Usenet is a system where messages can be exchanged between computers. Usenet is divided into "newsgroups", which are places where people come to talk about a particular topic. There are tens of thousands of newsgroups, and {{slj}} is just one of them.
If you have never used "Usenet" before, before you do anything else, and certainly before you post to the newsgroup, please read the posts in {{news|news.announce.newusers}}. Please try to be considerate to other newsgroup users.
Usenet is a fantastic resource, but it contains many traps for the unwary. This answer is intended to help you find your way around the pitfalls.
Understanding the following terms will help you to get started with Usenet.
Cross posting means posting an article to more than one newsgroup. It is usually considered best to avoid unnecessary cross-posting. If you really think cross-posting your article is appropriate, you can also use the `Followup-To:' header in your message to direct responses to appropriate newsgroups.
{{slj}} is not a part of Google. Although you can access the newsgroup through Google Groups, be warned that the Google Groups interface is inferior to that provided by a real newsreader. Messages posted through Google Groups may not function as they should, and so some posters might be put off replying to those who access the newsgroup via Google. The following information may be helpful:
If you want to post a followup via groups.google.com, don't use the "Reply" link at the bottom of the article. Click on "show options" at the top of the article, then click on the "Reply" at the bottom of the article headers. - Keith Thompson
If you think you would like to join the newsgroup as a "regular", it's a very good idea to spend some time (maybe a few weeks) reading the newsgroup but not posting in order to get a flavour of the topics discussed and the various personalities of the posters. This practice is called "lurking".
In order to read Usenet news, you need a piece of software called a newsreader. You also need access to a news server. Your ISP may provide a news server or you may need to use a news server provided by a third party such as News.Individual.NET. As with Email programs care must be taken with encoding issues to avoid mojibake.
The default settings should be changed or posts in Japanese will quite likely end up with all Japanese text turned into question marks.
Appropriate encoding for Newsgroup posts in Japanese with Outlook Express include:
The attribution line (or lines) is used to determine who posted which text. In the following Cindy posted everything quoted with one > symbol, Sean posted everything quoted with two > symbols.
Cindy said: > > Sean said: >> >> Blah > > Blah blahMany posters consider it confusing or rude to strip attribution lines or to not quote appropriate amounts of text being replied to.Blah blah blah
Please don't make test posts to {{slj}}: use the special test newsgroups like {{news|alt.test}} for that.
Don't be surprised if, when you ask a question in a newsgroup, other people follow up your post but start talking about something else. This phenomenon is called topic drift.
is the practice of adding to a discussion at the top of a previous message like this:
Blah blah blahUsenet traditionally uses "bottom posting":Cindy said: > > Blah blah > > Sean said: >> >> Blah
Cindy said: > > Sean said: >> >> Blah > > Blah blahand many posters object to top posting.Blah blah blah
A troll is a person who enjoys flaming on newsgroups, perhaps by posting off-topic or otherwise provocative material. When you see something particularly outrageous, please consider whether it might be a troll (deliberate provocation) before responding, and perhaps consider using your killfile to ignore them.