NEWSGROUP ETIQUETTE

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When file swapping on newsgroups, you’re joining a gang of very efficiently organized thieves and pirates, so it’s best to keep a low profile.

Many binary groups have an adjacent “discussion” group. The “d” attached to alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.d, for instance, designates it as a discussion group where people talk about items they’ve posted in alt.binaries.sounds.mp3, such as announcing dates when they’ll post certain files.

Don’t make the mistake of posting binaries in a discussion group. While this may seem like an innocent mistake to you, it’s considered a glaring breach of etiquette to serious users. Without Usenet’s strict categories, the system would soon be useless to everybody, so Usenet veterans are often quick to chastise newcomers who unknowingly break these important rules. And they won’t necessarily chastise nicely.

Newsgroups can only hold a limited amount of messages, so the more people post messages, the less time each message remains available before newer messages push the older ones aside. As a result, most binary newsgroups ask users to limit the number of files they upload. While posting six CDs at a time may seem like you’re doing the group a favor, the sheer size of the postings will erase older messages before other people can read them. Be sure to adhere to upload limits.

Note

Note In terms of security, hundreds of people post files in newsgroups, which often scroll off after a week or two. File sharing network users, by contrast, constantly share their entire music collection. That makes file sharing network users much easier to monitor and, subsequently, sue for damages.

And finally, don’t post a question until you’ve read the newsgroup’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file first. If you can’t find a newsgroup’s FAQ, it’s considered polite to ask, “Where can I find the FAQ for this group?” When you locate the FAQ, study it thoroughly. Asking a question that’s already answered in the newsgroup’s FAQ will mark you as an amateur and a target for others to attack. Not physically, of course, but verbally and with near-rabid intensity.

You’ll find a fairly complete and updated set of FAQs at http://www.faqs. org/faqs. For a group of FAQs sorted by newsgroup categories (like alt, comp, rec, and others) visit http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-newsgroup. The faqs.org site also keeps a list of the most popular FAQs (http://www.faqs.org/toprated.html).

Finally, don’t post anything until you’re sure you understand the mechanicsinvolved and the acceptable quality rates. Before posting in a newsgroup, visit alt.binaries.test and post your file there. If it appears correctly, then try posting it in a regular newsgroup.

Note

Note When visiting newsgroups, you’ll probably run across the usual spam advertising everything from lower mortgage rates to Viagra to pornography. More serious are malicious people who post viruses and Trojan horses in a newsgroup to attack unsuspecting users. The Melissa virus began life in 1999 as a post in alt.sex, which wound up infecting 100,000 computers on its first weekend and crashing email servers worldwide. See Chapter 7 for more information on protecting your computer while file hunting. And please don’t download those files named “Christina Aguilera naked 7234.”



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Steal This File Sharing Book
Steal This File Sharing Book: What They Wont Tell You About File Sharing
ISBN: 159327050X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 98
Authors: Wallace Wang

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