Described as "
Basic Hygiene for
Usenet Software", the
Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval is intended to ensure that
news readers are at least minimally idiot-resistant. Whether it succeeds at that goal is a
judgment call, but its requirements are for the most part sound (if a bit heavy-handed at times).
To avoid the whole cut-and-paste thing, I'll point out that the full text of the GNKSA is at http://www.newsreaders.com/gnksa/. The actual document is fairly long, but most of it boils down to:
- Display important headers (From:, Newsgroups:, Subject:, and a couple others
- Make it crystal clear to whom, and to where, you're replying
- Allow users to easily make new posts, reply publicly, and reply privately, and make sure they know which is which and what they're doing
- Allow users to cancel or supersede their own articles, and not anyone else's (which makes GNKSA software pretty much useless for newsgroup moderators, but that's another story)
- Respect netiquette: 80 characters per line, no obnoxious .signatures
- Make sure what you see is what you post
- Generally try to prevent the user from being a complete idiot
Software to be awarded the GNKSA includes tin, slrn, and Gnus. Software that failed to pass the test includes Outlook Express, Free Agent and trn.