No matter how you read the digest, please remember that it's important to respond to it as well! The Telecom Digest depends on people like you contributing their thoughts!

Q. Why is it called The Telecom Digest?

A. When it first started, The Telecom Digest was just that; a once-per-day email made up of posts which readers had sent to the moderator. The moderator concatenated the posts together and sent them out in a daily "digest", so that readers got only one email per day.

Over time, the Digest grew with the Internet. When Usenet was introduced, the Digest was made available as a Usenet group, comp.dcom.telecom. Since Usenet doesn't work well with "digest" formats, each post was published separately, so that users who chose to read the Digest via Usenet didn't get the "digest" version. The name, however, was retained through the years, so that even if you read The Telecom Digest via Usenet or via an email feed that delivers individual posts, it's still called The Telecom Digest.

Q. What does "Telecom" mean?

A. The Telecom Digest has been around for so long that a lot of the modern, complex Internet and telephone system we enjoy today wasn't around when the Digest was young. Since the Digest is a moderated venue for posts, subjects range over any area of telecommunications which the moderator feels will interest the readership.

Q. How do I contact the moderator?

A. You may contact the moderator by sending an email to telecomdigestmoderator atsign telecom-digest dot org.

Q. How do I post a message?

A. You may post a message to The Telecom Digest via the same channels which you'd use to read it: Usenet, email, or commercial online services. Your post will be read by the moderator, and if it's appropriate for the Telecom Digest, it will appear on Usenet, and will be distributed to email subscribers as well.

As an Anti-spam measure, the Digest has filters which separate valid posts from spam. To submit a post without risking being caught in a spamtrap, please add one of the following tags to your Subject line:

• If your email in not intended for publication, i.e., if it's a private comment intended only for the moderator's eyes, put "[NFP]" in the Subject line of your email. "NFP" means "Not For Publication".
• If you want the moderator to remove all traces of your identity from your post, put "[Anonymous]" in your Subject line. You don't need the quotes, but you must have the brackets.
• If you want your email address to appear in human-readable format, but in a way which can't be used for spam without correction, put "[Obfuscate]" in your Subject line.
• If it's OK to publish your email address verbatim (which includes addresses which you have already obfuscated), place "[Telecom]" in your subject line.

The "[Telecom]" glyph will be there already in almost all cases if you are replying to another post, so you won't have to add or change anything unless you decide to reply anonymously or to have your email address obfuscated. If that's the case, please remove the "[Telecom]" glyph and substitute either "[Anonymous]" or "[Obfuscate]" as appropriate.

If the moderator feels that your post isn't appropriate, it won't be published. If the moderator feels that your post would benefit from additional material, citations, background, research, or simply improved grammar and spelling, the moderator will return it to you with suggestions for improvement. Of course, a post can only be returned so long as it has a valid email address: if you've obfuscated your address, the moderator must be able to figure it out from the information in the post; i.e., if your address is obfuscaed in a particularly obtuse way, the moderator might not choose to spend time decoding it. Anonymous posts will, of course, be discarded if they're not suitable for publication "as-is".

If you want feedback regarding your posts, but also choose to submit them with invalid or anonymized addresses, you may inform the moderator of your actual name and email address and ask him/her to use that information to send private communications to you. It's a good idea to use the "[NFP]" (Not For Publication) glyph in your Subject line if your email has a "From" address that you want to keep private.

The Moderator's decisions are final and are not subject to appeal.

Q. What are the criteria used to determine if a post should be published?

A. The Telecom Digest is a unique part of the Internet's long history, and as such it is subject to slightly different rules than some other forums you may see. The Moderator uses a number of factors to determine if any given post is to be published: they include common sense, timeliness, proper etiquette, appropriate material, adequate (but not excessive) quoting of previous posts, the absence of malice toward individuals or specific organizations, and (in general) the moderator's judgement that a particular post is appropriate, worth the readers' time, and that it contributes significantly to the subject being discussed.

There are certain categories of post which are always unacceptable:

1. Ad hominem attacks. The Telecom Digest is a forum for information and ideas, not a whipping post: those who post will never be subjected to personal ridicule, sarcasm, or shame. Although a posters' ideas and arguments might receive rough treatment, the poster will not.
2. "Me too" followups that do not contribute new information or opinions.
3. Post which contain unsupported assertions of fact which are subject to debate. Saying that "FiOS" is superior to any other physical layer just because you feel it is doesn't merit publication. If you think any service or method is "better" than another, you are expected to provide facts, citations, and illustrations to justify your opinion.
4. "Stealth", or hidden, advertisements. If a poster, or an organization which the poster represents, is in a position to benefit from the use of a product or service mentioned in a post, then the relationship must be clearly and completely disclosed.