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Path: xanth!cs.odu.edu!Amiga-Request From: Amiga-Request@cs.odu.edu (Amiga Sources/Binaries Moderator) Newsgroups: comp.sources.amiga Subject: v90i060: uucp 1.03D - unix compatible uucp/mail/news system, Part16/16 Message-ID: <11299@xanth.cs.odu.edu> Date: 4 Feb 90 02:45:04 GMT Sender: tadguy@cs.odu.edu Reply-To: overload!dillon (Matt Dillon) Lines: 1165 Approved: tadguy@cs.odu.edu (Tad Guy) X-Mail-Submissions-To: Amiga@cs.odu.edu Submitted-by: overload!dillon (Matt Dillon) Posting-number: Volume 90, Issue 060 Archive-name: unix/uucp-1.03d/part16 #!/bin/sh # This is a shell archive. Remove anything before this line, then unpack # it by saving it into a file and typing "sh file". To overwrite existing # files, type "sh file -c". You can also feed this as standard input via # unshar, or by typing "sh <file", e.g.. If this archive is complete, you # will see the following message at the end: # "End of archive 16 (of 16)." # Contents: man/how2usenet # Wrapped by tadguy@xanth on Sat Feb 3 20:51:26 1990 PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/ucb ; export PATH if test -f 'man/how2usenet' -a "${1}" != "-c" ; then echo shar: Will not clobber existing file \"'man/how2usenet'\" else echo shar: Extracting \"'man/how2usenet'\" $49150 characters$ sed "s/^X//" >'man/how2usenet' <<'END_OF_FILE' X X How to Use USENET Effectively X X X Matt Bishop X Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science X Mail Stop 230-5 X NASA Ames Research Center X X Moffett Field, CA 94035 X X X X 1. Introduction X X USENET is a worldwide bulletin board system in which X thousands of computers pass articles back and forth. Of necessi- X ty, customs have sprung up enabling very diverse people and X groups to communicate peaceably and effectively using USENET. X These customs are for the most part written, but are scattered X over several documents that can be difficult to find; in any X case, even if a new user can find all the documents, he most X likely will have neither the time nor the inclination to read X them all. This document is intended to collect all these conven- X tions into one place, thereby making it easy for new users to X learn about the world of USENET. (Old-timers, too, will benefit X from reading this.) X X You should read this document and understand it thoroughly X before you even think about posting anything. If you have ques- X tions, please ask your USENET administrator (who can usually be X reached by sending mail to usenet) or a more knowledgeable USENET X user. Believe me, you will save yourself a lot of grief. X X The mechanics of posting an article to USENET are explained X in Mark Horton's excellent paper How to Read the Network News; if X you have not read that yet, stop here and do so. A lot of what X follows depends on your knowing (at least vaguely) the mechanics X of posting news. X X Before we discuss these customs, we ought to look at the X history of USENET, what it is today, and why we need these con- X ventions. X X 2. All About USENET X X USENET began on a set of computers in North Carolina's X Research Triangle. The programs involved (known as "netnews" X then, and "A news" now) exchanged messages; it was a small, X multi-computer bulletin board system. As time passed, adminis- X trators of other systems began to connect their computers to this X bulletin board system. The network grew. Then, at Berkeley, the X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X news programs were rewritten (this version became known as "B X news") and the format changed to conform to ARPA standards X (again, this became the "B protocol for news".*) This version of X news was very widely distributed, and at this point USENET began X to take on its current shape. X X USENET is a logical network (as opposed to a physical net- X work.) It is also a very amorphous network, in that there is no X central administration or controlling site. There is not even an X official list of members, although there is a very complete unof- X ficial one. A site gets access to USENET by finding some other X site already on USENET that it can connect to and exchange news X articles. So long as this second site (called a neighbor of the X first site) remains willing and able to pass articles to and from X the first site, the first site is on USENET. A site leaves the X USENET only when no one is willing or able to pass articles to, X or accept articles from, it. X X As a result, USENET has no equivalent of a "sysop" or cen- X tral authority controlling the bulletin board. What little con- X trol is exercised is wielded by the person at each site who is X responsible for maintaining the USENET connections (this person X is called the "USENET administrator.") Because most USENET ad- X ministrators are (relatively) new to USENET, and because adminis- X tering USENET locally involves a great deal of work, most USENET X administrators tend to follow the lead of other, more experi- X enced, administrators (often known somewhat irreverently as "net X gurus.") This is not an abdication of responsibility, but a means X of keeping the amount of work little enough so it can be done X without interfering with the local USENET administrator's job. X An example of this is the list