FAQ: *** Which News Group? *** (Version 2.92) A guide to the Demon newsgroups Read this before you post anything! # = changes since the last posting (none) Last updated 27 Jan 2001. EMERGENCIES & PROBLEMS If you have a problem and need assistance: 1) (Urgent) Phone the Demon Helpdesk: 0845 272 2444 see also http://www.demon.net/helpdesk/ 2) (Not so urgent) E-mail helpdesk@demon.net. Be sure to include details of your system hardware and software including version numbers. If the problem is with connections, include the first 7 digits of the number you are dialling FROM and the Demon number which you are dialling. Include details of the modem and its model number. The reply will probably take a few days. 3) (Leisurely) Use the support newsgroups (see below). 4) Any problems with Usenet news at Demon's end (NOT *your* computer's problems with it) should be e-mailed to helpdesk@demon.net. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OPENING REMARKS How far do Demon newsgroups travel? ----------------------------------- All Demon newsgroups are available worldwide on any news server which wants to carry them, not just to Demon subscribers. However, many servers *don't* carry them, so if you want to have an international discussion use a non-Demon group. There are also uk.* groups for some subjects. If you read any uk.* newsgroups it is highly recommended that you subscribe to the very low volume newsgroup uk.net.news.announce to keep up with proposed new groups, votes, committee elections etc. If you want to have a public discussion within Demon's domain (i.e. mainly Demon subscribers, with a few guests looking in from elsewhere), use the list of Demon groups below to decide which one to use. Can I use Demon's news server when connected via another ISP? ------------------------------------------------------------- No. In order to use Demon's news server (news.demon.co.uk) you must be connected directly to Demon. However, Demon's newsgroups are available to any ISP that wishes to carry them, so you should be able to access them via your ISP's own news server. Lurk First! ----------- It is recommended that you should read at least a week's postings in a newsgroup before you post to it, to ensure you understand its content and tone. The exceptions are demon.ip.support.newuser and demon.test, in both of which you are permitted to grow up in public. Netiquette is ... not being silly. Play it by ear - or read one of the # guides such as http://www.bellona.demon.co.uk/alue/pnetiq.htm Off-Topic Postings ------------------ You may make a posting to a group and someone replies that you should have used a different group. Do not be upset by this as it is in everybody's interest that information is focused. *If you're looking in the wrong place, you won't find the people you want to talk to.* Please read the previous sentence again. Once more just to make sure. If follow-ups (i.e. further postings) are directed to another group, subscribe to that group for a week or two to see any further responses. How do I start a newsgroup? --------------------------- Discuss the idea in the group(s) which most closely resemble your idea and which are at present carrying its future traffic. Cross-post to all of them if there are more than one, and also to the appropriate group- creation discussion group: news.groups for comp, humanities, misc, news, rec, sci, soc, talk groups alt.config for alt groups uk.net.news.config for uk groups demon.news for demon groups *Regular posters to these will be able to explain further what is involved.* Don't be disappointed if people tell you to use existing groups instead; they will often be right, and you may well be told about appropriate newsgroups you hadn't heard of before. Don't Panic! ------------ You'll soon get the hang of it after a week or two of reading news. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- And Now... THE DEMON NEWSGROUPS (sorted by category) -------------------------------------------------------------- Groups with (Moderated) in the comments mean that you cannot make postings to them. This is different from the way that moderation works in most non-Demon groups, in which your writings *are* received as e-mail by the moderator, who will then use them to create whatever articles they like. demon.ip.support.* - Internet connection problems & queries, *not* general computing issues, for which you require SUPPORT from Demon staff and/or other experts. All the groups with "support" in their name are read by Demon Internet's staff, who will help you as much as they can. demon.nl.support Internet connectie problemen & vragen, niet algemene computer vragen, waarvoor je ondersteuning nodig hebt van Nederlandse Demon medewerkers Internet connection problems & queries, *not* general computing issues, for which you require support from Dutch Demon staff. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- demon.ip.support.newuser For the hesitant new user to make postings. (*Recommended for new users*) No flaming! Lurking not required! This is a group for new users to post to, *not* a playground or wibble group. Users who are no longer new, and who are insufficiently knowledgeable to help provide solutions to new users' problems, should leave the group. Whilst by definition discussion of the Demon Turnpike software is not off topic here, you may find more/better support in the newsgroup demon.ip.support.turnpike demon.ip.support.ie4 Microsoft Internet Explorer v4 & v5 support This newsgroup is for the discussion of the use of Internet Explorer version 4 & 5 with particular reference to its use by Demon Internet Customers. It is expected that most articles will be posted by users of IE4 & IE5. As such, discussion of the relative merits of particular browsers will be unwelcome. Binary postings are not permitted in this group. Also, users should take particular care, even in this newsgroup, to avoid posting articles which contain HTML sections: plain text should be used exclusively. demon.ip.support.pc DOS (not Windows) Internet support. demon.ip.support.pc.announce Announcing new Internet software for the PC. (Moderated) (*Recommended for DOS users*) demon.ip.support.winsock Windows 3.1 Internet support. demon.ip.support.win95 Windows 95 and Windows 98 *INTERNET CONNECTION* support ONLY! NOT for general Windows questions. demon.ip.support.nt Windows NT and Windows 2000 *INTERNET CONNECTION* support ONLY! demon.ip.support.os2 IBM OS/2 & Warp Internet support. demon.ip.support.amiga Amiga Internet support. demon.ip.support.archimedes Acorn RISCOS Internet support. demon.ip.support.atari Atari ST Internet support. demon.ip.support.mac Macintosh/PowerMac Internet support. demon.ip.support.turnpike Specifically for the Turnpike software. demon.ip.support.unix Unix Internet support (including Linux). demon.ip.support.other Internet support for other computers. demon.ip.www Self-help support for using Demon's COMMERCIAL web services. Please note that demon.homepages.* newsgroups exist for demon homepage support, service and adverts. demon.ip.support *Non-computer-specific* other Internet support - see below! A note on the purpose of demon.ip.support: ----------------------------------------- Use it when you're sure that the problem or question is to do with Demon's setup, or any other computers on the Internet - if it's something to do with *your* setup or software, use the support group appropriate to your computer type. N.B. There are also other non-specific groups - see below. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- demon.ip.* - IP stands for INTERNET PROTOCOL (not general) computing issues. Groups without "support" in their name are not guaranteed to be read by Demon staff. However, there *are* helpful and friendly experts, including some staff members. demon.ip.developers For developers of software for use with Demon. demon.ip.discoveries Post your discoveries on the Net here. (URLs, etc.) demon.ip.winsock Please use demon.ip.support.winsock demon.ip.winsock.dics Specifically for the DICS Windows software package. demon.ip.cppnews Specifically for the CPPNEWS DOS news+mail package. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- demon.tech.* - General (non-Internet) computing issues. Not support groups. There are always people who can help, some may be staff. demon.tech.amiga Amiga discussions. demon.tech.atari Atari ST discussions. demon.tech.archimedes Acorn RISCOS (Archimedes) discussions. demon.tech.pc IBM-compatible PC (DOS, Win & OS/2) discussions. demon.tech.mac MacOS discussions. demon.tech.unix Unix computing (including PC Unix) discussions. demon.tech.modems Modems & comms software discussions. demon.nl.hardware Discussions about hardware. The emphasis is on hardware such as modems and ISDN equipment which is used to connect to Demon Internet. Discussion on topics concerning computer hardware in general can also be found in this newsgroup. vragen over en problemen met hardware Hierbij ligt de nadruk met name op modems en isdn- apparatuur welke gebruikt wordt om verbinding te maken met Demon Internet. Please note that these are fairly low-traffic groups compared to the international discussions on computers to be found in the comp.* hierarchy. There is a comp.* group for most subjects, e.g. comp.sys.mac.graphics, but these groups are largely American-based and can contain an unmanageable number of postings every day. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- demon.* - "Other". Not support groups. Some have special functions, others are for discussions of various kinds. demon.adverts Personal and commercial adverts by Demon users. just the advert here - NO discussion - put the line Followup-To: demon.adverts.d in the header of any advert you post. demon.adverts.d The discussion area for demon.adverts. demon.announce Demon Internet announcements. (Moderated) (*Recommended for all users*) demon.nl.announce Demon Internet Nederland aankondigingen. (Beheerd) (Aanbevolen voor alle abonnees) Demon Internet in The Netherlands announcements. (Moderated) (*Recommended for all users*) demon.answers Helpful info files get posted here every week. (Moderated) (*Recommended for new users*) demon.archives.announce Notices of files placed on the Demon FTP server. demon.archives.d Discussion area about the Demon FTP server. demon.games Discussion of online games running on Demon's servers. For discussion of online games playing, with special reference to those games for which Demon runs servers. Articles should be of general interest; email or the chat systems of the particular games should be used for private or ephemeral conversations likely to concern only one or two people. General questions about configuration or technical support issues should be asked in more appropriate newsgroups. Where