First "FAQ"
Ben Zimmer
when did "FAQ" first show up on newsgroups? (OED2 has it back to 1991.)
The first hit for "frequently asked questions" is from 1983:
-------------
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=bnews.pyuxvv.128
From: pyuxvv!farrow (pyuxvv!farrow)
Subject: Human Factors
Newsgroups: net.news.group
Date: 1983-01-22 03:25:25 PST
We are building a database of frequently asked questions about human
factors issues.
-------------
The group net.announce posted its first "Answers to Frequently Asked
Questions" on 1 Feb 84. But the first such list that began to called
"FAQ" appears to be one by Chris Torek, who was spotting questions about
the programming language C as early as 1986:
-------------
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=715%40umcp-cs.UUCP
From: Chris Torek (ch...@umcp-cs.UUCP)
Subject: Re: are for loops and while loops the same thing?
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Date: 1986-04-05 22:30:07 PST
In article <1...@mit-amt.MIT.EDU> jud...@mit-amt.MIT.EDU (Judith Donath)
[asks yet another `frequently asked' question; perhaps this should be
included in the net.announce.newusers section.]
-------------
Torek began archiving a "Frequently Asked Questions" list, references to
which began appearing in comp.lang.c in 1988. Torek's list was first
called a "FAQ database" in 1989:
-------------
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=13415%40haddock.ima.isc.com
From: Karl Heuer (ka...@haddock.ima.isc.com)
Subject: Re: Another silly question
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Date: 1989-05-25 20:40:21 PST
This is very wrong, but I'll let Chris Torek explain why, since he
already has it in his FAQ database.
-------------
Very soon thereafter, folks in comp.unix.questions and comp.unix.wizards
began talking about creating a FAQ:
-------------
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=910%40apctrc.UUCP
From: Jon A. Tankersley (zja...@apctrc.trc.amoco.com)
Subject: Re: Frequently asked questions in these groups deserve a
monthly posting
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Date: 1989-06-09 22:04:45 PST
I think that there are a couple of 'solutions' available here.
1) Modify existing readers to make a 'first-time-use' check like rn
does. Tell the first time readers about the more common FAQ's and ask
them to read them. (Won't work. People never read signs :-(). Also
recommend they read the Usenet News intro documents.
2) Set up an easy set of 'aliases' or commands for the old-timers to
email to a neophyte +/- flames, their choice.
3) With the posting, post an update kill file for the old-timers, or if
the FAQ questions are delimited in some 'specific' fashion, we can craft
a tool to generate the kill file from the FAQ.
-------------
Note the slippage between "the FAQ's", "the FAQ questions", and "the
FAQ"! Usage settled down after that, and soon every group wanted their
own FAQ.
--Ben
Douwe Egbert
"Ben Zimmer" <bgzi...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote in message
news:3C1A88E1...@midway.uchicago.edu...
> Another question that can be answered by Google's new Usenet archives:
> when did "FAQ" first show up on newsgroups? (OED2 has it back to 1991.)
>
> The first hit for "frequently asked questions" is from 1983:
>
> -------------
> http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=bnews.pyuxvv.128
> From: pyuxvv!farrow (pyuxvv!farrow)
> Subject: Human Factors
> Newsgroups: net.news.group
> Date: 1983-01-22 03:25:25 PST
> We are building a database of frequently asked questions about human
> factors issues.
> -------------
An equally intriguing question might be "When did documents labelled
'Frequently Asked Questions' stop containing questions?"
In the usage cited above, "FAQ database" is literally accurate
because the database would have contained answers to frequently
asked questions if not the questions themselves.
But now people use just "FAQ" to describe something that contains
no questions. To be literally correct, the name should be "FAQ Database"
or "FAQ Answers."
Another indication of the general decline of everything.
--
D E
Douwe Egbert
> when did "FAQ" first show up on newsgroups? (OED2 has it back to 1991.)
