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- Archive-name: callahans/intro/part1
- Last-modified: 1994/05/24
- Version: 1.7
- Posting-frequency: 2 weeks
-
- [If you don't want to see this post every 2 weeks, please program your
- KILL file to search for "New Patron's". Do NOT kill the keyword "ADMIN".]
-
- Hello there, welcome to Callahan's!
-
- This is a post especially for new patrons of alt.callahans. It doesn't
- explain what the group is about - for that see the Allabout file - but
- it gives some very helpful hints and tips on interacting in Callahan's.
- EVERYONE new to alt.callahans should read this file carefully.
-
- Contents.
-
- (Part 1) Section 1. Netiquette.
- *** Quoted Material
- *** Replying: Follow-up Post or E-mail?
- *** Line Length
- *** Subject Line Keywords
- *** Editing the Subject Line
- *** The Signature
- *** Posting Large Files
- *** Using Other People in Posts
- *** Callahan's is International
- *** Posting for Other People
- *** Other People's Netiquette
-
- (Part 2) Section 2. Social Aspects of The Net.
- *** Tolerance
- *** Net Romance
- *** People Ignoring You
- *** Net Addiction
- *** Net Burnout
- *** Hate Mail
-
- (Part 2) Section 3. Technical Matters.
- *** KILL Files
- *** Redirecting Replies
- *** Other Good Advice for New Net Users
- *** Using Your Editor/News-Software
-
-
- Section 1. Netiquette.
-
- This section is concerned with net-etiquette ("netiquette") matters.
- If you follow these simple guidelines, you'll be helping everybody to
- handle their newsreading with a minimum of fuss and frustration. It's
- a good idea to make these suggestions part of your normal news posting
- habits, because people with bad netiquette often get abused or "flamed"
- on groups which are less friendly than Callahan's.
-
- *** Quoted Material
-
- When you follow-up to an article, please edit out everything from the
- quoted article except the specific points to which you are replying.
- This includes the quoted person's signature! It's nice to see a
- _little_ of a previous article for a reminder, but most patrons will
- already have read the whole thing before, and won't need to read it all
- over again. It can be extremely annoying to see a page or more of
- quoted text, and then only two original lines at the end of the article.
-
- In many newsgroups, it is considered EXTREMELY rude to quote as much as
- a whole screenful (about 15 lines, with headers) before you start your
- own text. It is almost always possible to get away with quoting much,
- much less than that. Many people read news via slow modem lines, or by
- downloading the articles in bulk. Excessive quoting costs all of these
- people both time and money. Please be considerate.
-
- If you do quote someone, please include a blank line between the end of
- the quoted material and your reply. Although it looks like a blank line
- on a screen, that extra carriage return is only one character - so it
- makes almost no difference to the true length of your message, and it
- makes it _so_ much easier for readers to see where you have started
- talking.
-
- *** Replying: Follow-up Post or E-mail?
-
- Before you reply to a post, ask yourself whether replying by e-mail
- will be okay. Many times (but not all!) it will be appropriate to send
- your response by private e-mail. This has two advantages: It cuts down
- on traffic in the newsgroup; and it makes your message seem more
- personal to the recipient.
-
- E-mail replies are especially appropriate for simple messages of
- congratulation or commiseration for personal events, or welcomes to
- new patrons. Much of the interaction of Callahan's goes on "behind the
- scenes". You can get to know someone in the newsgroup, but you really
- start making new friends when you trade e-mail.
-
- Another thing to consider when replying is that somebody else might
- already have said what you're about to say. This can often be the case
- if someone asks a question with a specific answer. It's a good idea to
- _mark_ any posts to which you might want to reply, keep reading through
- to the end of the day's posts, and then go back and answer them only if
- you haven't seen anyone else do so.
-
- *** Line Length
-
- When you type your posts, PLEASE hit the <Return> key before you reach
- the end of each line of text. Most terminals display lines which are 80
- characters in length, so you should include carriage returns at around
- the 72--75 character mark. If you do not do this, then many people will
- be unable to read anything which extends beyond the 80th character on
- each line! It may not be a problem on the terminal you use, but it can
- be on many others.
