eam@soleil.UUCP (Ed A. Mills) (07/29/89)
My usual method of learning new software is to fool aruond with it until
I figure it out. Well, this isn't working with "vnews", so maybe some of
you experts could give me a few pointers. Please respond to each question
briefly and seperately.
1. what is uunet? how about usenet? is vnews a subset of these things,
or do they exist just for vnews?
2. Exactly what is the function of "K"? Does it have the same effect
if I am reading an article at the end of a group as it would at
the beginning? What happens if new articles are added to a group
after I "K" the group? Do I still get to see them?
3. Is there a newsgroup for instructions? man vnews is the usual cryptic
unix drivel.
4. What is the difference between 'l' and 'L'? These usually seem to have
the same effect, which is usually about 10,000,000 articles when I only
want to see a certain one.
5. How do I unsubscribe to a group? Can I later resubscribe? How can I
see what groups I am unsubscribed to? For that matter, how can I see
what groups I'm subscribed to without paging through all of them?
6. What does the .newsrc file in my directory do? What do the numbers
mean after the newsgroups? What do the !'s mean? If I edit this
file, does it change how vnews starts up?
7. When new newsgroups are added to the network, are they automatically
included in my groups, or do I have to add them somehow?
8. Is there a way to order the groups as I please? Maybe by rearranging
the .newsrc file mentioned above?
9. Can I go the the first group in a hierarchy? For instance, say I want
to see all of the comp groups? Can I go the the first group in
level n of the hierarchy?
10. What's the beef with hierarchies? For example, in
vegtables.green.good-tasting.nutritious.beans are there certain
terms for each of the levels? Would this be newsgroup vegtables,
subgroup green, and so on... or what? Is there a way to get a list
of a hierarchy under each level (kind of like cd vegtables.green;ls)?
11. Are there other newsgroups that have to be added or accessed specially
by request? Are there other nets with entirely new groups? If so,
how can I find out what they are and how to access them?
12. How can I extract an article to a file? I seem to have done this
accidently a few times, but it would be useful to know how to do
it on purpose.
13. How can I reverse order articles so I see the new ones first?
14. What are moderated groups? Who modertates them? Are postings
postponed until the moderator decides to include them, or are
they included but later deleted if he(she) decides he(she) doesn't
like them?
15. If I postnews to a non-existent group, will it be created?
16. Can I 'unpost' an article that I posted? I tried this once, but it
said I didn't own it, even though I had just posted it.
17. Where and what is the host system for vnews? If distributed, does
each system with access serve part of the groups?
18. I noticed that sometimes when I select a group with no articles, I
am immediately kicked out of vnews. This used to happen frequently
when I accessed comp.lang.apl, but now it seems to go to the next
group instead. Was this a recently fixed bug maybe?
Sorry about the volume of questions, but I guess this is the perfect group
for them.
Ed Mills
Harris Semiconductor
Melbourne, Flwiml@blake.acs.washington.edu (William Lewis) (07/31/89)
In article <758@soleil.UUCP> eam@soleil.UUCP (Ed A. Mills) writes: >My usual method of learning new software is to fool aruond with it until >I figure it out. Well, this isn't working with "vnews", so maybe some of >you experts could give me a few pointers. Please respond to each question >briefly and seperately. > >2. Exactly what is the function of "K"? Does it have the same effect > if I am reading an article at the end of a group as it would at > the beginning? What happens if new articles are added to a group > after I "K" the group? Do I still get to see them? Do you mean 'k' or 'K'? They're different of course. 'k' simply scans every article that's currently been recieved, and if it has the same subject as the current subject, it 'j'unks it. (i.e., marks it as read). 'K', however, places a command in the KILL file for that newsgroup, to do the same thing for EVERY article ever recieved, so that you will NEVER see articles with that subject (unless you remove the command, of course.) KILL files can be found in subdirectories off your ~/News directory. Typing '^k' will edit the KILL file for the current newsgroup. Their format is fairly simple (/<pattern>/:<command>). > >3. Is there a newsgroup for instructions? man vnews is the usual cryptic > unix drivel. This one, I suppose. >5. How do I unsubscribe to a group? Can I later resubscribe? How can I > see what groups I am unsubscribed to? For that matter, how can I see > what groups I'm subscribed to without paging through all of them? To unsubscribe, type 'u'. If you resubscribe (by typing "g <newsgroup>") it will still remember which articles you have read. >6. What does the .newsrc file in my directory do? What do the numbers > mean after the newsgroups? What do the !'s mean? If I edit this > file, does it change how vnews starts up? .newsrc contains information about the newsgroups you are subscribed to. It is rn's (and presumably vnews's) configuration file. The format of every line is: <newsgroup>:<numbers> where <newsgroup> is the name of a newsgroup, and <numbers> is a list of all the articles you have read in that newsgroup. Articles in <numbers> can be either single numbers, delimited with commas, or ranges of numbers separated by a hyphen (i.e., 1-760 means 1 through 760.) If the colon is replaced by a '!', that means you are currently unsubscribed to that newsgroup. rn (or vnews) keeps the numbers of the articles you have read around, in case you resubscribe later. >7. When new newsgroups are added to the network, are they automatically > included in my groups, or do I have to add them somehow? With rn, I am prompted for every new newsgroup. I don't know about vnews but I would assume it works the same way. >8. Is there a way to order the groups as I please? Maybe by rearranging > the .newsrc file mentioned above? I seem to remember that rn's documentation implies that vnews forces the newsgroups into a certain order. With rn, rearranging .newsrc will have that effect, but apparently vnews will re-sort .newsrc if you do that. >12. How can I extract an article to a file? I seem to have done this > accidently a few times, but it would be useful to know how to do > it on purpose. Two ways. 's' saves the current article to a file named after the current newsgroup. 'w' does the same thing, but strips off the headers first. Appending a file-name to either command will make it save to that particular file. >14. What are moderated groups? Who modertates them? Are postings > postponed until the moderator decides to include them, or are > they included but later deleted if he(she) decides he(she) doesn't > like them? In a moderated group, the moderator must post all messages. Usually you are not allowed to post to a moderated group, you must mail your article to the moderator. Some news software will automatically change a post into a mail for moderated groups. >16. Can I 'unpost' an article that I posted? I tried this once, but it > said I didn't own it, even though I had just posted it. Hmmm, 'C'ancel should unpost a message. Maybe the current article wasn't the one you thought it was. Or maybe vnews and rn are just different... --- phelliax "I'm not a news expert, but I play one on Usenet"
bill@twwells.com (T. William Wells) (07/31/89)
In article <758@soleil.UUCP> eam@soleil.UUCP (Ed A. Mills) writes:
: My usual method of learning new software is to fool aruond with it until
: I figure it out. Well, this isn't working with "vnews", so maybe some of
: you experts could give me a few pointers. Please respond to each question
: briefly and seperately.
I don't know beans about vnews, but some of the questions aren't
related to it; I'll answer those.
: 1. what is uunet? how about usenet? is vnews a subset of these things,
: or do they exist just for vnews?
Uunet is the name of a well-known uucp (among other things) site;
they provide uucp connections and other services for a fee and are a
non-profit organization. For more information about them, you can
send a message to uunet!postmaster.
Usenet is just the collection of sites that carry the news.
