From: admin@sai.com
Subject: Using the alt.personals EZ-Intro Contact Service (ECS)
Followup-To: alt.personals
Reply-To: admin@sai.com
Organization: Anonymous Contact Service @ lemuria.sai.com
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 93 06:30:11 GMT


INTRODUCTION TO THE ALT.PERSONALS.ADS EZ-Intro Contract Service (ECS)

Last update: 5 August 1992

What is EZ-Intro(sm) Contact Service (ECS(sm))

It is a service to provide a safe and confidential method to contact other
"singles" for the purpose of forming a long term personal relationship.  
Postings and replies are anonymous.  


In order to provide anonymity for those who wish it, an automated 
anonymous contact service and matchmaking service, EZ-Intro
Contact Service (ECS) has been provided to allow anonymous postings to 
alt.personals.ads. This system consists of an anonymous posting 
service, a double-blind e-mail forwarding service, so that replies to
anonymous postings will also be anonymous, and a matchmaking service.  

ECS is a moderated service.

The purpose of this service is to facilitate the meeting of compatibles 
and also to provide a matchmaking service.  The moderator will not be 
making moral judgements, but WILL REJECT any article that is not
in the scope of meeting other single compatibles or requesting the singles
matchmaking service.

WHAT IF MY SITE DOESN'T CARRY ALT.PERSONALS.ADS

You can still post your personal article as outlined below and receive
anonymous replies, but you can't read anyone else's postings. There are
no plans to create a mailing list or a server to provide the articles 
for those who don't get alt.personals.ads. 


NOTE: 
E-mail addresses  are in Internet format -
                  someone@cupid.sai.com. 
If your mailer can't handle this type of address, you can use uucp 
"bang-path" addresses:
                  !uunet!cupid.sai.com!someone. 
You'll have to figure out how to get e-mail to uunet on your own, 
but it's reachable from most places. Ask your local e-mail guru.


HOW TO POST AN ARTICLE ANONYMOUSLY

1.  Send a ping message.
        ping@cupid.sai.com

2.  Send e-mail message to			To post to:
** ----------------------------------------------------------
    [SM,SF,GM,GF,BM,BF]@cupid.sai.com		All the World

**
** ISO = In Search Of
**
** SM  = Single Male
** SF  = Single Female	
** GM  = Gay Male
** GF  = Gay Female
** BM  = Bisexual-Male
** BF  = Bisexual-Female

1. Pinging the system:
Pinging the system serves two purposes.  First it tests the transmission
between your system and cupid to make sure that you have a clean mail path.
Second, since this is a mail echo system, when your message arrives,
the system will grab your return address and send you an e-mail message 
containing your alias in the ECS system and the header of your message as it
arrived here. The "Subject:" line of this message is "ECS ping reply".
If you don't receive a reply to your ping message don't try to use
the anonymous posting service. Try to find another e-mail path that
works first.  You MUST ping the system before posting or replying to
a posting.

2. Posting your article:
The "Subject:" line of this message will become the "Subject:" line of the
article. A new header will be created for the article, with the "From:" and
"Reply-To:" lines using the format "ap.123@cupid.sai.com". Nothing in the
header of the article will tell anything about who or where you are. If 
your message has a signature in the standard form (beginning with a line
containing "--"), it will be deleted. If your signature is not in this
standard format, disable it when using the service.

NOTE:   As long as your "From:" line contains your original "From:" e-mail
address information, any posting or e-mail will appear to come from 
the alias assigned by the ping message. 


		******	Do's  ******

1.  Give a lot of details about yourself. 

2.  Specify exactly the type of person you are looking for.  It works better
than saying "Hi, I am a 26 year guy looking for SWF."  No limits as to the
length of your message, only what you think a reader can bear.

