ILink Etiquette Guide

---------------------

Version 4.0

March 2001

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

     CONTENTS

     I. Introduction
    II. Messaging Guidelines
   III. Hosts & Moderation
    IV. Glossary

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

I.        INTRODUCTION 

   A. This etiquette guide is for participants in the ILink electronic
      messaging network. It is of particular help to new participants
      so they can gain quick acceptance of others in ILink. These
      guidelines come down to us from those who have read thousands of
      messages and have been doing electronic messaging for years. Many
      are the direct result of lively discussions among those who deal
      with messaging problems on a regular basis and others are the
      result of some very memorable disagreements. In any case, follow
      these guidelines and you'll fit in just fine. If you were to
      choose to ignore them, you could expect to be reminded from time
      to time by an ILink Host!

   B. Hosts are a special feature of ILink messaging - a major reason
      why ILink is suited for general audiences. ILink messages stay
      on-topic, do not include advertisements, and are civil: no
      profanity nor personal attacks (flames). There is a Host for each
      ILink Conference who reads all conference messages and is
      empowered to moderate participants to insure compliance with ILink
      guidelines.

   C. The ILink messaging network consists of a number of Conferences,
      each of which focuses on a particular subject such as: Politics,
      Comedy, Windows, Seniors, etc. Most participants follow and
      participate in more than one conference; the ones that are of most
      interest to that person. There are too many conferences for
      any one person to follow all conferences.

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

II.      MESSAGING GUIDELINES

   A. Be helpful and friendly. The electronic acquaintances you make
      may well turn into lifelong friends. And because you cannot see
      that other person, or hear voice inflections that friends often
      add to their conversations, messages frequently include some
      special characters such as :-) or :) or ;-). These are
      smilies (if you tilt your head, :-> looks like a smile). You'll
      also see this and other manifestations of this idea everywhere.
      These little touches add much to the friendliness of electronic
      messaging.

   B. Read the description of conferences in which you are interested
      and understand what type of discussions are welcomed. Try to read
      at least several day's worth of messages before you post that
      first note. Read the conference messages till you're comfortable.
      Jumping in can be a scary thing at first.

   C. Keep messages on topic. When you do start to post, keep
      reasonably close the topic of the conference. If you are posting
      about religion in the Basics conference, you are causing users to
      see messages they don't want: they're reading Basics to talk about
      programming. You are probably also duplicating topics that are
      under discussion in other, more appropriate conferences.

      Another thing to avoid is posting personal chitchat in messages in
      technical areas. If you find you want to chat informally with
      someone, move your thread to ChitChat, direct e-mail, or pick up a
      phone. 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 move
      your discussion. 

   D. Public mail. All ILink messages are public: all messages posted
      to a conference are available for all conference participants to
      read. It is illegal for anyone to post copyrighted material
      without the express consent of the owner of the material.

   E. Post only plain text messages. ILink is a medium for people to
      communicate with each other in public messages. Therefore,
      encrypted or encoded data is not allowed in messages: do not post
      binaries, "UUENCODED" files, DEBUG scripts, or any other encoded
      file format.

   F. Keep messages short and focused as an aid to the readers. Limit
      message length to less than 400 lines.

   G. No personal flames or vulgarity. Although users are encouraged to
      express their personal opinions 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.

      There is a difference between a personal attack directed toward an
      individual, and a lively discussion or expression of personal
      opinion. We encourage *idea* exchange, but if you cannot
      communicate those ideas without attacking another participant
      personally, you will be better off dropping the conference. Your
      Host will let you know what is acceptable. Remember, treat people
      as you would have them treat you.

      We all know the "Seven Dirty Words". Avoid them in our conference
      message bases. 

   H. Do not reply to inappropriate messages posted by others. Saying
      nothing is one of the hardest things in the world when you are
      just crying out to "set things straight". Two major reasons:

      1. That is the host's job. It avoids creating personal conflicts
         because the host is speaking for all of ILink. Hosts are
         advised on how to handle situations plus the whole ILink team
         is there for the host to draw upon for their experience.

