Welcome to the FAQs for uk.local.hertfordshire

These FAQs are in addition to, and basically summarise, the group's charter.

Remember, though, that the group exists for people to use and enjoy. There's
no point in getting bogged down by petty rules.



1. What is this newsgroup about and who is it for?

This newsgroup is about the county of Hertfordshire in England - its
history; geography; facilities; and the people who live there, including all
aspects of their lives.

It is for current and former residents of the county, and anyone interested
in the county and the people who live there.


2. What are the posting conventions?

a) Please post in plain text only - this is an option on your e-mail
software. There should be no fancy fonts or coloured backgrounds in your
messages. Plain text also excludes any kind of attachments: e.g. documents,
spreadsheets, pictures, drawings, movies, sounds or any kind of executable
program. Please don't send any of these.

b) When contributing to existing threads, bottom-posting is the Usenet
standard and please trim any quoted text to the minimum that makes sense of
your reply - i.e. don't just quote everything each time. There is no need to
quote anything if your contribution clearly follows the drift of the thread.

c) You may only cross-post (i.e. copy the same message simultaneously to
other groups) to a maximum of 3 other newsgroups in the uk.local.*
hierarchy. Exceeding this maximum goes against the charter. Normally, users
are unlikely to need to cross-post, anyway.

d) Please try to be clear in what you want to say. Setting your messages
out, and using paragraphs, sentences and reasonable punctuation makes them
easier to read and gives them more impact.


3. Are adverts permitted?

a) Personal 'For Sale' and 'Wanted' posts from people resident within the
county or from just outside the county boundaries are certainly fine. It
would be helpful to put 'FS:' or 'AD:' in the subject line; e.g. "FS: Hi-fi
system - £300 o.n.o. - near Hatfield"

b) Commercial adverts are OK if they are offering products or services
characteristic of the county or that would be especially appropriate for the
residents of the county. Adverts for generally available products or
services are not welcome.

c) Acceptable adverts may be repeated periodically; say every 3 months or
so.

d) Messages cross-posted to lots or different groups and with subjects
irrelevant to this group (i.e. spam) are not acceptable.


4. What are considered to be objectionable posts?

a) Within reason, anything outside the scope of FAQ 1 - i.e. subjects not
about the county or its residents.

b) Adverts outside of the scope of FAQ 3 - mainly commercial adverts and
spam.

c) Messages cross-posted to more than a total of 4 uk.local.* groups - this
is against our charter.

d) Posting binaries - i.e. anything that is not plain text.

e) Abusive or distasteful messages are not welcome. We respect the right of
individuals to present sincerely held opinions for discussion, and these may
be challenged in the spirit in which they were originally posted. Where no
settlement can be achieved, all parties should simply agree to differ and
move on. Pure abuse as a response to any posting is always unnecessary.

Similarly, criticism of a contributor because of spelling or grammar
achieves nothing unless the message was ambiguous.


5. What is the group's policy on objectionable posts?

a) Everyone has the right to challenge an opinion. Pointing out problems
with contributions may cause the originator to relent and retract any
offensive material - this, obviously, is the ideal.

b) Ignoring objectionable material may cause certain individuals to lose
interest and desist. This tends to be particularly true for trolls (i.e.
people who post provocative messages just to shock or to start a pointless
argument).

c) For particularly serious breaches of the charter, or for grossly
unacceptable posts, a complaint may be sent to the originator's ISP with a
request to have that account terminated.

Information about the identity of the poster and their ISP may be found by
examining the headers of the message. Some headers may contain the line:
X-Complaints_to: abuse@[ISP.com]

In other cases a little more detective work may be required.

d) It is everyone's joint responsibility to ensure that the charter is
observed and that material is suitable for the likely readers of this group.



John Holmes
Stevenage, March 2007