Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
This FAQ sheet was last modified on 20 December 1992.
This is a DRAFT version of a monthly posting to the Usenet newsgroups
bionet.announce and news.answers. Its purpose is to provide basic
information for people who are new to the Bionet domain of Usenet
newsgroups or are just beginning to read these groups via an e-mail
subscription (the "bionet" USENET hierarchy is also distributed by
e-mail as the BIOSCI mailing lists).
This FAQ attempts to answer questions that come up frequently about
what Bionet is good for, not how to use it. A second FAQ answers
frequently asked technical questions about the bionet/BIOSCI
newsgroups and mailing lists.
This FAQ also contains information about resources in biology that are
*not* available via Bionet, but of interest to Bionet users.
If you are new to Bionet, please read this article. If you are an old
hand, please take the time occasionally to look at the questions index;
you might learn something new.
The questions below are presented as an index of sorts; answers
(such as there are) are grouped together in the next section. Please
contribute others (and PLEASE, if you contribute a question, include
an answer with it!).
============================== Questions ==============================
1) How can I get a copy of this article?
2) What are the Bionet newsgroups for? How may they be used?
3) Are there any special "netiquette" rules I should know about?
4) Special instructions for Usenet readers?
5) Special instructions for e-mail subscribers?
6) How can e-mail subscribers get Usenet at their site?
7) Where can I get other helpful documents?
8) Does anyone have an e-mail address for Dr. X?
9) How to find a good graduate program?
10) Where I can get old Bionet articles?
11) Where can I find biology-related job announcements?
12) Where can I get journal contents online?
13) Suggestions for freeware or commercial software packages?
14) What to do about problem X with data base Y?
15) Are there other biology newsgroups or e-mail subscription lists?
16) What is anonymous ftp, and how does it work?
17) How can I access ftp archives from Bitnet?
18) What is Archie, and how does it work?
19) What is Gopher, and how does it work?
20) What is a WAIS, and how does it work?
21) What is the Web (or WWW), and how does it work?
22) Why do so many people contribute questions but not the answers?
============================== Answers ==============================
1) How can I get a copy of this article?
Save this now, while you're reading it! The latest version is
available for anonymous FTP (see question 16) from the BIOSCI
distribution node at net.bio.net. It is stored in the
file pub/BIOSCI/biosci1.FAQ. A copy may also be requested by
e-mail from biosci at net.bio.net.
This article is also posted monthly to BIONEWS/bionet.announce
and cross-posted to news.answers. It will therefore be archived
at any site that archives news.answers, including
pit-manager.mit.edu (18.172.1.27). To retrieve this
article from pit-manager.mit.edu via anonymous ftp, look for the
file bionet-faq in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers. If
you do not have anonymous ftp, send an e-mail message to
mail-server at pit-manager.mit.edu, containing the lines "help" and
"index"; you will be sent information on how to search the
archive and receive files by e-mail.
2) What are the Bionet newsgroups for? How may they be used?
The BIOSCI/bionet newsgroups are designed to enhance communication
between professionals in the biological sciences. The intended
readership consists of practicing scientists. The public may
participate, but the primary focus of the newsgroups is to assist
professionals in the field. Because many biologists do not have
access to USENET news software, the bionet newsgroups can also be used
via e-mail and are known in that form as the BIOSCI mailing lists (the
reason for the name difference between Bionet and BIOSCI is a
historical artifact of limited interest 8-). Each newsgroup, e.g.
bionet.announce, also has an associated mailing list with a
somewhat different name, e.g., BIONEWS, and both are often
mentioned together, e.g., the BIONEWS/bionet.announce newsgroup. Lists
of the available newsgroups may be obtained by sending a request to
either of two Biosci distribution nodes, biosci at net.bio.net or
biosci at daresbury.ac.uk.
A separate FAQ describing technical details of the
Bionet newsgroups is posted each month on BIONEWS/bionet.announce
following this FAQ. Both of these FAQs can also be requested by
e-mail from biosci at net.bio.net.
Please read/subscribe to BIONEWS/bionet.announce, a moderated group where
important announcements are distributed.
The Bionet newsgroups are intended as a forum for biologists of all
flavors who want to exchange technical or other information, and
to debate or discuss current issues in biology. These groups are
especially good for inter-disciplinary exchange, since the readers
tend to work in many different areas of biology.
These types of articles are acceptable (and frequently seen):
* Discussions about experimental methods. These normally occur on
the METHODS-AND-REAGENTS/bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts newsgroup.
BIOSCI readers can cite numerous examples of how their research has
been assisted by tips gained through the discussions in this forum.
* Questions on specific topics, techniques, or organisms. There
are a number of BIOSCI/bionet newsgroups dedicated to specialty areas
of biology. These forums, e.g.,
MOLECULAR-EVOLUTION/bionet.molbio.evolution or
POPULATION-BIOLOGY/bionet.population-bio are the appropriate
place for more specialized discussions. These often lead to
interesting discussions, and are generally welcome, however
esoteric they may be. If your question is an extremely
easy or boring one, and you get the Bionet groups via Usenet,
you may want to consider restricting the distribution of your
article to an appropriate region: your university, perhaps, or
your state or country. This is done by entering the appropriate
area on the Distribution: line when prompted by your news software,
e.g., world, bionet, usa, ca.
* Discussions on topics of general interest. These discussions
normally appear on the BIOFORUM/bionet.general newsgroup. Above
all else, many Bionet participants cite the occasional lengthly
discussions on various issues as the single most rewarding and
useful aspect of the Bionet newsgroups. There is a certain
element of psychotherapy in any discussion group, and the Bionet
groups are no exception: try to keep your comments rational,
calm, clear, and concise.
* Announcements of upcoming conferences or other events, or grant
deadlines. These should be posted to BIONEWS/bionet.announce
which is a moderated newsgroup (i.e., the postings are reviewed by a
moderator before distribution; postings that are not announcements are
forwarded to more appropriate forums.). If you get the Bionet
groups via Usenet, you should set an expiration data for such
announcements, so that they go away once they are no longer
relevant, and limit the distribution of your announcement to the
appropriate geographical area.
* Reports or comments on new books, papers, methods or software.
People often report on interesting scientific news in the media
or statements issued by various governments, or forward items
from other groups or subscription lists.
* Requests for book or article references. If what you really
want is for someone to do a bibliographic data base search
for you, you are probably better off sending private e-mail
to someone who is likely to be able and willing to help you.
Otherwise, feel free to ask; requests are frequently answered
with full bibliographic references, often in BibTeX or Medline
format.
Unacceptable articles include commercial advertisements, political
lobbying messages, and anything not pertaining
