Welcome to soc.support.loneliness
The Moderators
Posting-Frequency: Twice Monthly.
Welcome to Soc.Support.Loneliness.
Table of Contents
1. What is Loneliness?
2. What is Soc.Support.Loneliness?
3. What is the S.S.L. Charter?
4. Why is S.S.L. moderated?
5. What is the moderation policy?
6. What sort of posts are not acceptable?
7. What about anonymous posts?
8. Who are the moderators?
9. How do I join the S.S.L. newsgroup?
10. How do I post to S.S.L.?
11. I've posted, but my messages don't show. Why?
12. What happens when I post a message?
13. How can I help out the S.S.L. group?
1. What is Loneliness?
This question -- and related questions -- are best answered in the
S.S.L. General Loneliness FAQ directly available via:
The General Loneliness FAQ addresses issues specifically regarding
loneliness, whereas this FAQ addresses issues specific to the moderation
procedure and protocols of the soc.support.loneliness newsgroup.
2. What is Soc.Support.Loneliness?
Soc.Support.Loneliness (S.S.L.) is a Usenet newsgroup created to
provide a safe area in which people may post about their experiences with
loneliness. On this forum, participants can read about other people's
experiences, offer advice, and give comfort to one another.
3. What is the S.S.L. Charter?
Loneliness is defined as "solitary, isolated, unfrequented,
companionless." Loneliness is that feeling experienced when a person
believes no-one is interested in them (for various reasons) and, as a
result, that person lacks confidence in her/himself. Quite often,
loneliness is most keenly perceived when "everyone else seems to be
having fun/friends/relationships" with the exception of one's self.
Soc.Support.Loneliness is intended to provide a safe area in which
people may post about their experiences with loneliness, read about
other people's experiences, offer advice, and comfort one another.
Relevant informational postings and FAQs may also be posted.
Flames, flame trolls, offensive or off-topic postings,
advertisements, personal ads, patently controversial and/or off-topic
messages may not be posted to soc.support.loneliness. There are many
other newsgroups where where such posts are welcomed. Users who wish
to post messages of the aforementioned variety will be directed to
such forums.
4. Why is S.S.L. moderated?
Unmoderated newsgroups particularly those of a sensitive nature are
often subject to disruption by flame trolls, sex-for-sale advertising
blitzes, and other disreputable members of the Internet community. S.S.L.
is moderated in order to filter out these advertisements, flames, and
other off-topic or otherwise disruptive messages.
5. What is the moderation policy?
The duty of the designated moderators is to ensure that all posts to
soc.support.loneliness fall within the accepted parameters for discussion
as defined by the newsgroup's charter. An automated script is used to
share postings among the newsgroup's moderators. Posts which are rejected
are returned to the poster with a reason for the rejection.
Posts may be edited to remove excessive attribution and/or poor formatting.
The moderator is required to make note when this is done. User's signatures
(.sig) may also be trimmed, but the moderator is not required to note when
this is done.
Moderators are expected to process articles within 48 hours of receipt.
Moderators who will be temporarily unavailable for longer than two days
will notify the newsgroup and the other moderators so that their names
may be removed from the list of active moderators for the duration.
If the number of moderators falls below three, volunteers will be
solicited by the current moderators in consultation with the newsgroup
participants.
New moderators must have both the majority approval of s.s.l participants
and unanimous approval of all existing moderators. A moderator may be
relieved of her/his position by majority approval of the newsgroup
participants and/or unanimous approval of the other moderators. Upon
moderator resignation or removal, the newsgroup will be solicited for a
replacement moderator.
In the event of an unresolvable controversy amongst the moderators, all
moderators will submit to binding arbitration by moderators-advice at UUNET.
6. What sort of posts are not acceptable?
Unacceptable posts fall into at least one the following categories:
o Ad hominem attacks (AKA - "Flames")
o Advertisements (Commercial or Personal)
o Binary posts
o Blatantly controversial topics (AKA - "Flame Trolls")
o Excessively cross-posted articles (AKA - "Velveeta")
o Excessive multiple-posted articles (AKA - "Spam")
o Forged addresses in article "From:" field
o Off-Topic articles
o Surveys*
o Test messages
* Certain types of surveys may be permissible. E-mail
ssl-r...@usenet.net.nz for clarification.
NOTE: For those who intentionally alter their "From:" line in order
to avoid unwanted e-mail advertisements (AKA - "Spam"), we are sorry
to state that we cannot accept your posts even though your signature
(.sig) file may give instructions on how to "fix" your e-mail
address.
If your goal is to avoid e-mail advertisements or "Spam," please read
CNET's feature article on how to stop Spam at
http://www.cnet.com/Content/Features/Howto/Spam/index.html. CNET has
provided a rather well-written and fairly useful summary of the
current "Spam" situation as well as useful tips and links.
7. What about anonymous posts?
Anonymous posts are permissible on soc.support.loneliness. However,
forged addresses in articles are not allowed. If you wish to remain
anonymous in your posting to S.S.L., it is recommended that you utilize
an anonymous remailer.
Please note that the anonymous remailer at anon.penet.fi is not currently in
operation. However there are other remailers that are still running.
