FAQ: Intro, Pointers, Archive, WWW
Aquaria Robot
FAQ: WELCOME TO *.AQUARIA
contributed by Todd Zebert
edited by Erik Olson
Welcome to the rec.aquaria, alt.aquaria and sci.aquaria newsgroups!
Please read this entire document and whatever FAQs it may suggest
before your first posting. We hope this will help you get the most
from the newsgroups, and aid you in getting along with the people
already here.
This document will tell you about:
1. the FAQs (answers to Frequently Asked Questions); what they are,
and where to find them.
2. Where to find the Archive and other good web and FTPable pages.
3. proper etiquette for posting to *.aquaria.
4. common acronyms and other terms used here.
5. common questions (with answers) asked about the *.aquaria
newsgroups.
There are three Usenet newsgroups collectively referred to as
*.aquaria or .aquaria, and they are: rec.aquaria, alt.aquaria,
sci.aquaria. They compose an international forum for the discussion of
almost everything related to aquaria and keeping fish. If you are new
to the aquarium hobby, you will find them a valuable source of advice.
If you are an advanced hobbyist but new to the Usenet forum, we
welcome your input and hope you will find some interesting discussions
and the new information that you need to keep current.
If you have questions about Usenet, newsgroups, posting messages, the
net in general, general netiquette, writing standards, how to FTP,
etc., the answers can be found in the news.announce.newusers group.
This is the single most important group for someone new to the net who
wants to get acquainted with the system. Some of the important files
(all written by Mark Moraes) in news.answers you should check out are:
* Answers To Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet
* A Primer on How To Work With the Usenet Community
* Hints on writing style for Usenet
* What is Usenet?
Just the FAQ, Ma'am
Before posting for help, please read as much of the FAQs as you can.
Really! They will most likely tell you everything you want to know
about almost every beginner issue (if they don't answer your question,
WE want to know!). Reading them should be your first order of business
and is a simple courtesy to the readers of these newsgroups who get
tired of reading the same questions from newcomers, over and over.
The FAQs are available in three forms: World Wide Web, FTP, and
monthly Usenet postings. The best and easiest way to read them is
through World Wide Web at the URL
* http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~aquaria/Faq/
If you do not have web access, you can get a text-only version via FTP
at the aquaria Archive (described in the next section) in the
directory /pub/aquaria/FAQfiles/Usenet
Finally, the FAQs are also posted on all three aquaria groups, and
news.answers on a monthly basis. A bit of searching through articles
with the subject ``FAQ'' should bring up the latest copies.
The Reefkeepers' FAQ can be found at:
* The Archive, under /pub/aquaria/FAQfiles/Reefkeepers
* ftp://percula.acs.uci.edu/reefkeepers/faq/ (alternate site)
The Archive and other Sites
The Archive is a collection of saved Usenet postings. If you are
looking for information not covered by the FAQ, you may find it here
or on some of the popular Web sites.
If you have World Wide Web access, the Archive, FAQs, and most other
good aquaria-related Web pages can be found via the index
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~aquaria/.
The Archive is also available via anonymous FTP:
* Its home site ftp.cco.caltech.edu in the directory /pub/aquaria/
* the South Africa mirror site ftp.sun.ac.za in the directory
/pub/misc/aquaria/
If you do not know how to FTP, read the quick guide near the end of
this document; it will get you started.
Posting to *.aquaria
If the following instructions seem unclear, read the newsgroups for a
few weeks (called ``lurking'') and you'll get the hang of the way
things work. There are many readers of *.aquaria, some are old pros,
some newcomers, but all would appreciate it if you would follow a few
simple requests when posting. Remember, you're asking them for help so
you should play by their rules!
1) If you've looked around for the information requested, but come up
with contradictory information, no information, or don't understand
the information, please say so. This will show that you've been
actively seeking out the information yourself.
