Groggs Conditions of Use
(Note to the reader: these are the Groggs rules and conditions of use
as they existed on Phoenix. Emphasised text denotes a part of
the rules which no longer applies.)
The following conditions of use of GROGGS exist in order to ensure that
GROGGS conforms to Computing Service regulations, and to prevent loss or
damage to the material contributed to it and inconvenience to other users
or the Editors. They must be obeyed at all times.
There is also a code of conduct which helps to make GROGGS interesting
to read and contribute to. While breaking the code is obviously not as
severe as breaking the rules, the Editors reserve the right to impose bans
on people who break either. Anyone who feels strongly that they are being
denied free speech is of course encouraged to contact the CS.
Conditions of use of GROGGS
- GROGGS is not registered under the Data Protection Act (1984).
Users may not search for specific userids. This rule follows legal advice
from User Services. Any such processing of the GROGGS files is a breach of
the Data Protection Act and of Computer Syndicate Regulations.
- The Editors reserve the right to censor any item submitted to GROGGS
which is considered unsuitable either by themselves or by CS. This
especially applies to items felt to be obscene, abusive or intended to
cause offence in some way, excessively personal/not of general interest
to readers, or to contain information encouraging or aiding misuse of
Computing Service facilities. The contributor(s) of censored items are
usually informed, but the Editors reserve the right to delete items
without notice.
- The Editors reserve the right to produce and distribute files and printouts
containing contributions to Groggs either immediately or at any later date.
Furthermore, they reserve the right not to withdraw text, even at the
request of the contributor.
- No responsibility for the loss of any material submitted to GROGGS
will be accepted under any circumstances. Users are asked to keep
copies of items of which they would consider the loss important.
- No responsibility will be taken for any undesired effects arising as a
result of use of the GROGGS software, whether due to bugs or otherwise,
or as a consequence of errors in the documentation. The prefixes &GROG
and &NEWGROG are used for all temporary files created/overwritten implicitly
by the GROGGS commands, and this prefix is reserved. Any bugs discovered
should be reported to the Editors, who will fix them if/when time
permits. HELPG BUG describes some known bugs which are not considered
worth devoting the effort to dealing with.
- No part of the GROGGS software (the load modules in GROGGS.LIBRARY)
may be copied. The source code will not generally be made available
to users. This restriction forbids the storing of the output obtained
by executing the commands with %switch reflect set or obtaining the
source code by reverse compiling the load modules.
- The programs in GROGGS.LIBRARY and the files GROGGS.CURRENT, GROGGS.INDEX,
GROGGS.MESSAGE and GROGGS.OLD may not be accessed in any way other than
using the commands provided in the library GROGGS.LIBRARY:WREN.
Code of Conduct
The following guidelines are useful in ensuring that GROGGS does not
become boring, repetitive or over-personal.
- When participating in serious/lengthy discussions, be sure to read all
that has been said on a topic already, and only contribute anything
which is new/different, and not just saying the same as someone else
in a different way.
- Keep serious replies to within a single screenful if possible. There is a
limit on the "message space" for each item, and longer "rants" can be
offputting. Use Zinque, possibly with a file in your own filespace for long
debates (see HELPG ZINQUE).
It is quite permissible to make replies longer than one page long if they
are poetry or humour (from whatever source) or if they are of sufficient
general interest - please use common sense - but if it's longer than 2 or 3
pages you should consider putting it in a file somewhere and just putting a
pointer (i.e. the name of the file) in GROGGS.
In general, however, the opening contribution to an item may be quite long
in order to establish the basis for the discussion - but please still use
common sense, and put in a pointer to a file if the item is not of
sufficient general interest and is very long.
People abusing this freedom can expect to be banned for a short time.
- Do not submit anything which is really personal conversation or
argument, and of no interest to readers other than a small clique. In
particular, GROGGS is NOT the place for multi-user notify-type
conversations, and the software is particularly ill-suited to this use.
Also, do not contribute 'junk'; for example text which does not make any
sense or which no grogger would be interested in reading.