http://www.arin.net/whois/

http://members.msn.com/[email protected]

GOOD MEMBERS

( YOUR NAME HERE) has the tips you need to become a fabulous member of MSN Groups!

Nope....clicking JOIN NOW doesn't mean you're done & dusted....there is a lil bit of responsibility involved here as well.

Because it drives most managers INSANE when peeps join up....& then do nothing but LURK.

Unless a group's settings are Private, peeps can lurk away without being a member of the group.  By clicking that JOIN NOW, you have made a commitment to NOT LURK.  Joining implies you want to be a part of the group & have something to say.

So from time to time, stop by & say something already!   Respond politely to your welcome message.   Introduce yourself.  Play a game.  Answer a question.  Post a joke. Share a link.  You're not being asked to write a doctoral thesis on a daily basis....just let management know you've got a pulse & are willing to participate regularly.  Talking to random strangers can be fun.  And pretty soon they won't BE strangers if you chat em up a bit.

Once you've begun to participate, play nice!  Keep in mind the MSN rating category the group is in (General, Mature, Adult) & act appropriately for that category.  Nicest manners will win the day.

Make sure you have read & understood the rules of the group so that you do not commit any faux pas (that's French for irking management ). 

Try not to make management gnash its teeth at you.  DON'T leave your email addy showing for spammers to harvest & hackers to hack.  DON'T post from your email & have it end up in the wrong place, drag in advertising or previous posts, or display the email addy of the person to whom you replied.  DON'T choose the "Cool Feature" that sends every single post to your email & then whine that your inbox has imploded & management needs to stop that crap.  DON'T copy & paste graphix into your posts from non-MSN sites because that's not nice, it's called stealing bandwidth & management can get in trouble with MSN for that.  DON'T squabble with other members on the boards. Babysitting services are probably not offered by management.

Stay on topic within a thread.  Don't go off on a tangent or post a picture in the middle of a discussion just because you can.  Start a new thread for such things.

If other peeps have their email addys showing, don't assume it's because they are looking for new pen pals.  DON'T email anyone or add them to your instant messenger without getting permission to do so first.

If you're going to be incommunicado for a while, it's always nice to let your fellow peeps know you won't be around, if possible.  Not only will they not wonder where you went, but you are letting management know you are still interested in participating in the group at some point in the future, thereby saving yourself from a periodic clean sweep of mute members.