Also, _PLEASE PLEASE_ do not buy a fish and _THEN_ ask the newsgroup
how you can properly care for it. Ask questions _FIRST_ and read as
much as you can _BEFORE_ buying the fish. Allow several days for
people to get back to you. Most stores will hold a fish for you if you
ask. It also does not hurt to introduce yourself, and come to know the
owner or some of the employees at your favorite store. They will be
more willing to do things for you if they know you are a loyal
customer. It is poor husbandry to buy a fish not knowing if you can
keep it healthy.
2) In order to keep order among the many posts to the *.aquaria
newsgroups, many people use special notations in the subject (or
topic) line of the message to define what the message concerns. Many
people don't have a lot of time to read a newsgroup, and others use
Kill Files to slim down the number of messages to be read, so it is
important to properly mark each message. There is also a better chance
of getting an answer since many of the more experienced people use
these designators to slim down the number of messages they read. Here
is a summary of the most popular ones:
* [M] Marine or Salt Water
* [F] Fresh Water
* [P] Plants
* [R] Reef (a subsection of Marine tanks)
* [DIY] Do It Yourself, referring to home made devices, etc.
In many circumstances, one post will have multiple notations, like
[F][P], a post about Fresh Water Plants. Note that subsequent replies
to a message with these notations will have these notations in their
subject lines (i.e. Re: [R] ... ). This sometimes causes confusion
with the [Q] designator (which some people use to indicate a
question), as replies (typically answers) will have Re: [Q] in their
subject lines but don't necessarily have questions in them.
3) Fill in the rest of the subject line with a brief description of
the problem or a couple of words that describe the concern of the
post. A descriptive subject line is more likely to get read and
responded to than a vague one (``[F] Goldfish has white spots'' is
better than ``Help!!'').
4) When asking for help, please give a complete description of your
tank size, lighting, filtration, its inhabitants and their sizes**,
how long you've had it running, measures of water quality such as
ammonia, pH, temperature, etc. You can't expect much of an answer (or
any at all!) unless you include enough information. (i.e. _not_ ``HI,
My fish died! Why? Bye'')
**Fish sizes are measured from the tip of their head to the beginning
of their tail fin (where the tail meets the body).
5) Please do not use all capital letters. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE
SHOUTING!
6) Make sure your newsreader is limiting line length to a maximum of
75 characters (or columns) otherwise it will be difficult for others
to read your post! If you don't know how to do this, ask your network
administrator.
Responding to Posts
When responding to a post, most newsreaders will include the original
message with some sort of character prefixed on every line, usually a
greater-than symbol, ``>''. Please delete as much unnecessary
information from the original post as possible, while still
maintaining continuity of the conversation. This includes extraneous
headers and information from the previous post that is not relevant to
the reply.
Terms and Acronyms
As you read posts in these newsgroups, you're likely to come across
the following terms, acronyms, and conventions commonly referred to as
NETSPEAK:
*.aquaria
Collectively refers to alt.aquaria, rec.aquaria, and
sci.aquaria
AFM, MFM, TFH, FAMA
Four popular aquaria magazines: _Aquarium Fish Magazine_,
_Marine Fish Magazine_, _Tropical Fish Hobbyist_, and
_Freshwater and Marine Aquarium_.
AOL, CIS
America Online, CompuServe Information Systems; two commercial
Internet providers.
BTW
By The Way.
cut, snip
Means part of previous post has been removed.
DIY
Do It Yourself, home made, a device or system that is built by
the hobbyist.
FAQ, FAQs
Frequently Asked Question[s].
flame
A message which is abusive (see below)
FS
For Sale.
FTP
File Transfer Protocol, a method of transferring files, see
below for more information.
FW, SW
Freshwater, Saltwater
FWIW
For What It's Worth.
FYI
For Your Information.
HTML
Hyper Text Markup Language, used for creating web pages.