of currently active newsgroups X circulated every month or so. It is not "official" - no one has X that authority - but as the maintainer is doing the work that X every other USENET administrator would have to do otherwise, it X is accepted as a valid list. If the maintainer changes the list X in a way another USENET administrator finds unacceptable, that X administrator can simply ignore the list. (Incidentally, the X "net gurus" became known as such because of the work they have X contributed to USENET. Their experience is a valuable resource X for each USENET administrator.) X X Because the USENET has grown so wildly, a number of problems X have appeared. One of these problems is technical, and a number X of the conventions this document describes spring from attempts X to keep this problem under control. X X The technical problem arises due to the transport mechanism X used by most USENET sites. Most computers on USENET do not have X access to large-area networks like ARPANET. As a result the only X X __________ X X * See Standard for Interchange of USENET Messages for a X description of the two formats. X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X viable transport mechanism these sites can use is a set of pro- X grams collectively known as UUCP and which communicate over dial- X up telephone lines. Initially, news programs generated one UUCP X command per article. With the explosion of the USENET, the X number of articles simply swamped many sites; phone lines would X be tied up all day transmitting news, and many articles would be X processed at the same time, slowing down the computers notice- X ably. X X The solution was to batch messages. This way, many articles X are sent via UUCP with one command, and the command on the re- X ceiving machine would split the file into separate articles, X which could then be processed individually. While this increased X the size of the files being sent, it cut down on the number of X UUCP commands sent, and since sending a command involves quite a X bit of overhead, this decreased the duration of phone calls, and X to a lesser degree the load on the computer. At some sites, such X as Purdue, this was not quite enough, so a simple spooler was im- X plemented to process the individual articles one at a time. This X reduced the system load to a very acceptable amount. X X However, the problem has not gone away by any means. In one X sense it has become worse; as more articles are posted to the X network, phone costs and system loads averages increase, and sys- X tem administrators require USENET administrators to cut back or X eliminate newsgroups and to transmit news only at night (which X means long propagation delays). In short, everyone who has any- X thing to do with administering any USENET site is very concerned X about the future of USENET, both in general and at his own site. X X Many of the rules you will read address this concern. The X fear that USENET may collapse is not a bogeyman, but very real. X We hope it will not collapse, and the rules below outline some X ways to prevent problems and increase the likelihood that enough X sites will remain on USENET to keep it alive. There is no cen- X tral authority that can force you to follow them, but by doing so X you will help keep USENET a valuable resource to the computer X community. X X 3. Deciding to Post X X Before you decide to post an article, you should consider a X few things. X X 3.1. Do not repeat postings X X This applies even if you did not post the information the X first time around. If you know the answer to a question someone X asked, first read the follow-ups, and if you have something more X to contribute, mail it to the questioner; if you think it should X be seen by others, ask the questioner to summarize the answers he X receives in a subsequent article. One of the biggest problems on X USENET is that many copies of the same answer to a simple ques- X tion are posted. X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X If you want to repost something because you believe it did X not get to other USENET sites due to transmission problems (this X happens sometimes, but a lot less often than commonly believed), X do some checking before you repost. If you have a friend at X another USENET site, call him and ask if the article made it to X his site. Ask your USENET administrator if he knows of any prob- X lems in the USENET; there are special newsgroups to which USENET X administrators subscribe in which problems are reported, or he X can contact his counterparts at other sites for information. Fi- X nally, if you decide you must repost it, indicate in the article X subject that it is a reposting, and say why you are reposting it X (if you don't, you'll undoubtedly get some very nasty mail.) X X Reposting announcements of products or services is flatly X forbidden. Doing so may convince other sites to turn off your X USENET access. X X When school starts, hoards of new users descend upon the X USENET asking questions. Many of these questions have been X asked, and answered, literally thousands of times since USENET X began. The most common of these questions, and their answers, X have been collected in the hope that the new users will read them X and not re-post the same