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Archive-name: ba/broadcast/moderated/guidelines
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ba.broadcast.moderated Posting Guidelines |

Last updated 5/22/2011 |


Welcome to ba.broadcast.moderated! This is a moderated Usenet
newsgroup open to anyone who has an interest in broadcast media in
the San Francisco Bay Area, both radio and television.

The posting guidelines for ba.broadcast.moderated are divided into
the following sections:


1. Introduction |
1.1 Invitation to participate |
1.2 Charter |
1.3 How to submit articles |

2. Acceptable and Unacceptable Topics
2.1 Geographical focus
2.2 Programming discussions
2.3 Pirate broadcasting
2.4 Moderation policies

3. Netiquette
3.1 Introduction to Usenet netiquette
3.2 Civility
3.3 Posting form
3.4 Excessive quoting
3.5 Pseudonyms
3.6 Signature files
3.7 Use of copyrighted material
3.8 Pointers to outside sources

4. Technical and Administrative Issues
4.1 Crossposting
4.2 Valid "From" address
4.3 Lost or rejected postings

This is a living document and will be updated as needed to meet
the needs of this group.

--------------------------------------------------------------

1. INTRODUCTION |

1.1 Invitation to participate |

Welcome! The moderators of ba.broadcast.moderated invite the
participation of broadcast professionals and non-professionals
alike. Both the people who create radio/TV news and entertainment
in the Bay Area, and the people who watch or listen to it, have
valuable insights into the art and science of broadcasting.


1.2 Charter |

ba.broadcast.moderated is dedicated to discussions of radio and |
television broadcasting in the San Francisco Bay Area. Other |
Usenet groups are available for discussing broadcast services |
in other areas. |


1.3 How to submit articles |

You can use your newsreading software to submit an article to |
ba.broadcast.moderated as you would to any other newsgroup. The |
only difference is that your news server will automatically |
forward your article to the moderation team instead of posting it |
directly to the group. Alternatively, you can email submissions |
to . We generally turn around |
articles at least the same day, usually much faster. |


--------------------------------------------------------------

2. ACCEPTABLE AND UNACCEPTABLE TOPICS

2.1 Geographical focus

The focus of this group is broadcast radio and TV in the San
Francisco Bay Area. Discussions of stations in markets adjacent to
the Bay Area are also acceptable. TV and radio network, cable and
satellite television, and satellite radio are also on topic when
they relate to the Bay Area.

Examples:

On topic: "DirecTV has added KRCB to its Bay Area lineup."

Off topic: "DirecTV has added BBC America to its lineup."

On topic: "Fox says it's going to start charging affiliates (such
as KTVU) for prime-time programming."

Off topic: "Fox has announced three new dramas for the fall
season."

In the case of extraordinary events that affect broadcasters in
other areas, references to those other areas will be permitted.
Examples: the loss of broadcasting capabilities from the World
Trade Center on 9/11, the KFI tower collapse, and the Mount Wilson
fires. Such postings must still adhere to the other guidelines in
this document.


2.2 Programming discussions

We welcome our industry participants and other interested parties
to post brief notices about upcoming program guests, fill-in
hosts, etc. Similarly, reviews of the performance of on-air
personalities are fine. However, ba.broadcast.moderated is not the
place to continue discussions of general-interest topics that have
been discussed on local radio or TV stations. The only exception
to this guideline might be a local radio or TV show that conducted
a discussion of topics directly related to Bay Area broadcasting.

Example: |

On topic: "KTVU is in the middle of a terrific five-part series on |
Bay Area transportation. You can catch the rest of it on their |
newscasts this week." |

Off topic: "I think we need another bridge across the Bay. Don't |
you?" |


Postings about broadcasters' off-air activities should be confined
to activities that are broadcasting-related, such as personal
appearances on behalf of their station.


2.3 Pirate broadcasting

Postings about unlicensed radio or television operations should be |
limited to notices of enforcement actions, discussions of conflicts |
between licensed and unlicensed stations, or strictly informational |
messages (such as, "A new pirate station has been heard in Oakland |
on 104.9"). Postings that seek to support pirate stations (such as |
by drawing personnel, money, equipment, or listeners) will not be |
approved. |


2.4 Moderation policies

Questions or complaints about moderation decisions or policies
will not be permitted in the newsgroup itself. Please direct any
such feedback to the moderators by sending us a message at ba-
.

