ferry@chorus.fr (Ferry de Jong) (01/14/91)
MONTHLY POSTING: Usage of comp.sys.amiga.* and Netiquette
This article contains some generic information about the
usage of the comp.sys.amiga.* newsgroups. It is posted by
me every month in comp.sys.amiga.introduction.
Pay attention to the version number of this article. It
indicates what kind of changes are made to the contents
compared to the previous posting.
First number changed: Major changes and/or items
added.
Second number changed: Minor changes.
If you have suggestions about this article, feel free to
mail them to me so I can improve this document. You can
reach me by e-mail:
ferry@chorus.fr or ferry%chorus.fr@mcsun.EU.net
I'd like to thank the following people for their contribu-
tions:
Steve Hayman(sahayman@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu) Computer
Science Department.
Who is the author of a similar article in
comp.unix.questions that I used as the basis for this
version.
DISCLAIMER
Use the information in this posting at your own risk and cost.
All opinions expressed are mine, not necessarily those of my
employer.
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Introduction
If you have not already read the overall Usenet introductory material
posted to "news.announce.newusers", please do. Much of this article
overlaps with the common sense guidelines posted there.
Should I post my question to the net?
Often the answer is "No, you can get an answer a lot faster without
posting a question." Before you post, you should try -
o Reading the manual for your system. Some day you may encounter
the phrase "RTFM", which stands for "Read the fine manual" (except
'F' doesn't really stand for "Fine"). If you ask someone a ques-
tion and they tell you to RTFM, it's an indication that you haven't
done your homework.
o Find a good introductory book on the Amiga. There are plenty of
such books available, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble
by having one handy and consulting it frequently.
o Read the "MONTHLY POSTING: Frequently Asked Questions and
Answers" in comp.sys.amiga.introduction as well as the articles in
the newsgroup you plan to post your question in. It might be that
it is something asked before.
Please remember that the comp.sys.amiga.* newsgroups are read by
thousands of people around the world, and that posting a question to
this group will cost a lot of time and money by the time your article is
distributed to Japan, Australia, Europe (including the Soviet Union),
Africa, Israel, and all corners of North America.
Also, some people receive these newsgroups as part of a mailing list
rather than a newsgroup. If you're one of these people, please don't
send a "Remove me from this list" or "UNSUBSCRIBE" message to the wrong
place. Take the time to figure out where you're getting this stuff
from, and send your request to the mailing list maintainer, *not* to the
list or newsgroup itself! Ask your local postmaster for help.
To which newsgroup should I post my question?
The choice of newsgroup is harder than you might expect. There are over
ten newsgroups that deal with amiga related subjects. To find out which
newsgroup is the best one to post your question in you can read the
Monthly Posting called "MONTLY POSTING: Amiga newsgroups under
comp.sys.amiga.*" in which a list is given of all major amiga related
groups with an explanation of what kind of questions go there.
What information should I include?
It's hard to include all the relevant information. If you have a prob-
lem and are posting an article, please be sure to mention:
o A descriptive subject line. Many people will decide whether to
read your article solely on the basis of the subject line, so it
should be a good statement of your problem.
NOT GOOD GOOD
"Help" "How do I restore a corrupted floppy disk?"
"DPaint question" "DPaint III can't save file on Hard-Disk"
o What computer you are using, with what add on's,
and what specific version of the operating system it uses.
For example,
- Amiga 1000, ALF 20MBytes HardDisk (ST-
225+OMTI RLL), Kickstart V1.2, Workbench V1.2
o If possible, the *exact* text of any error message you may have
encountered.
WRONG
"I can't save file"
RIGHT
"When I click "Save as..." in DPaint III, and type HD0:german-a".pic in
the file line of the SAVE requester,
I get:
Can't save file, illegal character in filename. What does this
mean? It isn't in the UserManual. This is using an AMIGA 2000 with
Kickstart V1.3 and Workbench V1.0"
It's a good idea to post unrelated questions in separate articles, so
that people can keep different discussions separate. It's also a
*very* good idea to include a line or two like this:
"Please mail your answers to me and I'll summarize what I get
and post the results to comp.sys.amiga.graphics" using the ti-
tle: "SUMMARY: DPaint III can't save file on Hard-Disk"
This prevents many identical responses from different users to the same
question from clogging up the newsgroup. And make sure you really sum-
marize what you get - don't just concatenate all the mail you've re-
ceived, be selective.
It's also a good idea to read comp.sys.amiga.* for at least a couple of
weeks after you post your article to see what followup articles are
posted.
Should I post an answer to a question?
It's very tempting to post an answer to a question you read on the net,
especially when you think "Aha, finally - a question I can answer!" Con-
sider though that when a simple question is asked, such as the sort
about to be answered below, many other people around the world already
know the answer and may be posting their own reply. In order to avoid
dozens of replies to simple questions, please wait a day or so and see
if anyone else has already answered the question. If you have something
special to contribute, please do so, but make sure you're not duplicat-
ing something someone else has already done.
You should feel free to reply to any question by e-mail. Even if the
user gets 200 responses to his question, at least the load on the rest
of the net is minimized.
What about those people
who continue to ask stupid or frequently asked questions
in spite of the frequently asked questions document?
Just send them a polite e-mail message, possibly referring them to this
document. There is no need to flame them on the net - it's busy enough
as it is.
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___ ___ ___ ___ _ _ _ _
( _)( _)( ,) ( ,)( \/ )|( \/\/ )riting software takes twice as long
) _) ) _) ) \ ) \ \ / | \ / as you expect it to take...
(_) (___)(_)\_)(_)\_)(_/ | \/\/ Even if you keep this in mind!
e-mail: ferry@chorus.fr or ferry%chorus.fr@mcsun.EU.net