Re: -- Draft unofficial <sci.math> FAQ. Comments please.

In article
<c1c10c41-9ad4-4b5a-99da-044878139651@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"mensanator@xxxxxxxxxxx" <mensanator@xxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 21, 4:15 pm, Ken Pledger <ken.pled...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
      Recent discussions gave me the idea of posting some general advice
(especially for newbies) once every few weeks.  I've tried to use
straightforward language for the sake of posters who are not native
English speakers.

      Please suggest improvements to any part of it, including the
title.  (The title will not begin with "-- ", so that regulars can more
easily ignore it.)

Title:  How to post messages to the <sci.math> news group.

      These notes are not official in any way, but if you are new to
this group you may find them helpful.

1.    Messages posted to <sci.math> may be about mathematics at any
level.  Please don't post OT (off-topic) messages about other things.
      Questions about mathematical statistics may be posted here, but
you may prefer to try the <sci.stat.math> or <sci.stat.edu> news group.

2.    The title should show what is in your message.  For example, "--
Differentiating trig functions" is a good title, but "-- I can't solve
this problem" is a bad title.
      Also, the two dashes and a space at the beginning of each title
help some people to separate your message from commercial spam.

Ok, but I still need to know the following:

When I hit [reply] in Google groups, the subject (which I can't see
unless I click to change it) becomes

Re: -- Draft unofficial <sci.math> FAQ. Comments please.

making the "-- " no longer the first 3 characters of the subject.

Am I going to have to edit and remove the "Re: " from every message
I reply to (as I just did with this message)? Or will the killfiles
permit the "-- " even when it's not the first 3 characters?

The latter. You should be able to kill posts not containing "-- ",
regardless of where it occurs in the subject title.

3.    Typing mathematical formulae may not be easy.

Use  "^"  for powers, for example  a^3  for "a cubed".

Use plenty of brackets/parentheses.  For example,  5e^2x  could mean  
(5e)^(2x)  or  ((5e)^2)x  or  5(e^2)x  or  5(e^(2x)).

Use plenty of spaces.  For example,   x + y = 6   is easier to read than  
x+y=6.

For more details about typing formulae, see the <alt.algebra.help> FAQ
at <http://aah.ryan-usa.com/node15.html>.

4.    This news group is open to everybody, and some people have bad
manners.  Try to stay polite yourself.  There are still plenty of people
who want to discuss mathematics without rude arguments.  I hope you
enjoy being one of them.

            Ken Pledger.
.

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