Internet Surfer 2.0/Internet Surfer 2.0 (Wayzata Technology) (1996).iso/pc/text/mac/faqs.543

Text File | 1996-02-12 | 27.8 KB | 573 lines

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.543



     If you cannot determine what distributions are valid for your
     site, ask someone locally rather than posting a query to the
     whole network!

17.  Why do some people put funny lines ("bug killers") at the beginning
     of their articles?

     Some earlier versions (mid-80s) of news had a bug which would
     drop the first 512 or 1024 bytes of text of certain articles.
     The bug was triggered whenever the article started with
     whitespace (a blank or a tab).  A fix many people adopted was to
     begin their articles with a line containing a character other
     than white space.  This gradually evolved into the habit of
     including amusing first lines.

     The original bug has since been fixed in newer version of news,
     and sites running older versions of news have applied a patch to
     prevent articles from losing text.  The "bug-killer" lines are
     therefore probably no longer needed, but they linger on.

18.  What is the address or phone number of the "foo" company?

     Try the white and yellow pages of your phone directory, first; a
     sales representative will surely know, and if you're a potential
     customer they will be who you're looking for.  Phone books for
     other cities are usually available in libraries of any size.
     Whoever buys or recommends things for your company will probably
     have some buyer's guides or national company directories. Call or
     visit the reference desk of your library; they have several
     company and organization directories and many will answer
     questions like this over the phone.  Remember if you only know
     the city where the company is, you can telephone to find out
     their full address or a dealer.  Calls to 1-800-555-1212 will
     reveal if the company has an "800" number you can call for
     information.  The network is NOT a free resource, although it may
     look like that to some people.  It is far better to spend a few
     minutes of your own time researching an answer rather than
     broadcast your laziness and/or ineptitude to the net.

19.  What is the origin of the name "grep"?

     The original UNIX text editor "ed" has a construct g/re/p,
     where "re" stands for a regular expression, to Globally
     search for matches to the Regular Expression and Print the
     lines containing them.  This was so often used that it was
     packaged up into its own command, thus named "grep".  According
     to Dennis Ritchie, this is the true origin of the command.

20.  How do I get from BITNET to UUCP, Internet to BITNET, JANET etc.?

     There are so many networks and mail systems in use now, it would
     take a book to describe all of them and how to send mail between
     them.  Luckily, there are a couple of excellent books that do
     exactly that, and in a helpful, easy-to-use manner:

         "!%@:: A Directory of Electronic Mail Addressing & Networks"
         by Donnalyn Frey and Rick Adams, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc,
         2nd edition 1990.

         "The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems
         Worldwide" by John Quarterman, Digital Press, 1990.

     Another excellent book to have on your bookshelf (to keep those
     two company) is "The User's Directory of Computer Networks" edited
     by Tracy LaQuey, Digital Press, 1990.

21.  Didn't some state once pass a law setting pi equal to 3 ?

     Indiana House Bill #246 was introduced on 18 January 1897, and
     referred to the Committee on Canals "midst general cheerfulness."
     The text states, "the ratio of the diameter and circumference is
     as five-fourths to four", which makes pi 3.2 (not 3), but there
     are internal contradictions in the bill as well as contradictions
     with reality.  The author was a mathematical crank.  The bill was
     passed by the state House on 5 February, but indefinitely tabled
     by the state Senate, in part thanks to the fortuitous presence
     on other business of a Purdue professor of mathematics.

     For details, including an annotated text of the bill, read the
     article by D. Singmaster in "The Mathematical Intelligencer" v7
     #2, pp 69-72.

22.  Where can I get the necessary software to get a "smart"
     mail system running on my machine that will take advantage
     of the postings in comp.mail.maps?  (E.g., pathalias, smail, etc.)

     There are a couple of packages available through the supporters of
     the comp.sources.unix archives.  If sites next to you don't have
     what you want, contact your nearest comp.sources.unix archive, or
     the moderator.  Information on archive sites, and indices of
     comp.sources.unix back issues are posted regularly in
     comp.sources.unix and comp.sources.d.

23.  What is "food for the NSA line-eater"?

     This refers to the alleged scanning of all USENET traffic by the
     National Security Agency (and possibly other intelligence
     organizations) for interesting keywords.  The "food" is believed
     to contain some of those keywords in the fond hope of overloading
     NSA's poor computers.  A little thought should convince anyone
     that this is unlikely to occur.  Other posters have taken up this
     practice, either as an ambiguous form of political statement, or
     as an attempt at humor.  The bottom line is that excessive
     signatures in any form are discouraged, the joke has worn stale
     amongst long-time net readers, and there are specific newsgroups
     for the discussion of politics.

