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How to Use USENET Effectively
Matt Bishop
Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science
Mail Stop 230-5
NASA Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA 94035
1. Introduction
USENET is a worldwide bulletin board system in which
thousands of computers pass articles back and forth. Of necessi-
ty, customs have sprung up enabling very diverse people and
groups to communicate peaceably and effectively using USENET.
These customs are for the most part written, but are scattered
over several documents that can be difficult to find; in any
case, even if a new user can find all the documents, he most
likely will have neither the time nor the inclination to read
them all. This document is intended to collect all these conven-
tions into one place, thereby making it easy for new users to
learn about the world of USENET. (Old-timers, too, will benefit
from reading this.)
You should read this document and understand it thoroughly
before you even think about posting anything. If you have ques-
tions, please ask your USENET administrator (who can usually be
reached by sending mail to usenet) or a more knowledgeable USENET
user. Believe me, you will save yourself a lot of grief.
The mechanics of posting an article to USENET are explained
in Mark Horton's excellent paper How to Read the Network News; if
you have not read that yet, stop here and do so. A lot of what
follows depends on your knowing (at least vaguely) the mechanics
of posting news.
Before we discuss these customs, we ought to look at the
history of USENET, what it is today, and why we need these con-
ventions.
2. All About USENET
USENET began on a set of computers in North Carolina's
Research Triangle. The programs involved (known as "netnews"
then, and "A news" now) exchanged messages; it was a small,
multi-computer bulletin board system. As time passed, adminis-
trators of other systems began to connect their computers to this
bulletin board system. The network grew. Then, at Berkeley, the
How to Use USENET Effectively 1
How to Use USENET Effectively 2
news programs were rewritten (this version became known as "B
news") and the format changed to conform to ARPA standards
(again, this became the "B protocol for news".*) This version of
news was very widely distributed, and at this point USENET began
to take on its current shape.
USENET is a logical network (as opposed to a physical net-
work.) It is also a very amorphous network, in that there is no
central administration or controlling site. There is not even an
official list of members, although there is a very complete unof-
ficial one. A site gets access to USENET by finding some other
site already on USENET that it can connect to and exchange news
articles. So long as this second site (called a neighbor of the
first site) remains willing and able to pass articles to and from
the first site, the first site is on USENET. A site leaves the
USENET only when no one is willing or able to pass articles to,
or accept articles from, it.
As a result, USENET has no equivalent of a "sysop" or cen-
tral authority controlling the bulletin board. What little con-
trol is exercised is wielded by the person at each site who is
responsible for maintaining the USENET connections (this person
is called the "USENET administrator.") Because most USENET ad-
ministrators are (relatively) new to USENET, and because adminis-
tering USENET locally involves a great deal of work, most USENET
administrators tend to follow the lead of other, more experi-
enced, administrators (often known somewhat irreverently as "net
gurus.") This is not an abdication of responsibility, but a means
of keeping the amount of work little enough so it can be done
without interfering with the local USENET administrator's job.
An example of this is the list of currently active newsgroups
circulated every month or so. It is not "official" - no one has
that authority - but as the maintainer is doing the work that
every other USENET administrator would have to do otherwise, it
is accepted as a valid list. If the maintainer changes the list
in a way another USENET administrator finds unacceptable, that
administrator can simply ignore the list. (Incidentally, the
"net gurus" became known as such because of the work they have
contributed to USENET. Their experience is a valuable resource
for each USENET administrator.)
Because the USENET has grown so wildly, a number of problems
have appeared. One of these problems is technical, and a number
of the conventions this document describes spring from attempts
to keep this problem under control.
The technical problem arises due to the transport mechanism
used by most USENET sites. Most computers on USENET do not have
access to large-area networks like ARPANET. As a result the only
__________
* See Standard for Interchange of USENET Messages for a
description of the two formats.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 3
viable transport mechanism these sites can use is a set of pro-
grams collectively known as UUCP and which communicate over dial-
up telephone lines. Initially, news programs generated one UUCP
command per article. With the explosion of the USENET, the
number of articles simply swamped many sites; phone lines would
be tied up all day transmitting news, and many articles would be
processed at the same time, slowing down the computers notice-
ably.
