In article ,
Ron Clark wrote:
On 19 Sep 2003 16:57:58 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

| It is an abuse of the terms and conditions of usenet usage to
| recommend products, to promote links to dozens and dozens of
| commercial retailers, to provide links to product lists and to price
| lists.

Fascinating! Where are these terms and conditions to be found,
and what is the organisation that has the authority to promulgate
them?

You signed up with a news server and you agreed to their terms and
conditions., Maybe you even read them before agreeing to them.

Actually, no, I didn't. Nor WERE there any explicit conditions when
I started (and for a long time afterwards). Seriously. Now, I am
being a LITTLE pedantic, because I did agree to abide by the Statutes
and Ordinances of the University of Cambridge when I started work here,
and they do indirect to a body authorised to make such rules (which it
did some 5-10 years after I started using Usenet).

Without doubt the T&C specifically bans the posting of unsolicited
commercial emails to private email addresses and to newsgroups and
bans unsolicited bulk emailing. To contravene such an agreement to
desist from such activity makes you liable to having your account
pulled. This is surely not news to you.

Firstly, that is not so - though there is a generic rule in my case
for not using my work account for private commercial usage - because
there are some providers that specifically cater for commercial
advertisers. While few Usenet feeds will peer with them, there is
no universal rule against posting advertising, nor any body capable
of making such a rule!

However, there is nothing stopping me from recommending products,
promoting links to commercial retailers or providing links to product
and price lists. Or at least nothing formal, and I have done exactly
that in the past when it has been appropriate. Of course, I personally
gain precisely nothing from doing so, and take care that any information
I provide on such things is "fair".

It isn't as simple as a free-for-all, but the commonly believed rules
aren't really as formal as actual rules.

The organisation having the authority to enforce their own T&Cs is the
abuse section of your provider.

Precisely. There is no common authority for the whole of Usenet.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.