24.  Does anyone know the {pinouts, schematics, switch settings,
     what does jumper J3 do} for widget X?

     These postings are almost always inappropriate unless the
     manufacturer has gone out of business or no longer supports the
     device.  If neither of these is the case, you're likely to get a
     better and faster response by simply telephoning the
     manufacturer.

25.  What is "anonymous ftp"?

     "FTP" stands for File Transfer Protocol; on many systems, it's
     also the name of a user-level program that implements that
     protocol.  This program allows a user to transfer files to and
     from a remote network site, provided that network site is
     reachable via the Internet or a similar facility.  (Ftp is
     also usable on many local-area networks.)

     "Anonymous FTP" indicates that a user may log into the remote
     system as user "anonymous" with an arbitrary password.  A common
     convention is that some sort of identification is supplied as the
     password, e.g. "mumble@foo".  This is sometimes useful to those
     sites that track ftp usage.  Also note that most sites restrict
     when transfers can be made, or at least suggest that large
     transfers be made only during non-peak hours.

26.  What is UUNET?

     UUNET is a for-profit communications service designed to provide
     access to USENET news, mail, and various source archives at low
     cost by obtaining volume discounts.  Charges are calculated to
     recover costs.

     For more information send your US mail address to
     [e-mail] (uunet!info).

27.  Isn't the posting mechanism broken?  When I post an article to both
     a moderated group and unmoderated groups, it gets mailed to the
     moderator and not posted to the unmoderated groups.

     This is a question that is debated every few months.  The answer
     is "No, it was designed to work that way."  The software is
     designed so that the moderator can crosspost the article so it
     appears in the regular groups as well as the moderated group, if
     appropriate.  If the article were to be posted immediately to the
     unmoderated groups, the moderated group name would have to be
     deleted from the header and you would lose the crossposting.

     Whether or not this is correct behavior is a matter of opinion.
     If you want your article to go out immediately to the unmoderated
     groups, post it twice -- once to the unmoderated groups and once
     to the moderated groups.

28.  comp.arch and elsewhere:  What do FYI and IMHO mean?

     Those are abbreviations for common phrases.  FYI is "For Your
     Information" and IMHO is "In My Humble Opinion" or "In My
     Honest Opinion."  This is used sarcastically as often as not.

29.  Would someone repost {large software distribution}?

     This question should never be posted unless you are reporting a
     widespread problem in article propagation. Lamentably, there ARE
     occasional glitches in article transport. Large source or binary
     postings, by their sheer size, are an inviting target.

     If the problem is isolated, it is much better to take it upon
     yourself to obtain the bad portions of the program than to ask
     thousands of sites to spend thousands of dollars to needlessly
     move several hundred kilobytes of code. There are archive sites
     around the net that make most source/binary newsgroups available
     via anonymous FTP and UUCP. If you get desperate, you can always
     mail the author a blank disk or magnetic tape with provisions for
     return postage.

30.  How do I contact the moderator of an Internet mailing list rather than
     post to the entire list?

     To do this you should know that there are, by convention, two
     mailing addresses for every mailing list (except where noted by
     the List of Lists):

         list@host        (e.g. [e-mail])
         list-request@host    (e.g. [e-mail])

     When you have something for everyone on the mailing list to read,
     mail to the list@host address. HOWEVER, if you have an
     administrative request to make (e.g. "please add me to this list",
     "please remove me from this list", "where are the archives?",
     "what is this mailer error I got from sending to this list?"), it
     should be directed to the list-request@host address, which goes
     only to the mailing list administrator.

     It is considered to be in bad taste to send administrative
     requests to the entire mailing list in question, and if (as is
     often the case) the administrator does not read the mailing list
     (i.e. he just takes care of the admin tasks for the list), he will
     not see your request if you don't send it to the right address.

31.  I see BTW (or "btw"), wrt and RTFM in postings.  What do they mean?

     BTW is shorthand for "by the way."  WRT is "With respect to".

     RTFM is generally used as an admonition and means "read the f*ing
     manual" (choice of f-words varies according to reader).  The
     implication is that the answer to a query or complaint is easy to
     find if one looks in the appropriate location FIRST.  Most FAQ
     postings (Frequently-Asked Questions) that answer these questions
     may be found cross-posted in news.answers.

32.  Are there any restrictions on posting e-mail someone sends to me?

     At a minimum, it is only polite for you to contact the author of
     the letter and secure her or his permission to post it to the net.

     On a more serious note, it can be argued that posting someone's
     e-mail to the net without their permission is a violation of
     copyright law.  Under that law, even though a letter was
     addressed to you, it does not grant you the right to publish the
     contents, as that is the work of the author and the author
     retains copyright (even if no explicit copyright mark appears).

