From csus.edu!uop!pacbell.com!nntp-hub2.barrnet.net!news3.near.net!paperboy.wellfleet.com!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.Gsu.EDU!gatech!news.sprintlink.net!alfa02.medio.net!alfa02.medio.net!not-for-mail Thu May 25 07:07:06 1995 Path: csus.edu!uop!pacbell.com!nntp-hub2.barrnet.net!news3.near.net!paperboy.wellfleet.com!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.Gsu.EDU!gatech!news.sprintlink.net!alfa02.medio.net!alfa02.medio.net!not-for-mail From: Moderator Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.www.announce Subject: ** How comp.infosystems.www.announce works (FAQ) ** Followup-To: comp.infosystems.www.misc Date: 18 May 1995 09:03:23 -0700 Organization: Medio Multimedia, Inc. Lines: 222 Sender: grant2@alfa02.medio.net Approved: www-announce@medio.com Message-ID: <3pfr4b$dm2@alfa02.Medio.Net> Summary: this newsgroup's rules and regulations Keywords: charter, format, guidelines, moderators X-Last-Updated: 11 May 1995 Last Updated: 11 May 1995 1. What is comp.infosystems.www.announce? 2. What gets and doesn't get posted to comp.infosystems.www.announce? 3. How do I post? 4. What should my post contain? How should I format it? How long can it be? 4.a. What's the policy on Subject: lines? 5. What if I don't format it correctly? 6. Where do follow-up messages go? Can I cross-post to another newsgroup related to my resource? 7. Hey, I posted my announcement yesterday and I haven't seen my message yet! Where did it go? Should I resend it? 8. Who's the moderator? 9. What are the moderator's responsibilities? 10. Why did you approve a post that announces something so offensive / illegal / against my beliefs? 1. What is comp.infosystems.www.announce? comp.infosystems.www.announce (moderated) is the Usenet incarnation of a resource with an http/HTML means of access as well as conventional newsreader access. 2. What gets and doesn't get posted to comp.infosystems.www.announce? The purpose of the group is to announce the following events specifically related to the World-Wide Web: a. New World-Wide Web resources and sites b. Changes to URL's of existing Web resources and sites c. New World-Wide Web resources and server, client, and supporting software d. New releases/versions of existing Web resources and server, client, and supporting software. e. Short summaries of monthly (or less frequent) changes to Web-based magazines or journals. This group does NOT post the following types of announcements: a. Blatant advertising other than the announcement of the availability of more information about a product or service via a Web page b. "Make Money Fast" or any other chain-letter-like message c. Announcements of resources not accessible on the World-Wide Web 3. How do I post? Announcers can post two ways. First, they can use whatever news software they usually use to post directly to the newsgroup. The message will land in the moderator's mailbox automatically. Otherwise, announcers can send their messages via e-mail directly to www-announce@medio.com. Questions about announcements should go to the group's moderator, M. L. Grant (www-announce-request@medio.com). 4. What should my post contain? How should I format it? How long can it be? All announcements of a new or changed URL are presented in the following format (see the RFC at for details): Please note that [ and ] around PORT indicate that this part of the URL is optional. For example: Announcements should be plain-text and contain no HTML. The announcement should be short -- less than 75 lines -- and to the point. The author's signature should be four lines or shorter; the moderator will trim longer signatures. Announcers should not include surveys, polls, application forms, or the like in their posts; such addenda will be excised. Likewise, announcers should not quote price lists or extensive catalog-style descriptions. Instead, a post should provide pointers, in the format described above, to those resources. 4.a. Policy on Subject: lines (modified 11 May 1995): In a nutshell: Subject: lines must be meaningful. A single word, a string of ID words, and/or your company's name with no description is NOT meaningful. Posts with meaningless Subject: lines will be sent back for editing. the moderator will not bother to read the announcement and try to summarize it for the poster. The moderator will excise the word "Announce" (or any derivative) from the Subject: line -- unless it is the only word in the Subject: line, in which case the moderator will send the post back. The moderator may also excise "WWW," "Online," "Site," and "New." Announcers should do their readers a favor and describe their business in the Subject: line. Unless the company's name is Coca-Cola, this international newsgroup's readers have probably not heard of the company before. Here are a couple of examples of a bad and good Subject: line: New BUSINESS WWW Site: X-Industries International Online What does X-Industries do? Why should readers bother looking at this post? Why should the moderator bother to put this announcement through, if the poster hasn't bothered to describe his company? Yes, everyone knows you're on-line. Yes, everyone knows the site is new. And yes, believe it or not, EVERYONE KNOWS YOU'RE ON THE WEB, because the post is in comp.infosystems.www.announce. Here's another example: X-Industries: Anvils, Dirigibles, and On-line Herpetology Database Cool! Now readers know that the post is announcing a URL to a site where they can find all the latest information on iron-forging tools, obsolete flying machines, and newts! Announcements should include one of the following ID words in CAPS in the Subject: line if possible: ARCHIVE ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE SCIENCE ART ENVIRONMENT MISC SERVER BOOK FAQ MUSIC SHOPPING BROWSER GAMES NEWS SOFTWARE COLLECTION HEALTH PERSONAL SPORTS ECONOMY HUMANITIES POLITICS TRANSPORTATION EDUCATION INFO REFERENCE EMPLOYMENT LAW RELIGION Use of a subject ID word is optional. Since this list is already long, it is not expandable. Announcers who do not find their topic in the list should feel free to use a word of their own choosing. 