No Attachments Allowed - this should be a keeper.  On weekends I am a
dial-up user and would have to avoid the list if this policy were to change

FEE:
I would certainly contribute something annually - me too

Reply to sender (not MDOsprey) by default, is the best - I also have not
seen a decrease in postings except for the welcome demise of the "oops"
posting

HUMOR:
Others wrote:
I also don't mind a bit of humorous fun now and then.  
I do think the humor posts are sometimes fun, though, and I don't mind
having them in my inbox.  

I agree and having been tried and convicted of this offense, how could I
rule otherwise :) Still, I can also see the point of the rule.  The Prairie
Home Companion radio broadcast used to have one program each year devoted
entirely to humor, perhaps MDOSPREY could designate a single day, April 1
comes to mind, to be more tolerant of humor. 


HTML
Especially on weekends, I read MDOSPREY on the Birdingonthe.Net web site
http://server1.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/MDOS.html
and have noticed that my RICH TEXT characters are "done in" when they appear
on MDOSPREY.  It's not a big issue, but might be an area of improvement
especially since "outsiders" are reading us from this site.

OTHER SPECIES
June Tveekrem wrote:
Again nobody has brought this up, and I'm taking a risk here, 
but I like it when people sometimes mention the mammals, butterflies,
dragonflies, or other critters.

Me too within limitations.  Perhaps very short postings would be acceptable
which leads me to post the following:
Several days ago several miles south of Burkittsville in Frederick County a
deer ran across the road a ways ahead, NOT an uncommon occurrence.  A few
seconds later a fox went across headed in the same direction - that did seem
a little out of the ordinary.  When I got near to where they had crossed
into a field I looked over and saw the deer chasing the fox...and chasing
and chasing...!!!  I guess it's possible that the deer had a fawn; otherwise
I can't think of any reason for this behavior.


Non-descriptive subject line - this will ensure that your posting WON'T be
read by me!  

WHAT'S RELEVANT:
Jenny Mcclintock wrote:
I thought we were encouraged to report all sightings from birding
expeditions in MD on this list

When I first signed-on to MDOSPREY I was surprised and a little cranky at
the ordinariness of many of the postings.  I've changed my mind and now
agree that Norm's guideline specifically encouraging almost all bird
sightings is the way to go.  After all, I can easily delete anything I don't
particularly want to read.

OUT OF AREA postings:
I think the weekly VOICE OF THE NATURALIST postings done, usually, by Norm
would cover 99% of the PA, DE, and VA birds that would be of interest to
MDOSPREYers.  On the other hand, since V-O-N postings rely on the various
state listservers for many of their "records" I can see where a MDOSPREY
member who was not a member of a PA/DE/VA listserver could have an
observation with no place to post it...

BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATIONS - since there are 500 +/- of us on this list,
someone is bound to see and want to report "unusual" behaviors from time to
time.  The trend I have seen is that the behavior is detailed and the lister
asks if anyone else has ever observed this before.  In these instances, I
have always found that the behavior mentioned can be "googled" quite easily
and a wealth of information is then available for immediate access.  So, my
suggestion is to do this first, and then if you find you have observed
something interesting, tell the rest of us and reference the website(s) that
gave you the best information.

WEBSITES:
I know Norm recently suggested the approved method for referring to them in
postings.  I also know that I'm never going to be able to remember the
approved format - something to do with the < and > keys.  Is there a
specific reason for this format over a simple copy and paste...???