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1.1 root 1: From: [email protected]
2: Newsgroups: general
3: Subject: Emily Post for Usenet
4: Date: Fri, 24-Dec-82 15:35:03 EST
5: Expires: 1-Jan-1985
6:
7: Emily Post for Usenet
8:
9: Usenet is a large, amorphous collection of machines (hundreds) and
10: people (thousands). Readers range from casual observers who
11: infrequently scan one or two groups to active participants who spend a
12: significant amount of time each day reading news. Their ages,
13: experience and interests also vary widely. Some use the network
14: solely for professional purposes. Others use it to carry on a variety
15: of exchanges and interactions.
16:
17: The kinds of interaction that occur in Usenet are new to almost
18: everyone. The interactions certainly aren't face to face. On the
19: other hand, submitting an item isn't like standing up before an
20: audience either. Nor is it like writing an article for publication.
21: Nor, since no one moderates submissions, is it like writing a "letter
22: to the editor." It combines aspects of formal and informal
23: communications in a new way.
24:
25: Despite (or because of) these considerations Usenet is a powerful and
26: pleasant tool when people submitting items follow the emerging "net
27: etiquette." Users at new sites (those at which Usenet has been
28: available for less than three months) should be especially cautious
29: until they have adjusted to this new form of communication.
30:
31: This document is not a readnews tutorial. In some cases I tell you to
32: do something without saying how. Ask around or consult whatever
33: documentation is available.
34:
35: The following list of suggestions is long, but you can become a
36: responsible member of the Usenet community by reading it. Before
37: presenting a full discussion I will boldly state the rules:
38:
39: Put all items in an appropriate group.
40: Reply via mail.
41: Exhibit care in preparing items.
42: Read followups.
43: Don't be rude or abusive.
44: Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks.
45: Use descriptive titles.
46: Cite references when appropriate.
47: Summarize the original item in followups.
48: In posting summaries of replies, summarize.
49: Be as brief as possible.
50: Don't submit items berating violators of these rules.
51: Don't make people read the same thing more than once.
52: Mark puzzles.
53:
54: A more extended discussion of these points, of some important
55: newsgroups, and of some common questions follows.
56:
57: 1. Put all items in an appropriate group.
58:
59: See below for a list of some important groups. A followup to an
60: item does not always belong in the same group as the original
61: item. In particular, followups should never go to net.general.
62:
63: Groups exist both to accommodate different interests and to
64: limit distribution. Many geographic areas and organizations
65: have groups that are only distributed locally. For example, on
66: eagle where I am composing this item there are "net" groups,
67: "btl" groups (Bell Labs), "mh" (Murray Hill) and "nj" groups
68: (New Jersey)"
69:
70: 2. Use mail instead of a followup item.
71:
72: When an item asks for specific information or requests a "vote",
73: you should reply via mail to the originator. Remember that many
74: people will be reading the item at more or less the same time
75: and if they all respond via a followup item, the net becomes
76: flooded with almost identical responses that can annoy even
77: people who were interested in the original question.
78:
79: When submitting an item that is likely to generate responses,
80: remind people of this point by ending with "send me mail and
81: I'll post the results to the net." Of course, you then accept
82: the obligation of doing so.
83:
84: 3. Exhibit care in preparing items.
85:
86: While Usenet interactions sometimes take on the flavor of casual
87: conversation, you should spend the time and effort to make your
88: item readable and pertinent. Be sure you have something new to
89: say. In particular, be sure you have understood earlier items.
90: If you are in doubt about an author's intent, carry on a private
91: interaction. Frequently a discussion starts with one or two
92: carefully prepared "position papers" and then degenerates into
93: repetitive claims.
94:
95: While proper spelling and grammar do not necessarily improve the
96: ideas of an item, many readers feel that a lack of attention to
97: English usage may reflect a similar lack of attention to the
98: ideas.
99:
100: 4. Read followups before reacting.
101:
102: When you read an item, followups may have already reached your
103: machine. Before reacting to the item (either with mail or by
104: submitting a followup) you ought to know what others have said.
105:
106: The standard readnews interface doesn't make this easy, but it
107: should be done. (See below.)
108:
109: 5. Use an editor to prepare items for submission.