>
> The first hit for "frequently asked questions" is from 1983:
"Frequently Asked Questions" was widely used as a
section heading in technical publications going back
some time before its Usenet appearance. I'm sure it
could be found in non-technical publications as well.
I don't know whether the stand-alone
acronym-cum-abbreviation (it swings both ways)
"FAQ" first appeared in the cyberworld. I suspect so,
given its denizens' unbridled tendency to acronymise.
--
D E
Richard Fontana
> "Ben Zimmer" <bgzi...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote in message
> news:3C1A88E1...@midway.uchicago.edu...
> > Another question that can be answered by Google's new Usenet archives:
> > when did "FAQ" first show up on newsgroups? (OED2 has it back to 1991.)
> >
> > The first hit for "frequently asked questions" is from 1983:
>
> "Frequently Asked Questions" was widely used as a
> section heading in technical publications going back
> some time before its Usenet appearance. I'm sure it
> could be found in non-technical publications as well.
Absolutely. I'm sure "frequently asked questions" was found in all
sorts of non-technical publications, long before it appeared in any
technical ones; it must have long been standard in all kinds of
informational materials of a dumbed-down, for the general public sort
of nature. It is painful to even think that some people think that
"Frequently Asked Questions" originated in Usenet or just 'technical'
materials.
> I don't know whether the stand-alone
> acronym-cum-abbreviation (it swings both ways)
> "FAQ" first appeared in the cyberworld. I suspect so,
> given its denizens' unbridled tendency to acronymise.
Well, the tendency to acronymize got going a long time earlier, but I
suspect you're right on this one: "FAQ", used as a noun, first
appeared in Usenet or closely allied media.
Ben Zimmer
Richard Fontana wrote:
>
> On Sat, 15 Dec 2001, Douwe Egbert wrote:
>
> > "Ben Zimmer" <bgzi...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote in message
> > news:3C1A88E1...@midway.uchicago.edu...
> > > Another question that can be answered by Google's new Usenet archives:
> > > when did "FAQ" first show up on newsgroups? (OED2 has it back to 1991.)
> > >
> > > The first hit for "frequently asked questions" is from 1983:
> >
> > "Frequently Asked Questions" was widely used as a
> > section heading in technical publications going back
> > some time before its Usenet appearance. I'm sure it
> > could be found in non-technical publications as well.
>
> Absolutely. I'm sure "frequently asked questions" was found in all
> sorts of non-technical publications, long before it appeared in any
> technical ones; it must have long been standard in all kinds of
> informational materials of a dumbed-down, for the general public sort
> of nature. It is painful to even think that some people think that
> "Frequently Asked Questions" originated in Usenet or just 'technical'
> materials.
This certainly wasn't my implication. I never claimed that the expanded
expression originated on Usenet-- my posting was about "FAQ". I
supplied earlier examples to show exactly when the acronymization took
place.
Similarly, with "spam", the question isn't so much when it took on the
meaning of "nonsense" but when it was first applied to useless or
irrelevant data flooding an electronic medium.
--Ben
Richard Fontana
I know. I'm really using your comments to respond to claims by other
people.
Mark Brader
> Another question that can be answered by Google's new Usenet archives:
> when did "FAQ" first show up on newsgroups? (OED2 has it back to 1991.)
> Questions" on 1 Feb 84.
Nope, that's just the first version to use that title.
The beginning of the FAQ list on Usenet was on 1982-11-11, when Jerry
Schwarz posted article eagle.618 (in Deja Goo, this is converted to
Message-ID <bnews.article.618>). Jerry's subject line read "usenet
etiquette", with the article title "Emily Post for Usenet" in the body.
The 14th and last item in his list of recommendations was: "Here
are some queries that seem to be submitted frequently by new users.
Please don't ask them out of idle curiosity." The FAQ list contained
4 questions and their answers. I reproduce this entire historic
posting at the end of this article, below my signature.
That was a first draft of the netiquette document; Jerry posted a
substantially improved version on 1982-11-20 as article eagle.642.