questions. So, if you want to ask a X question, check Appendix A (Answers to Frequently Asked Ques- X tions) to be sure it isn't one that has been asked and answered X literally hundreds of times before you started reading the X USENET. X X 3.2. Do not post anything when upset, angry, or intoxicated X X Posting an article is a lot like driving a car - you have to X be in control of yourself. Postings which begin "Jane, you ig- X norant slut, ..." are very definitely considered in poor taste*. X Unfortunately, they are also far too common. X X The psychology of this is interesting. One popular belief X is that since we interact with USENET via computers, we all often X forget that a computer did not do the posting; a human did. A X contributing factor is that you don't have to look the target of X abuse in the eye when you post an abusive message; eye-to-eye X contact has an amazing effect on inhibiting obnoxious behavior. X As a result, discussions on the USENET often degenerate into a X catfight far more readily than would a face-to-face discussion. X X Before you post an article, think a minute; decide whether X or not you are upset, angry, or high. If you are, wait until you X calm down (or come down) before deciding to post something. Then X think about whether or not you really want to post it. You will X be amazed what waiting a day or even a few hours can do for your X perspective. X X X __________ X * Unless you are critiquing Saturday Night Live. X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X Bear in mind that shouting hasn't convinced anyone of any- X thing since the days of Charlemagne, and being abusive makes peo- X ple hold even more tenaciously to their ideas or opinions. Gen- X tleness, courtesy, and eloquence are far more persuasive; not X only do they indicate you have enough confidence in your words to X allow them to speak for you, but also they indicate a respect for X your audience. This in turn makes it easier for your audience to X like or respect you - and people tend to be far more interested X in, and receptive to, arguments advanced by those they like or X respect than by writers who are abusive. Finally, remember that X some discussions or situations simply cannot be resolved. Be- X cause people are different, agreed-upon facts often lead to wild- X ly different feelings and conclusions. These differences are X what makes life so wonderful; were we all alike, the world would X be a very boring place. So, don't get frantic; relax and enjoy X the discussion. Who knows, you might even learn something! X X 3.3. Be sure your posting is appropriate to USENET X X Some things are inappropriate to post to USENET. Discussing X whether or not some other discussion is appropriate, or if it is X in the right newsgroup, is an example. Invariably, the "meta- X discussion" generates so many articles that the discussion is X simply overwhelmed and vanishes; but the meta-discussion lingers X on for several weeks, driving most of the readers of that news- X group out of their collective minds. Help preserve the sanity of X your fellow USENET readers by mailing such comments to the people X involved, rather than posting them. X X Another example of inappropriate postings is the infamous X "spelling flame." Every few months someone takes another poster X to task for poor spelling or grammar. Soon, everyone jumps on X the bandwagon, tearing apart one another's postings for such er- X rors. To put it mildly, this angers almost everyone involved for X no real reason. Please remember that we all make mistakes, and X there are a lot of people for whom English is a second language. X So, try to keep your spelling and grammar comments to yourself - X but if you find you simply cannot, mail them to the poster rather X than posting them. X X Far more insidious are requests similar to "How can I splice X into the local cable TV transmission line?" Posting to USENET is X akin to publishing, so don't ask for or post instructions on how X to do something illegal. And please don't quote the First Amend- X ment, or the laws allowing freedom of speech in your country; X while the posting programs will not stop you, the aftermath could X be very unpleasant - lawsuits and court trials usually are, and X the USENET would certainly collapse as sites dropped from it to X protect themselves from legal liability. You wouldn't want that X on your conscience, would you? Of course not. X X Related to this is the next rule. X X X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X 3.4. Do not post other people's work without permission X X Posting something to USENET puts it in the public domain for X all practical purposes. So, be careful about posting things like X UNIX*-related material (specifically source code) or company do- X cuments; consider licensing and nondisclosure agreements first. X Some people regard the posting of "diffs" based on licensed code X to be a suitable compromise, as they are only useful to those who X have the base code already. X X Copyrighted works are a separate problem. Both United X States and international law provide protection for copyrighted X works; other than short extracts for purposes of criticism, you X cannot copy a copyrighted work in whole or in part without per- X mission of the copyright