110:
111: If you are using the standard version of readnews or postnews
112: you should set the EDITOR shell environment variable to the
113: editor you want to use. This lets you correct spelling,
114: grammar, etc.
115:
116: 6. Don't be rude or abusive.
117:
118: I regret having to say this, but I have seen too many items that
119: start "John, you idiot, ...", or contain phrases like "People
120: who think ... should be shot." I suspect much of this rudeness
121: is just carelessness. Modes of speech that would be reasonable
122: in private conversation may not be reasonable in a semi-public
123: forum such as the net.
124:
125: 7. Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks.
126:
127: Without the voice inflection and body language of personal
128: communication these are easily misinterpreted.
129:
130: 8. Use descriptive titles.
131:
132: Readers should be able to decide whether to read or skip items
133: based on their titles. For example if you are having trouble
134: with your dishwasher you might submit an item titled "need help
135: with G.E. dishwasher" to net.wanted. Don't submit an item
136: titled "Need Help."
137:
138: Followups should be titled "Re:" followed by the title of the
139: original item. This is done automatically by the "f" command in
140: standard readnews.
141:
142: 9. Cite references when appropriate.
143:
144: This is especially true in discussions when you quote "facts"
145: that are not universally known. Many such "facts" turn out on
146: close examination to be opinions. This rule doesn't apply to
147: some groups like net.wanted or net.jokes where references are
148: irrelevant.
149:
150: 10. Summarize the original item in followups.
151:
152: Remember that although you may have an item in front of you when
153: you submit a followup, others won't. Remind the reader of the
154: point of the original item. But don't repeat a long item. That
155: would violate the "be brief" principle.
156:
157: 11. In posting summaries of replies, actually summarize.
158:
159: Sometimes people just collect the items they received. The
160: mailed replies might just as well been submitted to the net. At
161: the least the replies should be edited to eliminate redundancy
162: and irrelevancy.
163:
164: 12. Be as brief as possible.
165:
166: Some people read news over slow (300bps) terminals, and watching
167: a 15 line "signature" that you have seen ten times before gets
168: boring. (I hope you don't consider this item a violation. I
169: have tried to keep it brief, but there is a lot to say.) Even
170: people who read news on faster terminals don't like to wade
171: through extraneous material to get to the heart of the matter.
172:
173: 13. Don't publicly berate violaters of these rules.
174:
175: They probably didn't realize the anti-social nature of their
176: behavior. Besides, if you didn't want to see the original item
177: nobody wants to see your complaint. These complaints fall into
178: the category of reactions that should go directly to the
179: originator via mail.
180:
181: 14. Don't make people read the same thing more than once.
182:
183: When you have something to say that is of interest to more than
184: one group, submit it as one item to the groups with one command.
185: If you use a separate command for each group, readers who
186: subscribe to several of these groups will see it more than once.
187:
188: If you must retract or revise an item, use the "cancel" command
189: on the original.
190:
191: If your item provkes negative followups, don't submit more items
192: unless you have something new to say. There isn't much point in
193: submitting an item which just repeats your original submission.
194:
195: 15. Mark puzzles.
196:
197: Puzzles (questions to which you know the answer) are appropriate
198: in certain groups (e.g. net.math). When submitting a puzzle
199: make it clear that you know the answer and are submitting the
200: item for the amusement of others. This will prevent people from
201: putting the solution into followups. It will also let people who
202: know the solution (most submitted puzzles are old) ignore the
203: item without feeling guilty about not "helping" you.
204:
205: 16. Here is a list of some groups that are important to the smooth
206: functioning of the network or are frequently used improperly:
207:
208: - net.general
209:
210: This group is only for short announcements and queries that
211: need to be read by everyone. Followups and discussions
212: should never go here.
213:
214: - net.followup
215:
216: This is the place for continuing discussions that have
217: started in net.general. In the standard readnews program
218: the "f" command applied to an item in net.general will put
219: your submission in net.followup, but you can also submit
220: items directly to net.followup.
221:
222: - net.misc
223:
224: This is the place to carry on frivolous discussions,
225: arbitrary chat, and rambling discussions. New groups are
226: frequently spawned from these discussions.
227:
228: - net.wanted
229:
230: This group exists for posting queries for help. ("I know
231: somebody must have a program to compute ...")
