This file contains information about the following topics (you can click on an item to go to that section, or scroll down to read the whole document):
1. Important Documents that
will help you manage your WAGGGS-L mail
2. WAGGGS-L Netiquette
3. The WAGGGS-L Support
Team
4. Picnic Patches and Ants
5. WAGGGSchat
6. Favorite Links
7. W-Camp
8. Related Discussion
Groups
9. Mentoring
10. Service Projects,
including the Thinking Day Postcard Exchange
11. Mascots
12. Patch Trading
13. Any Questions about WAGGGS-L?
When you subscribed to WAGGGS-L, you received an automatic message from listserv, and a welcome message from the listowners. This welcome message explains WAGGGS-L netiquette and posting guidelines. If you have lost your copy, you can request another one by sending listserv@iupui.eduthe one-line message get WAGGGS-L welcome
The WAGGGS-L help file contains all the information you will need to manage your mail, search for old posts, and many other useful things. Request it by sending listserv@iupui.edu the one-line message
get WAGGGS-L help
WAGGGS-L operates in the spirit of the Girl Guide and Girl Scout Promise and Laws. As the monthly list-owner message reminds us, all messages to the list should be written in a spirit of generosity. It is especially important to remember that e-mail is a quick and spontaneous medium, and that posts sent off in error usually can't be recalled. If list members make a mistake in posting to the list, the system described in the next section (the WAGGGS-L Support Team) will respond. If someone makes an error, please do not send them private mail berating them for it. Angry private mail only discourages people from posting to the list. Please allow the list owners and the support team to maintain list guidelines.
The WAGGGS-L Support Team assists the listowners by sending gentle reminders to people who are not following the list's posting guidelines. If the team changes we will post that information. Here is a list of the gentle reminders and the team member who sends them:
Digest subject lines that haven't been changed to reflect the contents of the message: Mike Baird
Directions for searching the archives and for finding a person's email address: Margo Mead
Directions for subscribing to WAGGGS-L: Linda Gardner
Long quotes and messages that should have gone to an individual, and HTML coding: Sara and Susanmarie
Messages from the team will all include the following signature:
FirstName LastName
WAGGGS-L Support Team
owner-WAGGGS-L@iupui.edu
You can earn a Picnic Club Patch if you meet WAGGGS-L participants face-to-face. The Patch has the following criteria:
1. You initially met via the Internet.
2. You made contact beyond WAGGGS-L or wagggschat (for example, e-mail or telephone).
3. You met face to face, and had something to eat at that meeting.
As long as you meet the above criteria, it does not matter if the person you meet is from across the world, across the nation, or even across town.
You can only earn the patch one time. The first time you meet with another list member and have something to eat, you earn the patch. For each additional meeting and eating, you earn an ant. The original idea was for each "picnicker" to sew her/his own ants on, using 3 French knots for the body and a few back stitches for legs and antennae. Those who can't embroider should feel free use fabric paint, or even a fabric marker, or anything else. Participating daughters (or mascots!) can earn a patch as well.
Rae Haynes manages the Picnic Club Patch. If you want to order a patch, contact her at MsRae2@home.com, and let her know how many patches you would like. Patches must be paid for using US funds. For those outside the USA, there are several people willing to swap a Picnic Club patch for something you may have.
Information about the Picnic Club Patch is also available at http//www.geocities.com/wagggschat/picnicpatch.htm
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is one of the oldest and most popular uses for the Internet. IRC allows users to "chat" in near real time with other people from anywhere that can access the Internet. IRC is similar to (but predates) the chat rooms available on AOL and other Service providers. You can think of it as something similar to an old time party line, or a CB radio.