The improvements included the following summary of his major points:
Put all items in an appropriate group.
Reply via mail.
Exhibit care in preparing items.
Read followups.
Don't be rude or abusive.
Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks.
Use descriptive titles.
Cite references.
Summarize the original item in followups.
In posting summaries of replies, summarize.
Be as brief as possible.
Don't submit items berating violators of these rules.
Don't make people read the same thing more than once.
19 years later, some things have changed, but I think most of that
still stands.
Anyway, returning to the FAQ list, in this version of the posting it
was item 16, and it now contained 5 questions. The 5th question and
its answer were actually extracted from one of the other parts of the
document in the previous draft, so I think this may be Usenet's first
example of an FAQ list containing a "frequently asked" question for
mainly pedagogical purposes. On the other hand, *I* wasn't on the
net until 1983, so maybe in 1982 this one actually was frequently
asked. And, to be fair, Jerry didn't use the phrase "frequently asked
question" anyway.
A year later, or to be exact on 1983-11-01, the FAQ list had grown
to the point where he split it out into a separate article, article
cbosgd.511 (now also with a Message-ID for newfangled news software,
<5...@cbosgd.UUCP>). It was now 16 questions long; and, just for fun,
here they are *without* the answers, spelled and punctuated as in the
posting. How many of the answers do you know? :-)
1. What does UNIX stand for?
2. What is the derivation of "foo" as a filler word.
3. Is a machine at "foo" on the net.
4. What does "rc" at the end of files like .newsrc mean.
5. What does "- (nf)" in an item's title mean?
6. What does :-) mean?
7. How do I decrypt jokes in net.jokes?
8. net.general: Is John Doe out there anywhere.
9. net.math: Proofs that 1=0.
10. net.games: Where can I get the source for empire or rogue?
11. net.unix-wizards: How do I remove files with non-ascii
characters in their names?
12. net.unix-wizards: There is a bug in the way UNIX
handle's protection for programs that run suid.
13. net.women: What do you think about abortion?
14. net.singles: What do MOTOS and MOTSS stand for?
15. net.columbia: Shouldn't this name be changed.
16. net.columbia: Shouldn't this group be merged with net.space?
As you see, several of the questions are specific to certain newsgroups.
The idea that one individual newsgroup might have enough FAQs to warrant
its own FAQ list didn't come along until quite a while later; if anyone
wants to figure out just when that happened, I'd be interested to see.
(And even after that did happen, the original FAQ list continued to be
posted to news.announce.newusers until at least 1999, including almost
all of the above questions as well as newer ones.)
Mark Brader | Those who mourn for "USENET like it was" should
Toronto | remember the original design estimates of maximum
m...@vex.net | traffic volume: 2 articles/day. --Steven Bellovin
My text in this article is in the public domain, as are all articles
posted from the US before it joined the Berne Convention.
And now, here's Jerry's original netiquette article, with header as
retrieved from Deja Goo.
*************************************************************************
* Message-ID: <bnews.eagle.618>
* Newsgroups: net.news
* X-Path: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!jerry
* From: eagle!jerry
* Date: Fri Nov 12 07:16:10 1982
* Subject: usenet etiquette
* X-Google-Info: Converted from the original B-News header
* Posted: Thu Nov 11 02:49:46 1982
* Received: Fri Nov 12 07:16:10 1982
Emily Post for Usenet
Usenet is a large, amorphous collection of machines (100s)
and people (1000s). Readers range from casual observers who
infrequently scan one or two groups to active participants
who spend a significant amount of time each day reading
news. Their ages, experience and interests also vary
widely. Some use the network solely for professional
purposes. Others use it to carry on a variety of exchanges
and interactions.
The kinds of interaction that occur in usenet are new to
almost everyone. The interactions certainly aren't face to
face. On the other hand submitting an item isn't like
standing up before an audience either. Nor is it like
writing an article for publication. Nor, since nobody edits
submissions, is it like writing a "letter to the editor" It
takes aspects of formal and informal communications, and
combines them in a new way.