-
- Some editors can be configured to automatically insert carriage returns
- as you approach the end of a line. Check local information to see if
- you can do this with your editor. Do not confuse this with word-
- processors which do line-wrapping - this doesn't actually insert
- carriage returns! If you often use such a word-processor, be extra
- careful to insert the returns.
-
- *** Subject Line Keywords
-
- Here in Callahan's we have some generally agreed _keywords_ which people
- put in the Subject line to make it easier to know what sort of post you
- are seeing. This is important because some people don't want to read
- extended threads... or, some people want to read a particular thread
- and have trouble when the subject changes. If you read a few posts,
- you'll probably see keywords in action.
-
- Keywords are (usually) upper-case words inserted at the beginning of
- the Subject line. Some examples are: TOAST, HELLO, ADMIN, GOODBYE,
- PARTY, FUN, SOAPBOX. For a more complete list, and what to use them
- for, see the Guide to Keywords in Callahan's. If you're new here, you
- should definitely use the HELLO keyword in your very first post!
-
- Most posts, however, probably won't have a keyword. CHAT, which is a
- signal in some other groups, is not necessary in Callahan's... because
- that is what we do, mostly.
-
- *** Editing the Subject Line
-
- Most of the time when you reply to a post, there is no need to change
- the Subject line. For example:
-
- Someone posts: Subject: Pudding Fight
- Don't reply: Subject: More Fights With Pudding
-
- The reason for this has to do with the way Subject threads are related
- in many newsreaders. The programs would think these were two totally
- different topics!
-
- However, if the Pudding Fight turns into a discussion of Sexy Food,
- it's a good idea to change the subject line to reflect that. Example:
-
- Subject: Sexy Food [was: Pudding Fight]
-
- This is being considerate to people who aren't interested in sexy
- food, but who like pudding (or vice versa). :)
-
- *** The Signature
-
- Many forms of news software allow you to define a signature file, which
- is appended to all your posts. A lot of people use them to say who they
- are and a little about themselves. This can be a good idea, but it is
- important not to go overboard! Remember that people are going to see
- this _every_ time you post. As a general guideline, signature files
- should be kept to roughly 4 or fewer lines in length. (Some news-
- posting software actually chops longer signatures down to the first 4
- lines!) Going too far above that number is likely to get you an e-mail
- reminder or two from Callahan's people, and nasty flames from others if
- you post to different newsgroups. Large signatures are another thing
- which cost many news readers precious time and money.
-
- *** Posting Large Files
-
- Occasionally people have a very large file of some sort which they wish
- to share. It may be a long story, or a graphics or sound file. There
- are a few simple guidelines on this:
-
- 1. NEVER post a file which humans cannot read. This applies to graphics
- and sound files, which are almost invariably huge in size. There are
- newsgroups especially designed for such posts, and they form the only
- exception to this rule. You can find them under alt.binaries.* and
- comp.binaries.*.
- 2. If you have a long text post, you should split it up into parts, with
- each part about 300 lines long. This is a rough guideline, and can
- vary a bit either way. There is some general Net wisdom, however,
- that people rapidly lose interest in posts over about 200 lines.
- 3. If you really want to share a graphics file or something similar, you
- can post a description of it and either a pointer to where interested
- people can find it themselves or an offer to send it by e-mail. This
- can also apply to text files found on other newsgroups. Just tell
- people where to find it - don't post it again!
-
- *** Using Other People in Posts
-
- If the flow of action in a post you are doing requires a few words
- spoken by someone else, don't be tempted to have a specific patron say
- them. You can use Mike, our fictional bartender, or you can have a
- "generic" patron (also known as "someone") say them. NEVER put words
- into other people's mouths. If you really need input from a specific
- patron, send them e-mail and CLEAR IT WITH THEM FIRST. Better still,
- ask them what they would really say in the given situation.
