chrisa@tekig5.UUCP (Chris Andersen) (08/19/86)
Well, here it is, my final rewrite of my proposed new netiquette. The major
changes between this version and the one previously posted is in it's
organization. Several sections have been shuffled around so that it makes
a (hopefully) more coherent whole. I've also tried to soften up some sections
while making others tougher so that it keeps a fairly even level of firmness
throughout the whole.
It's also longer. *sigh* :-)
I tried but as far as I can tell it really can't be made much shorter then it
is without seriously affecting the message. One suggestion I have received
was to split it up into seperate files. I didn't do this but with the new
organization it might be easier for someone else to attempt the operation.
My only worry is that splitting it up will lesson the impact. Oh well.
As for what to do with it now, I don't know. After this posting I'm done with
my part of this particular project (I have to go back to school in about a
week or so). It probably still needs some work before it can replace the
current netiquette, but I'm not going to do that work. Hopefully someone in
charge will take over where I've left off (hate to think I spent an entire
summer on this for nothing).
Here's a list of people who offered suggestions and support in (roughly) the
order I received their messages.
Jordan Hayes, Matthew P. Wiener, Carl Greenberg, Peter Korn,
Frederick M. Avolio, Allyn Fratkin, Mark Shuldenfrei, Jem Taylor, Bill Bogstad,
Steve Hayman, Brad Templeton, Eric J Sadoyama, Dan LaLiberte, Bill Swan,
Lou Marco, Dave Shaver, John Robert LoVerso, Tom Lane, Leonard H. Tower Jr.,
Charley Wingate, Ken Arnold, Graham J Carpenter, Sally Rutter,
D. Glenn Arthur Jr., John Gilmore, Dan Levy, Jon Singer, Rich Kulawiec,
Laura Creighton, Riel Smit, Frederick Wamsley
If I missed anyone I'm sorry.
The last time I posted this it got munged by a compress/decompress bug
somewhere in the net. I'm not sure what caused it but just to be sure that
it's not the length of the article, I've split in half.
And now, h-e-e-e-e-e-e-r-e's the netiquette...
------------------ Cut Here ------------------------
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Network News Etiquette
(but didn't know whom to ask)
by Chris Andersen
(with help from the huddled masses)
Welcome to USENET!
You are now a part of a large group known as the USENET community. We
are a collection of some of the most diverse individuals you are ever likely
to meet who regularly communicate on the electronic forum known as USENET.
These individuals are connected connected together over a network of hundreds
computers that span the entire globe. The size of the USENET community is not
known, but it has been estimated to be over 100,000.
If that sounds to you like a large number of people, you are correct.
Such a large group sometimes finds it difficult to get along with each other,
especially since there is no real central authority controlling what passes
through the net. The network is constantly in a state of potential chaos.
Thus the need for a standard network etiquette (known also as netiquette) to
guide the way we interact with each other.
That is the purpose of the document you are now reading.
Please remember that this may be the most important document you will ever
read on the network. It addresses many of the major problems you may have in
dealing with others on the network. It is very long, but please do not let
that discourage you.
This document is not a tutorial on how to use the network facilities. Its
only purpose is to provide pointers on how better to interact with the network
community, assuming you already know how to use the network (you can probably
find other documents on your local computer that will provide instructions for
use of the network).
In what follows, important terms will be delimited by single quotes (') and
key points of the netiquette will be delimited by double asterisks (**).
Single asterisk (*) delimiters will be used in place of italics.
Table of Contents
1. Network communication facilities
2. News organization
1. The size of news
2. News organization
3. The structure of an article
4. Headers
5. Signatures
3. News authorities
4. Posting to news
1. Posting to USENET
2. Cancellation
3. Followups
5. Colloquial terms in news
6. Legal issues in news
7. Rights & Responsibilities
1. News Rights
2. News Responsibilities
8. Netiquette specifics
1. Interpretation and sarcasm
2. Meta-discussions
3. Quotations
4. Flames
5. Spelling & Grammer
9. Netiquette Breakdown
10. Extra advice
1. Network Communication Facilities
The two most common ways to communicate on networks are by electronic mail
('e-mail') and computerized forums (USENET or 'netnews' [1]).
E-mail is similar to the mail handled by your local Postal Service, only
faster (usually). E-mail is any message that you write on your local computer
and pass on to the network mail servers that, like electronic postmen, deliver
it to a specific user or users on a different computer. (You can also send
e-mail to someone on your local computer, but that does not use the network.)
Netnews, on the other hand, is like a bulletin board on which you 'post' a
message or 'article' for everyone else in the USENET community to read. They
can then reply to your 'postings' either by posting a reply or 'followup' back
on the bulletin board, or by mailing it to you through e-mail.
** E-mail is the preferred method of communication on the network. **
Everytime a message, whether it be a posting or a single e-mail message, is
passed from one computer to another; it costs someone money. Since the phone
system is usually used, the owners of each computer have to pay for the phone
lines used to do the transfer (often these are expensive long distance phone
calls.) A piece of e-mail sent through the network goes through only those
network servers that lie between you and the destination for the message
(usually 3-5 servers). However, a posting on USENET goes through EVERY server
in the entire network. The phone bills at times can be enormous (sometimes
over $1,000 a week for a single computer).
