Good Usenet etiquette

Here are a few guidelines on how to act correctly when posting to Usenet and how to act correctly when sending mail to people you've met on Usenet. Let's begin with some general guidelines that apply to both: Usenet and Email.

The following guidelines are a free and modernized interpretation of the "Netiquette". They are no rules, just ideas how to improve your behavior!

General Guidelines

In the following 'general guidelines' the term "message" stands for both, "e-mail message" and "Usenet message". That means those guidelines apply to both kind of services.

1. Always assume that individuals speak for themselves only, and what they say does not represent their organization (unless stated explicitly). 

2. Keep in mind that every message uses system resources (disc space and bandwidth). Don't waste those resources, they are limited, very limited.

3. Don't send a reply just to point out their spelling or grammar mistakes, that's pretty poor behavior. Since we aren't in kindergarten anymore and you probably aren't too stupid to guess what the author meant, you can certainly overlook those mistakes.

4. Subject lines are not there to be left blank or to get filled with "(no subject)". If your message has no subject, it's not worth to get sent. Whenever sending a message, fill the subject with appropriate content.

5. If a user is using a nickname alias or pseudonym, respect that user's desire for anonymity. Even if you and that person are close friends, it is more courteous to use his nickname. Do not use that person's real name online without permission.

6. Using someone else's identity, without the permission of the owner is forgery. Forgery can get you in conflict with the law. The identity of a person is determined by someone's e-mail address, neither your screen name nor your real name are protected online.

7. Nevertheless messages are often subject to forgery and spoofing of various degrees of detectability. Apply common sense "reality checks" before assuming a message is valid. Please report forgery to the ISP of the offender.

8. Advertising is unacceptable behavior and even illegal in certain countries/states Unlike advertising on TV, in newspapers or by handing out flyers (for that you must pay all the costs), online advertising via mail or Usenet wastes resources that neither belong to you, nor have you paid for them. In other words, other users pay for your advertising, without having given their permission to that. Exeptions are Newsgroups that were created for advertising, like "marketplace" Newsgroups.

9. Be brief without being overly terse. When replying to a message, include enough original material to be understood but no more. It is extremely bad form to simply reply to a message by including all the previous message, but it's even worse to not quote anything at all within your reply. Always edit out all the irrelevant material.

10. When attaching a signature to your message, make sure it is a short one. There's no rules on how short it must be, but at the moment where your signature is bigger than your message, there's something wrong with it.  

11. Be careful with offensive messages. You will not only make some people very angry, you may also get in conflict with the law. In some countries even simple insults can result in high fines. What is offensive depends on who is going to read the message, so choose your words carefully.

12. Use mixed case. UPPER CASE LOOKS AS IF YOU'RE SHOUTING.

13. Use symbols for emphasis. That *is* what I meant. Use underscores for underlining. _War and Peace_ is my favorite book. Use /this/ to indicate italics and maybe -that- for a smaller emphasis. Don't forget to place something in quotation marks, if it doesn't fit into the current context.

14. Use smileys to indicate tone of voice. But don't assume that the inclusion of a smiley will make the recipient happy with what you say or wipe out an otherwise insulting comment.

15. Limit line length to fewer than 80 characters. After 79 (or less) chars should be a line break.

Usenet Guidelines

1. Before you post to a Newsgroup, read some of the messages there to get a feeling for the group. Find out which kind of posts the readership accepts and which kind of behavior is seen as undesired. Finally act according to your cognition. 

2. If a reply should be private or isn't of interest for the group anymore, use e-mail.  Most people are afraid of using e-mail, they think they have to reply via Usenet, but that's not true. After all, why do you think so many people put their e-mail address into the from-line or signature? Not to receive spam, but to give people a way to contact them directly.

3. If a post is of interest for more than one group or fits into more than one group, you can crosspost it to more than one group. While crossposting got a bad reputation through crossposted spam, it saves disc space and bandwidth compared to sending the same message multiple times to different Newsgroups.

4. Before asking a question on Usenet, first look for alternative sources (manuals, help files, web pages, etc.) and inform yourself about the topic (so you can understand more complicated replies). If you ask something, that can be found on every web page or is written directly into the manual of a product, don't expect any reply.

5. If you see an error in your message, correct it as soon as possible, by posting the corrected version as reply to your original message (not as new thread). You may additionally try to cancel the old message, but many servers ignore cancel messages. 

6. Never try to cancel other people's articles without their permission, even if plenty of servers may ignore cancels. If you do that, you will get reported and your account will get closed. 

7. If you've posted something and it doesn't show up immediately, don't assume it was lost. In case of an unmoderated group, wait an hour and then post it again. If it still doesn't show up, ask the support of your Usenet service for help. In case of moderated groups, wait a whole day. If it's still not there after 24h, ask the moderator of the group for help.

8. In groups which discuss movies or books it is considered essential to mark posts which disclose significant content as "[SPOILER]". Put this tag into your Subject: line.

9. Never post binaries outside of a binary hierarchy. All groups are for text posts only, unless their name implies something else.

10. Never post binaries to Usenet if you can distribute them through other paths as well. Usenet is neither your private file exchange network (use e-mail to send files to a limited amount of people), nor is it your private online storage (get yourself a free server account for that purpose).

E-Mail Guidelines

1. Unless you are using an encryption device (hardware or software), you should assume that mail on the Internet is not secure. Never put in a mail message anything you would not put on a postcard. (e.g. don't put there your bank account or credit card number)

2. If you are forwarding or re-posting a message you've received, do not change the wording. If the message was a personal message to you and you are re-posting to a group, you should ask permission first. You may shorten the message and quote only relevant parts, but be sure you give proper attribution.

3. Never send chain letters via electronic mail. Chain letters are forbidden on the Internet. Your network privileges will be revoked. Notify your local system administrator if your ever receive one. 

4. In general, it's a good idea to at least check all your mail subjects before responding to a message. Sometimes a person who asks you for help (or clarification) will send another message which effectively says "Never Mind". Also make sure that any message you respond to was directed to you. You might be cc:ed rather than the primary recipient.

5. Watch cc's when replying. Don't continue to include people if the messages have become a 2-way conversation.

6. Remember that people with whom you communicate are located across the globe. If you send a message to which you want an immediate response, the person receiving it might be at home asleep when it arrives. Give them a chance to wake up, come to work, and login before assuming the mail didn't arrive or that they don't care.

7. If you think the importance of a message justifies it, immediately reply briefly to an e-mail message to let the sender know you got it, even if you will send a longer reply later.

8. Know how large a message you are sending. Including large files such as Postscript files or programs may make your message so large that it cannot be delivered or at least consumes excessive resources. A good rule of thumb would be not to send a file larger than 50 Kilobytes without asking the recipient for permission first. Consider direct file transfer as an alternative.