Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!husc6!bloom-beacon!apple!epimass!jbuck
From: jbuck@epimass.EPI.COM (Joe Buck)
Newsgroups: news.misc
Subject: Re: Questions about UseNet Policies.
Message-ID: <2465@epimass.EPI.COM>
Date: 9 Sep 88 17:30:51 GMT
References: <8869@cup.portal.com>
Reply-To: jbuck@epimass.EPI.COM (Joe Buck)
Organization: Entropic Processing, Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 59

In article <8869@cup.portal.com> Ferg@cup.portal.com writes:
>I run a small mail order business part time and thought I could stir up
>some business on the net.

For the most part, this is definitely NOT OK.  As you point out, you
may use comp.newprod, ONCE, to announce a new product.  One
announcement in a regional newsgroup that you are a business and
provide certain services is reasonable as far as I am concerned;
others might disagree and flame you.  But if you send out REPEATED
ads, you'll get landed on hard.

>[ stuff from .newusers about comp.newprod ]
> 
>  This is all I found that had anything to do with advertising.  So I went
>ahead and posted an advertisement in misc.forsale selling my modems.  I got
>several replies, most of which were inquiries about the brand and other
>technical stuff.  However I also received 2 complaints.  One stating that I
>can't post commercial ads on UseNet, and the other telling me to get it out
>of misc.forsale and put it in BIZ.*.  

Groups like misc.forsale are meant for private individuals selling
personal property on a one-time basis, not for businesses.

biz.* is an alternate network hierarchy that is paid for by the
companies in question.  If you were a large company or one with a very
popular product, you and your customers could set up dedicated news
feeds under the biz.* hierarchy to do customer support, product
announcements, and what have you.  This is not something you can do
from Portal.

>Now here's my questions (finally!).  Can I advertise my part time business? 
>And if so, where?  I can't find any newsgroup titled BIZ.*.  

You cannot.  Anywhere.  I'm sorry, but that's just not what the net is for.

>If I can't do this, where do I go to get a new newsgroup started that might
>allow this for any small business?

You could create one under biz.*, but it would not be carried by the
regular backbone sites.  You'd have to establish your own news feeds.
There are just too many small businesses.

>One last question.  Where can I find a complete rule book on UseNet?
>Oh yeah, where should I post other questions I have about UseNet?

Other than the news.announce.newusers articles there are no official
rules.  The net is a loose association of the sites that make it up;
it's a culture.  Just read for a while and get used to it; it'll
gradually become clear what's acceptable and what isn't.

Also, your local system administrators are responsible for educating the
users.  Judging by the disproportionate amount of net abuse from
Portal, they aren't doing their jobs.  Ask them first; if you can't
get good answers locally, come back to news.misc.

-- 
- Joe Buck  {uunet,ucbvax,pyramid,<smart-site>}!epimass.epi.com!jbuck
jbuck@epimass.epi.com	Old Arpa mailers: jbuck%epimass.epi.com@uunet.uu.net
	If you leave your fate in the hands of the gods, don't be 
	surprised if they have a few grins at your expense.	- Tom Robbins