holder (who may, or may not, be the au- X thor.) Without this protection, artists could not make any money X and hence would have limited incentive to make the fruits of X their art available at all. Posting a copyrighted work without X permission is theft, even though the property stolen is not tan- X gible in most cases. Hence, posting movie and book reviews, song X lyrics, or anything else which is copyrighted without the permis- X sion of the copyright holder, could cause you personally, your X company, or the USENET itself to be held liable for damages. X Please be very careful that you obey the law when posting such X material! X X 3.5. Don't forget that opinions are those of the poster and not X his employer. X X Every so often, someone will post a particularly disgusting X article, and a number of responses will ask if all employees of X the original poster's company share his (revolting) opinion, or X suggest that action be taken against that company. Please X remember that all opinions or statements in articles are to be X attributed to the poster only, and in particular, do not neces- X sarily represent the opinions of the poster's employer, the owner X of the computer on which the article originated, or anyone in- X volved with any aspect of USENET - and consequently the responsi- X bility for any USENET message rests with the poster and with no X one else. The appropriate response is not to attack the company X or its other employees; let the poster know what you think of his X posting via mail. If the postings continue, take advantage of X the news software's presenting you with the author's name and the X subject line and then asking if you want to see the article; X start looking for the poster's name or the offensive subject in X the articles presented to you and skip them. If you really get X offended, you can unsubscribe from a newsgroup. X X Part of the price of freedom is allowing others to make X fools of themselves. You wouldn't like to be censored, so don't X advocate censorship of others. No one is forcing you to read the X X __________ X *UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T. X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X postings. X X In some countries, posting or receiving certain types of ar- X ticles may be a criminal offense. As a result, certain news- X groups which circulate freely within the United States may not be X circulated in other nations without risking civil or criminal li- X abilities. In this case, the appropriate action for sites in X that country is neither to accept nor to transmit the newsgroup. X No site is ever forced to accept or pass on any newsgroup. X X 4. Where to Post X X The various newsgroups and distributions have various rules X associated with their use. This section will describe these X rules and offer suggestions on which newsgroups to post your mes- X sage. X X 4.1. Keep the distribution as limited as possible X X A basic principle of posting is to keep the distribution of X your article as limited as possible. Like our modern society, X USENET is suffering from both an information glut and information X pollution. It is widely believed that the USENET will cease to X function unless we are able to cut down the quantity of articles. X One step in this direction is not to post something to places X where it will be worthless. For example, if you live in Hacken- X sack, New Jersey, the probability of anyone in Korea wanting to X buy your 1972 Toyota is about as close to zero as you can get. X So confine your posting to the New Jersey area. X X To do this, you can either post to a local group, or post to X a net-wide group and use the distribution feature to limit how X widely your article will go. When you give your posting program X (usually postnews(1)) a distribution, you are (in essence) saying X that machines which do not recognize that distribution should not X get the article. (Think of it as a subgroup based on locality X and you'll get the idea.) For example, if you are posting in the X San Francisco Bay Area, and you post your article to rec.auto but X give ba as the distribution, the article will not be sent beyond X the San Francisco Bay Area (to which the ba distribution is lo- X cal) even though you put it in a net-wide newsgroup. Had you X given the distribution as ca (the California distribution), your X article would have been sent to all Californian sites on USENET. X Had you given the distribution as world, your article would have X been sent to all sites on USENET. X X 4.2. Do not post the same article twice to different groups X X If you have an article that you want to post to more than X one group, post to both at the same time. Newer versions of the X news software will show an article only once regardless of how X many newsgroups it appears in. But if you post it once to each X different group, all versions of news software will show it once X for each newsgroup. This angers a lot of people and wastes X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X everybody's time. X X 4.3. Do not post to moderated newsgroups. X X You may not post directly to certain newsgroups; you cannot X post to some at all. Newer versions of the news software will X inform you when either of these restrictions