
                          AmericaNet Echo Mail Network
                             Operational Guidelines
                          Release v1.5  dated 07/01/93
                      
                      Copyright (c) 1993 by Scott Phillips
 All Rights Reserved. No reproduction of any kind may be made unless express
                 written permission of the author is obtained.



Ŀ
 Administration 

     The AmericaNet Echo Mail Network (hereafter refered to as the Network,
     AmerNet,  AmericaN, or ANet) is a five-tier telecommunications network
     comprised  of  one  Net  Host BBS, Super Regional Hubs, Regional Hubs, 
     Hubs, and Network Nodes. 

     AmericaNet is operated as a "public service" of Scott Phillips and The 
     Cathouse BBS which  serves as the Net Host BBS.  The  Network  is  run
     by the  Network  Administrator, Scott Phillips,  also the SysOp of The    
     Cathouse BBS.

     The Network Administration  reserves the right  to admit or refuse any
     BBS/SYSOP  as   participating  members   of  the  AmericaNet  Network. 
     The Network Administration further reserves the right to remove and/or 
     suspend net access of any individual node, hub or regional hub for any 
     action considered detrimental  to the goals, spirit  and/or quality of 
     the  Network  as  well  as  failure  to  abide  by  these  guidelines.

     Acceptance to the Network is determined  by  the Network Administrator 
     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.

Ŀ
 Net Host BBS Operations 

     The Net Host BBS equipment is NOT the property  of any system relaying
     the AmericaNet 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  permission  by the owners  of Scott Phillips & The Cathouse BBS.
   
     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.
   
     AmericaNet  is a "no fee"  network.  The expenses of network operation 
     will be offset by funds generated through "voluntary contributions" to 
     the Net Host BBS or Network Administration.

Ŀ
 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,  Tnet,  QWiKerNet,  MkNet,  Cnet   &  TriNet.
     If  it's not listed here,  it may  not be approved  for use within the   
     Network  for  relays  of  said  network.  This is  a .QWK mail network
     therefore you must have a .QWK mail importer/exporter.

     Network members must use legally purchased or obtained BBS software as
     defined by the respective software author's docs  and as listed below:
     PCBoard, GAP, Wildcat!, Spitfire, Searchlight, TriBBS, RBBS, UltraBBS,
     Remote  Access  &  Auntie.  If  it's  not  listed  here, it may not be 
     approved  for  use  within  the  Network  for  relays of said network.

     Additional  software might be  approved for use within AmericaNet, but 
     only  after  extensive  testing  is done on the software and after the 
     approval  of  its  use  by  the Network Administrator and the software 
     author  and/or  vendors.  Authors  interested in getting "Network Use" 
     approval can contact  the AmericaNet Administrator, Scott Phillips, in 
     the  GenChat   conference   on  any  AmericaNet  Network  Member  BBS.

     The Network Administrator reserves the right to "decline or terminate"
     access to the Network to those individuals failing to operate with the
     properly registered or purchased software used for netmail operations,
     and/or BBS operations.

Ŀ
 Network Sysop Responsibilities 

     Hub SysOps are responsible for  abiding by administrative decisions in
     said region. Node SysOps are responsible for abiding by administrative
     decisions which pertain to their board or users access to the network.

     Hub SysOps must relay mail a minimum of once daily  unless it is tech-
     nically 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.  In the event that a Hub SysOp
     does not relay for 3 consecutive days without notification to the Net-
     work Administrator, its' Nodes and Hub,  the Hub may be temporarily OR
     permanently removed as that region's hub at the sole discretion of the
     Network Administration.

     Hub SysOps  should make "every possible effort" to accommodate any/all
     conference requests for their nodes as equipment/configurations allow.

     When any Hub SysOp has been notified by  the Network Administrator  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 Administrator 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
     Administrator. Regional zoning isn't written in stone and is flexible.

