Welcome to alt.discuss
by robin-of-lox
Disclaimer:
Everything written by robin-of-lox in the
"Welcome to alt.discuss" articles is my own
personal opinion. These may or may not be the opinions
of WebTV, and nothing written here has any "official
sanction" from WebTV Networks.
THE BASICS
HTML IN POSTS
There is a long standing, ongoing disagreement about whether HTML should be allowed in the newsgroups. Here are some things to consider:
USENET
Never NEVER use a signature with HTML in it when
posting in Usenet. It can cause some computers to
crash. Create a separate non-html user for posting
in Usenet. For instructions on how to do this go here.
ALT.DISCUSS
In alt.discuss it is normally OK to use a FAST
loading signature. Some groups, however, prefer no HTML at
all. You will need to read the Charters and
FAQs for the particular group you want to post in.
The largest number of Charters and FAQs can be found
at penryn's Newsgroups HOME.
THE DEBATE
Since we have the capability to create pretty and interesting signatures, it is understandable that people want to utilize this function. But, the newsgroups are for reading, and a long loading sig hampers reading. Many times it is the music that takes the longest, but there are ways around that. The HTML groups can help you to learn how to get a long loading signature to load faster.
Another thing to keep in mind is bandwitdth theft. With the creation of the transloaders there is now no reason to steal gifs or music from another site. Sometimes a sig will take a long time to load because each picture and each sound is coming from a different source. If you put them all on your personal Web site (or a friend's if you don't have one) then everything will be coming from one source and each part will not have to be dialed up by webtv. For a further explanation of this, go here .
Then again, there are groups that are specifically made for showing off your signature, and length of load is not a problem in these groups.
Many people use the 10 Second Rule. If a post takes more than 10 seconds to load, they move on to the next one. Remember, you are usually posting to be read. Don't let your signature take so long that it gets in the way of that.
THE HIERARCHY
For instructions on how to access the alt.discuss hierarchy see the June '98 Issue of
ClubWebTV.
Also note that when there are 3 dots to the right
of the title, that indicates the existence of sub-groups
under that heading. As of this month, there are
about 150 Topics in alt.discuss, and about 250 groups
within those Topics (the numbers change daily as new
groups are created).
alt.discuss is an ADULT
forum.
There appears to have been a huge influx of teenagers posting
in the past couple of months, and there
are some groups for teens. But
parents need to be aware that there are many newsgroups
that include adult content in alt.discuss. It would
be wise for parents to check out all the groups
that their child is currently viewing, and
then make a decision about which groups your child should be posting to based
on that research.
In my opinion it is the parent's responsibility to be
aware of where and how their children are posting.
If a teenager is violating the Terms of Service,
the parent is most likely going to be the one who gets a warning
letter from WebTV's Compliance Department. Foul
language, threats, e-mail and post "bombs" are
attractive to some teens (and, admittedly, some adults). These are violations of
the Terms of Service, however, and parents should be aware that they are responsible for their child's behavior. Some of these violations carry very heavy government
fines, and I'm sure no one wants to be slapped with such a fine.
So, if you are the parent of a teenager who has
urestricted Web access, it might be a good idea to
check out where and how your child is posting.
Ok, look, I'm going to be straight and honest
here. Right now there are some kids who are posting profanity, bombing mail boxes and making the newsgroups a chaotic mess. Make sure they're not your kids! They are being
reported to abuse@corp.webtv.net, and the Parents of
those violators may end up being the ones who will pay for their child's transgressions. If one of these violators is your child, please handle it.
THE GROUPS
This month we'll look at the HTML groups, and the
ones dealing with Home page construction. Included here are the groups set up to help with the new features that the upgraded Plus boxes have received:
Video and Audio e-mail.
HTML is Hyper Text Mark-up Language. It can seem
very daunting at first, but once you get a few
simple rules down, it is not so difficult.
The Groups below are in alphabetical order. Many of them overlap, so trying to segment them otherwise is too difficult.
.advanced.html
Not for the novice, this group is very helpful
with questions and info on the more advanced aspects
of HTML (tables, frames, etc.).
.animated.gifs
You know, those pictures that people use on
their email and Web sites that move.
.audioscopes
Discussion and instruction on those cool boxes
that have lines or bars that jump around to the music playing.
.bobzero
Info on Chatting and how to creat your own Chat
Hack page.
.drfeelgood
An HTML instruction group.
.html
One of the best HTML goups in alt.discuss.
Originally proposed by Dr. Draac, one of the most
respected and generous WebTV Users around.
.html.sig
For info on how to get the pictures and colors
in your signature box in email.
.homepage
If you have a Web site, or are thinking about
creating one, this is a great group of friendly
people who will not only answer questions but walk
you through the processes if necessary.
.homepage.opinionsA place to post your URL and get feedback on
how your your page looks and navigates.
.irc
Not for the HTML illiterate, Chat Hack Pages
require a working knowledge of Tables and a clue
about Javascript.
.javascript
Chat Hack Pages and many other things require a
knowledge of Javascript. Here is a place to learn
about it.
.javascript.alert
This group is empty.
.mid
A place to find and share midi.files and
wav.files (audio) to put in your email or Web site.
.n2play
The oldest and most respected HTML group in
alt.discuss. Friendly, knowledgeable, and willing
people to answer questions and hang out with.
.programming.html
Many of the "HTML Experts" can be found here. This is a quieter, more mature group than some of the others.
.test
This is where you send your posts if you want
to see how your signature will look in posts. Posts are a different size than email, so it's good to double check. NEVER send a "test" to a normal discussion group. This is considered extremely rude, breaking up the flow of conversation. There is no real discussion in alt.discuss.test, it's just a place to post to and go back in about 20 minutes to look at your test.
.webtv.html
An HTML group.
.webtv.uploading
Discussion of the different Transloading
Services, how they work, how to use them, etc. (This
is for loading pics and sounds onto your Web site.)
.webtvirc
IRC is the program WebTV uses for Chatting.
.webtvplus.audio.video
For information on how to use the vid-cap (video capture) and audio-cap (audio capture) on the upgraded WebTV Plus boxes.
.4-webtv
Very friendly and knowledgable crowd for HTML
and other "using WebTV" questions.
THE PICK OF THE MONTH
This month my pick is not a newsgroup, but a few
Web sites about the newsgroups that I would like to
highlight.
Penryn's Newsgroups HOME
The groups have been seperated into categories,
so they are easy to find. There is information on
almost all of them, and when you click on the "more
info" boxes you get taken to the Charters and FAQs
for the groups.
Anthony S's Newsgroup Creation and Voting Rules Archive
and
Alphabetical List of All of the Newsgroups
This is where you can see all the groups,
without having to hit on the three dots on the side
everytime you want to see what sub-categories are
under a Topic.
And my new site robin-of-lox's alt.discuss info
History (not included in the Column),
instructions on Naming and writing Charters, tidbits
of information, assorted archives.
Q & A
Question: What happened to the no-rules
groups?
Answer: The alt.discuss.no-rules
sub-hierarchy has been deleted. Some of the groups are being
proposed as regular alt.discuss groups. If you
enjoyed a particlar group, look on the Table of Contents for
it, and if it is not there, check in .config and
read the Daily Status. That will tell you if the
group has been proposed. It will also give you the
vote status.
robin-of-lox is not an employee of WebTV,
but an owner/user who has been online since August
'97. She has built two newsgroups from scratch, and
is very active in the alt.discuss.config newsgroup. She is a member of WebTV Experts, her
expertise being the alt.discuss hierarchy and
procedures.
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