Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!gatech!akgua!lcuxlm!whuxl!houxm!ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision!uw-beaver!tektronix!tekig!tekig5!chrisa From: chrisa@tekig5.UUCP (Chris Andersen) Newsgroups: net.news Subject: Final Netiquette (part 2 of 2) Message-ID: <1059@tekig5.UUCP> Date: Tue, 19-Aug-86 14:34:00 EDT Article-I.D.: tekig5.1059 Posted: Tue Aug 19 14:34:00 1986 Date-Received: Fri, 22-Aug-86 06:54:18 EDT References: <1058@tekig5.UUCP> Reply-To: chrisa@tekig5.UUCP (Chris Andersen) Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR. Lines: 501 -------------- Cut here and append to first part of netiquette ----- 5. Colloquial Terms in News Netnews over the years has developed it's own set of colloquial terms and has inherited a few from other sources. A few examples of these follow... o "Foo" "Foo" comes from the term "fubar" which is an acronym for "fouled up beyond all recognition". ("Fouled" may be replaced by a stronger word.) It is used as a mild term of disgust. It is also used as a meta-word, something that represents an arbitrary name. (E.g., a reference to a newsgroup "talk.foo" means "any old newsgroup" or perhaps "any old newsgroup in the talk.* category".) Another such meta-word is "bar" (e.g., talk.foo.bar). o "Orphaned Response" An "Orphaned Response" is generated by 'notes' sites running old versions of the 'notesfiles' software. Because of the way articles loop around in the net notes sometimes loses track of the subject. When this happens, it fills in "Orphaned Response" as a default subject. This is fixed in recent versions of notes but, unfortunately, not every site is running up-to-date code. If you see an Orphaned Response and you make a followup, please try to reinstate a useful subject line. o "MOTOS", "MOTSS", "MOTAS", and "SO" "MOTOS", "MOTSS", and "MOTAS" mean "Member Of The Opposite Sex", "Member Of The Same Sex" and "Member Of The Appropriate Sex", respectively. They are used as shorthands when discussing interactions among the genders. "SO" stands for "Significant Other", a neutral way of referring to your boy/girl friend, spouse, or otherwise attached person. o "line-eater" and "bug-killer lines" The "line-eater" was a bug that popped up in an older version of news that would occasionally "eat" parts of people's articles if the article began with white space (e.g., a blank line). Before the bug was fixed people used to avoid the line-eater by putting an obligatory first line in their articles called a "bug-killer". While the bug is no longer around, some people still use the bug killer line because of tradition (or inertia). o "Rot13" Certain newsgroups (like rec.humor) have messages in them that may be offensive to some people. To make sure that these messages are not read unless they are explicitly requested, these messages should be encrypted. The standard encryption method is to rotate each letter by thirteen characters so that an "a" becomes an "n", "b" becomes "o", etc. This is known on the net as 'Rot13'. Most of the news software has ways of encrypting and decrypting messages. Your local manuals can tell you how the software on your system works or you can try using the Unix command: tr 'a-zA-Z' 'n-za-mN-ZA-M' When you rotate a message, the word "rot13" should be placed in the "Subject:" line in the header. o "*SPOILER*" When you post something that might spoil a surprise for other people, such as a movie review that discusses details of the plot, please precede that part of your article with a warning (*SPOILER*) so that readers can decide whether to skip the article. When you post an article with a spoiler in it make sure the word "spoiler" is also part of the "Subject:" header line. There are other examples of terms that have meaning only in netnews besides these, but to give an exhaustive list is beyond the scope of this document. 6. Legal Issues of Posting o Copyrighted materials Posting short extracts are ok, as long as you give credit to the source. Reproduction in whole is strictly forbidden by U.S. and International Copyright Law (unless you get permission to do so from the owner of the copyright). be sure to post the copyright along with the extracted work. o Public domain versus proprietory software Posting a source for a program should be considered placing the program into the public domain. If such is not your intention, don't post it. In the same light, you should never, ever, post proprietory software (such as sources to the Unix(tm) operating system). Doing so is not only questionable legally but seriously damages the reputation of USENET in the computing community. o Illegal information Do not post instructions for how to do some illegal act (such as jamming radar or obtaining cable TV service illegally); also do not ask how to do illegal acts. This does not mean that you cannot discuss the existance of illegal activities, just don't tell how to do them. 7.1. News Rights ** The use of USENET is a PRIVELIGE. ** USENET is a tool run by organizations around the world who wish to communicate with each other. These organizations have *permitted* you and your fellow 'netters' to make personal use of their facilities; but that permission could be taken away at any time. It is important to remember that such concepts as freedom of speech don't apply to USENET. You do not have the *right* to use USENET to express your opinions. Those who keep the net running with their money have given you *permission* to do so *within certain limits*. On USENET, the golden rule applies: They who have the gold, make the rules. 