Further info on the subject of anon remailers can be found at:
o Community ConneXion (Anonymous Remailer & WWW Page Stuff.)
http://www.c2.org/anon.phtml
o Anonymity, Remailers and Your Privacy
http://www.stack.urc.tue.nl/~galactus/remailers/index.html
o Anonymous ReMailers
http://www.strassmann.com/pubs/anon-remail.html
o Lance Cottrell Home Page (Information on anonymous remailers,
especially Mixmaster remailers.)
http://www.obscura.com/~loki/Welcome.html
8. Who are the moderators?
The current moderators of the group are:
o Allegra Boverman.
o Logan VT.
o Simon Lyall. (inactive)
Former moderators are:
o Jay Dyson.
o Daniel.
9. How do I join the S.S.L. newsgroup?
Though moderated, soc.support.loneliness is nonetheless an open forum.
Anyone can join in the discussion. Introduction messages are nice, but not
necessary. In fact, about the only prerequisite for participating in S.S.L.
is that the user is either experiencing loneliness or can offer some
insights on overcoming loneliness. If either of those apply to you, consider
the Welcome Mat to be out on the doorstep for you!
10. How do I post to S.S.L.?
You should be able post to S.S.L. much like any other group. Most news
reader programs (such as Agent, trn, tin, Netscape, etc.) will report that
your post was re-routed and e-mailed to the moderation address.
Please do not send in the same article several times to different
moderators. If a post is approved by one moderator and rejected by
another then any moderator may cancel it. The article may be reposted
later if an appeal by the original author is successful.
If your news server reports an error and cannot complete the posting
procedure, contact your news administrator regarding the local newsgroup
misconfiguration. While your news admin addresses the problem, you can
still post to soc.support.loneliness by directly e-mailing s...@usenet.net.nz.
For those who have tried using DejaNews to post to the S.S.L.
newsgroup, you should be aware of the following policy at DejaNews:
(Reprinted with permission. Syntax adjusted per request.)
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 17:41:54 -0600 (CST)
From: Brad <he...@dejanews.com>
Subject: RE: Posting via DejaNews.
Thanks for writing.
Because your newsgroup is moderated we don't allow people using our
service post to it.
We do this for your protection as much as ours. We don't want to
generate complaints from moderators that are upset by people
attempting to post inappropriate articles to their newsgroups.
Our goal is to eliminate extra work for moderators by stopping people
who are not "members" of a newsgroup from flooding that newsgroup
with off-topic posts.
Sorry, but this is our policy on this matter. We realize it can be
inconvenient, but we believe you can appreciate our position.
Let me know if you need anything else.
Deja News
User Liaison
11. I've posted, but my messages don't show. Why?
Message distribution problems are generally caused by one of the
following problems:
o Local Message Loss: This is the most common cause of lost posts.
If you did not receive an Acknowledgement of Submission notice
from the S.S.L. automated message handler (this message tells
you that your post has been received and which moderator has
been assigned to review it), then it's a sure bet that your post
did not reach us.
o Local News Server Misconfiguration: If your message shows up on
your local news server immediately, and you receive no
Acknowledgment of Approval, it is certain that your news server
is not configured properly as well. Yes, your messages do show
up locally, but they have not been reviewed and approved and
thus will not be distributed beyond your site. There are also
misconfigurations which will cause your local news server to
report an error and halt the posting procedure.
o Article Propagation Lag: If you are receiving Acknowledgments of
Submissions and Approval and still don't see your articles
immediately showing up, rest assured that they are being
distributed worldwide. Some news servers propagate new articles
slower than others, and though we'd like to remedy every news
server glitch, there's nothing we can do about a post once we
have approved it and sent it on its way across the world.
In any of these cases, your local news administrator will be able to
offer you more assistance than we can. Please consult with her/him
before writing the Moderators.
While your news admin addresses the problem, you can still post to
soc.support.loneliness by directly e-mailing s...@usenet.net.nz.
12. What happens when I post a message?
Your message will take the following route:
1. The post is routed to the moderating system at
s...@usenet.net.nz.
2. The message is re-mailed out to one of the moderators.
3. An acknowledgement message is sent to the author of the message.
4. The moderator reviews and either approves or rejects the message.
5. The approval/rejection notice is sent back to the moderating
system.
6. The moderating software handles the approval/rejection notice.
(If approved, the message is then posted publicly.)
7. Acknowledgement of approval/rejection is sent to the original
poster.
13. How can I help out the S.S.L. group?
Okay, we have to admit that this is not a frequently asked question,
but it bears addressing nonetheless.
If you are interested in helping out with soc.support.loneliess,
please write us! We gladly welcome people who are willing and able to
put the time into making a good job of any of the following:
o Providing input on the General Loneliness FAQ.
o Helping with Moderation.
If you feel you might be able to do any of these (or otherwise help
soc.support.loneliness) please feel free to contact the Moderators.
The S.S.L. homepage is on the Web at http://www.usenet.net.nz/ssl
Thanks to Jay for maintaining this.
Contributors to FAQ: Jay, Simon Lyall, Jean Atkins.