Another equally important reason is *information overload*. Few people have
the time read every article that is posted to the net. Every article that
someone reads that they weren't interested in takes time away from other
activities (reading articles they *do* care about, working, etc.). So if an
article you are sending is likely to be important to only a few people, don't
post it. If it's that important, e-mail it.
Although e-mail is the preferred medium of communication, the main purpose
of this document is to describe the etiquette of postings. The content of
e-mail is of less concern (though it is hoped that e-mail will also not be
abused).
2.1. The Size of News
"News is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely
mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think that space is large, but
that's just peanuts to news..." (with apologies to Douglas Adams)
Actually, it's not THAT big. To give you a better idea: Imagine a stadium
with every seat filled. Now imagine that you have to get up in front of this
crowd. Imagine that you have to read OUT LOUD anything you post in news.
Would that make you nervous? Would you be willing to stand by your words
under that scrutiny?
No? Then don't post the article to netnews. Mail it instead.
2.2. News Organization
Netnews is organized by subject into separate 'newsgroups'. There are over
250 newsgroups in netnews dealing with subjects ranging from bird watching to
bugs in the UNIX(tm) operating system. If there is a topic you would like to
discuss, you can probably find a newsgroup for it. If not, there are general
newsgroups designed for topics that don't warrant their own newsgroups.
Newsgroups are organized so that those wishing to discuss topics they find
interesting can do so without bothering those who aren't interested. You can
choose newsgroups to 'subscribe' to depending on your interests. If you
aren't interested in a newsgroup, 'unsubscribe'. (Instructions for
subscribing/unsubscribing may be found in the manuals on your local computer
that describe the news software you are using.)
Newsgroups can be broken down into categories dealing respectively with
computers, recreation, social matters, philosophy, science, and news itself.
Computer newsgroups discuss various computing issues such as what is
happening in the computing world (new software releases, recent research, etc.)
and many other subjects. (e.g. comp.ai discusses artificial intelligence)
Recreation newsgroups discuss what people can do for their vacations,
various hobbies, what movies are playing and are they any good, etc.
(e.g. rec.arts.tv discusses television)
Social newsgroups discuss how people interact with each other.
(e.g. soc.singles discusses singles issues)
Philosophy (also known as 'talk') newsgroups discuss philosophy (of course),
politics and religion. (e.g. talk.politics discusses politics) The
Philosophy newsgroups often have the most heated discussions because they
often come the closest to the core of people's personal belief systems (this
is also true, to a lesser extent, in the social newsgroups.) Netiquette is
essential in these newsgroups.
Science newsgroups discuss the natural sciences such as physics, astronomy,
etc. (e.g. sci.astro discusses astronomy)
News newsgroups discuss aspects of the USENET system itself, such as its
administration. These newsgroups keep people informed on the status of USENET
itself. The main groups in this section are news.misc and news.groups, plus
news.announce.newusers (the newsgroup you are currently reading).
** It is recommended that you pay attention to the main News newsgroups.
Unsubscribe only if you're not interested in discussions regarding
possible new newsgroups, changes to network policies, and the future
of USENET. **
A more complete list describing all the current newsgroups is posted regularly
to the newsgroup news.lists. Please look this list over *carefully* before
posting to any newsgroup.
There is another class of newsgroups that need to be mentioned. These are
the 'moderated newsgroups'. They are like normal newsgroups, except
you post through a middleman (the 'moderator'.) It is the moderator's job to
look at each posting and to judge whether it is appropriate for the newsgroup
and to make sure it doesn't duplicate a previous article. Moderators do just
what you would do IF you adhered to the netiquette. They do not censor your
writing, they serve as a means to prevent a discussion from become too
voluminous for USENET to handle. (news.lists contains a list of the current
newsgroups and whether they are moderated or not). [2]
Besides newsgroups, there is another forum that uses the network as a
communication tool. They are called 'mailing lists'. They a simulation of a
newsgroup using the e-mail facilities of the network. Articles are sent to a
mailing list's moderator as they would to a moderated group's moderator. The
only difference is that the final article, instead of going to every site on
the net as a newsgroup does, goes to only those individual users who have
explicitly subscribed to it. (The names of current mailing lists and
instructions on how to use them can be found in news.lists.)
Here are some major types of articles that can be posted to newsgroups and
some suggestions on how to handle them...
Discussions: These are ongoing discussions on specific topics related to
the subject of the newsgroup. They make up the bulk of the articles.
Announcements: This covers announcements that are not intended to start
discussions (such as product announcements, conferences, etc.). Advertising
hype is strongly discouraged. You should also refrain from announcing major
news events. With the delay in net traffic, by the time others read the
announcement it will be old news to them. (E.g., don't come on and say "The
Shuttle just blew up!")
Questions: ("What is the color of Spock's blood?") Queries are
posted all the time in netnews and should be approached carefully.
