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Pure Bollocks Issue 22_045
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B B S * B U L L S H I T
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Computer Etiquette, By Mel North
The following are a few points of general BBS etiquette. If you wish to
maintain your welcome on whatever system you happen to call, it would be to
your advantage to observe these few rules. (Sysops - feel free to download this
& display it on your BBS)
1. Don't habitually hang up on a system. Every Sysop is aware that
accidental disconnections happen once in a while but we do tend to get annoyed
with people who hang up every single time they call because they are either too
lazy to terminate properly or they labor under the mistaken assumption that the
10 seconds they save online is going to significantly alter their phone bill.
"Call Waiting" is not an acceptable excuse for long. If you have it and intend
to use the line to call BBS systems, you should either have it disconnected or
find some other way to circumvent it.
2. Don't do dumb things like leave yourself a message that says "Just
testing to see if this thing works". Where do you think all those other
messages came from if it didn't work? Also, don't leave whiney messages that
say "Please leave me a mess- age". If ever there was a person to ignore, it's
the one who begs someone to leave him a message. If you want to get messages,
start by reading the ones that are already online and getting involved in the
conversations that exist.
3. Don't use the local equivalent of a chat command unless you really have
some clear cut notion of what you want to say and why. Almost any Sysop is more
than happy to answer questions or offer help concerning his system.
Unfortunately, because about 85% of the people who call want to chat and about
99% of those people have absolutely nothing to say besides "How old are you?"
or something equally irrelevent, fewer Sysops even bother answering their
pagers every day.
4. When you are offered a place to leave comments when exiting a system,
don't try to use this area to ask the Sysop questions. It is very rude to the
other callers to expect the Sysop to carry on a half visible conversation with
someone. If you have a question or statement to make and expect the Sysop to
respond to it, it should always be made in the section where all the other
messages are kept. This allows the Sysop to help many people with the same
problem with the least amount of effort on his part.
5. Before you log on with your favorite psuedonym, make sure that handles
are allowed. Most Sysops don't want people using handles on the system. There
is not enough room for them, they get silly games of one-upmanship started, it
is much nicer to deal with a person on a personal basis, and last but not
least, everyone should be willing to take full responsibility for his actions
or comments instead of slinging mud from behind a phoney name.
Also when signing on, why not sign on just like you would introduce
yourself in your own society? How many of you usually introduce yourselves as
Joe W Smutz the 3rd or 4th?
6. Take the time to log on properly. There is no such place as RIV, HB, ANA
or any of a thousand other abbreviations people use instead of their proper
city. You may think that everyone knows what RIV is supposed to mean, but every
BBS has people calling from all around the country and I assure you that
someone from Podunk, Iowa has no idea what you're talking about.
7. Don't go out of your way to make rude observations like "Gee, this
system is slow". Every BBS is a tradeoff of features. You can generally assume
that if someone is running a particular brand of software, that he is either
happy with it or he'll decide to find another system he likes better. It does
nobody any good when you make comments about something that you perceive to be
a flaw when it is running the way the Sysop wants it to. Constructive criticism
is somewhat more welcome. If you have an alternative method that seems to make
good sense then run it up the flagpole.
8. When leaving messages, stop and ask yourself whether it is necessary to
make it private. Unless there is some particular reason that everyone shouldn't
know what you're saying, don't make it private. We don't call them PUBLIC
bulletin boards for nothing, folks. It's very irritating to other callers when
there are huge blank spots in the messages that they can't read and it stifles
interaction between callers.
9. If your favorite BBS has a time limit, observe it. If it doesn't, set a
limit for yourself and abide by it instead. Don't tie up a system untitem as a
new user and run right to the other numbers list. There is probably very little
that's more annoying to any Sysop than to have his board completely passed over
by you on your way to another board.
[Hang on a wee minute! Where's 10 gone!!?!?!? -EGBSS]
11. Have the common courtesy to pay attention to what passes in front of
your face. When a BBS displays your name and asks "Is this you?", don't say yes
when you can see perfectly well that it is mispelled. Also, don't start asking
questions about simple operation of a system until you have thouroghly read all
of the instructions that are available to you. I assure you that it isn't any
fun to answer a question for the thousandth time when the answer is prominently
displayed in the system bulletins or instructions. Use some common sense when
you ask your questions. The person who said "There's no such thing as a stupid
question" obviously never operated a BBS.
12. Don't be personally abusive. It doesn't matter whether you like a Sysop
or think he's a jerk. The fact remains that he has a large investment in making
his computer available, usually out of the goodness of his heart. If you don't
like a Sysop or his system, just remember that you can change the channel any
time you want. Besides, whether you are aware of it or not, if you make
yourself enough of an annoyance to any Sysop, he can take the time to trace you
down and make your life, or that of your parents, miserable.
13. Keep firmly in mind that you are a guest on any BBS you happen to call.
Don't think of logging on as one of your basic human rights. Every person that
has ever put a computer system online for the use of other people has spent a
lot of time and money to do so. While he doesn't expect nonstop pats on the
back, it seems reasonable that he should at least be able to expect fair
treatment from his callers. This includes following any of the rules for system
use he has laid out without grumping about it. Every Sysop has his own idea of
how he wants his system to be run. It is really none of your business why he
wants to run it the way he does. Your business is to either abide by what he
says, or call some other BBS where you feel that you can obey the rules.
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