From rpwhite@taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil Tue Jul 7 23:03:23 1992 From: rpwhite@taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil (rpwhite) Newsgroups: alt.usenet.recovery,alt.culture.usenet,talk.bizarre,alt.slack Subject: alt.usenet.recovery FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Date: 6 Jul 92 03:10:53 GMT Followup-To: alt.usenet.recovery,alt.recovery,alt.culture.usenet,talk.bizarre,alt.test,alt.slack,misc.misc,misc.test,alt.religion.kibology Organization: Monterey Bay Yacht Club, Monterey CA This is a fairly short FAQ since alt.usenet.recovery hasn't been in existence all that long. Please feel free to reply with any comments or additions. 1.) What is alt.usenet.recovery? alt.usenet.recovery is a forum where former compulsive newsreaders from all over the world gather to share their experience, strength, and hope that they may abstain from compulsive newsreading and help other compulsive newsreaders to overcome their difficulties. 2.) How can I tell if I am a compulsive newsreader? Only you can answer that question. However, it has been our experience that there exist certain characteristics common to most compulsive newsreaders. We have developed a simple yes or no test to determine if you may be, or have the potential to be a problem newsreader. We urge you to take the following test and if you find that you have answered yes to more than four of the questions, there is a very good possibility that you may be experiencing difficulty controlling your newsreading. If that is the case, we recommend you immediately unsubscribe to all newsgroups except alt.usenet.recovery and email us at alt-usenet-recovery@berkeley.edu for any further assistance. ARE YOU A COMPULSIVE NEWS READER? ******************************************************************************* 1.) Have you ever had an account taken away because of abusing News? 2.) Have you ever been admonished by a system administrator concerning your behavior on USENET? 3.) Have you ever tried to stop reading USENET news? 4.) Does the thought of not having access to the net news cause you anxiety and worry? 5.) Do you spend more than 2 hours a week reading and posting to USENET? 6.) Have you ever fallen asleep while reading news? 7.) Have you ever found yourself becoming sexually aroused while reading news? 8.) Have you ever tried to interest someone who does not read news in reading news? 9.) Do you maintain accounts at more than one site with access to the net? 10.) If your site censors it's newsfeed, do you telnet to another site where you can receive the censored groups? 11.) Have you forgotten what group your first post was to? 12.) Do you read alt.personals daily? 13.) Have you ever posted anonymously to alt.personals? 14.) Have you ever posted anonymously to alt.personals, pretending to be a member of the opposite sex? 15.) Have you ever posted to alt.bbs.internet asking about access in your area? 16.) Have you ever posted a question to any newsgroup asking for 'forbidden information' (e.g. to alt.forgery asking how to forge a news header)? 17.) Have you ever forged a news article? 18.) Have you ever paid for access to USENET? 19.) Have you ever lurked in a group like talk.bizarre or alt.romance.chat and told yourself that when you get that bad, you'll stop reading news? 20.) Do you post from a site other than where you work or go to school so no one knows where you really are? 21.) Do you use chfn or setenv to change your name so no one knows who you really are? 22.) Have you posted more than twice from any one account to any of the test groups? 23.) Have you ever woke up in the middle of the night with an idea of what you plan to post the next day? 24.) Do you subscribe to more than 10 newsgroups? 25.) Have you ever gotten upset because someone posted something inappropriate to your favorite newwsgroup? 26.) Have you ever flamed someone for an inappropriate posting? 27.) Have you ever posted a spelling flame? 28.) Have you ever followed up to a cascade? 29.) Have you ever posted 'flame bait'? 30.) Have you ever been so upset by a post that you immediately followed it up with a flame, then logged on later on only to find your mailbox full of email from test reflectors? 31.) Have you ever flamed a net.personality? 32.) Have you ever been flamed by a net.personality? 33.) Have you ever been flamed by, or recieved email from, a net.personality and printed it out and hung it where you see it as you work? 34.) Have you ever used a sig over four lines? 35.) Have you ever been flamed for your sig? 36.) Have you ever flamed someone esle for their sig? 37.) Have you ever intentionally altered a Followup-To: line with malice aforethought? 38.) Do you maintain a killfile? 39.) Do you find yourself reading misc.jobs.offered even though you are secure in an excellent job? 40.) Do you read alt.personals even though you are secure in a satisfying and stable relationship? 41.) Do you understand the signifigance of *plonk*? 42.) Have you ever *plonk*ed someone? 43.) Have you ever been in the top 10% of contributors to any group by any measure? 44.) Have you found your work, studies or, personal relationships interfering with your newsreading? 45.) Do you not have have any work, studies, or personal relationships? 46.) Do you find yourself coming into work or school when you don't have to be there just so you can read news? 47.) Did you ever vote in a CFV for a group in which you could care less about just so you could see your name in the RESULT summary? 48.) Do you find yourself spending more time reading news than anything else on your machine? 49.) Are you set up so you can read news at home? 50.) Does the thought of becoming well known on USENET hold an attraction for you?