The news is not a centralized database; rather, each message that is
posted goes to every site that is in Usenet. (There are exceptions:
posting a message to a moderated newsgroup, if it works at all, will
get the message e-mailed to the moderator; certain systems provide a
centralized news server for a group of systems, etc.) Vnews is just a
program that accesses the news database on your system (or its
server, maybe).
: 3. Is there a newsgroup for instructions? man vnews is the usual cryptic
: unix drivel.
There is a newsgroup for information that is useful to all news users:
news.announce.newusers; you really should read the messages in that
newsgroup if you haven't already. If there are no messages in it,
wait for a while; they are reposted periodically.
Depending on the question, you might try any of news.software.b,
comp.sources.d, and comp.misc.
: 6. What does the .newsrc file in my directory do? What do the numbers
: mean after the newsgroups? What do the !'s mean? If I edit this
: file, does it change how vnews starts up?
The .newsrc file contains a record of what you have read so far. The
`!' means that you are not subscribed to the newsgroup. The numbers
after the `:' or `!' are the article numbers of the articles you have
already read. Yes, you can edit this file: caveat usor!
: 8. Is there a way to order the groups as I please? Maybe by rearranging
: the .newsrc file mentioned above?
If anything will do it, reordering your .newsrc will.
: 10. What's the beef with hierarchies? For example, in
: vegtables.green.good-tasting.nutritious.beans are there certain
: terms for each of the levels?
All of vegtables, vegtables.green, vegtables.green.good-tasting. and
vegtables.green.good-tasting.nutritious are newsgroup hierarchies;
vegtables.green.good-tasting.nutritious.beans is a newsgroup.
: Would this be newsgroup vegtables,
: subgroup green, and so on... or what? Is there a way to get a list
: of a hierarchy under each level (kind of like cd vegtables.green;ls)?
There is a file, ask your system administrator where, that contains
the names of all newsgroups that the system receives. You can fiddle
with a copy of that to get what you want. It may be the case that
vnews keeps your .newsrc consistent with that file, in which case you
can just look at it.
: 11. Are there other newsgroups that have to be added or accessed specially
: by request? Are there other nets with entirely new groups? If so,
: how can I find out what they are and how to access them?
There are many hierarchies that are available only if your
administrator specifically asks for them. Information about these is
posted periodically, I think in news.lists.
: 14. What are moderated groups? Who modertates them? Are postings
: postponed until the moderator decides to include them, or are
: they included but later deleted if he(she) decides he(she) doesn't
: like them?
A moderated group is one where only the moderator (or moderators) is
allowed to post. Depending on how old your news software is, posting
to a moderated newsgroup will either get your posting rejected or
will get it mailed to the moderator; if you have the older software,
you have to mail to the moderator yourself. The moderator himself
posts the message. BTW, cross-posting to a set of newsgroups that
includes a moderated newsgroup will get message mailed to the
moderator; it will not get posted.
As to who moderates them; that gets posted periodically, along with
where to mail messages to him if you want to. (Also in news.lists? I
let those go by with glazed eyes and I've forgotten where I see them!
:-)
: 15. If I postnews to a non-existent group, will it be created?
No. (I hope! It certainly won't on all the systems I'm familiar with.)
: 16. Can I 'unpost' an article that I posted? I tried this once, but it
: said I didn't own it, even though I had just posted it.
That ought to work; however, I've never had any luck doing it.
: 17. Where and what is the host system for vnews? If distributed, does
: each system with access serve part of the groups?
There is no host system (unless your organization provides a server);
each system contains a complete copy of whatever is made available on
that system.
---
Bill { uunet | novavax | ankh | sunvice } !twwells!bill
bill@twwells.comjbuck@epimass.EPI.COM (Joe Buck) (08/01/89)
In article <758@soleil.UUCP> eam@soleil.UUCP (Ed A. Mills) writes: >1. what is uunet? how about usenet? is vnews a subset of these things, > or do they exist just for vnews? uunet is a computer, a Sequent Balance machine in Falls Church, VA. UUNET Communications Services is a nonprofit organization that provides UUCP connections, mail and news feeds, and has large archives of freely redistributable software. Usenet is a collection of computers on various networks that pass text around in the form of "news articles" (like this one). There are a variety of "newsreader" programs that you can use to read "news"; vnews is one. I use rn (which is probably the must popular). Others include readnews (does anyone actually use this still?), nn, Gnews, GNUS, and notes (notes is actually in a separate category altogether). I'll answer your questions on vnews, though I recommend that you switch to rn if your site has it. >2. Exactly what is the function of "K"? Does it have the same effect > if I am reading an article at the end of a group as it would at > the beginning? What happens if new articles are added to a group > after I "K" the group? Do I still get to see them? I've noticed someone answered you as if you were running rn. Folks, he's not, he's running vnews. The vnews 'K' command is like the rn 'c' command -- it "catches you up". All articles currently on disk are marked as if you had read them. You still get to see new articles. >3. Is there a newsgroup for instructions? man vnews is the usual cryptic > unix drivel. It may be "unix drivel", but it answers almost all your questions! Read news.announce.newusers. Lots of info is posted once a month. You don't get to post to it though. Ask your news administrator for the document "How to read the Network News" which he or she should have received with the news software. Tell him or her to look for a file named "howto.mn" in the documentation directory that came with the news software. Warning! It's out of date with respect to what groups are available. >4. What is the difference between 'l' and 'L'? These usually seem to have > the same effect, which is usually about 10,000,000 articles when I only > want to see a certain one. 'l' lists articles you haven't read yet. 'L' lists all articles. >5. How do I unsubscribe to a group? Can I later resubscribe? How can I > see what groups I am unsubscribed to? For that matter, how can I see > what groups I'm subscribed to without paging through all of them? Type "ug". See the next question. try "vnews -s". >6. What does the .newsrc file in my directory do? What do the numbers > mean after the newsgroups? What do the !'s mean? If I edit this > file, does it change how vnews starts up? The .newsrc file keeps track of what you've read. The ! means you've unsubscribed to that group. The numbers are article numbers. If you edit the file, be sure you know what you're doing. Changing the ! to a : will resubscribe you to a group. The "options" line gives your subscription list. >7. When new newsgroups are added to the network, are they automatically > included in my groups, or do I have to add them somehow? This depends on how your news administrator runs things. If the NONEWGROUPS parameter is set, the news administrator must manually add a group. If he or she adds a group and your "options" line gives a pattern that includes the group, it will be added. >8. Is there a way to order the groups as I please? Maybe by rearranging > the .newsrc file mentioned above? Yes, just sort your .newsrc. >9. Can I go the the first group in a hierarchy? For instance, say I want > to see all of the comp groups? Can I go the the first group in > level n of the hierarchy? No. >10. What's the beef with hierarchies? For example, in > vegtables.green.good-tasting.nutritious.beans are there certain > terms for each of the levels? Would this be newsgroup vegtables, > subgroup green, and so on... or what? Is there a way to get a list > of a hierarchy under each level (kind of like cd vegtables.green;ls)? No, vnews doesn't support this. >11. Are there other newsgroups that have to be added or accessed specially > by request? Are there other nets with entirely new groups? If so, > how can I find