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\ | Rec.Audio.High-End | /
\ | Newsgroup Guidelines | /
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/___________) . revision date 1/20/2007 . (__________\
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Table Of Contents:
1.0 Newsgroup Moderation
1.1 Moderating Team
1.2 Moderator Rules
1.3 Article Processing Time
2.0 Definition of High-End Audio
3.0 Topics Appropriate for rec.audio.high-end
4.0 Posting Guidelines
4.1 Posts Lacking Substance
4.2 Posts with a Limited Audience
4.3 Basic Questions
4.4 'For Sale' and 'Wanted To Buy' Messages
4.5 Duplicate Posts
4.6 Cross-posting and Multi-posting
4.7 Posts with Illegal or Spam-proofed Addresses
4.8 Inflammatory Posts
4.9 Commercial Posts
4.10 Announcements
4.11 Music-related Posts
| 4.12 Formatting of Posts
4.13 Quoted Text
4.14 Signature Files
4.15 Meta-discussions
4.16 Revised Posts
5.0 Administrivia
[Changes in this revision are denoted by a `|' in the first column]
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1.0 -- Newsgroup Moderation
rec.audio.high-end is a moderated Usenet newsgroup. All articles
posted to the newsgroup are first reviewed by a moderator to verify
that they are suitable for publication. The guidelines defining
what is appropriate are set out in subsequent sections of this
document.
1.1 - Moderating Team
The newsgroup currently operates with a team of moderators. The
present members of that team are:
David Bath
Renaud Dreyer
The moderating team may be contacted by sending e-mail to the
address listed in the Administrivia section.
1.2 - Moderator Rules
Moderators will subject their own posts to the same moderation
procedures applied to other posters to the newsgroup. The lone
exception being for posts of an administrative nature.
Moderators will not edit any new text in articles. They may
delete or edit quoted text or gratuitous signatures. They may
also add a comment to, for instance, provide information that
will limit unnecessary follow-up posts. Moderators may reformat
new or quoted text to improve readability.
All moderator alterations, with the exception of reformatting and
deleted quoted signatures, will be identified according to the
following convention (where 'xyz' are the moderator's initials):
[ ..... -- xyz ]
1.3 - Article Processing Time
There will be a delay between the time when you post an article
to the newsgroup and when that article actually appears on your
local news server (or you receive a rejection notice). This
delay will usually be no more than 48 hours. Posts submitted
late on Friday and on weekends may not be processed until
sometime on Monday, resulting in delays of up to 72 hours. The
moderators do try very hard to process your submissions as
promptly as possible.
Please realize that when a moderator approves a post to the
newsgroup it goes to their local news server first, and must then
propagate from that server (across the net) to your local news
server. This process usually takes from several minutes to a few
hours, although it may take up to a day if network traffic is
heavy or key systems (like your own) are down.
As different moderators process posts at different times, posts
may occasionally appear out of sequence from when they were
actually submitted. This should cause no appreciable problems
for posts containing reasonable 'Subject' and 'Reference'
headers.
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2.0 -- Definition of High-End Audio
The working definition of 'high-end audio' under which this
newsgroup operates is
a) audio equipment whose primary and fundamental design goal is
to reproduce a musical event as faithfully as possible; or
b) audio equipment which attempts to provide an electromechanical
realization of the emotional experience commonly called music;
or
c) any relevant issues related to the use, design or theory about
a) or b).
Price is generally not significant in determining whether or not a
given component may be considered 'high-end'.
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3.0 -- Topics Appropriate for rec.audio.high-end
Within the realm of high-end audio, as defined previously, any
topic is permitted. Theories, opinions, and questions are all
appropriate if they are concerned with the reproduction of music.
Please realize that the objective of this newsgroup is the
substantive discussion and exchange of information related to
high-end audio. Posts that do not further this objective, even if
peripherally related to an appropriate topic, may not be approved.
