There are many ways to get information about CD Recording - or almost anything else - on the Internet. This note is intended to list some of them with indications of when and how to use them. It provides guidelines, not rules, but you are probably here for guidance, so take them for what they're worth.
Accountability means that the information you get is reliable and that the source is responsible for its accuracy. The highest level of accountability is the statement of the manufacturer or the publisher of a product. If the company says: "This drive works with that software" and it doesn't, you can recover damages. That's real accountability and the reason that many manufacturers of hardware and publishers of software are circumspect about what they assert and careful to post disclaimers.
The next level of accountability is information posted at a WWW site by responsible third parties. Clearly, a FAQ such as Andy's excellent one for CD-R at http://www.cdrfaq.org/ is near the top of the list. My CD-R site at http://www.mrichter.com/ (where this page is posted) is also accountable because I make the effort to keep it accurate and I respond to corrections and suggestions. In other words, the sites are accountable because Andy, his colleagues and I are. You have to judge whether other pages are reliable or not - there's no official imprimatur to say: this is truth and that is opinion. I recommend three WWW sites for general CD-R information: the FAQ for a reference book (I use it all the time); Adaptec's site for the best information on their products and their use; and this primer for information on why things work as they do.
A lower level of accountability, but one still of great value, is the Adaptec mailing list. As with the WWW pages, its virtue is in its persistence. In general, neither Adaptec nor those who post to the list vouch for the correctness of what's there, but because the list is persistent over time and because its archives are presented in searchable form, any error is likely to be caught and corrected. Along the same lines, much misinformation is trapped by the listowners before it reaches your inbox.
One step above mere rumor and surmise are the newsgroups. There is one primary newsgroup for CD recording: alt.comp.periphs.cdr. Two others, comp.publish.cdrom.hardware and .software, have much less traffic and seem to be havens for newbies and people with nothing useful to do. Nevertheless, there are sometimes good questions and useful answers in the comp.publish groups. However, before using any newsgroup, please take a look at the section below for guidelines.
Finally, there is private e-mail. Those of us who publish our real e-mail addresses are inviting questions and follow-ups, so feel free to post. Please try to use a bit of judgement when you do. I have received e-mails (I kid you not) saying: I just bought a bare drive - how do I use it? If your question requires a lengthy answer, I am much more likely to post it to this primer than anywhere else, so look for the answer here first. Scan the Adaptec site for their writeup and for the archives of the list. It doesn't hurt to check the FAQ, either. For some strange reason, I get perturbed when a question with answers readily available is asked of me for the thirty-fifth time in a week. "What's the best medium?" is likely to inspire a very uninspiring response.
Make way for my gripe line.
There is so much overlap among the three major CD-R newsgroups that there's no point in complaining about a software question being asked in the .hardware group. However, as you wander farther off-topic - into DVD recording, hard drive optimization, spread-sheet software and so on, you are ever less likely to get a useful answer and ever more likely to generate resentment among the people who want to help. (The people with nothing better to do are happy to discuss matters about which they know nothing.) To find out what's relevant to a newsgroup, read it. Scan through the current posts to see if they focus on your concerns - it is not enough to have one post in forty peripherally related to your issue.
Cross-posting is seldom appropriate for a question and must be done correctly (the easy way). It makes sense to cross-post an announcement, but usually one appropriate newsgroup is the place to post a question. If it's as urgent as smoke coming out of your floppy drive, crossposting makes sense; otherwise, pick one spot and if you don't get a reply in a few days, try another.
Correct crossposting is easy: compose one message and post it to all the newsgroups you feel must get it. That way, all replies will thread together and can be correlated with one another. If you write separate posts to each of your victims ... er ... target groups, then each will have its own thread and no one will know how to relate them to one another. In addition, someone who wants to help - particularly to correct an error in your problem statement - would have a difficult and ultimately impossible task. She would have to know all the newsgroups to which you posted and would have to subscribe to each in order to make the correction.
When I see an off-topic post, I either ignore it or say: "The question is off-topic - this group is for CD recording as indicated in its name. If you post to a relevant group, you should include [some specifics missing in the original post.]" When I encounter an improper cross-post, I reply "If you must crosspost, please do it correctly. Reply posted to ..."
I am routinely accused of being a "netcop" for those observations. The most interesting thing about that accusation is that those protecting others' right to misuse the resources never provide any useful input - even of as limited use as mine. They will discourse on my motivation and ancestry, but somehow never address the question at hand. I suppose it makes them feel good, so I don't complain.
E-mail me at cdrecording@mrichter.com
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