| Alt.Support.Thyroid | |
by Mary J. Shomon
Continued from Part 3
Mary Shomon: Newsgroups basically operate on the principle of "Netiquette," generally agreed upon rules and regulations. What is the basic netiquette of Alt.support.thyroid? Do you have a site or suggested web page where people can go to familiarize themselves with general newsgroup netiquette?
John Riggs has this to say about a.s.t.'s netiquette: "I use a basic rule of thumb, as far as netiquette is concerned. Anything is fair as long as it is polite and courteous to all. There is no point in trying to provide support to someone who is already feeling bad, AND teach them manners. I only ask for common courtesy and that others ask themselves how they would feel if someone responded rudely to one of their questions. I think you can see it works quite well on a.s.t. They are pretty much the most gentle group one could possibly ask for."
Robert Tait adds: "On a.s.t., netiquette is pretty much dictated by the community at any given time. If someone gets out of line, they usually get flamed by other users, and either stop the practice, or simply get tired of being an ass and go someplace else. There cannot be much joy in harassing a group of people who don't feel good to begin with. The darker side is the seller of snake oil, but again the users are pretty quick to question miracle claims in the forum, and least giving everyone the benefit of doubt, no matter how good someone's idea sounds. The best site I have seen for netiquette can be found at http://www.learnthenet.com/english/html/09netiqt.htm. It's starts out with the basics, and is concise, with links that can take the user a little deeper."
Note: For additional information on netiquette, see http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
Mary Shomon: How can users access Alt.support.thyroid?
Alt.support.thyroid founder Robert Tait provides this overview of newsgroups and how to access them.
"Alt.support.thyroid is a USENET newsgroup. MOST Internet Service Providers enable access to the USENET, however your web browser needs to be set up to access the server. Netscape calls it Messenger, Internet Explorer calls it News (not to be confused with Messenger). There are also 'standalone' news readers, but they require the same access that a Netscape or Internet explorer would require.
If a person wants to access USENET news, and does not have a news account, or if they get their connectivity through work, and work does not enable news access, then they may choose to purchase news access from a variety of news providers. In some cases firewalls in companies can prevent users from using those connections as well.
Detailed Instructions on How to Access and Post to Alt.support.thyroid
Note from Mary: for detailed instructions on how to access and post to alt.support.thyroid, click here.
