After several months of leaving the forum on autopilot due to life issues and generalized chaos around here, it is once again being hand-moderated. Now that I've categorized the 185-odd messages that hadn't been previously categorized, it's time to make a few reminders about policy and whatnot.

Please don't use this system as you would Usenet or other Web boards. Most other Web boards, as well as Usenet, expire postings after a while and so things go away in time. This one doesn't. That means your post will stay in the database essentially forever -- until a disk crash eats the records, the backup tapes catch fire, or a moderator decides to delete it. Think carefully before posting: Do you really have something to say that'll be worth reading 6 months from now? How about a year? The object of this forum is to be a dynamic FAQ that picks up where the static FAQ leaves off. Chatter is ok, but mindless chatter isn't. (That's what Usenet is for. The people behind this service didn't set out to build and maintain a $325,000 chat server.) I really don't want to have to start setting global expiration on threads (probably 15 days), but I might not have much of a choice.

Speaking of the FAQ, before you post a question, please go read it to make sure that your question hasn't already been covered. If your projected posting relates to a specific episode, check the episode guide pages to make sure that the point wasn't discussed in either a summary/review or a medical commentary, and consider using the "Add/view comment" links on the site as an alternative method of presenting your views. If all that fails, try the search engine on the site to see if there's some content related to your question.

Remember: It takes energy and effort for people to respond to your questions. Be considerate and spend some of your own before asking others to do the same.

In consideration of other people, please categorize and title your posts appropriately. "OH MY GOD!!!!!" in the uncategorized section is probably going to get deleted unless I feel like I want to retitle the post and move it around. Descriptive thread titles help other users find relevant information; proper categorization helps group questions by theme so that, again, other people can locate them.

As you may or may not have noticed, we've implemented a "valid hostnames" rule: your e-mail address must contain a real hostname that can be resolved in DNS, or your posting will get nuked. I worked this in the day after my mailbox filled up with 30 bounces from people who aren't using valid e-mail addresses. (Technically speaking, if your domain can return a valid MX record, the system is happy. There's nothing that will prevent you from using an invalid username, but if mail sent to your address bounces for any reason, we'll be removing your postings from the database.)

Speaking of bounces, if you're going on vacation or otherwise going to be indisposed, please edit your alerts. This is especially true if you change e-mail accounts or are experiencing technical problems so that my mailbox doesn't fill up with bounces.

Sorry for the rant. After 10,000 postings, I've decided my life as a moderator would be much easier if

• novices would search and browse a little before posting,
• veterans would refrain from using this as "Usenet with a moderator" and posting stuff that has little long-term value, and
• all users would cooperate and try to keep this forum clean and uncluttered by categorizing and titling their posts appropriately. (If I have to do this for you, you may not like what I choose!)

Note: You won't be able to reply directly to this thread. This is an unfortunate side effect of highlighting the thread title in the interface and is a trade off between making the title stand out and convenience; if you really feel compelled to comment, either start a new thread or e-mail me privately.

-- Mike Sugimoto (phloem@fumbling.com), July 27, 2000