How to write easily-readable usenet posts, and other guidelines. If you're an experienced Usenet poster already, you may skip to Formatting Your Message, which covers some issues that could help you improve your messages somewhat.
People who read Usenet have limited time - Don't waste people's time. You are, in some respects, "selling" your message. Make it desirable to read. Don't make it hard to read or messy.
Keep the message to the point - When reading Usenet, due to the wide range of responses, most people, pressed for time, must skip some messages. Posts that are very long run the risk of losing some readership. If you can't condense the point(s) into a shorter message, consider writing a summary at the top, followed by a note that the rest is an elaboration of it.
Don't cross-post excessively - Don't post your message to more than one newsgroup unless it is really relevant to all of them, and it will really benefit all of them.
Use common sense - Think before you post. Think about the impact of the post on other people, and whether you're being selfish by not putting much effort into your post.
Post test messages to test groups only - There are several newsgroups that are devoted entirely to test postings so people can test their newsreader setup or see what their messages will look like. Don't post test messages anywhere else. Generally test newsgroups have ".test" at the end of the newsgroup name. When you post there, you'll likely get automatic replies that verify your post made it to other sites around the world. Your ISP probably even has its own local test newsgroup, in their hierarchy. Once you've made some test posts and are satisfied that your newsreader is set up, you may then decide you need to make a test post to the newsgroup where you want to make some postings. Why would you do that? Just post your real message to the newsgroup, and see if you get any replies. If you don't, go back to the test newsgroup and be sure everything is working.
Choose the correct newsgroup - Newsgroups are based on Subject. Many people have trouble with this, even to the point of defending their flawed understanding. Find the subject of your topic, then find the correct newsgroup that covers that subject. For example, if you're riding a bicycle to some landmark, and you'd like to find out more about that landmark (hint: subject), you should find a newsgroup whose topic covers that landmark. You wouldn't post to a bicycling newsgroup. What would they know? If you happened to be driving a car instead, would you post to an automotive newsgroup?
If you're new to a newsgroup, lurk - Find out what the newsgroup is about, and its culture. Don't just barge in and disrupt things. Read the FAQ (frequently asked questions list) first.
Start by posting to one newsgroup only - If you're looking for help, don't start out by cross-posting. Post to a single newsgroup first, and if you don't get the help you need in a couple of days, then try posting to a different newsgroup.
Choose a meaningful subject - When making a new post, write a subject line that summarizes your message. Be sure to make the distinction between a question and a statement. Don't tell us it's urgent, because what is urgent to you isn't urgent to us. Don't use more than one exclamation or question mark in a row, because it indicates impatience.
Start a new thread - Don't just reply to any old message, putting your question/comment in it. Make a new posting with a new subject. I often see new threads started like a cancer on a current thread, where the poster didn't even know how to start a new thread.
Don't request an e-mail reply - Usenet is a public forum where people discuss things that everyone can read and benefit from. E-mail is only used when it really needs to be private. If you want a question answered personally and not in public, Usenet is not the place to ask it. If you want to be sure you don't miss a reply, check your favorite newsgroup archive site (Deja is a popular one).
Don't expect more than you put out - If you put very little into your message, don't expect anyone to give more care in their reply. If you didn't bother to search for the information you're asking about, don't expect anyone else to, either. We aren't going to baby you. It's better that you learn to get this information yourself using the tools out there, than require our help each time. However, there are some things that are hard to find, that are fine to post about. If you have a hard time finding something, mention this fact.
Don't propagate spam - If you feel you must respond to a stupid spammer, be sure not to quote their web site address/e-mail address! If you do, then you're helping them spread their spam. Put a [URL snipped for your protection] or similar in place of URLs.
Redirect off-topic postings - If a posting is in the wrong newsgroup, redirect it to the proper newsgroup. Be sure to add something to the subject line suggesting this, like "[off-topic redirection]" so clueful people can killfile your redirections if they don't care to read them. If you're going to reply to the topic of the message, don't put that in the incorrect newsgroup too! This will only encourage more off-topic replies. Instead, redirect to the proper newsgroup, and post there.
Don't use HTML - If your newsreader has an option to post in HTML, don't. Usenet is plain text. Many newsreaders show HTML posts as a bunch of junk. This doesn't do well to "selling" your message. People won't bother looking at it.