Ŀ
 Conference Hosts and/or Moderators 


     Conference Hosts, Moderators are selected by the Network Administrator
     and may be removed and replaced should a "CH" or "CM" fail to fill the
     duties of said position.  CH/CM responsibilities  are described below:

       Attempt to keep message traffic "on topic" and politely redirect off
       topic users to the "appropriate" conference.
       Notify the Network Administrator of problems regarding config errors
       such as but not limited to: Duplicate Mail, Cross-Echoes, etc.
       Notify Network Administrator should you have any difficulty in main-
       taining the mail flow of your assigned conference(s).
       Do not flame  or help fan the flames of users. Report any situations
       to the Network Administrator in the Moderator's Conference.
       Maintain the friendly atmosphere with the users.
       Assist in the answering of questions relating to the subject of your
       conference, to the best of your ability.
       Deal with a problem user or users in the following manner:
                   Issue polite warning to users failing to follow rules.
                   If user persists in a manner that you feel  warrants a
                   temporary suspension, contact the user's SysOp and the
                   Network Administrator in the Moderator's conference only.
       Conference suspension, network suspension and/or network banning  is
       described in section 6.0.

Ŀ
 Network Suspensions/Bans 


     Conference  and  Network   Temporary   Suspensions  and  Network  Bans
     All suspensions or network bans  are determined by a "two-thirds vote"
     between the moderator, the user's SysOp and the Network Administrator.

     Moderators   requesting   administrative   action   must do so  in the 
     Moderator's conference.

     Upon network-wide suspension or ban, a SysOp may "appeal" the decision
     on behalf of the user  in the NetAdmin conference.  This may only take
     place after the suspension or ban has been enforced by the SysOp. Upon
     conference suspension or ban the user may appeal the decision directly
     to the Network Administrator in the NetAdmin conference.  This too may
     only take place after conference suspension or ban  has been enforced.

     Suspensions or bans are determined under the following guidelines:
         A warning message must come from the conference moderator prior to
         administrative action  unless actions are determined to be severe,
         and/or blatant enough to warrant an immediate suspension or ban as
         determined by the Network Administrator.
         2nd offense: 30 day suspension from conference  with a 90 day pro-
         bationary period.
         3rd offense: If during probationary period, network-wide ban for a
         period to be determined by the Network Administrator.
         If after probationary period lapses,  a 30 day suspension from the
         conference with a 90 day probationary period.
         4th offense: Permanent network-wide ban.
       Repeat offenses do not need to be the same nor do they need to occur
       in the same conferences as the original offense.
       The Administration reserves the right to determine if the actions of
       a user warrant a conference suspension or network-wide suspension.
       All temporary suspensions  are for a period of  no less than 30 days
       unless otherwise shortened by the Network Administration.
       Any/all probationary terms are for a period of  no less than 90 days
       unless otherwise shortened by the Network Administration.

Ŀ
 Receiver Only Messages 

     Pursuant to the  Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 18 USC
     2510  et.  seq.,   all  BBS  SYSOPs  and  users  participating  within 
     the Network must be aware that there are no facilities provided by the
     Network   for   sending   or    receiving    confidential   electronic
     communications.  Although  AmericaNet  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  intended solely to provide a means to 
     limit  the possible  number of nodes and/or users 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 network conferences on their BBS of all
     network  guidelines  and  that  the  network  has  no  facilities  for 
     exchanging confidential  electronic communications. Suitable bulletins 
     and/or news displays should be  placed in a prominent place within the 
     users'  viewing  capabilities,   indicating   that   no   confidential 
     communications  capabilities  are  available  within  the 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. AmericaNet Network, Scott Phillips, & The Cathouse BBS and
     all member Sysops assume no accountability or liability whatsoever for
     any violations of this policy by and all users of the AmerNet Network.
 
Ŀ
 Network Guidelines 

     While it is not the intent of the Network or the Network Administrator 
     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 
     the AmerNet Network  SysOps are  responsible for the enforcement these 
     Network guidelines.

     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 AmerNet 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  AmericaNet  Network.

     No BBS Ads
     Participating AmerNet Network SysOps  will not relay nor will allow to
     be relayed  messages that contain information that advertise BBS's un-
     less in the AmerNet 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 Administrator that SysOp's 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.

     No Aliases
     Obvious "aliases" must  not  be used anywhere in AmerNet  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 AmerN
     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 AmerNet 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 AmerNet.It is
     the Network  Administrator's  understanding  that  each node  SysOp is
     responsible for the names used on their 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 AmerNet of that alias. Should
     the Network Administrator think a user is using an alias  the SysOp of
     the originating board must either validate or remove that user.

