Getting Started on r.a.s.n.m.

r.a.s.n.m. is a moderated newsgroup. However, it is set up so that once your address is registered with the moderators, your articles are automatically posted directly to the newsgroup, bypassing the moderation team. Once you are registered, if a moderator wants to read your posts they must read the newsgroup (unless, of course, the robomod software S.T.U.M.P. kicks your post out for review due to profanity, binary, attachments, etc...)

1) When you respond to an article on r.a.s.n.m., or you submit a new article for the first time from a particular address, the robo-mod software (S.T.U.M.P) recognizes that your address is not on the auto-approve list and forwards your article to a moderator for review. It also automatically generates a "Welcome to r.a.s.n.m." e-mail to you that contains the info about r.a.s.n.m. and what is acceptable/unacceptable for posting on this newsgroup.

2) If the moderator that receives your article determines it to be on-charter, your address will be added to the auto-approve list and your article forwarded to the newsgroup. You will retain your auto-approve status as long as you demonstrate a willingness to follow Charter posting guidelines. Once on auto-approve status, all future posts from you will go straight to the newsgroup, bypassing the moderator review process (unless kicked-out for review by S.T.U.M.P. due to profanity, binary, attachments, etc...).

3) If the return address in your post is unrespondable, you will never receive the "Welcome to r.a.s.n.m." e-mail, nor will the moderators be able to contact you in the event a post or thread is straying off topic. Under these circumstances, Moderators have the option of revoking the pre-approved status of any poster using a non-respondable return address. The Charter recommends that all posts have a respondable e-mail address. An address that is munged to avoid the spambots is permissible, however it should be decipherable by a human. The moderator who has been forwarded your post MAY notice it and send you the "Welcome" e-mail manually, but that is not guaranteed.

Note: Repeatedly submitting the same article over and over and over again is considered mail-bombing and, depending upon the circumstances, could result in auto-reject status for the offender.

Reminders

If you want to post, and you use your real e-mail address when you post to newsgroups, all you should have to do is submit an on-charter article, and you will receive the "Welcome" e-mail, your article will be forwarded to the newsgroup, and your address will be placed on auto-approve status.

If you use a pseudonymous remailer to post, the same instructions apply.

If you use a spam-blocked e-mail address that is decipherable by the human moderators, they MAY send you the "Welcome" e-mail manually. As long as you always use the *same exact* spam-blocked e-mail address for all future posts, this is not a problem.

If you use an non-respondable email address you risk having your auto-approve status revoked and being placed on auto-reject if your posts begin to stray off-Charter.

Remember that if you register an e-mail address to post from and then change that address later, the robomod will see the new address as a first-time poster to r.a.s.n.m. and send you the "Welcome" e-mail again. You can avoid this by sending an e-mail to the moderation team beforehand and giving them your new address.

If you need to contact the moderation team, please use the following addresses:

Use rasnm-admin@carracing.com for Technical Issues regarding the robomoderator

Use rasnm-mods@carracing.com for comments, complaints, compliments, or questions. This includes those times when either a human moderator or the robomoderator rejects a message that you believe should have been approved.

This page was last updated on July 3, 2005.