From: jerry@eagle.UUCP
Newsgroups: general
Subject: Emily Post for Usenet
Date: Fri, 24-Dec-82 15:35:03 EST
Expires: 1-Jan-1985

		       Emily Post for Usenet

Usenet is a large, amorphous collection of machines (hundreds) and
people (thousands).  Readers range from casual observers who
infrequently scan one or two groups to active participants who spend a
significant amount of time each day reading news.  Their ages,
experience and interests also vary widely.  Some use the network
solely for professional purposes.  Others use it to carry on a variety
of exchanges and interactions.

The kinds of interaction that occur in Usenet are new to almost
everyone.  The interactions certainly aren't face to face.  On the
other hand, submitting an item isn't like standing up before an
audience either.  Nor is it like writing an article for publication.
Nor, since no one moderates submissions, is it like writing a "letter
to the editor." It combines aspects of formal and informal
communications in a new way.

Despite (or because of) these considerations Usenet is a powerful and
pleasant tool when people submitting items follow the emerging "net
etiquette." Users at new sites (those at which Usenet has been
available for less than three months) should be especially cautious
until they have adjusted to this new form of communication.

This document is not a readnews tutorial.  In some cases I tell you to
do something without saying how.  Ask around or consult whatever
documentation is available.

The following list of suggestions is long, but you can become a
responsible member of the Usenet community by reading it.  Before
presenting a full discussion I will boldly state the rules:

    Put all items in an appropriate group.
    Reply via mail.
    Exhibit care in preparing items.
    Read followups.
    Don't be rude or abusive.
    Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks.
    Use descriptive titles.
    Cite references when appropriate.
    Summarize the original item in followups.
    In posting summaries of replies, summarize.
    Be as brief as possible.
    Don't submit items berating violators of these rules.
    Don't make people read the same thing more than once.
    Mark puzzles.

A more extended discussion of these points, of some important
newsgroups, and of some common questions follows.

 1.  Put all items in an appropriate group.

     See below for a list of some important groups.  A followup to an
     item does not always belong in the same group as the original
     item.  In particular, followups should never go to net.general.

     Groups exist both to accommodate different interests and to
     limit distribution.  Many geographic areas and organizations
     have groups that are only distributed locally.  For example, on
     eagle where I am composing this item there are "net" groups,
     "btl" groups (Bell Labs), "mh" (Murray Hill) and "nj" groups
     (New Jersey)"

 2.  Use mail instead of a followup item.

     When an item asks for specific information or requests a "vote",
     you should reply via mail to the originator.  Remember that many
     people will be reading the item at more or less the same time
     and if they all respond via a followup item, the net becomes
     flooded with almost identical responses that can annoy even
     people who were interested in the original question.

     When submitting an item that is likely to generate responses,
     remind people of this point by ending with "send me mail and
     I'll post the results to the net."   Of course, you then accept
     the obligation of doing so.

 3.  Exhibit care in preparing items.

     While Usenet interactions sometimes take on the flavor of casual
     conversation, you should spend the time and effort to make your
     item readable and pertinent.  Be sure you have something new to
     say. In particular, be sure you have understood earlier items.
     If you are in doubt about an author's intent, carry on a private
     interaction.  Frequently a discussion starts with one or two
     carefully prepared "position papers" and then degenerates into
     repetitive claims.

     While proper spelling and grammar do not necessarily improve the
     ideas of an item, many readers feel that a lack of attention to
     English usage may reflect a similar lack of attention to the
     ideas.

 4.  Read followups before reacting.

     When you read an item, followups may have already reached your
     machine.  Before reacting to the item (either with mail or by
     submitting a followup) you ought to know what others have said.

     The standard readnews interface doesn't make this easy, but it
     should be done.  (See below.)

 5.  Use an editor to prepare items for submission.

     If you are using the standard version of readnews or postnews
     you should set the EDITOR shell environment variable to the
     editor you want to use.   This lets you correct spelling,
     grammar, etc.

