327 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
327 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
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Archive-name: info-vax/part01
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Last-modified: 1992/08/02
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[Changes since last posting: None.]
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Please send all changes, corrections, comments, or additions to munroe@dmc.com.
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The Info-VAX Monthly Posting
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----------------------------
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PART 1 -- Introduction to Info-VAX.
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(Coordinated by Dick Munroe, written by many others)
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(Part 2 is Beginner "Common Questions". Part 3 is Advanced Common Questions.
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Part 4 is about how to find software.)
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Save this message for future reference!
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There are four parts to this monthly posting. This first part is concerned
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with network etiquette and is redundant to people that read Usenet's monthly
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postings for new users. If you are on Usenet, you might want to skip it.
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The other two parts are beginning and advanced questions respectively.
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Welcome to the Internet VAX Discussion group. This group is known by
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different names on different networks (Info-VAX, comp.os.vms, etc). We'll
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call it Info-VAX, for convenience's sake. About 13,000 users read it on
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Usenet, the global estimate is at about 50,000 users.
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The purpose of Info-VAX is to discuss issues surrounding VAX computer
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systems. Most of Info-VAX is oriented towards VAX/VMS. Info-VAX does have
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a lot of knowledgeable VAX/VMS users; Info-VAX is *not* a forum for
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discussion of absolutely everything involving VAX systems. Internet
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discussion groups also exist for particular software products (for example,
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PMDF and Kermit), for some general topic areas (such as security or
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education), and for special purpose hardware.
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This message has two purposes: first, to give you an idea of what Info-VAX
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is all about, how to use it effectively, and how to make it work best for
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you. Second, to answer some of the most frequently asked questions on
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Info-VAX.
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What this message won't do is tell you how to send messages to Info-VAX, or
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how to use your own mailing system. There are dozens of mailing systems
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available for VAX computers, and even more ways of connecting VAX systems to
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the Internet. You should ask your system administrator exactly how to send
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or post messages to Info-VAX. Some general advice is given but no specific
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commands.
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The best way to learn how to use Info-VAX is to watch others use it. If you
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have just subscribed to Info-VAX, consider lurking for a few days to see
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what people are doing and why.
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Here is a brief guide to Info-VAX, phrased as a set of commonly asked
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questions and our rational answers.
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1. What is Info-VAX?
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Info-VAX is a number of things.
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If you read it on Usenet, you see it as a Newsgroup called comp.os.vms and
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you subscribe and unsubscribe just like any newsgroup (ask your system
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administrator, it's different on different machines). Post messages just
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like any other newsgroup.
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If you read it on Bitnet it is called Info-VAX but it is mailed to you (like
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normal email) and you subscribe to it by sending a mail message containing
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just the text "SUBSCRIBE INFO-VAX" to LISTSERV@(nearest listserv computer).
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You unsubscribe by sending a mail message containing just the text "SIGNOFF
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INFO-VAX" to the *SAME* listserv address. Ask your system administrator for
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more help. Post messages to "info-vax@sri.com". Do not send
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subscribe/unsubscribe requests to that address.
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If you are reading it on the Internet it also arrives as mail. To subscribe
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or unsubscribe send mail to "info-vax-request@sri.com" politely asking to
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be added or removed. Send posts to "info-vax@sri.com". Do not send
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subscribe/unsubscribe requests to "info-vax@sri.com"
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If you are on the Internet in the UK, people should send a message to
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info-vax-request@Uk.ac.ulcc.ncdlab containing the word: SUBSCRIBE
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They will be added to the UK fanout. DELETE or UNSUBSCRIBE removes them.
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2. What is a "signature"?
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In order to let people not at your site know who you really are, you may
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want to create a "signature" file which you append to network mail messages.
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Your news or mail software may do this automatically (usually using the file
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".signature") or you may create a function key binding in EDT or TPU to do
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this. If someone writes up a quick way to do this, I'll include it in this
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posting.
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A signature file typically has your real full name, plus a short list of
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addresses. Under no circumstances should your signature be longer than 4
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lines. Signatures should have your name and affiliation, plus your
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preferred electronic mail address. If you can squeeze your mailing address
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and phone number onto a single line, put that in too. This leaves you a
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whole line for personal creativity. More than that is an expensive waste of
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network resources---it might not cost YOU anything to send the message out,
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but thousands of people are paying phone bills to send it across the US and
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around the world. Do not include cute graphics, boxes, or extended
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non-crucial information in your signature.
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3. What return addresses should I put in my signature?
