about another user, provided they have first created a `.plan' file.
Flame: Online yelling and/or ranting directed at somebody else. Often
results in flame wars, which occasionally turn into holy wars (*Note Flame
Wars to Killfiles::).
Followup: A Usenet posting that is a response to an earlier message.
Foo/foobar: A sort of online algebraic place holder, for example: "If you
want to know when another site is run by a for-profit company, look for an
address in the form of."
Fortune cookie: An inane/witty/profund comment that can be found around
the net.
Freeware: Software that doesn't cost anything.
FTP: File-transfer Protocol. A system for transferring files across the
Net.
Get a life: What to say to somebody who has, perhaps, been spending a wee
bit too much time in front of a computer.
GIF: Graphics Interchange Format. A format developed in the mid-1980s by
CompuServe for use in photo-quality graphics images. Now commonly used
everywhere online.
GNU: Gnu's Not Unix. A project of the Free Software Foundation to write a
free version of the Unix operating system.
Handshake: Two modems trying to connect first do this to agree on how to
transfer data.
Hang: When a modem fails to hang up.
Holy war: Arguments that involve certain basic tenets of faith, about
which one cannot disagree without setting one of these off. For example: IBM
PCs are inherently superior to Macintoshes.
Host system: A public-access site; provides Net access to people outside
the research and government community.
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion.
Internet: A worldwide system for linking smaller computer networks
together. Networks connected through the Internet use a particular set of
communications standards to communicate, known as TCP/IP.
Killfile: A file that lets you filter Usenet postings to some extent, by
excluding messages on certain topics or from certain people.
Log on/log in: Connect to a host system or public-access site.
Log off: Disconnect from a host system.
Lurk: Read messages in a Usenet newsgroup without ever saying anything.
Mailing list: Essentially a conference in which messages are delivered
right to your mailbox, instead of to a Usenet newsgroup. You get on these by
sending a message to a specific e-mail address, which is often that of a
computer that automates the process.
MIME: Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions. A currently (1993) heavily
developing extension of the Internet mail protocol, that enables sending of 8
bit e-mail messages, e.g. to support extended character sets, voice mail, FAX
images, etc. Read `comp.mail.mime' if you want to keep up with new
developments.
MOTSS: Members of the Same Sex. Gays and Lesbians online. Originally an
acronym used in the 1980 federal census.
Net.god: One who has been online since the beginning, who knows all and
who has done it all.
Net.personality: Somebody sufficiently opinionated/flaky/with plenty of
time on his hands to regularly post in dozens of different Usenet newsgroups,
whose presence is known to thousands of people.
Net.police: Derogatory term for those who would impose their standards on
other users of the Net. Often used in vigorous flame wars (in which it
occasionally mutates to Net.nazis).
Netiquette: A set of common-sense guidelines for not annoying others.
Network: A communications system that links two or more computers. It can
be as simple as a cable strung between two computers a few feet apart or as
complex as hundreds of thousands of computers around the world linked through
fiber optic cables, phone lines and satellites.
Newbie: Somebody new to the Net. Often used derogatorily by net.veterans
who have forgotten that, they, too, were once newbies who did not innately
know the answer to everything.
Newsgroup: A Usenet conference.
NIC: Network Information Center. As close as an Internet- style network
gets to a hub; it's usually where you'll find information about that
particular network.
NREN: National Research and Education Network. The future of the U.S. part
of the Internet. Said to be 50 times faster than currently (1993).
NSA line eater: The more aware/paranoid Net users believe that the
National Security Agency has a super-powerful computer assigned to reading
everything posted on the Net. They will jokingly (?) refer to this line
eater in their postings.
NSF: National Science Foundation. Funds the NSFNet, the backbone of the
Internet in the U.S.
Offline: When your computer is not connected to a host system or the Net,
you are offline.
Online: When your computer is connected to an online service,
bulletin-board system or public-access site.
Ping: A program that can trace the route a message takes from your site to
another site.
.plan file: A file that lists anything you want others on the Net to know
about you. You place it in your home directory on your public-access site.
Then, anybody who fingers (*Note Finger: Telnet,) you, will get to see this
file.
Post: To compose a message for a Usenet newsgroup and then send it out for
others to see.
Postmaster: The person to contact at a particular site to ask for
information about the site or complain about one of his/her user's behavior.
Protocol: The method used to transfer a file between a host system and
your computer. There are several types, such as Kermit, YMODEM and ZMODEM.
Prompt: When the host system asks you to do something and waits for you to
respond. For example, if you see "login:" it means type your user name.
README: Files found on FTP sites that explain what is in a given FTP
directory or which provide other useful information (such as how to use FTP).
Real Soon Now: A vague term used to describe when something will actually
happen.
RFC: Request for Comments. A series of documents that describe various
technical aspects of the Internet.
ROTFL: Rolling on the Floor Laughing. How to respond to a particularly
funny comment.
ROT13: A simple way to encode bad jokes, movie reviews that give away the
ending, pornography, etc. Essentially, each letter in a message is replace
by the letter 13 spaces away from it in the alphabet. There are online
decoders to read these; nn has one built in.
RTFM: Read the, uh, you know, Manual. Often used in flames against people
who ask computer-related questions that could be easily answered with a few
minutes with a manual. More politely: RTM.
Screen capture: A part of your communications software that opens a file
on your computer and saves to it whatever scrolls past on the screen while
connected to a host system.
Server: A computer that can distribute information or files automatically
in response to specifically worded e-mail requests.
Shareware: Software that is freely available on the Net, but which, if you
like and use it, you should send in the fee requested by the author, whose
name and address will be found in a file distributed with the software.
.sig file: Sometimes, `.signature' file. A file that, when placed in your
home directory on your public-access site, will automatically be appended to
every Usenet posting you write.
.sig quote: A profound/witty/quizzical/whatever quote that you include in
your `.sig' file.
Signal-to-noise ratio: The amount of useful information to be found in a
given Usenet newsgroup. Often used derogatorily, for example: "the
signal-to-noise ratio in this newsgroup is pretty low."
Snail mail: Mail that comes through a slot in your front door.
Sysadmin/Sysop: The system administrator/system operator; the person who
runs a host system.
TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.
TLA: Three Letter Acronym, such as IBM, DEC, etc.
TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The particular
system for transferring information over a computer network that is at the
heart of the Internet.
Telnet: A program that lets you connect to other computers on the Internet.
Terminal emulation: There are several methods for determining how your
keystrokes and screen interact with a public-access site's operating system.
Most communications programs offer a choice of "emulations" that let you
mimic the keyboard that would normally be attached directly to the
host-system computer.
UUCP: Unix-to-Unix CoPy. A method for transferring Usenet postings and
e-mail that requires far fewer net resources than TCP/IP, but which can
result in considerably slower transfer times.
Upload: Copy a file from your computer to a host system.
User name: On most host systems, the first time you connect you are asked
to supply a one-word user name. This can be any combination of letters and
numbers.
VT100: Another terminal-emulation system. Supported by many
communications program, it is the most common one in use on the Net. VT102
is a newer version.
*"It's is not, it isn't ain't, and it's it's, not its, if you mean it is.
If you don't, it's its. Then too, it's hers. It isn't her's.
It isn't our's either. It's ours, and likewise yours and theirs."*
-- Oxford University Press, "Edpress News"
*******************
By *Brad Templeton* (1)
The following is available as file `/pub/usenet/
news.answers/emily-postnews/ part1' on `rtfm.mit.edu'. The last changes were
made on 30 Nov 91 by Brad Templeton.
NOTE: this is intended to be satirical. If you do not recognize it as
such, consult a doctor or professional comedian. The recommendations in this
article should recognized for what they are - admonitions about what NOT to
do.
"Dear Emily Postnews"
*Ms Emily Postnews*, foremost authority on proper net behaviour, gives her
advice on how to act on the net.
*
Dear Miss Postnews: How long should my signature be? -
A: Dear Verbose: Please try and make your signature as long as you can.
It's much more important than your article, of course, so try to have more
lines of signature than actual text.
Try to include a large graphic made of ASCII characters, plus lots of cute
quotes and slogans. People will never tire of reading these pearls of wisdom
again and again, and you will soon become personally associated with the joy
each reader feels at seeing yet another delightful repeat of your signature.
