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OT - Should I bring back the occasional post?



 
 
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Old February 5th 04, 05:53 PM
Julia Altshuler
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Default OT - Should I bring back the occasional post?

The subject line says it all.

When I started posting the occasional post, the idea was to help new
people understand what's going on with the annoyances on this newsgroup.
I wanted to help them understand that anything they had to say on the
subject had been said before, wouldn't do any long term good and would
bore a bunch of people in the short term. I stopped because I wasn't
sure I was accomplishing my goal. Now I'm not so sure. I'm seeing so
many unmarked arguments with the annoyances. Any opinions? I'm not
taking a vote, but I do care what the regulars think.


For new people, the occasional post is as follows. Do you think that
seeing it when you first started posting would have helped?


Would it be more useful if it weren't so precise and wordy? Maybe
something shorter? I'm thinking it needs an update.


--Lia


This message is posted to rec.pets.dogs.behavior (r.p.d.b.) regularly
and occasionally to other newsgroups including alt.animals.dog,
rec.pets.dogs.rescue, alt.pets.dog, and rec.pets.dogs.misc. These are
unmoderated groups meaning that no one checks the messages to make sure
they're on-topic, civil or sensible before they go through.

The purpose of this occasional posting is to give information about the
newsgroup so that discussion about the newsgroup itself is cut down and
discussion about dogs increases.

Like so many usenet groups, this group has people who post annoyingly
and constantly, people who post angry and abusive messages, people who
post to irritate others. It's up to individuals to decide which posters
bother them.

Here are some guidelines that many people follow to make this newsgroup
pleasant and informative:

1. Use your killfile. A killfile (or filter) makes invisible posts by
any particular person or with any particular words in the subject line.
The posts are still there, but they don't show up on the screen of the
person using the killfile. Look at
http://www.hyphenologist.co.uk/killfile/killfilefaq.htm for
instructions. Or
try: http://www.graphixmad.plus.com/OE_FAQ_newsgroups.html.


2. Don't make more noise. The only thing more annoying than a troll is
an otherwise rational person arguing with or about a troll. That's
known as feeding the trolls. Please don't feed the trolls. It really
is insane to attempt rational discussion with the insane.

3. Want to exercise your right to free speech and argue about or with
trolls anyway? Put "ninnyboy" in the subject line. That way the people
who want to join the fracas can, and those who don't can opt out by
killfiling "ninnyboy." If you don't do this, expect to be killfiled
yourself. [Jerry], with the brackets is also a recognized signal.

4. Figured out that arguing with trolls is useless but still want to
talk about trolls by referring to them in the third person? Put
"ninnyboy" in the subject line then too. That subject is boring too.

5. Trim quoted posts to include only the part you're responding to.
Quoting an entire long post in order to respond to only a small piece of
it is annoying. Again, if you don't do this, expect to be killfiled.

6. Sometimes the group gets temporary trolls in addition to the
resident ones. Label those [eggplant].

7. Show no fear. Have a question or need to admit that you've made
errors in dog training in the past? This is still a good place to come
for (often contradictory) advice. Use your own judgment to decide what
advice to follow and what not to. No harm can come to you even if
people vehemently disagree, call you names or repost your old messages.

8. Label off-topic threads as "OT." A label helps people decide what
to read and what not to.

9. Check the F.A.Q. for answers to frequent non-complicated questions.

10. Don't post pictures. This is not a binary newsgroup. That's plain
text only, no HTML, no attachments. If you'd like, post a pointer to a
website with pictures on it.

11. Don't crosspost. It's bad enough when someone posts something dog
related to all the groups having to do with dogs. It's worse when
totally unrelated groups get tossed in the mix. Feel like you
absolutely have to jump in on something that's been crossposted to
unrelated groups? Erase the extraneous ones when you answer.

 




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