-
- Similarly, NEVER describe actions of other patrons without their prior
- consent. Often there will be things like on-going party posts, in which
- patrons collectively engage in some virtual activity. These tend to be
- organised by e-mail amongst the participants, so that's okay. If you
- want to join in, it's better to e-mail the participants first.
-
- If you do post something with other patrons doing things in it, it's a
- good idea to include a small note mentioning the fact that they have
- agreed to be in your post. If you don't, others might think you have
- done it rudely, without permission. Note that this guideline only
- applies if you want patrons to _do_ things. If you just walk into the
- bar and say something to a particular person, that's fine.
-
- On a related point, don't bring people you know in RL (Real Life) into
- Callahan's in any way without their consent. You can talk about them
- (heck, we talk about RL people a lot!), but don't use them as extras in
- the bar unless they want to be there, _and_ know what you're posting.
-
- *** Callahan's is International
-
- Callahan's reaches all sorts of places: USA, Canada, UK, Australia,
- Ireland, New Zealand, Germany, France, Norway, South Africa, Singapore,
- Sweden, South Africa, and certainly many more countries. (Those are
- just the ones from which we've seen people post!) And with almost no
- exceptions, everything posted on Callahan's is appropriate for world-
- wide distribution. So please make sure your posts get sent with "world"
- distribution set. If your newsposting program defaults to some other,
- more localised distribution, _please_ change it to "world" every time
- you post.
-
- Note that "world" distribution is even appropriate for local RealSpace
- gatherings, because we like to hear what fun things our friends are up
- to, and because occasionally someone _will_ happen to be visiting the
- right country at the right time! It's happened before!
-
- Another point to note: Many readers may be unfamiliar with your local
- slang, jargon, customs, commercial products, politics, sport, etc. It
- can be surprising how much of your regular life is foreign and unknown
- to people in other countries - even when you supposedly speak the same
- language! So be prepared to explain things to curious questioners who
- want to learn about your culture, and maybe even volunteer explanations
- before you are asked. And _never_ assume people will know what you are
- talking about if you refer to something cultural.
-
- *** Posting for Other People
-
- Sometimes a patron who loses news access for some reason (either
- permanently or temporarily) might ask you to pass on a message to the
- newsgroup. Since we're like a big family here, it's nice to hear news
- from people who can't post - but please don't "do them a favour" by
- editing their words. Just pass on their words verbatim, whether or not
- you think the spelling, grammar or style is correct.
-
- This is important for two reasons. Firstly, we never complain to people
- about spelling/grammar/style, because personal nuances serve to identify
- our friends to us. We don't have the advantage of recognising someone's
- voice, but a familiar writing style can be just as evocative. Secondly,
- by editing someone's words, you might accidentally change their meaning.
- It's both easier, and kinder, to just leave it how it is.
-
- *** Other People's Netiquette
-
- Sometimes, someone will forget and leave a Subject line the same when
- they go off on a complete tangent, or quote three screenfuls of text, or
- use a keyword the wrong way. It is NOT considered good form to point
- out these mistakes in public. You will probably make more of a fool of
- _yourself_ this way. However, if you want to, you can send them a
- _polite_ e-mail reminding them to be careful, but do it _tactfully_ and
- don't send reminders to people who obviously forgot because they were
- feeling really sad or depressed when they posted. If you don't think
- you can do it tactfully, leave it to someone else.
-
- *** end of part 1
-
- - Danger Mouse.
- Archive-name: callahans/intro/part2
- Last-modified: 1995/01/19
- Version: 1.7
- Posting-frequency: 2 weeks
-
- *** continued from part 1
-
- Section 2. Social Aspects of The Net.
-
- *** Tolerance
-
- This is an important quality for peaceful interaction on the Net (and in
- Real Life). _All_ sorts of people use the Net. Old, young. Black,
- white, everything in between. Atheists, Christians, Moslems, Pagans.
- Homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals. IBM PC users, Macintosh users.
