timely fashion, but it also can cause denial of service problems for moderators' ISPs and systems. Do NOT load your programs into an autoposter
and let your program blast us on autopilot. Do NOT pack everything into a gigantic archive and bolus us at 5 gigs a post. If we can't contact you to
turn it off, we *will* make sure you're disconnected one way or another.
Please don't forget there's a human being looking at every post you send,
and that not everyone's hard disk is as big as yours.
* Use a hopelessly munged address. We're a fairly astute bunch of
guys, and most mail munges are creative enough to be bot-foolers but still humanly decipherable, and we have no problem with munging per se. (Heck, I
used to regularly munge mine.) However, we have received submissions from "G@RT" (actual from address) that we needed more information on. Guess what, bucko? Into the bit bucket. If we can't contact you about your post, we will reject it.
* Bite your nails. Don't do it, it's a nasty habit and you look funny gnawing on them like that.
2. Talking to c.b.c
2.1 How to post
2.1.1 The anti-spam bot
In days gone by, the c.b.c moderator job had become increasingly difficult because of large amounts of spam to both the group and to the submission addresses, as well as large and frequently lengthy and repeated crossposts
to groups where things should not be crossposted. This has meant many mod mailbox overflows and many ruined keyboards bouncing on whatever delete
key is defined.
Seriously, it really has been a problem, and only because of the magnitude
have more drastic options been applied.
On August 1, 2005, this policy went into effect (which is also given in the mini-FAQ). To successfully submit a formal submission or a question through
the request address, your post or E-mail:
- MUST HAVE: either the words 'commodore' or 'comp.binaries.cbm',
spelled correctly, in upper/lower case, in either your MESSAGE BODY,
MESSAGE SUBJECT, or both. No other headers will qualify. Odds are
your message contains these key terms already! If it doesn't, it
will be silently DELETED.
** Simply having comp.binaries.cbm in the Newsgroups: header is not enough! **
- MUST -NOT- HAVE: newsgroups *other* than comp.binaries.cbm in the
Newsgroups: header, if one exists. If you crosspost, it will be
silently DELETED. (If you do not have a Newsgroups: header, then
the first rule applies.)
I'm sorry about the onerousness of the requirements, but they are a needed measure to keep c.b.c running smoothly, and most legitimate submissions
should not be affected by this policy. Please note that messages that are trapped by the anti-spam filter do not reach the moderator, so we will not
see them if your post fails any of these conditions.
2.1.2 How to post by newsreader (MOST preferred)
Simply point your newsreader to comp.binaries.cbm and post your document.
You should refer to your newsreader for the appropriate documentation. Make sure it is uuencoded -- raw binaries never make it, and yEnc or MIME may be eaten by our pre-processing bots.
What will happen is that your post will be sent by UUnet to the moderators,
who will then review it. This method is most preferred because mailreaders screw around with mail they send, particularly MIME-enabled mailers. Most newsreaders don't. See above for the rest of the process.
Please remember that your posts are pre-filtered! Read section 2.1.1.
2.1.3 How to post by mail
While we don't really encourage this, people do have trouble posting through Usenet, especially if your only access is through Google Groups or the like.
If you really can't post by news, send your document to:
comp-binaries-cbm(at)floodgap.com
which is a mail alias maintained by Cameron Kaiser. If you use a
MIME-enabled mailer, DO NOT UUENCODE IT BECAUSE THE MAILER EATS IT! In this case, and this case only, SEND IT AS AN ATTACHMENT. If the mailer is not MIME-enabled, like mailx or many Elm versions, send uuencoded files as
usual.
| Even if you subscribe to Spiro's mailing list (1.1.4), you can't submit
| through it as posts do not enter the c.b.c moderation stream (and the
| list is configured to block posts except from administrators anyway). Use
| the submission address above instead.
As a point of clarity, if you intend to send your program as an attachment,
do NOT uuencode the program and send the *uucode* as the attachment. SEND
THE BINARY ITSELF! Also, try to give the attachment a semi-descriptive name.
We often strip out attachments in one big bunch, and a whole lot of similar looking files makes it tough to match files with posts.
