Posting-Frequency: every 7 days
Last-modified: 10th February 1995
Version: 1.1
Welcome to the rec.autos.sport hierarchy. This is a set of newsgroups
dedicated to the discussion of motorsport.
This message will be posted every 7 days to rec.autos.sport.info,
rec.autos.sport.tech, rec.autos.sport.nascar, rec.autos.sport.f1,
rec.autos.sport.indy and rec.autos.sport.misc. It has some guidelines
on posting to these newsgroups as well as instructions on how to obtain
the FAQ list of Frequently Asked Questions.
1. NETTIQUETTE
A lot of people read these newsgroups – over 100,000 at the latest
estimate. Some readers are restricted to tortuously slow connections.
Some people pay for their connect time by the minute. Other people just
like to read news when the Net is running slowly. When you post, please
ask yourself questions like:
1.1 The Content of Your Post
o Are you discussing `organised, legal auto competitions’ ?
rec.autos.sport.* is _not_ for discussion of roadgoing `sports cars’.
o Would it be better to post to rec.autos.sport.misc, rec.autos.sport.info,
rec.autos.sport.tech or rec.autos.sport.nascar ? The charters for
these newsgroups are listed in section 2.
o Is a cross posted article is directly relevant to all of the groups
where it will appear ? It is usually wrong to cross post an article
to both rec.autos.sport.misc and one of the other subgroups
(eg r.a.s.tech or r.a.s.nascar).
o It is perfectly legal to reproduce short extracts of a copyrighted
work for critical purposes, but reproduction in whole is strictly and
explicitly forbidden by international and US copyright law
unless given permission by the author.
1.2 The Style of Your Post
o Would you want to read what you are writing ? Might it be better to
email a comment, or even make no comment ? Spelling and grammar
flames are particularly dull for the rest of the world, as are posts
which follow fifty lines of quoted text with "I agreei".
o On the Net, most people only know you by the words that you write.
People will pay more attention to your thoughts if your writing is
clear and easy to read.
o Trim down your quotes. Delete parts of the article that you are not
responding to such as other people’s signatures. Its best to have as
little as possible from previous posts.
o Humour, and particularly sarcasm, is often misunderstood over the Net
with hilarious consequences. A smily, 
, may be advisable.
1.3 Practicalities
o Is the subject line both descriptive and accurate ?
o People can select the articles which most appeal to them if you have
a keyword in the subject field like F1, INDYCAR, NHRA, WRC, F3000,
IMSA etc. I think ADMIN is good for any posts which discuss the
day-to-day running of the group, splitting the group, or revising the
charter.
o Please try to keep the lines in the main text of your posts to fewer
than 80 characters per line. When lines are longer than this, it
becomes difficult to read with many news readers. 72 characters per
line is a good length, since it allows others to quote you without
running over 80 characters.
o If you are following up an article to create a new article, please
remember to delete the References: line in the header. This will help
the readers who use a threaded news reader; otherwise your new topic
will be mixed in with an old one.
o Please do not post large binary files like GIFs, JPEGs, MPEGs or WAVs
to rec.autos.sport.* They will fill the Usenet disk partitions at
some sites. Some people cannot select which articles they want
before they have to download them. It is much better to post them
to one of the alt.binaries.* newsgroups with a short post to
rec.autos.sport.* to notify anyone who is interested.
1.4 Spoilers
o If you are going to post about a race before some people will have
had the chance to watch it on television, say within 48 hours of the
race, please put (spoiler) in the Subject: line and don’t give away
the result. You might also want to give people a chance to quit
reading your message before you give them the news. The most reliable
way of doing this is with at least 24 blank lines. ^L page breaks
(hold the control key and press l) do not work for some newsreaders.
o If you have not yet seen the race, a day after it was on TV, and you
really don’t want to know who won, please abstain from r.a.s for a
day. Even if everyone goes by the guidelines, there are always new
people who won’t know about them.
o If someone posts results without a spoiler warning, do not post a
public flame. Mail a reasonably civil email note to that person
requesting that they use (spoiler) in the future.
1.5 Handling Frequently Asked Questions
o If you are asking a basic question, please check the FAQ first. If
the FAQ is has expired on your system, see section 3 for information
on how to get a copy.
o If someone posts a question about something that was resolved
recently, please answer the poster via email. Rehashing something
that was just discussed is a waste of bandwidth unless you have
something new to add.
o Many news reading programs allow you to filter the articles in a
newsgroup to ignore articles from a particular author or on certain
subjects using a KILL file. If you’re using rn or its brethren, see
the rn KILL file FAQ in news.answers. Some lines that you might like
in your KILL file for rec.autos.sport.* are:
/Subject: New Users – Read Me First/h:j
/Subject: rec\.autos\.sport FAQ.* /h:j
/From: .*A\.H\. Henry/h:j
2. CHARTERS
2.1 rec.autos.sport
This unmoderated group is for discussion of legal, organised competition
involving automobiles. Discussion from either of two viewpoints,
spectator and participant, is encouraged. Technical discussions are
generally more appropriately carried on in rec.autos.sport.tech, and
NASCAR (and other professional stock car racing) is discussed in
rec.autos.sport.nascar. Arguments about sports cars are largely
inappropriate, as are most other discussions. For Sale ads are
inappropriate unless they are for competition vehicles and/or equipment.
Discussions of illegal events are marginal; one should probably avoid
advocating breaking the law. (remember, the FBI reads Usenet!)
2.2 rec.autos.sport.misc
Replaces rec.autos.sport as the group in which discussion of
organized, legal motor racing that does not fall within the category
of one of the sub-groups takes places. Now that rec.autos.sport.misc
has passed, rec.autos.sport will be removed in three months, allowing
time for traffic to move to the new groups.
2.3 rec.autos.sport.info
This is a moderated group which contains announcements, results,
standings, news items, press releases, schedules, `reliable’ rumours,
and other information about automotive racing. No discussion is
permitted; followups are be directed to rec.autos.sport.
2.4 rec.autos.sport.tech
An unmoderated group for discussions about the technical aspects of
racing cars. Discussions that are appropriate for this group include
F1/Indy engines, restrictor plates, aerodynamics, semi-automatic
transmissions, exotic fuels, carbon vs steel brakes, active suspension,
chassis construction etc.
2.5 rec.autos.sport.f1
Anything to do with Formula 1 motor racing, including but not limited
to race results, times from testing, practice, and qualifying, silly
season predictions, rumours, and news. Discussion of teams, drivers,
cars, engines, rules, safety are also in the charter.
2.6 rec.autos.sport.indy
All Indy Car racing related discussion, including but not limited
to race results, times from testing, practice, and qualifying, silly
season predictions, rumours, and news. Discussion of teams, drivers,
cars, engines, rules, safety are also in the charter.
2.7 rec.autos.sport.nascar
This unmoderated group is for discussions about all aspects of
professional stock car racing, especially the NASCAR (Winston Cup and
Grand National) but also series such as CASCAR and AUSCAR.
–
Andrew Henry
A.H.He…@bath.ac.uk Frequently Asked Questions for rec.autos.sport v1.4,
University of Bath, UK Gilles Villeneuve Appreciation & Bicycle Lights FAQ.
Sempre Gilles <URL:http://www.bath.ac.uk/~bspahh/home.html>