Netiquette for the Radio Control Soaring Exchange

Before posting an article using soaring@airage.com, please follow the "golden rule" which will make reading RCSE more palatable for all of us:

Here are some specific guidelines, most of which have been culled from messages, RFC's, Emily Postnews, and the rec.aviation Netiquette posting:

1. Trim down your quotes. Summarize when possible. Use ellipses ("..."). PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE minimize the number of lines which you quote from others' articles. If you must quote verbatim, use the standard prefix '> ' before quote lines so those who are attempting to automatically trim the quotations out may do so. Quote only when absolutely necessary. And never, ever quote others' .signatures. That's totally wasteful.
2. Since individuals post to RCSE from all over the world, stories and pilots' perspectives frequently are at least somewhat tied into the area in which they reside. It would be helpful if you included somewhere in your article or the header where you are from. It would be nice if you included something to this effect at the end of the article in your signature.
3. Only post if you have something *valuable* to add to the discussion. "I don't know about X, but here's what I don't know about X" postings are a waste of net bandwidth, not to mention the time of other readers. Remember that when you post something to RCSE, you are causing an audience of at least 800 people to read what you wrote. If the appropriate audience for what you are writing is considerably smaller (the poster to whom you are responding, for example), please use personal e-mail instead. When answering someone's posted question, if you find yourself typing "I don't remember exactly, but." or "I don't have the book here, but I seem to remember.", STOP. Take some time and do a little research. Look things up or think them through and get it right. Post a nice authoritative response that we can all learn from. If you have a bona fide question, or don't understand something, or sort of understand it, by all means, speak up in an interrogatory vein - that's a great way of getting a discussion going.
4. Don't post your version of something which has been commented upon and resolved recently - post only if you have something new and interesting to add. Posting to show off only that you know something is neither required nor encouraged. The volume of traffic on RCSE is quite high, making it easy to get behind by dozens of messages. It's often preferable to hold off replying to articles until you've read all the follow-ups; the issue may already be resolved. Make your first pass "read only" then go back and respond (or don't) to the articles you've saved.
5. Ensure that your posting will be of value to a *wide* audience. If your posting is really only of value to a single individual, or a few individuals on the net, use personal e-mail instead. If your posting is really only of value to yourself, send it to /dev/null. If you don't know what /dev/null is, don't send it.
6. Sometimes, humorous threads are great. But sometimes, the first posting has been mildly amusing and we've gone *way* downhill from there. So, if you're trying to be funny, please post a follow-up only if it's *screamingly* funny. Original funnies are usually no problem - it's the follow- ups which are.
7. Please don't include signature lines from the original message in the reply including the automatic RCSE .sig. Again: DO NOT QUOTE OTHER PEOPLE'S .signature LINES!
8. When following up from the digest version, remember to address the message to soaring@airage.com and copy the appropriate subject line.
9. Don't post silly "conversational" notes - these are best left to personal e-mail. Occasionally, these are fine, but when half of the daily RCSE volume is consumed by these things, it's very, very discouraging to most readers. Basically, if you can't decide whether what you're sending is appropriate to a posting or to e-mail, choose e-mail.
10. Your subject line should be indicative of the content of the article. "Dumb question #1" or "There I was." is NOT a good subject line - "Launching downwind into a thermal" is a good one. If the subject has changed since the subject line was originally written, **replace it**. You might also consider deleting the list of referenced articles if they are no longer relevant.
11. If you are writing about more than one subject, please, please post *separate* articles for each subject, with appropriate header lines.
12. If you have a question about a specific product, ask for personal e-mail replies and then summarize the comments in RCSE. The consolidated response will be even more valuable to the readers.
13. If you are responding to a group of articles on the same subject, it is easiest for readers to read your comments if you make a single, consolidated response.
14. Product marketing is discouraged. Information about new products being released is valuable but RCSE is not intended for advertising.
15. Remember, Praise in public, criticize in private. RCSE is not a forum in which flame wars are well received. However, it is very important that we maintain RCSE as a forum in which constructive criticism can be given after-the- fact. Real-world pilot experiences are important, and we can all learn from the mistakes of others. When commenting on someone else's actions, do so gently, positively, constructively, and with reason.
16. RCSE is a source of information and entertainment. Not a showcase for egos, let's leave it that way.

What is required here is for the poster to exercise a bit of judgment and take a bit of time before posting so that the hundreds of readers of this list don't have to take so much time reading it.

Comments on this article are, of course, welcome.

Copyright © 1996, Michael Lachowski, Last Updated - 3/10/96 7:40:58 PM