Be sure as well to include a complete map of USENET with each signature,
to show how anybody can get mail to you from any site in the world. Be sure
to include Internet gateways as well. Also tell people on your own site how
to mail to you. Give independent addresses for Internet, UUCP, and BITNET,
even if they're all the same.
Aside from your reply address, include your full name, company and
organization. It's just common courtesy - after all, in some newsreaders
people have to type an *entire* keystroke to go back to the top of your
article to see this information in the header.
By all means include your phone number and street address in every single
article. People are always responding to usenet articles with phone calls
and letters. It would be silly to go to the extra trouble of including this
information only in articles that need a response by conventional channels!
*
Dear Emily: Today I posted an article and forgot to include my signature.
What should I do? -
A: Dear Forgetful: Rush to your terminal right away and post an article
that says, "Oops, I forgot to post my signature with that last article. Here
it is."
Since most people will have forgotten your earlier article, (particularly
since it dared to be so boring as to not have a nice, juicy signature) this
will remind them of it. Besides, people care much more about the signature
anyway. See the previous letter for more important details.
Also, be sure to include your signature TWICE in each article. That way
you're sure people will read it.
*
Dear Ms. Postnews: I couldn't get mail through to somebody on another
site. What should I do? -
A: Dear Eager: No problem, just post your message to a group that a lot of
people read. Say, "This is for John Smith. I couldn't get mail through so
I'm posting it. All others please ignore."
This way tens of thousands of people will spend a few seconds scanning
over and ignoring your article, using up over 16 man-hours their collective
time, but you will be saved the terrible trouble of checking through Usenet
maps or looking for alternate routes. Just think, if you couldn't distribute
your message to 30,000 other computers, you might actually have to (gasp)
call directory assistance for 60 cents, or even phone the person. This can
cost as much as a few DOLLARS (!) for a 5 minute call!
And certainly it's better to spend 10 to 20 dollars of other people's
money distributing the message then for you to have to waste $9 on an
overnight letter, or even 29 cents on a stamp!
Don't forget. The world will end if your message doesn't get through, so
post it as many places as you can.
*
Q: What about a test message?
A: It is important, when testing, to test the entire net. Never test
merely a subnet distribution when the whole net can be done. Also put
"please ignore" on your test messages, since we all know that everybody
always skips a message with a line like that. Don't use a subject like "My
sex is female but I demand to be addressed as male." because such articles
are read in depth by all USEnauts.
*
Q: Somebody just posted that Roman Polanski directed Star Wars. What
should I do?
A: Post the correct answer at once! We can't have people go on believing
that! Very good of you to spot this. You'll probably be the only one to
make the correction, so post as soon as you can. No time to lose, so
certainly don't wait a day, or check to see if somebody else has made the
correction.
And it's not good enough to send the message by mail. Since you're the
only one who really knows that it was Francis Coppola, you have to inform the
whole net right away!
*
Q: I read an article that said, "reply by mail, I'll summarize." What
should I do?
A: Post your response to the whole net. That request applies only to dumb
people who don't have something interesting to say. Your postings are much
more worthwhile than other people's, so it would be a waste to reply by mail.
*
Q: I collected replies to an article I wrote, and now it's time to
summarize. What should I do?
A: Simply concatenate all the articles together into a big file and post
that. On USENET, this is known as a summary. It lets people read all the
replies without annoying newsreaders getting in the way. Do the same when
summarizing a vote.
*
Q: I saw a long article that I wish to rebut carefully, what should I do?
A: Include the entire text with your article, particularly the signature,
and include your comments closely packed between the lines. Be sure to post,
and not mail, even though your article looks like a reply to the original.
Everybody *loves* to read those long point-by-point debates, especially when
they evolve into name-calling and lots of "Is too!" - "Is not!" - "Is too,
twizot!" exchanges.
Be sure to follow-up everything, and never let another person get in the
last word on a net debate. Why, if people let other people have the last
word, then discussions would actually stop! Remember, other net readers
aren't nearly as clever as you, and if somebody posts something wrong, the
readers can't possibly realize that on their own without your elucidations.
If somebody gets insulting in their net postings, the best response is to get
right down to their level and fire a return salvo. When I read one net
person make an insulting attack on another, I always immediately take it as
gospel unless a rebuttal is posted. It never makes me think less of the
insulter, so it's your duty to respond.
*
Q: How can I choose what groups to post in?
A: Pick as many as you can, so that you get the widest audience. After
all, the net exists to give you an audience. Ignore those who suggest you
should only use groups where you think the article is highly appropriate.
Pick all groups where anybody might even be slightly interested.
Always make sure followups go to all the groups. In the rare event that
you post a followup which contains something original, make sure you expand
the list of groups. Never include a "Followup-to:" line in the header, since
some people might miss part of the valuable discussion in the fringe groups.
*
Q: How about an example?
A: Ok. Let's say you want to report that Gretzky has been traded from the
Oilers to the Kings. Now right away you might think `rec.sport.hockey' would
be enough. WRONG. Many more people might be interested. This is a big
trade! Since it's a NEWS article, it belongs in the `news.*' hierarchy as
well. If you are a news admin, or there is one on your machine, try
`news.admin'. If not, use `news.misc'.
The Oilers are probably interested in geology, so try `sci.geo.fluids'.
He is a big star, so post to `sci.astro', and `sci.space' because they are
also interested in stars. And of course `comp.dcom.telecom' because he was
born in the birthplace of the telephone. And because he's Canadian, post to
`soc.culture.Ontario.southwestern'. But that group doesn't exist, so
cross-post to `news.groups' suggesting it should be created. With this many
groups of interest, your article will be quite bizarre, so post to
`talk.bizarre' as well. (And post to `comp.std.mumps', since they hardly get
any articles there, and a "comp" group will propagate your article further.)
You may also find it is more fun to post the article once in each group.
If you list all the newsgroups in the same article, some newsreaders will
only show the the article to the reader once! Don't tolerate this.
*
Q: How do I create a newsgroup?
A: The easiest way goes something like `inews -C newgroup ...', and while
that will stir up lots of conversation about your new newsgroup, it might not
be enough.
First post a message in news.groups describing the group. This is a "call
for discussion." (If you see a call for discussion, immediately post a one
line message saying that you like or dislike the group.) When proposing the
group, pick a name with a TLA (three-letter acronym) that will be understood
only by "in" readers of the group.
After the call for discussion, post the call for flames, followed by a
call for arguments about the name and a call for run-on puns. Eventually
make a call for "votes." USENET is a democracy, so voters can now all post
their votes to ensure they get to all 30,000 machines instead of just the
person counting. Every few days post a long summary of all the votes so that
people can complain about bad mailers and double votes. It means you'll be
more popular and get lots of mail. At the end of 21 days you can post the
vote results so that people can argue about all the technical violations of
the guidelines you made. Blame them on the moderator-of-the-week for
news.announce.newgroups. Then your group might be created.
To liven up discussion, choose a good cross-match for your hierarchy and
group. For example, comp.race.formula1 or soc.vlsi.design would be good
group names. If you want your group created quickly, include an interesting
word like "sex" or "activism." To avoid limiting discussion, make the name
as broad as possible, and don't forget that TLA.
If possible, count votes from a leaf site with a once-a-week polled
connection to botswanavax. Schedule the vote during your relay site's head
crash if possible.
Under no circumstances use the trial group method, because it eliminates
the discussion, flame, pun, voting and guideline-violation accusation phases,
thus taking all the fun out of it. To create an ALT group, simply issue the
creation command. Then issue an rmgroup and some more newgroup messages to
save other netters the trouble of doing that part.
*
Q: I cant spell worth a dam. I hope your going too tell me what to do?
A: Don't worry about how your articles look. Remember it's the message
that counts, not the way it's presented. Ignore the fact that sloppy
spelling in a purely written forum sends out the same silent messages that
soiled clothing would when addressing an audience.
Q: How should I pick a subject for my articles?
A: Keep it short and meaningless. That way people will be forced to
actually read your article to find out what's in it. This means a bigger
audience for you, and we all know that's what the net is for. If you do a
followup, be sure and keep the same subject, even if it's totally meaningless
and not part of the same discussion. If you don't, you won't catch all the
people who are looking for stuff on the original topic, and that means less
audience for you.
*
Q: What sort of tone should I take in my article?
A: Be as outrageous as possible. If you don't say outlandish things, and
fill your article with libelous insults of net people, you may not stick out
enough in the flood of articles to get a response. The more insane your
posting looks, the more likely it is that you'll get lots of followups. The
net is here, after all, so that you can get lots of attention.
