Users' Etiquette Guide to InterLink

             Users' Etiquette Guide to InterLink

            ====================================

             Copyright (c) 1990 Bobbie Sumrada   

               All Rights Reserved

   This document is for the exclusive use of InterLink member 

   systems and is not to be reproduced by any means, transmitted

   to, or mailed via any other electronic mail network, public 

   or private.

                            ---------

    

    Welcome.  This is an etiquette guide to the InterLink network.

Why do we need an etiquette guide you ask?  Simple.  Many new callers,

as well as our conference hosts and Sysops have asked for it. They 

feel that giving a new caller an idea of what is expected of them 

when they post mail in an InterLink conference will make all of our 

jobs just a bit easier.  This guide is not intended to tell you how 

to get a mail packet, or how to use an offline reader.  We're assuming 

you can either figure that out for yourself, or ask your Sysop to help

you.

This guide should get you, a new caller, "up-to-speed" quickly

and try to point out a few pitfalls that new callers traditionally

seem to fall into.  It should also serve to clarify some of our

network's common practices to our "pro" callers who have been BBSing 

a long time.  Many of these "unwritten rules" come down to us from 

callers and Sysops who have read thousands of messages and have been 

BBSing for years.  Some have been the direct result of lively 

discussions from our conference hosts who deal with problems like 

these on a daily basis.  Other items are the result of some of our 

more memorable fights. :)  In any case, if you follow them, you'll 

fit in with us just fine and well on your way to becoming a member 

in good standing.  If you choose to ignore them, expect to be 

reminded from time to time by our good hosts!

At the end of this document is a short glossary of terms used in

this guide in case you are unfamiliar with them.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

==================

1.  BE HELPFUL AND FRIENDLY

    The electronic aquaintances you'll make on our network may well

    turn into lifelong friends.  You may see a lot of characters in

    mail like :-) or :) or ;-).  These aren't line noise.  They're

    smiles (if you hold your head right).  You'll also see <GRIN>s

    and other manifestations of this idea everywhere.  Many of our

    callers use these little touches to indicate that the comment

    was meant to be humorous. 

2.  READ THE MESSAGE BASE TILL YOU'RE COMFORTABLE

    Jumping into a message base can be a scary thing at first.

    Read the conference description (which is available on your

    board in a bulletin or as a file - ask your Sysop) and understand

    what type of discussions are welcomed in the conference in

    which you want to begin participating.   Try to read several

    day's worth of messages before you post that first note.

3.  KEEP YOUR MESSAGES ON TOPIC

    When you do start to post, try not to stray off the topics of

    the conference.  If you are posting about religion in the BASIC

    conference, you are causing users to download messages they

    don't want.  They're reading BASIC to talk about programming.

    You are probably also duplicating topics that are under discussion

    in other, more appropriate conferences.  In the above example,

    it would be a good idea to move your thread to the RELIGION

    conference and ask the others to join you.  

    Another thing to avoid is posting personal chitchat messages 

    in technical and vendor support areas.  If you find you want 

    to chat informally with someone, move your thread to CHITCHAT 

    or pick up a phone.  It saves us all the expense of downloading 

    mail of a personal nature that we don't want.    Occasional 

    chitchat does happen in conferences.  It's to be expected 

    when people are comfortable and are having a good time.  But 

    when it threatens to become an unreasonable percentage of the 

    mail, or pulls the focus of the conference off-topic, or goes

    on a long time, the Host will usually step in and remind you 

    to "Take it to CHITCHAT!".

4.  POST ONLY PUBLIC MAIL

    InterLink does not support private mail.  That means that all

    your mail posted in InterLink message bases should be flagged

    "public" with the ECHO flag ON or it will not be sent out.

    When mail isn't sent, you'll naturally never get a reply.

    It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you do not cross-post captures

    of mail from other electronic mail networks, nor directly

    post copyrighted material without express consent of the

    owner of the material.

5.  MIND THE HOST/MODERATOR

    Hosts have volunteered their valuable time and efforts to

    be responsible for a conference.  By taking their advice, you

    can help make a conference useful to the maximum number of

    readers.  If they ask you to move a thread or request your

    cooperation in staying on topic, do it gracefully.  They have

    been empowered to enforce the rules in the conferences, should

    it become necessary.  This is generally done by discussing

    your behavior with your local Sysop.  You should know that

    access to conferences can be revoked, although this is not 

    frequently done.

    What's a conference host or moderator, you ask?  The moderator

    is a caller or Sysop appointed by Interlink to be responsible

    for a conference.