apply, but older X versions of news software will not. X X If you want to have the appropriate moderator post some- X thing, mail it to the moderator. (If you do not know the ad- X dress, ask your USENET administrator. In some cases, the X software will automatically mail, rather than post, your article X to the moderator.) X X 4.4. Ask someone if you can't figure out where to post your ar- X ticle X X If you cannot figure out where to post something, look in X news.announce.newusers for the list of active newsgroups. (This X is posted biweekly. If you can't find it, look at the list in X How to Read the Network News; but be aware that list is undoubt- X edly out of date already.) If your article does not seem to fit X in any of the listed groups, post it to misc.misc or don't post X it. X X If you still are not sure which newsgroup to post your arti- X cle to, ask an old-timer. If your site doesn't have any old- X timers (or none of the old-timers will admit to being old- X timers), contact any of the following people: X X Gene Spafford (spaf@gatech.CSNET, spaf@gatech.UUCP) X Mark Horton (mark@cbosgd.UUCP) X Rick Adams (rick@seismo.CSS.GOV, rick@seismo.UUCP) X Chuq Von Rospach (chuq@sun.UUCP) X Matt Bishop (mab@riacs.ARPA, mab@riacs.UUCP) X X We will be happy to help you. But, please, do not post the arti- X cle to the net before you ask us! X X 4.5. Be sure there is a consensus before creating a new news- X group X X Creating a new newsgroup is, in general, a very bad idea. X Currently, there are so many articles being posted that the X USENET is in danger of collapse as site after site decides to X cease to accept and retransmit certain newsgroups. Moreover, X there is no established procedure for deleting a newsgroup, so X once created, newsgroups tend to stay around. They also tend to X encourage people to think up new newsgroups, and the cycle re- X peats. Try to avoid thinking up new newsgroups. X X If, however, you believe a new group should be created, be X sure you have a consensus that the group is needed (either a X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X mailing list has enough traffic and readers to justify turning it X into a newsgroup, or a discussion in a current newsgroup becomes X so large for a period of time long enough to warrant splitting it X into a newsgroup.) Then post an article to news.group as well as X any other groups related to your proposed new group, and discuss X the topics you are proposing be covered in your new group, what X it should be called, whether it is really needed, and so forth. X Try to resolve all objections, and take into account all sugges- X tions and comments; finally, have everyone mail you a "yes" or X "no" vote on whether the group should be created. Try to get at X least 40 or 50 "yes" votes before creating the group; if you want X to be safe, get around 100. X X 4.6. Watch out for newsgroups which have special rules about X posting X X Some newsgroups have special rules. This section summarizes X them. X X rec.arts.books Do not post anything revealing a plot or a X plot twist without putting the word "spoiler" X somewhere in the "Subject" field. This will X let those who do not wish to have a surprise X spoiled skip the article. X X rec.humor If you want to post an offensive joke (this X includes racial, religious, sexual, and sca- X tological humor, among other kinds) rotate X it. (If you do not know what this means, X look in the section Writing Your Posting.) X X rec.arts.movies Do not post anything revealing a plot or a X plot twist without putting the word "spoiler" X in the "Subject" field. This will let those X who do not wish to have a surprise spoiled X skip the article. X X news.group Discussions about whether or not to create X new groups, and what to name them, go here. X Please mail your votes to the proposer; don't X post them. X X comp.sources Source code postings go here. Discussions X are not allowed. Do not post bug fixes here. X X comp.sources.bugs Bug reports and bug fixes to sources posted X in comp.sources go here. X X comp.sources.wanted Requests for sources go here. X X misc.test Use the smallest distribution possible. In X the body of the message, say what you are X testing. X X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X misc.wanted Requests for things other than source code go X here. Please use the smallest distribution X possible. Post offers here, too. X X 5. Writing the Article X X Here are some suggestions to help you communicate effective- X ly with others on the USENET. Perhaps the best advice is not to X be afraid to consult a book on writing style; two of the best are X How to Write for the World of Work by Cunningham and Pearsall, X and Elements of Style by Strunk and White. X X 5.1. Write for your audience X X USENET is an international network, and any article you post X will be very widely read. Even more importantly, your future em- X ployers may be among the readers! So, try to make a good impres- X sion. X X A basic principle of all writing is to write at your X readers' reading level. It is better to go below than above. X Aiming where "their heads ought to be" may be fine if you are a X college professor (and a lot of us would dispute even that), but X it is guaranteed to cause people to ignore