This version: 29 August 1999
These documents (posting.html, faq1.html, faq2.html and spelling.html) contain questions that are frequently asked on the various groups on the Star Trek: Continuum newsserver (news.startrek.com). These Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents attempt to answer those questions so that new readers can avoid asking them in the groups. These documents have not been authorized by Paramount Digital Entertainment or Paramount Pictures Corporation. Should you have a specific question concerning the authenticity of anything in the FAQs, please direct your query to the startrek.starfleetheadquarters group.
Star Trek: Continuum began as a joint effort between Paramount Digital Entertainment (a division of Paramount Pictures Corp.) and the Microsoft Network (MSN). STC first started up in the summer of 1996 and was initially available only to members of MSN. The first newsgroups were MSN proprietary groups accessible only via the MSN software. In the spring of 1997, MSN began a migration to NNTP news servers for all online content and the STC groups were among the first to make the move. However, the content of STC was still only available to MSN subscribers. In January of 1998, STC completed a migration to a standalone service available to the general public. STC groups are now maintained on a separate, public NNTP server.
A full discussion of newsgroups and common practices and terminology is beyond the scope of this document. If you are a new user and wish to learn more, you can begin your education at this Web site:
http://sunsite.unc.edu/usenet-i/
If you are connecting from the STC Web site and you wish to set up the newsserver separately so you don't have to go through the Web site again; you may use one of the following verified newsserver addresses.
news.startrek.com
picard.paramount.com
The following is a current list of all Trek-related groups on the Continuum's newsserver. Note that the actd groups are only for players of Star Trek: A Call To Duty. All other groups are open to the general public, but please try to keep your posts on topic for each group.
startrekstartrek.actd.*startrek.booksstartrek.collectiblesstartrek.communicatormailbagstartrek.deepspaceninestartrek.expertforumstartrek.expertforum.ricksternbachstartrek.fandomstartrek.filmtrekkiesstartrek.gamesstartrek.klingonstartrek.sciencestartrek.starfleetheadquartersstartrek.technicalsupportstartrek.thenextgenerationstartrek.theoriginalseriesstartrek.upcomingchatsstartrek.voyagerstartrek.xenologyST:ACTD is an online role-playing game officially sanctioned by Paramount Entertainment. To play the game, email ACTDJames@startrek.com and let him know you want to join up. He'll email you all the necessary information.
The official Terms of Service are at
http://www.startrekcontinuum.com/support/copyright.asp?Quadrant=Comm&ssector=newsgroups.asp
Certain types of postings are prohibited; including junk ads (spam), materials posted in violation of copyright, and sexually explicit posts. The groups are policed by Paramount Entertainment staff.
Over the past couple of decades, a set of unofficial standards have grown through common usage. These unofficial standards are generally known as Netiquette. Violations of Netiquette are often flamed by other posters, so it is best for the community to stick to the guidelines. For more information about Netiquette in general and Usenet practices, please read the information on the following Web pages.
http://www.fau.edu/rinaldi/netiquette.html
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/docproject/zen/zen-1.0_6.html
http://jade.wabash.edu/wabnet/info/netiquet.htm
Finally, it is considered courteous on STC to do the following:
Post in plain text mode only (see item 8 below)
Delete those portions of the previous post that are not relevant to your reply
Avoid crossposting (see item 9 below)
Over the years, a large number of acronyms and emoticons have become accepted usage in Usenet messages. A full list needs its own FAQ, which, fortunately, others have already done. Here are the most common as seen on STC:
For a larger list of acronyms and emoticons, see the following Web site:
http://www.utopiasw.demon.co.uk/
<P> and +AcI mean?What you are seeing is a message that has been encoded using HTML or a different encoding language (such as UTF-8). Most standalone newsreaders are unable to parse HTML statements; although, some degrade more gracefully than others. If you see a message that has a lot of information inside brackets <>, try saving the message as an HTML file and opening it in your Web browser. For example, save the message as message1.htm and then open it in your browser.
In some cases, Microsoft Outlook Express has been known to use UTF-8 encoding of characters rather than the standard ISO-Latin. This produces lots of meaningless strings of characters preceded by the plus sign (+). If you are using OE to read the message, you can switch to UTF-8 to view the message by opening the VIEW menu and choosing UTF-8 from the LANGUAGE submenu. Be sure to switch back to Western Alphabet before sending a message of your own. If you are using Netscape Navigator or Communicator for reading newsgroups you can change the language under the VIEW menu and ENCODING.
In general, due to the diverse population of STC, it is considered polite to post in Plain Text mode only. If you do post in HTML, please be sure to differentiate your reply from the original message with more than just color as those with text-only newsreaders will not be able to follow who wrote what. And don't tell us to get a 'real' newsreader. The most advanced newsreader on the market--in terms of filters, crosspost handling, file decoding, etc--is a text-only newsreader. And there are many people who don't have a choice as they are using a Unix or Linux machine.
Crossposts are generally tolerated as long as they meet two conditions: 1) they are posted to no more than three or four groups, and 2) they are on-topic for each group. Should you encounter a message that you believe is excessively crossposted, you may do one of two things: 1) trim the number of newsgroups that are receiving the message, or 2) use the Followup-to field to limit replies to a smaller number of newsgroups. In both cases it is considered polite to inform readers of your action in a brief statement at the top of your message.
What is spoiler space? It is extra whitespace at the top of any post which contains detailed information about a recently aired or not-yet-aired episode. This whitespace is there to help those who don't want to have the plot of a show 'spoiled' avoid the detail contained in your message. You should also specify the title of the episode in your subject line. Not everyone sees an episode on the same day, so just saying "the latest episode" means different things to different people.
General consensus is that one should wait two to three weeks after an episode has aired before leaving out spoiler space at the top of the message. However, in deference to those who do not live in North America, it is polite to continue to provide a warning in the subject line and the first couple of sentences in your posts. People not living in North America must wait up to a year or longer to see episodes, but they still wish to visit the newsgroups to discuss Trek.
Be very careful not to post spoiler information in the subject line of your post! You would be amazed at how many people put major spoilers in the subject line. It is very impolite.
Spam is loosely defined as: unsolicited advertisements or excessive crossposting. Here are some types of messages to avoid sending: pleas for people to come look at your own Web page (unless you are announcing an update to a Trek news site); make money fast schemes (these are also illegal); a request for pictures that has been posted to seven different newsgroups; etc. These types of posts are subject to ridicule and scorn from the regular posters, and some may even get your Internet account canceled.
If you are new to these groups, it would be a good idea to download a large number of messages (say 500 - 1000) and read through them. Don't be in a hurry to post your own messages, it is quite possible that the issue has already been discussed. Reading these FAQs is a good first step, but spend some time "lurking" (reading messages but not posting any) to get a feel for the personalities that inhabit these newsgroups. It will help you avoid needless flames for asking something that's already been asked.
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