    The host:

        *  "chairs" the conference 

        *  helps spur new discussions and takes part in old ones

        *  answers your questions on conference topics/policies

        *  keeps conversation on topic and limits personal or

           "chitchat" messages, especially in technical, vendor-

           supported or specialty conferences

        *  guides you to other conferences when you require

           additional information not available in the current one

        *  routinely advises IL administration on the state of their

           conference and is responsible for keeping order when

           necessary

6.  NO PERSONAL FLAMES OR PROFANITY

    Although users are encouraged to express personal opinion in

    conferences where appropriate (such as Opinion, Politics, etc),

    the use of personal flames in messages directed at other members

    of the conference is prohibited, and can result in formal

    suspension and expulsion from InterLink by your Sysop.

    There is a difference between direct, personal attack directed

    toward an individual, and lively discussion or expression of

    personal opinion.  We encourage *idea* exchange, but if you

    cannot communicate those ideas without attacking another

    caller personally, you will be better off dropping the conference.

    Your moderator will let you know what is acceptable.  Remember,

    treat people as you would have them treat you.

    The issue of profanity is clear as well.  We all know the "Seven

    Dirty Words".  Avoid them in our conference message bases.

7.  AVOID DUPLICATIONS

    YOU can help us!  These hints will help your Sysop and all

    the other callers who download mail save money when they

    transfer your messages.  Remember, a LARGE percentage of our

    callers use long-distance or measured service to get their mail

    and all Sysops call long-distance to get the board's mail.

     *  AVOID UPLOADING DUPLICATE MESSAGES.

        Ensure that your .REP packet created by your offline reader

        is erased once it is uploaded successfully.  There are a

        number of good scripts and utilities available on the BBS

        that will help you do this.  Ask your Sysop for help in

        finding them.

     *  DON'T QUOTE EXCESSIVELY

        All offline readers offer "quote" functions.  Quotes are

        parts of the original message that you copy into your reply

        to help maintain the continuity of a thread.  Big quotes

        mean big phone bills for InterLink's member sysops, since

        these messages are effectively duplicates.  Experience also

        shows that people just DON'T READ posts with lots of big

        quotes.  Quote sparingly!!  Of all, this is the biggest

        and most blatant problem plaguing private e-mail systems.

        Help us stamp out big quotes!

           QUOTE GUIDES:

              * Whenever possible limit yourself to 2 or 3 lines

                of quote from the previous message to establish 

                the context of your reply.  Although there

                will be times when it makes sense to provide larger

                quotations, if you find your message is 15-20% quote, 

                you are probably quoting more than you need to.  

                

              * 50% or more quotation is almost certainly 

                unnecessary.  Trim it down!  It goes without saying

                that the following is urgently requested:

                DO NOT QUOTE THE ENTIRE MESSAGE.

 

              * Don't copy in a huge quote and leave a single line

                or short reply like "Right" or "I agree."  Think

                about all the bulk we all had to download to see

                this single line!

8.  HOW TO BUG YOUR FELLOW BBSer

    The following are small irritations in the big scheme of things,

    but after you have read thousands of messages little things tend

    to mean a lot.

     *  CUTE SIGNATURES.  Don't add 'extras' to your messages,

        like large fancy signatures, large quotes or pictures.  They

        are cute once, but people get annoyed seeing them over and

        over again.  They also waste message space.  If you must

        add a signature, make it small and tasteful.

     *  ANSI MESSAGES.  InterLink supports ANSI messages ONLY

        in one special conference, ANSI-ART, where you will be

        warmly welcomed.  Most mail doors will filter out/replace

        ANSI in mail, and without a 'translator' program such as

        VILANSI, your message will look like garbage.

     *  PCBOARD @-VARIABLES.  Use of PCBoard "@-variables" in

        network mail is reserved for hosts or Sysops - not

        callers.  

     *  KEEP YOUR TAGLINES SHORT.  If you use taglines at the bottom

        of your messages keep them to 1 line.  Some sysops don't

        like them at all and object VERY strongly if they take up

        extra space.  Use of encrypted taglines is prohibited.

     *  USE UPPER AND LOWER CASE LETTERS IN MAIL.  A message in

        all-caps comes across to the reader as shouting since all

        caps are used for emphasis.  A message without any capital

        letters looks childish.  Both are harder to read and invite

        the reader to skip your posts.