IMHO, IMO, IMNSHO
In My Humble Opinion, In My Opinion, In My Not-So-Humble
Opinion, etc.
lurking
reading a newsgroup, over a period of time, to gain knowledge
from other people's questions and answers, without posting
anything of your own.
MO, M/O
Mail Order
MOP[S], PW, TFP, WTA
Four M/O businesses: Mail Order Pet Shop, Pet Warehouse, That
Fish Place, and Wet Thumb Aquatics.
netiquette
Net etiquette. _The golden rule is: RTFF!_
newbie
A beginner. Often, but not always, used in a derogatory way.
Don't feel too bad if someone calls another a newbie.
OTOH
On The Other Hand.
pl*co
An unfortunate correlation between Plocestomus Catfish deaths
and mention of their name on the net has led to the use of
`pl*co' as a superstitious habit. For our protection, the
fish's full name has been deliberately misspelled above.
post[s]
message[s] on Usenet
ROTFL
Rolling On The Floor Laughing.
RTFM, RTFF
Read the ``fine'' Manual, or FAQ. Usually directed at people
who ask a question without first checking the obvious places to
find the answer. Substitute expletives beginning with F for
``fine'', if you like.
SAE
Siamese Algae Eater
threads
The initial message and all the following replies to it, a
discussion.
TIA
Thanks In Advance
UGF, RUGF
Undergravel Filter, Reverse Under Gravel Filter.
WD, W/D
Wet/Dry Filter
WTB
Wanted To Buy.
WWW, W3
World Wide Web
YMMV
Your Mileage May Vary, basically just because something works
well in one situation, does not mean it will in another.
Smileys :-) ;-) :-(
(turn the page, monitor or your head to one side if you don't
see it at first). Smileys are used to denote emotions that
might otherwise not be understood from the text, e.g.
explicitly point out a statement is meant to be humorous. The
three shown here denote humor, a wink, and sadness,
respectively.
More obscure acronyms and other terms are defined in the FAQ.
Questions & Answers
Q: Why three different (redundant) groups?
A: The full story behind this is now a fascinating net.legend (see the
archive) involving a big group creation fight back in 1989. The
practical upshot is that three groups were created at different times,
but some sites refuse to carry all the groups; some don't carry
alt.aquaria because it isn't ``official'', some commercial sites only
carry sci.aquaria, and some don't carry one or the other because the
administrators are still angry about the original creation fight. It's
best to cross-post to both rec.aquaria and alt.aquaria. Sci.aquaria's
purpose is for more serious `scientific' discussion, though people do
post normal questions there as well.
Q: Why aren't there different groups for marine, fresh water and reef
aquaria, or one for goldfish or Cichlids or whatever my favorite fish is?
A: A more appropriate structure is being worked out for rec.aquaria,
and will be put into effect in the near future, but it's unlikely that
every category of fish or method of keeping them will have its own
group because there is not enough message traffic to warrant such a
detailed structure. Please DO NOT suggest changes to the structure or
start any new newsgroups because this just complicates the issue and
creates unnecessary traffic.
Q: Are there any other related groups? Mailing Lists? Chat Lines?
A: None of these other groups are supported by this documentation or
any of its FAQs or archives, but they do have related themes:
* rec.ponds -- keeping outdoor ponds (usually with Koi and goldfish)
* alt.aquaria.killies -- keeping Killifishes
There are also some E-mailing lists. Here are some we know about:
List Name Server Address What to Send as Message Body
Discus-L list...@mitvma.mit.edu SUBSCRIBE Discus-L
BETTAS list...@listserv.arizona.edu SUBSCRIBE BETTAS Your Name
Cichlids mail-...@mailmill.com subscribe cichlids-digest
Aquatic Plants majo...@actwin.com subscribe aquatic-plants
Goldfish goldfish...@col.hp.com subscribe goldfish
For instance, to subscribe to the Aquatic Plants list, send e-mail to
majo...@actwin.com with the line "subscribe aquatic-plants" as the
message body.
