General Rules

• The posting of any advertisement or other commercial solicitation to any newsgroup or mailing list is strictly prohibited unless the charter of the group or hierarchy specifically allows for commercial postings. PSINet reserves the right to determine whether a post constitutes an advertisement or commercial solicitation.
  
• Posting a single article or substantially similar articles to an excessive number of newsgroups or mailing lists, or continued posting of articles that are off-topic (e.g., off-topic according to the newsgroup or mailing list charter or if the article provokes complaints from regular readers of the newsgroup or mailing list for being off-topic) are strictly prohibited.
  
• Posting copyrighted material or software to any newsgroup or mailing list without the explicit approval of the copyright holder is a violation of UK law and international treaties and is strictly prohibited.
  
• Posting private e-mail to any newsgroup or mailing list without the explicit approval of the sender is strictly prohibited.
  
• Impersonating another user or otherwise falsifying one's user name in e-mail or any post to any newsgroup or mailing list is strictly prohibited.

Additional Guidelines

• Posts to a newsgroup should be relevant to that newsgroup. We advise you to read it for a few days and become familiar with its language, tone, style and expectations.
  
• Even in groups where comercial postings are permitted, the charter often imposes certain restrictions on the length and/or frequency of such postings. You are advised to read the charter before posting to any group.
  
• There is no central source of newsgroup charters (although those for groups in the uk.* hierarchy can be found at http://www.usenet.org.uk). The best (and often, only) way to find the charter of a group is to spend some time reading the group itself.
  
• You should realise that posts using fake or incomplete names are perceived as less legitimate or "junk" by many readers.

One Final Note

• Our general attitude is that how you use our system and the Internet is your responsibility. We assume you will be able to transfer files and use mail freely. And we expect to be available to you (barring disruptions beyond our control) 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
  
• However, we reserve the right to impose limits in the event of unusually heavy-volume file transfer or mail distribution -- mass mailings, for example. We reserve the right to bring the system down very occasionally for brief maintenance. We also reserve the right to prohibit activities that in our judgment have the potential to damage other customers or our service.

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