[2696] in comp.os.os2.announce archive
** Posting Guidelines for comp.os.os2.announce
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mick Brown)
Wed Mar 26 17:37:22 1997
To: os2ann.DISCUSS@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 22:34:27 GMT
From: lfirrantello@bix.com (Mick Brown)
Reply-To: lfirrantello@bix.com
Source: lfirrantello@BIX.com (Mick Brown)
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The following is my most recent attempt at clarifying the COOA submissions
guidelines.
CROSSPOSTS: There will be a maximum of 5 groups in a crosspost list. Longer
lists will be pruned. Crossposts into other moderated groups are generally
not accepted. Crossposts into non-OS/2 groups are generally not accepted.
The moderator may add appropriate crossposts.
Articles crossposted into more than 5 groups are not accepted by my server
and *ARE* filtered by some feeder sites if I tried to find another server.
CONTENT: Posts must relate to OS/2 in some clear way. They should be
descriptive and factual. Questions, comments, criticism, etc. should be
posted in another newsgroup. OS/2 employment announcements should be posted
in comp.os.os2.marketplace.
PERIODIC POSTS: It is the general policy to restrict posts about the same
resource to a maximum of once per month. Posting corrections to previously
appearing posts or announcements of significant changes do not count
against the "once per month" rule. It is requested that plans to announce
regularly be discussed with the moderator in advance.
Posting Guidelines
------------------
1. Please assume the reader doesn't know your product, company, FAQ, etc. Give
a brief description of the main features of your product. Tell us what's on
your web site. Let the readers know when your meetings are, and what your
current agenda is. Etc.
** My most frequent complaint is that the descriptions often assume the **
** reader already knows what the product is or what the service does **
** REPEAT: Do not assume the reader knows what your product does **
2. Use meaningful subject lines. If it is software indicate name, and version
and the general category it falls into. Also, please use a keyword in the
subject. A suggested list of keywords appears below.
"VENDOR: Ballistic Reader v4.3 by ZyX Products (news reader)" is good.
3. Generally forbidden keywords: ANNOUNCE, ANNOUNCEMENT, ANN, NEW, etc.
4. Suggested keywords for subject lines:
UG - users' group
BETA - alpha/beta/gamma software testing programs
FREEWARE - free software
IRC - IRC internet chat meetings
PR - press release
SOFTWARE - non-commercially distributed software
VENDOR - commercial software or hardware supplier.
MAGAZINE - paper magazine
ZINE - electronic magazine
BBS BOOK COURSE DEMO DRIVER GAME
NEWSLTR RESELLER SEMINAR WEB
3. Please include all information necessary to:
* get more information
* get your software from a FTP or WWW site (PLEASE USE URL references)
* get other software your package requires but does not include.
** Missing or inaccurate information is another frequent complaint **
4. Please include valid email addresses so the moderator can contact you to:
a) confirm receipt or your submission, b) ask questions about your post
5. USER's GROUPS: I suggest indicating the usual meeting location, day and
time so that potential visitors can plan to attend.
Please submit at least a week before the meeting.
6. SOFTWARE: Please indicate full URLs for files mentioned including host
directory and *FILENAME*. If it is currently in an incoming directory
indicate where it is expected to be placed.
For example:
"Download PMProd at ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/os2/incoming/pmprod27.zip but
it is expected to move to /pub/os2/network/tcpip".
7. If you are not the originator of the information, please provide an
indication of this fact. Please make sure that reposting is desired by the
originator.
Speeding Submission Processing
------------------------------
It will help speed processing your post if you include the following at the
top of the body of your post followed by a line of "-" dashes. Please read this
full section before including any of the following marked (optional).
Reply-To: Email address (requested)
Submitted by: Email address (requested)
Source: Email address (optional)
Date-to-post: DATE (optional)
Anonymous: yes (optional)
Followup-To: newsgroup (optional)
Newsgroups: list of newsgroups separated by commas (optional)
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Email addresses should be like: "Mick Brown <lfirrantello@bix.com>" or
"lfirrantello@bix.com (Mick Brown)" or "lfirrantello@bix.com"
Reply-To: should be filled with the email address that will respond to
comments about your posting. This will be used to set the news header when
posted.
Submitted by: should contain your email address. This will replace the
corresponding news header when posted. Please include this header since your
news reader may have your email address incorrectly configured.
Source: should contain the contact information of your third party source.
Please do not supply this, if you or your company is the source.
Date-to-post: ONLY use this if you want your post DELAYED until a particular
date. Please do not include this otherwise.
Anonymous: yes. ONLY supply this if you cannot handle email contacts for some
reason.
The followup-to: and Newsgroups: lines are best handled by setting them in
your news reader software. However you can include them here if you are
submitting by email or cannot figure out how to set them properly in your
news reader.
Followup-To: newsgroup indicates which newsgroup will contain discussion of
your post.
Newsgroups: indicates which newsgroups will get a copy of your post.
How to Post Anonymously
-----------------------
Anonymous posting is allowed for those who do not want to receive excessive
email concerning their submissions.
1. Please post as usual, with proper email addresses in your From: header in
your news reader. The moderator may have to contact you. If the moderator
cannot email you, your post will be rejected without notice.
2. Place the following as the first line in the body of your message:
"Anonymous: yes"
This will allow my posting scripts to remove identification information so
your mailbox will not be inundated with questions about your post.
Posting Checklist:
------------------
a) Your suggested subject line
b) your name, as you would like it to appear in the announcement
c) your email address, where the moderator can reach you in the
event of a question
d) note whether you would prefer that your email address be withheld
from the announcement
e) the name and email address of the source (if a third party) including
acknowledgment of permission from the source to submit to USENET
f) the text of the announcement, restricted to 79 characters per line
g) include any relevant filenames and locations for shareware products
NOTE: Please use URL format.
h) filling out the appropriate portions of the above template will speed
processing. Filling out the template will help me contact you if your news
server is one of those that mangles the from: and reply-to: headers.
** Please place your name and email address in the body of your submission **
** I am receiving an increasing number of submissions where the news server
** has mangled From: and Reply-To: headers in submissions. This means that **
** my email to you bounces and I have to reject the anonymous submission. **
** Placing the "Submitted by:" and "Reply-to:" lines from the template is **
** the preferred method of placing your email address in the body of your **
** submission. **
What happens after you submit an article
----------------------------------------
1) I send email confirming receipt of your submission. If you do not get an
email from the moderator within a reasonable time (generally 24 hours), please
contact me at lfirrantello@bix.com.
2) I will contact you if I have a question about your submission. Usually this
is because you announced software and didn't indicate how to obtain it in the
body of your submission. Lack of response may result in a rejected post.
3) If I think your submission doesn't meet the requirements of the charter he
will send a note indicating why I think it is inappropriate under the charter,
and optionally what changes could make it acceptable under the charter. If you
disagree, feel free to write me with your reasoning about how it does meet the
charter. I am willing to listen, and try to maintain an open mind.
4) If your article meets the charter, it is posted to the group, usually
within two days, without further contact with the submitter. If it doesn't
appear within a week on your server, please contact me at
lfirrantello@bix.com.
--Mick Brown (lfirrantello@bix.com) Moderator comp.os.os2.announce
=====================================================================
| c.o.o.announce submissions: POST [or email comp-os-os2-announce@uunet.uu.net]
| Please address other correspondence to lfirrantello@bix.com .
| Please see: http://www.bix.com/pub/os2ann/pindex.htm for posting guidelines