out what they are and how to access them? There are alternate newsgroup hierarchies. Your news administrator would have to make arrangements to get them on your machine. >12. How can I extract an article to a file? I seem to have done this > accidently a few times, but it would be useful to know how to do > it on purpose. The "s" command saves articles to files. >13. How can I reverse order articles so I see the new ones first? You can't with vnews. >14. What are moderated groups? Who modertates them? Are postings > postponed until the moderator decides to include them, or are > they included but later deleted if he(she) decides he(she) doesn't > like them? With moderated groups, attempts to post are converted to mail messages that are sent to the moderator. The moderator may accept or reject your article based on the criteria for that group. The list of moderators is posted every month to news.announce.newusers and other groups. >15. If I postnews to a non-existent group, will it be created? No, your article will be rejected. >16. Can I 'unpost' an article that I posted? I tried this once, but it > said I didn't own it, even though I had just posted it. This is a sign that your news system is not set up correctly. >17. Where and what is the host system for vnews? If distributed, does > each system with access serve part of the groups? There is no central site. It's an anarchy. Your local news administrator set it up on your site. >18. I noticed that sometimes when I select a group with no articles, I > am immediately kicked out of vnews. This used to happen frequently > when I accessed comp.lang.apl, but now it seems to go to the next > group instead. Was this a recently fixed bug maybe? Hard to tell. It may have been fixed long ago and your guru just installed the new software. >Sorry about the volume of questions, but I guess this is the perfect group >for them. Sounds like you're badly in need of some local assistance. Mail to "usenet" on your local machine and see who answers. -- -- Joe Buck jbuck@epimass.epi.com, uunet!epimass.epi.com!jbuck
rob@phavl.UUCP (Robert Ransbottom) (08/01/89)
If you want to play w/ vnews, first get all caught up on your reading. Then remove ".newsrc" from your home directory. Go back to vnews and play. After play, use "ug" and 'K' to "unsubscribe" and "ketchup" on the groups. The news you can lose is any that becomes available between the time you removed ".newrc" and the initialization of "vnews". In article <3025@blake.acs.washington.edu>, by wiml@blake.acs.washington.edu (William Lewis) offers MISINFORMATION in response to: > article <758@soleil.UUCP> eam@soleil.UUCP (Ed A. Mills): >>... working with "vnews", so maybe some of >>you experts could give me a few pointers. Please respond to each question Wm. Lewis may be talking about "vn" or just forgotten the differences between his "rn" and "vnews". The following corrections apply to vnews as distributed w/ News 2.11. >>2. Exactly what is the function of "K"? Does it have the same effect >> if I am reading an article at the end of a group as it would at >> the beginning? What happens if new articles are added to a group >> after I "K" the group? Do I still get to see them? > > Do you mean 'k' or 'K'? Vnews has no 'k' command. 'K' marks all HIGHER numbered messages in the group as read. You will not see those messages again. You will still be in the group and be shown new messages as the arrive. 'K' is the complement of 'N'. 'N' = "i don't want to read the rest of this group _Now_" 'K' = "i _Knever_ want to read the rest of this group" >>5. How do I unsubscribe to a group? Can I later resubscribe? How can I >> see what groups I am unsubscribed to? For that matter, how can I see >> what groups I'm subscribed to without paging through all of them? > To unsubscribe, type "ug". "ug" = "_Ugh_! this group is _Garbage_" To resubscribe you need to edit the line in your home directory ".newsrc". Change the '!' to a ':'. >>3. Is there a newsgroup for instructions? ... > This one, I suppose. There is also news.software.b when you want to ask more esoteric questions. And news.admin gives some good info but it is from the administrator's perspective. >>7. When new newsgroups are added to the network, are they automatically >> included in my groups, or do I have to add them somehow? New groups are added. >>8. Is there a way to order the groups as I please? Maybe by rearranging >> the .newsrc file mentioned above? Edit ".newrc" to put the lines in the order you desire. If that doesn't work I'd be very surprised. >>12. How can I extract an article to a file? I seem to have done this >> accidently a few times, but it would be useful to know how to do >> it on purpose. > > Two ways. 's' saves the current article to a file named after the current > newsgroup. 's' saves to "Articles" as the default. >'w' does the same thing, but strips off the headers first. Appending > a file-name to either command will make it save to that particular file. I believe 'w' does the same without headers. Don't rush to dump headers, if its worth saving its probably worth knowing where it came from. Also you may wish to use filenames like "n.n.q" for "news.newusers.quewstions", "c.l.c" for "comp.lang.c" >>16. Can I 'unpost' an article that I posted? I tried this once, but it >> said I didn't own it, even though I had just posted it. > You hit the right key but the ownership had already passed to the news-admin account. 'c' will work for root. 'c' = "don't cancel, exercise _Care_" -- ...!uunet!phavl!rob Robert Ransbottom
stevesc@microsoft.UUCP (Steve Schonberger) (08/01/89)
In article <758@soleil.UUCP> eam@soleil.UUCP (Ed A. Mills) writes: Newsgroups: news.newusers.questions eam>My usual method of learning new software is to fool aruond with it until eam>I figure it out. Well, this isn't working with "vnews", so maybe some of I see you are using ``vnews''. The advice wiml gave you applies to ``rn'', and not all of it is correct for ``vnews''. I used to use ``vnews'', and use ``rn'' now that I'm on a machine that has it. They don't have quite the same commands. I'll try to correct the advice given. eam>you experts could give me a few pointers. Please respond to each question eam>briefly and seperately. eam> eam>2. Exactly what is the function of "K"? Does it have the same effect eam> if I am reading an article at the end of a group as it would at eam> the beginning? What happens if new articles are added to a group eam> after I "K" the group? Do I still get to see them? In article <3025@blake.acs.washington.edu> wiml@blake.acs.washington.edu (William Lewis) writes: wiml> Do you mean 'k' or 'K'? They're different of course. 'k' simply scans wiml>every article that's currently been recieved, and if it has the same wiml>subject as the current subject, it 'j'unks it. (i.e., marks it as read). ``k'' doesn't do anything in ``vnews''. In ``vnews'', ``K'' marks all articles in the newsgroup as read and skips to the next newsgroup. This is the same as the ``c'' (catch-up) function in ``rn''. wiml>'K', however, places a command in the KILL file for that newsgroup, to wiml>do the same thing for EVERY article ever recieved, [...] ``vnews'' has no KILL files. ``rn'' has kill files. We should try not to confuse new users with conflicting advice. I know, I'm posting a conflicting answer, but I'm trying to be more careful to be sure I'm correct. eam>5. How do I unsubscribe to a group? Can I later resubscribe? How can I eam> see what groups I am unsubscribed to? For that matter, how can I see eam> what groups I'm subscribed to without paging through all of them? wiml> To unsubscribe, type 'u'. If you resubscribe (by typing "g <newsgroup>") wiml>it will still remember which articles you have read. This is more ``rn'' advice. The way to unsubscribe in ``vnews'' is by typing ``ug''. The authors of ``vnews'' chose to make unsubscribing from a newsgroup more difficult than one character, so that people don't accidentally drop one they want. To resubscribe in ``vnews'', you need to edit your .newsrc file (see my reply to the next question). ``g'' is the ``rn'' command again. To list your subscribed and unsubscribed newsgroups on a machine that has ``grep'' (any Unix machine and some others), use these commands: grep ':' .newsrc ## finds subscribed groups ## grep '!' .newsrc ## finds unsubscribed groups ## If you use the c-shell, you need to use \! instead of ! or you will get a very cryptic error message. You can do those commands from within ``vnews'' with the ``vnews'' command ``!''