** When answering someone's question, avoid posting the answer. **
With the size of the net, you may not be the only one who knows the answer.
If everyone who did posted the answer, the net would be flooded by duplicate
articles. (The Spock's Blood question could generate hundreds of responses.)
Instead, e-mail your answer to the person asking the question. That person
will (hopefully) post the answer when they get it. That way, only one copy of
it is ever seen.
However, this does not mean you can't use someone's question as the basis
for a new topic.
If the question is more of a subjective one (e.g. "What is the nicest thing
anyone ever did for you?") then it probably is more appropriate to post your
answer.
2.3. The Structure of an Article
An article can be divided into three sections: the 'header', the text, and
the 'signature'.
The header is a set of 'control lines' used by the network servers to
determine how to process the article. Only a few of these control lines are
useful to the average user. (such as the subject, distribution, etc.) When
writing an article, pay close attention to these lines. They are the only way
you have of controlling the processing of the article. (more on this latter)
The text is the part written by you, the user. It should contain productive
material that contributes to the topic currently being discussed or starts a
new topic the readers of the newsgroup will be interested in. (more on this
latter)
The signature is an optional part of the article that you, the poster, can
use to say, in a more human-readable form, who you are (again, more on this
later.)
2.4. Headers
There are many control lines that make up the header of an article, some you
will not have to worry about. However, there are a few that do warrant your
attention, such as: 'Subject:', 'Distribution:', and 'Newsgroup:'.
o "Subject:" describes the topic of the article.
When making an original article, you enter the subject on this line before
posting it to the network (most news software prompts for it automatically.)
However, when making a followup to someone else's posting, the news software
will usually take the subject line of the old article and use it as the
subject line of the new one (with "Re:" tacked on the beginning). The news
software will continue to reuse the old subject line, even if the topic
happens to change. Therefore...
** When making a followup, check the subject line and change it if it is
no longer correct. **
There are two other control lines called 'Keywords:' and 'Summary:' that are
similar to the subject line. You can leave these out, but if they're included
you should check them, too. "Keywords:" should give a short list of words
(usually nouns) that describe the general topic of the article; "Summary:"
gives a one-line summary of the content. E.g., an article posted to sci.astro
(astronomy/astrophysics) might have...
Subject: Latest publications from Princeton
Keywords: pulsars big bang
Summary: Wheeler suggests pulsars are made of Jell-o
Readers can use the news software to read or ignore messages based on the
keywords listed.
o "Distribution:" describes how the articles should be distributed throughout
the net.
News software normally sets distribution to the entire network (the world).
However, if you know that the article contains no useful information for
people outside a local area, change the distribution to just that area.
(Consult news manuals and your local administrator to find out what those
distributions are.) For example, if you had a lawn mower for sale in New
Jersey, you can bet that someone in Australia doesn't care to hear about it.
** Distribute a posting only to those who are likely to care about its
contents. **
o "Newsgroup:" describes what newsgroups the article should be posted in.
Normally you would only post an article to one newsgroup, but the
"Newsgroup:" line allows you to post it to more than one. While the
newsgroup organization is designed to give topics an appropriate home for
them, there is overlap between groups -- areas where there may be a mutual
interest to more then one group. This is where 'cross-posting' comes in.
To cross-post, you just enter all the newsgroup names you wish to cross-post
to on the "Newsgroup:" control line.
But wait! Before you go around using this wonderful mechanism, remember
that it can easily be abused. Here are some general rules to follow:
* Make sure that the topic is appropriate for the other newsgroups.
The best way to do this is to cross-post to only those newsgroups that you
participate in actively. (This gives you a better idea of whether the
topic is appropriate, since you will have had first-hand experience with
the newsgroup.)
* Be frugal when cross-posting. Cross-posting to two groups will arise
occasionally, three should be used sparingly and four should be used only
in very rare, very special circumstances. Avoid cross-posting to more than
four newsgroups.
* When posting a followup to an article, the news software will automatically
post your reply to ALL the newsgroups the original article was cross-posted
to. Therefore, when writing your followup, check for cross-posting in the
"Newsgroup:" line (most news software will let you edit not only the the
text but the header also). If it is cross-posted, and the topic of your
followup no longer meets with the subject of one or more of the
cross-posted groups, then eliminate them from the "Newsgroup:" line.
* There is an extra header line called 'Followup-To:' that was designed for
use in cross-posting and redirecting topics. If you have a topic that you
think might be appropriate to more than one newsgroup but you think it
should be discussed only in ONE specific newsgroup, then add the line
"Followup-To: newsgroup name" to your article's header. Any followups that
are then made to the posting will be directed automatically to only that
newsgroup.
For example, if you want to suggest creating a new newsgroup to discuss
hopscotch, you might post an article to news.groups and cross-post to
rec.games.misc, but direct all followup discussion to news.groups alone,
since that's the newsgroup intended for such discussions. Your posting
should mention that you have directed followups to news.groups, so that
people who subscribe only to rec.games.misc will know to subscribe to
news.groups if they wish to follow the discussion. The control lines would
look like this...
