jerry (11/11/82)
Emily Post for Usenet Usenet is a large, amorphous collection of machines (100s) and people (1000s). Readers range from casual observers who infrequently scan one or two groups to active participants who spend a significant amount of time each day reading news. Their ages, experience and interests also vary widely. Some use the network solely for professional purposes. Others use it to carry on a variety of exchanges and interactions. The kinds of interaction that occur in usenet are new to almost everyone. The interactions certainly aren't face to face. On the other hand submitting an item isn't like standing up before an audience either. Nor is it like writing an article for publication. Nor, since nobody edits submissions, is it like writing a "letter to the editor" It takes aspects of formal and informal communications, and combines them in a new way. Despite (or because of) these considerations usenet is a useful communications technology whose use is enhanced when people follow the emerging "net etiquette". Users at new sites (those at which usenet has been available for less than 3 months) should be especially cautious until they have adjusted to this new form of communication. The following list of suggestions is long, but I plead with you to read it before submitting items. 1. Try to find the appropriate group for any submission. (See below for a list of some important groups.) 2. When an item asks for specific information, or requests a "vote", you should usually reply via mail to the originator. Remember that many people will be reading the item at more or less the same time and if they all respond via a followup item, the net becomes flooded with almost identical responses that can annoy even people who were interested in the original question. 3. When submitting an item that is likely to generate responses, you can remind people of the previous point by ending with "send me mail and I'll post the results to the net". Of course, you then accept the obligation of doing so. 4. Take care in preparing items. While usenet interactions sometimes take on the flavor of casual conversation, you should spend the time and effort to make your item readable and pertinent. That includes proper spelling and good grammar. And be sure you have something new to say. In particular, be sure you have understood earlier items. If you are in doubt about an author's intent, carry on a private interaction. Frequently a discussion starts with one or two carefully prepared "position papers" and then degenerates into repetitive claims. 5. Before reacting to an item (either with mail or by submitting a followup) read all the followups that have reached your machine. The readnews "e-" command, which tells readnews to forget that you have read an item, can be useful here. After you read an item you think you will want to react to, do "e-", and go on to read all the other items in the group. Then go back to the original. 6. Always use an editor to prepare items for submission. If you are using the "b" version of netnews you should set the EDITOR shell environment variable to the editor you want to use. This lets you correct spelling, grammar, etc. 7. Don't be rude or abusive. I regret having to say this, but I have seen too many items that start "John, you idiot, ...", or contain phrases like "People who think ... should be shot". I suspect much of this rudeness is just carelessness. Modes of speech that would be reasonable in private conversation may not be reasonable in a semi-public forum such as the net. 8. Be careful about sarcasm and facetious remarks. Without the voice inflection and body language of personal communication these are easily misinterpreted. 9. Titles should be descriptive so that readers can decide whether to read or skip items based on the title. For example, if you are having trouble with your dishwasher you might submit an item titled "need help with G.E. dishwasher" to net.wanted. Don't submit an item titled "Need Help". 10. Whenever possible, give references. This means both to other netnews items, and to external sources. 11. In posting summaries of replies, try to actually summarize. Sometimes people just collect the items they received. The mailed replies might just as well been submitted to the net. At the least the replies should be edited to eliminate redundancy and irrelevancy. 12. Whenever possible, be brief. Some people read news over slow (300bps) terminals, and watching a 15 line "signature" that you have seen ten times before gets boring. There are many exceptions to this rule, this item being one of them. 13. Here is a list of some groups that are important to the smooth functioning of the network, or are frequently used improperly net.general This group is only for announcements and queries that need to be read by everyone. Followups and discussions should never go here. net.followup This is the place for continuing discussions that have started in net.general. In some versions of the usenet software, using the "f" command to an item in net.general will put your submission in net.followup, but you can also submit items directly. net.misc This is the place to carry on frivolous discussions, arbitrary chat, and rambling discussions. New groups are frequently spawned from these discussions. For example, if you want to start a discussion about the quality of cafeteria food, put an item in net.misc. net.wanted This group exists for posting queries for help. ("I know somebody must have a program to compute ...") net.jokes Put CLEAN jokes here. Do not submit jokes that might offend any readers. This group is often seen by people who do not regularly use computers, and there have been several instances of problems raised by offensive jokes. There have also been several extended discussions of the relation of this issue to free speech. The conclusion of these discussions has always been that because the net exists largely at the sufferance of large institutions, who foot the bills, we should all be very careful about offending anyone. Almost any racial, or sexual reference will offend somebody. The safe rule is: don't submit a joke unless you have seen similar ones in this group already. net.jokes.d Discussions about humor go here, not in net.jokes net.news Discussion of all aspects of usenet itself belong here. net.news.group Creating a new group affects all the machines on usenet. Before you do so, submit an item proposing the new group to net.news.group and to specific groups that may share interests with your proposed new group. If after a week or two, you have been contacted by some people who support the idea, and you haven't received any strenuous objections, go ahead and create the group. net.sources After being announced in some appropriate place Useful programs and shell scripts are put here. 14. Here are some queries that seem to be submitted frequently by new users. Please don't ask them out of idle curiosity. - "Where does foobar come from?" In my opinion the best answer seems to be "Fouled up beyond all recognition". There are lots of versions of this "Acronym", in particular "Fouled" is usually replaced by a less polite word. (See discussion of net.jokes for the reason I use the polite word.) - "Does anybody know my freshman roommate, John Doe, who I haven't seen in years but I think works at Bell Labs?" If you really want to know, try calling any Bell Labs location and asking the operator. (The Murray Hill number is 201-582- 3000.) They have lists and telephone numbers of all employees. The same of course applies to DEC or UCB or whatever. - "How do I reply via mail to items from sites with funny names?" These are mainly ARPANET sites, and there are technical problems with communication between usenet and ARPANET. For the moment the answer is: in general you can't. - "Is being called a 'hacker' a complement or an insult?" Some people think one, some think the other. If you want to be unambiguous find another word. Phew!! Don't let this long list intimidate you. The net exists to be used. It is a powerful tool and as long as people treat it as a tool and not a toy it will prosper. Jerry Schwarz harpo!eagle!jerry