Re: META: I Don't Want to Be a Bozo

From: Ron Bauerle <bauerle_at_engr.erie.ge.com>
Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 10:23:39 -0400

This showed up in rec.arts.comics.other-media, and I thought many of
its points were worth mentioning on the Sonic mailing list - I'm
getting tired of people posting in MIME/base 64 encoding, and/or
quoting people's _entire_ messages, including the .sigs.

RDB

In article <1996May2.220449_at_fnalv.fnal.gov>,
morrow_at_fnalv.fnal.gov (Two Songs This Elmo Sings) writes:
> I DON'T WANT TO BE A BOZO
>
> A Guide to Readability on rec.arts.comics.*
>
>
>1: Not everyone has the same newsreader as you, so don't use its
> advanced features no matter how cool they are.
>
> o Hypertext is for the web. Leave the HTML out (but leave
> the URL in!).
>
> o Multi-part messages in MIME format are ugly and almost
> unreadable if you don't have a MIME-capable newsreader, and
> most people don't. So don't make posts in MIME format.
>
> o Most people are reading news in fixed-width fonts on screens
> that are 80 characters wide. If you can resize your window,
> don't. If your newsreader does linewrapping for you, don't
> assume that everyone else's can, too. Make your lines about
> 75 characters wide, and everyone will read your post. Make
> your lines about 85 characters wide and no one will read your
> post.
>
>2: rec.arts.comics.* is a hierarchy with a lot of different groups.

(stuff relating to follow-ups and crossposting deleted)

>3: Watch the spoilers.
>
> o If you're talking about a comic book which just came out, or
> a piece of information that was just announced, it's a spoiler.
> Some people won't have read the comic or heard the news, and
> they like to be surprised, so don't mess with their fun.
>
> o Put SPOILER in the Subject:, and put 24 blank lines in your
> text before you start blabbing.
>
> o A ctrl-L will do the same thing as the blank lines for most
> people, but not all. Use a ctrl-L at your own discretion,
> and use at least a few blank lines just in case.
>
>4: Watch the quotes.
>
> o DO include enough quoted text to get the context of the
> discussion.
>
> o DO include proper attribution (usually an e-mail address and a
> name) of quoted text.
>
> o DON'T quote the entire message--if you're quoting more than ten
> lines without interjecting comment, you're quoting too much.
>
> o DON'T retain multiple layers of quotes--if you're quoting more
> than two levels deep, you're quoting too much.
>
> o DON'T quote sigs, unless you're explicitly commenting on them.
>
> o DON'T play word games--quoting encourages discussion about
> wording over discussion of ideas, so resist the urge to dissect
> language for ambiguities and contradictions.
>
>5: FOR SALE and WANTED posts belong on in rec.arts.comics.marketplace.
> One-line pointers in sigs are acceptable elsewhere.
>
>6: No binaries.
>
> o Do not post binaries to any group without binaries in the name.
> A binary is a picture, video clip, audio clip, executable etc.--
> essentially anything other than plain text.
>
> o Do not ask where you can get cool scans of character X. Check
> the web instead. Keep in mine that cool scans of character X
> are illegal theft of intellectual property under most
> circumstances and some people take intellectual property rights
> very seriously--usually including the artist who did the art
> for that cool scan.
>--
>"When even one American--who has done nothing wrong--is forced by fear to shut
>his mind and close his mouth, then all Americans are in peril."--Harry S Truman
>
>elmo (morrow_at_physics.rice.edu,morrow_at_fnal.fnal.gov)



Received on Mon May 06 1996 - 11:00:05 PDT