If your article is polite, reasoned and to the point, you may only get
mailed replies. Yuck!
*
Q: The posting software suggested I had too long a signature and too many
lines of included text in my article. What's the best course?
A: Such restrictions were put in the software for no reason at all, so
don't even try to figure out why they might apply to your article. Turns out
most people search the net to find nice articles that consist of the complete
text of an earlier article plus a few lines.
In order to help these people, fill your article with dummy original lines
to get past the restrictions. Everybody will thank you for it.
For your signature, I know it's tough, but you will have to read it in
with the editor. Do this twice to make sure it's firmly in there. By the
way, to show your support for the free distribution of information, be sure
to include a copyright message forbidding transmission of your article to
sites whose USENET politics you don't like.
Also, if you do have a lot of free time and want to trim down the text in
your article, be sure to delete some of the attribution lines so that it
looks like the original author of - say - a plea for world peace actually
wrote the followup calling for the nuking of Bermuda.
*
Q: They just announced on the radio that the United States has invaded
Iraq. Should I post?
A: Of course. The net can reach people in as few as 3 to 5 days. It's
the perfect way to inform people about such news events long after the
broadcast networks have covered them. As you are probably the only person to
have heard the news on the radio, be sure to post as soon as you can.
*
Q: I have this great joke. You see, these three strings walk into a bar...
A: Oh dear. Don't spoil it for me. Submit it to rec.humor, and post it
to the moderator of `rec.humor.funny' at the same time. I'm sure he's never
seen that joke.
*
Q: What computer should I buy? An Atari ST or an Amiga?
A: Cross post that question to the Atari and Amiga groups. It's an
interesting and novel question that I am sure they would love to investigate
in those groups. There is no need to read the groups in advance or examine
the "frequently asked question" lists to see if the topic has already been
dealt with. In fact, you don't need to read the group at all, and you can
tell people that in your query.
*
Q: What about other important questions? How should I know when to post?
A: Always post them. It would be a big waste of your time to find a
knowledgeable user in one of the groups and ask through private mail if the
topic has already come up. Much easier to bother thousands of people with
the same question.
*
Q: Somebody just posted a query to the net, and I want to get the answer
too. What should I do?
A: Immediately post a following, including the complete text of the query.
At the bottom add, "Me too!" If somebody else has done this, follow up
their article and add "Me three," or whatever number is appropriate. Don't
forget your full signature. After all, if you just mail the original poster
and ask for a copy of the answers, you will simply clutter the poster's
mailbox, and save people who do answer the question the joyful duty of noting
all the "me (n)s" and sending off all the multiple copies.
*
Q: What is the measure of a worthwhile group?
A: Why, it's Volume, Volume, Volume. Any group that has lots of noise in
it must be good. Remember, the higher the volume of material in a group, the
higher percentage of useful, factual and insightful articles you will find.
In fact, if a group can't demonstrate a high enough volume, it should be
deleted from the net.
*
Q: Emily, I'm having a serious disagreement with somebody on the net. I
tried complaints to his sysadmin, organizing mail campaigns, called for his
removal from the net and phoning his employer to get him fired. Everybody
laughed at me. What can I do?
A: Go to the daily papers. Most modern reporters are top-notch computer
experts who will understand the net, and your problems, perfectly. They will
print careful, reasoned stories without any errors at all, and surely
represent the situation properly to the public. The public will also all act
wisely, as they are also fully cognizant of the subtle nature of net society.
Papers never sensationalize or distort, so be sure to point out things
like racism and sexism wherever they might exist. Be sure as well that they
understand that all things on the net, particularly insults, are meant
literally. Link what transpires on the net to the causes of the Holocaust,
if possible. If regular papers won't take the story, go to a tabloid paper -
they are always interested in good stories.
By arranging all this free publicity for the net, you'll become very well
known. People on the net will wait in eager anticipation for your every
posting, and refer to you constantly. You'll get more mail than you ever
dreamed possible - the ultimate in net success.
*
Q: What does foobar stand for?
A: It stands for you, dear.
*"News articles are separated into divisions called newsgroups. Each
division is supposed to limit itself to a single topic, and the name of
the group is supposed to give you some idea as to the content of the
group. These groups are then organized into hierarchies of related
topics. Usenet Network News started out with just two hierarchies, mod
and net. The mod hierarchy had those groups that had a person as the
moderator to edit and control the information. The net hierarchy handled
all other groups. With the release of B News and its ability to have any
single group be moderated or open, the great renaming was undertaken."*
-- Weinstein (1992)
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Copyright (C) 1991 by Brad Templeton. All rights reserved.
***************
============================================================
*The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)* was founded in July of 1990 to
ensure that the principles embodied in the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights are protected as new communications technologies emerge.
From the beginning, EFF has worked to shape our nation's communications
infrastructure and the policies that govern it in order to maintain and
enhance First Amendment, privacy and other democratic values. We believe that
our overriding public goal must be the creation of Electronic Democracy, so
our work focuses on the establishment of:
* new laws that protect citizens' basic Constitutional rights as they use
new communications technologies,
* a policy of common carriage requirements for all network providers so
that all speech, no matter how controversial, will be carried without
discrimination,
* a National Public Network where voice, data and video services are
accessible to all citizens on an equitable and affordable basis, and
* a diversity of communities that enable all citizens to have a voice in
the information age.
Information Infrastructure
--------------------------
EFF's Open Platform Proposal advocates that the nation's telecommunications
infrastructure providers offer affordable, widely available transmission of
voice, data and video information. The telecommunications infrastructure
must promote broad access and enable citizens to receive and publish a
diversity of information. In addition, a competitive environment must be
ensured to preserve the core principles of common carriage, universal service
and open standards.
In the near term, EFF supports the implementation of services such as ISDN
and ADSL, currently available digital technologies, for sending voice, data
and video at reasonable cost to consumers.
EFF supports federal funding to promote the development of network tools
and applications that will make the Internet and the NREN easier to use.
Although the NREN will be made up of services from commercial providers,
government also has a vital role to play in making grants to institutions
that cannot afford to pay for Internet connectivity.
Civil Liberties
---------------
EFF has been working to ensure that common carrier principles are upheld in
the information age. Common carrier principles require that network
providers carry all speech, regardless of its controversial content. Common
carriers must also provide all speakers and information providers with equal,
nondiscriminatory access to the network.
EFF chairs the Digital Security and Privacy Working Group, a coalition of
over 50 organizations-from computer software and hardware firms,
telecommunications and energy companies to civil liberties advocates-that
work on sound privacy policies in telecommunications. For example, the group
has worked to oppose the FBI's Digital Telephony proposal and
government-mandated encryption policies.
EFF is working to convince Congress that all measures supporting broader
public access to information should be enacted into law. EFF supports an
Electronic Freedom of Information Act and other legislation to make
information more accessible to citizens in electronic formats.
EFF supports both legal and technical means to enhance privacy in
communications. We, therefore, advocate all measures that ensure the
public's right to use the most effective encryption technologies available.
Legal Services
--------------
EFF sponsors legal cases where users' online civil liberties have been
violated. The Steve Jackson Games case, decided in March of 1993,
established privacy protections for electronic publishers and users of
electronic mail. We continue to monitor the online community for legal
actions that merit EFF support.
EFF provides a free telephone hotline for members of the online community
who have questions regarding their legal rights.
Members of EFF's staff and board speak to law enforcement organizations,
state attorney bar associations and university classes on the work that we do
and how these groups can get involved.
Community Building
------------------
EFF, in conjunction with the Consumer Federation of America and the
American Civil Liberties Union, coordinates and sponsors the Communications
Policy Forum (CPF). CPF enables nonprofit organizations, computer and
communications firms, and government policymakers to come together in a
nonpartisan setting to discuss communications policy goals and strategies.
EFF works with local organizations that support online communications
issues. In September of 1993, EFF will cosponsor a cryptography conference
with a group in Austin, Texas. Earlier this year, EFF sponsored a summit of
groups from around the country to discuss common goals. We also participate
in an online mailing list for organizations that share our interests.
EFF is a funder and organizer of the annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy
conference, where academics, civil libertarians, law enforcement officials
and computer users all meet to discuss the privacy implications of
communicating online. Each year at the conference, EFF presents its Pioneer
awards to individuals who have made significant contributions to computer
communications.