Despite (or because of) these considerations usenet is a
useful communications technology whose use is enhanced when
people follow the emerging "net etiquette". Users at new
sites (those at which usenet has been available for less
than 3 months) should be especially cautious until they have
adjusted to this new form of communication.
The following list of suggestions is long, but I plead with
you to read it before submitting items.
1. Try to find the appropriate group for any submission.
(See below for a list of some important groups.)
2. When an item asks for specific information, or
requests a "vote", you should usually reply via mail
to the originator. Remember that many people will be
reading the item at more or less the same time and if
they all respond via a followup item, the net becomes
flooded with almost identical responses that can annoy
even people who were interested in the original
question.
3. When submitting an item that is likely to generate
responses, you can remind people of the previous point
by ending with "send me mail and I'll post the results
to the net". Of course, you then accept the
obligation of doing so.
4. Take care in preparing items. While usenet
interactions sometimes take on the flavor of casual
conversation, you should spend the time and effort to
make your item readable and pertinent. That includes
proper spelling and good grammar. And be sure you
have something new to say. In particular, be sure you
have understood earlier items. If you are in doubt
about an author's intent, carry on a private
interaction. Frequently a discussion starts with one
or two carefully prepared "position papers" and then
degenerates into repetitive claims.
5. Before reacting to an item (either with mail or by
submitting a followup) read all the followups that
have reached your machine. The readnews "e-" command,
which tells readnews to forget that you have read an
item, can be useful here. After you read an item you
think you will want to react to, do "e-", and go on to
read all the other items in the group. Then go back
to the original.
6. Always use an editor to prepare items for submission.
If you are using the "b" version of netnews you should
set the EDITOR shell environment variable to the
editor you want to use. This lets you correct
spelling, grammar, etc.
7. Don't be rude or abusive. I regret having to say
this, but I have seen too many items that start "John,
you idiot, ...", or contain phrases like "People who
think ... should be shot". I suspect much of this
rudeness is just carelessness. Modes of speech that
would be reasonable in private conversation may not be
reasonable in a semi-public forum such as the net.
8. Be careful about sarcasm and facetious remarks.
Without the voice inflection and body language of
personal communication these are easily
misinterpreted.
9. Titles should be descriptive so that readers can
decide whether to read or skip items based on the
title. For example, if you are having trouble with
your dishwasher you might submit an item titled "need
help with G.E. dishwasher" to net.wanted. Don't
submit an item titled "Need Help".
10. Whenever possible, give references. This means both to
other netnews items, and to external sources.
11. In posting summaries of replies, try to actually
summarize. Sometimes people just collect the items
they received. The mailed replies might just as well
been submitted to the net. At the least the replies
should be edited to eliminate redundancy and
irrelevancy.
12. Whenever possible, be brief. Some people read news
over slow (300bps) terminals, and watching a 15 line
"signature" that you have seen ten times before gets
boring. There are many exceptions to this rule, this
item being one of them.
13. Here is a list of some groups that are important to
the smooth functioning of the network, or are
frequently used improperly
net.general This group is only for announcements
and queries that need to be read by
everyone. Followups and discussions
should never go here.
net.followup This is the place for continuing
discussions that have started in
net.general. In some versions of
the usenet software, using the "f"
command to an item in net.general
will put your submission in
net.followup, but you can also
submit items directly.
net.misc This is the place to carry on
frivolous discussions, arbitrary
chat, and rambling discussions. New
groups are frequently spawned from
these discussions. For example, if
you want to start a discussion about
the quality of cafeteria food, put
an item in net.misc.
net.wanted This group exists for posting
queries for help. ("I know somebody
must have a program to compute ...")
net.jokes Put CLEAN jokes here. Do not submit
jokes that might offend any readers.