your article. Studies X have shown that the average American reads at the fifth grade X level and the average professional reads at the twelfth grade X level. X X 5.2. Be clear and concise X X Remember that you are writing for a very busy audience; your X readers will not puzzle over your article. So be very clear and X very concise. Be precise as well; choose the least ambiguous X word you can, taking into account the context in which you are X using the word. Split your posting into sections and paragraphs X as appropriate. Use a descriptive title in the "Subject" field, X and be sure that the title is related to the body of the article. X If the title is not related, feel free to change it to a title X that is. X X 5.3. Proofread your article X X This is a matter of courtesy; since you want others to read X your article, the least you can do is check that it says what you X mean in a clear, concise manner. Check for typographical errors, X silly grammar errors, and misspellings; if you have a spelling X checking program, use it. Also be sure the article is easy to X read. Use white space - blanks, tabs, and newlines - and both X upper and lower case letters. Do not omit the definite and inde- X finite articles, either; not only do "a", "an", and "the" make a X posting much easier to read, their omission can make a posting X ambiguous. X X X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X 5.4. Be extra careful with announcements of products or services X X When writing a product or service announcement, bear in mind X that others will be paying most of the telephone bills. So, if X you are announcing several things, combine all the announcements X into one article. Mark the posting as a product or service an- X nouncement in the title in the "Subject" field. Advertising hy- X perbole is not appropriate here; remember that your audience is X to a large degree technically literate, and your product will X stand or fall on its technical merits. Be aware that posting ob- X noxious or inappropriate advertisements is very serious and if X you do it, you may find your neighbors yanking your USENET ac- X cess. X X 5.5. Indicate sarcasm and humor X X Remember that people cannot see you when they read your X posting; hence, all the subtle nuances of body and facial motion X are hidden. It can be quite difficult to tell when you are being X sarcastic or humorous. To deal with this problem, the USENET X readers and posters have developed a special sign. Mark passages X you intend to be taken as humorous with the "smiley face", while X looks like this: ":-)". (Think of a head facing you lying on its X right side and look again if you don't understand why that symbol X was chosen.) As for sarcasm, there is no universal symbol for X that (unless the sarcasm is meant humorously, in which case use X the smiley face again.) But mark your passage so everyone will X realize you are being sarcastic. X X 5.6. Mark postings which spoil surprises X X High on the list of obnoxious messages are those that spoil X the plot of a book or movie by giving away an unexpected detail. X If you post such an article, please put the word "spoiler" in the X "Subject" field of your posting, so people who do not wish to X have a surprise ruined can skip the article. X X 5.7. Rotate offensive postings X X If you feel you must post a message that may offend people, X you can take steps to be sure the message will only be read by X those who explicitly ask for it to be shown to them. The USENET X convention is to encrypt these messages by shifting each letter X 13 characters, so that (for example) "a" becomes "n". (In more X precise terms, this is a Caesar cipher of shift 13; on the X USENET, it is called rot13.) When you do this, put the word X "rot13" in the "Subject" field. The news reader you are using X almost certainly has a command to encrypt and decrypt such mes- X sages; if not, use the UNIX command X X tr a-zA-Z n-za-mN-ZA-M X X X X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X 5.8. The shorter your signature, the better X X Keep signatures concise; 2 or 3 lines are usually plenty. X Include your name and addresses on any major networks (such as X ARPANET, BITNET, or CSNET). This helps people contact you quick- X ly and easily, usually more so than by following the return path X of the article. Do not include pictures, graphics or clever quo- X tations that make the signature longer; this is not the appropri- X ate place for them, and many sites resent paying the phone bills X for such signatures. X X 6. Conclusion and Summary X X Here is a list of the rules given above: X X => Deciding to post X X + Do not repeat postings X X + Do not post anything when upset, angry, or intoxicat- X ed X X + Be sure your posting is appropriate to USENET X X + Do not post other people's work without permission X X + Don't forget that opinions are those of the poster X and not his company X X => Where to Post X X + Keep the distribution as limited as possible X X + Do not post the same article twice to different X groups X X + Do not post to news.announce newsgroups X X + Ask someone if you can't figure out where to post X your article X X + Be sure there is a consensus before creating a new X newsgroup X X + Watch out for newsgroups which have