7.2. News Responsibilities Some general user responsibilities... o It is assumed that anyone making a posting is a person who cares highly for the usefulness of a calm dialogue about possibly emotional issues. If you cannot live up to this assumption, perhaps you should reconsider posting your opinions to the net. o All opinions or statements made in articles posted to netnews should be taken as the opinions of the person who wrote the article. They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the person's employer, the owner of the computer that the article was posted from, or anyone involved with USENET or its underlying networks. All responsibilities for statements made in USENET messages rests with the individual posters of the messages. (Some people include explicit disclaimers in their signature files. If you do this, remember to keep it short.) o While acknowledging that any useful dialogue between two or more individuals requires that both the poster and the readers attempt to make clear what is being discussed with as little "jumping to conclusions" as possible, it is ultimately the responsibility of the poster to make a posting as understandable as possible. If a misunderstanding occurs, it is up to the poster to provide a calm clarification. Posters have no right to call into question the intellectual capabilities of those readers who misinterpret their postings. o The reader is obligated to closely analyze a posting before "jumping to a conclusion" about its contents. o If the reader is uncertain about the meaning of a posting, then the place for further clarification is in e-mail, not netnews. However, if you have a rebuttal and NOT a request for clarification, then netnews IS the appropriate place (as long as the rebuttal does not turn into a personal attack). o In general, you should not post copies of private e-mail without prior permission from the sender. Replies to your postings where you have said, "I will collect responses and post them", are an exception. o If you are not willing to take responsibility for your postings, then you don't belong on the net. 8.1. Interpreting Postings and Sarcasm One problem with electronic communication is that some of the subtleties of language are not always obvious. A major part of communication is body language and you can't see the other person when using a computer. Also, since netnews is not interactive communication, you can't immediately confirm the poster's intent; it becomes easy to misunderstand what they are saying in such an environment. ** Be careful in how you interpret postings to netnews. ** There are many guidelines for improving understanding between users on netnews; some are covered in this document, others will become apparent with time. For now, let us look at sarcasm. If you are reading a posting and you find it impossible to believe that the poster is being serious, assume that they are not. If you are still unsure, ask the poster (through e-mail) to confirm their intentions. ** If you are the one posting sarcasm, choose your words carefully. ** NEVER assume that your sarcasm will be obvious. Given the size of the network, it is inevitable that someone will misinterpret what you say. This does not mean that they are in any way stupid. It could be that they weren't in a good mood at the time they read it and weren't thinking too clearly. Always give the reader the benefit of the doubt. An important tool for clearing up most problems with sarcasm is what is known on USENET as 'the smiley face'. It is formed by the three characters ':-)' (look at it sideways). Smiley faces are usually used to convey facial expressions that add to the statement being made. Also common are ':-(' for a frown and ';-)' for a wink. (Important: some news readers refuse to use smiley faces on principal, so take heed or you may make a temporary net.fool of yourself.) A bit of advice, use sarcasm sparingly (and never use it to bait others). It can help to lighten up an otherwise serious topic, but the net's tolerance for it is pretty low (especially if all you seem to do is be sarcastic). 8.2. Meta-discussions A meta-discussion is a discussion about discussions. A heavy load on the net has been an overabundance of meta-discussions, such as... #1: A miscellaneous article drifting off the subject of the newsgroup. #2: A complaint about how #1 did not belong in the group. #3: Someone claims that it did belong and that #2 is just full of it. #4: #3 is a peon and doesn't know what he is talking about. This newsgroup is for discussions of foo and #1 was discussing bar. #5: No it wasn't! #6: Yes it was! And so on. To prevent this, follow this principle... ** Meta-discussions should never be held in the newsgroup that they are discussing. ** The only appropriate place for them is in a news newsgroups (most likely news.misc). However, it is recommended that you avoid starting one of these beasts as they can often backfire. If you wish to stop a meta-discussion you see forming in the wrong place, good luck. Generally once they get going they are almost impossible to stop. It is usually best to just let them die out by not responding to them. 8.3. Quotations When you post a followup to an article, others who read it may not understand what it refers to since it may have been as much as a week since they saw the original article. Therefore news provides a method for quoting previous articles in your followups. (At least, newer news software does. If yours doesn't you will have to do it by hand. See your local manuals to find out more about the mechanics of quotations.) Quotations are usually identified by having some character (typically '>') tacked onto the beginning