. eam>6. What does the .newsrc file in my directory do? What do the numbers eam> mean after the newsgroups? What do the !'s mean? If I edit this eam> file, does it change how vnews starts up? wiml> .newsrc contains information about the newsgroups you are subscribed to. wiml>It is rn's (and presumably vnews's) configuration file. The format of every wiml>line is: wiml> wiml><newsgroup>:<numbers> wiml> wiml> where <newsgroup> is the name of a newsgroup, and <numbers> is a list wiml>of all the articles you have read in that newsgroup. Articles in <numbers> wiml>can be either single numbers, delimited with commas, or ranges of numbers wiml>separated by a hyphen (i.e., 1-760 means 1 through 760.) If the colon wiml>is replaced by a '!', that means you are currently unsubscribed to wiml>that newsgroup. rn (or vnews) keeps the numbers of the articles you wiml>have read around, in case you resubscribe later. wiml is correct in this case, since ``vnews'' and ``rn'' use the same format of .newsrc (with trivial differences). If you edit this file, you can mark things that were read as being unread, and you can resubscribed to groups that you've unsubscribed. To resubscribed to an unsubscribed newsgroup, you should change the ``!'' in the line with the newsgroup's name to ``:''. eam>7. When new newsgroups are added to the network, are they automatically eam> included in my groups, or do I have to add them somehow? wiml> With rn, I am prompted for every new newsgroup. I don't know about vnews wiml>but I would assume it works the same way. ``vnews'' gives an informational message telling you about the new newsgroup (it looks kind of like an error message), and adds the newsgroup to the end of the .newsrc file. eam>8. Is there a way to order the groups as I please? Maybe by rearranging eam> the .newsrc file mentioned above? wiml> I seem to remember that rn's documentation implies that vnews forces wiml>the newsgroups into a certain order. With rn, rearranging .newsrc will wiml>have that effect, but apparently vnews will re-sort .newsrc if you do wiml>that. This isn't correct, at least not in any version of ``vnews'' I have seen. The way to order the newsgroups to your preference is by rearranging their .newsrc lines with an editor. ``rn'' has commands to allow you to rearrange them with ``rn'' itself, but that's a lot more trouble than using an editor I think. Besides it's ``vnews'' that eam is concerned with. eam>12. How can I extract an article to a file? I seem to have done this eam> accidently a few times, but it would be useful to know how to do eam> it on purpose. wiml> wiml> Two ways. 's' saves the current article to a file named after the wiml>current newsgroup. 'w' does the same thing, but strips off the headers wiml>first. Appending a file-name to either command will make it save to that wiml>particular file. In ``vnews'', those commands without a file name save a file called ``Articles'' in your home directory. The behavior is otherwise like that of ``rn'', which is what wiml described. eam>16. Can I 'unpost' an article that I posted? I tried this once, but it eam> said I didn't own it, even though I had just posted it. wiml> Hmmm, 'C'ancel should unpost a message. Maybe the current article wiml>wasn't the one you thought it was. Or maybe vnews and rn are just wiml>different... In ``vnews'', the cancel command is ``c''. Some systems don't have the cancel command properly installed, and you will get the error message, ``Can't cancel what you don't own.'' I know because I just tried it and our site has that problem. There is a very esoteric way to cancel an article with ``inews'', but _trust_me_ you don't want to know how to do it. It's very complicated, and may only work for the system administrator of a site. You may ask your system administrator to cancel the note for you, by the way, if you really want to get rid of it. Steve Schonberger microsoft!stevesc@uunet.uu.net
strong@tc.fluke.COM (Norm Strong) (08/01/89)
I would like to be able to use the 'c' command in rn without marking every last article as read. Is there a way of marking articles before a specific point as being read, but retaining the ones after that? -- Norm (strong@tc.fluke.com)
levin@bbn.com (Joel B Levin) (08/02/89)
In article <10030@fluke.COM> strong@tc.fluke.COM (Norm Strong) writes: |I would like to be able to use the 'c' command in rn without marking every |last article as read. Is there a way of marking articles before a specific |point as being read, but retaining the ones after that? The simpleminded approach I use is to say <M>-<N>j where <M> and <N> are the article numbers of the first and last articles I don't want to see. This does take a while if there are lots of articles; "c" is instantaneous. This has another advantage (or disadvantage): articles junked this way are junked in every newsgroup to which they are (cross)posted, so I never will see them. The "c" command does not have this property (it merely updates a single .newsrc line). /JBL (My previous answer to this question should have been cancelled; if I couldn't make that happen, please ignore it.) = UUCP: levin@bbn.com (new) or {backbone}!bbn!levin (old) INTERNET: levin@bbn.com POTS: (617) 873-3463 "The night was"
kailanhw@aludra.usc.edu (Kailanhw Hwang) (08/02/89)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original-from: chuq@sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
[Most recent change: 19 June 1989 by spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)]
A Primer on How to Work With the USENET Community
Chuq Von Rospach
*** You now have access to Usenet, a network of thousands of
computers. Other documents or your system administrator will provide
detailed technical documentation. This message describes the Usenet
culture and customs that have developed over time. All new users should
read this message to find out how Usenet works. ***
*** (Old users could read it, too, to refresh their memories.) ***
USENET is a large collection of computers that share data with each
other. It is the people on these computers that make USENET worth
the effort to read and maintain, and for USENET to function properly
those people must be able to interact in productive ways. This
document is intended as a guide to using the net in ways that will
be pleasant and productive for everyone.
This document is not intended to teach you how to use USENET. Instead, it
is a guide to using it politely, effectively and efficiently.
Communication by computer is new to almost everybody, and there are
certain aspects that can make it a frustrating experience until you get
used to them. This document should help you avoid the worst traps.
The easiest way to learn how to use USENET is to watch how others use it.
Start reading the news and try to figure out what people are doing and
why. After a couple of weeks you will start understanding why certain
things are done and what things shouldn't be done. There are documents
available describing the technical details of how to use the software.
These are different depending on which programs you use to access the
news. You can get copies of these from your system administrator. If you
do not know who that person is, they can be contacted on most systems by
mailing to account "usenet".
Never Forget that the Person on the Other Side is Human
Because your interaction with the network is through a computer it is easy
to forget that there are people "out there." Situations arise where
emotions erupt into a verbal free-for-all that can lead to hurt feelings.
Please remember that people all over the world are reading your words. Do
not attack people if you cannot persuade them with your presentation of
the facts. Screaming, cursing, and abusing others only serves to make
people think less of you and less willing to help you when you need it.
If you are upset at something or someone, wait until you have had a chance
to calm down and think about it. A cup of coffee or a good night's sleep
works wonders on your perspective. Hasty words create more problems than
they solve. Try not to say anything to others you would not say to them
in person in a room full of people.
Be Careful What You Say About Others
Please remember -- you read netnews; so do as many as 250,000 other
people. This group quite possibly includes your boss, your friend's
boss, your girl friend's brother's best friend and one of your
father's beer buddies. Information posted on the net can come back
to haunt you or the person you are talking about.