Newsgroup: news.groups, rec.games.misc
Followup-To: news.groups
Please make use of this facility! If an article has marginal relevance to
a side group, those interested in the debate will make the effort to see
it in the followup group. Those not interested do *not* want to see it
debated in the side group! Respect their right to apathy.
There are many other control lines, most that you can ignore. There is a
standard document called the "Standard for Interchange of Usenet Messages", by
Mark Horton (cbosgd!mark) that describes them all. Get a copy of this if you
wish to learn more about them.
2.5. Signatures
The signature is a human-readable description of who posted the article.
Most news software provides an automatic signature mechanism that, when posting
the article, will look for the file '.signature' in your home directory.
It will append this file onto the end of each article you post.
The signature file usually contains your name, your network address (useful
if the return address in the header of the article gets mangled by the network
servers and people want to reply to your postings [3]) and some extra comments.
People often use these comments to personalize their signatures with quotes
and other bits of wisdom. You may also want to include an explicit disclaimer
that you are speaking for yourself, not your employer.
** Keep signatures short! **
Every extra character in your signature means that your posting takes longer
to transmit (via phone calls, remember) and occupies more disk space on the
hundreds of computers in the network. It may not seem like much, but it does
add up. All you should need is three lines for name, address, and comment
(plus some blank lines to make it more readable). It should not be necessary
for your signature to exceed 5 lines. If it does, you should consider trimming
it.
3. News Authority
Those who are (supposedly) in charge of the net are called net.gods.
Actually, USENET is closer to an anarchy. There is no real central authority.
However, there is a group that does a pretty good impersonation of
authority called 'The Backbone'.
The Backbone is a collection of computers or 'sites' that most of the USENET
traffic flows through. Because of this, these sites are usually the biggest
and most expensive to run in USENET (they regularly run monthly phone bills in
the thousands of dollars). Because they generally put more than anyone else
into the net and because they are the physical backbone of the net structure,
they have more say in what happens on the net. For that reason, the Site
Administrators of each backbone site could be called net.gods, though that
overstates their powers a little.
Below the backbone SAs in authority come the SAs of the rest of the sites on
the net (including your own). These are the people who generally have the
power to decide who gets on the net and who doesn't. These are the people who
can kick you off if you become a burden to the net.
4.1. Posting to netnews
How often should you post?
Rarely.
Don't feel obligated to comment on everything that is posted on the net. If
you do, then limit most of your comments to e-mail and only post those
responses that are clearly thought out and that contribute productively to the
conversation.
The rule to remember is...
** Always mail, unless you deem it appropriate to post. **
How you go about deciding whether an article is appropriate is a detailed
and subjective process cannot be covered generally. Various guidelines can
be found throughout this document.
Such as...
o Keep to the subject of the newsgroup. If you are not sure what that is,
look at the newsgroup news.lists for a short (one-line) description of each
newsgroup. Also, pay attention to how others talk about the newsgroups
subject. (But remember that they, too, may make mistakes. If it looks
like they are violating the netiquette, DO NOT imitate them.)
o If you are writing an article that is unrelated to the subject of the
newsgroup you are posting it to, don't try to legitimize it by tacking on
1-2 lines of relevant statements. For example, do not discuss the
quality of a joke in rec.humor and then tell a joke at the end to somehow
make it look as if the article belonged to the newsgroup.
o Be prepared to back up any statistical information you may present with
standardly available references. You would be surprised how many old
wives' tales are out there.
It is strongly advised that you wait for at least a week (if not more) before
making your first posting to news. Just sit back and read what's going on,
there is no hurry. If you absolutely must comment during this period, send a
message through e-mail.
After a week you should be able to see a pattern to how people respond.
By looking at the average postings and comparing them with the netiquette, you
should see what NOT to do. (You can learn how not to make an ass out of
yourself by seeing how others make asses out of themselves.)
4.2. Cancellation
Sometimes you may post something then realize that you either didn't
really want to post it, that you posted it to the wrong group, or that you
made a mistake in it. When this happens you can (and should) cancel the
article. Some software provide simple facilities for doing this (see your
local manuals) but even if no direct method is provided, you can still manually
cancel the article. To do this, make a followup to the article you wish to
cancel. In the header of the followup you will see a line that looks like this
References: <xxx> <yyy> ... <zzz>
Change it to
Control: cancel <zzz>
and submit it for posting.
Please make use of this facility when you make a mistake. The sooner you
kill a bad article, the less it costs the rest of the net.
4.3. Followups
Since netnews is a two-entity relationship between the poster and the
reader, it is important that both cooperate in the procedures for reducing
redundant followups. When a poster originally posts an article to netnews,
they should take on certain responsibilities (not the least of which is that
the posting should contribute to the discussion in a productive way). These
responsibilities involve 'followup management'.
Because e-mail is emphasized over netnews, those who wish to reply to a
posting should normally do so through e-mail. (They could post, but again,
only if it contributes productively to the discussion.) However, the rest of
the net may be interested in what the current status of the topic is.
Therefore, the poster can gather all responses to the original posting, and
'summarize' them for the net community.
