From: "Robert Knowles" <p00261@psilink.com>
Subject: MISDIRECTED PREACHING IN ALT.ATHEISM
Organization: I'm on a coffee break now
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 05:38:40 GMT
X-Mailer: PSILink-DOS (3.3)

This was extracted from the news.answers newsgroup.  It covers some
questions about USENET and is one of the FAQ's for USENET as a whole.
It is considered required reading for people who post to USENET as are
the FAQ's for each individual newsgroup if they exist.  The FAQ's for
atheism are in alt.atheism.moderated.

In general it is best to examine where your news articles are being posted
and decide whether it is really necessary to post there and decide what 
your motives are for doing so.  If you preach in alt.atheism you will 
not get a good reaction.  Many people think this is just atheists being
overly sensitive, but it is more than that, it is officially discouraged.

The general USENET FAQ specifically mentions Christian proselytizing as 
that is probably the most pervasive.  This is certainly the case in 
alt.atheism.  But other forms of proselytizing would be equally offensive
such as atheists seeking out believers in soc.christian.religion (if any
do, please whip them severely and send them a copy of this message).
 
The general USENET FAQ specifically mentions not proselytizing outside of 
talk.religion.misc and that seems as good a place as any to let it stay.

It's there, it's real, and it is part of the accepted rules for USENET.
Please abide by them.  Also feel free to distribute this message to anyone
else you feel has posted in the wrong newsgroup.

The point is to keep the dissonance down.  If you think you are being denied
your right to express your opinion,  you are wrong.  We just want you to 
stick your opinion where it belongs. }:)

FYI:
The whole FAQ is available through anonymous ftp from 
pit-manager.mit.edu in file
/pub/usenet/news.answers/usenet-faq/part1

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

Subject: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet
Archive-name: usenet-faq/part1

		      Frequently Submitted Items
			Questions and Answers
			=====================

12.  Volatile topics, e.g., soc.women: What do you think about abortion?

     Although abortion might appear to be an appropriate topic for
     soc.women, more heat than light is generated when it is brought
     up.  All abortion-related discussion should take place in the
     newsgroup talk.abortion.  If your site administrators have chosen
     not to receive this group, you should respect this and not post
     articles about abortion at all.

     This principle applies to other topics: religious upbringing of
     children should be restricted to talk.religion.misc and kept out
     of misc.kids.  Similarly, rape discussions should be kept to
     talk.rape and not in soc.singles, alt.sex and/or soc.women,

     [EMPHASIS ADDED BELOW!]

 ******
 *   Zionism discussions should be kept to talk.politics.mideast and
 *   not in soc.culture.jewish; likewise, discussions of Jesus or of
 *                                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 *   religions other than Judaism should go to newsgroups for the
 *   appropriate religion or to talk.religion.misc or alt.messianic.
 *   Any attempts to proselytize any religious view belongs in
 *   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 *   talk.religion.misc, if it belongs on the net at all.
 *   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 ******

     Discussions on the merits of Affirmative Action and racial quotas
     belong in talk.politics or alt.discrimination, not in
     soc.culture.african.american.  Discussions about evolution vs.
     creationism should be confined to the talk.origins group.

     USENET newsgroups are named for mostly historical reasons, and
     are not intended to be fully general discussion groups for
     everything about the named topic.  Please accept this and post
     articles in their appropriate forums.


If you have any comments on how to realistically improve the contents of
this message so that it gets the main point across, please contact me through
email.  My goal is to create an informative message which may be mailed to
people who really do not understand what the flames are all about.



Newsgroups: alt.atheism,talk.religion.misc