This group is often seen by people
who do not regularly use computers,
and there have been several
instances of problems raised by
offensive jokes. There have also
been several extended discussions of
the relation of this issue to free
speech. The conclusion of these
discussions has always been that
because the net exists largely at
the sufferance of large
institutions, who foot the bills, we
should all be very careful about
offending anyone. Almost any
racial, or sexual reference will
offend somebody. The safe rule is:
don't submit a joke unless you have
seen similar ones in this group
already.
net.jokes.d Discussions about humor go here, not
in net.jokes
net.news Discussion of all aspects of usenet
itself belong here.
net.news.group Creating a new group affects all the
machines on usenet. Before you do
so, submit an item proposing the new
group to net.news.group and to
specific groups that may share
interests with your proposed new
group. If after a week or two, you
have been contacted by some people
who support the idea, and you
haven't received any strenuous
objections, go ahead and create the
group.
net.sources After being announced in some
appropriate place Useful programs
and shell scripts are put here.
14. Here are some queries that seem to be submitted
frequently by new users. Please don't ask them out of
idle curiosity.
- "Where does foobar come from?" In my opinion the
best answer seems to be "Fouled up beyond all
recognition". There are lots of versions of this
"Acronym", in particular "Fouled" is usually
replaced by a less polite word. (See discussion
of net.jokes for the reason I use the polite
word.)
- "Does anybody know my freshman roommate, John
Doe, who I haven't seen in years but I think
works at Bell Labs?" If you really want to know,
try calling any Bell Labs location and asking the
operator. (The Murray Hill number is 201-582-
3000.) They have lists and telephone numbers of
all employees. The same of course applies to DEC
or UCB or whatever.
- "How do I reply via mail to items from sites with
funny names?" These are mainly ARPANET sites, and
there are technical problems with communication
between usenet and ARPANET. For the moment the
answer is: in general you can't.
- "Is being called a 'hacker' a complement or an
insult?" Some people think one, some think the
other. If you want to be unambiguous find
another word.
Phew!! Don't let this long list intimidate you. The net
exists to be used. It is a powerful tool and as long as
people treat it as a tool and not a toy it will prosper.
Jerry Schwarz
harpo!eagle!jerry
Message-ID: <bnews.eagle.642>
Newsgroups: net.general
X-Path: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!jerry
From: eagle!jerry
Date: Sat Nov 20 03:53:48 1982
Subject: Usenet Etiquette -- Please Read
X-Google-Info: Converted from the original B-News header
Posted: Fri Nov 19 16:14:55 1982
Received: Sat Nov 20 03:53:48 1982
Expires: Mon Jan 1 00:00:00 1990
Emily Post for Usenet
Usenet is a large, amorphous collection of machines (hundreds) and
people (thousands). Readers range from casual observers who
infrequently scan one or two groups to active participants who spend a
significant amount of time each day reading news. Their ages,
experience and interests also vary widely. Some use the network
solely for professional purposes. Others use it to carry on a variety
of exchanges and interactions.
The kinds of interaction that occur in Usenet are new to almost
everyone. The interactions certainly aren't face to face. On the
other hand, submitting an item isn't like standing up before an
audience either. Nor is it like writing an article for publication.
Nor, since noone moderates submissions, is it like writing a "letter
to the editor." It combines aspects of formal and informal
communications in a new way.
Despite (or because of) these considerations Usenet is a powerful and
pleasant tool when people submitting items follow the emerging "net
etiquette." Users at new sites (those at which Usenet has been
available for less than three months) should be especially cautious
until they have adjusted to this new form of communication.
This document is not a readnews tutorial. In some cases I tell you to
do something without saying how. Ask around or consult whatever
documentation is available.
The following list of suggestions is long, but you can become a
responsible member of the Usenet community by reading it. Before
presenting a full discussion I will boldly state the rules:
Put all items in an appropriate group.
Reply via mail.
Exhibit care in preparing items.
Read followups.
Don't be rude or abusive.
Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks.
Use descriptive titles.
Cite references.