articles refer to a single game they should include the name of that game in their subject to assist automatic killing of articles which will not be of interest to all. demon.homepages.authoring This newsgroup is for discussion of the creation of WWW pages on the Demon "homepages" service. Topics will include HTML, authoring software, and other similar issues as they relate to the homepages. This newsgroup should NOT be used for advertising web sites or for discussion of the quality of the homepages service - separate newsgroups exist for both of these topics (see below). demon.nl.homepages Discussions of Demon homepages (Netherlands). Intended for discussions on any aspect of homepages. Example topics could be HTML, Java or other related subjects. Discussies over Demon homepages. Hierbij kan men denken aan HTML, Java en andere aanverwante onderwerpen. demon.homepages.adverts For announcements such as "try my web page about xxx". These announcements must be for Demon "homepages" only, and must be reasonably brief and to the point. Unless a significant amount of restructuring of a site has occurred, the announcement should not be repeated. It would be extremely unusual for there to be any necessity to make any new announcement before a month has elapsed. demon.local Local chatter about any subject. Don't get a life, get demon.local! Remember to lurk first! demon.nl.babbel Local chatter about any subject (Netherlands) Lokaal gepraat over iedere onderwerp. demon.news Discussions about the Demon hierarchy of newsgroups and the creation of new ones. demon.* groups ONLY. *NOT for complaints about the news server!* *NOR for general news about Demon!*) demon.sales (Moderated) Demon sales announcements. (This has been unused for a considerable time) demon.sales.d The discussion area for demon.sales demon.pops Discussion of new and existing points of presence. demon.security Security/encryption related issues. demon.security.keys For posting your public keys (e.g. PGP). demon.service Er.. This group was created to allow subscribers to let off steam in public. It is NOT a support group; no response from Demon staff should be expected. You may however get lucky. demon.nl.mopper Grumbling and letting off steam. This is where everyone can grumble and let off steam about the services and quality of Demon (Netherlands). Mopperen kribben over. Een newsgroup waarin iedereen vrij en openbaar kan mopperen kribben omtrent de dienstverlening en services van Demon Internet. demon.service.homepages This newsgroup is for service aspects of the homepages - such as availability, features, performance or other issues. This would also be the place to discuss the Acceptable Use Policy for the pages, or other aspects of the material to be found on homepages. demon.service.isdn For ISDN service issues demon.nl.software.algemeen General discussions about software. The emphasis is on software which is used in combination with Demon and the Internet in general. Algemene discussies over software Hierbij ligt de nadruk vooral op software welke gebruikt zal worden in combinatie met Demon Internet en het internet in het algemeen. demon.nl.software.os Questions about and problems with software. For discussion of subjects relating to software and operating systems in general. The emphasis is on connecting with Demon Internet. Other software related subjects may also be discussed here. Vragen over en problemen met software waarin over onderwerpen gepraat kan worden die te maken hebben met software en besturingsystemen in het bijzonder. Andere anderwerpen kunnen hier ook gediscuseerd woeden. demon.nl.technobabbel Chat about technical subjects Bletsen over technische onderwerpen. demon.test For you to post messages to test your setup. (text messages only - use a newsgroup such as alt.binaries.test if you need to test binaries) demon.tickets Formerly used for service messages passed to Demon from other Internet providers. This newsgroup is currently defunct. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Newsgroup Charters and Topics 1) It is always "on topic" to discuss a newsgroup's charter within that newsgroup. 2) If changes are to be proposed to a newsgroup's charter, then the discussion should be crossposted to the appropriate admin group for the hierarchy. Charters for uk.* groups can be found at: http://www.usenet.org.uk/ 3) Except in groups that explicitly allow binaries, articles should be plain text. The posting of binaries, of any size, is not permitted in demon.* groups. 4) Users should also take care to configure their newsreader software so as to avoid posting "VCards", "HTML", "wallpaper" or other extraneous material. Follow-ups from this posting are set to poster, i.e. me. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Messily hacked out of Demon's welcome.txt, thoroughly shuffled by Steve Rogers, hundreds of errors pointed out by Marcus Bainbridge, Richard Clayton, Alan Cundell, Mark Rogers, Tony Gold, Russ Evans, Eddie Robins, Paul Allen, David Woolley, aDe Lovett and Chris Salter. FAQ maintained and posted for many years by {R}ichard Ashton and subsequently by Paul Terry. If anyone would like to see changes in this posting, please e-mail me. To avoid seeing it again, put X-Killfile: SR-WG in your KILL file. John Hall URL: ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/doc/general/whichgrp.faq http://www.plainfaqs.org/Which_Group.html