This method is most useful when a poster asks a question of the net
community. Instead of several readers posting answers that could repeat each
other, all answers should go directly to the person who asked the question.
That person can then post the answer (or list of answers).
When making followups it is best not to write them immediately after reading
the article they are responding to. Waiting for a short period (perhaps a
couple of hours) can give you a chance to cool down after reading something that
made you hot under the collar. If you wait, you may find that you can think
more clearly about how to respond. Whether the article deserves to be answered
in news or in e-mail or even if it deserves any response at all. Even if you
do respond, you will probably present your views in a much more coherent and
acceptable fashion. The best advice is to look before you leap.
A suggested standard procedure for making followups
1) Decide beforehand what it is you want to say.
2) Decide if what you say needs to be posted to the net. If not, then
you should mail it (or not send it at all).
3) Get a working copy of a posting with a quoted version of the article
you are following up to (see sec. 8.3 for details about quoting).
4) Comment on those parts of the article you wish to comment on.
5) Remove any part of the quote that has nothing to do with your point.
6) Attempt to trim down (without losing the meaning) that part of the
quotation you DO comment on.
7) If the quoted part is still large, summarize it as best you can.
8) Write your response in a clear, concise fashion.
8) If you can, run the article through a spellchecker. Otherwise check
it yourself.
9) Read it over and make sure it will make sense to the reader (maybe let
someone else read it for a second opinion).
10) Check the header information.
a) is the subject correct?
b) is it cross-posted to an incorrect newsgroup? (n/a e-mail)
c) is its distribution suitable for the subject? (n/a e-mail)
d) if you wish to move the topic to another newsgroup then
add a "Followup-To:" line.
11) Post/Mail it.
----------- Cut here and combine with second part of netiquette ------
--
My mailbox is always willing to accept letters.
Yours in better understanding,
Chris Andersen (chrisa@tekig5)
P.S. August 26 is my last day on the net. If you want to keep in contact,
then reach me before that date.chrisa@tekig5.UUCP (Chris Andersen) (08/19/86)
-------------- Cut here and append to first part of netiquette -----
5. Colloquial Terms in News
Netnews over the years has developed it's own set of colloquial terms and has
inherited a few from other sources. A few examples of these follow...
o "Foo"
"Foo" comes from the term "fubar" which is an acronym for "fouled up beyond
all recognition". ("Fouled" may be replaced by a stronger word.) It is used
as a mild term of disgust. It is also used as a meta-word, something that
represents an arbitrary name. (E.g., a reference to a newsgroup "talk.foo"
means "any old newsgroup" or perhaps "any old newsgroup in the talk.*
category".) Another such meta-word is "bar" (e.g., talk.foo.bar).
o "Orphaned Response"
An "Orphaned Response" is generated by 'notes' sites running old versions of
the 'notesfiles' software. Because of the way articles loop around in the net
notes sometimes loses track of the subject. When this happens, it fills in
"Orphaned Response" as a default subject. This is fixed in recent versions of
notes but, unfortunately, not every site is running up-to-date code. If you
see an Orphaned Response and you make a followup, please try to reinstate a
useful subject line.
o "MOTOS", "MOTSS", "MOTAS", and "SO"
"MOTOS", "MOTSS", and "MOTAS" mean "Member Of The Opposite Sex", "Member Of
The Same Sex" and "Member Of The Appropriate Sex", respectively. They are
used as shorthands when discussing interactions among the genders. "SO"
stands for "Significant Other", a neutral way of referring to your
boy/girl friend, spouse, or otherwise attached person.
o "line-eater" and "bug-killer lines"
The "line-eater" was a bug that popped up in an older version of news that
would occasionally "eat" parts of people's articles if the article began with
white space (e.g., a blank line). Before the bug was fixed people used to
avoid the line-eater by putting an obligatory first line in their articles
called a "bug-killer". While the bug is no longer around, some people still
use the bug killer line because of tradition (or inertia).
o "Rot13"
Certain newsgroups (like rec.humor) have messages in them that may be
offensive to some people. To make sure that these messages are not read
unless they are explicitly requested, these messages should be encrypted. The
standard encryption method is to rotate each letter by thirteen characters so
that an "a" becomes an "n", "b" becomes "o", etc. This is known on the net as
'Rot13'. Most of the news software has ways of encrypting and decrypting
messages. Your local manuals can tell you how the software on your system
works or you can try using the Unix command: tr 'a-zA-Z' 'n-za-mN-ZA-M'
When you rotate a message, the word "rot13" should be placed in the
"Subject:" line in the header.
o "*SPOILER*"
When you post something that might spoil a surprise for other people, such
as a movie review that discusses details of the plot, please precede that part
of your article with a warning (*SPOILER*) so that readers can decide whether
to skip the article. When you post an article with a spoiler in it make sure
the word "spoiler" is also part of the "Subject:" header line.
There are other examples of terms that have meaning only in netnews besides
these, but to give an exhaustive list is beyond the scope of this document.
6. Legal Issues of Posting
o Copyrighted materials
Posting short extracts are ok, as long as you give credit to the source.
