CHARTER: REC.COLLECTING.STAMPS.DISCUSS (RCSD)

Rec.collecting.stamps.discuss is intended to be a non-commercial, international, electronic forum for the dissemination of philatelic information and discussion of  philately and stamps.

In this charter, "stamp" includes stamped postal stationery; any other form of postage (public or private); stampless covers transmitted through the mails or via private courier service; revenue stamps, paper, or any other standard evidence of the payment of taxes or government fees; postal savings stamps; maximum cards, postal seals; postal receipts; proofs, essays, or original artwork of any of these; booklet covers; packaging used in the shipping of stamps by postal authorities; test coils; Cinderellas, forgeries, and fakes of any of these; and supplies and materials appropriate for use in collecting any of these.

"Philately" includes collecting, certifying, studying, documenting, exhibiting, preserving, and storing stamps.

Messages posted to rec.collecting.stamps.discuss may include:

- Techniques for handling, mounting, sorting, storing, displaying, exhibiting, and cataloging stamps.
- Requests for information about stamps.
- Responses to requests for information. (Where such responses  contain links to relevant Web pages, the once per 24 hours limit for Web page announcements does not apply.)
- Announcements of new or existing philatelic Web pages. (No person may post more than one such announcement in a 24 hour period. Such an announcement may contain links to more than one Web page. As long as the message itself is non-commercial and merely calls attention to the Web pages, the Web pages themselves may be commercial.)
- Presentations of research about stamps.
- Advice to beginners.
- Information about new issues. (However, commercial announcements from new-issue services are prohibited and belong in rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace.)
- Articles, reprints, and announcements from non-profit philatelic
societies and clubs.
- Announcements of stamp shows and exhibitions, including those with commercial sponsorship. (Announcements shall be limited to one per week for any specific show. If possible, the sponsor
should post the message; but this is not mandatory.)
- Lists of persons interested in trading (but not buying or selling) stamps. (Revisions to such lists shall not be posted more often than once per 14 days. Complete lists shall not be posted more
often than once per two calendar months. Announcements containing links to such lists are subject only to the once per day limit for Web page announcements in general.)
- Revisions to "Frequently Asked Questions" and their answers.
- Announcements of new issues or editions of stamp publications (books or periodicals), including those published in electronic form. (No person may post more than one such announcement for each new issue or edition.)
- Non-commercial offers to trade stamps for other stamps. (No person may post more than one such offer in a 24 hour period. Each such message should have XCH as a prefix on its subject line. Offers to trade stamps for money or non-stamp items are not allowed; these belong in rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace. Note that lengthy lists of stamps available for trading shall be presumed to represent prohibited commercial messages; to avoid problems, such lists should be put in a Web page that can be announced in rec.collecting.stamps.discuss.)
- Questions and comments about the operations of postal agencies and philatelic organizations.
- Questions and comments about general commerce in stamps, providing no offer (explicit or implicit) to buy or sell stamps is contained in the message.
- Discussions about the content, operation and use of the rec.collecting.stamps.discuss newsgroup.
- Announcements of the creation or reorganization of listservs or other newsgroups for stamp collectors.

Note that messages complying with the above may contain links to commercial Web pages.

The following are prohibited:

 - Any message containing animation, video, or sound, none of which are necessary for discussing stamps.
- Any commercial announcement, including but not limited to offers to buy or sell stamps. (Announcements to buy or sell stamps belong in rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace.)
- A solicitation to participate in a fraud as defined by either U. S. federal codes (no matter where the solicitation originated) or by the laws of the jurisdiction where the solicitation originated.
- Any message having no relationship to philately, stamps, postal history, or postal agencies.
- Any message requesting or presenting personal messages to specific individuals, such as an attempt to use the newsgroup as a substitute for E-mail.
- A signature in excess of 250 bytes. (A PGP or other digital signature that may be used to authenticate the source and content of a message is not included in this limit. Public keys, however, are not allowed; they should be communicated via either E-mail, a Web page, or a public key server.)
- Unsubstantiated adverse comments about any collector or dealer. (If a complaint has been formally filed with a law-enforcement agency, a philatelic society, or a dealers' association against a company or another individual, an announcement by the complainant is permitted. However, the complaint must be formally filed before the message is posted. The target of a complaint may post a response, which will not be considered a prohibited commercial message.)  

