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The 'Frequently Asked Questions' file
for the uk.rec.naturist newsgroup

Welcome to uk.rec.naturist

This Webpage is based on a simple HTML conversion of the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) post which appears about once a month on newsgroup uk.rec.naturist to help newcomers. It contains answers to questions which are asked about this newsgroup (OK, some of the questions don't get asked very often, but they should be!). Some of the post is in the form of question and answer, some just answers - you can make up the questions yourself if you wish.

Newsgroup Charter

Like all UK newsgroup charters, this newsgroup's can be found at http://www. usenet.org.uk/ - the official Website for Usenet in the UK.
This excellent site also has invaluable information for those new to Usenet or unsure about newsgroup "Netiquette"
Users of the uk.* hierarchy are recommended to subscribe to uk.net.news.announce, a low traffic group providing info on current group creation and management.

If you are now asking "What is / are naturists and naturism?" then you probably ended up reading this page by accident. Maybe you were looking for news:uk.rec.natural-history? But don't go away just yet, read on and see whether we don't have something to offer.

Simple definitions of naturism include: enjoyment of leisure without clothes, social nudity and non-sexual public nudity. If you have a look at the NUFF site you'll find a better and fuller description of what naturism is all about.

That website is authored by NUFF - the Naturist UK FactFile - a collective of people who got together on this newsgroup. NUFF provides information about naturism in general and UK naturist clubs, sites, venues and beaches. There's so much in the FactFile that NUFF can only post monthly reports on what has changed!

 

That's naturism and NUFF defined, what's the point of this newsgroup?

Stick around for a week or two and just read what people say. This is known as "lurking". About the only time that naturists approve of lurking.

 

But isn't a newsgroup a bit pointless? If naturism is simply taking off your clothes when appropriate then why do you need to talk about it on a newsgroup?

Good point. Some of the threads exchange information on various clubs and beaches, or recommendations for holidays abroad. But we also get a lot of discussion about things related to naturism, such as UK law, the attitudes of friends and family, "what would my boss say?" and so on. And there's normally a thread running about some aspect of when and where "taking off your clothes" is and is not "appropriate"! This includes information about the attitudes of various local Councils to beach nudity.

 

So it's just another bunch of anoraks mumbling about trivia?

That's true, as far as it goes, but you could say the same about any newsgroup - a set of people with common interests discussing aspects of those interests.

Sounds like I should get you all to look at something significant for a change?

A "regular" on the newsgroup, Simon C. Allen, suggested that a newsgroup is like a pub. When you go into a pub for the first time, you'll normally find several groups sitting or standing in their habitual places, chatting loudly or softly about their usual preoccupations. If you keep your ears open you'll probably find one or more of the groups is talking about something that interests you, and, if you behave politely, you'll be able to join in the discussion.

But it's bad manners on a newsgroup, as in a pub, simply to barge in and start telling everyone that they don't know what they're talking about, that the pub needs a complete redecoration or that the range of beers on offer is awful.

Introduce yourself, take your time, offer information as well as accepting it, and you'll get a lot out of the group. A tradition has developed of offering virtual refreshment to newcomers ("newbies"), which, as in real life, generally provides an opportunity for introductory chit-chat.

 

OK, so if I serve my probation and nobody tells me to go away, I can start showing my holiday pictures and so on?

Probation! It's not that bad, honest. And people will probably tell you to go away at intervals no matter how well-established you are as a poster. Usenet can be a fairly abrasive place at times. But people who make a positive contribution will get support from others, and there isn't much sympathy for abusive posts on this group.

But PLEASE don't show us your pictures!! At least, don't post them to the newsgroup. In common with all UK groups that aren't specifically for the purpose of exchanging binaries (image files), such behaviour is off-charter and is likely to produce complaints to your ISP. What we do welcome is posts that tell us about relevant Websites. So put your photos on a homepage and invite us in.

 

So, no binaries. Any other things I should know?

