[SpamCop-List] Re: News Admin: Newsgroup Charter?

[RW]

Sue Morton wrote:
> 
> Bottom line: I don't think you can stop the newbie from doing the wrong
> thing here.  But perhaps a Charter posted at regular intervals would serve
> to inform and remind?  Just a suggestion.  Comments and opinion welcome.

Regular posting of a Charter is only going to benefit (and eventually
irritate) the regular users here.  A new user coming in to make their
one post/question isn't going to wade through hundreds of posts before
asking their question.  As michael pointed out, most users go through
the help pages to find the server where the main rules are prominently
posted.

In fact, most newbies never make it to the server.  Most will post
through web form and that's where many of the mistakes (spams included,
etc) come from.  There again, in order to post, they are greeted with
bright read letters to not post spam.  If they don't read that I doubt
they would find and read a complete charter before posting if they do
come into the groups.

Most of the mistakes come about in the .help group.  We, as regular
users have to remember Julian's number one rule in that group, "be
polite."  A quick reminder is all that's usually needed.  It's not
necessary to lamblast them.

Another thing to keep in mind, that I'm slowly learning to follow:

Read the rest of the thread.  If the question has already been answered,
there is no point mailing the same answer to the person again.  I can
just imagine what it feels like to a person to make their first post,
only to get a dozen answers in their mailbox, some of them conflicting.

If you have something to add to the post, but it doesn't really benefit
the original poster, reply only to the group.  There is no point mailing
the person a bunch of <aol>me to</aol> posts.

Richard