From: Angelo Campanella Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics.acoustics Date: February, 2003 Welcome to the Usenet group on acoustics, which originated at Columbus, Ohio, May 1995. I know of no other public medium than Internet and its affiliates that serves the purpose of global access and query on chosen subjects successfully at present. Genuine inquiries in acoustics are welcome. But detailed repartee on simple problems such as speaker design and amplified audio problems should be discussed elsewhere on hobby groups, etc. This alt.news group is intended for preliminary discussion on all fields of acoustics as defined by the fields indicated by the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (see pages A38-A41 of the 1999 (light green) ASA membership directory. For instance (all adjectives preceding 'Acoustics'): Architectural Machinery silencing Bioresponse Physical Engineering Psychological and Physiological Musical Speech Noise Structural Noise Control Underwater & Propagation *********** INFORMAL BUT ESSENTIAL RULES **************** 0. Consider this news group to be a "Hailing" channel where our first "Hello" is exchanged and knowledgeable respondents on any given question may emerge. 1. Our discussions should be brief, involving relatively short epistles. A few screen loads usually suffice. 2. Avoid public repartee' that switches to smaller and smaller matters. Private email is for that. Rather, stick to main issues from which all of us will learn and also enjoy the benefits of this highly public medium. 3. Resist the temptation to author large treatises here. 4. When including a copy of the message to which you respond, ALWAYS DELETE ALL EXTRANEOUS, NON GERMANE LINES. Leave only the few succinct lines that set the stage for your learned response. 5. AVOID quarrelsome and profane language. Life's too short to waste on them. Such outbursts also seriously detract from the credibility of the arguments and validity of the information presented. (Profanities are often the result of frustration about a weak and unsupported position on a controversial subject. Better to go back and check your facts, then argue enlightened and refreshed.) 6. AVOID making slanderous and defamatory comments. In these ways, we will all truly welcome and enjoy each other's thoughts without the overhead burden of a moderated news group administrating via exhaustive screening. 7. Also, brief "Jobs Available" or "Help Needed" postings may be welcome in this continuing period of economic malaise.. ...-.- Ang. Campanella (Penn State Ph.D. '55) Note: Some comments have suggested that this news group should spawn a conventional or moderated acoustics News Group. To date, no compelling rationale to do so has emerged. No volunteers to support the ongoing effort that would be required have evolved. In reviewing the tenets for moderated news groups formation, a key caveat seems to me to be that the decision whether or not to form a news group on a given machine rests with the administrator of a server or large organization. Thus, the need for group formation needs to be generated ultimately somewhere by one or more of us on a local basis. To date, it has been sufficient to barely publicize the existence of alt.sci.physics.acoustics. News group search engines now easily identify it via a subject search on "acoustics". Newcomers may enjoy the Acoustics FAQ, devised and generated solely by participants in this news group several years ago, and now posted at http://www.campanellaacoustics.com/faq.html#basic Enjoy! Angelo Campanella "I have simply studied carefully whatever I've undertaken, and tried to hold a reserve that would carry me through." - Charles A.