The solution was to batch messages. This way, many articles
are sent via UUCP with one command, and the command on the re-
ceiving machine would split the file into separate articles,
which could then be processed individually. While this increased
the size of the files being sent, it cut down on the number of
UUCP commands sent, and since sending a command involves quite a
bit of overhead, this decreased the duration of phone calls, and
to a lesser degree the load on the computer. At some sites, such
as Purdue, this was not quite enough, so a simple spooler was im-
plemented to process the individual articles one at a time. This
reduced the system load to a very acceptable amount.
However, the problem has not gone away by any means. In one
sense it has become worse; as more articles are posted to the
network, phone costs and system loads averages increase, and sys-
tem administrators require USENET administrators to cut back or
eliminate newsgroups and to transmit news only at night (which
means long propagation delays). In short, everyone who has any-
thing to do with administering any USENET site is very concerned
about the future of USENET, both in general and at his own site.
Many of the rules you will read address this concern. The
fear that USENET may collapse is not a bogeyman, but very real.
We hope it will not collapse, and the rules below outline some
ways to prevent problems and increase the likelihood that enough
sites will remain on USENET to keep it alive. There is no cen-
tral authority that can force you to follow them, but by doing so
you will help keep USENET a valuable resource to the computer
community.
3. Deciding to Post
Before you decide to post an article, you should consider a
few things.
3.1. Do not repeat postings
This applies even if you did not post the information the
first time around. If you know the answer to a question someone
asked, first read the follow-ups, and if you have something more
to contribute, mail it to the questioner; if you think it should
be seen by others, ask the questioner to summarize the answers he
receives in a subsequent article. One of the biggest problems on
USENET is that many copies of the same answer to a simple ques-
tion are posted.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 4
If you want to repost something because you believe it did
not get to other USENET sites due to transmission problems (this
happens sometimes, but a lot less often than commonly believed),
do some checking before you repost. If you have a friend at
another USENET site, call him and ask if the article made it to
his site. Ask your USENET administrator if he knows of any prob-
lems in the USENET; there are special newsgroups to which USENET
administrators subscribe in which problems are reported, or he
can contact his counterparts at other sites for information. Fi-
nally, if you decide you must repost it, indicate in the article
subject that it is a reposting, and say why you are reposting it
(if you don't, you'll undoubtedly get some very nasty mail.)
Reposting announcements of products or services is flatly
forbidden. Doing so may convince other sites to turn off your
USENET access.
When school starts, hoards of new users descend upon the
USENET asking questions. Many of these questions have been
asked, and answered, literally thousands of times since USENET
began. The most common of these questions, and their answers,
have been collected in the hope that the new users will read them
and not re-post the same questions. So, if you want to ask a
question, check Appendix A (Answers to Frequently Asked Ques-
tions) to be sure it isn't one that has been asked and answered
literally hundreds of times before you started reading the
USENET.
3.2. Do not post anything when upset, angry, or intoxicated
Posting an article is a lot like driving a car - you have to
be in control of yourself. Postings which begin "Jane, you ig-
norant slut, ..." are very definitely considered in poor taste*.
Unfortunately, they are also far too common.
The psychology of this is interesting. One popular belief
is that since we interact with USENET via computers, we all often
forget that a computer did not do the posting; a human did. A
contributing factor is that you don't have to look the target of
abuse in the eye when you post an abusive message; eye-to-eye
contact has an amazing effect on inhibiting obnoxious behavior.
As a result, discussions on the USENET often degenerate into a
catfight far more readily than would a face-to-face discussion.