Think twice before you post personal information about yourself or
others. This applies especially strongly to groups like soc.singles
and alt.sex but even postings in groups like talk.politics.misc have
included information about the personal life of third parties that
could get them into serious trouble if it got into the wrong hands.
Be Brief
Never say in ten words what you can say in fewer. Say it succinctly and
it will have a greater impact. Remember that the longer you make your
article, the fewer people will bother to read it.
Your Postings Reflect Upon You -- Be Proud of Them
Most people on USENET will know you only by what you say and how well you
say it. They may someday be your co-workers or friends. Take some time
to make sure each posting is something that will not embarrass you later.
Minimize your spelling errors and make sure that the article is easy to
read and understand. Writing is an art and to do it well requires
practice. Since much of how people judge you on the net is based on your
writing, such time is well spent.
Use Descriptive Titles
The subject line of an article is there to enable a person with a limited
amount of time to decide whether or not to read your article. Tell people
what the article is about before they read it. A title like "Car for
Sale" to rec.autos does not help as much as "66 MG Midget for sale:
Beaverton OR." Don't expect people to read your article to find out what
it is about because many of them won't bother. Some sites truncate the
length of the subject line to 40 characters so keep your subjects short
and to the point.
Think About Your Audience
When you post an article, think about the people you are trying to
reach. Asking UNIX(*) questions on rec.autos will not reach as many
of the people you want to reach as if you asked them on
comp.unix.questions or comp.unix.wizards. Try to get the most
appropriate audience for your message, not the widest.
It is considered bad form to post both to misc.misc, soc.net-people,
or misc.wanted and to some other newsgroup. If it belongs in that
other newsgroup, it does not belong in misc.misc, soc.net-people,
or misc.wanted.
If your message is of interest to a limited geographic area (apartments,
car sales, meetings, concerts, etc...), restrict the distribution of the
message to your local area. Some areas have special newsgroups with
geographical limitations, and the recent versions of the news software
allow you to limit the distribution of material sent to world-wide
newsgroups. Check with your system administrator to see what newsgroups
are available and how to use them.
If you want to try a test of something, do not use a world-wide newsgroup!
Messages in misc.misc that say "This is a test" are likely to cause
large numbers of caustic messages to flow into your mailbox. There are
newsgroups that are local to your computer or area that should be used.
Your system administrator can tell you what they are.
Be familiar with the group you are posting to before you post! You
shouldn't post to groups you do not read, or post to groups you've
only read a few articles from -- you may not be familiar with the on-going
conventions and themes of the group. One normally does not join
a conversation by just walking up and talking. Instead, you listen
first and then join in if you have something pertinent to contribute.
Be Careful with Humor and Sarcasm
Without the voice inflections and body language of personal
communications, it is easy for a remark meant to be funny to be
misinterpreted. Subtle humor tends to get lost, so take steps to make
sure that people realize you are trying to be funny. The net has
developed a symbol called the smiley face. It looks like ":-)" and points
out sections of articles with humorous intent. No matter how broad the
humor or satire, it is safer to remind people that you are being funny.
But also be aware that quite frequently satire is posted without any
explicit indications. If an article outrages you strongly, you
should ask yourself if it just may have been unmarked satire.
Several self-proclaimed connoisseurs refuse to use smiley faces, so
take heed or you may make a temporary fool of yourself.
Only Post a Message Once
Avoid posting messages to more than one newsgroup unless you are sure
it is appropriate. If you do post to multiple newsgroups, do not
post to each group separately. Instead, specify all the groups on a
single copy of the message. This reduces network overhead and lets
people who subscribe to more than one of those groups see the message
once instead of having to wade through each copy.
Please Rotate Messages With Questionable Content
Certain newsgroups (such as 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". This is
known on the network as "rot13" and when you rotate a message the
word "rot13" should be in the "Subject:" line. Most of the software
used to read usenet articles have some way of encrypting and
decrypting messages. Your system administrator can tell you how the
software on your system works, or you can use the Unix command "tr
[a-z][A-Z] [n-z][a-m][N-Z][A-M]". (Note that some versions of Unix
don't require the [] in the "tr" command. In fact, some systems will
get upset if you use them in an unquoted manner. The following
should work for everyone, but may be shortened on some systems:
tr '[a-m][n-z][A-M][N-Z]' '[n-z][a-m][N-Z][A-M]'
Don't forget the single quotes!)
Summarize What You are Following Up
When you are following up someone's article, please summarize the parts of
the article to which you are responding. This allows readers to
appreciate your comments rather than trying to remember what the original
article said. It is also possible for your response to get to some sites
before the original article.
Summarization is best done by including appropriate quotes from the
original article. Do not include the entire article since it will
irritate the people who have already seen it. Even if you are responding
to the entire article, summarize only the major points you are discussing.
When Summarizing, Summarize!
When you request information from the network, it is common courtesy to
report your findings so that others can benefit as well. The best way of
doing this is to take all the responses that you received and edit them
into a single article that is posted to the places where you originally
posted your question. Take the time to strip headers, combine duplicate
information, and write a short summary. Try to credit the information to
the people that sent it to you, where possible.
Use Mail, Don't Post a Follow-up
One of the biggest problems we have on the network is that when someone
asks a question, many people send out identical answers. When this
happens, dozens of identical answers pour through the net. Mail your
answer to the person and suggest that they summarize to the network. This
way the net will only see a single copy of the answers, no matter how many
people answer the question.
If you post a question, please remind people to send you the answers by
mail and offer to summarize them to the network.
Read All Follow-ups and Don't Repeat What Has Already Been Said
Before you submit a follow-up to a message, read the rest of the messages
in the newsgroup to see whether someone has already said what you want to
say. If someone has, don't repeat it.
Check the Headers When Following Up
The news software has provisions to specify that follow-ups to an
article should go to a specific set of newsgroups -- possibly
different from the newsgroups to which the original article was
posted. Sometimes the groups chosen for follow-ups are totally
inappropriate, especially as a thread of discussion changes with
repeated postings. You should carefully check the groups and
distributions given in the header and edit them as appropriate. If
you change the groups named in the header, or if you direct
follow-ups to a particular group, say so in the body of the message
-- not everyone reads the headers of postings.
Be Careful About Copyrights and Licenses
Once something is posted onto the network, it is effectively in the
public domain unless you own the appropriate rights (most notably,
if you wrote the thing yourself) and you post it with a valid
copyright notice. Of course, the *information* becomes public, so
you mustn't post trade secrets that way. When posting material to
the network, keep in mind that material that is UNIX-related may be
restricted by the license you or your company signed with AT&T and
be careful not to violate it. You should also be aware that posting
movie reviews, song lyrics, or anything else published under a
copyright could cause you, your company, or the net itself to be
held liable for damages, so we highly recommend caution in using
this material.
Cite Appropriate References
If you are using facts to support a cause, state where they came from.
Don't take someone else's ideas and use them as your own. You don't want
someone pretending that your ideas are theirs; show them the same respect.
Mark or Rotate Answers and Spoilers
When you post something (like a movie review that discusses a detail of
the plot) which might spoil a surprise for other people, please mark your
message with a warning so that they can skip the message. Another
alternative would be to use the "rot13" protocol to encrypt the message so
it cannot be read accidentally. When you post a message with a spoiler in
it make sure the word "spoiler" is part of the "Subject:" line.
