Hello VAFNET/Net 500 Sysop!

Current Veterans/Armed Forces Network Officers

Ed Maycen           President
Lance Cooper        Zone Administrator   (ZC)
Lance Cooper        Zone Echomail Administrator (ZEC)
Jeff Beck           Zone Backbone Administrator
Doug McArthur       Chief Executive Officer
Vacant              Administrative Administrator
Vacant              Technical Administrator
Doug McArthur       Information Administrator

Region Administrators United States       RC

Vacant              Northern Administrator (RC)
Vacant              Eastern Administrator  (RC)
Vacant              Souhern Administrator  (RC)
Vacant              Western Administrator  (RC)

World Administrators

Lance Cooper        Region 1
Vacant              Region 2
Vacant              Region 3
Vacant              Region 4

On behalf of the Staff of the Veterans/Armed Force Network (VAFNET(tm))we
would like to welcome you to Net 500. As the group of Veterans and compatible
Sysops. your system is welcome to participate in and enjoy the benefits of
VAFNET Information Network and particularly Echomail.

Net 500 is a small net covering the Worldwide area, Our Net was started to
cover all areas of the Servicemen's life to include their lifetime as a
veteran. With the participation of everyone in the net we can make it
something worthwhile.

It is suggested that you make yourself available to the rest of the
network, so we can know your phone number, address, birthday and your BBS
specialty. Please send this information or such to the Administrative
Coordinator.

Sysop List @ 500:100/
c/o Administrative Coordinator

or

posted in the "Network" conference as soon as you have access if you are using
the QWK side of the network.

Once you offer the information, you will be sent an updated list, and will be
eligible to receive future updates as they occur. We are starting from
scratch here.

As a requirement to a node number, you must read and understand POLICY4, the
Fidonet Bible. If you have any questions about the rules and requlations, this
is where you turn to first. If the matter is still unresolved, bring it up
with your Hub Administrator. If you require further assistance, bring it up
with your Network NC. listed at the top of this document. If the matter is
VAFNET(tm) related, it should be directed to your Network NEC. Policy4.Zip is a
file requestable from any of the NET 500 networks.

Again welcome to the Veteran/Armed Forces Network and if you have any further
questions, please feel free to ask all you want in the NETWORK area echos.

We have the following Network Echos for all VAFNET Network Sysops, they are
required.

VAF-NET-ADMIN sysops only, general conversation   Conference 995
VAF-NET-FORSALE sysops and all users              Conference 996
VAF-NET-USERS sysops and new users Say Hi         Conference 997
VAF-NET-NEWS sysops for news announcements        Conference 998
VAF-ADMIN  sysops only, administrative actions    Conference 999

Please request and read these conferences at least once a week, we will have
Roll call at least once a month which will be a News letter called VAFNyymm.
News articles, gossip, success stories and anything else we feel is
interesting will be placed into this publication. Your contributions to the
newsletter are welcome and we hope that this can ultimately become a printed
newsletter for the millions of veterans and servicemen out there that have
never had their hands on a computer.

Echomail Cost Sharing
---------------------

All Network Administrators, should ask for phone bill costs to toss Echomail
to and from Network areas. We are in continuing to setup Area Administrators
to help cut the cost of polling for mail. The only contribution is the $24.00
start- up cost to help with the Virginia Network to pay for any administrative
costs, to help defray the costs of publicizing the network, mailing out press
releases, and to help with the phone bills. Once each quarter the
Administrative Coordinator will publish a summary of these costs...

The policy on VAFNET(tm) and FidoBone all state that Command Posts will not cut
anyone off for not being smart about their Areafix and FidoBone requests. If
you are having a problem with a hub please write your concerns.

Guide to Echomail Etiquette
---------------------------

This is an etiquette guide to the VAFNET(tm) network. Why do we need an
etiquette guide? Simple! Many new Hubs, as well as our conference hosts and
sysops are going to need it. They will feel that by giving a new hub an idea
of what is expected of them when they post mail, will make all of our jobs
a lot easier. This guide was not intended to tell you how to get a mail
packet or how to use an offline reader.

We're assuming you can either figure that out for yourself, or ask your Mail
Hub or another Sysop to help you. This guide should get you, a New VAFNET(tm)
Node, "Up to Speed" quickly and try to point out a few pitfalls that new nodes
traditionally seem to fall into. A lot of these "Unwritten rules" come down to
us from Sysops and Nodes who have read thousands of messages and have been
into BBSing for years. Some have been the direct result of very lively
discussions from hosts who deal with problems like these on a daily basis.
Other items are the result of some of our more memorable fights :}

In any case, if you follow them , you will fit in with us just fine and will
be on your way to becoming a member in good standing. If you choose to ignore
them, expect to reminded from time to time by our good hosts!

