Charter of uk.net.beginners (Moderated) The group offers the uk.* hierarchy of usenet, a resource where they can seek information about the Internet and the way that it works, and can expect to receive informative and helpful answers. Contributors should bear in mind that many people are not as conversant with the Internet as others. It will be helpful if posters keep the use of jargon down to an absolute minimum and ensure that if it is necessary to use jargon, its meaning is properly explained. The group has been created as a moderated group. This means the moderators have absolute discretion over what may be posted. In particular the moderators will not allow the following: personal or other abuse, spam, advertising, off topic posts, patently incorrect advice, or any other disruptive behaviour by posters. The moderators may operate black lists, white lists, watch lists, spammer lists or any other form of screening of posts they choose. Rejections are not required to be sent to persistent spammers or those with clearly invalid return-addresses. Moderator approved posts may be PGP signed. All posts to the group not approved by the moderators may be cancelled. Moderation Procedure The aim of uk.net.beginners is to provide a helpful, flame free, non- hostile environment where beginners can ask any question no matter how apparently simple or naive and be sure that they will be answered politely and fully. Beginners should expect occasionally to be referred to a specific part of a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). The poster should always provide exact location of the FAQ. The moderators should seek to maintain a friendly and welcoming atmosphere in the group. They will ensure that overly complex discussions are transfered, by crossposting and followups, to more appropriate groups. The moderators may use any tools that they consider helpful to further this aim. Moderators are not obliged to accept any post. They may, at their dis cretion, strip attachments / HTML, tidy up formatting, strip signatures added by transport or security services. They may prepend or append clearly identified comments in square brackets and append their signature. No other changes are allowed. Moderators may use whatever tools they feel appropriate to ensure the smooth running of the group. They shall keep and publish a detailed policy document detailing how moderation is currently performed. Moderators should attempt to ensure that discussions can continue without undue delay, and should therefore attempt to make a decision on all posts within a few hours of submission. The submission address shall be , mail to the moderators should be sent to mailto:uk-net-beginners-request@usenet.org.uk. Moderators There shall be a team of moderators between 2 and 8 in number. The current moderators will elect a chief moderator to carry out the moderation administrative housekeeping actions. Moderators may appoint their own successors and may remove any active or inactive moderator at their discretion. In extreme circumstances, such as when there are no active moderators, the UK Usenet Committee may appoint a new team of moderators. Advertising Advertising is forbidden. Binaries & Formatting Encoded binaries (e.g. pictures, compressed files, etc.) are forbidden. Such material belongs on a web or FTP site to which a pointer may be posted. Posts must be readable as plain text. HTML, RTF and similarly formatted messages may be rejected by the moderators. To see how to make some common newsreaders comply with this, please read . Moderation Arrangements Moderation Team Don Aitken , Graham Drabble , Barry Dorrans Steve Firth Lt. Cmdr. Jim Chief Moderator The group is currently hosted at moderation.org.uk and uses the moderation software provided there. Moderation submission address uk-net-beginners@usenet.org.uk The moderators themselves may be contacted at uk-net-beginners-request@usenet.org.uk Newsgroups line uk.net.beginners Information/discussion for newcomers to newsgroups (Moderated)