Reproduction in whole is strictly forbidden by U.S. and International
Copyright Law (unless you get permission to do so from the owner of the
copyright). be sure to post the copyright along with the extracted work.
o Public domain versus proprietory software
Posting a source for a program should be considered placing the program
into the public domain. If such is not your intention, don't post it. In
the same light, you should never, ever, post proprietory software (such as
sources to the Unix(tm) operating system). Doing so is not only questionable
legally but seriously damages the reputation of USENET in the computing
community.
o Illegal information
Do not post instructions for how to do some illegal act (such as jamming
radar or obtaining cable TV service illegally); also do not ask how to do
illegal acts. This does not mean that you cannot discuss the existance of
illegal activities, just don't tell how to do them.
7.1. News Rights
** The use of USENET is a PRIVELIGE. **
USENET is a tool run by organizations around the world who wish to communicate
with each other. These organizations have *permitted* you and your fellow
'netters' to make personal use of their facilities; but that permission could
be taken away at any time.
It is important to remember that such concepts as freedom of speech don't
apply to USENET. You do not have the *right* to use USENET to express your
opinions. Those who keep the net running with their money have given you
*permission* to do so *within certain limits*.
On USENET, the golden rule applies: They who have the gold, make the rules.
7.2. News Responsibilities
Some general user responsibilities...
o It is assumed that anyone making a posting is a person who cares highly
for the usefulness of a calm dialogue about possibly emotional issues. If
you cannot live up to this assumption, perhaps you should reconsider posting
your opinions to the net.
o All opinions or statements made in articles posted to netnews should be
taken as the opinions of the person who wrote the article. They do not
necessarily represent the opinions of the person's employer, the owner of
the computer that the article was posted from, or anyone involved with
USENET or its underlying networks. All responsibilities for statements
made in USENET messages rests with the individual posters of the messages.
(Some people include explicit disclaimers in their signature files. If you
do this, remember to keep it short.)
o While acknowledging that any useful dialogue between two or more individuals requires that both the poster and the readers attempt to make clear what is
being discussed with as little "jumping to conclusions" as possible, it is
ultimately the responsibility of the poster to make a posting as
understandable as possible. If a misunderstanding occurs, it is up to the
poster to provide a calm clarification. Posters have no right to call
into question the intellectual capabilities of those readers who
misinterpret their postings.
o The reader is obligated to closely analyze a posting before "jumping to a
conclusion" about its contents.
o If the reader is uncertain about the meaning of a posting, then the place
for further clarification is in e-mail, not netnews. However, if you have
a rebuttal and NOT a request for clarification, then netnews IS the
appropriate place (as long as the rebuttal does not turn into a personal
attack).
o In general, you should not post copies of private e-mail without prior
permission from the sender. Replies to your postings where you have said,
"I will collect responses and post them", are an exception.
o If you are not willing to take responsibility for your postings, then
you don't belong on the net.
8.1. Interpreting Postings and Sarcasm
One problem with electronic communication is that some of the subtleties of
language are not always obvious. A major part of communication is body
language and you can't see the other person when using a computer. Also, since
netnews is not interactive communication, you can't immediately confirm the
poster's intent; it becomes easy to misunderstand what they are saying in such
an environment.
** Be careful in how you interpret postings to netnews. **
There are many guidelines for improving understanding between users on
netnews; some are covered in this document, others will become apparent with
time. For now, let us look at sarcasm.
If you are reading a posting and you find it impossible to believe that the
poster is being serious, assume that they are not. If you are still unsure,
ask the poster (through e-mail) to confirm their intentions.
** If you are the one posting sarcasm, choose your words carefully. **
NEVER assume that your sarcasm will be obvious. Given the size of the
network, it is inevitable that someone will misinterpret what you say. This
does not mean that they are in any way stupid. It could be that they weren't
in a good mood at the time they read it and weren't thinking too clearly.
Always give the reader the benefit of the doubt.
An important tool for clearing up most problems with sarcasm is what is
known on USENET as 'the smiley face'. It is formed by the three characters
':-)' (look at it sideways). Smiley faces are usually used to convey facial
expressions that add to the statement being made. Also common are ':-(' for a
frown and ';-)' for a wink. (Important: some news readers refuse to use
smiley faces on principal, so take heed or you may make a temporary net.fool
of yourself.)
A bit of advice, use sarcasm sparingly (and never use it to bait others).
It can help to lighten up an otherwise serious topic, but the net's tolerance
for it is pretty low (especially if all you seem to do is be sarcastic).
8.2. Meta-discussions
A meta-discussion is a discussion about discussions.
A heavy load on the net has been an overabundance of meta-discussions,
such as...
#1: A miscellaneous article drifting off the subject of the newsgroup.
#2: A complaint about how #1 did not belong in the group.
#3: Someone claims that it did belong and that #2 is just full of it.
#4: #3 is a peon and doesn't know what he is talking about. This
newsgroup is for discussions of foo and #1 was discussing bar.
#5: No it wasn't!
#6: Yes it was!
And so on.
To prevent this, follow this principle...