Summarize the original item in followups.
In posting summaries of replies, summarize.
Be as brief as possible.
Don't submit items berating violators of these rules.
Don't make people read the same thing more than once.
A more extended discussion of these points, of some important
newsgroups, and of some common questions follows.
1. Put all items in an appropriate group.
See below for a list of some important groups. A followup to an
item does not always belong in the same group as the original
item. In particular, followups should never go to net.general.
Groups exist both to accommodate different interests and to
limit distribution. Many geographic areas and organizations
have groups that are only distributed locally. For example, on
eagle where I am composing this item there are "net" groups,
"btl" groups (Bell Labs), "mh" (Murray Hill) and "nj" groups
(New Jersey)"
2. Use mail instead of a followup item.
When an item asks for specific information or requests a "vote",
you should reply via mail to the originator. Remember that many
people will be reading the item at more or less the same time
and if they all respond via a followup item, the net becomes
flooded with almost identical responses that can annoy even
people who were interested in the original question.
When submitting an item that is likely to generate responses,
remind people of this point by ending with "send me mail and
I'll post the results to the net." Of course, you then accept
the obligation of doing so.
3. Exhibit care in preparing items.
While Usenet interactions sometimes take on the flavor of casual
conversation, you should spend the time and effort to make your
item readable and pertinent. Be sure you have something new to
say. In particular, be sure you have understood earlier items.
If you are in doubt about an author's intent, carry on a private
interaction. Frequently a discussion starts with one or two
carefully prepared "position papers" and then degenerates into
repetitive claims.
While proper spelling and grammar do not necessarily improve the
ideas of an item, many readers feel that their absence reflects
a lack of care. And that lack of attention to English usage may
reflect a similar lack of attention to the ideas.
4. Read followups before reacting.
When you read an item, followups may have already reached your
machine. Before reacting to the item (either with mail or by
submitting a followup) you ought to know what others have said.
The standard readnews interface doesn't make this easy, but it
should be done. (See below.)
5. Use an editor to prepare items for submission.
If you are using the standard version of readnews or postnews
you should set the EDITOR shell environment variable to the
editor you want to use. This lets you correct spelling,
grammar, etc.
6. Don't be rude or abusive.
I regret having to say this, but I have seen too many items that
start "John, you idiot, ...", or contain phrases like "People
who think ... should be shot." I suspect much of this rudeness
is just carelessness. Modes of speech that would be reasonable
in private conversation may not be reasonable in a semi-public
forum such as the net.
7. Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks.
Without the voice inflection and body language of personal
communication these are easily misinterpreted.
8. Use descriptive titles.
Readers should be able to decide whether to read or skip items
based on their titles. For example if you are having trouble
with your dishwasher you might submit an item titled "need help
with G.E. dishwasher" to net.wanted. Don't submit an item
titled "Need Help."
Followups should be titled "Re:" followed by the title of the
original item. This is done automatically by the "f" command in
standard readnews.
9. Whenever possible, cite references.
This is especially true in discussions when you quote "facts"
that are not universally known. Many such "facts" turn out on
close examination to be opinions.
10. Summarize the original item in followups.
Remember that although you may have an item in front of you when
you submit a followup, others won't. Remind the reader of the
point of the original item. But don't repeat a long item. That
would violate the "be brief" principle.
11. In posting summaries of replies, actually summarize.
Sometimes people just collect the items they received. The
mailed replies might just as well been submitted to the net. At
the least the replies should be edited to eliminate redundancy
and irrelevancy.
12. Be as brief as possible.
Some people read news over slow (300bps) terminals, and watching
a 15 line "signature" that you have seen ten times before gets
boring. (I hope you don't consider this item a violation. I
have tried to keep it brief, but there is a lot to say.) Even
people who read news on faster terminals don't like to wade
through extraneous material to get to the heart of the matter.