Before you post an article, think a minute; decide whether
or not you are upset, angry, or high. If you are, wait until you
calm down (or come down) before deciding to post something. Then
think about whether or not you really want to post it. You will
be amazed what waiting a day or even a few hours can do for your
perspective.
__________
* Unless you are critiquing Saturday Night Live.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 5
Bear in mind that shouting hasn't convinced anyone of any-
thing since the days of Charlemagne, and being abusive makes peo-
ple hold even more tenaciously to their ideas or opinions. Gen-
tleness, courtesy, and eloquence are far more persuasive; not
only do they indicate you have enough confidence in your words to
allow them to speak for you, but also they indicate a respect for
your audience. This in turn makes it easier for your audience to
like or respect you - and people tend to be far more interested
in, and receptive to, arguments advanced by those they like or
respect than by writers who are abusive. Finally, remember that
some discussions or situations simply cannot be resolved. Be-
cause people are different, agreed-upon facts often lead to wild-
ly different feelings and conclusions. These differences are
what makes life so wonderful; were we all alike, the world would
be a very boring place. So, don't get frantic; relax and enjoy
the discussion. Who knows, you might even learn something!
3.3. Be sure your posting is appropriate to USENET
Some things are inappropriate to post to USENET. Discussing
whether or not some other discussion is appropriate, or if it is
in the right newsgroup, is an example. Invariably, the "meta-
discussion" generates so many articles that the discussion is
simply overwhelmed and vanishes; but the meta-discussion lingers
on for several weeks, driving most of the readers of that news-
group out of their collective minds. Help preserve the sanity of
your fellow USENET readers by mailing such comments to the people
involved, rather than posting them.
Another example of inappropriate postings is the infamous
"spelling flame." Every few months someone takes another poster
to task for poor spelling or grammar. Soon, everyone jumps on
the bandwagon, tearing apart one another's postings for such er-
rors. To put it mildly, this angers almost everyone involved for
no real reason. Please remember that we all make mistakes, and
there are a lot of people for whom English is a second language.
So, try to keep your spelling and grammar comments to yourself -
but if you find you simply cannot, mail them to the poster rather
than posting them.
Far more insidious are requests similar to "How can I splice
into the local cable TV transmission line?" Posting to USENET is
akin to publishing, so don't ask for or post instructions on how
to do something illegal. And please don't quote the First Amend-
ment, or the laws allowing freedom of speech in your country;
while the posting programs will not stop you, the aftermath could
be very unpleasant - lawsuits and court trials usually are, and
the USENET would certainly collapse as sites dropped from it to
protect themselves from legal liability. You wouldn't want that
on your conscience, would you? Of course not.
Related to this is the next rule.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 6
3.4. Do not post other people's work without permission
Posting something to USENET puts it in the public domain for
all practical purposes. So, be careful about posting things like
UNIX*-related material (specifically source code) or company do-
cuments; consider licensing and nondisclosure agreements first.
Some people regard the posting of "diffs" based on licensed code
to be a suitable compromise, as they are only useful to those who
have the base code already.
Copyrighted works are a separate problem. Both United
States and international law provide protection for copyrighted
works; other than short extracts for purposes of criticism, you
cannot copy a copyrighted work in whole or in part without per-
mission of the copyright holder (who may, or may not, be the au-
thor.) Without this protection, artists could not make any money
and hence would have limited incentive to make the fruits of
their art available at all. Posting a copyrighted work without
permission is theft, even though the property stolen is not tan-
gible in most cases. Hence, posting movie and book reviews, song
lyrics, or anything else which is copyrighted without the permis-
sion of the copyright holder, could cause you personally, your
company, or the USENET itself to be held liable for damages.
Please be very careful that you obey the law when posting such
material!
3.5. Don't forget that opinions are those of the poster and not
his employer.