Spelling Flames Considered Harmful
Every few months a plague descends on USENET called the spelling flame.
It starts out when someone posts an article correcting the spelling or
grammar in some article. The immediate result seems to be for everyone on
the net to turn into a 6th grade English teacher and pick apart each other's
postings for a few weeks. This is not productive and tends to cause
people who used to be friends to get angry with each other.
It is important to remember that we all make mistakes, and that there are
many users on the net who use English as a second language. If you feel
that you must make a comment on the quality of a posting, please do so by
mail, not on the network.
Don't Overdo Signatures
Signatures are nice, and many people can have a signature added to
their postings automatically by placing it in a file called
"$HOME/.signature". Don't overdo it. Signatures can tell the world
something about you, but keep them short. A signature that is longer
than the message itself is considered to be in bad taste. The main
purpose of a signature is to help people locate you, not to tell your
life story. Every signature should include at least your return
address relative to a well known site on the network and/or a proper
domain-format address. Your system administrator can give this to
you. Some news posters attempt to enforce a 4 line limit on
signature files -- an amount that should be more than sufficient to
provide a return address and attribution.
Summary of Things to Remember
Never forget that the person on the other side is human
Be Careful What You Say About Others
Be brief
Your postings reflect upon you; be proud of them
Use descriptive titles
Think about your audience
Be careful with humor and sarcasm
Only post a message once
Please rotate material with questionable content
Summarize what you are following up
Use mail, don't post a follow-up
Read all follow-ups and don't repeat what has already been said
Double-check follow-up newsgroups and distributions.
Be careful about copyrights and licenses
Cite appropriate references
When summarizing, summarize
Mark or rotate answers or spoilers
Spelling flames considered harmful
Don't overdo signatures
(*)UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T.
-----------
This document is in the public domain and may be reproduced or
excerpted by anyone wishing to do so.
| Opinion above belongs to no one but Mr. Kailan Hwang, RD. |
| Smart Mail : kailanhw@usc.edu % flame > /dev/null |kailanhw@aludra.usc.edu (Kailanhw Hwang) (08/02/89)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original-from: mark@stargate.com (Mark Horton)
[Most recent change: 29 January 1989 by spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)]
This message describes some of the rules of conduct on Usenet. The rules
vary depending on the newsgroup.
Some newsgroups are intended for discussions and some for announcements
or queries. It is not usually a good idea to carry on discussions in
newsgroups that are designated otherwise. It is never a good idea to
carry on "meta-discussions" about whether a given discussion is
appropriate -- such traffic mushrooms until nobody can find articles
that belong. If you are unhappy with what some user said, send him/her
mail, don't post it.
Before posting, think about where your article is going. If it's
posted to a "comp", "news", "misc", "soc", "sci", "rec" or "talk"
newsgroup, it will probably go to the USA, Canada, Europe, Korea, and
Australia. Certain articles are only of local interest (e.g. used car
ads) and it is inappropriate to post them to the whole world. Use the
"Distribution" feature to restrict distribution to your local area. If
you don't know how to use this feature, read "Frequently Submitted
Items" in another article in news.announce.newusers.
Don't post announcements regarding major news events (e.g. the space
shuttle has just exploded!) to news groups. By the time most people
receive such items, they will long since have been informed by
conventional media. If you wish to discuss such an event on the net,
use the "misc.headlines" newsgroup.
Announcement of professional products or services on Usenet is allowed;
however, since someone else is paying the phone bills for this, it is
important that it be of overall benefit to Usenet. Post to the
appropriate newsgroup -- comp.newprod -- never to a general purpose
newsgroup such as "misc.misc". Clearly mark your article as a product
announcement in the subject. Never repeat these -- one article per
product at the most; preferably group everything into one article.
Advertising hype is especially frowned upon -- stick to technical
facts. Obnoxious or inappropriate announcements or articles violating
this policy will generally be rejected. This policy is, of course,
subject to change if it becomes a problem.
Some newsgroups are moderated. In these groups, you cannot post
directly, either by convention or because the software prevents it. To
post to these newsgroups, send mail to the moderator. Examples:
Newsgroup Moderator Purpose
--------- --------- -------
news.announce.important stargate!announce Important announcements for everyone
comp.std.unix uunet!std-unix Unix standards discussion
comp.std.mumps plus5!std-mumps ANSI Mumps standards discussion
comp.unix mcdchg!modunix Discussion of Unix* features and bugs
Some newsgroups have special purpose rules:
Newsgroup Rules
--------- -----
news.announce.important Moderated, no direct postings, important things only.
misc.wanted Queries, "I want an x", "Anyone want my x?". No
discussions. Don't post to more than one xxx.wanted.
Use the smallest appropriate wanted (e.g. used car
ads to nj.wanted.)
Requests for sources, termcaps, etc. should go to the
"comp.sources.wanted" newsgroup.
rec.humor Clean humor only; anything offensive must be rotated;
no discussions -- humor only. Discussions go in
rec.humor.d
rec.arts.movies Don't post anything revealing part of a movie
without marking it (spoiler) in the subject.
rec.arts.* Same as movies -- mark spoilers in the subject line.
news.groups Discussions about new groups: whether to create
them and what to call them. Don't post yes/no
votes, mail them to the author
misc.test Use the smallest test group possible, e.g.
"test" or "ucb.test". Say in the body of the
message what you are testing.
It is perfectly legal to reproduce short extracts of a copyrighted work
for critical purposes, but reproduction in whole is strictly and
explicitly forbidden by US and international copyright law. (Otherwise,
there would be no way for the artist to make money, and there would
thus be less motive for people to go to the trouble of making their art
available at all. The crime of theft is as serious in this context as
any other, even though you may not have to pick locks, mask your face,
or conceal merchandise.)
All opinions or statements made in messages posted to Usenet should be
taken as the opinions of the person who wrote the message. They do not
necessarily represent the opinions of the employer of that person, the
owner of the computer from which the message was posted, or anyone
involved with Usenet or the underlying networks of which Usenet is made
up. All responsibility for statements made in Usenet messages rests
with the individual posting the message.
Posting of information on Usenet is to be viewed as similar to
publication. Because of this, 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 by posting to the
net.
If you have a standard signature you like to append to your articles,
put it in a file called .signature in your home directory. "postnews"
and "inews" will automatically append it to your article. Please keep
your signatures concise, as people do not appreciate seeing lengthy
signatures, nor paying the phone bills to repeatedly transmit them. 2
or 3 lines are usually plenty. Sometimes it is also appropriate to add
another line or two for addresses on other major networks where you can
be reached (e.g., ARPA, CSnet, Bitnet). Long signatures are
definitely frowned upon. DO NOT include drawings, pictures, maps, or
other graphics in your signature -- it is not the appropriate place
for such material and is viewed as rude by other readers.
If you post an article and remember something you've left out or
realize you've made a factual error, you can cancel the article and (if
canceled quickly enough) prevent its distribution. Then you can
correct whatever was wrong and post a new copy. In "rn" and
"readnews", an article that you posted can be canceled with the "C"
command. Be aware, however, that some people may have already read the
incorrect version so the sooner you cancel something, the better.
If the news system rejects a followup due to "more quoted lines than
new text," please do not use "filler" lines to make up for this.
