v.2007-09-13
WHAT IS ALT.COFFEE ?
Alt.coffee is a flow of posts (properly known as articles)
in a heirarchy known as a newsgroup in a system known as
Usenet, which is propagated over tens of thousands of servers
worldwide generally via a protocol known as NNTP.
WHAT ALT.COFFEE is not.
Alt.coffee is not a "site." It is not a web forum. It is
not affiliated in any way with Google or Google Groups. It is
not e-mail.
WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Usenet etiquette (or Net Etiquette, or Netiquette) evolved
over decades as a way to insure smooth communication between
people using literally hundreds of different versions of
newsreaders across different operating systems, on different
hardware.
You see certain message headers a certain way on Google
Groups but that's not the way everyone else sees them. You
might see certain threading characteristics in Outlook Express,
but that's not the way everyone else sees them. You may be
able to go back and read articles you've already read in
Mozilla Thunderbird, but many readers "delete" messages by
default once they've been read.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of different
configurations of different newsreaders.
In days gone by, it was often the case that you could read
the answer posted on Tuesday before you ever saw the question
posed on Monday. With today's higher network speeds, this is
pretty rare, but it pays to keep in mind that on servers off
the beaten track, it's still possible.
What do you make of a post consisting of the words,
"I don't think I agree in general. Point 3) seems
especially nonsensical though I actually do agree
with 5)."
Without context, such a post is completely meaningless.
Netiquette helps prevent such lack of context.
For these reasons and many more, it is a really, really,
really good idea to learn and follow the rules of Netiquette.
One of the better essays on this subject was posted to
news.newusers.questions. Although it covers e-mail as well as
usenet, it should be a must read for everyone posting via
google. Must read for anyone new to usenet. Highly
recommended even for old hands:
http://groups.google.com/group/news.newusers.questions/msg/ef611ff49276d2ef
For Google users:
Usenet is arranged in threads, not by the Subject, but by
Reference headers you don't normally see unless you click
'More Options' and 'Show original'. These headers allow
newsreaders to arrange the posts by order of who replied to
whom rather than the default chronological order.
To keep the threads in the proper order and avoid confusion,
click the 'Reply' option only in the message you're actually
referencing. This will include the proper attribution, and the
quoted text. Snip out excess quoted text.
Simple rule to know what to keep and what to snip: If it
clarifies the article when viewed as a stand-alone post, keep
it. If it clutters the post with extraneous content, lose it.
Remember, most people are not accessing your post through
google, but by newsreader. They may be seeing your post all
by itself, without any of the preceeding context.
When you hit "Post Message" it sometimes takes awhile. Be
patient. Don't repost when you don't see your article after a
few seconds, or even a few minutes.
Remember, Netiquette is, at its root, all about common
courtesy aimed at clarity in communication.
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