Every so often, someone will post a particularly disgusting
article, and a number of responses will ask if all employees of
the original poster's company share his (revolting) opinion, or
suggest that action be taken against that company. Please
remember that all opinions or statements in articles are to be
attributed to the poster only, and in particular, do not neces-
sarily represent the opinions of the poster's employer, the owner
of the computer on which the article originated, or anyone in-
volved with any aspect of USENET - and consequently the responsi-
bility for any USENET message rests with the poster and with no
one else. The appropriate response is not to attack the company
or its other employees; let the poster know what you think of his
posting via mail. If the postings continue, take advantage of
the news software's presenting you with the author's name and the
subject line and then asking if you want to see the article;
start looking for the poster's name or the offensive subject in
the articles presented to you and skip them. If you really get
offended, you can unsubscribe from a newsgroup.
Part of the price of freedom is allowing others to make
fools of themselves. You wouldn't like to be censored, so don't
advocate censorship of others. No one is forcing you to read the
__________
*UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 7
postings.
In some countries, posting or receiving certain types of ar-
ticles may be a criminal offense. As a result, certain news-
groups which circulate freely within the United States may not be
circulated in other nations without risking civil or criminal li-
abilities. In this case, the appropriate action for sites in
that country is neither to accept nor to transmit the newsgroup.
No site is ever forced to accept or pass on any newsgroup.
4. Where to Post
The various newsgroups and distributions have various rules
associated with their use. This section will describe these
rules and offer suggestions on which newsgroups to post your mes-
sage.
4.1. Keep the distribution as limited as possible
A basic principle of posting is to keep the distribution of
your article as limited as possible. Like our modern society,
USENET is suffering from both an information glut and information
pollution. It is widely believed that the USENET will cease to
function unless we are able to cut down the quantity of articles.
One step in this direction is not to post something to places
where it will be worthless. For example, if you live in Hacken-
sack, New Jersey, the probability of anyone in Korea wanting to
buy your 1972 Toyota is about as close to zero as you can get.
So confine your posting to the New Jersey area.
To do this, you can either post to a local group, or post to
a net-wide group and use the distribution feature to limit how
widely your article will go. When you give your posting program
(usually postnews(1)) a distribution, you are (in essence) saying
that machines which do not recognize that distribution should not
get the article. (Think of it as a subgroup based on locality
and you'll get the idea.) For example, if you are posting in the
San Francisco Bay Area, and you post your article to rec.auto but
give ba as the distribution, the article will not be sent beyond
the San Francisco Bay Area (to which the ba distribution is lo-
cal) even though you put it in a net-wide newsgroup. Had you
given the distribution as ca (the California distribution), your
article would have been sent to all Californian sites on USENET.
Had you given the distribution as world, your article would have
been sent to all sites on USENET.
4.2. Do not post the same article twice to different groups
If you have an article that you want to post to more than
one group, post to both at the same time. Newer versions of the
news software will show an article only once regardless of how
many newsgroups it appears in. But if you post it once to each
different group, all versions of news software will show it once
for each newsgroup. This angers a lot of people and wastes
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 8
everybody's time.
4.3. Do not post to moderated newsgroups.
You may not post directly to certain newsgroups; you cannot
post to some at all. Newer versions of the news software will
inform you when either of these restrictions apply, but older
versions of news software will not.
If you want to have the appropriate moderator post some-
thing, mail it to the moderator. (If you do not know the ad-
dress, ask your USENET administrator. In some cases, the
software will automatically mail, rather than post, your article
to the moderator.)
4.4. Ask someone if you can't figure out where to post your ar-
ticle
If you cannot figure out where to post something, look in
news.announce.newusers for the list of active newsgroups. (This
is posted biweekly. If you can't find it, look at the list in
How to Read the Network News; but be aware that list is undoubt-
edly out of date already.) If your article does not seem to fit
in any of the listed groups, post it to misc.misc or don't post
it.