Instead, if after careful editing, you have more to quote than to
write, change the citation character. For example, in the display
editor vi, you could use the incantation:
:%s/^>/</
Be careful not to do the very similar:
:%s/>/</
which will affect >'s that are not being used as the citation
character. (In particular, it will damage the "References" line in the
article header.)
In preparing an article, be aware that other people's machines are
not the same as yours. The following is a list of things to keep
in mind:
* Except for source, keep your lines under 80 characters, and
under 72 if possible. (most editors have a fill or format
mode that will do this for you automatically)
* Right justified text may look "prettier" is some sense, but it
is almost always harder to read than leaving ragged right
margins; don't justify your articles.
* Most special control characters will not work for most readers.
In fact, the tab and space characters are about the only ones
you can be sure work consistently, and tabs aren't always the
same from machine to machine.
* Pictures and diagrams should not use embedded tabs.
* Refer to articles by Message-ID, and never by article number.
* What you think is the previous article is unlikely to be so elsewhere.
* Submissions in a single case (all upper or all lower) are
difficult to read.
In general, when a mailing to somebody fails, DON'T post a message
about it! Think for a moment: you are trying to send something to
someone on ONE system. Your message might go through (at most) TEN
systems on the way there. Posting a message in the news sends it to
over 7800 systems throughout the world! There is no way to justify
adding to the news load of nearly 8000 machines simply because you
cannot determine how to get your mail through.
If your message is important, contact someone who knows more about the
mail system and who might be able to help you get your message
through. Your local system administrator, for instance, or the admin
of the next site "upstream," might be able to help. You can also send
mail to "postmaster" at one of the major Usenet sites. Almost all of
these people would rather see an occasional plea for help in their
mailbox than read another broadcast in the news system. If your
message is *really* important, pick up the phone and try to call the
other person.
| Opinion above belongs to no one but Mr. Kailan Hwang, RD. |
| Smart Mail : kailanhw@usc.edu % flame > /dev/null |kailanhw@aludra.usc.edu (Kailanhw Hwang) (08/02/89)
Original-from: looking!brad (Brad Templeton)
[Most recent change: 29 January 1989 by looking!brad (Brad Templeton)]
**NOTE: this is intended to be satirical. If you do not recognize
it as such, consult a doctor or professional comedian. The
recommendations in this article should recognized for what
they are -- admonitions about what NOT to do.
"Dear Emily Postnews"
Emily Postnews, foremost authority on proper net behaviour,
gives her advice on how to act on the net.
============================================================================
Dear Miss Postnews: How long should my signature be? -- verbose@portal
A: Dear Verbose: Please try and make your signature as long as you can.
It's much more important than your article, of course, so try and have
more lines of signature than actual text.
Try and include a large graphic made of ASCII characters, plus lots of
cute quotes and slogans. People will never tire of reading these pearls
of wisdom again and again, and you will soon become personally associated
with the joy each reader feels at seeing yet another delightful repeat of
your signature.
Be sure as well to include a complete map of USENET with each signature,
to show how anybody can get mail to you from any site in the world. Be
sure to include ARPA gateways as well. Also tell people on your own site
how to mail to you. Give indpendent addresses for Internet, UUCP, BITNET,
Arpanet and CSNET, even if they're all the same.
Aside from your reply address, include your full name, company and
organization. It's just common courtesy -- after all, in some newsreaders
people have to type an *entire* keystroke to go back to the top of your
article to see this information in the header.
By all means include your phone number and street address in every single
article. People are always responding to usenet articles with phone calls
and letters. It would be silly to go to the extra trouble of including
this information only in articles that need a response by conventional
channels!
------
Dear Emily: Today I posted an article and forgot to include my signature.
What should I do? -- forgetful@myvax
A: Dear Forgetful: Rush to your terminal right away and post an article
that says, "Oops, I forgot to post my signature with that last article.
Here it is."
Since most people will have forgotten your earlier article, (particularly
since it dared to be so boring as to not have a nice, juicy signature)
this will remind them of it. Besides, people care much more about the
signature anyway. See the previous letter for more important details.
Also, be sure to include your signature TWICE in each article. That way
you're sure people will read it.
------
Dear Ms. Postnews: I couldn't get mail through to somebody on another
site. What should I do? -- eager@beaver.dam
A: Dear Eager: No problem, just post your message to a group that a lot of
people read. Say, "This is for John Smith. I couldn't get mail through
so I'm posting it. All others please ignore."
This way tens of thousands of people will spend a few seconds scanning
over and ignoring your article, using up over 16 man-hours their
collective time, but you will be saved the terrible trouble of checking
through usenet maps or looking for alternate routes. Just think, if you
couldn't distribute your message to 9000 other computers, you might
actually have to (gasp) call directory assistance for 60 cents, or even
phone the person. This can cost as much as a few DOLLARS (!) for a 5
minute call!
And certainly it's better to spend 10 to 20 dollars of other people's
money distributing the message than for you to have to waste $9 on an
overnight letter, or even 25 cents on a stamp!
Don't forget. The world will end if your message doesn't get through, so
post it as many places as you can.
------
Q: What about a test message?
A: It is important, when testing, to test the entire net. Never test
merely a subnet distribution when the whole net can be done. Also put
"please ignore" on your test messages, since we all know that everybody
always skips a message with a line like that. Don't use a subject like
"My sex is female but I demand to be addressed as male." because such
articles are read in depth by all USEnauts.
------
Q: Somebody just posted that Roman Polanski directed Star Wars. What
should I do?
A: Post the correct answer at once! We can't have people go on believing
that! Very good of you to spot this. You'll probably be the only one to
make the correction, so post as soon as you can. No time to lose, so
certainly don't wait a day, or check to see if somebody else has made the
correction.
And it's not good enough to send the message by mail. Since you're the
only one who really knows that it was Francis Coppola, you have to inform
the whole net right away!
------
Q: I read an article that said, "reply by mail, I'll summarize." What
should I do?
A: Post your response to the whole net. That request applies only to dumb
people who don't have something interesting to say. Your postings are
much more worthwhile than other people's, so it would be a waste to reply
by mail.
------
Q: I collected replies to an article I wrote, and now it's time to
summarize. What should I do?
A: Simply concatenate all the articles together into a big file and post
that. On USENET, this is known as a summary. It lets people read all the
replies without annoying newsreaders getting in the way. Do the same when
summarizing a vote.
------
Q: I saw a long article that I wish to rebut carefully, what should I do?
A: Include the entire text with your article, and include your comments
between the lines. Be sure to post, and not mail, even though your
article looks like a reply to the original. Everybody *loves* to read
those long point-by-point debates, especially when they evolve into
name-calling and lots of "Is too!" -- "Is not!" -- "Is too, twizot!"
exchanges.
------
Q: How can I choose what groups to post in?
A: Pick as many as you can, so that you get the widest audience. After
all, the net exists to give you an audience. Ignore those who suggest you
should only use groups where you think the article is highly appropriate.
Pick all groups where anybody might even be slightly interested.
Always make sure followups go to all the groups. In the rare event that
you post a followup which contains something original, make sure you
expand the list of groups. Never include a "Followup-to:" line in the
header, since some people might miss part of the valuable discussion in
the fringe groups.
------
Q: How about an example?