special rules X about posting X X => Writing the Article X X + Write for your audience X X + Be clear and concise X X X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X + Proofread your article X X + Be extra careful with announcements of products or X services X X + Indicate sarcasm and humor X X + Mark postings which spoil surprises X X + Rotate offensive postings X X + The shorter your signature, the better X X The USENET can be a great place for us all. Sadly, not X enough people are following the customs that have been esta- X blished to keep the USENET civilized. This document was written X to educate all users of the USENET on their responsibilities. X Let's clean up the USENET, and turn it into a friendly, helpful X community again! X X Acknowledgements: The writing of this document was inspired by X Chuq von Rospach's posting on USENET etiquette, and it draws on X previous work by Mark Horton, A. Jeff Offutt, Gene Spafford, and X Chuq von Rospach. X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X Appendix A. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions X X originally from Jerry Schwarz (jerry@eagle.UUCP) X modified by Gene Spafford (spaf@gatech.UUCP) X modified by Matt Bishop (mab@riacs.ARPA) X X X This document discusses some items that occur repeatedly on X USENET. They frequently are submitted by new users, and result X in many follow-ups, sometimes swamping groups for weeks. The X purpose of this note is to head off these annoying events by X answering some questions and warning about the inevitable conse- X quence of asking others. If you don't like my answers, let me X know and I may include revisions in future versions of this note. X X 1. What does UNIX stand for? X X It is not an acronym, but is a pun on "MULTICS." MULTICS is a X large operating system that was being developed shortly be- X fore UNIX was created. X X 2. What is the derivation of "foo" as a filler word? X X The favorite story is that it comes from "fubar" which is an X acronym for "fouled up beyond all recognition," which is sup- X posed to be a military term. (Various forms of this exist, X "fouled" usually being replaced by a stronger word.) "Foo" X and "Bar" have the same derivation. X X 3. Is a machine at "foo" on the net? X X These questions belong in news.config if anywhere, but in X fact your best bet is usually to phone somebody at "foo" to X find out. If you don't know anybody at "foo" you can always X try calling and asking for the "computer center." Also, see X the newsgroup mod.map, where maps of USENET and the UUCP net- X work are posted regularly. X X 4. What does "rc" at the end of files like .newsrc mean? X X According to Dennis Ritchie, "The name rc comes from RUNCOM, X which was the rough equivalent on the MIT CTSS system of what X UNIX calls shell scripts. Of course, RUNCOM derives from run X commands." X X 5. What do "- (nf)" and "Orphaned Response" in an item's title X mean? X X It means that the item was created by "notefiles," an alter- X native news handling interface that many people prefer. If X you want to find out more you can read the Notesfile System X Reference Manual" or contact uiucdcs!essick. X X X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X 6. What does ":-)" mean? X X This is the net convention for a "smiley face." It means that X something is being said in jest. If it doesn't look like a X smiley face to you, flop your head over to the left and look X again. X X 7. How do I decrypt jokes in rec.humor? X X The standard cipher used in rec.humor in called "rot13." Each X letter is replaced by the letter 13 further along in the al- X phabet (cycling around at the end). Most systems have a X built in command to decrypt such articles; readnews(1) and X vnews(1) have the D command, rn(1) (another popular public- X domain full screen news reader) has the X or <CONTROL-X> com- X mands, notes(1) has % or R. If your system doesn't have a X program to encrypt and decrypt these, you can quickly create X a shell script using tr(1): X X tr A-Za-z N-ZA-Mn-za-m X X On some versions of UNIX, the tr command should be written X as: X X tr "[a-m][n-z][A-M][N-Z]" "[n-z][a-m][N-Z][A-M]" X X 8. soc.net-people: Is John Doe out there anywhere? X X I suspect that these items are people looking for freshman X roommates that they haven't seen in ten years. If you have X some idea where the person is you are usually better off cal- X ling the organization. For example, if you call any Bell X Labs location and request John Doe's number. They can give X it to you even if he works at a different location. X X 9. sci.math: Proofs that 1 = 0. X X Almost everyone has seen one or more of these in high school. X They are almost always based on either division by 0 or tak- X ing the square root of a negative number. X X 10. rec.games: Where can I get the source for empire(6) or ro- X gue(6)? X X You can't. The authors of these games, as is their right, X have chosen not to make the sources available. X X 11. comp.unix.wizards: How do I remove files with non-ASCII char- X acters in their names? X X You can try to find a pattern that uniquely identifies the X file. This sometimes fails because a peculiarity of some X shells is that they strip off the high-order bit of charac- X ters in command