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One problem with electronic communications is that you lack any kind of visual input during the conversation. When people talk to each other in person, you constantly receive information on a conscious and subconscious level from the other person’s body language. Because you can’t see the other people that read and post on Usenet, these visual cues are missing. Because you typically use body language and visual cues to represent emotion and feeling, it can be easy to misunderstand someone’s post without them.
Fortunately, you can use several conventions on Usenet to replace part of the missing visual cues. You can place added emphasis on a particular phrase by surrounding it in asterisks, as in “I *really* mean it!” Also, the use of all capital letters is considered shouting. If you accidentally post an article with your <Caps Lock> key on, several people will probably tell you about it.
You can also express emotions by writing them into your message. For example, if you make a sarcastic statement, you can make sure that it’s understood as such by adding <sarcasm> at the end of the line. Smileys, also known as emoticons, also work to add emotion to your post. A smiley is an ASCII representation of a face, which you look at sideways to see clearly. For example, :-) is a happy, smiling face, and :-( is a sad face.
ON THE WEB:
A canonical list of smileys is available at the following site. Have a look at it if you’re really interested; some of them are quite funny and original, but the happy and sad faces are the most commonly used. Using some of the longer or rarer ones will likely result in the same effect as using obscure words in common conversation—you’ll just confuse people.
Just as people are different, each newsgroup on Usenet has a different culture. Each newsgroup has a different subject focus and attracts different types of people. In some groups, you may find large numbers of college students, whereas in others, you may find primarily research scientists.
Some of the more technical hierarchies, such as comp and sci, tend to be more oriented toward factual discussion, although heated debates do take place. Members of these groups are usually interested in discussing facts and issues related to some technical subject. When you post here, make sure that you take time to carefully compose your article and have references for the various points that you make.
The less technical hierarchies, such as rec, tend to be somewhat more opinion-oriented. Remember, you’ll probably get replies to your articles that reflect other people’s opinions that are quite different from your own. Groups in the talk hierarchy, along with some of the misc groups, get into some very heated discussions. Many of these groups discuss very sensitive topics such as abortion and gun control. Be careful in these groups if you’re new to Usenet. Make sure that you take time to get familiar with the group before posting. Be prepared to receive strongly worded replies and e-mail about your articles. Many of the people here hold very strong beliefs.
NOTE: When you first start reading a newsgroup, you should take some time to familiarize yourself with the culture of the particular group before posting. Read the group for at least a few days and try to get a feel for the tone of the articles and the things that are considered to be acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Look for a FAQ to get a feel for the group (if there’s not one posted recently in the newsgroup, a search using one of the search engines on the Web can help).
In a few newsgroups, posting articles is restricted. These are known as moderated newsgroups. Moderated newsgroups are managed by a person known as a moderator. All articles posted to the group must be approved by the moderator before posting. The moderator decides if the content of the article is appropriate to the group and, if so, posts the article to the group. Most news software automatically detects if a newsgroup is moderated, and if so, it e-mails your article to the moderator instead of posting it directly.
Now that you’re familiar with Usenet, look at the basic process for reading and posting news articles. This section discusses reading and posting news in general terms; the exact details depend on the news-reading software that you’re using. Many different software packages are available for interacting with news, and each of them is different. Many people use a Web browser with an integrated news reader, such as Netscape. Others prefer to use a line-oriented tool, such as rn. These general concepts should apply across all news reading software.
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