Intelec International E-Mail Network Operational Guidelines Release v.10 dtd:09/01/91 Introduction ============== The Intelec International E-Mail Network (hereafter refered to as "the Network" or Intelec Network) is a four-tier telecommunications network comprised of one Net Host BBS, multiple Regional Hubs, Hubs and Nodes. Intelec is operated as a "public service" of Intelec Business Network Inc and Intelec Online serves as the Net Host BBS. The Network is run by the Network Coordinator, Cliff Watkins, who is the SysOp of Intelec Online and the President of Intelec Business Network, Inc. The Network Coordinator reserves the right to admit or refuse any BBS or SYSOP as a participating member of the Network. The Network Coordinator further reserves the right to remove or suspend "net access" of any individual node, hub or regional hub for any action considered detrimental to the goals, spirit or quality of the Intelec Network and these guidelines. Net Host BBS Operations ========================== The Net Host BBS equipment is NOT the property of any system relaying the Intelec Network. No claims may be made against the software and/or hardware that "comprises" the Net Host BBS. All software and hardware required to run the Net Host BBS is privately owned and used with per- mission by Intelec Business Network Inc. The Net Host BBS Sysop coordinates the primary mail exchange time for each Regional Hub or Hub connected to the Net Host BBS. Each Regional Hub and Hub has a "time slot" ensuring that all routine mail exchanges are accomplished in a timely manner. The Net Host BBS Sysop publishes the primary mail exchange times to ensure that no Regional Hub or Hub deliberately intrudes during another Hub's primary mail exchange time slot. Only Regional Hubs or Hubs may "relay" through the Net Host BBS. Acceptance to the Network is determined by the Network Coordinator and is only processed upon receipt of the completed and signed application form. Incomplete application forms will not be processed. Applications must be signed and mailed to the address contained in the application. BBS/Network Software Supported ================================ Network members must use legally purchased or obtained net software as defined by the respective software author's docs and as listed below: Rnet, Qnet, RoseMail, PCRelay, Tnet, QWiKerNet, MkNet and TriNet. Network members must use legally purchased, obtained or registered BBS software as defined by the authors and/or vendors and as listed below: PCBoard, GAP, Wildcat!, Spitfire, Searchlight, TriTel, RBBS, UltraBBS, Remote Access and QBBS. Additional software might be approved for use within Intelec but only after extensive testing is done on the software and after the approval of its use through the Network Coordinator and the software authors or vendors. Authors interested in getting "Network Use" approval can con- tact the Intelec Network Coordinator, Cliff Watkins, in the NetAdmin conference on any Intelec Network Member BBS. The Network Coordinator reserves the right to decline and/or terminate access to the Network to those individuals failing to operate with the properly registered or purchased software used for netmail operations. Receiver Only Messages ======================== Pursuant to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 18 USC 2510 et. seq., all BBS SYSOPs and users participating within Intelec, must be aware that there are no facilities provided by the Network for sending or receiving confidential electronic communications. Although Intelec maintains the capability and capacity to send and receive mail that is flagged as "Receiver-Only" or "Routed Mail.", mail so flagged is not to be considered by any user as actual "private" messages. The purpose of the "R/O", "Routed Mail" or "Point-to-Point" flags are in- tended solely to provide a means to limit the possible number of nodes that may have access to the mail for display purposes. All participating Network SysOps must agree, as a condition of network membership and participation, that they will notify anyone reading or exchanging messages within all Intelec conferences on their BBS of all network guidelines and that Intelec has no facilities for exchanging confidential electronic communications. Suitable bulletins and/or news displays should be placed in a prominent place within the users' view- ing capabilities, indicating that no confidential communications capa- bilities are available within the Intelec Network. All messages posted in relayed conferences are deemed to be public. Access policies to the private conferences must be maintained to restrict access to only the private conference members as described in these guidelines. Intelec Network, Intelec Business Network, Inc and all member SysOps assume no accountability or liability whatsoever for any violations of this policy by any and all users of the Intelec Network. Network Hub SysOps ==================== The Hub SysOp is responsible for "enforcing" any/all guidelines within their region. The Hub SysOp must relay mail a "minimum" of once daily unless it is "technically impossible" to do so. No Hub SysOp should intentionally shut down for over (24) consecutive hours without first making provisions for the continued relaying of it nodes. Hub SysOps should make "every possible effort" to accommodate any/all conference requests for their nodes as equipment/configuration allow. When any Hub SysOp has been "notified" by the Network Coordinator to remove the net access of a node the Hub SysOp should remove the node's access as soon as possible. In the event that the Hub SysOp "does not" comply with a "node-access-removal" request, the Hub SysOp's access may be removed and the Regional "assignment" may be passed to another. The Hub SysOp has the "authority" to remove the access of one or more of its nodes for one (1) day if the situation warrants such an action. Immediately following any node's "access removal", the Hub SysOp needs to notify the removed node by voice and the Network Coordinator by via voice or public message in NetAdmin explaining the situation in full. Regionals must relay through the Net Host BBS on a "daily basis". Hubs must relay through their respective Regional on a daily basis and Hubs cannot relay through the Net Host BBS unless message activity from the Hub warrants more "affordable" relays and upon approval by the Network Coordinator. Regional zoning is not written in stone and is flexible. Conference Hosts and/or Moderators ==================================== Conference Hosts or Moderators are elected by the Network Coordinator and may be removed or replaced should a "CH" or "CM" fail to fill the duties of said position. CH/CM responsibilities are described below: 1) Ensure that message traffic is kept on topic and politely redirect off topic users to the "appropriate" conference. 2) Notify the Network Coordinator of problems regarding config errors such as Duplicate Mail and Cross-Echoes. 3) Notify the SysOp of any user who violates any or all conference rules. You may wish to keep a recent "nodelist" to make this a simpler task. 4) Notify the "Conference Coordinator" should you have any difficulty in maintaining mail flow in your conference. He or She can "assist" in bringing new users to the conference or in getting additional boards to carry your conference(s). 5) Do not flame or help fan the flames of a user who is "out of line". Report the situation to his or her SysOp in the Moderator Conference. 6) Maintain the friendly atmosphere that has become synonymous with the Intelec Network. 7) You should assist in the answering of "questions" relating to the subject of your conference. Network Guidelines ==================== While it is not the intent of Intelec or the Network Coordinator to interfere with any SysOps authority on his or her own BBS, all relayed conferences are subject to the jurisdiction of these guidelines. These Network guidelines are explained in detail below and Intelec Network SysOps are responsible for the enforcement these Network guidelines. 1) No Illegal Activities ------------------------ Any illegal activities, including but not limited to the promotion of illegal acts and promotion of software copyright infringement will not be allowed within the Intelec Network. Any such activities constitute a grievous reason for the removal of the node or hub from the Net, and may necessitate compensatory action against the violator for any legal liabilities such activities may cause the Intelec Network. 2) No BBS Ads ------------- Participating Intelec Network SysOps will not relay nor will allow to be relayed messages that contain information that advertise BBS's un- less in the Intelec Network BBS AD or ANSI Conferences. The placement of BBS telephone numbers within messages to advise users of a contact telephone number is not considered a "BBS Ad" as long as the intent of the message is clearly evident without the telephone number. It is un- derstood that a user might disregard this rule. It is the expectation of the Network Coordinator that the SysOp will take appropriate action to prevent this occurrence. Flagrant disregard of this rule justifies the removal of that node from the Network. It's also understood that if an ad is relayed and the SysOp corrects the situation, it does not justify removal of that node from the Network. 3) No Aliases ------------- Obvious "aliases" must not be used anywhere in Intelec conferences. We are not telling you that you can not have aliased users but if you do they must NOT be able to access or enter messages into ANY of Intelec Network's conferences. An alias is defined as a name used by a caller whose intent is to prevent identification of the caller by the SysOps and any other Intelec Network member. SysOps of each participating BBS are responsible for ensuring that only validated users are allowed to exchange messages within conferences that are relayed by Intelec. It is the Network Coordinator's understanding that each node SysOp is re- sponsible for the names used on his/her own BBS. If the SysOp grants a user an alias for what the SysOp deems is a valid reason, such as sec- urity, and that alias is not apparently an alias (such as Dr. Modem, which is) then there's no need to inform Intelec of that alias. Should the Network Coordinator feel a user is using an alias the SysOp of the originating board must either validate or remove that user. 4) No Flames or Personal Attacks -------------------------------- Anyone found to be abusive in nature, such as but not limited to, name calling, insults, slanderous statements, arrogant or instigative posts or any other rude, lewd or otherwise obnoxious behavior or comments, is to be removed from the conference. Further occurances of this abuse will result in the user(s) being removed from the Network completely. Intelec, Intelec Business Network, Inc and all member SysOps assume no accountability or liability whatsoever for any violations of this policy by any and all users of the Intelec Network. Network SysOps can and will be held accountable for failure to remove any user or users who make statements that are abusive, slanderous or demeaning to any individual, group, organization either social, political, theological or racial. 