     Basically, your letters are your intellectual property.  If
     someone publishes your letters they are violating your copyright.
     This principle is well-founded in "paper media," and while
     untested in electronic forums such as Usenet, the same would
     probably apply if tested in court.

33.  What's an FQDN?

     A fully-qualified domain name.  That is, a hostname containing
     full, dotted qualification of its name up to the root of the
     Internet domain naming system tree.  Example: uiucuxc is the
     single-word hostname (suitable for, e.g., UUCP transport
     purposes) of the machine whose FQDN is uxc.cso.uiuc.edu.

34.  How do you pronounce "char" in C, "ioctl" in UNIX, the character
     "#", etc., etc.?

     Opinions differ.  Pick pronunciations close to what your
     colleagues use.  After all, they're the ones you need to
     communicate with.

35.  How do you pronounce "TeX"?

     To quote Donald Knuth, the creator of TeX: "Insiders pronounce
     the X of TeX as a Greek chi, not as an 'x', so that TeX rhymes
     with the word blecchhh.  It's the 'ch' sound in Scottish words
     like loch or German words like ach; it's a Spanish 'j' and a
     Russian 'kh'.  When you say it correctly to your computer, the
     terminal may become slightly moist."  [The TeXbook, 1986, Addison
     Wesley, page 1]

36.  What is the last year of the 20th century A.D.?

     The A.D. (Latin, Anno Domini, In the Year of Our Lord) system was
     devised before "origin 0 counting" was invented.  The year during
     which Jesus was (incorrectly) assumed to have been born was
     numbered 1.  (The preceding year was 1 B.C.)  So the 1st century
     was 1 to 100, the 2nd was 101 to 200, the 20th is 1901 to 2000.
     This is standard terminology no matter how much some of you may
     dislike it.  However, "a" century is any span of 100 years; so if
     you want to celebrate the end of "the century", meaning the
     1900's, on December 31, 1999, nobody will stop you.  It just
     isn't the end of the "20th century A.D.".

37.  I heard these stories about a dying child wanting
     postcards/get-well cards/business cards to get in the Guinness
     Book of World Records.  Where can I post the address for people to
     help?

     Post it to "junk," or better yet, don't post it at all.  The
     story of the little boy keeps popping up, even though his mother
     and the agencies involved have been appealing for people to stop.
     So many postcards were sent that the agencies involved in the
     effort don't know what to do with them.  The Guinness people have
     recorded the boy, Craig Shergold, as the record holder in the
     category.  However, they will not accept claims for a new try at
     the record.  For confirmation, you can see page 24 of the 29 July
     1990 NY Times or call the publisher of the Guinness Book (in the
     US, call "Facts on File" @ 212-683-2244).

     According to the 1993 edition of the GBWR, on page 213:
    Craig Shergold (born 1979) of Carshalton, Surrey when
    undergoing cancer chemo-therapy was sent a record 33
    million get-well cards until May 1991 when his mother
    pleaded for no more.  A successful 5 hour operation on
    a brain tumour by neurosurgeon Neal Kassel at Virginia
    University, Charlottesville, USA in March 1991 greatly
    improved his condition.

     If you want to do something noble, donate the cost of a stamp and
     postcard (or more) to a worthwhile charity like UNICEF or the
     International Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Magen David).  There are
     tens of thousands of children dying around the world daily, and
     they could use more than a postcard.

38.  I just heard about a scheme the FCC has to implement a tax on
     modems!  Where can I post a message so everyone will hear about
     this and do something to prevent it?

     Post it the same place as the articles in response to #37, above.
     This is an old, old story that just won't die.  Something like
     this was proposed many YEARS back and defeated.  However, the
     rumor keeps spreading and people who hear about it for the first
     time get all upset.  Before posting stories like this, check with
     the organizations involved (like the FCC) to see if the story is
     true and current.

39.  Is there a public access Unix system near me?  How can I get
     access to system for news and mail?

     Phil Eschallier posts a list of open access Unix sites (he calls
     them "Nixpub" sites) on a regular basis to the following
     newsgroups: comp.misc and alt.bbs.   Check his posting
     for information on sites you can contact.

     Furthermore, a list of open access sites that are not necessarily
     Unix sites is posted regularly in alt.bbs.lists; see the postings
     entitled "NetPub listing" for more information.

40.  In rec.pets: My pet has suddenly developed the following symptoms
     .... Is it serious?  In sci.med: I have these symptoms .... Is it
     serious?