EFF maintains several communications forums online. We have our own
Internet node, eff.org, which houses our FTP and Gopher sites and our
discussion areas, `comp.org.eff.talk' and `comp.org.eff.news'. EFF also
maintains conferences on the *Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL)*,
*CompuServe* and *America Online*.
======================
Internet and USENET
-------------------
General information requests, including requests to be added to the
EFFector Online mailing list, can be sent to.
If you receive any USENET newsgroups, your site may carry the newsgroups
`comp.org.eff.news' and `comp.org.eff.talk'. The former is a moderated
newsgroup for announcements, newsletters, and other information; the latter
is an unmoderated discussion group for discussing EFF and issues relating to
the electronic frontier.
For those unable to read the newsgroups, there are redistributions via
electronic mail. Send requests to be added to or dropped from the
`comp.org.eff.news' mailing list to. For the
`comp.org.eff.talk' mailing list, send a note to.
Please note that eff-talk can be extremely high-volume at times.
A document library containing all EFF news releases and other publications
of interest, including John Perry Barlow's history of EFF, "Crime and
Puzzlement", is available via anonymous FTP from `ftp.eff.org'. Send a note
to if you have questions or are unable to use FTP. This
archive is also accessible via Gopher. Try `gopher gopher.eff.org'.
The WELL
--------
The WELL is host to an active EFF conference, as well as many other related
conferences of interest to EFF supporters. Access to the WELL is $15/month
plus $2/hour. Telecom access is available through the CompuServe Packet
Network for an additional $4.50/hour. If you have an Internet connection, you
can reach the WELL via telnet at `well.sf.ca.us'; otherwise, dial +1 415 332
6106 (data). The WELL's voice number is +1 415 332 4335.
CompuServe
----------
Our forum on CompuServe is also open. `GO EFFSIG' to join. Many of the
files on `ftp.eff.org', as well as other items of interest, are mirrored in
the EFFSIG Libraries.
America Online
--------------
EFF hosts a Special Interest Group on America Online as part of the
*Macintosh Communications Forum (MCM)*. `GOTO Keyword EFF' to join. Many of
the files on `ftp.eff.org', as well as other items of interest, are mirrored
in this forum. In addition, EFF sponsors an interactive discussion on this
forum the second Saturday night of each month at 9:00 p.m. ET.
================================================
I wish to become a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I
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Special Contribution
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Documents Available in Hard Copy Form
The following documents are available free of charge from the Electronic
Frontier Foundation. Please indicate any of the documents you wish to
receive.
___ Open Platform Proposal - EFF's proposal for a national
telecommunications infrastructure. 12 pages. July, 1992
___ An Analysis of the FBI Digital Telephony Proposal - Response of
EFF-organized coalition to the FBI's digital telephony proposal of Fall,
1992. 8 pages. September, 1992.
___ Building the Open Road: The NREN and the National Public Network - A
discussion of the National Research and Education Network as a prototype for
a National Public Network. 20 pages. May, 1992.
___ Innovative Services Delivered Now: ISDN Applications at Home, School,
the Workplace and Beyond - A compilation of ISDN applications currently in
use. 29 pages. January, 1993.
___ Decrypting the Puzzle Palace - John Perry Barlow's argument for strong
encryption and the need for an end to U.S. policies preventing its
development and use. 13 pages. May, 1992.
___ Crime and Puzzlement - John Perry Barlow's piece on the founding of
the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the world of hackers, crackers and
those accused of computer crimes. 24 pages. June, 1990.
___ Networks & Policy - A quarterly newsletter detailing EFF's activities
and achievements.
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Get GUMMed
*"The Gurus of Unix Meeting of Minds (GUMM) takes place Wednesday, April
1, 2076 (check THAT in your perpetual calendar program), 14 feet above the
ground directly in front of the Milpitas Gumps. Members will grep each other
by the hand (after intro), yacc a lot, smoke filtered chroots in pipes, chown
with forks, use the wc (unless uuclean), fseek nice zombie processes, strip,
and sleep, but not, we hope, od. Three days will be devoted to discussion of
the ramifications of whodo. Two seconds have been allotted for a complete
rundown of all the user- friendly features of Unix. Seminars include
"Everything You Know is Wrong," led by Tom Kempson, "Batman or Cat:man?" led
by Richie Dennis "cc C? Si! Si!" led by Kerwin Bernighan, and "Document
Unix, Are You Kidding?" led by Jan Yeats. No Reader Service No. is necessary
because all GUGUs (Gurus of Unix Group of Users) already know everything we
could tell them."*
-- Dr. Dobb's Journal, June '84
**********************
This appendix gives a list of country codes with e-mail accessibility. It
is helpful in finding-out if a country has easy access to e-mail and Internet
facilities and is aimed at general e-mail and Internet users. This file is
continuously updated and available by FTP from `rtfm.mit.edu' as
`pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/country-codes'. *Note Archiving:: below.
This document is based on *International Standard ISO 3166 Names*.
Compiled by OLIVIER M.J. CREPIN-LEBLOND (1) Release: 93.8.1
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Copyright (C) 1993 by Olivier M.J. Crepin-Leblond. All rights
reserved.
====================
FI
stands for FULL INTERNET access. This includes 'telnet', 'ftp', and
internet e-mail.
B
stands for BITNET access although the address may be in internet DNS
(Domain Name System) format.
* (Asterisk)
means that the country is reachable by e-mail. If this is not preceded
by FI or B, it means that the connection may be a UUCP connection. An
asterisk is included after FI or B for consistency.
PFI
stands for a provisional full internet connection.(+)
P
stands for provisional connection.
This is used when one or more of the following is true:
* address not verified or lack of address
* UUCP dialup not active
* net connection possible but not officially announced
* premature official announcement of connection
===============================
Networks such as MILNET (U.S. Army) have computers all around the world.
It is generally possible to assume that wherever there is a U.S. military
base, there will be a node reachable through gateways.
Private company networks such as for DEC (Digital Equipment Corp.), or Sun
Microsystems, for example, have nodes in many exotic locations. However the
connection may take place via UUCP and cost a lot of money. Those networks
have therefore not been included. In addition, those are PRIVATE networks.
Many companies (like U.S. Sprint, for example) offer commercial services
to many countries which are not readily available on the Internet. The
service is VERY COSTLY, usually takes place via UUCP or X.400 connections.
X.400 e-mail is usually charged to someone and if the telecommunication
carrier cannot find someone to pay for the message transfer, it will reject
it. As a result, those types of network have not been included in the list.
Although a user may RECEIVE e-mail from a user on those networks, one may not
be able to reply to it.
FIDONET nodes are NOT included. While all nodes agree to forward e-mail as
a condition to be included in the tables, the high cost of phone calls in
more exotic locations prompts some sysadmins not to want their site
publicised. Many FIDO nodes exist throughout the Middle-East and Africa.
=======
The situation changes from day to day. The growth in international
networking is such that the information contained in this document may be out
of date by the time it reaches you. If you have any update (i.e. knowledge
that a new country is connected), please send a message to
, including an example address from the country
reached so that it can be verified.
=========
While there are several hundreds of BITNET nodes in USA, none have a name
in the format `.us'. That's why the `.us' domain is only `FI' and `*'.
================
The domains in this section are special in that some of them are used in
more than one country. The domains which have full internet access are marked
accordingly. However, this doesn't mean that *all* of those domains have
full internet access. For example, only a small proportion of .mil
sites have full internet access. The same is true for .com sites, for example.
=================
There are two codes for United Kingdom, namely UK and GB. While UK is used
for addressing of most domains in DNS format, the field GB is used mainly in
the X.400 addressing of United Kingdom sites. However, there is an
increasing trend in some United Kingdom sites being directly connected to
Internet under the GB domain. The GB domain is hence a perfectly suitable
Internet top level domain.
================
This is the main nameserver as listed in the `rs.internic.net' database.
Those often change as the network grows, and it is hard to keep track of all
Flame: Online yelling and/or ranting directed at somebody else. Often
results in flame wars, which occasionally turn into holy wars (*Note Flame
Wars to Killfiles::).
Followup: A Usenet posting that is a response to an earlier message.
Foo/foobar: A sort of online algebraic place holder, for example: "If you
want to know when another site is run by a for-profit company, look for an
address in the form of
Fortune cookie: An inane/witty/profund comment that can be found around
the net.
Freeware: Software that doesn't cost anything.
