QMODEM_USER Echo RULES
 QMODEM_USER is a product support echo open to all for the discussion, chat,
 assistance, etc. of the excellent terminal program QMODEM.
 Posting a message in this echo will be understood by the Moderator to be a
 declaration of your intent to abide by these and any other rules that may,
 of necessity, be formulated.
 Repeated, willful and/or flagrant violations of the rules of QMODEM_USERS
 will result in a request to the offender's echomail supplier to cut their
 access to this echo.
 1. The topics of this conference should be related to Qmodem and/or and
    utilities related to Qmodem, including but not limited to external
    protocols usable with Qmodem.  Any messages not on-topic will be
    considered annoying.
 2. Challenge the ISSUE, not the message poster.  Foul language belongs
    on the street, not here. Foul or harsh language will not be tolerated. If
    you don't like what someone has to say for personal reasons, send them a
    reply using netmail - not echomail.
 3. Use of handles and or aliases is not allowed.  Those people who are 
ogged
    on to bbs's using an alias should post their real names prominently in 
he
    body of each message they post.
 4. Discussion of software piracy, including ways to 'register' unregistered
    shareware will not be tolerated.
 5. Advertising for commercial ventures, even though Shareware related, will
    not be tolerated. Use either a local conference which permits such
    material, or use Fidonet Matrix mail, where only you pay for it.
    NOTE: An author's announcement of a Shareware program will not be
    considered a commercial advertisement.
 6. There will be no usage of any high ASCII characters, BBS colour control
    codes, or PGP 'signatures'.  Standard signatures are requested to be
    only one line, but may NOT exceed two lines at the most.
 7. There shall be no bashing of hardware, hardware manufacturers, software
    programs, software authors or any other individuals. If you have a 
roblem
    with a program, company or piece of equipment and want to discuss it in 
n
    effort to get some help, fine, but let's not tear something down unless 
you
    can offer constructive suggestions for building it back up.
 8. This conference MAY NOT be gated to the BIX echomail system, GroupMail
    or to any other network's echomail system WITHOUT permission of the
    Moderator.  This is not to say it cannot be done, however the moderator
    must know where the echomail is going, and who the gateways are.  
essages
    in this conference should conform with the FTSC (FidoNet Technical
    Standards Committee) format and must contain a tear and origin line. The
    tear line may not be longer than 35 characters including the "-" chars.
    The origin line must fit on one 80 character wide CRT including the
    " # Origin: " text.  Eight-bit ASCII is  not allowed in this conference.
    All characters in displayed message data (text/header) must be in the 
range
    32 to 126, which rules out control characters. The exception to this rule
    is if you need to show someone a translation table that contains 
ight-bit
    ASCII.
 9. Treat others as you wish to be treated yourself. Please keep the amount 
f
    quoted text down to the bare essentials.  Do not quote SEEN-BY and/or
    " # Origin: " information unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary. One of the
    biggest costs with distributed mail conferences is the use and MISuse of
    the quote feature.  Please keep "Thank you" and/or "This is a test"
    messages in NETMAIL, where they belong.  People are paying plenty of 
oney
    to ship this conference around and if we can keep unnecessary overhead
    down, we'll all be happier.
10. The use of an anonymous remailer to avoid being responsible to follow
    any of the echo rules is grounds for an immediate feed cut, without
    warning of any kind.
11. There is only one Moderator, me!  If you feel someone has broken the 
ules
    please NETMAIL the Moderator and don't take it upon yourself to admonish
    anyone.  Let the Moderator moderate!  Leave the moderating to ME.  If you
    want to moderate, become a moderator first.
12. Messages from the Moderator concerning enforcement of the rules are not
    considered off-topic, however, neither are they topics for general
    discussion by anyone other than the Moderator and the person being
    addressed. i.e., if the Moderator deems it necessary to write a person
    in the echo who is in violation of the rules, it is not a sign that the
    topic is a free for all and everyone can jump in.  Discussion should
    remain between the Moderator and the person being addressed only! (Just
    a further clarification of "Let the Moderator Moderate!)
  I work on a "three strikes you're out" basis.
            *  First a public warning.
            *  Second a netmail warning.
            *  Third time and you are asked to leave the conference.
  If you do not comply with a request to leave the conference, or if a sysop
  does not comply with the moderator's request to disallow a user from access
  to the conference, distribution of the echo can and will be cut to that 
node.
  Excommunication from the echo shall be for a minimum of 15 days cooling off
  period for first offense, 30-60 days minimum for a second offense
  (Moderator's option) and permanently should you be cut a third time.
  The SysOp of each board carrying this echo is granted the right to Edit or
  Kill messages which, in their opinion, are inappropriate and unacceptable 
n
  their system.  Exception to this rule is the killing or editing of any
  messages received prior to feeding them to linked systems. This is NOT
  permitted.  Please use common sense when interpreting this rule and, if in
  doubt, netmail queries will be promptly answered.  However should you do 
o,
  I'd appreciate netmail explaining which message and why you felt it should 
be
  killed on your system.
  That's it, except that if someone comes up with a new and improved way to
  aggravate people, I reserve the right to make a rule to fit the occasion.
             Bob Seaborn
             Moderator QMODEM_USER
             Fidonet   1:140/12
             Internet  bseaborn@eagle.wbm.ca
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