CompuServe seems to be problematic with uuencoded attachments. If you can
use 'NewMail', please do so. If you can't, please alert the moderators in
the message body that you're using CompuServe OldMail and we will try to
rescue the post. (Thanks to John Iannetta.)
Please remember that your posts are pre-filtered! Read section 2.1.1.
2.2 Contacts
As mentioned, it is better to mail the moderators collectively. Posting
will have the same effect as mailing, but it's better to mail because we
can differentiate between the two.
The alias
cbc-request+at+floodgap.com
will send to all members of the moderation team, including me.
If you wish to contact me personally regarding the FAQ or the large check you'll send me or the attractive, unmarried sister you have, send mail to
ckaiser{at}floodgap.com
and I promise to ignore it for as long as I can, unless I really like your sister or the check is good.
John Iannetta has promised me an attractive sister, but I think someone at
| Federal Express routed the crate to the Sultan of Brunei. Spiro Trikaliotis
| has not sent me one yet.
2.3 Troubleshooting
2.3.1 'My post was approved, but it hasn't appeared yet'
If you know that we approved your post, there are several reasons why it
hasn't appeared yet. The only reason under our control is that we simply haven't injected it into the Usenet stream yet.
Normally, we post things as soon as we approve them, just to get them out of our hair, so most of the time these reasons below apply. In such cases,
there's no one you can blame, unless you have contacts at WorldCom. Usenet
is a very haphazard mishmash, so patience is a true virtue. Consider:
* Your ISP's newsfeed is behind. If your ISP does not have a 24/7 NNTP
connection, it could take up to a few days for it to percolate your way.
* Bad Usenet routing. Some computer between us and you burped or did a nasty
thing. Either way, the post is the immediate victim. Have patience -- it
should start propagating with the computer's imminent resurrection.
* Our ISP stream is queuing up. I use Newscene, which is a pretty reliable
Usenet injection point. Some moderators might use smaller ISPs that don't
have a 24/7 NNTP feed, and so the actual injection step might be delayed.
2.3.1.1 'I post over and over, but you say my post never gets to you'
If you are crossposting your message, it will be deleted by our
pre-processor bot long before it ever gets to us. Furthermore, if you do
not include certain keywords in your messagebody or subject, the bot will
also eat them. Read section 2.1.1. It's not very hard, and a single tweak
will fix it. Sorry. Blame the spammers and bot posters for that.
If you've already done that and it still won't work, another issue is that certain news sites with semi-morons for news administrators do not properly mark comp.binaries.cbm as a moderated newsgroup. When your news server is not aware that c.b.c is moderated, it will post the message as if it were an unmoderated group, and pass it to another server. When it gets to a server
that knows c.b.c is moderated and this server sees that your message doesn't have the proper credentials, it will silently drop it. End result: the moderators don't get your post, and your post goes to the great bitbucket in the sky.
There are two (well, two and a half) ways to fix this:
* Mail your post all the time. Easier, but gets annoying.
[continued in next message]
[continued from previous message]
* The better solution, though it will require some investment of time: tell
your news administrator to "update his/her active file with moderated NGs
properly marked." Mention c.b.c by name. Active files list all newsgroups
on a news server. If it's inaccurate, your newsreader will never know.
This will probably fix other moderated newsgroups on your server, and your
fellow users will greatly appreciate it, I'll wager. You may have to be
persistent about this, in the same way that Ken Starr is persistent about
White House interns.
* The half a solution: tell your ISP to jump in a lake.
| If you are trying to post to Spiro's mailing list (1.1.4), it won't work.
| Try posting or direct-mailing your submission instead (2.1.3).
2.3.2 'You keep saying my post is garbled'
If we said that, your post *is* garbled -- you probably mailed it and your mailer ate it. We have a picture of Eudora Welty on our dartboard. I hit
a bullseye last week after someone sent their uucode as an attachment, and Eudora promptly made "intelligent" [sic] formatting decisions that ruined it.
Do the following check list:
* NEVER POST OR MAIL yENC!!!