** Meta-discussions should never be held in the newsgroup that they are
discussing. **
The only appropriate place for them is in a news newsgroups (most likely
news.misc). However, it is recommended that you avoid starting one of these
beasts as they can often backfire.
If you wish to stop a meta-discussion you see forming in the wrong place,
good luck. Generally once they get going they are almost impossible to stop.
It is usually best to just let them die out by not responding to them.
8.3. Quotations
When you post a followup to an article, others who read it may not
understand what it refers to since it may have been as much as a week since
they saw the original article. Therefore news provides a method for quoting
previous articles in your followups. (At least, newer news software does. If
yours doesn't you will have to do it by hand. See your local manuals to find
out more about the mechanics of quotations.) Quotations are usually
identified by having some character (typically '>') tacked onto the beginning
of each line of the quote.
For example...
foo writes: -- attribution for most recent quote
>
>bar writes: -- attribution for second most recent quote
>> blah blah blah. -- second most recent quote
>
> no no, it's bleh bleh bleh. -- most recent quote
>
quite wrong, I distinctly -- text of current article
remember it being blah blah blah.
Quotes are tremendously useful, but they are also a big problem. Each time
you quote a previous article you are reposting that portion of the original
article back on the net (at times quotes can take up a large percentage of net
volume). Thus it is EXTREMELY important that you attempt to trim these quotes.
Some people have been known to quote 50+ lines of an original article just to
make a 1 line comment. DO NOT DO THIS!
** Only 1-4 sentences of the original text should be needed when you refer
to it. If you need more than this, then SUMMARIZE. (Remember that
word; it's important) **
Finally, in *no* case is it necessary to quote the signature or header lines
from the previous posting.
8.4. Flames
A 'flame' is a strongly worded opinion stated without substantiation. It
often includes a negative comment directed at an individual or group.
(Sometimes the "group" is, by implication, anybody who has the audacity to
disagree with the poster.) Further, as its name implies, it is usually an
emotionally "heated" message, and may well lead to equally emotional retorts
(which are likewise flames). For example:
"It's obvious that automobiles are dangerous and should be banned."
"That's a stupid opinion! What a jerk!"
"Why don't you just go crawl back in your hole?"
"It's plain that your limited intellectual capability doesn't allow
you to understand something so simple even a slug could follow it."
Note that the original statement in this example might have been intended
sarcastically (a smiley-face would have made it clearer), but after one
emotional reply is posted the entire discussion might degenerate into
name-calling.
Now that we have set down what flaming is, you should understand the netnews
policy on flames...
** NEVER EVER POST FLAMES TO THE NET. **
There are no exceptions. Even if the flame is only one line long surrounded
by 99 other lines of otherwise useful information, it still does not belong.
If you must flame a person, do it ONLY through e-mail. Do not burden the
rest of netnews with your flammable opinions.
There is a gray border between flames and advice. Some people, when giving
advice, do it in a somewhat 'flameboyant' way without necessarily meaning to
do so. If you see what you think might be a flame on the net, read it over
carefully. See if it isn't just advice presented on a hot plate.
And please, if you do see a flame on the net, do not compound it by flaming
back ON THE NET. That would be like trying to prevent someone from burning
down your house by blowing it up yourself!
8.5. Spelling and Grammar
As should be obvious by now, you should be proud of the contents of your
articles before posting them and should have put care into their construction.
Along with other considerations, this also entails spelling and grammar.
Mistakes will be made, and we should try to be forgiving of those who make
them. Especially since this is an international network where several of
the participants may only have a small working knowledge of English.
However...
** It is ultimately the posters' responsibility to make their
articles as clear of spelling and grammar mistakes as possible. **
If you are a chronic misspeller, you may wish to see if your system has a
spelling checker. If it does, use it. It will make everyone's day a lot
brighter.
A related topic to discuss here is that of the 'spelling flame'. Just as
there are chronic misspellers on the net, there are those who cringe whenever
they see a misspelled word. They have been raised to be sensitive to spelling
and DO find it difficult to read misspelled articles where others might not
even notice the mistakes. Some of these people (you may be one) may feel
compelled to point out to people that they made a spelling mistake (or a
mistake in grammar, etc.)
** If you feel tempted to post a spelling flame -- *don't*. *ever*. **
Indeed, you'd be surprised at how many spelling flames contain further
mispellings. If you must make a spelling flame, PLEASE do it through e-mail.
For some help on writing style in general, see:
o Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work"
o Strunk & White, "Elements of Style"
The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a standard in
tech writing classes and won an award for the best tech writing book from the
Association for Teaching of Technical Writing.
Writing Style:
o Write *below* the readers' reading level.
o Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter. This
means "concise", not cryptic. (This document is not a good example to
follow.)
o White space (space, tab, blank lines) is not wasted space. It greatly
improves clarity. But don't overdo it; double-spacing your text is going
too far.
o Pick your words to have only ONE meaning. Vagueness is considered artistic
in literary circles. We are not trying to be literary here.
o People can grasp only about seven things at once. This means ideas in a
paragraph, major sections, etc. (This document is another good example of
what not to do.)
o There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning
or negative sentence takes longer to read.
