USENET has managed to retain a loyal following for almost three decades. There is a good reason for this. Many of the users on the USENET system have very little tolerance for people ruining good conversations by getting off topic in their posts. Here are some criteria that you can use to make certain that you do not get crossways with this important etiquette requirement of posting on USENET newsgroups.
Red Herrings
A red herring is an intellectually dishonest debate tactic - it's sometimes defined as a logical fallacy, as well - wherein the person putting forward the red herring attempts to draw attention away from the argument at hand by pointing out something irrelevant. This is a form of going off-topic. If you do this in a USENET debate, people will generally recommend you either start a new article about the red herring that you brought up or will point out that you're being intellectually dishonest and that what you're saying is completely irrelevant. Do this enough and you'll be kicked out of a newsgroup.
Advocacy Arguments
If you're having an argument in a group that is not specifically political in its focus, you can get yourself into big trouble by making arguments based on advocacy. For example, if you have some compelling reason to believe that the universe is shrinking instead of expanding and keep throwing that argument into every conversation about physics, you're going to get yourself in trouble. If you want to have a debate about a topic, be honest and say you want to have a debate. Don't turn every other argument you participate in into an excuse to advocate for the same position over and over. People will find it tedious and will generally kick you from the newsgroup.
Incorrect Information
Pointing out that somebody is incorrect in an assertion made during the course of a newsgroup debate is completely fair. In fact, it's useful to everybody else in the newsgroup. What aren't relevant are attacks on the character of the person who made the original assertion and hammering on their other assertions because one of them happens to be based in incorrect information. Remember that personal attacks are considered poor form on newsgroups and that they're likely to get you booted. Not only are personal attacks rude and disruptive, they are never the point of what is being discussed. They are almost always off topic.
The Test
If you want to make certain that you stay on good terms with the moderators of any of the newsgroups to which you subscribe and participate in, always perform the following test before posting anything. Read your post back to yourself aloud. If it sounds like its wandering, like it doesn't really have a point or that it doesn't specifically relate to the topic being discussed, it's usually a good idea to skip posting it. Either refine the post so it is in arguably on topic or sit out the particular debate that you were going to post about. Your fellow newsgroup subscribers will appreciate it.
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