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4.0 -- Posting Guidelines
Beyond addressing appropriate topics, articles must also conform to
the restrictions listed below.
4.1 - Posts Lacking in Substance
In submitting a new post or following up on a previous post,
attempt to provide as much concrete substance as possible, in
order to make your post most useful to the readers. This also
applies to requests for opinion and to technical questions;
queries that are vague or offer no content will not be accepted
for rec.audio.high-end.
Examples of complete posts not adhering to this guideline are:
- "Tube amps are best."
[ No basis given. Please state *why*. ]
- "I don't agree."
[ Why not? Offer alternative or complementary info. ]
- "What do you think of xyz?"
[ Please include the context of the rest of your system, your
taste in music, or aspects of reproduced sound that are
important to you. ]
- "Check out http://my.neat.audio.page"
[ Please include a useful description of the site's content ]
Admittedly, this can be a gray area. Moderators will deal with
posts on a case-by-case basis. A moderator may suggest that the
article be directed as private e-mail to a previous poster in the
thread, posted to another newsgroup instead, or be revised and
resubmitted here.
4.2 - Posts with a Limited Audience
Posts that request highly specific information that is likely of
interest to few readers other than the poster, are best directed
to one of the other, more topic-specific, rec.audio newsgroups.
Such posts include (along with the more appropriate newsgroup):
requests for addresses and phone numbers (r.a.misc); queries for
equipment pricing and sources (r.a.marketplace); references to
product reviews (r.a.opinion); and calls for spec sheets,
schematics, and circuit diagrams (r.a.tech).
Responses to posts appearing in rec.audio.high-end that would be
of interest only to the original poster and not to the group as a
whole, should be directed to that poster as private e-mail. This
provides a more efficient way to deliver the information to those
who are most interested.
4.3 - Basic Questions
Very basic audio questions that likely can be answered quickly by
any number of readers are best posed elsewhere: technical queries
should go to rec.audio.tech and more general ones to
rec.audio.misc. More complex technical issues, along with other
substantive audio-related questions, are certainly welcome here.
4.4. 'For Sale' and 'Wanted To Buy' Messages
'For-Sale' and 'Wanted To Buy' messages will not be accepted.
Posters will be directed to rec.audio.marketplace for Usenet
coverage. There are sufficient outlets, both on-line and in
other media, for the buying and selling of audio-related items
that it does not make sense for rec.audio.high-end to handle such
traffic as well.
Post that fall into this category will not get rejection notices
since they obviously violate the guidelines.
4.5 - Duplicate Posts
Do not submit a post more than once. Duplicate posts will likely
go to different moderators, causing unnecessary headaches in the
moderation process.
Sometimes, due to system problems anywhere between the poster's
system and the moderator's, submissions may get lost. This does
not happen very often, but the potential exists. We thus
encourage posters to save copies of their submissions,
particularly if they are long articles that were time consuming
to write. If you believe that a post was somehow lost, please
send e-mail to the moderators (at the address listed in the
Administrivia section) describing the problem *prior* to
submitting another copy of the article. It may simply be that
the post has not yet been processed. Please see the section "1.3
- Article Processing Time" for a description of the typical time
required for a post to go through the moderation process.
4.6 - Cross-posting and Multi-posting
In general, any post which has been, or is being, posted to other
newsgroups is not eligible for inclusion in rec.audio.high-end.
Please do not use the cross-post feature in your news reader for
submissions to this group as they will not be accepted.
4.7 - Posts with Illegal or Spam-proofed Addresses
Anonymous postings are discouraged, and posts with spam-proofed
or other invalid addresses are not accepted. Posters are
encouraged to provide both their name and email address. At a
minimum, though, articles must contain a valid email address
belonging to the author. That address must be in the 'From:'
header field, unless a 'Reply-To:' header field is used, then it
must have the valid address.