FTP: File-transfer Protocol. A system for transferring files across the
Net.
Get a life: What to say to somebody who has, perhaps, been spending a wee
bit too much time in front of a computer.
GIF: Graphics Interchange Format. A format developed in the mid-1980s by
CompuServe for use in photo-quality graphics images. Now commonly used
everywhere online.
GNU: Gnu's Not Unix. A project of the Free Software Foundation to write a
free version of the Unix operating system.
Handshake: Two modems trying to connect first do this to agree on how to
transfer data.
Hang: When a modem fails to hang up.
Holy war: Arguments that involve certain basic tenets of faith, about
which one cannot disagree without setting one of these off. For example: IBM
PCs are inherently superior to Macintoshes.
Host system: A public-access site; provides Net access to people outside
the research and government community.
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion.
Internet: A worldwide system for linking smaller computer networks
together. Networks connected through the Internet use a particular set of
communications standards to communicate, known as TCP/IP.
Killfile: A file that lets you filter Usenet postings to some extent, by
excluding messages on certain topics or from certain people.
Log on/log in: Connect to a host system or public-access site.
Log off: Disconnect from a host system.
Lurk: Read messages in a Usenet newsgroup without ever saying anything.
Mailing list: Essentially a conference in which messages are delivered
right to your mailbox, instead of to a Usenet newsgroup. You get on these by
sending a message to a specific e-mail address, which is often that of a
computer that automates the process.
MIME: Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions. A currently (1993) heavily
developing extension of the Internet mail protocol, that enables sending of 8
bit e-mail messages, e.g. to support extended character sets, voice mail, FAX
images, etc. Read `comp.mail.mime' if you want to keep up with new
developments.
MOTSS: Members of the Same Sex. Gays and Lesbians online. Originally an
acronym used in the 1980 federal census.
Net.god: One who has been online since the beginning, who knows all and
who has done it all.
Net.personality: Somebody sufficiently opinionated/flaky/with plenty of
time on his hands to regularly post in dozens of different Usenet newsgroups,
whose presence is known to thousands of people.
Net.police: Derogatory term for those who would impose their standards on
other users of the Net. Often used in vigorous flame wars (in which it
occasionally mutates to Net.nazis).
Netiquette: A set of common-sense guidelines for not annoying others.
Network: A communications system that links two or more computers. It can
be as simple as a cable strung between two computers a few feet apart or as
complex as hundreds of thousands of computers around the world linked through
fiber optic cables, phone lines and satellites.
Newbie: Somebody new to the Net. Often used derogatorily by net.veterans
who have forgotten that, they, too, were once newbies who did not innately
know the answer to everything.
Newsgroup: A Usenet conference.
NIC: Network Information Center. As close as an Internet- style network
gets to a hub; it's usually where you'll find information about that
particular network.
NREN: National Research and Education Network. The future of the U.S. part
of the Internet. Said to be 50 times faster than currently (1993).
NSA line eater: The more aware/paranoid Net users believe that the
National Security Agency has a super-powerful computer assigned to reading
everything posted on the Net. They will jokingly (?) refer to this line
eater in their postings.
NSF: National Science Foundation. Funds the NSFNet, the backbone of the
Internet in the U.S.
Offline: When your computer is not connected to a host system or the Net,
you are offline.
Online: When your computer is connected to an online service,
bulletin-board system or public-access site.
Ping: A program that can trace the route a message takes from your site to
another site.
.plan file: A file that lists anything you want others on the Net to know
about you. You place it in your home directory on your public-access site.
Then, anybody who fingers (*Note Finger: Telnet,) you, will get to see this
file.
Post: To compose a message for a Usenet newsgroup and then send it out for
others to see.
Postmaster: The person to contact at a particular site to ask for
information about the site or complain about one of his/her user's behavior.
Protocol: The method used to transfer a file between a host system and
your computer. There are several types, such as Kermit, YMODEM and ZMODEM.
Prompt: When the host system asks you to do something and waits for you to
respond. For example, if you see "login:" it means type your user name.
README: Files found on FTP sites that explain what is in a given FTP
directory or which provide other useful information (such as how to use FTP).
Real Soon Now: A vague term used to describe when something will actually
happen.
RFC: Request for Comments. A series of documents that describe various
technical aspects of the Internet.
ROTFL: Rolling on the Floor Laughing. How to respond to a particularly
funny comment.
ROT13: A simple way to encode bad jokes, movie reviews that give away the
ending, pornography, etc. Essentially, each letter in a message is replace
by the letter 13 spaces away from it in the alphabet. There are online
decoders to read these; nn has one built in.
RTFM: Read the, uh, you know, Manual. Often used in flames against people
who ask computer-related questions that could be easily answered with a few
minutes with a manual. More politely: RTM.
Screen capture: A part of your communications software that opens a file
on your computer and saves to it whatever scrolls past on the screen while
connected to a host system.
Server: A computer that can distribute information or files automatically
in response to specifically worded e-mail requests.
Shareware: Software that is freely available on the Net, but which, if you
like and use it, you should send in the fee requested by the author, whose
name and address will be found in a file distributed with the software.
.sig file: Sometimes, `.signature' file. A file that, when placed in your
home directory on your public-access site, will automatically be appended to
every Usenet posting you write.
.sig quote: A profound/witty/quizzical/whatever quote that you include in
your `.sig' file.
Signal-to-noise ratio: The amount of useful information to be found in a
given Usenet newsgroup. Often used derogatorily, for example: "the
signal-to-noise ratio in this newsgroup is pretty low."
Snail mail: Mail that comes through a slot in your front door.
Sysadmin/Sysop: The system administrator/system operator; the person who
runs a host system.
TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.
TLA: Three Letter Acronym, such as IBM, DEC, etc.
TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The particular
system for transferring information over a computer network that is at the
heart of the Internet.
Telnet: A program that lets you connect to other computers on the Internet.
Terminal emulation: There are several methods for determining how your
keystrokes and screen interact with a public-access site's operating system.
Most communications programs offer a choice of "emulations" that let you
mimic the keyboard that would normally be attached directly to the
host-system computer.
UUCP: Unix-to-Unix CoPy. A method for transferring Usenet postings and
e-mail that requires far fewer net resources than TCP/IP, but which can
result in considerably slower transfer times.
Upload: Copy a file from your computer to a host system.
User name: On most host systems, the first time you connect you are asked
to supply a one-word user name. This can be any combination of letters and
numbers.
VT100: Another terminal-emulation system. Supported by many
communications program, it is the most common one in use on the Net. VT102
is a newer version.
*"It's is not, it isn't ain't, and it's it's, not its, if you mean it is.
If you don't, it's its. Then too, it's hers. It isn't her's.
It isn't our's either. It's ours, and likewise yours and theirs."*
-- Oxford University Press, "Edpress News"
*******************
By *Brad Templeton* (1)
The following is available as file `/pub/usenet/
news.answers/emily-postnews/ part1' on `rtfm.mit.edu'. The last changes were
made on 30 Nov 91 by Brad Templeton.
NOTE: this is intended to be satirical. If you do not recognize it as
such, consult a doctor or professional comedian. The recommendations in this
article should recognized for what they are - admonitions about what NOT to
do.
"Dear Emily Postnews"
*Ms Emily Postnews*, foremost authority on proper net behaviour, gives her
advice on how to act on the net.
*
Dear Miss Postnews: How long should my signature be? -
A: Dear Verbose: Please try and make your signature as long as you can.
It's much more important than your article, of course, so try to have more
lines of signature than actual text.
Try to include a large graphic made of ASCII characters, plus lots of cute
quotes and slogans. People will never tire of reading these pearls of wisdom
again and again, and you will soon become personally associated with the joy
each reader feels at seeing yet another delightful repeat of your signature.
Be sure as well to include a complete map of USENET with each signature,
to show how anybody can get mail to you from any site in the world. Be sure
to include Internet gateways as well. Also tell people on your own site how
to mail to you. Give independent addresses for Internet, UUCP, and BITNET,
even if they're all the same.
Aside from your reply address, include your full name, company and
organization. It's just common courtesy - after all, in some newsreaders
people have to type an *entire* keystroke to go back to the top of your
article to see this information in the header.
By all means include your phone number and street address in every single
article. People are always responding to usenet articles with phone calls
and letters. It would be silly to go to the extra trouble of including this
information only in articles that need a response by conventional channels!
*
Dear Emily: Today I posted an article and forgot to include my signature.