5) Configuration Errors ----------------------- a) Monitoring NetAdmin - - - - - - - - - - - - Network member SysOps MUST monitor the NetAdmin conference on a timely basis to be aware of announcements (conference additions or deletions) or mail regarding configuration errors (duplicates and cross-echoes). SysOps must "correct" any detrimental activity coming into the Intelec Network via their board, on a timely basis, including but not limited to duplicates, cross-echoes, abusive users and improper or excessive taglines. All Hubs must ensure that their nodes take corrective action against these or other problem areas. b) Conference Requirements - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Intelec requires each participating node to carry the two "manditory" conferences. They are NetAdmin (our public access administrative conf) and NetChat (our common-link general chat conf). Intelec has two conf- erences which are considered private access but are not considered to be manditory conferences. They are Moderators (open only to the hosts or moderators of Intelec Network conferences and the SysOps "carrying" the conference) and SysOps (open only to validated BBS SysOps). There are two other conferences that have been setup to support the routing of "Point-to-Point" mail. These are PCRelay (the *ONLY* conference in which PCRelay members are permitted to "route" mail to other BBSs) and Direct-Mail (to be accessible *ONLY* by RoseMail SysOps for the use of point to point mail routing. All remaining Intelec conferences are to be considered public access and accessible to all users. The exception to this is if a user has been "removed" from an Intelec conference for any valid reason (as decided by the Network Coordinator and the users' SysOp and Conference Host or Moderator). c) Network Taglines - - - - - - - - - - Every Intelec Network tagline must begin with the text string Intelec. PCRelay SysOps must use the NET.ID file supplied from the Net Host BBS their regional or hub. QWK format members must have the string INTELEC in the 'TAG' and 'HTAG' portion of their Network configuration files. d) Network Related Discussions or Debates - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Network business will be discussed in the Intelec NetAdmin conference. If it does develop elsewhere, 'move it' into the NetAdmin conference. e) Abusive Users or SysOps - - - - - - - - - - - - - - No offensive or abusive language. The use of any word, group of words, expression, comment, suggestion, or proposal which is profane, filthy, lewd, lascivicious, obscene, indecent, or that is demeaning ethnically or racially is strictly prohibited within the Intelec Network. Network member SysOps must remove any users from the echoes for flaming and/or fighting. We cannot ask that users be removed as "users of your board" but if they are a problem to Intelec they must not have access to it. f) Conferences Not Carried - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SysOps will make their users aware of Intelec confs not carried. This must be done by means of news screens and/or bulletins. Also, if you are carrying multiple networks, have your conference menu display some type of coding that differentiates our conferences from other network conferences that you might also have available. g) PCBoard or similar BBS-Software-specific Macros - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PCBoard or similar macros are not to be used anywhere in the Network. Although PCBoard makes up a majority of this network, the 'macros' it supports is NOT supported by the other BBS software packages. h) ANSI In Messages - - - - - - - - - - 'ANSI' is permitted ONLY in the Intelec ANSI conference, nowhere else. i) Hubs Failing to Relay - - - - - - - - - - - - - In the event that any Hub SysOp does not relay for 3 consecutive days, and without "notification" to the Network Coordinator and all Nodes, the Hub may be temporarily OR permanently removed as the region's hub. This is solely at the discretion of the Network Coordinator. 6) Membership Fee ------------------ An annual membership fee of $12 (U.S.) is charged to all participating Intelec Network members for the "upkeep" of the Host BBS and to help offset the costs incurred in keeping the Intelec Network operational. Payment of the annual membership fee, prior to Network approval, will not guarantee acceptance to the network. Do not submit the membership fee until you have received approval for relays from the Network Coor- dinator and have worked out a mutually agreeable relay point. Once an applicant receives said approval, the membership fee must be received within 30 days of the approval date. This fee is non-refundable should a SysOp decide to leave the Network, shut down his/her BBS, be removed from the Network or any reason that "interrupts or terminates" Network mail transfers, *unless* the member has a full year advance paid. This "unused" year is fully refundable irregardless of circumstances. This fee may be paid in advance but is not to exceed two (2) years worth of Network membership. Making Ammendments To These Network Guidelines ================================================ Although the Network Coordinator is responsible for implementing any changes to these guidelines, any Intelec Node or Hub Sysop, Conference Host or Conference Coordinator may request ammendments to these guide- lines from the Network Coordinator. Such requests or petitions or any and all discussions thereof MUST take place in the NetAdmin conference of the Intelec Network and no place else.