-
- You won't get very far if you immediately dismiss anyone as unworthy of
- your attention simply because they're not like you. Never, _ever_ make
- assumptions about somebody based on your concept of what people 'like
- that' are like. Try chatting with them to find out the truth. We can
- all get along if people remember that everybody else is people too, and
- not evil scum.
-
- *** Net Romance
-
- Over the Net, you can communicate with hundreds, thousands, or even tens
- of thousands of people. With all of these people, sooner or later you
- may find yourself chatting with some member of an appropriate sex whom
- you find interesting... and who, amazingly, finds you interesting in
- return. Congratulations! You're now involved in one of the more
- interesting situations that develops on the Net... a "net.romance".
-
- First off, don't panic... if this person lives fairly close to you, you
- can ask him or her out on a quick date before things get too serious.
- That puts you right back into "Real Life Romance", which, even if we
- don't fully understand it, is just a little easier to cope with.
-
- But what if this person lives a hundred miles away... or even, as
- sometimes happens, thousands, or several thousand miles away? Here is
- where things can get dangerous.
-
- Many people have tried to quantify what makes two people attracted to
- each other. All of them have failed in the end; there are simply too
- many variables. This failure is an important lesson to keep in mind
- when you find yourself attracted to someone many miles away on the Net.
-
- It _is_ possible to fall in love over the Net, and to fall hard... and
- it's possible that when you meet this "love of your life", you'll find
- yourself perfectly compatible and still very much in love.
-
- But it's also possible to find out that this person you've been talking
- to is so... well, _different_, to what you thought. Perhaps over the
- Net, your sweetie seemed so quiet and shy, but is loud and a braggart
- instead. Maybe you thought s/he was bold and talkative, when s/he's
- tightlipped and uncommunicative. Maybe the person who seemed very
- physical is frightened of being touched, or maybe s/he's constantly
- pawing at you, never giving you a moment of peace.
-
- Get the idea? There are thousands of things you just don't know about
- people until you meet them... and there will almost always be something
- EXTREMELY important that you don't know about your net.love until you
- meet him or her.
-
- Sure, you can and will learn a huge amount of information about this
- person beforehand. One of the beautiful things about the Net is the
- fact that you can learn about people in their 'purest form', by how they
- talk and think, before you are forced to consider their appearance,
- mannerisms, and quirks of personality. This can be great - maybe you'll
- end up in a happy relationship with someone you never would have
- considered had you met them in Real Life first.
-
- But unfortunately, mostly it doesn't work like that. In the end, there
- will always be something unknown and unknowable about that person until
- you meet for real, and that might be a huge stumbling block.
-
- Why these dire sounding warnings? We certainly are not going to suggest
- you SHOULDN'T fall in love over the Net; you might, and it might be a
- wonderful thing. Some people here can testify to that.
-
- However, like net.addiction, _unworkable_ net.romances are a constant
- danger. You should be willing to take a step back and look at yourself
- and your behavior. Do you have unrealistic EXPECTATIONS (we all have
- unrealistic HOPES, which is a different matter entirely) about this
- person? Are you ignoring other people who might be as important to you?
- Do you find yourself pinning a huge amount of importance on this person
- (planning on moving to another city without consideration of career,
- money, etc)? Then you may have just fallen into a bad net.romance.
-
- *** People Ignoring You
-
- When people find a friendly-looking group like Callahan's, they
- sometimes expect lots of responses or instant responses to their first
- post. This is unrealistic, for two very good reasons:
-
- 1. News software is notoriously unreliable. Sometimes a post never
- makes it out to the world in general, and sometimes it can be delayed
- by several days - up to two weeks or even more. This is true whether
- or not it appears at _your_ site! If the post exists on one machine,
- there is no guarantee whatsoever that it exists anywhere else.
-
- 2. People are busy! Any given person who actually does see a post may
- be too busy at that time to reply immediately, or even at all. But
- since there are lots of people in Callahan's, surely _someone_ will
- reply? Not so - the laws of statistics make it inevitable that some
- new posters will miss out.