lines. Next, you can try an "rm -i", or "rm X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X -r" (see rm(1).) Finally, you can mess around with i-node X numbers and find(1). X X 12. comp.unix.wizards: There is a bug in the way UNIX handles X protection for programs that run setuid. X X There are indeed problems with the treatment of protection in X setuid programs. When this is brought up, suggestions for X changes range from implementing a full capability list ar- X rangement to new kernel calls for allowing more control over X when the effective id is used and when the real id is used to X control accesses. Sooner or later you can expect this to be X improved. For now you just have to live with it. X X 13. soc.women: What do you think about abortion? X X Although abortion might appear to be an appropriate topic for X soc.women, more heat than light is generated when it is X brought up. Since the newsgroup talk.abortion has been X created, all abortion-related discussion should take place X there. X X 14. soc.singles: What do "MOTOS," "MOTSS,", "MOTAS", and "SO" X stand for? X X Member of the opposite sex, member of the same sex, member of X the appropriate sex, and significant other, respectively. X X 15. How do I use the "Distribution" feature? X X When postnews(1) prompts you for a distribution, it's asking X how widely distributed you want your article. The set of X possible replies is different, depending on where you are, X but at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, possibilities X include: X X local local to this machine X mh Bell Labs, Murray Hill Branch X nj all sites in New Jersey X btl All Bell Labs machines X att All AT&T machines X usa Everywhere in the USA X na Everywhere in North America X world Everywhere on USENET in the world X X If you hit <RETURN>, you'll get the default, which is the X first part of the newsgroup name. This default is often not X appropriate - please take a moment to think about how far X away people are likely to be interested in what you have to X say. Used car ads, housing wanted ads, and things for sale X other than specialized equipment like computers certainly X shouldn't be distributed to Europe and Korea, or even to the X next state. X X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X X X X X X X The newsgroup misc.forsale exists for postings of sale an- X nouncements. Its distribution is limited to North America; X posters should restrict this distribution even further, if X possible and appropriate. X X 16. Why do some people put funny lines ("bug killers") at the be- X ginning of their articles? X X Some earlier versions of news had a bug which would drop the X first 512 or 1024 bytes of text of certain articles. The bug X was triggered whenever the article started with white space X (a blank or a tab). A fix many people adopted was to begin X their articles with a line containing a character other than X white space. This gradually evolved into the habit of in- X cluding amusing first lines. X X The original bug has since been fixed in newer version of X news, and sites running older versions of news have applied a X patch to prevent articles from losing text. The "bug-killer" X lines are therefore probably no longer needed, but they X linger on. X X 17. What is the address or phone number of the "foo" company? X X Try the white and yellow pages of your phone directory, X first; a sales representative will surely know, and if you're X a potential customer they will be who you're looking for. X Phone books for other cities are usually available in li- X braries of any size. Whoever buys or recommends things for X your company will probably have some buyer's guides or na- X tional company directories. Call or visit the reference desk X of your library; they have several company and organization X directories and many will answer questions like this over the X phone. Remember if you only know the city where the company X is, you can telephone to find out their full address or a X dealer. The network is not a free resource, although it may X look like that to some people. It is far better to spend a X few minutes of your own time researching an answer rather X than broadcast your laziness and/or ineptness to the net. X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986 X X X X END_OF_FILE if test 49150 -ne `wc -c <'man/how2usenet'`; then echo shar: \"'man/how2usenet'\" unpacked with wrong size! fi # end of 'man/how2usenet' fi echo shar: End of archive 16 $of 16$. cp /dev/null ark16isdone MISSING="" for I in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 ; do if test ! -f ark${I}isdone ; then MISSING="${MISSING} ${I}" fi done if test "${MISSING}" = "" ; then echo You have unpacked all 16 archives. rm -f ark[1-9]isdone ark[1-9][0-9]isdone else echo You still need to unpack the following archives: echo " " ${MISSING} fi ## End of shell archive. exit 0 -- Submissions to comp.sources.amiga and comp.binaries.amiga should be sent to: amiga@cs.odu.edu or amiga@xanth.cs.odu.edu ( obsolescent mailers may need this address ) or ...!uunet!xanth!amiga ( very obsolescent mailers need this address ) Comments, questions, and suggestions should be addressed to ``amiga-request'' (please only use ``amiga'' for actual submissions) at the above addresses.