Net Style:
o Subtlety is not communicated well in written form, especially over a
computer.
o The above applies to humor as well.
o It's MUCH easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters.
o Leaving out articles (such as "the", "a", "an", etc.) for "brevity" mangles
the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves you time
at your reader's expense.
o Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used
"articles" above just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different
meaning than I intended.
o This is an international network, some people may use language differently
because they come from a different culture. Be tolerant; American English
may not be the poster's native language.
o Try to find a good text editor to use while writing an article (I recommend
vi). Most of these rules demand the ability to go back and revise.
o Remember - your future employer may be reading your articles.
9. What To Do When Netiquette Breaks Down
There are many reasons why netiquette may break down at times. Some people
are newcomers who are unaware of the practices necessary to keep a
smooth-running net. That's the reason this document was written. Others
believe that posting to the net is their right, not a privilege, and
constantly misuse it. Their misuse has resulted in cutoffs by some sites,
moderation of some groups, and meta-discussions about their misuse. These
are people with a bone to pick or extroverts excited about the prospect of
showing off to such a big audience. Remember that they are the misusers and
not an example to be followed.
If you see someone breaking the netiquette, whatever you do, don't imitate
them. Assume that it was an honest mistake. Possibly send the offender a
short CALM note through e-mail pointing out the offense. Do not, however,
forcefully accuse them of wrongdoing (especially on the net). Never discourage
open communication. If you must, correct they're usage of the net, but always
in a way that encourages.
If a newsgroup starts to deteriorate into flaming then ignore the flaming.
Instead of adding fuel to the fire by complaining yourself, try to divert the
energies of the participants into more useful and productive pursuits. If you
see a discussion collapsing, change the topic or just generally add something
productive. Don't attack the legitimacy of the old topic. Instead, try to
woo the posters away from it with a more productive discussion.
Just because others are flaming doesn't mean you have to as well.
Don't argue with fanatics. This is true for any side of any issue. You are
not likely to change their mind and it just annoys the rest of the net if you
try. The only thing worse then a fanatic, is someone who argues with a fanatic.
If you are wondering why there is so much garbage in news, remember
Sturgeon's Law, "90% of everything is crap." If you take that into account,
you might be amazed that the net has as much good content as it does.
That does not mean that you should accept garbage, of course. Just don't
expect it to go away by itself. The only way to fight the garbage is if you
are willing to put out the effort to do so. You can't expect others to do it
for you. If you do, you should reconsider participating in the net at all.
If you wish to prevent it then you should (1) follow the netiquette and
(2) urge others to do so. When urging others, do so calmly. Most people
will not pay attention to you if you beat them over the head with the
netiquette. They are even more likely to violate it just out of spite.
Sometimes you wish a discussion would just go away. Rest assured there are
other people who feel the same way. Don't post an article asking for the
discussion to stop, or move, because you will only add to the junk articles
others have to read. If one person posts "I have a car for sale in New Jersey"
to comp.arch, this is bad. If 200 people post "You shouldn't post car articles
to comp.arch", this is *worse*! Instead, you should ignore the article or
articles and wait for them to go away, or, if you are really peeved about it,
send e-mail to the originator of the offending article.
10. Extra Advice
Never forget that the person on the other side of the screen is human.
Think carefully about your audience.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
When quoting, Summarize Summarize Summarize!
The best postings are those thought out over a long period of time.
Your postings reflect on YOU. Be proud of them.
---------
Footnotes--
[1] USENET is a software system that uses the facilities of underlying networks
to pass netnews traffic between machines. The major physical networks that are
used are the 'UUCP network' (for networking between Unix machines), the
'ARPAnet' (for networking between recipients of government research funds),
'CSNET' for computer science researchers, 'BITNET' for IBM machines, and
various national networks in different countries. These various networks are
connected to each other through 'gateway' sites that translate information
between the protocols used by them.
[2] There are some moderated newsgroups that are just reproductions of forums
that are exclusively on other networks (such as ARPAnet). In these groups
there is no moderator; just as in the main USENET groups. You cannot post to
these groups from the USENET side of the interface, but if you are on the
network the discussion takes place on, you can try to join it there (see
news.lists for a list of these discussions).
[3] Usually this is an address relative to a major backbone site on the net.
(ihnp4, ucbvax, cbosgd, etc.) Ask your local SA if you need help in determining
your address.
--
My mailbox is always willing to accept letters.
Yours in better understanding,
Chris Andersen (chrisa@tekig5)
P.S. August 26 is my last day on the net. If you want to keep in contact,
then reach me before that date.chrisa@tekig5.UUCP (Chris Andersen) (08/23/86)
By the way, if someone has or will be taking over the netiquette job, I'd like to hear about it. You can reach me at this net address for about another 4-5 days or at the following Snail Mail address: Chris Andersen 2 Warren Ave. Troy, NY 12180 Thanks. -- My mailbox is always willing to accept letters. Yours in better understanding, Chris Andersen (chrisa@tekig5) P.S. August 26 is my last day on the net. If you want to keep in contact, then reach me before that date.