# Mailing Lists

## General notes
    
* Please manage your *subscriptions* over at [FreeLists](http://www.freelists.org/).
* Please familiarise yourself with the guidelines before posting to the list.

## Announcement mailing list 

This list is a *read-only* low volume (less than 1 message per week) mailing list for special announcements related to Castor, such as new releases.

*Manage subscription*: (http://www.freelists.org/archive/castor.announce/)
 
*Archives*:

* [FreeLists](http://www.freelists.org/archive/castor.user/)
* [markmail.org](http://castor.markmail.org/search/?q=list%3Aannounce)

## User mailing list

This list is a moderate volume (between 10 and 25 messages a day) mailing list for the *users* of Castor. It should be used to discuss general questions related to the use of Castor, problems you are having getting Castor to work, and so on.

*Manage subscription*: (http://www.freelists.org/archive/castor.user/)

*Archives*:

* [mail-archive.com](http://www.mail-archive.com/user@castor.codehaus.org)
* [The Aims Group](http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=castor-user&amp;r=1&amp;w=2)
* [GMANE](http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.java.castor.user)
* [markmail.org](http://castor.markmail.org/search/?q=list%3Auser)

## Development mailing list

This list is a moderate volume (possibly fewer than 15 messages a
day) mailing list for developers working on or wanting to work on
Castor itself (not developers merely working with Castor), for code
patches to Castor to be posted (please use diff -u format), and for
general Castor questions.

Note this is NOT for general Castor questions like "Why isn't Castor
working for me?" Please ask those sorts of questions on
the user mailing list (after reading the FAQ first, of course).

This list will be used by the main committers to discuss the following
items:

* Bug reports/enhancement requests
* On-going development activities
* Potential new features to be incorporated into the product
* Upcoming releases

*Manage subscription*: (http://www.freelists.org/archive/castor.dev/)

*Archives*:

* [mail-archive.com](http://www.mail-archive.com/dev@castor.codehaus.org/)
* [The Aims Group](http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=castor-dev&amp;r=1&amp;w=2)
* [GMANE](http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.java.castor.devel)
* [markmail.org](http://castor.markmail.org/search/?q=list%3Adev)

## SCM mailing list

This *read-only*> list sends out notification messages detailing any change made to the code base where all the source code and libraries are stored for development purposes. The average user probably doesn't need to subscribe to this list.

*Archives*:

* [markmail.org](http://castor.markmail.org/search/?q=list%3Ascm)
* [The Codehaus](http://archive.castor.codehaus.org/scm) - Soon to be gone due to EOL

## User vs. Development mailing list

Please use above mailing lists for what they are intended for. Please use
the descriptions above to target your message to the correct mailing list.

By all means, please avoid *cross-posting* messages to both lists,
as it will decrease the quality of service we would like to offer.

Having said that, there might be a valid case for cross-posting
a message (e.g. us confirming that a problem is a result of a bug, and hence
referring you to 'dev' for further discussions), but in general
the use of this should be restricted as much as possible.

## Guidelines

The following are some general "common-sense" guidelines for using the
mailing lists:

Most people are already following these guidelines. To those people, we
thank you. For those of you who are not ... please read carefully.

1. Please be kind and respectful to your fellow castor users.

2. Please refrain from using words and phrases like URGENT, IMPORTANT,
MY WIFE WILL LEAVE ME IF YOU DO NOT RESPOND, etc, in the subject line
of your postings. Or even in the body of the message for that matter.

	You may think that things which are URGENT or IMPORTANT to you are
	just as urgent and important to everyone else reading this list.
	You'd be surprised at just how wrong an assumption like that can be.

3. Please use meaningful subject lines. "Newbie Question", is not meaningful what-so-ever.

4. Please provide necessary information, where applicable.  Statements
like, "I receive a NullPointerException when using Castor, what's up
with that?", are not very helpful, add unnecessary traffic on the
list, and will probably never get an answer.

5. As a follow-on to #3, when submitting examples please try to submit
the smallest possible example which demonstrates the problem. Short
examples are easier to follow and will get much quicker responses
from developers or other users than long examples with lots of
extraneous code/data.  Remember, we're not being paid to do this.

6. Please read the documentation before posting. It doesn't take long
and it will save us valuable time from having to answer questions
that are already covered in the docs.

7. Please check the mail archives before posting. Many questions on
this list have already been answered before.

8. Please refrain from posting confidential information. Once an e-mail
is sent to the list, it goes out to all subscribers, including
archive engines. We cannot remove or delete messages sent to the
list. Once sent they are available for the public to see. If you are
unsure about what is confidential or not, check with your manager,
supervisor, or the person in charge at your company.

9. If you are going on vacation. Please enjoy yourself. We really want
you to have fun and get some much needed rest and relaxation. With
that being said (and to be perfectly honest), none of us really want
to receive your automated vacation responses. Please either add a
filter to your vacation response so it doesn't get sent to the list
or users posting to the list, or simply remove yourself from the
list before you go, and add yourself back when you return.

10. Please refrain from sending emails to this mailing list formatted
as text/html.

11. Please start a new thread per topic/question. That is to say, please
avoid 'hijacking' existing threads.

