At 08:37 PM 1/14/2009, David Clarkson wrote...
>I personally am not aware or informed of any existing charter or set
>of bylaws
>that pertain to the actual moderation process.

The post below, made to the list by Jim Arnott on Sun, 16 Nov 2008,
must have gotten lost in the cruft.

>This is the charter of the Vanagon List.
>
>Welcome to the list!
>
>You MUST READ this document and agree to abide by it if you want to
>stay on
>the list.
>
>This list is only about Volkswagen T25 Transporters, Vanagons and
>Caravelles, model years 1980 through end of production. If you have an
>earlier bus, or a Eurovan, you are on the wrong list. For 1950-1967
>buses, you will probably want Thom Fitzpatrick's vintagebus list. For
>1968-1979 buses you'll be looking for the type2 list. Each can be
>found at their respective dot coms. For Eurovans,
>there is a Yahoogroup list.
>
>To maintain this resource we use (at the time of this writing) a list
>administrator and a server admin. You can always get hold of the
>administrator
>by sending mail to vanagon-admin@gerry.vanagon.com.
>
>To post a message to the list, send it to vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com.
>
>gerry.vanagon.com is funded entirely by donations from list members.
>We do not run advertisements or endorse vendors. You will not be
>charged (or expected to
>hand over an obligatory donation) for any resource we provide, not
>ever.
>
>This list has about a thousand people on it (yes!), and because of
>that we have to have some rules. This is how we maintain the value of
>the list as an
>information source.
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>_______ PRIORITY ONE RULES -- If you screw up here you'll be kicked
>off the list and
>quite possibly banned forever (we really mean it):
>
>
>--Do not EVER post UNSUBSCRIBE messages to the list. Clear
>instructions for getting off of the list are printed in every single
>message the list server sends out. Every single one. If for some
>reason you are having trouble getting
>off of the list, send mail to the administrator on duty at
>vanagon-admin@gerry.vanagon.com
>
>--Do not EVER post "TEST" messages to the list. Don't even think about
>doing this. If you are having trouble posting, send mail to the list
>administrator
>on duty at vanagon-admin@gerry.vanagon.com and they will help you.
>
>--Do not EVER post virus warnings, or messages about important issues
>that you think should concern everybody in the world. Do not post
>messages unless they have legitimate Vanagon content. If you think the
>message you're sending is so important that the "Vanagon content" rule
>does not apply to you, that means that
>you should ==NOT== post it.
>
>--Do not ever continue a thread that an administrator has "killed".
>This is fairly rare, but if an admin says, "please kill this thread,"
>then do not post
>any more messages on that topic. This is how the admins keep marginal
>discussions from growing out of control.
>
>--Do not harvest addresses. It is not appropriate to collect the
>personal email addresses of list members and send them bulk email
>about your event or "special
>offer". This is called "spamming" and if you do it you will be
>denounced
>throughout Usenet and all the VW mailing lists, banned from our list
>forever,
>and we will be talking to your ISP about having your service
>terminated.
>
>--Do not use an auto-responder without unsubscribing from the list
>first. If your "out of the office" program starts trying to post
>messages to the list
>you will be removed.
>
>--Do not use profanity on the list. This is not your high-school
>locker room.
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>_______ PRIORITY TWO RULES -- If you screw up here you will be quietly
>"moderated", which means a list administrator will intercept and
>examine every message you
>try to post to the list. This can slow your messages by up to 48
>hours:
>
>--Don't post chatty messages. If it does not have legitimate Vanagon
>content, do not post it to the list. There should be a good reason
>that 1000 people will download your message. We do enforce the "no
>chat" rule consistently and it is
>the number one reason people get moderated.
>
>--Don't post Friday subjects except on Friday. Historically, the
>content
>guidelines are looser on Friday, and that is the only day when it is
>appropriate to post messages on certain (marginal) subjects. However,
>even on Fridays posts
>should have Vanagon content.
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>_______
>ETIQUETTE AND LIST CULTURE --
>
>--There is a mail size limit of 20,000 characters and we don't allow
>attachments. Do not try to post pictures, they won't get through.
>
>--Please quote only for context. Do not quote other people's entire
>messages
>when replying. Especially do not include an entire digest when
>replying.
>
>--Search the List Archive.
>In other words, consult the extensive resources available to you at
>gerry.vanagon.com before asking on the list. You will get more
>information faster that way. If you ask frequently asked questions
>(FAQs) or frequently annoying recurring threads (FARTS), people will
>be inclined to ignore you or
>become caustic.
>
>--Vendors are welcome and encouraged to participate in the list--
>we've had several vendors who have been valued list members. Specific
>answers to specific queries about products and pricing are fine, but
>please avoid repeatedly posting advertisements. What we're looking for
>here is high information value for the listees. If we think you are
>merely spamming we will moderate you very quickly.
>
>--Occasionally, a list member will have a problem with the performance
>of a vendor or with a private transaction gone bad. If you are having
>trouble with a vendor, do everything you reasonably can to resolve it
>WITH THE VENDOR before you bring it to the list. Do not ambush people.
>If you can't resolve it yourself, it is a valid topic for discussion
>on the list, but please stick to the facts of the vendor's product or
>performance. Flames are not appropriate EVEN IF you can
>prove you've been shafted.
>
>--Try to write using conventional capitalization, syntax and spelling.
>It indicates respect for the reader, and intentionally ignoring these
>conventions
>indicates contempt.
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>_______
>PRIVACY POLICY
>
>We detest spammers. We will not sell or share our subscriber lists no
>matter
>what the inducement. Our list server will not reveal the addresses of
>subscribers through automated commands. Our web site does not employ
>cookies.
>
>We do log all web transactions and all mail transactions; this is done
>strictly for the sake of security. We do not keep track of your
>browsing habits. By subscribing to this list you have not consented to
>receive "promotional email" or any other such rubbish. In short, we
>will not spy on you, and if you have trusted us with your email
>address we will do our best to see that your trust
>is not betrayed.
>
>
>________________________________________________________________________
>_______
>LEGAL STUFF
>
>1. This is not a moderated list. The administrator doesn't see the
>messages until you do, maybe later than you do, and because of the
>nature of this medium
>the administrator has no way of retracting messages from public view.
>Propagation is automatic; once you send a message, it's gonna go, and
>there's
>no way of stopping it.
>
>2. Since that is true, the administrator cannot control what is posted
>to this list, and therefore disclaims any responsibility for the
>messages the list server propagates. If you post a message, you alone
>are responsible for it. If
>you don't like that, then don't post messages.
>
>3. This list is distributed from a server located in the USA. By
>United States copyright law (and by treaty with many other countries),
>messages posted to this list are copyrighted with all rights reserved
>by their respective authors. The administrator of this list makes no
>claim to ownership of your messages and
>will not republish or sell them, and neither should anybody else.
>
>However, cross posting is common on the Net whether it is authorized
>or not, and if you post a message to this list it will automatically
>be entered into at a publicly accessible online archive, where it will
>remain permanently. If you don't like the possibility of your words
>being cross-posted or archived, then don't
>post messages.