Cross-posting:

Messages may be cross-posted to rec.collecting.stamps.discuss and not more than two other newsgroups, providing:
- The message is on-topic for all the involved newsgroups.
- The message is not prohibited by the charter (if any) of any of the involved newsgroups, including the charter of rec.collecting.stamps.discuss. The limit of cross-posting to not more than three newsgroups is waived in the case of messages announcing Usenet RFDs and CFVs relating to newsgroups of interest to stamp collectors.

Graphics:

- No message may be posted containing graphics. Such messages may be canceled automatically.
- Persons wishing to use graphics should instead provide one of the following in a posted message:
- an offer to E-mail the graphics to anyone who requests;
- a link to a Web site containing the graphics;
- a link to an FTP site from which anyone may download the graphics;
or
- a reference to another newsgroup where graphics are permitted within messages.

Commercial versus non-commercial (or private party)

Q. Does it matter whether I'm a commercial dealer or a private party?

A. Yes. Commercial dealers may not post advertising in  rec.collecting.stamps.discuss. Private parties may only post offers to trade in rec.collecting.stamps.discuss. Private
parties may only post offers to buy, sell, or auction in rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace. However, commercial dealers may post non-commercial messages in rec.collecting.stamps.discuss.

Language:

Rec.collecting.stamps.discuss is an international forum and articles may be posted in any language. Since the continuation of the hobby requires that we involve children and make them interested and comfortable as collectors, profanity is prohibited (and is truly unnecessary for discussing stamps).

Moderation:

Rec.collecting.stamps.discuss is an unmoderated group.  

END CHARTER.

Notes:

- Primary proponent: David E. ROSS
- Voted: Apr. 1998
- Credits: Jon Bell (text), and Stan (formatting) - Oct. 2010

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FAQ rec.collecting.stamps.discuss

The following questions are addressed below:

1. What is the purpose of rec.collecting.stamps.discuss?

2. What is the purpose of rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace

3. Is rec.collecting.stamps moderated?

4. How long do messages posted to rec.collecting.stamps remain on my server?

5. Is there a location where rec.collecting.stamps, discuss is archived?

6. What kind of ads can be placed on rec.collecting.stamps.discuss

7. How do I respond to people posting ads to rcs.discuss?

8. How do I respond to an attack?

1. What is the purpose of rec.collecting.stamps.discuss?

rec.collecting.stamps.discuss is intended to be an unmoderated "free" international forum for the dissemination of philatelic information and the discussion of all things related to philately (stamp collecting) (with the specific exception of philatelic commerce).

2. What is the purpose of rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace?

rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace is intended to be an unmoderated and free international forum for all "philatelic commerce"*.
(*The advertising, trading, and selling of ALL the stuff useful for the collection, classification, and display of postage and revenue stamps)

3. Is rec.collecting.stamps.discuss moderated?

No! Any user is free to post any non-commercial* philatelic message. *commercial philatelic messages may be posted to: rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace

4. How long do messages remain on rcsd?>

It's too early to tell. There are a number of factors that determine how long messages remain on any of thousands of different servers. These factors include how many posts a day are made, and how large is the memory allocated to the particular newsgroup on your particular news server.

5. Where are past postings to newsgroups archived?

Google Groups

 (http://groups.google.com/group/rec.collecting.stamps.discuss/topics?lnk=srg&pli=1)

has archives most newsgroups going back several years.

6. What kind of ads can be posted to rcsd?

Please don't. The newsgroup news:rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace was specifically created to allow a forum for all philatelic commerce. Instead, place you ads in rcs.marketplace.

7. How should I reply to those who post ads to rcsd?

If it becomes persistant, and if you really must, send a private and polite e-note to the ad poster pointing out that the proper forum for their ads is news:rec.collecting.stamps.marketplace. Then leave it alone. At no time should anyone post a "get out of here" flame. That's not what a forum for philatelic discussion is for. The history of rec.collecting.stamps, and it's unnecessary death, proves a public posting of this type leads to polarization and hate.

8. How should I reply to someone attacking me on rcsd

We Philatelists don't need to have private disagreements aired out in our discussion group. Please, at all times, be civil and considerate of your fellow group users.