i. If you haven't already done so, now is as good a time as any to read 
  the guide to net etiquette (or "netiquette") regularly posted to the news-
  group news.announce.newusers.  There is an HTML version of the guide at
  < http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/emily-postnews/part1/ >

 ii. If you are new to Usenet, then you should read the rules for posting
  regularly posted both to news.announce.newusers and to news.answers.  You 
  can find an HTML version of the posting rules at
  < http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/posting-rules/part1/ >
     
 iii. DO NOT POST IN UPPER CASE. Submissions in a single case (all upper or 
  all lower) are difficult to read.

 iv. Do not flame. A "flame" is an angry post. Sometimes you will find
  angry posts in follow-up to your own. The temptation may then be to make
  an angry post in response. Think first. Just because somebody calls you a
  bad name, doesn't mean you have to respond in kind. Just because someone
  disagrees with you, it does not mean that he or she is a moron.  If the 
  poster is obviously a troll, then it might be better not to rely at all.

 v. It is advisable to lurk for a few days (or even weeks) without posting,
  before you post a message.

 vi. Keep your postings to Wagner-related topics.

 vii. We may have discussed the topic before - check the Google Groups 
  archive to see if past threads might hold the answers to your questions.  
  Before asking a "basic" question, please read the latest "frequently 
  asked questions" posting.

 viii. Specific questions are more likely to get useful answers than are
  general ones. For general information, you should try to obtain reference
  books from the lists provided in the Wagner Books FAQ (see introduction).
                                       
 ix. Avoid crossposting - ensure that your article is posted only to news-
  groups where its content is appropriate.  Don't spam.  Spammers will be 
  reported to their ISPs.

 x. Do not post binaries (pictures, sound files, etc.) to this newsgroup.
  Not everyone can handle those relatively large files and binaries in non-
  binary groups have been known to get those newsgroups removed from some
  ISP's. Instead put them on a web page or post them to an alt.binaries.*
  group and post a notice to their location on this group.

 xi. Do not post in HTML or any other format that uses styles.  Some news- 
  readers can only handle plain text.

 xii. The language of the hmcw newsgroup is English.  Posting in other 
  languages is discouraged. 

 xiii. Many of the postings to the hmcw group will contain quotes in German
  and will occasionally quote in other European languages.  It is therefore
  recommended that you set the options in your newsreader for 8-bit
  characters, Western European encoding and the ISO Latin 1 character set
  (either ISO-8859-1 or ISO-8859-15).  In subject fields, please use only 
  standard ASCII characters; do not use ampersands (&).

 xiv. Keep line lengths to less than 80 columns. 72 is suggested, to allow 
  for indentation of quoted text in replies.

 xv. When replying to a posting do not quote more of the original than is
  necessary. It is seldom necessary to quote a whole message. Some posting
  software automatically quotes the whole message when you respond but you 
  should delete the portions of the message that are not relevant to your 
  response.  Use ellipses ("...").  Do not quote .signatures. Do not leave 
  the entire earlier posting at the end of your own posting.

 xvi. In the new Google Groups you can save yourself the trouble of copying 
  and pasting from the message to which you are replying.  Instead of click-
  ing on 'Reply' at the bottom of the message, select 'Show options' and 
  then 'Reply'.

 xvii. If you are not familiar with logic but want to make a convincing 
  case, then you should read the following introduction to logic and 
  fallacies: 
  < http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html >  

  Schopenhauer's essay on dialectic and debating ('The Art of Controversy') 
  can be found in English translation here:
  < http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/controversy/ >

 xviii. Use of a *standalone* newsreader is recommended.  Most of these 
  programs provide the user with some filtering features, which allow
  you to filter out postings that you do not want to see.  For example, 
  from known trolls, like our anti-Semitic bootboy Jeff.  Information 
  about the newsreaders for the most popular platforms can be found at 
  < http://www.newsreaders.com >.

 xix. You will find that keeping your sense of humour will help you to get 
  the most out of any newsgroup.