The rules are very short and easy to understand.  Check out:

http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/CONCH-L/CONCH-Lrules.html

Or if you want a condensed version:

1. NO Commercial Advertising (Very Important!!!)
2. NO Big Files or 'Attached' Files (won't let you do it anyway)
3. NO Off-Topic Postings (uh huh)
4. NO Flaming (even if I do get a chuckle out of most like this)

Thankfully, Amy doesn't act like an overbearing cop and lets the list
self-police itself as much as is possible.  Every now and again she has had
to step in, but most infractions are inadvertent.  In my view a notice of
something like a new book or special event is not the same as commercial
advertising.  It's a slippery slope but we seem to have held to a pretty
reasonable standard for the past few years.  In fact, the only real hassles
have been an occasional missive that tends to be a bit of a flamer.  As I
understand it the commercial ban has as much to do with the institution that
hosts Conch-L (free of charge).  We are graciously hosted by Georgia Museum
of Natural History (GMNH) and their rules as well as Georgia law specifiy
that a public service type site such as Conch-L is not allowed commercial
advertising.  So some of the rules are "let's be nice" types and others are
legal requirements.

Now, let's get back to shells.

Thomas Eichhorst
4528 Quartz Dr. N.E.
Rio Rancho, NM 87124-4908
USA