If you see an obviously inappropriate article in our newsgroup,
please assume that it was a mistake or a direct forgery, and do
not send follow-up postings. You may submit feedback to the
administrative address regarding such articles, although it is
likely that our monitoring software and procedures have already
detected the problem and we are actively handling it.


--------------------------------------------------------------

3. NETIQUETTE

3.1 Introduction to Usenet netiquette

Participants who are new to Usenet should familiarize themselves
with the "netiquette" of Usenet as well as the particular posting
guidelines for this group. Several useful posts for "newbies" can
be found on the newsgroup news.announce.newusers or on the World
Wide Web at:

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-
newsgroup/news/news.announce.newusers.html

Particularly helpful articles a
Welcome to Usenet!
Rules for posting to Usenet
Hints on writing style for Usenet
A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet


3.2 Civility

Participants in ba.broadcast.moderated are encouraged to state
their own views and share their experiences enthusiastically.
However, in doing so, you should maintain a civil tone in all
postings and treat other people respectfully.

You are welcome to criticize someone else's actions, but such
criticism must not degrade into a personal attack or name-calling.
To be safe, refrain from making assumptions about the motivations
of other people. For example, "That's a lie" implies an
intentional prevarication, and "So-and-so is a liar" is name-
calling. Instead, say "That's not true, because...," or "I think
that So-and-so is wrong because..."

Making fun of someone's name or refusing to refer to them by their
proper name is also a violation of this guideline. In cases where
someone uses a different on-air name, please use that name unless
they have specifically said that it's all right to refer to them
publicly by their real name.

Note that this guideline covers everyone you talk about in your
postings, whether they are participants in this group or not.


3.3 Posting form

Any article that falls into any of the following categories will
be automatically rejected:

A) Articles that contain original text of more than 75 characters
per line (except for URLs; see sections 3.7 and 3.8)
B) Articles that are crossposted other than as described in |
section 4.1 |
C) Articles that contain more than 400 lines
D) Postings that contain attachments (except short .sig files; see
section 3.6)
E) Postings that include encoded binary files (except PGP and other
short digital signatures)
F) Articles containing obscene language
G) Articles from individuals who have been suspended or banned
from the newsgroup
H) Articles that consist mostly of direct quotation from
copyrighted sources (also see section 3.7)


3.4 Excessive quoting

Posters must show a reasonable effort to trim the post they are
replying to. Replies should include just enough of the original
material to establish a context for your own comments.

Posts more than 20 lines long that have more than 50% quoted text
will be carefully reviewed by a moderator to determine whether
that degree of quoting is warranted. Posts with excessive quoted
text may be rejected.

IMPORTANT: If you use a newsreader (such as Google Groups) that
allows you to hide the posting to which you are replying, you must
unhide the quoted text and trim it appropriately. Also be certain
that your newsreader is not configured to automatically append the
previous article to the bottom of your postings. All participants
in ba.broadcast.moderated are responsible for using their news- |
readers properly to comply with the group's posting guidelines. |

"Me too!" posts are discouraged. If you do post such a message,
you must edit the quoted material significantly.


3.5 Pseudonyms

Contributors to ba.broadcast.moderated are encouraged to use their
real (given or on-air) names. This not only creates a greater sense
of community in the newsgroup, it also lends credibility to posters'
opinions. However, as a pragmatic concession to the realities of
the present-day Internet, and consistent with the practices of other
moderated newsgroups, pseudonyms and unroutable email address are
permitted with some restrictions.

We ask that the From: lines of submitted articles not misrepresent
your identity, not be changed often, and not match a user or domain
name other than your own (spoofing). Please also realize that if you
use an unroutable email address, you will not be able to receive
acknowledgment or rejection messages for your submitted articles.


3.6 Signature files

Many people close each article they write with a few lines of
common text. This may be a clever quote, contact information,
or disclaimer required by their employer. Signature (.sig) files
attached to ba.broadcast.moderated postings must be no longer
than four lines plus a standard delimiter (such as two dashes).

