Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!chuq From: chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: Re: The Dynamics of Debate on USENET Message-ID: <35149@apple.Apple.COM> Date: 30 Sep 89 19:45:14 GMT References: <822@swbatl.UUCP> <265@dbase.UUCP> Organization: Life is just a Fantasy novel played for keeps Lines: 34 >Everyone here in news.admin seems to agree with these guidelines of socially >acceptable USENET behavior, but how do you 1) make all net-posters aware >of these guidelines, and 2) make them follow these guidelines. 1) You don't. 2) You don't. Educational activities on USENET in the past have generally been considered failures. They do reach out and help some people, but there's no way to make people either read the materials or pay attention to them. About all you can do is try to get the message across. You do this by peer group pressure, by writing articles on how to do things (and how to not do them) and by setting examples for people to follow. You can't force people to be nice on USENET. You can, however, convince most of them -- it's like potty training. Give them a good enough reason and they won't forget it very often. There are no global solutions. I try to hold myself up as an example of how a person on USENET ought to ask -- and, I shall point out, I don't always stand up to my own ideals. I do try, though. I also try to work with people on the net that ask for help and seem to be trying to figure out this morass of conflicting data we call a network -- and when something comes up that I think is the basis for an interesting and useful discussion, I write it up and post it. You can't solve all of USENET's problems. But you can work on them, one problem at a time; one person at a time. Every little bit helps a little. -- Chuq Von Rospach <+> Editor,OtherRealms <+> Member SFWA/ASFA chuq@apple.com <+> CI$: 73317,635 <+> [This is myself speaking] I was a Kings fan before it was politically correct. NHL to San Jose!