      2. Some participants will post messages who's sole purpose seems
         to be to agitate others. Such messages often say nothing of
         value: their authors blather on with the hope that someone will
         take the bait and pay attention to them.

         Those who have raised children recognize this as being just
         like a 2 year old's temper tantrum - its sole purpose is to get
         attention. Don't sell short the human desire for attention -
         its just that most people learn as young children to not
         inflict that personal desire on others.

         The only effective way to deal with such persons/messages is
         the same as for the 2 year old - ignore them.

   I. Avoid duplications. Please avoid posting the same message to more
      than one conference. This is called "carpet bombing". If you have
      a message that may be of interest to people in more than one
      conference, post it in the most relevant conference and post a
      short notice in other on-topic conferences to let others know
      where to find the complete text.

      Don't attempt to reply to every message. Some new participants
      are over eager to get mail but be patient, you will soon be
      exchanging mail with the regulars.

      Similarly, combine thank you notes. When you get help from other
      participants 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.

   J. Quoting. Quoting is a communication innovation that came into
      being in electronic messaging. Quotes are parts of the original
      message that are copied into a reply message to provide the reader
      with a specific reference and focus as an aid to understanding the
      reply.

      The challenge is to quote enough to quickly communicate with the
      reader but not so much that the reader must spend a lot of
      confusion time determining the context for the reply. Plus
      experience shows that people just DON'T READ posts with lots of
      big quotes. Quote sparingly!!! Of all, this is the biggest and
      most consistent problem plaguing private e-mail systems.

      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.

      Do not quote the entire message. This is becoming popular in the
      world of internet e-mail because it so quick and easy for those
      creating the reply. But it is very impolite because it wastes the
      reader's time digging out the relevant earlier statements.

      And, don't copy in a huge quote and leave a single line or short
      reply like "Right" or "I agree". Think about all the text others
      are expected to read to see this single line!

   K. Beware of hoaxes and urban legends. Sometimes you will see
      messages that ask you to "spread the word" that you can make lots
      of money, fight the government, do a good deed, or warn people of
      some online or real-life peril by posting copies of a message in
      lots of conferences. Below are some of the more popular hoax
      messages.

      Please do not post *or reply to* ANY messages concerning the
      following subjects, or any other message that urges you to copy it
      to as many places as you can:

         MAKE MONEY FAST: This is a chain letter originally from
         someone named "Dave Rhodes" that promises to make you thousands
         of dollars simply by adding your name to the end of a list, and
         posting the message to as many different BBSs as you can find.
         The fact is, despite what the letter says, this is a pyramid
         scheme and it's illegal in almost every part of the world. The
         only thing you'll make by posting this chain letter is enemies.

         DYING CHILD WANTS TO SET A WORLD RECORD: This story originated
         in England, where a young lad named Craig Shergold really was
         suffering from a brain tumor. His last wish was to become
         famous by receiving huge amounts of mail. His luck changed,
         however, when a wealthy benefactor in the US paid for medical
         treatment and Craig has now completely recovered and grown up
         and does NOT want to receive any more mail. The recipient's
         name and address has changed many times since then, but neither
         the Guiness Book of Records nor the Children's Make a Wish
         Foundation have anything to do with this scam. If you truly
         want to make a difference in the life of someone dying of an
         incurable disease, make a donation to your favorite charity.

         FCC MODEM TAX WARNING: This letter resurfaces from time to
         time, and warns that some government agency wants to tax your
         modem calls, and to post the message in as many places as you
         can. Sometimes the letters look very convincing and even
         contain docket numbers, but in every case to date, they have
         been completely false. If anything is likely to provoke the
         FCC into trying to regulate modem users, it is harassment from
         users who fall for this scam.

         "GOOD TIMES" MESSAGE VIRUS and other virus warnings: This hoax
         message claims that e-mail with the subject "GOOD TIMES"
         contains a virus that can somehow infect your computer and
         cause damage through the simple act of reading the message.
         The hoax message urges people to post copies of the warning in
         as many places as they can. You CANNOT get a virus simply by
         calling a BBS or reading a message, regardless of what the
         warning says.

   L. Common courtesies. 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.

      Use both 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.

