The Usenet newsgroups are groups of people who share the interest in a certain range of topics.
The news.newsusers.questions newsgroup
is dedicated to beginners' questions about the Usenet.
New Usenet users ("newbies") are welcome to post questions in this group,
even if they may sound "silly" to experienced users.
However, once you have mastered the first steps there,
you may want to learn how to use the other newsgroups and
how to successfully communicate within the world-wide Usenet community.
Please, Read Before Posting!
Before you post something to a newsgroup,
read that newsgroup for a few weeks,
until you get acquainted with the language, style,
level of expertise etc. expected by the group members.
Before you post a question, check whether the same question has already been asked by someone else.
Before you post an answer,
check whether the question has already been answered by someone else.
Please, Read The Fine Manual (RTFM)!
Do not post a question to millions of people on the net,
if you can find the answer faster and better in your own manuals.
This refers to traditional manuals printed on paper
as well as to information stored on-line on your computer.
Many programs have a help function (h, ?, F1, ...) that tells you everything you need to know - use it!
Under Unix,
usually the complete software documentation is available to you
via the "man" command - use it!
Please, Get Local Help!
For many questions you can get the answer faster and better
by asking the computer people at your site.
For some questions you can get the answer only by asking the computer people in charge of your site.
Examples:
If you do not know which newsreader programs
or which newsgroups are available at your computer
or how you can send mail to other computers,
ask the system administrator of your site.
People far away on the net cannot know
how things are installed on your computer.
Please, Do Not Repeat the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)!
The Usenet consists of people
who like to learn from new and interesting questions,
answers, and discussions,
and to help friendly fellows to solve their problems.
But they do not like to read the same old basic questions
again and again and again.
On the other hand,
the frequently asked questions are the most important ones
for new members of the group.
For this purpose, the frequently asked questions and their correct answers have been collected in so-called "FAQ lists". These lists are regularly posted to the appropriate newsgroups and to the news.answers newsgroup, and they are also stored on many "ftp archive computers" like, for instance, rtfm.mit.edu, and within information systems like Gopher and the World Wide Web.
Before you post something to the net, please read the FAQ list and the previous postings to the newsgroup in question. Only if you do not find the answer there (nor in the fine manuals nor locally), then post the question to the newsgroup.
Even if you do not intend to post anything to the net,
you can learn a lot from reading such FAQ lists!
Please, Follow the "Netiquette" Rules and Conventions
Many useful hints, advices, rules, and conventions of "net etiquette"
have been put together to help you in communicating
with the millions of people that form the Usenet community
and to make the best use of the Usenet.
You can find them in the news.announce.newusers newsgroup
as well as on several "ftp archive computers"
or within information systems like Gopher.
Some examples for such useful hints:
Please, help to keep the Usenet helpful and useful, and use the net to spread knowledge, friendship and peace! Thank you for your co-operation.