 6.  Don't be rude or abusive.

     I regret having to say this, but I have seen too many items that
     start "John, you idiot, ...", or contain phrases like "People
     who think ... should be shot." I suspect much of this rudeness
     is just carelessness.  Modes of speech that would be reasonable
     in private conversation may not be reasonable in a semi-public
     forum such as the net.

 7.  Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks.

     Without the voice inflection and body language of personal
     communication these are easily misinterpreted.

 8.  Use descriptive titles.

     Readers should be able to decide whether to read or skip items
     based on their titles.  For example if you are having trouble
     with your dishwasher you might submit an item titled "need help
     with G.E. dishwasher" to net.wanted.  Don't submit an item
     titled "Need Help."

     Followups should be titled "Re:" followed by the title of the
     original item.  This is done automatically by the "f" command in
     standard readnews.

 9.  Cite references when appropriate.

     This is especially true in discussions when you quote "facts"
     that are not universally known.  Many such "facts" turn out on
     close examination to be opinions.  This rule doesn't apply to
     some groups like net.wanted or net.jokes where references are
     irrelevant.

10.  Summarize the original item in followups.

     Remember that although you may have an item in front of you when
     you submit a followup, others won't.  Remind the reader of the
     point of the original item.  But don't repeat a long item.  That
     would violate the "be brief" principle.

11.  In posting summaries of replies, actually summarize.

     Sometimes people just collect the items they received.  The
     mailed replies might just as well been submitted to the net.  At
     the least the replies should be edited to eliminate redundancy
     and irrelevancy.

12.  Be as brief as possible.

     Some people read news over slow (300bps) terminals, and watching
     a 15 line "signature" that you have seen ten times before gets
     boring.  (I hope you don't consider this item a violation.  I
     have tried to keep it brief, but there is a lot to say.) Even
     people who read news on faster terminals don't like to wade
     through extraneous material to get to the heart of the matter.

13.  Don't publicly berate violaters of these rules.

     They probably didn't realize the anti-social nature of their
     behavior.  Besides, if you didn't want to see the original item
     nobody wants to see your complaint.  These complaints fall into
     the category of reactions that should go directly to the
     originator via mail.

14.  Don't make people read the same thing more than once.

     When you have something to say that is of interest to more than
     one group, submit it as one item to the groups with one command.
     If you use a separate command for each group, readers who
     subscribe to several of these groups will see it more than once.

     If you must retract or revise an item, use the "cancel" command
     on the original.

     If your item provkes negative followups, don't submit more items
     unless you have something new to say.  There isn't much point in
     submitting an item which just repeats your original submission.

15.  Mark puzzles.

     Puzzles (questions to which you know the answer) are appropriate
     in certain groups (e.g. net.math).  When submitting a puzzle
     make it clear that you know the answer and are submitting the
     item for the amusement of others. This will prevent people from
     putting the solution into followups. It will also let people who
     know the solution (most submitted puzzles are old) ignore the
     item without feeling guilty about not "helping" you.

16.  Here is a list of some groups that are important to the smooth
     functioning of the network or are frequently used improperly:

	- net.general

	  This group is only for short announcements and queries that
	  need to be read by everyone.  Followups and discussions
	  should never go here.

	- net.followup

	  This is the place for continuing discussions that have
	  started in net.general.  In the standard readnews program
	  the "f" command applied to an item in net.general will put
	  your submission in net.followup, but you can also submit
	  items directly to net.followup.

	- net.misc

	  This is the place to carry on frivolous discussions,
	  arbitrary chat, and rambling discussions.  New groups are
	  frequently spawned from these discussions.

	- net.wanted

	  This group exists for posting queries for help.  ("I know
	  somebody must have a program to compute ...")

	- net.jokes

	  Jokes go here.  Jokes that might offend any readers should
	  be encrypted.  You can learn an encryption technique by
	  decoding some encrypted jokes.