     *  DON'T REPLY TO EVERY MESSAGE.  A lot of new callers (and

        some of our experienced messagers) want to get mail, so

        they reply to everything.  This is silly.  Make your posts

        COUNT - put something substantive in your messages, not

        drivel.

     *  COMBINE THANK YOU NOTES.  When you get help from other

        callers combine your 'thanks' messages into one and thank

        EVERYONE at once or add it to a post that has information

        or more discussion in it.  This saves precious message space.

     *  BE AWARE OF THE ECHO FLAG.  This flag on your message 

        determines if it is to be sent out on InterLink (see glossary).

        If you intend your message to stay local (not echoed) be 

        sure the message has NO echo flag.  Examples of local-only

        messages are: "The file is on this board" or "Meet me 

        at Joe's at six".  Those reading these messages are scattered

        all over the world; it wastes their time to read traffic

        meant for the local crowd.     

9.  NO ADVERTISING

    Advertising is only accepted in the BUY-SELL conference(s).

    This does not prohibit messages that say, "You can buy this

    widget for about $50."  It DOES prohibit messages that

    say, "I'll sell you this widget for $50.  Call me at ... ."

    This type of sale must ONLY be handled in BUY-SELL.  Why?

    Because buying and selling is considered advertising, and just

    like commercials on TV, it disrupts the program (the conference).

    People are reading the conference for technical information or

    are there to socialize (depending on the conference).  That's

    ALL they want.  If they want to read ads, they go to BUY-SELL.

    Advertising for BBSs is also limited.  Some member systems

    require that all BBS ads be posted in a special BBS-ADS conference.

    Make sure you know what is acceptable in each conference before

    you post.  Hit-and-run advertising may get you locked out of

    the network.

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                                   GLOSSARY

                                   ========

@-VARIABLE    A collection of special words that are substituted

              online by PCBoard or your offline reader with your

              personal user information.  The original intent of these

              variables was to allow a Sysop to send "generic" messages

              with specific user information in them without having to

              type individual messages.  These variables are restricted 

              to use by Sysops and hosts on InterLink.

BBS ACRONYMS  In addition to the smiley faces:  :) :-) ;-) and friends,

              there are several shortcut ways of saying certain

              frequently-used phrases, such as:

                  BTW = by the way

                 OTOH = on the other hand..

                  IOW = in other words

                  IMO = in my opinion

                 IMHO = in my humble opinion 

                 FWIW = for what it's worth..             

                  FYI = for your information

CONFERENCE    A message base devoted to discussion of a specific topic.

              Conferences may be local or internationally echoed.

ECHO

CONFERENCE    A message base that is echoed internationally among a 

              number of boards.

ECHO FLAG     A flag or toggle on a message that marks it as

              capable of being sent internationally to all other 

    InterLink boards.  You set this flag when you enter or 

              reply to a message online, and ECHO ON is the default 

    for many offline readers.  If you set an Echo flag 

              "OFF" the message is not sent out over the network, 

              but all local callers can see it.

FLAMES        This term originated at MIT and migrated to the 

              Arpanet and Internet computer networks.  The story 

              was that the term was taken from a comic book character 

              who could turn himself into a superbeing by uttering,

              "FLAME ON!" at which point he flamed the bad guys, 

              then turned back into a normal person by saying, 

              "FLAME OFF!".  The analogy has stuck in BBSing.

              When we in InterLink talk about flames we mean nasty,

              personal attacks that go directly at people rather

              than at their *ideas*. 

MODERATOR     A sysop or caller that is appointed by InterLink to

OR HOST       monitor a conference on behalf of the member Sysops.

NETUSERS

CONFERENCE    A netwide conference for the feedback and comments 

              of InterLink callers.  This is the conference where

              you can suggest new conference ideas and ask questions

              and get answers about the network.

OFFLINE

READER        A program that allows you to read mail packets

              prepared in one of your BBS's mail doors (Qmail or

              Markmail).  These readers include: QMAIL DELUXE,

              EZ-READER and others.

QUOTES        When you reply to a message on PCBoard (online) or via

              an offline reader, you have the option of importing a

              section of the original message into your reply.  This

              part of that message is called a "quote".

MESSAGE BASE  A file on the BBS that contains all the messages

              posted in a particular conference.

THREAD        A collection of messages sorted by SUBJECT and DATE.

              Offline readers will often sort messages by thread

              to make it easier to follow a conversation.

VENDOR

CONFERENCE    A support conference specifically devoted to questions

              and answers about a particular software product.

              Vendor conferences on InterLink include: PKWARE,

              QMAIL, EZ-READER, 4DOS, etc..