      Use only ASCII (characters 127 and below, or Lower ASCII) in
      messages so that all computers systems can read the message. This
      is becoming more important with the growing use of voice
      recognition and a variety of techniques to accommodate those
      physically impaired. However, messages carrying non-english
      languages may use full ANSI (characters up through 255) because
      those languages may need the upper 128 characters.

      Signatures at the end of messages may contain information which
      serves to identify the author and, optionally, to provide the time
      and/or location of authorship and/or contact information such as
      an e-mail address. If the author is posting as a representative
      of a company, corporation or any other type of legal entity
      (including ILink), the name of that entity and the individual's
      title may appear in the signature. Don't add 'extras' to your
      messages, like large fancy characters, large quotes or pictures.
      They are cute once, but people get annoyed seeing them over and
      over again. If you add a signature, make it small - two lines or
      less - and tasteful.

      If you use taglines at the bottom of your messages, keep them to
      one line. Obscene or slanderous taglines are prohibited.

   M. No advertising is permitted except in the Buy-Sell Conference and
      those conferences which have been granted an exemption from this
      rule. If you are not sure whether or not a particular conference
      permits advertising, please ask the Host. 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 just like commercials on TV, it disrupts
      the program (the conference).

   N. Exceptions to the above guidelines may be approved for specific
      conferences. For example; foul language may be appropriate in
      Writers or Recovery Conferences, and binary coding such as
      UUENCODE and DEBUG scripts may be appropriate in some programming
      conferences. Check with the host.

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

III.      HOSTS & MODERATION

    A. A conference host is a participant appointed by ILink to be
       responsible for a conference. A host:

          * "chairs" the conference
          * helps spur new discussions and takes part in old ones
          * answers questions on conference topics/policies
          * keeps conversation on topic and limits personal or
            "chitchat" messages, especially in technical or specialty
            conferences
          * guides participants to other conferences when then require
            additional information not available in the current one
          * routinely advises ILink's administration on the state of
            their conference and is responsible for keeping order when
            necessary

   B. THE MODERATION PROCESS

      Hosts have volunteered their valuable time and effort 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 "their" conferences, should it become
      necessary. Please let the host deal with any problems that arise.
      Commenting on problems, especially flames and vulgarity, will only
      cause more trouble.

      And what happens, you ask, if a conference rule is broken?
      Usually, nothing. The host will send a message reminding the
      participant of the rule and requesting that it be followed. Nine
      out of ten times the participant complies and the conference gets
      back to its normal functioning.

      And what about the tenth time? Unfortunately, some participants
      take the host's request as a personal insult. Others may be so
      angry at a real or imagined flame that they continue the rule
      violation even after receiving the host's request.

      At this point the host will send a message with a subject line
      that says FORMAL WARNING. This message simply advises the
      participant that if the host's request continues to be ignored,
      the participant's access to ILink will be cut off for a 30-day
      cooling-off period.

      Such suspensions are rare, but for continued conference
      disrupters, even more severe sanctions are possible.

      Participants who question a host's moderation message are
      requested *not* to do so in the regular conference, since this
      would be off-topic and disruptive. A special ILink conference
      called Host&User has been designed to allow (ONLY) that participant
      and host to discuss the issue.

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

IV.      GLOSSARY 

   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

   Carpet bomb:   The same message posted to multiple conferences,
      especially if the message is off-topic for the conferences in
      which it appears.

   Conference:    A message base devoted to the discussion of a specific
      topic. Conferences may be local or international.

   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 ILink talk
      about flames we mean nasty, personal attacks that go directly at
      people rather than at their *ideas*.

   ILINK-INFO Conference:   A conference for the feedback and comments of
      ILink participants. This is the conference for suggestions about
      new conference ideas and asking of questions and getting answers
      about the ILink.

   Quotes:   When replying to a message there is an option to import a
      section of the original message into the reply. This part of
      that message is called a "quote".

   Thread:   A collection of related messages within a conference which
      may be sorted by THREAD, SUBJECT and DATE.

   UUENCODE:   A utility that translates binary files such as executable
      programs and images into ASCII text that can be transmitted in
      messages. Its use is not permitted in ILink.