* If you have a MIME-enabled NEWSREADER, then you MUST MAIL YOUR POST.
If you don't, then post it UUencoded.
* If you have a MIME-enabled MAILER PROGRAM, then you MUST SEND THE BINARY
AS AN ATTACHMENT. If you don't, send the UUcode in your message body.
Most of the time, someone forgets to UUencode the program, or they sent
the UUcode accidentally as an attachment, and this is easy to reconcile.
If we complain about your post, we want it again. Please, resend it!
2.3.2.1 'But that didn't work!'
Failing that, you might have a peculiar program that just decides to chomp
your messages to death. We don't archive all the mailing programs in the
world to test your message with. I use Elm, and Elm exclusively, because
Eudora is Moloch and Microsoft Exchange is Satan. You might have different opinions about the demonic potential of these mailer programs, but the
fact of the matter is any good mailer will have options to turn off its
special formatting and to do sane attachments. If it doesn't, get a new
mailer.
We are aware that CompuServe OldMail destroys postings en-route, and have
a semi-reliable way of rescuing them. Just mention you're using OldMail in
your message body, and we can probably save it.
Is anyone still using OldMail?
2.3.3 'I can't read old postings in the group'
This is something you should take up with your ISP. Old news articles are
kept on your ISP's news spool for only a limited time, and most local ISPs
only keep posts less than a week old. I'm spoiled by Concentric, which keeps posts up to a month. Odds are if you can't see prior postings, or get 'Cancelled or expired' messages, your ISP does not archive postings very long and you should have a nice friendly chat with them involving physical harm.
| You can also browse old postings in the group in Spiro's mailing list
| going back to the list's creation date. See section 1.1.4.
2.3.4 'I can't read this group at all!'
Your news administrator may have decided, for whatever reason, not to allow binaries groups on his/her server. Usually this is a space consideration;
just think of how much space alt.binaries.erotica.extremely.big.jpgs takes
up on a news spool.
In such a case, you're pretty much left with two options: dropping by their office with a cannon (illegal except in Libya), or telling them to allow comp.binaries.cbm on their server or you'll find a new ISP. Vote with your dollars -- it's your money.
2.3.4.1 'I can see some posts, but not all'
You have a flaky news spool, and your news administrator needs to get their caboose in gear. Drop by this URL:
http://www.floodgap.com/comp.binaries.cbm/
and select What's playing on c.b.c this week. Confront them with this list. Threaten pets or allege unspeakable acts with their next-door neighbor. Most news administrators are guilty of that. You may also consider checking out
a new provider because if their news link is flaky, other things are probably subpar in their service offerings as well.
3. Seriously
3.1 Disclaimer
Because of the sue-crazy nature of these United States, Bill Ward felt compelled to write a legal disclaimer into the previous FAQ. So do I.
The use of programs posted on c.b.c is at your own risk. c.b.c moderators cannot be held legally liable if a program published on this group, or the (im)proper use of such a program, causes damage of a monetary, property or personal nature. You agree to indemnify and hold blameless the moderators
in such an event. c.b.c cannot be held liable in the unlikely event that a copyrighted work is distributed to the detriment of the copyright owner, nor can the moderators carry personal responsibility for the content or nature
of postings. c.b.c takes no legal liability, and neither can you assign liability to the group or its moderators, either collectively or individually.
If you do not agree with these terms, you must not use programs posted here. Your use of programs on c.b.c and your subscription to this newsgroup constitute your complete and binding acceptance of these policies without restriction. This FAQ, and the policies and legal disclaimers therein, is subject to change without notice. The terms of this FAQ and the legal disclaimers therein shall be interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of California, United States of America.
3.2 Computer Workshops' relationship to c.b.c
Even though I run CWI, and I also do a lot of operations on c.b.c, CWI has
no relationship to c.b.c, and vice versa. This is the official word.
Computer Workshops has nothing to do with this group.
** END OF FAQ **
--
Cameron Kaiser *
ckaiser@floodgap.com * posting with a Commodore 128
Floodgap Systems:
http://www.floodgap.com/
personal page:
http://www.cameronkaiser.com/
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)