DP Tool Club 8/CDASC08.ISO/VRAC/IN_9309.ZIP/NETRULES.IN

Text File | 1993-08-31 | 24KB | 440 lines

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                      Intelec International E-Mail Network
                             Operational Guidelines
                          Release v1.9  dated 09/01/93
                 Copyright (c) 1993 DZ-Info Services, Inc.

     While it is not the intent of the Administration to interfere with  any
     SysOps  authority on their own board,  all Intelec Network participants
     must follow these and/or future guidelines. These guidelines are to  be
     enforced by all Intelec Network member SysOps.

     ┌───────────────┐
     │ General Rules │
     └───────────────┘
     Illegal activities  will not  be tolerated in the Intelec Network.  Any
     such  activities constitute a grievous reason for removal from the Net-
     work and may necessitate further legal action against the violator  for
     any legal liabilities such activities may cause.

     No   Intelec   conference  may  be  used for the purpose of advancing a
     personal agenda. This includes  but  is  not  limited   to   religious,
     political,   social,   moral  agendas.  Preaching  and  campaigning are
     considered offenses and can result in suspension from  the   conference
     or the network.

     BBS  ads are allowed in the BBS_ADS or ANSI conf once per BBS per week.

     Obvious  "aliases" may not be used anywhere within Intelec conferences.
     The use of a `non-obvious' alias is permissible providing   the   local
     sysop   knows   the  true  identity  of  the caller for accountability.

     Anyone  found to be abusive in nature, such as but not limited to, name
     calling, insults, slanderous statements, arrogant or instigative  posts
     or  any other rude, lewd  or otherwise obnoxious  behavior or comments,
     will be dealt with as defined in these guidelines.

     The use of any word group of words, expression, comment, suggestion, or
     proposal which is profane, filthy, lewd, lascivious, obscene, indecent,
     or that is demeaning ethnically or racially is strictly prohibited with
     the Intelec Network.

     Topics  deemed   immoral or unethical by the administration of the net-
     work are to cease when asked. Topics deemed to be in poor  taste   must
     also   cease   when  asked. Failure to do so can and will result in the
     removal of the offender from the Intelec Network.

     The Intelec Network, DZ-Info  Services,  Inc.,  all member SysOps  ass-
     ume  no  liability  or accountability whatsoever  for any violations of
     this policy by  any  and  all  participants  of  the  Intelec  Network.

     ANSI is permitted within the Intelec ANSI or BBS_Ads conferences  only.

     BBS-Software-specific macros are not permitted for use within  Intelec.

     Encrypting of messages for any reason is not  allowed  in  any  Intelec
     conference.

     English  is the only official network language.  The use of other lang-
     uages  in  posts  will  be   viewed   as   the   use   of   encryption.

     Network matters must be discussed in the appropriate Admin conference:

     NetAdmin - Network announcements, policy changes and discussion,  posts
     to  the  Network  Administration.  NO idle chit chat is allowed in this
     conference. This conference MUST be carried and open to the  public  by
     ALL member systems.

     Moderators  -  This  conference is open to member sysops and moderators
     ONLY. The purpose of the conference is  for  discussion  of  conference
     policies  and  notifications  to  the Chief Moderator of warnings. This
     conference MUST be carried by any member system that  has  a  moderator
     based on their system.

     User-2-Mod  -  Public  discussion  of  conference policies, arbitration
     (when needed) between participant and moderator.  This  is  a  REQUIRED
     conference that must be available to the public on every member system.

     Regionals - Highly suggested conference for all regional and hub sysops
     (only). This conference must NOT  be  made  available  to  the  public.

     Signatures may not be more than 3 lines and MUST be limited to a TOTAL
     of 80 characters INCLUDING spaces.

     `Taglines'  may not be more than 1 line and 79 characters at a MAXimum.
     No tagline may be used to proselytize, campaign or in any way advance a
     personal,  moral,  political  or  religious  agenda.  No tagline may be
     worded in such a way that its intent is to demean others. Taglines that
     parody  a  public  figure  must  not  be  used  with  malicious intent.

