99. Guide to Posting Style
Description
This article is from the Rialto FAQ, by Richard "Pug" Bainter pug@pug.net with numerous contributions by others.
99. Guide to Posting Style
Each line of text posted to the Rialto is stored on thousands of
Usenet machines, and is also processed through the digestifier
software and mailed out to every recipient of the digest. Many of the
readers of the Rialto must pay for disk space and connect time.
Keeping this in mind, here are some common-sense guidelines for polite
use of the Rialto. These are just suggestions: there are no rules.
However, following these guidelines would be a courtesy to your fellow
Rialtans, and to the good and generous institutions whose machines
support our communication. Many of these suggestions are adapted from
regular postings on news.announce.newusers, notably "Rules for Posting
to Usenet," "What is Usenet?", "A Primer on How to Work with the
Usenet," and "Hints on Writing Style for Usenet." If you have access
to that newsgroup, please take the opportunity to read these postings.
* Keep it short. Say what you have to say, but in the fewest words
possible that make your meaning clear. Brevity that obscures
meaning is not very useful.
* Quote only what you must from previous articles.
+ Don't quote someone's entire signature, or blank space.
+ Don't include an entire article in order to append a single
line of text.
+ Often a paraphrase will be clearer and more succinct than a
quote.
* Use white space as necessary for clarity in your posting, and no
more.
* Use a signature, but keep it short. People appreciate knowing who
and where you are (SCA and modern). Include your email address in
your signature, and enough of your name, titles, location etc. to
ensure an unambiguous identification. People do not appreciate
paying phone bills to transmit over-large signatures, and Usenet
etiquette frowns very strongly on many-line signatures or
signatures with graphics.
* Reply by mail, unless your message is going to be of general
interest. Of course, the Rialto is eclectic enough that a serious
discussion of almost any relevant topic will interest some people.
Use your best judgement to balance the level of general interest
against the cost of posting your message to the Rialto. Postings
whose content amounts to "you're an idiot" or "I demand you
apologize for ..." are most emphatically *NOT* welcome.
* If you have a problem reaching someone by e-mail contact your
system administrator, write to postmaster at your correspondent's
node, or ask someone on the net who seems to know a lot about
e-mail. Please avoid posting a message about it - you are trying
to send something to someone on ONE system. Posting sends it to
all the thousands of systems throughout the world that make up the
Rialto - which is going to cost someone, even if not you, a lot of
money.
* Please don't post local event announcements. This is another
"balance the general interest value against the cost" issue. Local
event announcements probably will be of interest to only a small
fraction of the readership of the Rialto. A brief mention of an
event in a signature, or a 2 or 3 line summary with "email for
more information" is perfectly in order.
* Write carefully. People reading your postings can't hear your tone
of voice or see your expression, and probably don't know you well
enough to know whether you are serious or joking. Sarcasm is
guaranteed to be misunderstood by someone. It is better to avoid
it entirely, or at least clearly mark it with something like
<SARCASM ON> ...sarcasm... <SARCASM OFF>.
* LOTS of people read the Rialto, and the newsgroup is completely
public. Don't post anything you wouldn't want to say in a room
filled with complete strangers, your boss, your parent's
relatives, reporters from the National Enquirer, the peerage and
royalty of your kingdom, etc. They might well be reading. Take the
time to re-read your posting, and to think whether you *really*
want to say that.
* Don't get offended, and don't offend others - most of the people
reading the Rialto are SCAdians, and would prefer being your
friend to the alternative. Treat people well and they will
assuredly respond in kind. If someone appears to be offended by a
posting of yours, especially if the offense is unintended, the
best response is to apologize via email. Also, note that "I'm
sorry you took it that way" is inadequate as an apology -- better
is "I'm sorry I offended you." The first implicitly shifts the
blame to the offended person, while the second does not.
* Use the subject line. If you can describe your topics in the
subject line of your posting, please do so. Posting with Subject:
Various is pretty pointless, isn't it? :-) If you are replying to
a previous posting, and you have shifted the topic, please correct
the subject line. Some people will make note of the previous
subject like this: Subject: Two-sword technique (Was Re: Pennsic)
* Avoid posting binary files. This includes graphic files (.GIF,
.JPG, .BMP, etc.) as well as most word processor files, and
especially file attachments. Even if your email system says it
does MIME encoding, don't count on the recipients of your message
being able to make sense of anything but a simple ASCII text file.
This includes binary files that have been encoded with UUEncode,
or a similar program. Such encoding will allow the files to pass
through news and mail systems without damage, but take up very
large amounts of space and network bandwidth. Instead of posting
these files, better to find a place to put them that is accessible
via ftp or http (World Wide Web), and post a note to the Rialto
announcing their availability. This will allow those who are
interested and have the technology available to make use of your
file to retrieve it at their convenience, while minimizing the
inconvenience and expense to everyone else.
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