Newgroups

Responding to Newsgroups as a TA

Newsgroups are one of the best ways to communicate with students in your class. However, there are a few tricks to dealing with them to make sure they are a help and not a hindrance:

Try to check the newsgroups at least once a day during the week, and at least once during the weekend.

If a question comes up from several different students, then consider posting the problem and solution on the newsgroup so that everyone can benefit.

Remind students not to post code on newsgroups. This is almost always against course policy.

Trolling. Trolling is a post with the intention of getting flamed responces. The name comes from the fishing technique of having bait being towed behind a boat. Do not fall for the bait. If a post is off topic, remind the student who posted it that it is off topic and should be posted in another, more appropriate newsgroup. Resist the urge to flame the person posting, as this is most likely exactly what they are looking for to start an argument.

While certain newsgroups can be good places for debates, try to be sure that the newgroup you are debating in is the appropriate place. As CS majors we are all compelled to argue endlessly about what text editor or flavor of Unix to use, but the course newsgroups are probably not the best place for this.

Flaming. This is the internet, it happens. People perceive themselves as being anonymous and say thing that they normally would not even think of saying. Remember the words of Thumper the rabbit, and if "You do not have anything nice to say, then do not say anything at all". Also, there is a .flame forum for just this sort of thing, but as a TA you are a representative of the school so it is best to be on your best behavior in all public forums where you are posting under your name or GT email address.