     Political  or religious statements must be within the appropriate conf-
     erence and this includes message headers, text, tags  and   signatures.

     Moderators may only use their `official' tagline or signature in  their
     respective    conference:    NetAdmin,    Moderators   or   User-2-Mod.

     No  signature  or tagline from moderators of conferences from any other
     network may be used anywhere on the Intelec network.

     Quote size is limited to only what's necessary for "train of  thought".
     Over  quoting  is  annoying  and  often detracts from the message. Each
     conference moderator has the discretionary power to decide what is  too
     much in the way of quoted material.

     Elaborate  quoting utilities have been banned from use on this Network.

     A  `list'  of unacceptable words does NOT exist within Intelec. The use
     of a word that deemed controversial will be judged on the  `intent'  of
     the  person  using  the  word  on  a  case  by  case  basis.  Under  no
     circumstances will the use of obvious profanity  be  tolerated  on  the
     Intelec Network.

     Messages  may  NOT be `gated' or otherwise made available to any person
     currently  on  suspension  from  any   conference   on   the   network.

     ┌────────────────────┐
     │ Member SysOp Rules │
     └────────────────────┘
     NetAdmin  Conf mail must be read at a minimum of  "YA"  or as addressed
     to `you' (personal) and to ALL. Failure to respond to personal mail  is
     grounds  for removal from the network. `General announcements' from the
     network administrator are addressed to ALL in the NetAdmin  conference.

     Every Intelec Network tagline must begin with the text string  Intelec.
     QWK  format SysOps must have the string `Intelec' in the Tag & Host Tag
     portion   of    their    network    software    configuration    files.

     All Intelec systems will are expected to have the  current  IN-yymm.ZIP
     file  available  for  download  by  their users. This file contains the
     network rules which all participants must  abide  by.  It  is  strongly
     suggested  that  sysops also make a bulletin of our rules to help their
     users understand network policies.

     [Conference Configurations]
     NetAdmin is our Administrative conference and is required to be carried
     by all member SysOps.  NetAdmin is fully public  and must be accessible
     to all participants  unless Tcan'd.

     User2Mod is a conference for users and moderators to iron out their
     differences without disrupting the original conference. This conference
     is REQUIRED of ALL Intelec systems and MUST be made fully available to
     all participants unless tcan'd.

     The Moderators conference is open only to Intelec SysOps, hosts, and
     moderators.

     The SysOps conference is open to validated BBS SysOps only.

     Regionals conference  is strongly recommended for Intelec Regional and
     Hub SysOps to carry. It is used for processing network applications
     privately  between  the Regional or Hub SysOp and the Network Admin-
     istrator and must be setup as PRIVATE conference. Network applications
     may NOT be  relayed through  ANY OTHER CONF  in the Intelec Network.

     Any other public conference may be made private on a SysOps BBS  at that
     SysOps  discretion.

     SysOps  must make their users aware of any conferences not carried  and
     can be done by means of news screens or bulletins.

     If a SysOp  is carrying multiple networks, the conference menu must
     display a type of code that differentiates our conferences from any of
     the other  network conferences  that might also be available, such as
     I_SysOp or IN_SysOp.

     No  Intelec Network SysOp may edit  in any  way any message relayed via
     the Intelec Network unless permission is given by the administrator  to
     do  so; this includes manual modification or with the  use of utilities
     to do so automatically.

     Member SysOps must follow all directives from their Regional Hub  SysOp
     and  failure to do so may result in suspension and/or permanent removal
     from the network.  Should a Node or Hub SysOp feel the Regional or  Hub
     SysOp  directive is unfair or unjust  they may bring this matter to the
     attention of the network administrator in the NetAdmin conference.  The
     Regional  and Hub SysOps must act responsibly with this policy  and use
     it only when necessary as in when network quality will be  compromised.

     ┌─────────────────┐
     │ Hub SysOp Rules │
     └─────────────────┘
     Hub SysOps consist of  Super-Regional, Regional and Local  Hub  SysOps.
     Hub  SysOps are responsible for  abiding by administrative decisions in
     said region.  Hub SysOps are responsible for abiding by  administrative
     decisions  which pertain to their board or their region and it's nodes.

