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-
-
- alt.2600 Survival Guide
-
- by
-
- Voyager
- Will Spencer
- will@gnu.ai.mit.edu
-
- Last Updated: 1995/07/22
-
- Welcome to alt.2600, the Internet newsgroup for readers of 2600
- Magazine. On alt.2600 we discuss telephony (phreaking), computers
- (hacking), and related topics.
-
- The purpose of this guide is to help you fit into the newsgroup, and
- avoid being flamed (insulted and abused) by the other users of this
- newsgroup.
-
- When posting to alt.2600, there are many previously unwritten rules
- you must follow in order to receive an answer instead of a long round
- of abuse.
-
- The most intelligent thing you can do to avoid being flamed on
- alt.2600 is to read the newsgroup for approximately two months before
- you begin posting. This will give you a good feeling for the social
- climate existing in the newsgroup.
-
- When you do post, either a new topic or a response to an existing
- topic, try to make your post meaningful. Try to include some useful
- fact or bit of information. alt.2600 readers tend to be technical
- types, therefore chatter and opinions do not interest them. They WILL
- flame you.
-
- When creating a new topic, keep the topic close to other topics you
- have seen in the newsgroup. Do not create topics on dogs, cars,
- women, etc... There are appropriate newsgroups for all of those
- topics, so please do not bother us in alt.2600 with them. We do not
- care, we WILL flame you.
-
- If you are posting a question about the location of a file, state that
- you have done an archie search for that file and had no success.
- Mention all of the places you have looked for the file. If you do
- not, you will be flamed for wasting the time of thousands of alt.2600
- newsgroup readers.
-
- As a general rule to use when posting a question, state what other
- methods you have used to locate the information you are seeking.
- alt.2600 readers pride themselves on being hackers. A hackers seeks
- out information by every available means. If the newsgroup readers
- feel that you are asking the question without having done sufficient
- research, you WILL be flamed.
-
- If you are posting a question about how to locate a piece of
- commercial software, state that you are aware it is commercial
- software. If you do not, you will be bombarded with replies informing
- you that the software for which you are looking is commercial
- software. This will not be terribly helpful to you.
-
- If you are posting looking for commercial software without any
- intention of paying for it, you WILL be flamed. While most newsgroup
- readers have no ethical objection to violating copyright law, software
- piracy is seen as a "lame" thing because of it's lack of technical
- content. alt.2600 is not a warez newsgroup.
-
- Before you create a new topic, read the topic names of each and every
- topic in the newsgroup. If you create a topic that duplicates an
- existing topic, it wastes the time of every participant in that topic.
- You WILL be flamed severly.
-
- When asking a question, make sure that the answer is not in the
- alt.2600/#hack FAQ. If the answer exists in the alt.2600/#hack, I
- WILL flame you. This document is posted regularly to the alt.2600
- newsgroup.
-
- In addition, the alt.2600/#hack FAQ may be found via ftp from:
-
- rahul.net /pub/lps/sysadmin/
- rtfm.mit.edu /pub/usenet-by-group/alt.2600/
- ftp.clark.net /pub/jcase/
-
- Or on the World Wide Web at:
- http://www.engin.umich.edu/~jgotts/underground/hack-faq.html
-
- Or on my BBS:
- Hacker's Haven (303)343-4053
-
-
- Occasionally, you WILL be flamed for no reason at all. This happens
- to everyone. Some newsgroup reader with a room temperature IQ will
- misread your eloquent post and rant about your idiocy in a 400 line
- tirade. Forget about it, there is nothing you can do. It's not even
- worth your valuable time to try to straighten it out.
-
- One important thing to remember is that unless you are exceptionally
- stupid or exceptionally brilliant, few newsgroup readers will remember
- your name from topic to topic or from post to post. You might be
- screaming adversaries with another newsgroup reader in one topic, and
- close allies with the same newsgroup reader in another topic. And you
- may never notice it's the same person. It's the post that's
- important, not the poster.
-
- To summarize, here are a few important rules to remember:
-
- 1. Read the newsgroup for two months before posting.
- 2. Make posts factual and meaningful.
- 3. Keep your posts on topic for this newsgroup.
- 4. State what homework you have done before resorting to asking on
- alt.2600.
- 5. Do not use alt.2600 for software piracy.
- 6. Check the alt.2600/#hack FAQ before posting a question.
-
- If you keep these rules in mind and abide by them faithfully, you will
- still get flamed. However, you will be able to retaliate with a clear
- conscience that you have done everything possible to preserve the
- social culture of alt.2600.
-
- EOF
-
- --
- /* Will Spencer / Voyager : The advancement and diffusion */
- /* Member: TNO, The New Order : of knowledge is the only */
- /* alt.2600/#hack FAQ Editor : guardian of true liberty. */
- /* Writer, poet, hacker, human : -- James Madison */
- -------------------------------
-