13. Don't publicly berate violaters of these rules.
They probably didn't realize the anti-social nature of their
behavior. Besides, if you didn't want to see the original item
nobody wants to see your complaint. These complaints fall into
the category of reactions that should go directly to the
originator via mail.
14. Don't make people read the same thing more than once.
When you have something to say that is of interest to more than
one group, submit it as one item to the groups with one command.
If you use a separate command for each group, readers who
subscribe to several of these groups will see it more than once.
If you must retract or revise an item, use the "cancel" command.
15. Here is a list of some groups that are important to the smooth
functioning of the network or are frequently used improperly:
- net.general
This group is only for short announcements and queries that
need to be read by everyone. Followups and discussions
should never go here.
- net.followup
This is the place for continuing discussions that have
started in net.general. In the standard readnews program
the "f" command applied to an item in net.general will put
your submission in net.followup, but you can also submit
items directly to net.followup.
- net.misc
This is the place to carry on frivolous discussions,
arbitrary chat, and rambling discussions. New groups are
frequently spawned from these discussions.
- net.wanted
This group exists for posting queries for help. ("I know
somebody must have a program to compute ...")
- net.jokes
Jokes go here. Jokes that might offend any readers should
be encrypted. You can learn an encryption technique by
decoding some encrypted jokes.
This group is often seen by people who do not regularly use
computers, and there have been several instances of
problems raised by offensive jokes. There have also been
several extended discussions of the relation of this issue
to free speech. The conclusion of these discussions has
always been that because the net exists largely at the
sufferance of large institutions who foot the bills we
should all be very careful about offending anyone. Almost
any racial, ethnic, or sexual reference will offend
somebody. The safe rule is: don't submit an unencrypted
joke unless you have seen similar ones in this group
already.
- net.jokes.d
Discussions about humor go here, not in net.jokes
- net.news
Discussion of all aspects of Usenet itself belong here.
- net.news.group
Creating a new group affects all the machines on Usenet.
Normally the need for a new group should be demonstrated by
the submission, over a period of time, of items that might
properly belong in a new group. If you are new to Usenet
(less than 3 months) you probably shouldn't be creating new
groups.
If you want to discuss a topic and can't find anywhere
else, try net.misc.
In any case before you create a new group, submit an item
proposing the new group to net.news.group and to specific
groups that may share interests with your proposed new
group. If after a week or two, you have received support
for the idea, and you haven't received any strenuous
objections, go ahead and create the group. You should also
create an item in the new group with a distant expiration
date describing what the group is about.
- net.sources
After being announced in some appropriate place useful
programs and shell scripts are put here. These should be
well enough commented so that even people who miss the
announcement can understand what they do.
- net.test
This exists so that Usenet administrators can test the
functioning of the software. It should be used only as a
last resort since items will go to all machines. In most
instances there will be a more limited group in which to
put tests (e.g. "mh.test").
16. Here are some queries that seem to be submitted frequently by
new users. Please don't ask them out of idle curiosity.
- "Where does 'fubar' come from?"
In my opinion the best answer seems to be "Fouled up beyond
all recognition." There are lots of versions of this
acronym, in particular "Fouled" is usually replaced by a
less polite word. "foobar", "foo" and "bar" are all
derived from "fubar." (See discussion of net.jokes for the
reason I use the polite word.)
- "Does anybody know my freshman roommate, John Doe, who I
haven't seen in years but I think works at Bell Labs?"
If you really want to know, try calling any Bell Labs
location and asking the operator. (The Murray Hill number
is 201-582-3000.) They have lists and telephone numbers of
all employees. The same of course applies to DEC or UCB or
wherever.
- "I can't reply via mail to some items. What can I do?"
There are two common causes for this. One is items from
ARPANET sites. (These have "@" in their names.) There are
technical, administrative and organizational problems with
communication between Usenet and ARPANET. The other cause
is machines that are on Usenet but won't forward mail.
(This includes some ARPANET sites and some uucp-only
sites.) The only (admittedly difficult) way to circumvent
both problems is to construct a path that avoids the
trouble machines.
