Guidelines for the Use of Internal EUI Distribution Lists

Various departments, services, and other sectors of the Institute have at least one person designated to send e-mail to all (DLeverybody) or large portions (DLresearchers, DLstaff, etc.) of the EUI community. In order to provide easy identification of the originator, such mass mails should be sent in one person’s name but via "impersonal" (but clearly identifiable) accounts (e.g., “Brown, John on behalf of Academic Service, Mail Account”; “Rossi, Paola on behalf of Fiasco Social Club”).

Authorization to send to one or more DLs is granted with the understanding that this privilege will be used in an acceptable way. "Acceptable" means in such a way that recipients of the sometimes undesired mass-mail messages are in any case not unduly exasperated by what they receive. Where appropriate, an "opt-out" clause should be introduced. Misuse will be sanctioned as mentioned in the EUI’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).

To this end, the following points should be kept in mind.

• Mail may only be sent to internal DLs for strictly Institute-related matters. Permission to send to DLs should never be used for the sake of expressing political statements, personal opinions, conducting personal business, or making unverified public service announcements such as virus alerts.
• Furthermore, mail should be pertinent to the authorized entity doing the sending. In other words, one would not expect to see Fiasco Social Club news coming from an IT User Support Office mail account, or the like.
• The originator of the message must never remain anonymous. In instances where users not permitted to send to DLs must have recourse to an appropriate unit to send a legitimate mass mail on their behalf, the message should be signed and clearly indicate the author and the address to which replies should be sent. (N.B. The Outlook message options allow the selection of a "Reply-to" address different from the sending address.)
• At the same time, authorized senders should try, wherever possible, to limit their messages to the audience reasonably expected to be interested in the content being sent. Therefore, for example, messages regarding only researchers should not be sent to the entire Institute via DLeverybody. Please consult IT User Support for more information on the composition of DLs or if your entitlement does not include the specific sub-group you need to address.
• An appropriate "Subject:" header should be included in any message.
• In general, all the other Good Practice Rules for Mass Mailing  should be observed even for mail to internal DLs.

Any non-enabled user who might exceptionally need to send mail to an EUI Distribution List should refer to IT User Support or directly to the authorized person in their department or unit.