Finally, there is also _Fishroom_, an interactive meeting place that
could be likened to an electronic ``chat service'', but far classier.
Fishroom was set up by Kevin Carpenter, and is accessible 24 hours a
day. Specialized groups now have meeting times when you might be able
to talk to some experts. Simply
telnet kplace.monrou.com 1025
and follow the directions. It is important to telnet to port 1025, or
else you will get a normal boring unix prompt.
Q: Can I post Advertisements?
A: If you have used equipment, excess or unwanted livestock, small DIY
items or similar items, definitely yes. Since many are suspicious of
people selling things on the net, be sure to include why the items are
for sale, especially if a profit motive may be suspected.
It is advisable to limit the distribution of your post when the item
is only of interest to a local area (for instance, a glass tank). This
is done through your newsreader while composing your message.
Finally, after the item sells, you should delete (or cancel, as many
newsreaders call it) your original posting. Again, this is done
through the newsreader.
Q4: Can I post Commercial Advertisements?
A: If you are a retailer, the issue of selling is not completely
clear. At the moment there is no charter for the newsgroups that
explicitly forbids commercial postings. However, it is the feeling of
many that such a rule is _implicit_ in the group. No doubt debate will
continue until written explicitly into the charter when the groups
reorganize. In the meantime, here are some suggestions for commercial
businesses:
* Retailers who are active participants of *.aquaria can include a
reference to their business in their message signature (or better
yet, a reference to a WWW page). People can contact you or your
web page directly if interested in your business. Netters
generally do not get angry about this sort of advertisement.
* Blatant ads will most certainly get some people angry at you.
_Reposting_ such ads on a regular basis will anger far more,
whether the ad is commercial or personal.
* If you respond to a post with a recommendation for your business,
make sure to be clear that you are associated with that business
(otherwise you are likely to get a bad reputation when your
connection _is_ discovered). It also goes without saying that your
response should be _relevant_ to the original post. :-)
Q: Why did no one answer my questions?
A: This question is usually answered by _``YOU DIDN'T READ THE FAQ!''_
The FAQs are a collection of documents that members of these
newsgroups have written to answer questions that beginners ask ad
nauseum. Before posting, please read the relevant FAQs to be sure what
you wish to know has not been dealt with before. Despite the
world-wide nature of *.aquaria, there are in fact only a few dozen
members who answer the vast majority of questions. They get tired of
answering the same questions over and over, and more often than not
will simply ignore questions that could have been answered by reading
the FAQ.
Sometimes you won't get a reply if you haven't waited long enough;
many people do not read *.aquaria daily, and it can take a few days
for the article to propagate to some hosts.
Another common cause of the unanswered post is a non-descriptive
subject line or vague message content. With hundreds of messages
posted daily to *.aquaria, it is easy to ignore ``irrelevant'' subject
lines such as ``Subject: My Fish''. Likewise, it is also important to
convey all the necessary information in the body of your message. See
the section above on Posting to *.aquaria for hints on improving your
technique.
Q5: Why did I get flamed?
A5: You may get flamed if you supply an ignorant answer to someone's
question, or just general ``bad advice''. Bad questions usually are
ignored, but bad answers are often flamed. You might also get flamed
when discussing controversial issues.
Threads on *.aquaria are open uncensored conversations between adults
(and sub-adults of all ages) and so occasionally smart-ass replies and
jabs are made. These are not strictly discouraged and to throw flames
DOES NOT immediately cause one to be labeled a social pariah, but
flames should be on-topic and delivered with a sense of humor. Neither
is swearing totally unacceptable on the net but the use of swear words
will quickly remove any semblance of humor from your flames. This may
result in seriously hurt feelings, and so swearing is to be strongly
discouraged. Also, a few smileys (where appropriate) can go a long way
to save people's feelings.
Q: How do I FTP, or what if I'm having problems?