of each line of the quote. For example... foo writes: -- attribution for most recent quote > >bar writes: -- attribution for second most recent quote >> blah blah blah. -- second most recent quote > > no no, it's bleh bleh bleh. -- most recent quote > quite wrong, I distinctly -- text of current article remember it being blah blah blah. Quotes are tremendously useful, but they are also a big problem. Each time you quote a previous article you are reposting that portion of the original article back on the net (at times quotes can take up a large percentage of net volume). Thus it is EXTREMELY important that you attempt to trim these quotes. Some people have been known to quote 50+ lines of an original article just to make a 1 line comment. DO NOT DO THIS! ** Only 1-4 sentences of the original text should be needed when you refer to it. If you need more than this, then SUMMARIZE. (Remember that word; it's important) ** Finally, in *no* case is it necessary to quote the signature or header lines from the previous posting. 8.4. Flames A 'flame' is a strongly worded opinion stated without substantiation. It often includes a negative comment directed at an individual or group. (Sometimes the "group" is, by implication, anybody who has the audacity to disagree with the poster.) Further, as its name implies, it is usually an emotionally "heated" message, and may well lead to equally emotional retorts (which are likewise flames). For example: "It's obvious that automobiles are dangerous and should be banned." "That's a stupid opinion! What a jerk!" "Why don't you just go crawl back in your hole?" "It's plain that your limited intellectual capability doesn't allow you to understand something so simple even a slug could follow it." Note that the original statement in this example might have been intended sarcastically (a smiley-face would have made it clearer), but after one emotional reply is posted the entire discussion might degenerate into name-calling. Now that we have set down what flaming is, you should understand the netnews policy on flames... ** NEVER EVER POST FLAMES TO THE NET. ** There are no exceptions. Even if the flame is only one line long surrounded by 99 other lines of otherwise useful information, it still does not belong. If you must flame a person, do it ONLY through e-mail. Do not burden the rest of netnews with your flammable opinions. There is a gray border between flames and advice. Some people, when giving advice, do it in a somewhat 'flameboyant' way without necessarily meaning to do so. If you see what you think might be a flame on the net, read it over carefully. See if it isn't just advice presented on a hot plate. And please, if you do see a flame on the net, do not compound it by flaming back ON THE NET. That would be like trying to prevent someone from burning down your house by blowing it up yourself! 8.5. Spelling and Grammar As should be obvious by now, you should be proud of the contents of your articles before posting them and should have put care into their construction. Along with other considerations, this also entails spelling and grammar. Mistakes will be made, and we should try to be forgiving of those who make them. Especially since this is an international network where several of the participants may only have a small working knowledge of English. However... ** It is ultimately the posters' responsibility to make their articles as clear of spelling and grammar mistakes as possible. ** If you are a chronic misspeller, you may wish to see if your system has a spelling checker. If it does, use it. It will make everyone's day a lot brighter. A related topic to discuss here is that of the 'spelling flame'. Just as there are chronic misspellers on the net, there are those who cringe whenever they see a misspelled word. They have been raised to be sensitive to spelling and DO find it difficult to read misspelled articles where others might not even notice the mistakes. Some of these people (you may be one) may feel compelled to point out to people that they made a spelling mistake (or a mistake in grammar, etc.) ** If you feel tempted to post a spelling flame -- *don't*. *ever*. ** Indeed, you'd be surprised at how many spelling flames contain further mispellings. If you must make a spelling flame, PLEASE do it through e-mail. For some help on writing style in general, see: o Cunningham and Pearsall, "How to Write For the World of Work" o Strunk & White, "Elements of Style" The above references are both excellent books. Cunningham is a standard in tech writing classes and won an award for the best tech writing book from the Association for Teaching of Technical Writing. Writing Style: o Write *below* the readers' reading level. o Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter. This means "concise", not cryptic. (This document is not a good example to follow.) o White space (space, tab, blank lines) is not wasted space. It greatly improves clarity. But don't overdo it; double-spacing your text is going too far. o Pick your words to have only ONE meaning. Vagueness is considered artistic in literary circles. We are not trying to be literary here. o People can grasp only about seven things at once. This means ideas in a paragraph, major sections, etc. (This document is another good example of what not to do.) o There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning or negative sentence takes longer to read. Net Style: o Subtlety is not communicated well in written form, especially over a computer. o The above applies to humor as well. o It's MUCH easier to read a mixture of upper and lower case letters. o Leaving out articles (such as "the", "a", "an", etc.) for "brevity" mangles the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves you time at your reader's expense. o Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles" above just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different meaning than I intended. o This is an international network, some people may use language differently because they come from a different culture. Be tolerant; American English may not be the poster's native language. o Try to find a good text editor to use while writing an article (I recommend vi). Most of these rules demand the ability to go back and revise. o Remember - your future employer may be reading your articles. 