A: Ok. Let's say you want to report that Gretzky has been traded from the
Oilers to the Kings. Now right away you might think rec.sport.hockey
would be enough. WRONG. Many more people might be interested. This is a
big trade! Since it's a NEWS article, it belongs in the news.* hierarchy
as well. If you are a news admin, or there is one on your machine, try
news.admin. If not, use news.misc.
The Oilers are probably interested in geology, so try sci.physics. He is
a big star, so post to sci.astro, and sci.space because they are also
interested in stars. Next, his name is Polish sounding. So post to
soc.culture.polish. But that group doesn't exist, so cross-post to
news.groups suggesting it should be created. With this many groups of
interest, your article will be quite bizarre, so post to talk.bizarre as
well. (And post to comp.std.mumps, since they hardly get any articles
there, and a "comp" group will propagate your article further.)
You may also find it is more fun to post the article once in each group.
If you list all the newsgroups in the same article, some newsreaders will
only show the the article to the reader once! Don't tolerate this.
------
Q: How do I create a newsgroup?
A: The easiest way goes something like "inews -C newgroup ....", and while
that will stir up lots of conversation about your new newsgroup, it might
not be enough.
First post a message in news.groups describing the group. Hold discussion
for a short while, and then ask for a vote. Collect votes for 30 days.
Every few days post a long summary of all the votes so that people can
complain about bad mailers and double votes. It means you'll be more
popular and get lots of mail. At the end of thirty days if you have 100
more yes votes than no votes you may create the group.
No matter what the group, it is not necessary to get the approval of
admins at backbone sites. They will be happy to create any group if it
passes the above test.
To liven up discussion, choose a good cross-match for your hierarchy and
group. For example, comp.race.formula1 or soc.vlsi.design would be good
group names. If you want your group created quickly, include an
interesting word like "sex" or "bible." To avoid limiting discussion,
make the name as broad as possible.
------
Q: I cant spell worth a dam. I hope your going too tell me what to do?
A: Don't worry about how your articles look. Remember it's the message
that counts, not the way it's presented. Ignore the fact that sloppy
spelling in a purely written forum sends out the same silent messages that
soiled clothing would when addressing an audience.
------
Q: How should I pick a subject for my articles?
A: Keep it short and meaningless. That way people will be forced to
actually read your article to find out what's in it. This means a bigger
audience for you, and we all know that's what the net is for. If you do a
followup, be sure and keep the same subject, even if it's totally
meaningless and not part of the same discussion. If you don't, you won't
catch all the people who are looking for stuff on the original topic, and
that means less audience for you.
------
Q: What sort of tone should I take in my article?
A: Be as outrageous as possible. If you don't say outlandish things, and
fill your article with libelous insults of net people, you may not stick
out enough in the flood of articles to get a response. The more insane
your posting looks, the more likely it is that you'll get lots of
followups. The net is here, after all, so that you can get lots of
attention.
If your article is polite, reasoned and to the point, you may only get
mailed replies. Yuck!
------
Q: The posting software suggested I had too long a signature and too many
lines of included text in my article. What's the best course?
A: Such restrictions were put in the software for no reason at all, so
don't even try to figure out why they might apply to your article. Turns
out most people search the net to find nice articles that consist of the
complete text of an earlier article plus a few lines.
In order to help these people, fill your article with dummy original lines
to get past the restrictions. Everybody will thank you for it.
For your signature, I know it's tough, but you will have to read it in
with the editor. Do this twice to make sure it's firmly in there.
------
Q: They just announced on the radio that Dan Quayle was picked as the
Republican V.P. candidate. Should I post?
A: Of course. The net can reach people in as few as 3 to 5 days. It's
the perfect way to inform people about such news events long after the
broadcast networks have covered them. As you are probably the only person
to have heard the news on the radio, be sure to post as soon as you can.
------
Q: I have this great joke. You see, these three strings walk into a
bar....
A: Oh dear. Don't spoil it for me. Submit it to rec.humor, and post it
to the moderator of rec.humor.funny at the same time. I'm sure he's never
seen that joke, and I know he loves to have jokes sent to rec.humor and
rec.humor.funny at the same time.
------
Q: What computer should I buy? An Atari ST or an Amiga?
A: Cross post that question to the Atari and Amiga groups. It's an
interesting and novel question that I am sure they would love to
investigate in those groups.
------
Q: What about other important questions? How should I know when to post?
A: Always post them. It would be a big waste of your time to find a
knowledgeable user in one of the groups and ask through private mail if
the topic has already come up. Much easier to bother thousands of people
with the same question.
------
Q: What is the measure of a worthwhile group?
A: Why, it's Volume, Volume, Volume. Any group that has lots of noise in
it must be good. Remember, the higher the volume of material in a group,
the higher percentage of useful, factual and insightful articles you will
find. In fact, if a group can't demonstrate a high enough volume, it
should be deleted from the net.
------
Q: Emily, I'm having a serious disagreement with somebody on the net. I
tried complaints to his sysadmin, organizing mail campaigns, called for
his removal from the net and phoning his employer to get him fired.
Everybody laughed at me. What can I do?
A: Go to the daily papers. Most modern reporters are top-notch computer
experts who will understand the net, and your problems, perfectly. They
will print careful, reasoned stories without any errors at all, and surely
represent the situation properly to the public. The public will also all
act wisely, as they are also fully cognizant of the subtle nature of net
society.
Papers never sensationalize or distort, so be sure to point out things
like racism and sexism wherever they might exist. Be sure as well that
they understand that all things on the net, particularly insults, are
meant literally. Link what transpires on the net to the causes of the
Holocaust, if possible. If regular papers won't take the story, go to a
tabloid paper -- they are always interested in good stories.
By arranging all this free publicity for the net, you'll become very well
known. People on the net will wait in eager anticipation for your every
posting, and refer to you constantly. You'll get more mail than you ever
dreamed possible -- the ultimate in net success.
------
Q: What does foobar stand for?
A: It stands for you, dear.
| Opinion above belongs to no one but Mr. Kailan Hwang, RD. |
| Smart Mail : kailanhw@usc.edu % flame > /dev/null |russ@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Russell Reynolds) (08/02/89)
In article <3025@blake.acs.washington.edu> wiml@blake.acs.washington.edu (William Lewis) writes: >In article <758@soleil.UUCP> eam@soleil.UUCP (Ed A. Mills) writes: >>16. Can I 'unpost' an article that I posted? I tried this once, but it >> said I didn't own it, even though I had just posted it. > > Hmmm, 'C'ancel should unpost a message. Maybe the current article >wasn't the one you thought it was. Or maybe vnews and rn are just different... > It could be a uid problem. If you're sending your post from one machine to another for posting, the uid's may get munged. I'm composing this on a workstation hanging off bu-it but it will be posted from bu-cs. If I try to cancel it I will get that error you mention because I do not currently have universal uid's for all my accounts. Do you know which machine is your usenet server? If you have an account on that machine then try cancelling from there (still not guaranteed to work). --- Russ --- It's not a .sig kind-o-day I guess
epsilon@wet.UUCP (Eric P. Scott) (08/03/89)
I appreciate your intentions, but you have posted OUT OF DATE information. The latest copies are in the newsgroup news.announce.newusers. If your site does not have these articles online, complain to your news administrator. -=EPS=-