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In alt.os.linux.slackware, Two Ravens dared to utter,
> Quite! I have been out for exactly 12 hours today, (Annual County
> Agricultural Association Show), and in my absence instead of the usual
> 20 > 30 posts, there have been 87!

I know. Discouraging ain't it? I've no problem with people posting a
lot, or with high volume newsgroups, but people need to learn when they
have something worthwhile to discuss they should make fewer posts with
more content, and shut up when they've got nothing anyone is remotely
interested in. No one's interested in how bad some one's boyfriend is
going to beat you up for being mean on of all things an alt.*
newsgroup. No one needs to here about how proud you are that your
thread has so many replies, the vast majority of which are one liners
you yourself made.

Listen up; I'm only gonna say this once. The rules of netiquette
require that a newbie to a mailing list or usenet group should do the
following things.

A) Lurk awhile before posting. See how frequent different people post
and get a feel for who to listen to and who to ignore. This will tell
you more about what is acceptable in the group than any other action
you can take.
B) When you decide to post, posting introductory messages like "I just
got X and ain't it great" are frowned on. Everyone got X sometime and
everyone thought it was great, else we wouldn't be here. Hearing every
newb repeat it over and over again just angers people against you.
C) Be informative when you post. "I have a problem with Y" isn't going
to get you anywhere. Tell what your problem is, what it's symptoms
are, and anything you might feel could help some one else diagnose the
problem. Attaching portions of relevant logs is good, but if these are
any size, should generally, IMHO be foot-noted and placed after your
synopsis of the problem.
D) No one gives a smelly rat's ass about your personal life. Leave it
at the door. No exceptions allowed. You want to talk about my
personal life, you can do that on the OT mailing list (where it
actually is on topic incidently), but not here. That's what everyone
who's any sort of established presence here has done to keep personal
non-Slackware discussions out of the group.
E) Don't flood the newsgroup or mailing list with tons of posts. This
is at least as disturbing as flooding an IRC channel. People really
hate to see a dozen posts from the same guy on the same topic in a day
without the man ever adding anything to the discussion past his first
two or three posts. If you've got nothing to say, shut your mouth.
F) Wear your asbetos undies, 'cause it gets hot sometimes.

- --
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Ecclesiastes 7:5
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