     Could be.  The only way to tell for sure is to see an expert.  The
     network reaches a vast audience with considerable talent, but that
     can never replace the expert observation and diagnosis of a
     trained professional.  Do yourself or your pet a big favor -- if
     there is a problem, go see an appropriate practitioner.  If there
     is a serious problem, it is important that it is dealt with promptly.

 41. I have this great idea to make money.  Alternatively, wouldn't an
     electronic chain letter be a nifty idea?

     In a few words: don't even think about it.  Trying to use the net
     to make vast sums of money or send chain letters is a very bad
     idea.  First of all, it is an inappropriate use of resources, and
     tends to use up vast amounts of net bandwidth.  Second, such usage
     of the net tends to produce extremely negative reactions by people
     on the net, adding even more to the volume -- most of it directed
     to you.  Users, particular system admins, do not like that kind of
     activity, and they will flood your mailbox with notices to that
     effect.

     And last, and perhaps most important, some of this activity is
     against the law in many places.  In the US, you can (and will) be
     reported by hacked-off system administrators for suspicion of wire
     fraud or mail fraud.  In one incident, at *least* a half dozen
     people reported the poster to Postal Service inspectors; I'm not
     sure what the outcome was, but it probably was not a nice
     experience.

     Bottom line: don't try clever schemes to sell things, solicit
     donations, or run any kind of pyramid or Ponzi scheme.  Also,
     don't start or support electronic chain letters.

 42. Where can I get archives of Usenet postings?

     Most Usenet newsgroups are not archived in any organized fashion,
     though it's likely that if you look hard enough someone will have
     kept much or most of the traffic (either on disk or on some tape
     gathering dust somewhere).  The volume on Usenet is simply too
     high to keep everything on rotating magnetic media forever,
     however.  The signal-to-noise ratio is too low in many groups to
     make them good candidates for archiving.

     One person's signal is another person's noise; if you're lucky,
     you'll find someone who has been keeping the good parts of a
     particular newsgroup in their own personal stash to save up for
     later.  How to get access to a group that *is* archived depends
     on what kind of group it is:

     * The "sources" and "binaries" groups are generally archived at
       multiple sites; for more information about getting access to
       them, see the posting entitled "How to find sources" in
       comp.sources.wanted.

     * Some non-source newsgroups can be found by asking "archie"
       about the group name.  See the comp.sources.wanted posting
       mentioned above for information about how to use "archie."

     * In other groups, if the group has a Frequently Asked Questions
       posting or another periodic posting about the group, check that
       posting to see if it mentions where the group is archived.  If
       not, then you'll have to post a message in the newsgroup and
       ask if it is archived anywhere.

 43. Is it possible to post messages to the Usenet via electronic mail?

     There are a few sites on the Usenet that offer a full-scale mail
     to news gateway, so that you can post via E-mail to any newsgroup
     support.

     One of them is decwrl.dec.com.  To use its gateway, you mail the
     message you wish to post to [e-mail].
     For example, to post to news.newusers.questions, you would send
     your message to [e-mail].

     Mail-to-news gateways of this sort tend to be overloaded.
     Therefore, please do not use this gateway or any other similar
     gateway if you have other posting access to the Usenet.

 44. Is it possible to read Usenet newsgroups via electronic mail?

     Most Usenet newsgroups do not correspond to any mailing list, so
     the conventional answer to this question is "no" for most groups.
     However, there are some newsgroups that are gatewayed to mailing
     lists.  For a list of them, see the "List of Active Newsgroups"
     posting in news.announce.newusers.

     If you know a Usenet site admin who is willing to act as a
     personal gateway for you, you might be able to get him/her to set
     up his/her system to forward messages from individual newsgroups
     to you via E-mail.  However, most admins don't like to do this
     because it adds to the outgoing traffic from their site, so don't
     post messages to the net saying, "Hey, is there someone willing
     to gateway newsgroups to me?"

 45. How do I get the news software to include a signature with my
     postings?

     This is a question that is best answered by examining the
     documentation for the software you're using, as the answer
     varies depending on the software.

     However, if you're reading news on a Unix machine, then you can
     probably get a signature to appear on your outgoing messages by
     creating a file called ".signature" in your home directory.  Two
     important things to remember are:

     1. Many article-posting programs will restrict the length of the
        signature.  For example, the "inews" program will often only
        include the first four lines.  This is not something you
        should be trying to find a way to defeat; it is there for
        a reason.  If your signature is too long, according to the
        software, then shorten it.  Even if the software does not
        complain, keep your .signature under four lines as a courtesy
        to others.

