How do I know posting protocol for certain newsgroups?

[Aubrey McIntosh]

REQUIEM FOR <17045 at rpp386.Dallas.TX.US>

Please post in news.newusers.questions according to the followup-to line.
I will look to your followup-to for a more appropriate group if this
becomes a 'thread of discussion.'

Recently, I have committed a gaff by posting a request to alt.sources
rather than alt.sources.d.  Naturally, I don't want some snafu with
my name on it spread around for na to see, and I thank the
several diligent readers who sent private mail to me with their 
recommendations and reasoning.

One thing I have come to believe in the last several years is that
the approach I have to things represents many other people as well,
so I offer this message as an explanation of how I expect others to
put their messages there, and a way that my embarassment doesn't need 
to repeat.

Basically, when trying to balance my desire to get the message to the
folks who can help, without being a hog, I came up with 12 newsgroups.
I was not familar with the message traffic in many of these.  I did read
the first few messages in each of the unfamilar ones, including 
alt.sources, and found seemingly appropriate messages.  Even yesterday,
when I went back and looked at alt.sources to verify that my cancel
message had worked, the first two messages were *messages* and not
source.  I excluded about half of these potential newsgroups.

I did, however, have enough snap that I used a "Followup-To:" line so that
clutter didn't scatter everywhere.  

I believe that many news expire versions will honor an expiration date
on a posting.  In my reading of Comp.os.minix I notice that the 'about minix.'
article is the first article after any long absence, since it doesn't 
expire when its siblings do, and it is then the oldest message.



RECOMMENDATION:

Appoint a "keeper of the introduction."  The person who originally called
the vote, or possibly one of the people who were diligent enough to respond 
to my message would volunteer.

Write an article about the goals, purpose, archive sites, and local
etiquette for the two groups 'alt.sources' and 'alt.sources.d.'

Give it a ['Keywords: documentation' | 'Subject: about' | <other> ]
header line.

Post this article on, say, the 1st of the month with a 
[28,29,30,31,<till monday following>] day
expiration to alt.sources.d.  

The various archivers can administrate this easier than the daily snafus,
and those who follow me can make a better informed choice.

-- 
Aubrey McIntosh                  Freelance using Modula-2
                                 Real time, embedded, instruments.
Austin, TX 78723                 Enquiries welcome
1-(512)-452-1540                 aubrey%rpp386.Cactus.org at cs.utexas.edu