1. BE HELPFUL AND FRIENDLY
-------------------------

   The electronic acquaintances you'll make on our network may well turn into
lifelong friends. You may see a lot of characters in messages like :-) or :)
or ;-). These aren't line noise characters. They're smiles (if you hold your
head right). You'll also see grin <GRIN>S and other manifestations of this
idea everywhere. Many of our callers use these little touches to indicate that
the comment was meant to be friendly and humorous.

2. READ THE MESSAGE BASE UNTIL YOU'RE COMFORTABLE
-------------------------------------------------

   Jumping into message base can be a scary thing at first. Read the
conference description (which is available from your VAFNET(tm) Hub - ask the
Sysop) and understand what type of discussions are welcomed in the conference
in which you want to be participating. Try to read several day's worth of
messages before you post that first message.

3. KEEP YOUR MESSAGES ON TOPIC
------------------------------

   When you start to post, try not to stray off topics of the conference. If
you are posting about chili cooking in the Agent Orange conference you are
causing nodes to download messages they don't want. They're reading Agent
Orange to talk about herbicide poisoning. You are probably also duplicating
topics that are under discussion in other, more appropriate conferences. In
the above example, it would be good idea to move your unread messages to the
NETUSERS conference and ask the others to join you.

   Another thing to avoid is posting personal chitchat messages in Subject
Specific areas. If you find you want to chat informally with someone, move
your thread to Netusers or pick up the phone. It saves us all money. Of
course, occasional chitchat does happen in conferences. It's to be expected
when people are comfortable and having a good time. But when it threatens to
become an unreasonable percentage of the mail, or pulls the focus of the
conference off topic, or goes on a long time. the host will usually step in
and remind you to "take it to NETUSERS".

4. POST ONLY PUBLIC MAIL
------------------------

   VAFNET(tm) does not support private mail. That means that all your mail
posted in the VAFNET(tm) message conference message bases should be flagged
"public"

5. MIND THE MODERATOR
---------------------

   Moderators have volunteered their valuable time and efforts to be
responsible for a conference. By taking their advice, you can help make a
conference useful to the maximum number of readers. If they ask you to move a
message or request your cooperation in staying on topic, do it gracefully.
They have been empowered to enforce the rules in the conferences, should it
become necessary. This is generally done by discussing your behavior with you
and if that fails, with your VAFNET(tm) Hub and local sysop. You should know
that your access to conferences can be cut off, although this is not
frequently done.

   What's a conference host or moderator, you ask? The moderator is a caller
or Sysop responsible for a conference. In VAFNET(tm) conferences, the Moderator
has final say to what is on topic and what the rules of the conference are.

6. NO PERSONAL FLAMES OR PROFANITY
----------------------------------

   Although nodes are encouraged to express personal opinion in conferences
where appropriate, the use of personal flames in messages directed at other
members of the conference is prohibited, and can result in formal suspension
and expulsion from the VAFNET(tm) by your Hub.

   There is a difference between a direct, personal attack directed toward an
individual, and likely discussion or expressions of personal opinion. We
encourage *idea* exchange, but if you cannot communicate those ideas without
attacking another caller personally, you will be better off dropping the
conference. Your moderator will let you know what is acceptable. Remember,
treat people as you would have them treat you.

   The issue of profanity is clear as well. We all know the "Seven Dirty
Words". Avoid them in our conference message bases.

7. AVOID DUPLICATIONS
---------------------

   You can help us! These hints will help your Hub and all the other links in
the VAFNET(tm) chain save money and time when they transfer your messages.
Remember, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch and so someone is using
long- distance or measured service to transfer YOUR MAIL and some Sysops must
call long-distance to get their board's mail.

    * AVOID UPLOADING DUPLICATE MESSAGES

      Ensure that your packets created by your Msg or offline reader are
erased after it is uploaded successfully to your Mail Hub. There are a number
of good Utilities available to you to aid in reading, packing and transferring
of Echomail. Ask any Sysop for help in finding them.

    * DON'T QUOTE EXCESSIVELY

      Most message readers offer "quote" functions. Quotes are parts of the
original message that you copy into your reply to help maintain the continuity
of the thread. Big quotes mean big phone bills to transfer, since these
messages are effectively duplicates. Experience also shows that people just
don't READ posts with lots of big quotes. Use quotes sparingly!!! Of all
problems, this is the biggest and most blant one plaguing private E-Mail
systems.

      Help stamp out big quotes!

      Also, you might obtain a copy of FTS-0004, the Echomail specification
document. It describes the acceptable format and contents of Echomail
messages.

8. YOUR CALLERS
---------------

      One last area that can become a problem for you, and needs watching, is
anyone who has access to the Echomail areas through your BBS has to conform to
the same rules as everyone else. Also you must watch who has access to what
echomail areas as some areas have special access requirements or restrictions
(ie: No Users in NETWORK area) If a person posts messages through your BBS,
and (s)he refuses to adapt to the rules, you will be asked to restrict their
access to that area.

Revisions
---------