Well, normal Usenet "netiquette" applies. See the UK Usenet Website if you are unsure of the guidelines. Note that as well as the prohibition on binaries, coding such as MIME, UU and HTML are discouraged, since many readers have software which can't cope with these systems. Not only that, HTML posts in particular tend to be "bloated", using up lots of bandwidth which annoys people who pay good money for their telephone connection. For the same bandwidth-conservation reason, please try not to quote all of a post to which you are replying - just the key bits that relate directly to your follow up. The UK Usenet Website has information on configuring your newsreader to make it easy to post in friendly ways.

The most important "extra" for uk.rec.naturist relates to the Charter prohibition on most advertising. Please don't place personal ads - they cause a lot of annoyance. uk.adverts.personals serves a whole range of needs, and there are other specialist newsgroups, such as uk.rec.photo.adverts, where anyone after nude models might get a more useful response than from this group.

And it's become customary for new posters to introduce themselves in their first post. Just brief details of who they are, the area they live, where they go for naturism, the URL of a homepage, etc. Entirely voluntary, but it seems to help with keeping things friendly and positive. Some regulars have provided potted biographies on the NUFF website - additions are welcomed.

 

Right. I've lurked for a week, and no-one has mentioned Tanbum beach, which is my favourite. Am I allowed to ask why not?

Of course. But you might find that only last month we had an enormous discussion about it, and this has just expired from your news server. We recommend that you check Deja News (eg their "Power Search" page) to see what information is already available.

We also hope that, as NUFF is regularly updated from contributions to uk.rec.naturist and from emails to the collators, most people can get all the basic information they need without having to ask for it. Saves bandwidth again, and means the regular know-alls don't get fed up posting the same answers every few weeks.

 

Is bandwidth the reason for this alphabet soup of abbreviations and acronyms?

Using acronyms saves typing, IYSWIM (if you see what I mean). There's also a SMALL saving in bandwidth, but YMMV (your mileage may vary). Check out http://www.sisnet.com.mx/emoticons/#acro for a listing of the commonest Usenet acronyms.

On urn (uk.rec.naturist) you'll find references to CO (clothes-optional), GOKO (get one's kit off) and CCBN (the Central Council for British Naturism). You'll also see OT and RNEO.

And they mean "Ogling Totty" and "Real Naturists Enjoy Obfuscation"?

Err, no, but they could! Like the talk in Simon Allen's pub, threads can drift, or people can decide that although they shouldn't, they simply HAVE to tell the world about something that isn't strictly to do with naturism. In such cases it's good manners to start the subject line with the "off-topic" flag "OT". The opposite situation gave rise to "rec.nude eyes only" - "RNEO".

rec.nude is the global equivalent of uk.rec.naturist. It is dominated by American posters, and many of them are there because of the word "nude" in the newsgroup title. Assuming that nudity=>sex, people searching for porn often use "nude" as one of their keywords, finding rec.nude very quickly. uk.rec.naturist was set up partly to provide a haven from such garbage, and there's a lot less of it here than on rec.nude. RNEO threads SHOULD be garbage-free. Every so often, a rec.nude thread gets cross-posted to uk.rec.naturist, or vice-versa, and we each get a chance to see what the others are like. Of course, naturism isn't confined to UK and America. Other naturist newsgroups include aus.culture.naturist (Australia), free.naturism.wales (Wales - surprisingly!), nl.naturisme (The Netherlands) and es.rec.naturismo (Spain). Enjoy!

Last updated 2000 July 19.

 

Compiled for NUFF and based on material posted to uk.rec.naturist. NOT currently posted to or registered as a formal FAQ with news.answers or any other newsgroup or Website. Opinions expressed or implied are those of the author except where stated otherwise. Facts can change - don't believe everything you read on Usenet or the Web.

Useful advice for newcomers to Usenet:

Last updated 1999 August 4
Tim Forcer

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