- "Is being called a 'hacker' a compliment or an insult?"
Some people think one, some think the other. If you want
to be unambiguous find another word.
- "How do I read followups to an item before I reply?"
This depends on how you read news. If you use the standard
readnews program then the easiest way is to use the "e-"
command after reading an item. This will tell readnews to
forget that you have read the previous item. When you have
read the followups you can "q" and start readnews again.
Phew!! Don't let this long list intimidate you. The net exists to be
used. It is a powerful tool and as long as people treat it as a tool
rather than a toy, it will prosper.
Jerry Schwarz
eagle!jerry
Mark Brader
> The beginning of the FAQ list on Usenet was on 1982-11-11, when Jerry
> Schwarz posted article eagle.618 (in Deja Goo, this is converted to
>
> The 14th and last item in his list of recommendations was: "Here
> are some queries that seem to be submitted frequently by new users.
> Please don't ask them out of idle curiosity." The FAQ list contained
> 4 questions and their answers. I reproduce this entire historic
> posting at the end of this article, below my signature.
>
> That was a first draft of the netiquette document; Jerry posted a
> substantially improved version on 1982-11-20 as article eagle.642.
Oops, I seem to have accidentally included *both* versions of his
article in mine. Sorry about that, but, well, no real harm, is there?
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "More importantly, Mark is just plain wrong."
m...@vex.net -- John Hollingsworth
My text in this article is in the public domain.
Maria Conlon
Mark Brader wrote
>I (Mark Brader) wrote:
[...]
>> That was a first draft of the netiquette document; Jerry posted a
>> substantially improved version on 1982-11-20 as article
eagle.642.
>Oops, I seem to have accidentally included *both* versions of his
>article in mine.
And I read both versions. Very interesting. Being a relative
newcomer to Usenet (1996), I was surprised that the usual method of
responding was using email. As for the estimated maximum of two
posts per day in a group -- well, I'm glad things have progressed
(though some days it seems they've progressed too far).
Another thing I noticed was that the "Emily Post" rules were much
the same then as now. And those same rules are still being broken
every day. Sometimes, I'm the one who breaks them -- especially
Number 7: "Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks." Gets me in a lot of
trouble, that does.
>Sorry about that, but, well, no real harm, is there?
Not as far as I'm concerned, Mark. And thanks for taking the trouble
to show us how it used to be.
Maria
Mark Brader
> And I read both versions. Very interesting. Being a relative
> newcomer to Usenet (1996), I was surprised that the usual method of
> responding was using email.
The trouble is, it was always hard to tell to what extent other people
*were* responding by email. But in the old days if I was answering a
question, I was probably about twice as likely to email it as to post
it. The question I tried to ask myself before posting was "will I be
able to say something that nobody else in the group is likely to?"
Bear in mind that most Usenet traffic then traveled by UUCP over
telephone lines; and so did most email traffic at Usenet sites, but
by more direct routes. Hence an emailed response was likely to be
delivered within a couple of hours, whereas for sites around here
it usually took a couple of days before a posting was well propagated,
and it was common to see postings up to about 4 days old.
> As for the estimated maximum of two posts per day in a group --
*Not* "in a group". Network-wide!
My impression is that the inventors originally thought it was just
going to be a little private network connecting a few cooperating
university sites, and used more to pass around announcements than
discussion (hence the use of the word "news").
> Another thing I noticed was that the "Emily Post" rules were much
> the same then as now. And those same rules are still being broken
> every day. Sometimes, I'm the one who breaks them -- especially
> Number 7: "Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks." Gets me in a lot of
> trouble, that does.
Yep!
> Not as far as I'm concerned, Mark. And thanks for taking the trouble
> to show us how it used to be.
It was a kick to reread it. I've suggested to Google that they add
one or more versions of the posting to their timeline of historic
postings.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "Ask not for whom the compiler waits;
m...@vex.net | it waits for thee." -- Henry Spencer