. It is located at:

http://www.thevcf.com/vcdl.phtml

We welcome you to put in a link to this web page from your web site if there is an appropriate place to do so.

The subject lines of all mailings from this list start with:

[VCDL]

This makes it easier to identify and filter messages coming from us.

In addition to receiving the periodic digests, we sometimes send supplemental mailings to the list of particular interest to Virtual Consultants.

This list is, from time to time, sponsored by organizations that help us recover some of the costs of operating the list. Such sponsors provide a sponsorship banner that is
included in limited positions within each digest. The moderator may also send a single post to the list introducing new sponsors during their sponsorship. See:

http://www.thevcf.com/vcdlsponsor.phtml

for details on our sponsorship program.

Here are the list posting guidelines. Please read them in their entirety at least once!

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION
===========================
By sending messages to The Virtual Consulting Discussion List you explicitly
agree to the following conditions regarding original content written by you for distribution to The Virtual Consulting Discussion List:

SUBJECTS APPROPRIATE FOR THIS LIST
==================================
The Virtual Consulting Discussion List focuses on professional discussion of directly related to Virtual Consulting and consulting in a “Virtual World”. The list encourages sharing of practical expertise and experiences between those currently and/or
interested in engaging in Virtual Consulting.

Here are some example discussion topics that are relevant and
appropriate:

* How to start, organize and operate a Virtual Consulting firm
* How to utilize the Best Practices in Virtual Consulting
* How to overcome the challenges of consulting virtually and/or being a
consultant in a “Virtual World”
* How to market and sell Virtual Consulting Services
* How to manage Virtual Consulting Engagements / Projects
* How to manage clients virtually (Virtual CRM)
* How to find, select and implement the best Virtual Consulting Methods
and Tools
* How to network with other Virtual Consulting professionals

Your messages should be succinct and to the point.

REJECTED POSTS
==============
If the moderator rejects a post, he can't always take the
time to explain why on a case-by-case basis. Usually posts
are rejected because of the following:

1.) It has nothing to do with Virtual consulting and/or business

2.) It is too self-serving; completely lacking any
substantive advice,

3.) It is taken directly from copyrighted sources (we can
get into legal trouble for this; best to give the name of
the source and URL),

4.) Others have already made a similar point,

5.) It is something too basic for discussion on this list
(i.e. what is a database?),

6.) We have already discussed it in great depth before,

7.) The post does not have a proper subject line, or repeats
too much of a previous posting. Posts sent in with subjects
"Re: The Virtual Consulting Discussion List/ Volume 1, Issue ..." will
not be forwarded to the list no matter how cogent they may be.

8.) Signatures should be no more than 8 lines in length or they
will be indiscriminately cropped.

9.) The post is a reply that is really only of value to the
person who posted the original message. In such cases, please e-mail the
person directly rather than trying to post your response to
the whole list,

10.) The post makes statements that create the potential of
involving the list moderator in a lawsuit,

11.) The English is so poor that the moderator can't
understand the message,

OTHER (N)ETIQUETTE
===============
This is a professional forum for business communications so
it is appropriate for you to "sign" your message. Anonymous
messages will not be forwarded to the list. If there is a
compelling reason why your identity should be withheld then
you should present your case to the moderator.

If you have a business connection to a product or service
mentioned in your post, this should be clear to anyone
reading the message.

If you quote material, quote it accurately, name the source
when possible and be sure to note where you have omitted
material.

Please do not quote the entirety of the original message in
your reply. Usually, most people really have been paying
attention and may need only a pertinent sentence to bring
them into context with your comments.

Please limit the size of your signatures. Extraneous text
is usually not regarded favorably. Please limit your
signature file to 8 lines or less.

No vitriol or ad hominem attacks -- This is a professional
resource and we all realize that e-mail is a medium in which
it is easy to over-react; it does not support the visual
cues we need to comprehend communication to any level of
depth. This is where "flaming" arises and we would ask that
you attempt to err on the side of moderation in your
replies. We need to "get along" before we can maximize the
value of this resource.

Limit rehashing -- there is a wealth of information on the
variety of topics related to Virtual Consulting. While the
moderator will strive to direct the conversation along
appropriate paths, there is a tendency to direct the
conversation along appropriate paths, there is a tendency to
restate issues and topics that have been "done to death"
before, both on this list (as it grows) and elsewhere
online. The moderator will attempt to point respondents to
the source of information most appropriate to their needs
rather than burden the entire list with a restatement of
known issues.

Please put an appropriate subject on your message. Messages
should not have blank subject lines and replies should not
read Re: The Virtual Consulting Discussion List Volume 1,Issue ...
Instead, please title your response to be Re: followed by
the subject of the actual message to which you are
responding.

Please do not send unsolicited email advertisements to
people that post on this list. Posting in this forum is
_not_ an invitation to be sent spam, and those that engage
in such practices will likely do themselves more harm than
good. Many of the list participants refuse to patronize
businesses that send unsolicited advertisements via email.

Please also note that this is a public forum. All posts are
publicly accessible from the list's web site, and are or
soon will be indexed by the major search engines.

You can contact the human owner of this list at:

DeVries@cris.com

Thanks again.

Michael S. DeVries
Moderator
The Virtual Consulting Discussion List
http://www.thevcf.com/vcdl.phtml