-
- We're not elitist or anything, and we don't ignore people on purpose
- unless they post something nasty and insulting. We just sometimes
- aren't given enough of a chance to get our act together. :-)
-
- So if you post an introduction and don't see any responses for a few
- days, don't assume that you've been deliberately ignored and walk off in
- a huff. Try again. Or send e-mail to a friendly looking person and say
- that you suspect your post never made it out and could they please check
- to see if it did. An e-mail is more likely to get a reply for you, and
- is the best way to work out if the problem is technical.
-
- *** Net Addiction
-
- This is serious.
-
- The amount of time a person spends keeping up with newsgroups can become
- a problem, especially with an active VR group like Callahans. It is all
- too easy to become net.addicted, where keeping up with the surging tide
- of information and new friends becomes more important than activities
- and relationships in Real Life.
-
- When properly used, the Net can be a useful resource in leading a full
- and interesting life. Many of us make some of our best friends here.
- But a newsgroup should never be a _substitute_ for Real Life. And it
- should never be something that interferes with your personal
- relationships, study, or work.
-
- If you find yourself spending _too_much_ time interacting with people on
- the Net, you should seriously consider cutting back. How much time is
- too much? This depends a lot on how much other stuff you have to do in
- your regular life. If you start to neglect your work, or your study, or
- probably most importantly your Real Life friends, then you have the
- warning signs.
-
- Note the distinction: If you log in and spend ten hours a day
- socialising via the Net, that's not a problem. If you spend three hours
- a day logged in, and ignore your spouse or miss work deadlines, that
- _is_ a problem.
-
- What to do? Unsubscribe to a few newsgroups. Do you _really_ need to
- read everything in rec.humor? Be a little more selective about what you
- read, and to what you reply. Even in a single group, you don't have to
- read everything to participate. Callahan's in particular always has
- lots of different threads going on. Pretend you're in a real bar and
- join only the two or three in which you are really interested.
-
- And remember, in Callahan's there are always sympathetic ears who will
- listen and try to help if you ask for it. One patron became addicted to
- the Net a while ago, and it almost destroyed a 10 year marriage. (They
- are recovering together now.) We don't want this to happen ever again.
-
- *** Net Burnout
-
- The patrons of Callahan's like to care for each other, especially in
- times of personal crisis or turmoil. We do have to be careful, however,
- not to care _too_ much. It can be easy at times to throw yourself into
- supportive roles for several people at once. You can end up composing
- several long and heartfelt e-mail messages every day and find yourself
- taking on some of the burdens of these people.
-
- If you have the resources to spare, this can be okay, but too much of
- this sort of activity can lead to net.burnout, where you spend your days
- in a daze, emotionally drained and perhaps physically tired too through
- lack of sleep. This is similar to net.addiction, but in this case it is
- not the amount of time you spend on the Net, but the amount of effort
- you are putting into it. Interacting on the Net should never be a
- chore, it should be fun. If you find your Net time becoming hard work,
- take a break and relax; do something you enjoy in RL. Physical activity
- is good, exercising slack muscles and getting the blood pumping. Jog,
- play football, shoot hoops, dance, throw frisbees, build a birdhouse.
-
- But then, what can we do when people are hurting and need our help?
- Just remember that many Callahan's people will leap to provide comfort
- and assistance. If you already have a full or overloaded emotional
- plate to deal with, don't feel guilty about not accepting dessert.
- Maybe you can just send a short note to show you are thinking of them,
- but you don't always have to offer your ear as "always open". It may
- sound selfish, but if you end up burning yourself out then you won't be
- much of a help to _anybody_. So look after _yourself_ too, okay?
-
- *** Hate Mail
-
- This is a nasty topic, but it's better if you know about it. There are
- _many_ more people reading Callahan's than posting to it (50,000 at the
- last official estimate - July 1994). Most of them are good people,
- but there is the odd bad apple out there - someone who maintains a
- prejudiced, biased, or plain hateful view of some topic or other.