     2. Under some news configurations, your .signature file must be
        world-readable, and your home directory world-executable, for
        your signature to be included correctly in your articles.  If
        your .signature does not get included, try running these
        commands:
           chmod a+x $HOME
           chmod a+r $HOME/.signature

 46. I'm on BitNet -- can I connect to the Usenet?

     Many BitNet sites also have connections to other networks. Some
     of these sites may be receiving Usenet with NNTP or by other
     methods. IBM VM/CMS sites which only have a connection to BitNet
     may still gain access to Usenet if they get a software package
     called NetNews, which is available from Penn State University at
     no charge. The PSU NetNews software allows sites to receive
     Usenet news over BITNET.  Talk to your local site administraters
     to find out if your site has this software installed and how to
     access it from your account.

--
Gene Spafford
Software Engineering Research Center & Dept. of Computer Sciences
Purdue University, W. Lafayette IN 47907-1398
Internet:  [e-mail]    phone:  [phone]
Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu news.announce.newusers:916 news.answers:3560
Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!darwin.sura.net!gatech!purdue!spaf
From: [e-mail] (Gene Spafford)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers,news.answers
Subject: A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 19 Oct 92 05:14:32 GMT
Expires: 18 Dec 92 17:14:25 GMT
Followup-To: news.newusers.questions
Organization: Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ.
Lines: 362
Approved: [e-mail]
Supersedes: <[e-mail]>

Archive-name: usenet-primer/part1
Original-author: [e-mail] (Chuq Von Rospach)
Last-change: 5 May 1992 by [e-mail] (Gene Spafford)


              A Primer on How to Work With the USENET Community
                             Chuq Von Rospach



  *** You now have access to Usenet, a network of thousands of
  computers.  Other documents or your system administrator will provide
  detailed technical documentation.  This message describes the Usenet
  culture and customs that have developed over time.  All new users should
  read this message to find out how Usenet works. ***
  *** (Old users could read it, too, to refresh their memories.)  ***

  USENET is a large collection of computers that share data with each
  other.  It is the people on these computers that make USENET worth
  the effort to read and maintain, and for USENET to function properly
  those people must be able to interact in productive ways.  This
  document is intended as a guide to using the net in ways that will
  be pleasant and productive for everyone.

  This document is not intended to teach you how to use USENET.  Instead, it
  is a guide to using it politely, effectively and efficiently.
  Communication by computer is new to almost everybody, and there are
  certain aspects that can make it a frustrating experience until you get
  used to them.  This document should help you avoid the worst traps.

  The easiest way to learn how to use USENET is to watch how others use it.
  Start reading the news and try to figure out what people are doing and
  why.  After a couple of weeks you will start understanding why certain
  things are done and what things shouldn't be done.  There are documents
  available describing the technical details of how to use the software.
  These are different depending on which programs you use to access the
  news.  You can get copies of these from your system administrator.  If you
  do not know who that person is, they can be contacted on most systems by
  mailing to account "usenet".


           Never Forget that the Person on the Other Side is Human

  Because your interaction with the network is through a computer it is easy
  to forget that there are people "out there." Situations arise where
  emotions erupt into a verbal free-for-all that can lead to hurt feelings.

  Please remember that people all over the world are reading your words.  Do
  not attack people if you cannot persuade them with your presentation of
  the facts.  Screaming, cursing, and abusing others only serves to make
  people think less of you and less willing to help you when you need it.

  If you are upset at something or someone, wait until you have had a
  chance to calm down and think about it.  A cup of (decaf!) coffee or
  a good night's sleep works wonders on your perspective.  Hasty words
  create more problems than they solve.  Try not to say anything to
  others you would not say to them in person in a room full of people.

        Don't Blame System Admins for their Users' Behavior

  Sometimes, you may find it necessary to write to a system administrator
  about something concerning his or her site.  Maybe it is a case of the
  software not working, or a control message escaped, or maybe one of the
  users at that site has done something you feel requires comment.  No matter
  how steamed you may be, be polite to the sysadmin -- he or she may not have
  any idea of what you are going to say, and may not have any part in the
  incidents involved.  By being civil and temperate, you are more likely to
  obtain their courteous attention and assistance.

            Be Careful What You Say About Others

  Please remember -- you read netnews; so do as many as 2,500,000 other
  people.  This group quite possibly includes your boss, your friend's
  boss, your girl friend's brother's best friend and one of your
  father's beer buddies.  Information posted on the net can come back
  to haunt you or the person you are talking about.

  Think twice before you post personal information about yourself or
  others.  This applies especially strongly to groups like soc.singles
  and alt.sex but even postings in groups like talk.politics.misc have
  included information about the personal life of third parties that
  could get them into serious trouble if it got into the wrong hands.