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* Leaving out articles (such as "the," "a," "an," etc.) for "brevity"
mangles the meaning of your sentences and takes longer to read. It saves
you time at the expense of your reader.
* Be careful of contextual meanings of words. For instance, I used "articles"
just now. In the context of netnews, it has a different meaning than I
intended.
* Make an effort to spell words correctly. Obvious misspellings are
jarring and distract the reader. Every news posting program allows
you to edit your article before posting, and most systems have some
kind of spelling checker program that you can use on your article.
* If your article goes over one screenful, use subheadings to organize it.
Numbering your paragraphs is rarely helpful.
* Just before you post your article, re-read it. This will ensure that
you actually wrote what you intended to write.
* Remember - this is an international network.
* Remember - your current or future employers may be reading your
articles. So might your spouse, neighbors, children, and others
who will long-remember your gaffes.
Enough said.
These suggestions are all easily supported by arguments and research.
There's a lot more to say, but....
Jeff Offutt
Copyright 1997, all rights reserved.
This document is in the public domain and may be reproduced or
excerpted by anyone wishing to do so.
Used with permission.
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 09:00:07 GMT
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Mark Moraes)
Subject: A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers
Archive-name: usenet/primer/part1
Original-au
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