The content of a poster's signature need not be relevant to
broadcasting, but it must not violate any of the other posting
guidelines. (For example, name-calling that would not be
acceptable in the body of a message is also unacceptable in a
signature.) Posters may include Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)
and business addresses in signature files, provided they comply
with all the other guidelines regarding signatures.


3.7 Use of copyrighted material

Unless you own the copyright yourself or have the written
permission of the copyright owner (either of which must be so
stated), do not post copyrighted material such as newspaper
articles to ba.broadcast.moderated. Instead, post a synopsis of
the material with a link to the full article. If you are posting a
link to a blog or other site where information changes frequently,
please use a "permalink" to the exact article you're citing.

Quoting of public domain information, such as TV or radio station
information from the FCC database, is fine.


3.8 Pointers to outside sources

Unsolicited announcements and pointers to web sites that are
strictly advertisements or other public relations campaigns are
not permitted. However, a pointer to a website or other external
source of information is permitted and encouraged in cases where
it is relevant to an existing thread, with appropriate context
being given in the post.

A URL with no information about what a user should expect to find
there will be rejected. If you are posting a link to a blog or
other site where information changes frequently, please use a
"permalink" to the exact article you're citing. Also, we prefer
full URLs instead of (or in addition to) ones that have been
modified by a link shortener so that readers of the posting will
know which website they are actually going to. If you do use a |
link shortener, please also indicate the full name of the website |
to which you are linking. |

A pointer to information that is off-charter for
ba.broadcast.moderated will be rejected, as will a pointer which
itself does not meet the ba.broadcast.moderated guidelines (such
as a URL containing name-calling).

Moderators are not responsible for verifying the contents of any
external information source.


--------------------------------------------------------------

4. TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES

4.1 Crossposting

Appropriate simultaneous crossposting will be permitted at the |
discretion of the moderation team. Appropriate crossposted |
newsgroups could include rec.radio.broadcasting or ba.broadcast. |
In fact, in order to minimize duplication of articles and promote |
wider awareness of the moderated newsgroup, crossposting between |
ba.broadcast and ba.broadcast.moderated is encouraged. |

We also encourage the use of the Followup-To line in your |
posting's headers to direct responses to the appropriate group. |
For example, a thread in BABM that starts off talking about Bay |
Area radio but drifts into a discussion of U.S. stations in |
general could be gently guided to a more appropriate venue by |
putting rec.radio.broadcasting in the Followup-To line. |

Currently, a limit of 3 newsgroups total is enforced by our |
moderation software. |

Please note that, because of the way moderated Usenet groups |
work, any posting submitted to a moderated group will not be |
forwarded to any other groups until it is accepted by the initial |
group. For example, if you submit a posting to both BABM and BAB, |
and we reject it, it will never appear on BAB. |


4.2 Valid "From" address

Participants in ba.broadcast.moderated may, if they wish, use an
invalid or "munged" email address in their "From" header line.
However, please be aware that if you do so, you will be unable to
receive messages from the moderators, such as requests to revise
submitted postings or explanations of why postings were rejected.

Also, we want ba.broadcast.moderated to promote interaction among
participants, and in some cases, information is more appropriately
relayed off-list. If you do not provide a valid email address,
other posters will not be able to send you information, ask
questions, etc. Therefore, if you are considering using an invalid
From address in order to avoid spam email, we recommend that you
instead (1) find an ISP with robust spam-filtering for incoming
email, and/or (2) obtain an email address just for your Usenet
postings (e.g. from Yahoo or Gmail).


4.3 Lost or rejected postings

We never reject anything in silence, and we make a point to answer
all our mail. However, newsgroup postings can and do get lost every
now and again.

If you send us a posting and you neither see it in
ba.broadcast.moderated nor hear from us directly within two or three
days, you can be pretty sure that either your mail never reached us,
or that our answer never reached you. (See section 4.2 for why the
latter might happen.) In that case, please submit your article again.
(We will filter out duplicates.) You're also welcome to send a note
to if you have any concerns
about your submissions not being received.

--------------------------------------------------------------

If you have any questions or comments about these guidelines,
please send a message to .

(Adapted, with permission, from the rec.radio.amateur.moderated
posting guidelines.)