If you still are not sure which newsgroup to post your arti-
cle to, ask an old-timer. If your site doesn't have any old-
timers (or none of the old-timers will admit to being old-
timers), contact any of the following people:
Gene Spafford (spaf@gatech.CSNET, spaf@gatech.UUCP)
Mark Horton (mark@cbosgd.UUCP)
Rick Adams (rick@seismo.CSS.GOV, rick@seismo.UUCP)
Chuq Von Rospach (chuq@sun.UUCP)
Matt Bishop (mab@riacs.ARPA, mab@riacs.UUCP)
We will be happy to help you. But, please, do not post the arti-
cle to the net before you ask us!
4.5. Be sure there is a consensus before creating a new news-
group
Creating a new newsgroup is, in general, a very bad idea.
Currently, there are so many articles being posted that the
USENET is in danger of collapse as site after site decides to
cease to accept and retransmit certain newsgroups. Moreover,
there is no established procedure for deleting a newsgroup, so
once created, newsgroups tend to stay around. They also tend to
encourage people to think up new newsgroups, and the cycle re-
peats. Try to avoid thinking up new newsgroups.
If, however, you believe a new group should be created, be
sure you have a consensus that the group is needed (either a
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 9
mailing list has enough traffic and readers to justify turning it
into a newsgroup, or a discussion in a current newsgroup becomes
so large for a period of time long enough to warrant splitting it
into a newsgroup.) Then post an article to news.group as well as
any other groups related to your proposed new group, and discuss
the topics you are proposing be covered in your new group, what
it should be called, whether it is really needed, and so forth.
Try to resolve all objections, and take into account all sugges-
tions and comments; finally, have everyone mail you a "yes" or
"no" vote on whether the group should be created. Try to get at
least 40 or 50 "yes" votes before creating the group; if you want
to be safe, get around 100.
4.6. Watch out for newsgroups which have special rules about
posting
Some newsgroups have special rules. This section summarizes
them.
rec.arts.books Do not post anything revealing a plot or a
plot twist without putting the word "spoiler"
somewhere in the "Subject" field. This will
let those who do not wish to have a surprise
spoiled skip the article.
rec.humor If you want to post an offensive joke (this
includes racial, religious, sexual, and sca-
tological humor, among other kinds) rotate
it. (If you do not know what this means,
look in the section Writing Your Posting.)
rec.arts.movies Do not post anything revealing a plot or a
plot twist without putting the word "spoiler"
in the "Subject" field. This will let those
who do not wish to have a surprise spoiled
skip the article.
news.group Discussions about whether or not to create
new groups, and what to name them, go here.
Please mail your votes to the proposer; don't
post them.
comp.sources Source code postings go here. Discussions
are not allowed. Do not post bug fixes here.
comp.sources.bugs Bug reports and bug fixes to sources posted
in comp.sources go here.
comp.sources.wanted Requests for sources go here.
misc.test Use the smallest distribution possible. In
the body of the message, say what you are
testing.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 10
misc.wanted Requests for things other than source code go
here. Please use the smallest distribution
possible. Post offers here, too.
5. Writing the Article
Here are some suggestions to help you communicate effective-
ly with others on the USENET. Perhaps the best advice is not to
be afraid to consult a book on writing style; two of the best are
How to Write for the World of Work by Cunningham and Pearsall,
and Elements of Style by Strunk and White.
5.1. Write for your audience
USENET is an international network, and any article you post
will be very widely read. Even more importantly, your future em-
ployers may be among the readers! So, try to make a good impres-
sion.
A basic principle of all writing is to write at your
readers' reading level. It is better to go below than above.
Aiming where "their heads ought to be" may be fine if you are a
college professor (and a lot of us would dispute even that), but
it is guaranteed to cause people to ignore your article. Studies
have shown that the average American reads at the fifth grade
level and the average professional reads at the twelfth grade
level.