There are regularly scheduled IRC chats (mostly for leaders) Tuesday and Thursday nights starting about 9:30pm Eastern (US) time. There is also a Sunday afternoon chat which often has girls on starting about 4pm Eastern (US) time. The channel is in use by Leaders and sometimes girls at other times however, there are often people there in the evening. To access IRC you need IRC client software; the most popular ones are mIRC and pIRCh for PC's (IRCle for Macs). Information on how to get a copy of any of these programs is located on the website listed below, as well as other useful information. Most IRC software is shareware and available for download off the internet in many places. It's also possible to access IRC via Telnet.
More information is available at http//www.geocities.com/wagggschat/
This is not meant as a comprehensive guide to Girl Scout and Girl Guide resources on the internet, but merely as a place to start.
Favorite Links Pages compiled by WAGGGS-L members:
http://www.kidslist.uc.edu/kidslist/wagggs.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/1871/favorits.html (yes, that's really favorits in the URL--it's not a typo).
The Favorite Links pages, based on a list originally compiled by Donna Pugh, contain information about: Resource Sites and Linked Lists; Songs and Graces; Clipart and Graphics; Cooking and Recipes; Games; Skits; and Plays; Ceremonies; Crafts; Camping; Outdoor Skills; and Survival; Building a Web Page; Travelling Mascots; Girl Scout Cookies; GS/GG Trivia; Tradition; and History; Program Resources; Girl Scouting in the USA; Girl Scouting/Girl Guiding around the World; WAGGGS-L Mailing List; Patch Companies; GS/GG Software; Councils; Troops; Families and Individuals; Electronic Post Cards; Books; Miscellaneous Girl Scouting/Girl Guiding Sites; Miscellaneous Non-GG/GS Sites; Scouting Sites; "Mystery" sites (submitted without a description).
Other Web Sites of General Interest
The Guidezone, overflowing with ideas, at http://www.guidezone.skl.com
A list of virtual scouting resources is available at http://www.scoutinglinks.com/
The WAGGGS-L Cyber-cookbook, at http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/5307/toc.html
W-Camp was a week-long campout attended by several hundred
WAGGGS-L members, their families, and friends, in upstate New York in
July 1998. Subsequently there have been a few regional W-Camps. Watch the
list for more information.
In August 1998, W-Camp UK was held in England; a Euro
W-Camp was held in Holland in summer 1999.
8. RELATED LISTS AND RESOURCES
There are many other websites of interest and Girl Scouting/Guiding discussion groups on line. Some others that may be of interest are described here. This information was compiled from participants in these groups or from web sites:
AnzagZine - an online Guiding E-Zine, located at http://www.anzagl.com
TiGGGS-list, for Girl Guide and Girl Scout trainers, or non-trainers who are interested. To subscribe, mail to majordomo@lists.sonic.net, and in the text of your message put subscribe TiGGGS-list
Guiding, a list for Canadian Guiders (although it has participants from other parts of the world): To subscribe, mail to listserv@skl.com and put in the body of your message Subscribe Guiding Yourname
Scouts-L, for Scouting leaders (both Boy and Girl) from around the world. To subscribe, send e-mail to listserv@tcu.edu and in the body of the message, type: subscribe Scouts-L yourname
Patch-L, for those interested in the hobby of
trading patches. To subscribe, send e-mail to: listserv@listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu
and in the body of the message, type: subscribe Patch-L yourname
ScoutsNewEngland serves Boy Scouting interests
in New England. To subscribe send an e-mail to: scoutsnewengland@hotmail.com
and in the e-mail include Your First and Last Name; your registered BSA
position and other BSA identifying information.
J-Scouts, for the Jewish community in Scouting.
For more information, go to http://www.shamash.org/scouts/other/j-scouts.html.
To subscribe, send an email message to listproc@shamash.org with the
one-line message: subscribe j-scouts yourname
Cadette/Senior advisers' lists: to subscribe, send
e-mail to
cad-senleaders-owner@onelist.com.
gscritter@mediaone.net is the list
owner.