Use mixed case - Don't type in ALL CAPS or all lowercase (though the latter is less offensive). Especially don't use ALL CAPS in the title, as many people have kill-filters that will make your message invisible to them (many impatient people put their subjects in ALL CAPS as if everyone should stop what they're doing and help them).
Format URLs correctly - When pasting in URLs, be sure they are in the proper form. Use http:// for World Wide Web addresses, ftp:// for FTP sites, and news: for Usenet newsgroups. This makes it easier for readers to go to the linked place, because many newsreaders recognize and highlight these URLs automatically. For example,
http://www.slack.net/~ant/usenet-posts.html news:comp.lang.c++ ftp://ftp.nowhere.com/nothing
Writing your signature - Usually people put a small portion of text at the bottom of their messages, called a signature (for obvious reasons). If you decide to use one, keep it 4 lines at most. Also, add an extra line at the beginning that is two dashes with an extra space after them, like so (without the quotes): "-- ". This is a common convention that allows newsreaders to automatically remove the signature when people reply to your messages. Your newsreader may automatically add that separator line already, so you may not have to add it manually.
Trim newsgroups line - Some threads sometimes are cross-posted to many newsgroups. When you reply to these, remove any newsgroups for which your reply isn't relevant to. Don't just reply to all the newsgroups without checking.
Rename threads when the topic changes - When replying to a side-topic of a thread, rename the thread to reflect its new topic. Put the new topic in the subject, and put the old subject in parenthesis with was: before it. For example, if the topic was "Compiler quality", and a tangent thread broke off discussing Microsoft's compiler, you should rename the thread to "Microsoft compiler (was: Compiler quality)".
Quote parts of any messages you are replying to - Use your newsreader's quote feature to show what you're responding to. Here is an example of a quote:
So and so wrote:
> The compiler was very nice, but it was very expensive.
Note the space after the quote mark ">" and the quoted text. This visually separates the quote mark from the quoted text, making it a little easier to read. See if your newsreader has an option to add this space.
But, don't overquote - Don't just quote the entire message you're responding to. The purpose of the quote is just to show the context of your reply. If you were having a conversation with the person, it would be clear what you're responding to when you made your reply. Quote the relevant material so someone can read your message in a self-contained way, and understand your point, but not necessarily the whole thread. Your goal isn't to make your message a self-contained snapshot of the entire thread, including everything everyone said. It is just to package your reply as a semi-independent unit.
A very bad offense here is quoting the entire message, then replying just a few lines in a way that doesn't even reference the message. Even worse is putting this reply at the top :-). A related case that isn't as offensive is not quoting at all. People see your one-line message and go "Huh?" because they have no context. Even if they have all the messages in the thread available, they can't figure out which one you replied to.
Snip signatures - Don't put the person's signature lines into your quote. Signatures are the "trailers" at the bottom of most people's messages that have their name, e-mail address, web page, a quote, etc. These usually aren't relevant to your reply.
Reply at the bottom of the message - You want your message to read as people do, from cause to effect (in this case, from a person's statement to your reply). Quote text first, then reply to it. If you are making replies to lots of different portions of quoted text, then intersperse your replies with the quoted text in an intelligent manner.
Separate the different elements of the message. People are best at taking in and scanning information if it's broken into chunks. This is an important general principle.
Use plenty of blank lines - Blank lines help immensely with readability by showing a clear separation between the various elements that make up your message. There are many places that one should use a blank line. Use them both before and after the following elements:
Use sentences - It is much easier to read something that has multiple sentences than a long run-on gob of words. Try to break up thoughts into small chunks that build on one another.
Use paragraphs - Break up your message into a number of paragraphs, each focusing on some common topic. Try to keep the paragraphs shorter than about 15 lines. A side note regarding indention - it's not really necessary, and in the newsgroups I read, it would be a bit odd to read a message with indented paragraphs.
Check line length - Keep your lines around 72 characters long. If they're longer, they'll likely wrap badly on many people's newsreaders, harming the appeal of your message. Sometimes deeply-nested quotes will go over this limit. This is not an easy problem to deal with in many current newsreaders. Do the best you can in this situation.
Indent special portions - When putting programming language code into a message, for example, indent it 4 or so spaces so that it is set apart from the rest of the message.
class Foo {
public:
Foo(); // default ctor
};