We suggest that a separate free email account, such as hotmail,
yahoo, etc., be used by those who do not wish to expose their
usual email address to spammers.
Posts with invalid addresses will not be processed (approved or
declined) and their authors will not be contacted about the
problem. The posts will simply be discarded.
Posters with address-related problems that are truly beyond their
control are encouraged to contact the moderators to make
arrangements for appropriate long-term handling of their
submissions.
4.8 - Inflammatory Posts
Any content-free, personal-attack articles will be sent back for
revision. Flames must be directed toward the substance of an
article and not the author of the article. Posts containing
appreciable content and personal attacks will be returned to the
author for removal of the latter. The words "liar", "lie", or
"lying" are always considered to be inflammatory and posts
containing them will not be accepted.
Posts that have an offensive tone, that is, use rude,
condescending, or tactless language, or that are belittling or
denigrating at all, will be considered inflammatory and returned
to the author for revision.
The moderators may, at their discretion, decline a post which
recommends a Web site that is deemed to be inflammatory.
4.9 - Commercial Posts
Posts of a commercial nature are prohibited. Do not use this
newsgroup as a forum for propaganda or promotion of a product or
service. Usenet is not intended as a vehicle for free
advertising. Such a practice is harshly frowned upon and will not
be tolerated in rec.audio.high-end.
If you are a dealer or manufacturer of audio equipment, or work
for any audio-related businesses, it is expected that you mention
your affiliation in any post directly or indirectly regarding a
product you sell or manufacture (e.g., if a post concerns a
competing product to your own, it would be appropriate to include
your affiliation).
If in a moderator's opinion a post is intended more for promotion
than for information, that post will be declined.
Please keep in mind: 'information not persuasion'.
4.10 - Announcements
Posts announcing events, services, or information that may be of
interest to the newsgroup's readers are encouraged. Examples of
this type of post include: the formation or meeting of an audio
club; a visit of a manufacturer to an audio store; the creation
or update of an audio-related web site; and the availability of
software, plans, or other information of interest to DIYers or
audiophiles in general. Such announcements are subject to the
following guidelines:
- In announcing meetings, public demonstrations, and the like,
please don't continually submit announcement posts. An
initial announcement of the event, along with a reminder a
week or so before the event itself, should be sufficient. If
you feel additional posts are required (e.g., significant
planning may needed in order for readers to attend), please
contact the moderators to arrange something appropriate.
- Web site announcements (i.e., WWW URL listings) should be
accompanied by a short description of what is contained in or
accessible from that site. Posts from commercial sources are
allowed, provided the site contains information, other than
strictly product promotion, that will be of use to the
group's readers. Sites with commercial content must be
indicated as such, including company and relevant
affiliations (e.g., if you're a dealer for a company's
product, say so). Site accessibility and content will be
verified by the moderators prior to approving the
announcement.
Repeated announcements of a web site's availability are
discouraged. Please limit posts to an initial one announcing
the site, and follow-ups *only* when the site has moved or
its content significantly changed.
4.11 - Music-related Posts
Posts that discuss music (e.g., recommendations for particular
compositions or musical genres, discussions of the relationship
between music and high-end audio, and other music-related issues)
are welcome in rec.audio.high-end. The newsgroup's goal,
however, is not to replicate the content of the groups within the
rec.music newsgroup hierarchy. While such discussions outside of
this newsgroup may focus solely, or at least primarily, on the
quality of the music and its performance, music-related
discussions within rec.audio.high-end should consider the sound
quality of the recording as well.
The general guidelines regarding substantive posts apply equally
well to music-related discussions. It is fine to post a brief
query such as "Can anyone recommend a natural sounding recording
of Banglewinkler's 4th Symphony?" A reply that simply suggests
"Try The Musicmeister Philharmonic on Really Loud Records." isn't
sufficient. If you're suggesting the recording, there is
certainly a reason. Describe the attributes of the performance
and/or sonics that recommend the particular recording(s).