What should I do? -
A: Dear Forgetful: Rush to your terminal right away and post an article
that says, "Oops, I forgot to post my signature with that last article. Here
it is."
Since most people will have forgotten your earlier article, (particularly
since it dared to be so boring as to not have a nice, juicy signature) this
will remind them of it. Besides, people care much more about the signature
anyway. See the previous letter for more important details.
Also, be sure to include your signature TWICE in each article. That way
you're sure people will read it.
*
Dear Ms. Postnews: I couldn't get mail through to somebody on another
site. What should I do? -
A: Dear Eager: No problem, just post your message to a group that a lot of
people read. Say, "This is for John Smith. I couldn't get mail through so
I'm posting it. All others please ignore."
This way tens of thousands of people will spend a few seconds scanning
over and ignoring your article, using up over 16 man-hours their collective
time, but you will be saved the terrible trouble of checking through Usenet
maps or looking for alternate routes. Just think, if you couldn't distribute
your message to 30,000 other computers, you might actually have to (gasp)
call directory assistance for 60 cents, or even phone the person. This can
cost as much as a few DOLLARS (!) for a 5 minute call!
And certainly it's better to spend 10 to 20 dollars of other people's
money distributing the message then for you to have to waste $9 on an
overnight letter, or even 29 cents on a stamp!
Don't forget. The world will end if your message doesn't get through, so
post it as many places as you can.
*
Q: What about a test message?
A: It is important, when testing, to test the entire net. Never test
merely a subnet distribution when the whole net can be done. Also put
"please ignore" on your test messages, since we all know that everybody
always skips a message with a line like that. Don't use a subject like "My
sex is female but I demand to be addressed as male." because such articles
are read in depth by all USEnauts.
*
Q: Somebody just posted that Roman Polanski directed Star Wars. What
should I do?
A: Post the correct answer at once! We can't have people go on believing
that! Very good of you to spot this. You'll probably be the only one to
make the correction, so post as soon as you can. No time to lose, so
certainly don't wait a day, or check to see if somebody else has made the
correction.
And it's not good enough to send the message by mail. Since you're the
only one who really knows that it was Francis Coppola, you have to inform the
whole net right away!
*
Q: I read an article that said, "reply by mail, I'll summarize." What
should I do?
A: Post your response to the whole net. That request applies only to dumb
people who don't have something interesting to say. Your postings are much
more worthwhile than other people's, so it would be a waste to reply by mail.
*
Q: I collected replies to an article I wrote, and now it's time to
summarize. What should I do?
A: Simply concatenate all the articles together into a big file and post
that. On USENET, this is known as a summary. It lets people read all the
replies without annoying newsreaders getting in the way. Do the same when
summarizing a vote.
*
Q: I saw a long article that I wish to rebut carefully, what should I do?
A: Include the entire text with your article, particularly the signature,
and include your comments closely packed between the lines. Be sure to post,
and not mail, even though your article looks like a reply to the original.
Everybody *loves* to read those long point-by-point debates, especially when
they evolve into name-calling and lots of "Is too!" - "Is not!" - "Is too,
twizot!" exchanges.
Be sure to follow-up everything, and never let another person get in the
last word on a net debate. Why, if people let other people have the last
word, then discussions would actually stop! Remember, other net readers
aren't nearly as clever as you, and if somebody posts something wrong, the
readers can't possibly realize that on their own without your elucidations.
If somebody gets insulting in their net postings, the best response is to get
right down to their level and fire a return salvo. When I read one net
person make an insulting attack on another, I always immediately take it as
gospel unless a rebuttal is posted. It never makes me think less of the
insulter, so it's your duty to respond.
*
Q: How can I choose what groups to post in?
A: Pick as many as you can, so that you get the widest audience. After
all, the net exists to give you an audience. Ignore those who suggest you
should only use groups where you think the article is highly appropriate.
Pick all groups where anybody might even be slightly interested.
Always make sure followups go to all the groups. In the rare event that
you post a followup which contains something original, make sure you expand
the list of groups. Never include a "Followup-to:" line in the header, since
some people might miss part of the valuable discussion in the fringe groups.
*
Q: How about an example?
A: Ok. Let's say you want to report that Gretzky has been traded from the
Oilers to the Kings. Now right away you might think `rec.sport.hockey' would
be enough. WRONG. Many more people might be interested. This is a big
trade! Since it's a NEWS article, it belongs in the `news.*' hierarchy as
well. If you are a news admin, or there is one on your machine, try
`news.admin'. If not, use `news.misc'.
The Oilers are probably interested in geology, so try `sci.geo.fluids'.
He is a big star, so post to `sci.astro', and `sci.space' because they are
also interested in stars. And of course `comp.dcom.telecom' because he was
born in the birthplace of the telephone. And because he's Canadian, post to
`soc.culture.Ontario.southwestern'. But that group doesn't exist, so
cross-post to `news.groups' suggesting it should be created. With this many
groups of interest, your article will be quite bizarre, so post to
`talk.bizarre' as well. (And post to `comp.std.mumps', since they hardly get
any articles there, and a "comp" group will propagate your article further.)
You may also find it is more fun to post the article once in each group.
If you list all the newsgroups in the same article, some newsreaders will
only show the the article to the reader once! Don't tolerate this.
*
Q: How do I create a newsgroup?
A: The easiest way goes something like `inews -C newgroup ...', and while
that will stir up lots of conversation about your new newsgroup, it might not
be enough.
First post a message in news.groups describing the group. This is a "call
for discussion." (If you see a call for discussion, immediately post a one
line message saying that you like or dislike the group.) When proposing the
group, pick a name with a TLA (three-letter acronym) that will be understood
only by "in" readers of the group.
After the call for discussion, post the call for flames, followed by a
call for arguments about the name and a call for run-on puns. Eventually
make a call for "votes." USENET is a democracy, so voters can now all post
their votes to ensure they get to all 30,000 machines instead of just the
person counting. Every few days post a long summary of all the votes so that
people can complain about bad mailers and double votes. It means you'll be
more popular and get lots of mail. At the end of 21 days you can post the
vote results so that people can argue about all the technical violations of
the guidelines you made. Blame them on the moderator-of-the-week for
news.announce.newgroups. Then your group might be created.
To liven up discussion, choose a good cross-match for your hierarchy and
group. For example, comp.race.formula1 or soc.vlsi.design would be good
group names. If you want your group created quickly, include an interesting
word like "sex" or "activism." To avoid limiting discussion, make the name
as broad as possible, and don't forget that TLA.
If possible, count votes from a leaf site with a once-a-week polled
connection to botswanavax. Schedule the vote during your relay site's head
crash if possible.
Under no circumstances use the trial group method, because it eliminates
the discussion, flame, pun, voting and guideline-violation accusation phases,
thus taking all the fun out of it. To create an ALT group, simply issue the
creation command. Then issue an rmgroup and some more newgroup messages to
save other netters the trouble of doing that part.
*
Q: I cant spell worth a dam. I hope your going too tell me what to do?
A: Don't worry about how your articles look. Remember it's the message
that counts, not the way it's presented. Ignore the fact that sloppy
spelling in a purely written forum sends out the same silent messages that
soiled clothing would when addressing an audience.
Q: How should I pick a subject for my articles?
A: Keep it short and meaningless. That way people will be forced to
actually read your article to find out what's in it. This means a bigger
audience for you, and we all know that's what the net is for. If you do a
followup, be sure and keep the same subject, even if it's totally meaningless
and not part of the same discussion. If you don't, you won't catch all the
people who are looking for stuff on the original topic, and that means less
audience for you.
*
Q: What sort of tone should I take in my article?
A: Be as outrageous as possible. If you don't say outlandish things, and
fill your article with libelous insults of net people, you may not stick out
enough in the flood of articles to get a response. The more insane your
posting looks, the more likely it is that you'll get lots of followups. The
net is here, after all, so that you can get lots of attention.
If your article is polite, reasoned and to the point, you may only get
mailed replies. Yuck!
*
Q: The posting software suggested I had too long a signature and too many
lines of included text in my article. What's the best course?
A: Such restrictions were put in the software for no reason at all, so
don't even try to figure out why they might apply to your article. Turns out
most people search the net to find nice articles that consist of the complete
text of an earlier article plus a few lines.
In order to help these people, fill your article with dummy original lines
to get past the restrictions. Everybody will thank you for it.