5. What if I don't format it correctly? Announcements which contain broken links or do not follow the format specified will be sent back to the originator. 6. Where do follow-up messages go? Can I cross-post to another newsgroup related to my resource? Unless a poster specifies otherwise, follow-ups are automatically set to go to comp.infosystems.www.misc. Follow-ups directed to other newsgroups or to multiple newsgroups will be honored at the moderator's discretion. The moderator will not forward or post follow-ups sent accidentally to comp.infosystems.www.announce or which get sent to . The same policy holds for cross-posted announcements. Cross-posting will be honored at the moderator's discretion. Posts should never be cross-posted to more than one newsgroup in a category, and posts should not go into more than one comp.infosystems.www.* group (please see the charters of the other Web newsgroups at for details). 7. Hey, I posted my announcement yesterday and I haven't seen my message yet! Where did it go? Should I resend it? When a person posts to a moderated newsgroup like comp.infosystems.- www.announce, the post goes automatically into the moderator's mailbox. From there, either a living person or a robo-moderating program will approve the post and send it to the newsgroup. In the case of comp.infosystems.www.announce, the living moderator has to edit Subject: lines, check URL's, trim excessive signature files, and verify that the post is appropriate for the group. This process takes real time, and the moderator has a full-time job. Furthermore, the moderator has a window of "24 to 48 hours" to post announcements (to allow for weekends and holidays -- see below). Once the moderator approves an announcement and posts it, the message is propagated through Usenet, which can take anywhere from three minutes to three days. This propagation time is beyond the moderator's control, as are any line or network outages. Posters should wait a good five days before contacting the moderator about a missing announcement. They should also watch their newsfeed very carefully, as posts generally go out in batches of twenty or thirty. 8. Who's the moderator of comp.infosystems.www.announce? Moderator is M. L. Grant, . First backup moderator is Glenn Davis, . Second backup moderator is Tim Pierce, . 9. What are the moderator's responsibilities? a. Modify all posts which do not conform to the above format, which is the format that most Web browsers can read to provide working links to the announced resource. b. Test all URL's and inform the announcer of incorrect links within 24 to 48 hours of receiving the announcement. c. Post correct announcements within 24 to 48 hours of receiving the correct, working URL's. d. Post this charter, the charters of the other comp.infosystems.www.* groups, and World-Wide-Web-related FAQ's and documents weekly. e. Turn over the duties of moderating to the backup moderators -- first to Glenn Davis , second to Tim Pierce -- in the event of vacations or other happenings that may interfere with the performing of these duties. 10. I followed a link from the newsgroup, and the page was morally depraved and illegal in my area! Why did you approve a post that announces something so offensive? The moderator claims no responsibility for the safety, legality, or morality of the resources announced. Announcements of material which some may consider offensive may or may not be labelled as such. The choice to access or not to access any page is left to the user at all times; such is the nature of the World-Wide Web. --- M. L. Grant Moderator, comp.infosystems.www.announce -- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How this group works: From csus.edu!csusac!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!psgrain!news.sprintlink.net!alfa02.medio.net!alfa02.medio.net!not-for-mail Thu May 25 07:17:01 1995 Path: csus.edu!csusac!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!psgrain!news.sprintlink.net!alfa02.medio.net!alfa02.medio.net!not-for-mail From: M. L. Grant Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.www.announce Subject: ** UPDATE on the Recent Forged Articles: Please read! ** Followup-To: comp.infosystems.www.misc Date: 24 May 1995 17:13:42 -0700 Organization: Medio Multimedia, Inc. Lines: 23 Sender: grant2@alfa02.medio.net Approved: www-announce@medio.com Message-ID: <3q0i3m$gl2@alfa02.Medio.Net> Summary: Recent spams with forged headers Keywords: Spams, moderation, forging Please read the newsgroups alt.current-events.net-abuse, and, for less noise, news.admin.net-abuse.announce for news about the recent unapproved postings to this and other moderated newsgroups. You'll recall that the posts were "The Key To Organizing Your Health Records" and "Are You Named in Somebody's Will?" They have been properly cancelled, and I don't need to see any more mail about them. Please remember that the posts went through without my approval because they were forged, and I never saw them before they showed up in the newsgroup. There should be no copies left on your news machine. Again, please read news.admin.net-abuse.announce for details. M. L. Grant Moderator, comp.infosystems.www.announce -- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How this group works: