USENET BASICS

A. How Usenet works
B. Netiquette in binaries newsgroups.
C. Spams and Scams
D. The myth of anonymity

Go here for an overview.

A. How Usenet Works

Usenet is the correct name for what many of us call the "newsgroups." Each part of the Internet was designed to carry certain types of data; that is, they use different "transfer protocols." For instance:

A COPY OF EACH ARTICLES IS STORED ON EACH SERVER!

Since pictures in articles tend to be large, the owners of the servers tend to put tight restrictions on pictures and picture newsgroups; individual articles are typically saved for a MUCH shorter time than articles on other newsgroups.

A limit may also be set on the MAXIMUM amount of storage assigned to a newsgroup; excessive posting (a "flood") may cause other articles to be "flushed" from the server in order to make room available within these limits. These are all policies of the individual ISP (Internet Service Providers) who own the servers.

If a particular ISP is having some sort of problem (a common problem is not having enough storage to accept a message), that message is lost from that ISP; since that ISP has no message to forward, the message also will not appear at any of the ISPs "downstream" of the "loser", unless they also have alternate feeds which can provide the missing message.

Since posted articles are treated much like e-mail, Usenet was never meant to handle binary material (such as pictures); just ASCII text. To work around this, early Net gods devised ways of converting (encoding) binaries into text for posting to "bulletin boards" (BBS, the ancestors of Usenet), and then back to their original binary form (decoding) after downloading. Many encoding schemes (e.g., Mime's base64, yEnc) are available, but UUencode/ UUdecode is the accepted Usenet standard. A good newsreader can detect binaries and perform all of the encoding/decoding automatically for you.

B. Netiquette in binaries newsgroups.

See here also...

Recurring themes across all binaries newsgroups:

  1. LOOK FOR A FAQ before you post anything, even comments.
  2. LURK AND LEECH for at least a few weeks before posting anything, including questions. Find out what's welcome or taboo first. Observing for a while will also help you avoid the mistake of duplicating very recent or worn-out posts by rushing to contribute without knowing the group's history.
  3. Learn how to use YOUR computer, YOUR chosen software and basic Internet tools like search engines and shareware sites. While others are willing to help out, don't expect to be spoon-fed. Even if you're not a newbie, you can get up to speed on any area of the Net that is new ground to you with this free resource.
  4. Read your Internet Service Provider's and/or news server's FAQ's.
  5. DON'T SHOUT unless you mean it. In posts and e-mail, THIS IS SHOUTING. Turn off that caps lock. It is considered rude and bad newsgroup netiquette. If you over-use your caps-lock, you will most likely be filtered by others in the group.
  6. CONSERVE BANDWIDTH, loosely defined as the amount of information that can flow through a channel. All Usenet resources are limited. The ever-increasing demands on news servers have led to tons of lost posts - which causes shorter retention times. Wasting bandwidth is the Usenet equivalent of littering - it hurts the whole community, especially in terms of allocating resources. It causes the pictures you want to stay on your news server for a shorter length of time.
    Bandwidth wasters are:
    • Posting large multimedia files (avi, mpg, mp3) to a picture newsgroup.
    • Reposting files that are still on the servers because they were just posted.
    • Posting images or software that is available via the Web or FTP.
    • Posting off-topic posts, such as recipies.
    • Posting questions when the answers are already right in front of you.
    • Multiple, simultaneous posts of the same request.
    • Cross-posting. If you cross-post to more than four groups at once, news server and/or ISP are likely to dub you a spammer and cancel or block your posts. Really, minimum cross-posting at all to these group are recommended. Cross-posting could lead to complaints to your ISP or news service. The list of groups is also "harvested" by spammers to find new places to inflict their activities, so avoid attracting the spammers.
    • Flame wars. Be aware that what you write will be seen worldwide on thousands of servers by thousands of people. Use e-mail whenever possible.
    • Trolling, which leads to flame wars. These usually start with an inflammatory or controversial remark intended to lure responses and create arguments.
    • HTML, VRML, XML, Java Script, Mouseover Event, and other signature attachments. - Spamming (see below).

  7. Be polite. If you have a problem with a poster, reply in a respectful manner. There is no need to be rude in ABPA* and asking nicely is much more likely to get you what you want.
  8. These are general rules. If a specific newsgroup has it's own FAQ, that FAQ's requirements override these.

C. Spams and Scams

There are two types of Internet Spams:
  1. Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (AKA UCE)
  2. Usenet Spam -- which is defined loosely as excessively cross-posted articles, excessively posted articles, advertisements or "announcements" of for-profit pay sites, hyperlinks or irrelevant material to a particular group.

Generally speaking, unsolicited messages posted to sell something for profit - usually an adult pay site - and messages that have no value to the group members - are spam. Folks who post a message with no picture attachment, but a link to a Web site, are spammers. Folks who post pictures plastered with the URL to their site (billboards) are spammers. Folks who put their URL in their headers are spammers. Folks who modify their e-mail address regularly to defy our kill filters are spammers.
Billboard: A picture turned into a spam ad. Many spammers will destroy a quality image by marking it with their URL. This is nothing more than a billboard and wastes a huge amount of bandwidth, storage, downloading, and deleting time. In most cases these images were downloaded from the very same groups from which they are reposted as billboard trash.
In regards to pictures w/ URL's on them, it's considered spam when the URL's size or placement degrades the quality of the image. If a small url is put on the picture by the copyright-holding web site, this will not be considered spam. If the url is placed by a web site onto someone else's copyrighted material, however, this will be considered spam. Altering of someone else's pictures or scans is not acceptable in these groups. (Including resizing, cropping, or otherwise modifying someone else's posting.)

Usenet was never meant as a venue of free advertising. No legitimate business utilizes spam to gain market recognition. You will find that the best quality adult Web sites do NOT advertise or "announce" in our newsgroup at all.

Spammers, as defined above, will not be tolerated in ABPA*. Every attempt will be made by individuals working, for the good of the group, to have spammers' messages removed from the servers and the policies of their own ISP's enforced. Attempts at deceiving our group members and disrupting the group will be met with attempts to have your ISP take actions against you.

There is a new, easy way to fight spam. It is called SpamCop. All you have to do is copy and paste a spam message (including full message header) into their window and press a button. SpamCop will AUTOMATICALLY determine who to complain to and draft a complaint, addressed to the spammer's ISP and from you. It is too easy. We all need to be doing it. Spamcop's complaint-creating and sending services are free. You just have to register a valid e-mail address with them (Hotmail, etc, is OK). SpamCop offers other services for a fee. Both Email and Usenet messages can be processed.

Dealing with "Kiddie-Porn"

Because a few fools insisted on posting child pornography to a few Usenet news groups, ALL binary newsgroups have been removed from the servers of a number of ISPs, and all alt.* groups have been removed from others.

What can we do about such postings? In addition to filing a complaint with the originating ISP, I find it useful to go to the Missing & Exploited Children website, and file a complaint there as well. (And they do have the capability of accepting reports about Usenet).

For more info on spam and spam-fighting, check out these newsgroups:
news.admin.net-abuse.misc
news.admin.net-abuse.usenet
news.admin.net-abuse.email
news.admin.net-abuse.sightings

D. The myth of anonymity

There is most-likely enough information in the headers of your posts for the authorities to identify you, even if you use a fake name and email address.

To the wise guys: You'd be amazed at how cooperative your Internet Service Provider can be about closing an account and sharing information with law inforcement agencies. They'd rather lose your small fee than harbor a criminal or troublemaker. In Usenet, behave like you're in a public place and under scrutiny, because you are.

To the good guys: Since the "information superhighway" is public, you may encounter the same type of population mix you'd meet on any busy cosmopolitan thoroughfare, including con artists, thieves and psychopaths. You'd be wise to keep your real identity out of Usenet. Use a free Internet-based e-mail account. No need to make it easy for them.