Juliette, a list for girls in Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting, though of course leaders and parents are welcome. To subscribe to Juliette, just send an email to: Juliette@dynapolis.com and type subscribe in the Subject field. In the message itself please include some information about your Girl Scout involvement, so that the owners can be somewhat assured that only Girl Scouts, their leaders, or their parents are subscribing to the list. Currently Juliette does not have a formal moderator or leader. The Bowline Community webmaster and host, Doug Gentry, is the list host, and can answer questions about the Juliette list. He can be reached at Doug@dynapolis.com
GGGS-L, a list for Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It is open to members of all ages, but is primarily for the girls themselves. You can join this list by going to http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/GGGS-L.
JGL Newsletter, a monthly (occasionally bimonthly) e-mail newsletter full of ideas from contributors as well as ideas from WAGGGS-L. The newsletter was created in response to some WAGGGS-L participants' desire to supplement the Girl Scout Leader magazine (a GSUSA publication) with more practical ideas. Recipients are welcome to cut, paste, enhance, illustrate and borrow ideas, as long as credit is given the origin. Occasionally a contributing author puts a copyright on their article-please respect that!
Subscription price: share it with someone who doesn't get it; be prepared: the newsletter is 10 to 20 pages long each month! Subscribe by sending an e-mail note to: lotto45@A-ZNET.COM
Scouting Links, a newsletter which started in March 1999 and emphasizes current information about scouting in the news. To subscribe to this newsletter, visit http://scoutinglinks.listbot.com/ or send e-mail to scoutinglinks-subscribe@listbot.com
If you're looking for an on-line mentor to help you with developing ideas for your troop or unit, or if you're willing to be a mentor for another leader, check out http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/2440/Leaders.html.
Thinking Day Service
Beginning and in 1998 and continuing each each, list members and their troops have participated in our own worldwide service project for Thinking Day. WAGGGS-L participants choose a service project that meets the needs of their particular troop and community and undertake that project during the month of February. Patches are available for participants. Each year the name of the service project is changed. In 1998, we gave service under the broad title "Service is Blooming." In 1999, the theme was "Service Spreads Warmth." For information, contact Teresa Entwistle: entwistle@earthlink.net.
Friendship Knots
The Friendship Knot Club is a club that sends friendship knots to people who are needing support. It is a very small club-not very active, but when it is-the recipients are pleased. If you join the club, you will be notified when someone is in need. To join,
send a note to Bev Crim, at lotto45@ix.netcom.com. Please include your name and address and council, for security reasons. She will give you more info on the club and directions for making the knots if you need them.
Quilt Block Exchange
The WAGGGS-L list inspired two quilt block exchanges in 1998. In both cases, adults made 12 1/2 inch squares to represent their state. Participants also were asked to sign their quilt blocks with a date, name and council. Each participant put together the blocks and did the quilting on their own. Watch for news of future exchanges.
Many troops exchange postcard greetings around Thinking
Day, and this is a big project that requires off-list discussion
and organization. In 1998, the Thinking Day Postcard exchange is being
organized by Jan McKinney
Many troops send mascots around the country or around the world. A mascot is a small stuffed animal who travels to different troops, groups, or units, bringing back messages from each place visited.
Information on sending out and hosting mascots is available at http://www.geocities.com/enchantedforest/8481/mascot1.html and http://www.guidezone.skl.com/i_bh_mascots.htm
Some resources of use to those interested in trading patches are the mailing list Patch-L, described above, and the patch trading web ring, at http://members.nbci.com/happycrafter/GSPATCH.HTML.
Generally speaking, WAGGGS-L is not an appropriate
forum for making requests to trade patches (although people sometimes
indicate their willingness to trade in introductory messages). There
are other online resources that help facilitate trades; WAGGGS-L
focuses more on discussions.
13. Any questions about WAGGGS-L?
Request the help and welcome files, which answer many of the most frequently asked questions; directions for getting those files appear at the beginning of this document. Contact Sara Crawley or Susan-Marie Harrington, WAGGGS-L listowners, at owner-WAGGGS-L@iupui.edu.
last updated 16 Nov 2001