***Posting FAQ***

Posted by BEI Design on March 23, 2009, 3:40 am

Welcome Sewists and new posters! Here are some guidelines
to posting to the sewing newsgroups. In case you are
wondering where you are and how you got here, you are in a
newsgroup, AKA "Usenet" which is a part of the internet
that has been around much much longer than the WWW, which it
is not a part of. These groups are not moderated.

This information is protocol and etiquette that has been in
use for over *20* years on Usenet (newsgroups are Usenet).
I have edited this from these sites:

http://metalab.unc.edu/usenet-i/usenet-help.html

http://www.aptalaska.net/~kmorgan/nnqlinks.html

Also, link to the news.newusers.questions web site,

http://www.geocities.com/nnqweb/nnqlinks.html

If you are seeking information on a common topic, try doing
search at

<
show/hide quoted text

Then, if you don't find your subject, post a basic question
to the group.

Be precise in your requests for information. If you are
seeking help on a technique, or are having a problem, the
more information you give, the more someone will be likely
to be able to help you with your request. Put some thought
into your header: "problem" or "I need help" are much more
likely to be ignored than a specific header such as " Help:
facing has wrinkles" or "where can I find fine linen".

There is a "what machine should I buy" FAQ.

http://www.cet.com/~pennys/faq/smfaq.htm

NO Advertising. NONE. No commercial ads, no auction notices,
no eBay announcements, no "for sale" private party ads, no
links to a commercial site; nothing. There are marketplace
groups for ads.(rec.crafts.textiles.marketplace) Ever been
to a Usenet group that has more ads than posts? This also
includes one line posts announcing commercial sites. And
yes, this is a grey area, but in past discussions the
overwhelming majority is in agreement that all ads need to
go the marketplace sites. If you would like to know more
about advertising on Usenet, here's a link to it:

Advertising on Usenet: How To Do It, How Not To Do It

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/advertising/how-to/part1/

Please don't argue with us about it should be OK for **you**
to do it.

Edit your replies. If you are replying to a post that is
rather lengthy, use your editing functions to pare the
message down. If you reply without leaving a portion of the
request in, and the header isn't clear, many people will not
know what you are posting about. If the subject changes in
the course of a reply, change your header so that people
will know what your post is about.

The sewing newsgroups are pretty chatty. Keep in mind that
not everyone may be interested in the non-sewing chatter
about kids, cooking, pets, parenting, religion, or whatever.
It's polite to put an [OT] for OFF TOPIC in the header,
either if the thread has "derailed" to not be about sewing
anymore, or if it's obviously not sewing related.

Please do not top post: this is putting your answer above
the comment you are replying to. It's hard to track the
conversation when you do this.

This is a public forum, and an international one. There may
be hundreds of people reading your posts. Many people have
to pay for their download/online time by the minute which is
the main reason for keeping headers concise and posts
succinct. Also, don't assume that everyone is in the USA;
they are not!!

No photos. This is not a binary group. Please post photos to
the web and put up a link. NO HTML either, this is a text
only forum.

Signature files: No more than 4 lines please. ( bandwidth
again) If someone is a participant in the group, it is
considered acceptable to list business information in the
signature file.

No "me-too-ism": it's a waste of bandwidth. So is, "I know I
saw something somewhere...."

Remember this is a public, unmoderated forum that reflects
each of us as individuals. If someone's posts really drive
you nuts on a regular basis, you can make them "go away"
using a killfile. This is an option in most newsreader
software that will block any posts by a specified sender.

Spam is any form of unwanted posts or email, usually
unsolicited, commercial, and bulk.

Please don't ask for an email only reply. DL put it very
well:

"I don't normally send an email copy unless it's
specifically requested, and I usually won't respond at all
to someone who says, "I don't normally read this group, so
please send me an email copy," but I don't mind at all
sending a copy to someone who says, "I read this group
regularly, but a lot of posts never make it to my server."

The difference is that the first person is basically saying,
"I'm too busy and too important to be bothered with checking
in the newsgroup for answers. I don't value your time in
composing a response, and maybe spending some time doing
research to answer the question, but _my_ time is too
valuable to waste coming back here to read it. I also don't
care if anyone else is able to benefit from the
responses--just send me the email."

Many many people have contributed to this over the years.

Thanks to all for links, editorial comments and input.

show/hide quoted text

Similar Threads	Posted
Posting FAQ	April 12, 2006, 12:17 pm
Posting FAQ	July 18, 2006, 12:29 am
Posting FAQ	March 21, 2005, 1:10 pm
Posting FAQ - or, NO ADVERTISING HERE!!!!	July 30, 2005, 3:54 pm
Posting FAQ - Please Read	August 23, 2006, 2:42 pm
TROUBLE POSTING	July 22, 2007, 12:22 pm
*Posting FAQ for alt.sewing*	February 22, 2009, 11:37 am
*Posting FAQ* Please read	April 29, 2009, 5:18 pm
posting 20050826	August 26, 2005, 1:27 pm
trying out posting using thunderbird TEST	June 23, 2006, 4:03 am