9. What To Do When Netiquette Breaks Down There are many reasons why netiquette may break down at times. Some people are newcomers who are unaware of the practices necessary to keep a smooth-running net. That's the reason this document was written. Others believe that posting to the net is their right, not a privilege, and constantly misuse it. Their misuse has resulted in cutoffs by some sites, moderation of some groups, and meta-discussions about their misuse. These are people with a bone to pick or extroverts excited about the prospect of showing off to such a big audience. Remember that they are the misusers and not an example to be followed. If you see someone breaking the netiquette, whatever you do, don't imitate them. Assume that it was an honest mistake. Possibly send the offender a short CALM note through e-mail pointing out the offense. Do not, however, forcefully accuse them of wrongdoing (especially on the net). Never discourage open communication. If you must, correct they're usage of the net, but always in a way that encourages. If a newsgroup starts to deteriorate into flaming then ignore the flaming. Instead of adding fuel to the fire by complaining yourself, try to divert the energies of the participants into more useful and productive pursuits. If you see a discussion collapsing, change the topic or just generally add something productive. Don't attack the legitimacy of the old topic. Instead, try to woo the posters away from it with a more productive discussion. Just because others are flaming doesn't mean you have to as well. Don't argue with fanatics. This is true for any side of any issue. You are not likely to change their mind and it just annoys the rest of the net if you try. The only thing worse then a fanatic, is someone who argues with a fanatic. If you are wondering why there is so much garbage in news, remember Sturgeon's Law, "90% of everything is crap." If you take that into account, you might be amazed that the net has as much good content as it does. That does not mean that you should accept garbage, of course. Just don't expect it to go away by itself. The only way to fight the garbage is if you are willing to put out the effort to do so. You can't expect others to do it for you. If you do, you should reconsider participating in the net at all. If you wish to prevent it then you should (1) follow the netiquette and (2) urge others to do so. When urging others, do so calmly. Most people will not pay attention to you if you beat them over the head with the netiquette. They are even more likely to violate it just out of spite. Sometimes you wish a discussion would just go away. Rest assured there are other people who feel the same way. Don't post an article asking for the discussion to stop, or move, because you will only add to the junk articles others have to read. If one person posts "I have a car for sale in New Jersey" to comp.arch, this is bad. If 200 people post "You shouldn't post car articles to comp.arch", this is *worse*! Instead, you should ignore the article or articles and wait for them to go away, or, if you are really peeved about it, send e-mail to the originator of the offending article. 10. Extra Advice Never forget that the person on the other side of the screen is human. Think carefully about your audience. Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. When quoting, Summarize Summarize Summarize! The best postings are those thought out over a long period of time. Your postings reflect on YOU. Be proud of them. --------- Footnotes-- [1] USENET is a software system that uses the facilities of underlying networks to pass netnews traffic between machines. The major physical networks that are used are the 'UUCP network' (for networking between Unix machines), the 'ARPAnet' (for networking between recipients of government research funds), 'CSNET' for computer science researchers, 'BITNET' for IBM machines, and various national networks in different countries. These various networks are connected to each other through 'gateway' sites that translate information between the protocols used by them. [2] There are some moderated newsgroups that are just reproductions of forums that are exclusively on other networks (such as ARPAnet). In these groups there is no moderator; just as in the main USENET groups. You cannot post to these groups from the USENET side of the interface, but if you are on the network the discussion takes place on, you can try to join it there (see news.lists for a list of these discussions). [3] Usually this is an address relative to a major backbone site on the net. (ihnp4, ucbvax, cbosgd, etc.) Ask your local SA if you need help in determining your address. -- My mailbox is always willing to accept letters. Yours in better understanding, Chris Andersen (chrisa@tekig5) P.S. August 26 is my last day on the net. If you want to keep in contact, then reach me before that date.