	  This group is often seen by people who do not regularly use
	  computers, and there have been several instances of
	  problems raised by offensive jokes.  There have also been
	  several extended discussions of the relation of this issue
	  to free speech.  The conclusion of these discussions has
	  always been that because the net exists largely at the
	  sufferance of large institutions who foot the bills we
	  should all be very careful about offending anyone.  Almost
	  any racial, ethnic, or sexual reference will offend
	  somebody.  The safe rule is: don't submit an unencrypted
	  joke unless you have seen similar ones in this group
	  already.

	- net.jokes.d

	  Discussions about humor go here, not in net.jokes

	- net.news

	  Discussion of all aspects of Usenet itself belong here.

	- net.news.group

	  Creating a new group affects all the machines on Usenet.
	  Normally the need for a new group should be demonstrated by
	  the submission, over a period of time, of items that might
	  properly belong in a new group.  If you are new to Usenet
	  (less than 3 months) you probably shouldn't be creating new
	  groups.

	  If you want to discuss a topic and can't find anywhere
	  else, try net.misc.

	  In any case before you create a new group, submit an item
	  proposing the new group to net.news.group and to specific
	  groups that may share interests with your proposed new
	  group.  If after a week or two, you have received support
	  for the idea, and you haven't received any strenuous
	  objections, go ahead and create the group.  You should also
	  create an item in the new group with a distant expiration
	  date describing what the group is about.

	- net.sources

	  After being announced in some appropriate place useful
	  programs and shell scripts are put here.  These should be
	  well enough commented so that even people who miss the
	  announcement can understand what they do.

	- net.test

	  This exists so that Usenet administrators can test the
	  functioning of the software.  It should be used only as a
	  last resort since items will go to all machines.  In most
	  instances there will be a more limited group in which to
	  put tests (e.g. "mh.test").

17.  Here are some queries that seem to be submitted frequently by
     new users. Please don't ask them out of idle curiosity.

	- "Where does 'fubar' come from?"

	  In my opinion the best answer seems to be "Fouled up beyond
	  all relief." There are lots of versions of this acronym, in
	  particular "Fouled" is usually replaced by a less polite
	  word.  "foobar", "foo" and "bar" are all derived from
	  "fubar."  (See discussion of net.jokes for the reason I do
	  not use the less polite word.)

	- "What does 'rc' in files like '.newsrc' stand for?"

	  It stands for "run command" and has become a convention for
	  any file containing initialization information for a
	  command.

	- "Does anybody know my freshman roommate, John Doe, who I
	  haven't seen in years but I think works at Bell Labs?"

	  If you really want to know, try calling any Bell Labs
	  location and asking the operator.  (The Murray Hill number
	  is 201-582-3000.) They have lists and telephone numbers of
	  all employees.  The same of course applies to DEC or UCB or
	  wherever.

	- "I can't reply via mail to some items. What can I do?"

	  There are two common causes for this.  One is items from
	  ARPANET sites. (These have "@" in their names.) There are
	  technical, administrative and organizational problems with
	  communication between Usenet and ARPANET.  The other cause
	  is machines that are on Usenet but won't forward mail.
	  (This includes some ARPANET sites and some uucp-only
	  sites.) The only (admittedly difficult) way to circumvent
	  both problems is to construct a path that avoids the
	  trouble machines.

	- "Is being called a 'hacker' a compliment or an insult?"

	  Some people think one, some think the other.  If you want
	  to be unambiguous find another word.

	- "How do I read followups to an item before I reply?"

	  This depends on how you read news.  If you use the standard
	  readnews program then the easiest way is to use the "e-"
	  command after reading an item.  This will tell readnews to
	  forget that you have read the previous item.  When you have
	  read the followups you can "q" and start readnews again.

Phew!!  Don't let this long list intimidate you.  The net exists to be
used.  It is a powerful tool and as long as people treat it as a tool
rather than a toy, it will prosper.

Jerry Schwarz
eagle!jerry