-
- These people usually prefer to keep out of the public eye, but may make
- their presence felt by sending anonymous or semi-anonymous hate mail to
- people with whom they feel they have a grievance. The active patrons of
- Callahan's do not condone such action, and abhor it as antithetical to
- the spirit of the Place.
-
- You will hopefully never receive such a message, but if you do, here are
- the three steps you should take:
- 1. Do not attempt to e-mail a reply to the person, and do not make a
- public post mentioning it. Acknowledging the mail in _any_ way may
- provoke further, and more disgusting, responses.
- 2. Realise that the person is intolerant and misguided. Do not give
- credence to any of what they say.
- 3. Save the message. Send me a copy, including all the header
- information, by e-mail (mar@physics.su.oz.au). I will do everything
- in my power to track down the culprit and contact the administrators
- of the person's site with the evidence.
-
-
- Section 3. Technical Matters.
-
- *** KILL Files
-
- A KILL file is something which many newsreaders use to filter through
- your news before you read it. You can set it so you don't see any posts
- with certain words in the Subject line, or written by certain people.
- Combined with Subject line keywords, KILL files are a powerful way to
- cut down your newsreading time if, for example, you don't want to read
- any PARTY or SOAPBOX posts. But whatever you do, don't kill the keyword
- 'ADMIN'! You could miss some very important stuff! If you want to kill
- _this_ post (parts 1 and 2) so you don't see it every 2 weeks, the best
- way is to scan for the string "New Patron's". (Your documentation
- should tell you how to do this.)
-
- If a particular person seems to make posts which you find irritating or
- insulting, you can put that person in your KILL file. Nobody can stop
- you, and it can be a good way of avoiding confrontation - although it
- can be argued that you are better off standing up to it (politely, of
- course). But NEVER *EVER* make a post saying that you have KILL-filed
- somebody. This is the ABSOLUTE HEIGHT OF RUDENESS and you WILL get mail
- telling you so. It is like being a hit-and-run driver, only deliberate.
-
- *** Redirecting Replies
-
- Some people like to have e-mail replies sent to a different account name
- than the one from which they post. If you want to do this, there's no
- need to tell people to "Send replies to blah@foo.bar.edu". If you use
- your editor to add the line:
-
- Reply-To: blah@foo.bar.edu
-
- to the header of your posts, then e-mailed replies will automagically
- be sent to that address! This saves other people from having to fiddle
- with your return address, and you from getting e-mail in the wrong
- account if people forget.
-
- *** Other Good Advice for New Net Users
-
- If you're new to the Net, it's a very good idea to check out the
- newsgroups news.announce.newusers and news.newusers.questions. These
- groups have lots of good information for people learning to interact
- on the Net, including how to use KILL files and how to do neat things
- with article headers. Most of your questions will probably be answered
- by periodic posts in these groups.
-
- *** Using Your Editor/News-Software
-
- Some of the suggestions in these posts rely on your ability to use your
- editor and newsreading software properly. If you don't know how to use
- either of these to achieve these goals, it is best that you ask someone
- local at your site. There are too many different programs to allow us
- to cover how to use all of them - you are much better off getting
- specific help from local people (or your on-line help system).
-
- If, for some reason, you still can't work something out, you could try
- posting a request for help. If you do this, please make sure that:
- 1. Nobody local can help you;
- 2. You tell us exactly what computer operating system, newsreading
- program, and editor you are using.
- Hopefully somebody here will have enough experience in your particular
- software to be able to help you.
-
- -----
- That's it for the new poster guidelines. Much more information
- specifically on alt.callahans is available in:
- The Callahan's Allabout : David Mar (mar@physics.su.oz.au)
- The Callahan's Keyword Guidelines : David Mar (mar@physics.su.oz.au)
- The Callahan's World Wide Web page (ask a local about accessing this!):
- http://www.physics.su.oz.au/~mar/callahans.html
-
- If you have any suggestions for changes to this file, please mail me.
-
- Thanks to:
- kitten, Margaret Gibbs, Alfvaen, Nicarra, Jason Magnus, John Palmer, /*,
- John Ockerbloom.
-
- - Danger Mouse.
-