5.2. Be clear and concise
Remember that you are writing for a very busy audience; your
readers will not puzzle over your article. So be very clear and
very concise. Be precise as well; choose the least ambiguous
word you can, taking into account the context in which you are
using the word. Split your posting into sections and paragraphs
as appropriate. Use a descriptive title in the "Subject" field,
and be sure that the title is related to the body of the article.
If the title is not related, feel free to change it to a title
that is.
5.3. Proofread your article
This is a matter of courtesy; since you want others to read
your article, the least you can do is check that it says what you
mean in a clear, concise manner. Check for typographical errors,
silly grammar errors, and misspellings; if you have a spelling
checking program, use it. Also be sure the article is easy to
read. Use white space - blanks, tabs, and newlines - and both
upper and lower case letters. Do not omit the definite and inde-
finite articles, either; not only do "a", "an", and "the" make a
posting much easier to read, their omission can make a posting
ambiguous.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 11
5.4. Be extra careful with announcements of products or services
When writing a product or service announcement, bear in mind
that others will be paying most of the telephone bills. So, if
you are announcing several things, combine all the announcements
into one article. Mark the posting as a product or service an-
nouncement in the title in the "Subject" field. Advertising hy-
perbole is not appropriate here; remember that your audience is
to a large degree technically literate, and your product will
stand or fall on its technical merits. Be aware that posting ob-
noxious or inappropriate advertisements is very serious and if
you do it, you may find your neighbors yanking your USENET ac-
cess.
5.5. Indicate sarcasm and humor
Remember that people cannot see you when they read your
posting; hence, all the subtle nuances of body and facial motion
are hidden. It can be quite difficult to tell when you are being
sarcastic or humorous. To deal with this problem, the USENET
readers and posters have developed a special sign. Mark passages
you intend to be taken as humorous with the "smiley face", while
looks like this: ":-)". (Think of a head facing you lying on its
right side and look again if you don't understand why that symbol
was chosen.) As for sarcasm, there is no universal symbol for
that (unless the sarcasm is meant humorously, in which case use
the smiley face again.) But mark your passage so everyone will
realize you are being sarcastic.
5.6. Mark postings which spoil surprises
High on the list of obnoxious messages are those that spoil
the plot of a book or movie by giving away an unexpected detail.
If you post such an article, please put the word "spoiler" in the
"Subject" field of your posting, so people who do not wish to
have a surprise ruined can skip the article.
5.7. Rotate offensive postings
If you feel you must post a message that may offend people,
you can take steps to be sure the message will only be read by
those who explicitly ask for it to be shown to them. The USENET
convention is to encrypt these messages by shifting each letter
13 characters, so that (for example) "a" becomes "n". (In more
precise terms, this is a Caesar cipher of shift 13; on the
USENET, it is called rot13.) When you do this, put the word
"rot13" in the "Subject" field. The news reader you are using
almost certainly has a command to encrypt and decrypt such mes-
sages; if not, use the UNIX command
tr a-zA-Z n-za-mN-ZA-M
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 12
5.8. The shorter your signature, the better
Keep signatures concise; 2 or 3 lines are usually plenty.
Include your name and addresses on any major networks (such as
ARPANET, BITNET, or CSNET). This helps people contact you quick-
ly and easily, usually more so than by following the return path
of the article. Do not include pictures, graphics or clever quo-
tations that make the signature longer; this is not the appropri-
ate place for them, and many sites resent paying the phone bills
for such signatures.
6. Conclusion and Summary
Here is a list of the rules given above:
=> Deciding to post
+ Do not repeat postings
+ Do not post anything when upset, angry, or intoxicat-
ed
+ Be sure your posting is appropriate to USENET
+ Do not post other people's work without permission
+ Don't forget that opinions are those of the poster
and not his company
=> Where to Post
+ Keep the distribution as limited as possible
+ Do not post the same article twice to different
groups
+ Do not post to news.announce newsgroups
+ Ask someone if you can't figure out where to post
your article
+ Be sure there is a consensus before creating a new
newsgroup
+ Watch out for newsgroups which have special rules
about posting
=> Writing the Article
+ Write for your audience
+ Be clear and concise
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 13
+ Proofread your article
+ Be extra careful with announcements of products or
services
+ Indicate sarcasm and humor
+ Mark postings which spoil surprises
+ Rotate offensive postings
+ The shorter your signature, the better
The USENET can be a great place for us all. Sadly, not
enough people are following the customs that have been esta-
blished to keep the USENET civilized. This document was written
to educate all users of the USENET on their responsibilities.