232:
233: - net.jokes
234:
235: Jokes go here. Jokes that might offend any readers should
236: be encrypted. You can learn an encryption technique by
237: decoding some encrypted jokes.
238:
239: This group is often seen by people who do not regularly use
240: computers, and there have been several instances of
241: problems raised by offensive jokes. There have also been
242: several extended discussions of the relation of this issue
243: to free speech. The conclusion of these discussions has
244: always been that because the net exists largely at the
245: sufferance of large institutions who foot the bills we
246: should all be very careful about offending anyone. Almost
247: any racial, ethnic, or sexual reference will offend
248: somebody. The safe rule is: don't submit an unencrypted
249: joke unless you have seen similar ones in this group
250: already.
251:
252: - net.jokes.d
253:
254: Discussions about humor go here, not in net.jokes
255:
256: - net.news
257:
258: Discussion of all aspects of Usenet itself belong here.
259:
260: - net.news.group
261:
262: Creating a new group affects all the machines on Usenet.
263: Normally the need for a new group should be demonstrated by
264: the submission, over a period of time, of items that might
265: properly belong in a new group. If you are new to Usenet
266: (less than 3 months) you probably shouldn't be creating new
267: groups.
268:
269: If you want to discuss a topic and can't find anywhere
270: else, try net.misc.
271:
272: In any case before you create a new group, submit an item
273: proposing the new group to net.news.group and to specific
274: groups that may share interests with your proposed new
275: group. If after a week or two, you have received support
276: for the idea, and you haven't received any strenuous
277: objections, go ahead and create the group. You should also
278: create an item in the new group with a distant expiration
279: date describing what the group is about.
280:
281: - net.sources
282:
283: After being announced in some appropriate place useful
284: programs and shell scripts are put here. These should be
285: well enough commented so that even people who miss the
286: announcement can understand what they do.
287:
288: - net.test
289:
290: This exists so that Usenet administrators can test the
291: functioning of the software. It should be used only as a
292: last resort since items will go to all machines. In most
293: instances there will be a more limited group in which to
294: put tests (e.g. "mh.test").
295:
296: 17. Here are some queries that seem to be submitted frequently by
297: new users. Please don't ask them out of idle curiosity.
298:
299: - "Where does 'fubar' come from?"
300:
301: In my opinion the best answer seems to be "Fouled up beyond
302: all relief." There are lots of versions of this acronym, in
303: particular "Fouled" is usually replaced by a less polite
304: word. "foobar", "foo" and "bar" are all derived from
305: "fubar." (See discussion of net.jokes for the reason I do
306: not use the less polite word.)
307:
308: - "What does 'rc' in files like '.newsrc' stand for?"
309:
310: It stands for "run command" and has become a convention for
311: any file containing initialization information for a
312: command.
313:
314: - "Does anybody know my freshman roommate, John Doe, who I
315: haven't seen in years but I think works at Bell Labs?"
316:
317: If you really want to know, try calling any Bell Labs
318: location and asking the operator. (The Murray Hill number
319: is 201-582-3000.) They have lists and telephone numbers of
320: all employees. The same of course applies to DEC or UCB or
321: wherever.
322:
323: - "I can't reply via mail to some items. What can I do?"
324:
325: There are two common causes for this. One is items from
326: ARPANET sites. (These have "@" in their names.) There are
327: technical, administrative and organizational problems with
328: communication between Usenet and ARPANET. The other cause
329: is machines that are on Usenet but won't forward mail.
330: (This includes some ARPANET sites and some uucp-only
331: sites.) The only (admittedly difficult) way to circumvent
332: both problems is to construct a path that avoids the
333: trouble machines.
334:
335: - "Is being called a 'hacker' a compliment or an insult?"
336:
337: Some people think one, some think the other. If you want
338: to be unambiguous find another word.
339:
340: - "How do I read followups to an item before I reply?"
341:
342: This depends on how you read news. If you use the standard
343: readnews program then the easiest way is to use the "e-"
344: command after reading an item. This will tell readnews to
345: forget that you have read the previous item. When you have
346: read the followups you can "q" and start readnews again.
347:
348: Phew!! Don't let this long list intimidate you. The net exists to be
349: used. It is a powerful tool and as long as people treat it as a tool
350: rather than a toy, it will prosper.
351:
352: Jerry Schwarz
353: eagle!jerry
354:
355:
356:
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