For your signature, I know it's tough, but you will have to read it in
with the editor. Do this twice to make sure it's firmly in there. By the
way, to show your support for the free distribution of information, be sure
to include a copyright message forbidding transmission of your article to
sites whose USENET politics you don't like.
Also, if you do have a lot of free time and want to trim down the text in
your article, be sure to delete some of the attribution lines so that it
looks like the original author of - say - a plea for world peace actually
wrote the followup calling for the nuking of Bermuda.
*
Q: They just announced on the radio that the United States has invaded
Iraq. Should I post?
A: Of course. The net can reach people in as few as 3 to 5 days. It's
the perfect way to inform people about such news events long after the
broadcast networks have covered them. As you are probably the only person to
have heard the news on the radio, be sure to post as soon as you can.
*
Q: I have this great joke. You see, these three strings walk into a bar...
A: Oh dear. Don't spoil it for me. Submit it to rec.humor, and post it
to the moderator of `rec.humor.funny' at the same time. I'm sure he's never
seen that joke.
*
Q: What computer should I buy? An Atari ST or an Amiga?
A: Cross post that question to the Atari and Amiga groups. It's an
interesting and novel question that I am sure they would love to investigate
in those groups. There is no need to read the groups in advance or examine
the "frequently asked question" lists to see if the topic has already been
dealt with. In fact, you don't need to read the group at all, and you can
tell people that in your query.
*
Q: What about other important questions? How should I know when to post?
A: Always post them. It would be a big waste of your time to find a
knowledgeable user in one of the groups and ask through private mail if the
topic has already come up. Much easier to bother thousands of people with
the same question.
*
Q: Somebody just posted a query to the net, and I want to get the answer
too. What should I do?
A: Immediately post a following, including the complete text of the query.
At the bottom add, "Me too!" If somebody else has done this, follow up
their article and add "Me three," or whatever number is appropriate. Don't
forget your full signature. After all, if you just mail the original poster
and ask for a copy of the answers, you will simply clutter the poster's
mailbox, and save people who do answer the question the joyful duty of noting
all the "me (n)s" and sending off all the multiple copies.
*
Q: What is the measure of a worthwhile group?
A: Why, it's Volume, Volume, Volume. Any group that has lots of noise in
it must be good. Remember, the higher the volume of material in a group, the
higher percentage of useful, factual and insightful articles you will find.
In fact, if a group can't demonstrate a high enough volume, it should be
deleted from the net.
*
Q: Emily, I'm having a serious disagreement with somebody on the net. I
tried complaints to his sysadmin, organizing mail campaigns, called for his
removal from the net and phoning his employer to get him fired. Everybody
laughed at me. What can I do?
A: Go to the daily papers. Most modern reporters are top-notch computer
experts who will understand the net, and your problems, perfectly. They will
print careful, reasoned stories without any errors at all, and surely
represent the situation properly to the public. The public will also all act
wisely, as they are also fully cognizant of the subtle nature of net society.
Papers never sensationalize or distort, so be sure to point out things
like racism and sexism wherever they might exist. Be sure as well that they
understand that all things on the net, particularly insults, are meant
literally. Link what transpires on the net to the causes of the Holocaust,
if possible. If regular papers won't take the story, go to a tabloid paper -
they are always interested in good stories.
By arranging all this free publicity for the net, you'll become very well
known. People on the net will wait in eager anticipation for your every
posting, and refer to you constantly. You'll get more mail than you ever
dreamed possible - the ultimate in net success.
*
Q: What does foobar stand for?
A: It stands for you, dear.
*"News articles are separated into divisions called newsgroups. Each
division is supposed to limit itself to a single topic, and the name of
the group is supposed to give you some idea as to the content of the
group. These groups are then organized into hierarchies of related
topics. Usenet Network News started out with just two hierarchies, mod
and net. The mod hierarchy had those groups that had a person as the
moderator to edit and control the information. The net hierarchy handled
all other groups. With the release of B News and its ability to have any
single group be moderated or open, the great renaming was undertaken."*
-- Weinstein (1992)
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Copyright (C) 1991 by Brad Templeton. All rights reserved.
***************
============================================================
*The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)* was founded in July of 1990 to
ensure that the principles embodied in the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights are protected as new communications technologies emerge.
From the beginning, EFF has worked to shape our nation's communications
infrastructure and the policies that govern it in order to maintain and
enhance First Amendment, privacy and other democratic values. We believe that
our overriding public goal must be the creation of Electronic Democracy, so
our work focuses on the establishment of:
* new laws that protect citizens' basic Constitutional rights as they use
new communications technologies,
* a policy of common carriage requirements for all network providers so
that all speech, no matter how controversial, will be carried without
discrimination,
* a National Public Network where voice, data and video services are
accessible to all citizens on an equitable and affordable basis, and
* a diversity of communities that enable all citizens to have a voice in
the information age.
Information Infrastructure
--------------------------
EFF's Open Platform Proposal advocates that the nation's telecommunications
infrastructure providers offer affordable, widely available transmission of
voice, data and video information. The telecommunications infrastructure
must promote broad access and enable citizens to receive and publish a
diversity of information. In addition, a competitive environment must be
ensured to preserve the core principles of common carriage, universal service
and open standards.
In the near term, EFF supports the implementation of services such as ISDN
and ADSL, currently available digital technologies, for sending voice, data
and video at reasonable cost to consumers.
EFF supports federal funding to promote the development of network tools
and applications that will make the Internet and the NREN easier to use.
Although the NREN will be made up of services from commercial providers,
government also has a vital role to play in making grants to institutions
that cannot afford to pay for Internet connectivity.
Civil Liberties
---------------
EFF has been working to ensure that common carrier principles are upheld in
the information age. Common carrier principles require that network
providers carry all speech, regardless of its controversial content. Common
carriers must also provide all speakers and information providers with equal,
nondiscriminatory access to the network.
EFF chairs the Digital Security and Privacy Working Group, a coalition of
over 50 organizations-from computer software and hardware firms,
telecommunications and energy companies to civil liberties advocates-that
work on sound privacy policies in telecommunications. For example, the group
has worked to oppose the FBI's Digital Telephony proposal and
government-mandated encryption policies.
EFF is working to convince Congress that all measures supporting broader
public access to information should be enacted into law. EFF supports an
Electronic Freedom of Information Act and other legislation to make
information more accessible to citizens in electronic formats.
EFF supports both legal and technical means to enhance privacy in
communications. We, therefore, advocate all measures that ensure the
public's right to use the most effective encryption technologies available.
Legal Services
--------------
EFF sponsors legal cases where users' online civil liberties have been
violated. The Steve Jackson Games case, decided in March of 1993,
established privacy protections for electronic publishers and users of
electronic mail. We continue to monitor the online community for legal
actions that merit EFF support.
EFF provides a free telephone hotline for members of the online community
who have questions regarding their legal rights.
Members of EFF's staff and board speak to law enforcement organizations,
state attorney bar associations and university classes on the work that we do
and how these groups can get involved.
Community Building
------------------
EFF, in conjunction with the Consumer Federation of America and the
American Civil Liberties Union, coordinates and sponsors the Communications
Policy Forum (CPF). CPF enables nonprofit organizations, computer and
communications firms, and government policymakers to come together in a
nonpartisan setting to discuss communications policy goals and strategies.
EFF works with local organizations that support online communications
issues. In September of 1993, EFF will cosponsor a cryptography conference
with a group in Austin, Texas. Earlier this year, EFF sponsored a summit of
groups from around the country to discuss common goals. We also participate
in an online mailing list for organizations that share our interests.
EFF is a funder and organizer of the annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy
conference, where academics, civil libertarians, law enforcement officials
and computer users all meet to discuss the privacy implications of
communicating online. Each year at the conference, EFF presents its Pioneer
awards to individuals who have made significant contributions to computer
communications.
EFF maintains several communications forums online. We have our own
Internet node, eff.org, which houses our FTP and Gopher sites and our
discussion areas, `comp.org.eff.talk' and `comp.org.eff.news'. EFF also
maintains conferences on the *Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL)*,
*CompuServe* and *America Online*.
======================
Internet and USENET
-------------------
General information requests, including requests to be added to the
EFFector Online mailing list, can be sent to
If you receive any USENET newsgroups, your site may carry the newsgroups
`comp.org.eff.news' and `comp.org.eff.talk'. The former is a moderated
newsgroup for announcements, newsletters, and other information; the latter
is an unmoderated discussion group for discussing EFF and issues relating to
the electronic frontier.