Let's clean up the USENET, and turn it into a friendly, helpful
community again!
Acknowledgements: The writing of this document was inspired by
Chuq von Rospach's posting on USENET etiquette, and it draws on
previous work by Mark Horton, A. Jeff Offutt, Gene Spafford, and
Chuq von Rospach.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 14
Appendix A. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
originally from Jerry Schwarz (jerry@eagle.UUCP)
modified by Gene Spafford (spaf@gatech.UUCP)
modified by Matt Bishop (mab@riacs.ARPA)
This document discusses some items that occur repeatedly on
USENET. They frequently are submitted by new users, and result
in many follow-ups, sometimes swamping groups for weeks. The
purpose of this note is to head off these annoying events by
answering some questions and warning about the inevitable conse-
quence of asking others. If you don't like my answers, let me
know and I may include revisions in future versions of this note.
1. What does UNIX stand for?
It is not an acronym, but is a pun on "MULTICS." MULTICS is a
large operating system that was being developed shortly be-
fore UNIX was created.
2. What is the derivation of "foo" as a filler word?
The favorite story is that it comes from "fubar" which is an
acronym for "fouled up beyond all recognition," which is sup-
posed to be a military term. (Various forms of this exist,
"fouled" usually being replaced by a stronger word.) "Foo"
and "Bar" have the same derivation.
3. Is a machine at "foo" on the net?
These questions belong in news.config if anywhere, but in
fact your best bet is usually to phone somebody at "foo" to
find out. If you don't know anybody at "foo" you can always
try calling and asking for the "computer center." Also, see
the newsgroup mod.map, where maps of USENET and the UUCP net-
work are posted regularly.
4. What does "rc" at the end of files like .newsrc mean?
According to Dennis Ritchie, "The name rc comes from RUNCOM,
which was the rough equivalent on the MIT CTSS system of what
UNIX calls shell scripts. Of course, RUNCOM derives from run
commands."
5. What do "- (nf)" and "Orphaned Response" in an item's title
mean?
It means that the item was created by "notefiles," an alter-
native news handling interface that many people prefer. If
you want to find out more you can read the Notesfile System
Reference Manual" or contact uiucdcs!essick.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 15
6. What does ":-)" mean?
This is the net convention for a "smiley face." It means that
something is being said in jest. If it doesn't look like a
smiley face to you, flop your head over to the left and look
again.
7. How do I decrypt jokes in rec.humor?
The standard cipher used in rec.humor in called "rot13." Each
letter is replaced by the letter 13 further along in the al-
phabet (cycling around at the end). Most systems have a
built in command to decrypt such articles; readnews(1) and
vnews(1) have the D command, rn(1) (another popular public-
domain full screen news reader) has the X or <CONTROL-X> com-
mands, notes(1) has % or R. If your system doesn't have a
program to encrypt and decrypt these, you can quickly create
a shell script using tr(1):
tr A-Za-z N-ZA-Mn-za-m
On some versions of UNIX, the tr command should be written
as:
tr "[a-m][n-z][A-M][N-Z]" "[n-z][a-m][N-Z][A-M]"
8. soc.net-people: Is John Doe out there anywhere?
I suspect that these items are people looking for freshman
roommates that they haven't seen in ten years. If you have
some idea where the person is you are usually better off cal-
ling the organization. For example, if you call any Bell
Labs location and request John Doe's number. They can give
it to you even if he works at a different location.
