BCA Photo Group Email Guidelines

The purpose of the Photo Group community email address (community@bcaphoto.org) is to serve as a channel for communications of interest/relevance to the entire group. The Board will use this to send out the usual general announcements about official Photo Group events – meeting reminders, image sharing deadlines, meet-up planning, BCA group show opportunities and deadlines, special news about member accomplishments (images in shows, etc.), and the like.

BCA Photo Group members have occasionally asked whether it is permissible to send email to the group as a whole. The answer is absolutely Yes - we share a common interest and our members possess a vast store of knowledge and experience that can be tapped to mutual benefit. One thing that has been nice to date is that the group email channel has not been cluttered with irrelevant or repetitive traffic, and it would be nice to keep it that way. To that end, we have outlined some guidelines for appropriate use below.

As a general rule, whether initiating a message or replying to someone else’s, ask yourself ‘Is the message I am about to send potentially of interest to everyone in the group?’ Of course, all messages should be strictly limited to photography and photography equipment related content.

Messages that are OK to send - BCA Photo Group members are welcome to send out general notices such as: 

  • News about an upcoming or ongoing photo event such as an exhibit of work by a noted photographer. This is especially valuable if you have seen the exhibit yourself and can vouch for it;

  • News of recognition that you or someone else has received, such as award selections, images in gallery shows, and things of that nature;

  • Messages about equipment offered for free or for sale, or equipment wanted;

  • Asking for product or technical advice about equipment, photo techniques, etc.;

  • Asking for advice about courses, workshops, on-line resources and the like;

  • If you’ll be traveling and would like tips from members who have been there on where to go to get the best photos, best times of day to shoot, knowledge of local customs, etc.;

  • If you are going somewhere locally to do something that might be of interest to others - shoot at a location, visit an exhibit, etc. - it is OK to send an invitation to the group email.

Messages that are NOT OK to send

  • No messages with commercial intent, except as noted above (e.g., equipment for sale);

  • No advertising of workshops or trips that you are conducting for pay;

  • No advertising of places that you will be selling your photographs, such as art/craft fairs;

    • We understand that when you have a gallery show that the artwork may be for sale, but the notice of the show is still OK

  • No solicitations for funds for any groups or causes;

  • Calls for Entry - those who are active and interested in that sort of thing have plenty of resources to find them (Lenscratch, CaFE, etc.);

  • No messages that are political in nature;

  • Gratuitous sharing of images. If an image is responsive to a technical question that is OK. If you just want to share images, we have a private BCA Facebook group for that.

Replying to messages – In general, reply only to the individual who sent the message, not the whole group. If you want to send a congratulatory note to someone who has received some recognition, send that only to that individual. There are some exceptions to this:

  • If someone has sent news about an exhibit and you have personally seen it, you can affirm the recommendation;

  • If there is a message about a relevant topic, as outlined above, your response might well be of general interest. As long as a discussion stays on topic it is fine.

  • In general, just use your judgment. As suggested above, ask yourself ‘Is the message I am about to send potentially of interest to everyone in the group?’

How to reply – We have configured the mail list program so that if you hit Reply in your email client the default action is that your response will be addressed only to the person who sent the message. To reply to the whole group hit Reply All.

  • Respond privately - Click Reply in your email program;

  • Respond to the whole group - Click Reply All in your email program. The address of the person who sent the message will be in the 'To:' field, and the community@ address will be in the 'Cc:' field. You can send as is, or delete the sender's address and move the group address up to the 'To:' field.

 

If you have a question about whether a post is appropriate please contact BCA President Charlie Mazel (mazelcharles@gmail. ).