     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.
     AmerNet, Scott Phillips, The Cathouse BBS and all member SysOps assume
     no accountability or liability  whatsoever  for any violations of this
     policy by any and all users of the AmerNet 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. No "offensive or abusive" language is to be used in any and
     all of the AmerNet conferences.  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 AmerNet 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 AmerNet  they must not have access to it.

Ŀ
 Network Configuration 

     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 AmerNet
     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.

     Network Taglines
     Every  AmerNet  Network  tagline  must  begin  with  the  text  string 
     AmericaNet.  .QWK  format  members must have  the string AmericaNet in 
     the 'TAG' and  'HTAG' portion  of their  Network  configuration files.

     Taglines should be like the following:

     HUB Tagline: 
        AmericaNet HUB: <BBS Name> - <BBS Number> - <BBS City> - <Else>
     
     Node Tagline:   
        AmericaNet: <BBS Name> - <BBS Number> - <BBS City> - <Anything Else>

     Conference Configuration
       Required Conference
         NetAdmin is AmericaNet's Administrative conference and is required 
         to be carried by all members. 
       Private Conferences
         Moderators  is open only to  hosts or moderators of the AmericaNet  
         conferences and the SysOp "carrying" this conference. Regionals is
         also open only to those QWK SysOps who are serving as Regionals or
         Hubs in the AmericaNet Network.
         SysOps is open only to validated BBS SysOps.
       Restricted Conferences
        NetAdmin  is restricted to echoing SysOps, and AmericaNet Net HUBS, 
        and Regionals.
       Remaining Conferences
         All remaining AmericaNet conferences are considered  public access 
         and accessible to everyone.  The exception here is if the user has 
         been "removed" from an  AmericaNet conference for any valid reason  
         (as decided by the Network  Administrator,  the  users  SysOp  and 
         Conference Host or Moderator or these AmerNet  Network  guidelines 
         section 6.0.
       Conferences Not Carried
       SysOps will make their users aware of any conferences 'not carried'.
       This can be done by means of news screens or bulletins. Also, if you
       are carrying multiple networks,  your conference menu must display a
       type of coding  that differentiates our conferences  from any of the
       other  network  conferences  that  you  might  also  have available.
   
     ANSI In Messages
     'ANSI' is permitted _ONLY_ in the AmerN ANSI conference, nowhere else.

     PCBoard or similar BBS-Software-specific Macros
     PCBoard or similar macros  are not to be used anywhere in the Network.

     Network Related Discussions or Debates
     Network  business will be  discussed in the AmerN NetAdmin conference.
     If it does develop elsewhere, 'move it'  into the NetAdmin conference.

     Signatures and Taglines
     While we have come to the conclusion that limits on signatures would be
     very difficult to enforce, we have agreed that some limit is necessary.
     Three  lines should be more than sufficient but if constantly used and/
     or abused, the user *will* be asked to cease. No signatures or taglines
     may reflect a moderator, host or administrative position outside of the
     AmerN Network  positions.  ie:  if  you host the Programming Conference
     on another network, do not use it in your tagline in any  CCCN   confs.
     Also, if you host the For Sale Conference on  AmerN,   do not use it in
     your tagline or signature *outside* the AmerNet For Sale Conference.

     Quoting Guidelines and Utilities
     Some new utilities of late have been introduced  which create some very
     big problems in the network. The fancy quote utilities have been banned
     from use in our network due to the overhead that these utilities create
     and subsequent expense to those SysOps relaying the mail.  Fancy quotes
     consist of any quoted text "border" that consists of MORE than a single
     ascii line around the quoted portion of a reply. While this can also be
     abused there are limitations to quotes of all kinds.  Quote "size" will
     consist of the quoted text AND any border to the quoted portion. Quotes
     are not to exceed the replied portion of any message.  And please quote
     only when it is necessary to maintain a "proper train of thought".

Ŀ
 Making Ammendments to These Network Guidelines 

     Making Ammendments To These Network Guidelines
     Although the Network Administrator is responsible for implementing any
     changes to these guidelines, any AmerNet Node or Hub Sysop, Conference
     Host or Conference Moderator  may request ammendments  to these guide-
     lines from the Network Administrator. Such requests / petitions or any
     and all discussions thereof MUST take place in the NetAdmin conference
     of  the  AmericaNet   Echo   Mail   Network   and   no   place   else.

Ŀ
 Network Staff 

    Network Staff
    Positions and responsibilities are currently being discussed.