4.12 - Formatting of Posts
If an article requires formatting to be readable, it may returned
to the author to be reformatted. Formatting problems include:
unclear citation of quoted text, indistinct division between
quoted text and new text, and lines of new text longer than 70
characters. Try to make each post esthetically pleasing; long,
unruly letters are often skipped by readers.
The 70 character limit is not arbitrary. Most news readers
operate within a real or virtual 80 column screen. Lines
extending beyond 79 characters are typically wrapped or
truncated, making posts difficult to read as a result. Keeping
new text to no more than 70 characters per line allows that text
to be quoted and re-quoted several times in follow-up posts
without the quoted text extending beyond the screen's boundaries.
| Any articles received that contain HTML or MIME text formatting,
| or any binary attachments such as pictures, will be immediately
| returned for revision. Most news software do not support articles
in this form. The newsgroup is administered so that it is
readable by everyone, not just those using specific software. If
your news software sends HTML or MIME encoding by default, please
turn the feature off.
4.13 - Quoted Text
In follow-up articles, please limit the amount of quoted text.
Excess quoting makes an article difficult to read. Additionally,
some news software will not accept posts that contain more quoted
text than new. Do not quote 'signatures'.
In dealing with this situation, a moderator may either return for
revision a post with quoting problems or edit the article by
deleting excess quoted text.
Quoted text must be clearly indicated in a post. Typically news
posting software will mark quoted text with a ">" character at
the beginning of the quoted lines so that it is obvious which is
quoted text and which is new text that the author has added.
Please use this method or something similar when posting to RAHE.
If you are quoting a person to build an argument, please quote
that person verbatim with references. Do not merely rely on
memory or paraphrase.
4.14 - Signature Files
Article 'signatures' (of the type automatically appended to a
post from a 'signature file') can serve a variety of purposes.
They may provide reliable contact information (particularly for
e-mail), list an affiliation with some organization or company,
serve as a copyright notice, say something interesting about the
poster, or any of a half dozen other tasks of note. However nice
or useful signatures may be in the abstract, they get
tremendously tedious in practice when they grow needlessly long.
Please keep your signatures to no more than four lines in length
(for most purposes, one or two lines should easily suffice).
Articles with excessively long signatures will either have the
signatures deleted outright by the moderators prior to approval
or will be returned to the author for revision.
Exceptions to the signature restrictions will be made, provided
that the poster has a very good reason for the format of their
particular signature and that they communicate that reason to the
moderators. One example of such an acceptable reason would be
legal disclaimers required by the poster's organization (company,
university, or facility providing their Internet access).
4.15 - Meta-discussions
The focus of the newsgroup is the discussion of issues related to
high-end audio. A 'meta-discussion', within the context of
rec.audio.high-end, refers to the discussion of how these central
issues are themselves discussed within the newsgroup. In a
sense, they are analogous to the "Letters" (to the editor)
section of a magazine.
Currently, meta-discussions are held in the rahe-discuss email
list. Info on how to subscribe is in the Administrivia section.
4.16 Revised Posts
When asked to revise a post by one of the moderators, please
delete any ">" or any other text that has been added as a result
of the revision request. But do add a note to the moderators that
this is a revised post, it makes the moderation process simpler.
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5.0 -- Administrivia
To submit an article to rec.audio.high-end, either
a) post to the newsgroup using your local news reading software
or
b) send as e-mail to
<rec-audio-high-end@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>.
To contact the newsgroup's moderators, send e-mail to:
<rahe-mods@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>.
A discussion list for discussing the moderation of RAHE and
moderation policies can be subscribed to by emailing:
<RAHE-discuss-subscribe@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Note that subscriptions to this list are by approval only and even
though there will be much more leeway in the content of messages on
the list, overt flaming and abusive messages will not be tolerated
and the individual will be removed from the list.
Past RAHE articles may be found using Google Groups:
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
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