     Hub  SysOps must relay mail a minimum of once daily  unless it is tech-
     nically impossible"  to do so.  No Hub SysOp should intentionally  shut
     down  for  over (24) consecutive hours  without first making provisions
     for the continued relays of it's nodes.  In the event that a Hub  SysOp
     does  not relay for 3 consecutive days without notification to the Net-
     work Administrator, its' Nodes and Hub,  the Hub may be temporarily  or
     permanently  removed as that region's hub at the sole discretion of the
     Administrator.

     Hub SysOps must be `equipped' to carry any and all Intelec  conferences
     that  are requested by it's Nodes and/or Hubs. Effective 01/01/93 there
     are   no   exceptions   to   this   rule   under   any   circumstances.

     The Hub SysOp  has the "authority" to remove the access of one or  more
     of  its nodes for one (1) day if the situation warrants such an action.
     Immediately following any node's "access removal", the Hub SysOp  needs
     to  notify the removed node by voice and  the Network Administrator via
     voice or public message in NetAdmin  explaining the situation in  full.

     Regionals must relay through the Net Host BBS on a "daily basis".  Hubs
     must  relay through their respective Regional on a daily basis and Hubs
     cannot relay through the Net Host BBS unless message activity from  the
     Hub  warrants more "affordable" relays and upon approval by the Network
     Administrator. Regional zoning isn't written in stone and is  flexible.

     ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
     │ Receiver Only and Copyrighted Messages │
     └────────────────────────────────────────┘
     Pursuant  to the  Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 18 USC
     2510 et. seq., all BBS SYSOPs and users  participating within  Intelec,
     must  be aware that there are no facilities provided by the Network for
     sending or receiving confidential electronic communications.   Although
     Intelec  maintains the capability and capacity to send and receive mail
     that is flagged as "Receiver-Only" or "Routed Mail.",  mail so  flagged
     is  not to be considered by any user as actual "private" messages.  The
     purpose of the  "R/O" or "Routed Mail" are intended solely  to  provide
     means  to limit the possible number of nodes and/or users that may have
     access to the mail for display purposes.

     All participating Network SysOps must agree, as a condition of  network
     membership  and participation,  that they will notify anyone reading or
     exchanging messages within all Intelec conferences on their BBS of  all
     network  guidelines  and that Intelec has no facilities  for exchanging
     confidential electronic communications. Suitable bulletins and/or  news
     displays  should be placed in a prominent place within the users' view-
     ing capabilities, indicating that no confidential communications  capa-
     bilities  are available within the Intelec Network. All messages posted
     in relayed conferences are deemed to be public. Access policies to  the
     private  conferences must be maintained  to restrict access to only the
     private conference members  as described in these guidelines.   Intelec
     Network,    DZ-Info  Services,   Inc.  and all member SysOps  assume no
     accountability  or liability  whatsoever  for any  violations  of  this
     policy by any and all users of the Intelec Network.

     ┌────────────────────────────────┐
     │ BBS/Network Software Supported │
     └────────────────────────────────┘
     Network  members must use legally purchased or obtained NETWORK and BBS
     software as defined by that software author's docs or licensing and  as
     used  in the combinations listed below.  If it is not listed, it is not
     approved for use in the Intelec Network.  Authorized combinations  are:
     PCBoard/RoseMail/Qnet/Rnet/Cam-Mail.  Auntie/QWiKerNet.  Spitfire/Jnet.
     Wildcat/Tnet. TriBBS/TriNet. Gap/GapQWK. Remote Acces/MKNet.

     The  Administration reserves the right to "decline or terminate" access
     to the Network to those individuals failing to operate  with the  prop-
     erly  registered or purchased software used for netmail operations, and
     or BBS operations.

     The Intelec Network can/has/will pursue  all individuals  participating
     in  any illegal activities, including but not limited to  copyright in-
     fringement, the illegal sale or distribution of software, any  `pirate'
     activities  that  damage  the  reputation  of legitimate BBS operators.

     ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
     │ Conference Hosts and Moderators │
     └─────────────────────────────────┘

     Conference Moderators are selected by the Chief Moderator or by the
     Network Administrator and may be removed and replaced should a `CH or
     CM' fail to fill their responsibilities.

     There is a prerequisite  to becoming a conference moderator. That is
     the SysOp of the BBS that the moderator will be calling through must
     add the Moderator's  Conference and give access [only] to the moderator

     CH or CM responsibilities are described in the MODGUIDE.IN file
     included with this archive.

     ┌──────────────────────┐
     │ Bans and Suspensions │
     └──────────────────────┘

     Hub  SysOps  may NOT Tcan a user from the network mail software or mail
     door, thus preventing mail from the user from flowing through the  Net-
     work.  Network SysOps retain the right to Tcan a user from their BBS as
     this is considered a "BBS Tcan". Network Tcans are to be made with  the
     approval of the Network Administration.

     Request  for suspension/ban must be done in the Moderator's conference.
     Suspension or network bans are determined by the following  guidelines:

      a   A warning message must come from the conference moderator prior to
         administrative action  unless actions are determined to be  severe,
         and/or  blatant enough to warrant an immediate suspension or ban as
         determined by the Network Administrator (for bans) or by the  Chief
         Moderator (for suspensions).
      b  2nd offense: 30 day suspension from conference  with a 90 day  pro-
         bationary  period.  Offenses do not need to be the same nor do they
         need to occur in the same  conferences  as  the  original  offense.

     If a user breaks network rules while "on  suspension"  they may be
     banned on an "until further notice" basis.

     Temporary suspensions are for 30 days unless otherwise shortened,
     lengthened or extended by the Network Administrator.

     Moderators  or hosts may request suspensions of a  user(s)  from "their
     conference" from the Chief Moderator  when the `above conditions'  have
     been  met.  Network-wide suspensions or bans  can only be made with the
     approval of the network administrator.

     The Chief Moderator, upon enacting a user suspension,  will inform  the
     user's  SysOp that the user has been suspended for  `30 days'  from the
     appropriate conference  and inform that SysOp to remove the user's  ac-
     cess  to it.  In a case where the SysOp's name is not known  the CM can
     request this info from the Network Administrator,  and/or request  that
     the  Administrator  inform  said  SysOp  to  "speed  up  the  process".

     Upon  network-wide suspension or ban, a SysOp may "appeal" the decision
     on behalf of the user in the Moderators conference. This may only  take
     place  after the user suspension or ban has been enforced by the SysOp.

     ┌─────────────────────┐
     │ Host BBS Operations │
     └─────────────────────┘
     The Intelec Network is a five-tier telecommunication network  comprised
     of Host, Super-Regionals, Regionals, Hubs and Nodes.

     Intelec  Host BBS equipment is NOT the property  of any system relaying
     the Intelec Network. No claims may be made against the software  and/or
     hardware  that "comprises" the Net Host BBS.  All software and hardware
     required to run the Net Host BBS is privately owned and used with  per-
     mission by the owners of DZ-Info Services, Inc.

     Intelec  is  operated  as a "public service"  by DZ-Info Service, Inc.,
     DZ-Info Service serves as the Net Host BBS.  The Network is run by  the
     Administrator,   Dave Calmer,  who is also the SysOp of DZ-Info Service
     and the President of DZ-Info Services, Inc.  But while Intelec operates
     as  a  public  service,  it  is NOT a "public access" network. We are a
     "private network" thus the rules of operation that have  been set forth
     in  this  document  supersede  any and all rights set forth outside the
     boundaries of this document.

     Acceptance to Intelec Network is determined by the Administrator or  by
     the  Intelec Regional or Hub SysOps that an applicant may apply to. Any
     incomplete or outdated applications are not processed.