9. sci.math: Proofs that 1 = 0.
Almost everyone has seen one or more of these in high school.
They are almost always based on either division by 0 or tak-
ing the square root of a negative number.
10. rec.games: Where can I get the source for empire(6) or ro-
gue(6)?
You can't. The authors of these games, as is their right,
have chosen not to make the sources available.
11. comp.unix.wizards: How do I remove files with non-ASCII
characters in their names?
You can try to find a pattern that uniquely identifies the
file. This sometimes fails because a peculiarity of some
shells is that they strip off the high-order bit of charac-
ters in command lines. Next, you can try an "rm -i", or "rm
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 16
-r" (see rm(1).) Finally, you can mess around with i-node
numbers and find(1).
12. comp.unix.wizards: There is a bug in the way UNIX handles
protection for programs that run setuid.
There are indeed problems with the treatment of protection in
setuid programs. When this is brought up, suggestions for
changes range from implementing a full capability list ar-
rangement to new kernel calls for allowing more control over
when the effective id is used and when the real id is used to
control accesses. Sooner or later you can expect this to be
improved. For now you just have to live with it.
13. soc.women: What do you think about abortion?
Although abortion might appear to be an appropriate topic for
soc.women, more heat than light is generated when it is
brought up. Since the newsgroup talk.abortion has been
created, all abortion-related discussion should take place
there.
14. soc.singles: What do "MOTOS," "MOTSS,", "MOTAS", and "SO"
stand for?
Member of the opposite sex, member of the same sex, member of
the appropriate sex, and significant other, respectively.
15. How do I use the "Distribution" feature?
When postnews(1) prompts you for a distribution, it's asking
how widely distributed you want your article. The set of
possible replies is different, depending on where you are,
but at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, possibilities
include:
local local to this machine
mh Bell Labs, Murray Hill Branch
nj all sites in New Jersey
btl All Bell Labs machines
att All AT&T machines
usa Everywhere in the USA
na Everywhere in North America
world Everywhere on USENET in the world
If you hit <RETURN>, you'll get the default, which is the
first part of the newsgroup name. This default is often not
appropriate - please take a moment to think about how far
away people are likely to be interested in what you have to
say. Used car ads, housing wanted ads, and things for sale
other than specialized equipment like computers certainly
shouldn't be distributed to Europe and Korea, or even to the
next state.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
How to Use USENET Effectively 17
The newsgroup misc.forsale exists for postings of sale an-
nouncements. Its distribution is limited to North America;
posters should restrict this distribution even further, if
possible and appropriate.
16. Why do some people put funny lines ("bug killers") at the be-
ginning of their articles?
Some earlier versions of news had a bug which would drop the
first 512 or 1024 bytes of text of certain articles. The bug
was triggered whenever the article started with white space
(a blank or a tab). A fix many people adopted was to begin
their articles with a line containing a character other than
white space. This gradually evolved into the habit of in-
cluding amusing first lines.
The original bug has since been fixed in newer version of
news, and sites running older versions of news have applied a
patch to prevent articles from losing text. The "bug-killer"
lines are therefore probably no longer needed, but they
linger on.
17. What is the address or phone number of the "foo" company?
Try the white and yellow pages of your phone directory,
first; a sales representative will surely know, and if you're
a potential customer they will be who you're looking for.
Phone books for other cities are usually available in li-
braries of any size. Whoever buys or recommends things for
your company will probably have some buyer's guides or na-
tional company directories. Call or visit the reference desk
of your library; they have several company and organization
directories and many will answer questions like this over the
phone. Remember if you only know the city where the company
is, you can telephone to find out their full address or a
dealer. The network is not a free resource, although it may
look like that to some people. It is far better to spend a
few minutes of your own time researching an answer rather
than broadcast your laziness and/or ineptness to the net.
News Version B 2.11 October 19, 1986
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