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Some readers will be able to get your return mail address from the header
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of something you post. Very often, however, the address will be damaged in
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transit, so you can make it much easier on them by including your preferred
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mail address. Normally, a maximum of two addresses are
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appropriate---putting your CompuServe/Telemail/MCI/GEnie address in, or the
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address of a system you don't check every day is unlikely to be useful to
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anyone. If you are on a BITNET-only node, simply include your node name in
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the BITNET domain, like this: jms@arizmis.bitnet. If you're directly
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connected to the Internet, put in your Internet address, like this:
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jms@mis.arizona.edu. If you're not directly connected, try to express your
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address in terms of a nearby gateway, like this:
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jms%evax2@rvax.ccit.arizona.edu. While most mailers are smart enough to
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deal with domain name system hosts which aren't directly connected
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(sometimes called MX-record systems), it turns out that VMS mailers
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typically can't, and people won't be able to figure out what's going on.
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Your system administrator will be able to tell you if you're directly
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connected or not; one of the nice things about the domain name addresses is
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that you can't tell just by looking at the address. If you're a part of
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usenet, your return address should include some relatively well-known site,
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like this: arizona!small!smaller!smallest!user. Finally, don't try to
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second-guess mailers. If you're on BITNET, don't advise Internet users on
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how to send you mail---you'll be wrong about half the time.
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Your parents' postal address, an Email address of only local significance,
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or your longitude and latitude are only useful to (a) your parents' friends,
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(b) people at your site, or (c) operators of thermonuclear devices. None of
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(a), (b), or (c) read Info-VAX. Note that there's nothing wrong with having
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multiple signature files (each used for different "kinds" of postings).
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4. How can I make sure that my message gets through ungarbled?
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There are a couple of good rules. Keeping the lines of your message under
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80 characters, and under 72 if possible, will make sure that everyone can
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read what you have written. Leaving out all special control characters is
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another idea. In particular, tabs probably will get screwed up somewhere
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along the way. Finally, if you intend to put in characters which are
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somewhat off the beaten path, you may want to include a translation table at
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the end, giving the character and the name, so if a tilde comes out as an
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ampersand, the reader knows how to map properly. This is a particular
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problem for BITNET users. You might opt to use VMS_SHARE which encodes text
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files (they are semi-readable until you decode them.)
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5. Why do I see replies before the question?
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Info-VAX is asynchronous---messages flow in what should be considered a
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completely random way. What you think is the previous message probably
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isn't; your reply may well get to sites before the message you're replying
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to. If you reply to a message, excerpt the message you're replying to so
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that readers have a little context. Including the ENTIRE message, however,
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is in very bad taste. Cut it down to the minimum needed to remind the
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reader what's going on.
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6. I'm going to write a letter to the President of Digital because some
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Digital employee said ...
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Don't forget that we're all people out here. The nature of Info-VAX makes
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it easy to forget this. If someone writes something which you think is
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totally outrageous, a public computer conference is NOT the place to take
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the issue up; this is one of the reasons that mail was invented. All
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messages on any conference should be considered (a) in the public domain,
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for you never know who will excerpt and reprint your words and (b) the
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opinion of the author only, not their company.
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7. Someone posted a 28 part software package, and I didn't get part 26.
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What do I do?
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There are lots of things you can do; the one thing you DON'T do is send a
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message out to Info-VAX asking if someone can please resend part 26.
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Instead send a message to the poster of the other 27 parts asking them to
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send you part 26.
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In general, the answers to questions 6 and 7 can be boiled down to this:
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when possible, use electronic mail. Anything which is of primary interest
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to a single person only should be directed to that person, not to the other
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50,000 people who read Info-VAX. This includes, but is not limited to:
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o A Request for copies of answers they receive to a posted question.
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o A request to summarize answers and post them to the group.
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o A message telling someone that their answer is all wrong (let the
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poster correct the mistake; you're probably not the only one who
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noticed the error).
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o A message telling someone that something they said is inappropriate
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for Info-VAX.
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Actually, if someone sends out something particularly obnoxious, the last
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resort is to forward it to their system administrator, usually an account
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called "postmaster." This should only be done after personal mail to the
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person has failed to get results. Everyone else on Info-VAX saw the original
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message; posting a message to the entire network won't help matters any.
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8. What does :-) mean?
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This is the net convention for a "smiley face". It means that something is
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being said in jest. If it doesn't look like a smiley face to you, flop your
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head over to the left and look again.
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There's also ;-) (a knowing wink), :-( (displeasure, bad news), :-| (Straight
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face or "no I'm not joking"). There are many variations, and the validity of
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publishing even this many on Info-VAX is pretty questionable :-).
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9. What is the address of foo company?
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Despite the fact that you can certainly get the address of virtually any
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company by sending out a broadcast to Info-VAX, doing so will earn you the
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scorn of your peers. Telephone books, trade magazines, buying guides, and
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directory assistance should all be tried before asking 50,000 people to
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check their files. This is not to say that all such queries are
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inappropriate --- obviously some companies are hard to find, and the
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multi-national character of Info-VAX means that some of this information is
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not readily accessible.