For those unable to read the newsgroups, there are redistributions via
electronic mail. Send requests to be added to or dropped from the
`comp.org.eff.news' mailing list to
`comp.org.eff.talk' mailing list, send a note to
Please note that eff-talk can be extremely high-volume at times.
A document library containing all EFF news releases and other publications
of interest, including John Perry Barlow's history of EFF, "Crime and
Puzzlement", is available via anonymous FTP from `ftp.eff.org'. Send a note
to
archive is also accessible via Gopher. Try `gopher gopher.eff.org'.
The WELL
--------
The WELL is host to an active EFF conference, as well as many other related
conferences of interest to EFF supporters. Access to the WELL is $15/month
plus $2/hour. Telecom access is available through the CompuServe Packet
Network for an additional $4.50/hour. If you have an Internet connection, you
can reach the WELL via telnet at `well.sf.ca.us'; otherwise, dial +1 415 332
6106 (data). The WELL's voice number is +1 415 332 4335.
CompuServe
----------
Our forum on CompuServe is also open. `GO EFFSIG' to join. Many of the
files on `ftp.eff.org', as well as other items of interest, are mirrored in
the EFFSIG Libraries.
America Online
--------------
EFF hosts a Special Interest Group on America Online as part of the
*Macintosh Communications Forum (MCM)*. `GOTO Keyword EFF' to join. Many of
the files on `ftp.eff.org', as well as other items of interest, are mirrored
in this forum. In addition, EFF sponsors an interactive discussion on this
forum the second Saturday night of each month at 9:00 p.m. ET.
================================================
I wish to become a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I
enclose:
$__________ Regular membership - $40 $__________ Student membership - $20
Special Contribution
I wish to make a tax-deductible donation in the amount of $__________ to
further support the activities of EFF and to broaden participation in the
organization.
Documents Available in Hard Copy Form
The following documents are available free of charge from the Electronic
Frontier Foundation. Please indicate any of the documents you wish to
receive.
___ Open Platform Proposal - EFF's proposal for a national
telecommunications infrastructure. 12 pages. July, 1992
___ An Analysis of the FBI Digital Telephony Proposal - Response of
EFF-organized coalition to the FBI's digital telephony proposal of Fall,
1992. 8 pages. September, 1992.
___ Building the Open Road: The NREN and the National Public Network - A
discussion of the National Research and Education Network as a prototype for
a National Public Network. 20 pages. May, 1992.
___ Innovative Services Delivered Now: ISDN Applications at Home, School,
the Workplace and Beyond - A compilation of ISDN applications currently in
use. 29 pages. January, 1993.
___ Decrypting the Puzzle Palace - John Perry Barlow's argument for strong
encryption and the need for an end to U.S. policies preventing its
development and use. 13 pages. May, 1992.
___ Crime and Puzzlement - John Perry Barlow's piece on the founding of
the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the world of hackers, crackers and
those accused of computer crimes. 24 pages. June, 1990.
___ Networks & Policy - A quarterly newsletter detailing EFF's activities
and achievements.
Your Contact Information:
Name: ___________________________________________________________________
Organization: ___________________________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Phone: (____) _______________ FAX: (____) _______________ (optional)
E-mail address: _________________________________________________________
Payment Method
___ Enclosed is a check payable to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
___ Please charge my: ___ MasterCard ___ Visa ___ American Express
Card Number: ____________________________________________
Expiration Date: ________________________________________
Signature: ______________________________________________
Privacy Policy
EFF occasionally shares our mailing list with other organizations promoting
similar goals. However, we respect an individual's right to privacy and will
not distribute your name without explicit permission.
___ I grant permission for the EFF to distribute my name and contact
information to organizations sharing similar goals.
Print out and mail to:
Membership Coordinator
Electronic Frontier Foundation
1001 G Street, N.W.
Suite 950 East
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 347-5400 voice
(202) 393-5509 fax
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization
supported by contributions from individual members, corporations and private
foundations. Donations are tax-deductible.
Get GUMMed
*"The Gurus of Unix Meeting of Minds (GUMM) takes place Wednesday, April
1, 2076 (check THAT in your perpetual calendar program), 14 feet above the
ground directly in front of the Milpitas Gumps. Members will grep each other
by the hand (after intro), yacc a lot, smoke filtered chroots in pipes, chown
with forks, use the wc (unless uuclean), fseek nice zombie processes, strip,
and sleep, but not, we hope, od. Three days will be devoted to discussion of
the ramifications of whodo. Two seconds have been allotted for a complete
rundown of all the user- friendly features of Unix. Seminars include
"Everything You Know is Wrong," led by Tom Kempson, "Batman or Cat:man?" led
by Richie Dennis "cc C? Si! Si!" led by Kerwin Bernighan, and "Document
Unix, Are You Kidding?" led by Jan Yeats. No Reader Service No. is necessary
because all GUGUs (Gurus of Unix Group of Users) already know everything we
could tell them."*
-- Dr. Dobb's Journal, June '84
**********************
This appendix gives a list of country codes with e-mail accessibility. It
is helpful in finding-out if a country has easy access to e-mail and Internet
facilities and is aimed at general e-mail and Internet users. This file is
continuously updated and available by FTP from `rtfm.mit.edu' as
`pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/country-codes'. *Note Archiving:: below.
This document is based on *International Standard ISO 3166 Names*.
Compiled by OLIVIER M.J. CREPIN-LEBLOND (1)
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Copyright (C) 1993 by Olivier M.J. Crepin-Leblond. All rights
reserved.
====================
FI
stands for FULL INTERNET access. This includes 'telnet', 'ftp', and
internet e-mail.
B
stands for BITNET access although the address may be in internet DNS
(Domain Name System) format.
* (Asterisk)
means that the country is reachable by e-mail. If this is not preceded
by FI or B, it means that the connection may be a UUCP connection. An
asterisk is included after FI or B for consistency.
PFI
stands for a provisional full internet connection.(+)
P
stands for provisional connection.
This is used when one or more of the following is true:
* address not verified or lack of address
* UUCP dialup not active
* net connection possible but not officially announced
* premature official announcement of connection
===============================
Networks such as MILNET (U.S. Army) have computers all around the world.
It is generally possible to assume that wherever there is a U.S. military
base, there will be a node reachable through gateways.
Private company networks such as for DEC (Digital Equipment Corp.), or Sun
Microsystems, for example, have nodes in many exotic locations. However the
connection may take place via UUCP and cost a lot of money. Those networks
have therefore not been included. In addition, those are PRIVATE networks.
Many companies (like U.S. Sprint, for example) offer commercial services
to many countries which are not readily available on the Internet. The
service is VERY COSTLY, usually takes place via UUCP or X.400 connections.
X.400 e-mail is usually charged to someone and if the telecommunication
carrier cannot find someone to pay for the message transfer, it will reject
it. As a result, those types of network have not been included in the list.
Although a user may RECEIVE e-mail from a user on those networks, one may not
be able to reply to it.
FIDONET nodes are NOT included. While all nodes agree to forward e-mail as
a condition to be included in the tables, the high cost of phone calls in
more exotic locations prompts some sysadmins not to want their site
publicised. Many FIDO nodes exist throughout the Middle-East and Africa.
=======
The situation changes from day to day. The growth in international
networking is such that the information contained in this document may be out
of date by the time it reaches you. If you have any update (i.e. knowledge
that a new country is connected), please send a message to
reached so that it can be verified.
=========
While there are several hundreds of BITNET nodes in USA, none have a name
in the format `.us'. That's why the `.us' domain is only `FI' and `*'.
================
The domains in this section are special in that some of them are used in
more than one country. The domains which have full internet access are marked
accordingly. However, this doesn't mean that *all* of those domains have
full internet access. For example, only a small proportion of .mil
sites have full internet access. The same is true for .com sites, for example.
=================
There are two codes for United Kingdom, namely UK and GB. While UK is used
for addressing of most domains in DNS format, the field GB is used mainly in
the X.400 addressing of United Kingdom sites. However, there is an
increasing trend in some United Kingdom sites being directly connected to
Internet under the GB domain. The GB domain is hence a perfectly suitable
Internet top level domain.
================
This is the main nameserver as listed in the `rs.internic.net' database.
Those often change as the network grows, and it is hard to keep track of all