Posting Guidelines

Introduction
Welcome to rec.outdoors.fishing.bass. This Usenet newsgroup was approved
in February 1996 for information about freshwater bass fishing. The
following guidelines will help you share your bass fishing information,
questions and experiences.
1. Definitions
  1. Commercial Posts: Posts designed to sell products or services for profit.
  2. Flame: Comments designed to insult or offend another person.
  3. Primary Internet Service Provider (ISP): The company that gives you access to the Internet.
  4. Second-tier Internet Presence Provider: The company that gives your primary ISP access to the Internet.
  5. Sig: A signature block placed at the end of a post. For this newsgroup, a .sig may contain up to six lines with no more than 76 characters in each line. A .sig begins with a line that contains only "-- " (dash dash space). For example:
    John Johnson
    Tiger Lure Manufacturing, Inc.
    The only lures you'll ever need!
    http://www.tigerlures.com
  6. Spam: Comments, generally cross-posted to many newsgroups, with no value to this newsgroup.
2. Notifications
  1. This document, along with the charter, will be posted weekly to the rec.outdoors.fishing.bass newsgroup.
  2. An addendum to this document will be posted on a periodic basis, listing all enforcement actions.
  3. Modifications to these guidelines can be proposed and subjected to vote by the group. No modifications may be proposed within three months of the most recent vote.
Posting Guidelines
This section explains how to write an acceptable post.
1. All posts in this newsgroup should be related to freshwater bass fishing.
2. This newsgroup is family-oriented. All posts should be written with that in mind. Profanity is considered inappropriate.
3. This newsgroup has a diverse membership. Derogatory comments about gender, age, sexual preference, economical status or ethnic background are considered inappropriate.
4. When posting, use plain text. Newsgroups are based on plain text. If you use HTML or MIME encoding, your post will not be readable by part of the membership.
5. When asking for advice, be specific. General questions either get ignored or receive general replies. For example, if you want advice about buying a reel, give a price range.
6. When replying to a post, do not include the entire text of the original post. Keep only what is relevant. By selectively deleting unnecessary parts of the original text, you will make your reply easier to follow. To show where you delete text, the <snip> notation may be used.
7. If your reply significantly changes the topic of a message, change the subject line to reflect the new topic.
8. It is sometimes difficult to express the feelings that go along with our words. The following symbols (read sideways) may be used to express those feelings:
  1. :) or :-) means a smile or a grin.
  2. :( or :-( means a frown.
  3. :\ or :-\ means a confused look.
  4. :| or :-| means a blank look.
9. To save time and space, certain abbreviations may be used:
  1. AFAIC - As far as I'm concerned.
  2. AFAIK - As far as I know.
  3. FWIW - For what it's worth.
  4. IMHO - In my humble opinion.
  5. OTOH - On the other hand.
  6. ROTFLMAO - Rolling on the floor laughing my as@ off.
  7. WRT - With respect to.
Posting Restrictions
This section explains what to avoid when posting.
1. Spam is not allowed in this newsgroup.
2. Flames are not allowed in this newsgroup.
3. Commercial posts are not allowed in this newsgroup. Commercial advertisements may be posted in rec.outdoors.marketplace.
4. Advertisments are not allow in this newsgroup. The following is not considered advertisement and is permitted:
  1. Commercial information placed in a .sig.
  2. Internet site information, including links, placed in a .sig.
  3. Commercial information provided in response to a request for information. The provided information must be limited to the specific request.
  4. Directions (link) to another Internet site provided in response to a request for information. A summary of the information to be found at the other site should be provided as a courtesy.
  5. Directions (link) to another Internet site if the site has specific information that would be suitable for posting in this newsgroup. A brief summary of the specific information must be provided along with the directions.
  6. Private parties sales of bass fishing items. These may be posted one time. FOR SALE or FS must be placed in the title of these posts. The post must state that replies must be by means other than the newsgroup.
  7. Announcements of bass fishing tournaments. These may be posted one time.
5. Binary files (pictures or programs) are not allowed in this newsgroup. Picture binary files may be posted in alt.binaries.pictures.fishing and then referenced from this newsgroup.
Enforcement
This section explains the actions to be taken to keep rec.outdoors.fishing.bass consistent with these guidelines and the charter.
1. Inappropriate posts are generally the result of somebody not understanding these guidelines or the charter. Efforts to limit inappropriate posts will be based on that premise.
2. Enforcement actions will graduate based on the number of similar offenses:
  1. First and second offense - the poster will be notified of the specific infraction in e-mail and referred to these guidelines and the charter.
  2. Third and fourth offense - the poster's primary Internet Service Provider will be notified of the specific infraction and provided with copies of these guidelines and the charter.
  3. Fourth and subsequent offense - the poster's second-tier Internet Presence Provider will be notified of the specific infraction and provided with copies of these guidelines and the charter. A copy of these correspondences will also be provided to the primary Internet Service Provider.
3. Enforcement actions will be performed by an elected official.