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10. How do I get from BITNET to UUCP, ARPA to BITNET, JANET etc etc?
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It's tempting to put these kind of queries on Info-VAX, but the answers vary
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so much from site to site that most answers you get will be meaningless.
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Ask your system manager. On the other hand, if you are a system manager,
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and you don't know, your question is best phrased like this: "We are
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running x Operating System using y Networking Software and attached using z
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Communications Channel to w Network. Can anyone suggest a way to increase
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our connectivity?" If you're a new site on a larger campus, other system
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managers on your campus will probably be able to give you better help
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faster.
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11. What is "anonymous ftp??
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"FTP" stands for File Transfer Protocol; on many systems, it's also the name
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of a user-level program that implements that protocol. This program allows
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a user to transfer files to and from a remote network site, provided that
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network site is reachable via the Internet or a similar facility. (Ftp is
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also usable on many local-area networks.)
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"Anonymous FTP" indicates that a user may log into the remote system as user
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"anonymous" with their network address as a password. This is sometimes
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useful to those sites that track ftp usage. Also note that most sites
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restrict when transfers can be made, or at least suggest that large
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transfers be made only during non-peak hours.
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Bitnet and Usenet users can not do FTP. There are similar facilities
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available to you; ask your system administrator.
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12. What does RTFM mean?
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It means this: "you have asked a question which I believe would best be
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answered by consulting the manual, a copy of which should be in your
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possession. The question you have asked is clearly answered in the manual,
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and you are wasting time asking all these people to read it to you." More
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specifically, "Read the F-ing Manual."
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If someone posts a question which you feel is best answered with "RTFM," the
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prevailing wisdom on Info-VAX is that it is more polite to mail your "RTFM"
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than post it.
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Other common abbreviations:
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IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
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FYI - For Your Information
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BTW - By The Way
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FAQ - Frequently Asked Question(s)
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FAQ when used in a context like "the FAQ" generally refers to a posting of
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answers to Frequently Asked Questions, such as this posting. Such postings
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are usually posted monthly on many newsgroups or mailing lists, so it is a
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good idea to try to find one if you join a newsgroup or mailing list. Note
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that a large list of all known FAQ postings in newsgroups is posted
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periodically in the usenet newsgroup news.admin (since "is there a FAQ for
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this group" is itself a FAQ).
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13. I couldn't get mail through to somebody on another site.
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Again, this answer is more a "don't" than a "do." DON'T post it to the
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entire list with the caveat, "I couldn't get mail through to this guy, so
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I'm posting instead."
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There are lots of good ways of getting in contact with people --- directory
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assistance if you don't know the phone number, or the phone if you do, as
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well as services offered by the US Postal Service, which can be had for a
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mere 29 cents. People outside of America have complained about the last
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sentence and rightfully so. I know that user-directory services are
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forecoming, but until then I guess everyone must make do.
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14. I just installed some new software; I want to test it out.
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Don't send a message to Info-VAX with the text "this is just a test; please
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ignore." Figure out some other way to test your software. People on
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Usenet can use misc.test for this purpose.
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15. OK, I've got a question for Info-VAX. What do I do ?
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Your question on Info-VAX should read like this:
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a. Here is our configuration.
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b. Here is an exact description of the problem.
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c. Please send replies to me; I will summarize and post a summary.
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Point (c) is very important. When you ask 50,000 people the favor of
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answering your questions, you should return the favor by gathering,
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summarizing, and posting your summary.
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16. Someone just posted a question I know the answer to. What do I do?
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It depends. If the answer is short, and likely to be repeated, send the
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reply to the poster, and suggest that they summarize and post a summary.
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If you think that you're the only one who will have the right answer
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(unlikely, but it happens) or, if you think that the answer you will write
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is so interesting that others will want to read it right away (you can be
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liberal in this judgment), then post it to Info-VAX.
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Many sites, particularly those outside the continental U.S. receive
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messages from Info-VAX four or five days after they were first sent. It is
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not uncommon for a message to generate twenty or thirty replys from sites in
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the U.S., followed, seven to ten days later by a fresh wave of replies from
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Australia and New Zealand. If you are not certain that you have something
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unique to say in your reply, wait a few hours before posting it. You might
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find that everything you wanted to say has already been said by someone who
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got the original message first.
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--
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Dick Munroe Internet: munroe@dmc.com
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Doyle Munroe Consultants, Inc. UUCP: ...uunet!thehulk!munroe
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267 Cox St. Office: (508) 568-1618
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Hudson, Ma. USA FAX: (508) 562-1133
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GET CONNECTED!!! Send mail to info@dmc.com to find out about DMConnection.
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