     The  Network Administrator reserves the right to admit & refuse any BBS
     SysOp as participating members of the Intelec Network. The Network  Ad-
     ministrator  also reserves the right to remove or suspend net access of
     any individual node or hub SysOp for any action considered  detrimental
     to  the goals, spirit and/or quality of the Intelec Network  as well as
     for failure to abide by these guidelines.

     ┌───────────────┐
     │ Network Staff │
     └───────────────┘
     The  Network Staff positions are by appointment only,  any staff member
     failing to perform their duties can be replaced by the Network  Admini-
     strator.  Network  Staff  positions can and will be added as necessary.

     Network Administrator: Dave Calmer
     The Network Administrator  is responsible for the overall direction  of
     the  network and its policies. While  the  Administrator  can  delegate
     authority to other members of the staff his decisions in ALL cases will
     be final.

     Chief Moderator: Rod Wardlow
     The Chief Moderator (CM) is the Moderators of all the Moderators. Conf-
     erence Moderators will go to the CM first for assistance with any conf-
     erence related problem. This  key  position  will  be  responsible  for
     attempts  to settle any disputes although final decisions may be deter-
     mined by the Administrator. The CM at his discretion may join any conf-
     erence  with the intent of seeing to the enforcement of network regula-
     tions and may overrule individual moderators when in the  best  interest
     of the network.

     Assistant Administrator: Mary Mauro
     Compiles  "monthly newsletter" (IN Basket) distributed as INB-yymm.ZIP.
     Is responsible for tracking conference  addition  requests  along  with
     monthly  updates  to  the  conference  listing.  Other  duties  include
     verification  of  new  applicants,  assisting  the   administrator   in
     answering  general  policy  questions  and any other duties that may be
     assigned by the administrator from time to time.

     ┌───────────────────────────────┐
     │ Network SysOp Membership Fees │
     └───────────────────────────────┘
     Membership  fees will be rated at  $35 one-time fee (due at the initial
     application processing).

     If a SysOp is removed from the network for guideline/rule  infractions,
     neither the fee is NOT refundable.

     Payment of fee MUST be received BEFORE the application can be processed
     If for any reason a system is declined their fee  will be  returned  in
     full within five business days. The sole exception to the refund policy
     is in the case of fraudulent applications, such applicants will NOT
     receive a refund when declined.

     All  applications  MUST  be sent direct to the net host system (DZ-Info
     Service). Those paying by check or money  order  must  mail  a  printed
     application  along  with payment to our offices (address listed below).
     We now accept Visa or MasterCard for net fee payments. Those wishing to
     charge  their  payment  should call the net host system (numbers listed
     below) and upload their application as a comment  to  the  sysop  ONLY.
     Upon  posting  the application use the S command (Script Questionnaire)
     and select the NET FEE script from the menu.

     All payments must be in the form of  US  dollars.  Canadian  applicants
     must  pay  by  Postal  Money  Order  ONLY,  no checks will be accepted.

     There  will  be  a  $17.50 fee for returned checks.  Please make checks
     payable to DZ-Info Services, Inc. Mail to:

                             DZ-Info Services, Inc.
                                1535-38 Street
                            Rock Island, IL. 61201.
      [phone] (D/S) - 9624 (D/S 16.8) - 9546 (ZyXEL) - 7986 (D/S)

     ┌────────────┐
     │ Amendments │
     └────────────┘
     Although the Administration is responsible for implementing changes  to
     to  these guidelines, any Intelec Node or Hub Sysop, Conference Host or
     Conference Moderator may request  amendments  to these guidelines  from
     the  Administration. Such requests petitions or any and all discussions
     thereof MUST take place in the NetAdmin, Regionals or Moderators  conf-
     erence  of the Intelec Network and no place else. Guideline changes are
     subject   to   approval   by   the   Intelec   Network   Administrator.

     This document is copyright (1993) DZ-Info Services, Inc., and is not to
     be  altered  in  any  way shape or form. Altering this document for any
     reason is in violation of applicable copyright laws  and violators  can
     and   will   be   prosecuted   to   the  fullest  extent  of  the  law.

     <END>
     End of Network Guidelines.