A: Here's a crash course that should work for most people if you are
not completely Windows based. You will be downloading a long set of
FTP instructions. If you are uncertain whether these instructions will
work for you please give them a try since they are written to work on
a large variety of computer systems. If these instructions do not work
for you contact your sysop or a local computer guru.
We denote the prompt for the local site as ``LOCAL>''.
The prompt for the archive/foreign site is ``ftp>''.
ALL commands are CASE SENSITIVE!!!!!!!
(Everything that is enclosed in ` ' is what is printed on your screen
by the computer that is relevant to future steps or to the step just
completed. It is NOT everything that is shown on your screen as that
will be too time consuming to type out.)
LOCAL> ftp ftp.cco.caltech.edu
`Name (site information):' ftp
`Password:' your email address
ftp> cd /pub/aquaria/FAQfiles/Usenet
ftp> dir
ftp> get ftpguide
ftp> quit
LOCAL>
You now have the LONG version of the FTP guide which should answer all
your questions.
Q: What if I don't have access to FTP?
A: If you are using a commercial service, contact the customer support
or technical support department of that service. Assistance with
questions like these is part of what you are paying for; if you can
access the newsgroup, it is quite possible that you can FTP.
Barring that, it's still possible, albeit very slow, to get ftp files
via mail. There are three such services we know of (info courtesy of
Dustin Laurence):
Princeton ftp -> e-mail gateway
Send mail with a body of `help' (no quotes, and nothing else)
to bit...@pucc.princeton.edu, bit...@plearn.edu.pl or
bit...@vm.gmd.de.
TRICKLE
Through TRICKLE you can retrieve files by e-mail or have them
ftped to your own machine or SEND to you. Send e-mail with
'/HELP' (no quotes) in the body to tri...@hearn.nic.surfnet.nl
or tri...@hearn.bitnet, for more info and a list of other
trickle servers.
DEC mail server
Send mail to one of the following servers with 'help' (no
quotes) in the body of the letter:
+ ftp...@cs.uow.edu.au (Australia)
+ ftp...@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de (Germany)
+ ftp...@grasp.insa-lyon.fr (France)
+ ftp...@doc.ic.ac.uk (Great Britain)
+ ftp...@ieunet.ie (Ireland)
+ ftp...@lth.se (Sweden)
+ ftp...@sunsite.unc.edu (USA)
+ ftp...@decwrl.dec.com (USA, please use a different server if
possible; decwrl is overloaded.)
+ ftp...@ftp.uu.net (USA, message relayed to
ftp...@decwrl.dec.com)
NOTE: Please make sure your system admin has approved the the use of a
mail server, as files can take system resources of not only your site,
but several sites up the stream. And please abide by the guidelines
that the ftpmail server administrators have put in their help files.
Most ftpmail servers default to their own site for files, so try
retrieving things from that site first. In general, most files you
need are already available there, so it is a waste to connect to
another machine.
Q: How do I access WWW?
A: Ask your administrator. There are too many different WWW browsers
to explain each here, but the most popular graphical browsers for
MS-Windows, X and Macintosh are _Mosaic_ and _Netscape_. A popular
text browser is _Lynx_. You might try and see if these programs exist
on your system. Also, helpful advice about getting started with WWW
can be found by ``lurking'' in the newsgroups
comp.infosystems.www.users and/or alt.dcom.slip-emulators.
Final Words
We hope that this introductory FAQ will improve your understanding of
the *.aquaria community, and make your interaction with other netters
fun and productive. A great deal of time and thought has been devoted
to making quality answers to the Frequently Asked Questions available
at all times. A hurried post to the newsgroups might not yield an
answer for days (if at all), but if you read the FAQs you may have an
answer in minutes. Please give it a try!
[The FAQ Team can be reached by e-mail at
f...@marge.phys.washington.edu
Feel free to mail FAQ development-related comments, but please, no
messages asking for help building that fiberglass tank.]