3.  Post only personals ads looking for a relationship.  

4.  Do let admin@sai.com know of any problems.


			****** Don't  ******

1.  Any solicitations for SEX or references to sex acts ISO will be rejected.

2.  No posting from marrieds, common-law, or in a relationship.

3.  Don't post test messages.  They will be deleted without notification.

4.  DON'T USE THIS SYSTEM for anything unlawful.

5.  No Flaming. This isn't a system for you to flame, bash, 
	etc. someone anonymously. 

6.  Don't use your or anyone else's e-mail address in your postings.

7.  Don't bother flaming if you don't like the policy.  It will just
	waste your time and net bandwidth.  


SUGGESTIONS FOR ANONYMOUS POSTING

1. The "Subject:" line of your article, in addition to giving
some hint about why you posted it, should give information about the
geographic area you are in, or the geographic area from which 
you'd like to receive replies.  This allows people who aren't in that
area to bypass the article without wasting a lot of time.  Please
note that the "Subject:" line is REQUIRED if you want your message
to be posted.

2. Don't include phone numbers, street addresses, or e-mail addresses
in the body of the article. It defeats the point of anonymous
postings. If your mailer automatically inserts such information about 
you anywhere but in a properly formatted signature, get it fixed.

3. You may wish to post a non-anonymous personal ad, but want to 
allow any respondees the option of being anonymous.  In this case,
ping the system for an alias and then include that alias in your
personal ad.

SCANNED PHOTOS AVAILABILITY

Anyone using the ECS service may wish to include access to a scanned
photo. Send a clear photo of maximum size of 3" x 5" and check for 
$10.00 (one time handling charge per photo) to:

        Shecora Associates, Inc.
        P.O. Box 61
        Brookline, NH 03033-0061

Please allow 4-6 weeks for processing.

If you already have a photo scanned into a GIF file and it is no larger 
than 40K bytes, then you can mail it to gif@sai.com.  The file must be
uuencoded.  THE GIF FILES WILL BE OPEN TO THE WORLD BY DEFAULT.  If
you wish to have resticted access to your picture, you MUST indicate in
the mail message with the GIF file that you want the file restricted.
Refer to the next paragraph on accessing GIF files.

ACCESSING SCANNED PHOTOS

GIF pictures in the picture database will be accessed in one of two ways.

If the picture is marked as "open to the world", the requester need only
send mail to the database and the database will mail the GIF file
to the requester.

If the picture is marked as "restricted", the owner will have to authorize 
database to send the picture to the requester.  

NOTE: The process for accessing GIF pictures will be available in two weeks.

REPLYING TO ANONYMOUS ARTICLES

Just reply to an anonymous article as you would to any other posting
or send e-mail to the alias listed in the "From:" line of the article.
The message will be e-mailed to the poster's alias at cupid.sai.com.
When it gets here, the software will intercept the message, substitute
your e-mail address with an alias, replace the poster's alias with
their real e-mail address, and send it on with a completely rebuilt
header, no signature. There is no limit to the length of replies.

At this point, it's possible for any two people whose aliases are
registered in the database to carry on an e-mail conversation
without ever knowing each other's e-mail address. Just send your
message to the alias at cupid.sai.com, and the system will do the rest.


PRIVACY AND SECURITY

All necessary steps have been taken to ensure that the names and 
identities of all users of the EZ-Intro Contact Service will be 
kept private and confidential, but there are no guarantees. 
Shecora Associates, Inc guarantees that it will not provide any
unauthorized person or organization access to the name listing.
Because usenet is not totally private, you use this service at your own 
risk. 


ADMINISTRIVIA

If you have problems with the ECS service, or if you need to have your alias 
removed from the database or have your e-mail address changed, send e-mail 
to admin@sai.com.

It is not feasible to cancel an article once it has been posted.  

Once e-mail has been sent to an alias there is no way to cancel it.

--
To use this service, send E-MAIL to:
Anonymous posting:		[SM,SF,GM,GF,BM,BF]@cupid.sai.com
Anonymous reply:		<user's alias>@cupid.sai.com
Test path/get alias:		ping@cupid.sai.com
ECS administrator:		admin@sai.com