USENET Rules

SEI Data carries almost 18,000 Usenet groups. Usenet is a worldwide system of public messaging and there is a certain etiquette regarding posting. All ISPs, including SEI Data, expect you to observe the following rules when posting to the Internet "Usenet" messaging system.

You'll be expected to:

• Keep paragraphs and messages short and to the point. Focus on one subject per message and always include a pertinent subject title for the message, that way the reader can locate the message quickly.
• Reply to the author of the message or to that group only.
• Do not post a message in more than one group at a time.
• Don't use the academic networks for commercial or proprietary work. [Note: Usenet was originally run by the North American universities. Any kind of commercial message, especially advertising is seen as being in very bad taste.]

Posting

• Capitalize words only to highlight an important point or to distinguish a title or heading.*Asterisks* surrounding a word also can be used to make a stronger point. Capitalizing whole words that are not titles is generally termed as SHOUTING!
• Limit line length and avoid control characters. [Note: most Unix newsreaders chop lines at the 72nd characters. Lines that are too long might appear awkward on these systems.]
• Follow chain of command procedures for corresponding with superiors. For example, don't send a complaint via E-mail directly to the "top" just because you can.
• Be professional and careful what you say about others. E-mail is easily forwarded.
• Cite all quotes, references and sources and respect copyright and license agreements.
• It is considered extremely rude to forward personal E- mail to mailing lists or Usenet without the original author's permission.

Cautions

• Be careful when using sarcasm and humor. Without face to face communications your joke may be viewed as criticism. [Note: badly written humor or sarcastic remarks have been the source of many flame-wars on Usenet.]
• Acronyms can be used to abbreviate when possible, however messages that are filled with acronyms can be confusing and annoying to the reader.

Tips

• Spend some time getting acquainted with the particular newsgroups you are following before posting messages.
• Each group has a charter and a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) that gets posted once or twice a month. Users should read the FAQ of a newsgroup before posting to it.
• You should stick to the newsgroup's topic. Talking about beer-making in the sci.astro.amateur newsgroup is very bad etiquette.
• Usenet is international. References to obscure television shows or publications unique to your nation might not be understood by people from other countries. It's good to add a little bit of explanation to such references. For instance, people in Japan or Russia may not know who Rush Limbaugh is.

Happy Trails

Enjoy Usenet and any comments or questions, please send them to "Sysop" or "Moderator". Some groups will have you send questions to a person, you will be informed in that groups FAQ exactly who to send to, how to quote messages, and topics they will approve.