Fidonet is an International BBS network. Japan_Link International is a Fidonet Echo (conference) that originates in Japan. It has also gated to the Internet and is available via Internet Mailing list.
To provide a forum for the discussion of Japanese language, culture, travel, life in Japan, etc.
Other topics are tolerated provided they are within the spirit of this purpose; that is, in the context of Japan.
We are trying to make this a welcome and pleasant place for all ages, races and cultures. Therefore,
a) Profane, vulgar or insulting language is not tolerated. If you merely substitute such words with asterisks, you've missed the point: try to express yourself without resorting to such words at all.
b) Flames, personal attacks, racism, libel and slander are not permitted. In short, please be courteous to fellow members.
c) Preaching, proselytising and/or ad hominem remarks are not permitted.
d) Violation of copyright law and/or other laws.
Messages may be written in English or Japanese. No other languages are permitted. (See Characters Sets, Encoding below)
Fidonet conferences are text-only. Japan_Link has some additional constraints due to it's allowing Japanese and English messages together:
In English: LATIN1 (7-bit ASCII character set, also known as US-ASCII). "high-bit" 8-bit character codes (above decimal 127/hex 7F) are not permitted. (These codes include accented letters and other symbols not found on a typical US keyboard.)
In Japanese (via Fidonet): use the Shift-JIS character set.
In Japanese (via the Internet List Server): use the ISO-2022-JP character set.
HTML messages are not allowed.
As a courtesy to other members, use your real name. Alias names or "handles" are discouraged.
When replying, please cite relevant parts of the original message. This helps those who are reading your message to follow the thread of the dialogue. In Fidonet, this is referred to as "quoting".
To conserve bandwidth and to maintain readability, over-quoting is discouraged: try to keep the ratio of quoted material to less than 50% of your total message. Do not quote signature, origin and tear lines.
The correct character for quoting is the greater-than sign (">"), inserted at the beginning of each line of text being quoted. This is normally handled automatically by your mail software.
Please put the initials of the person being quoted just ahead of each greater-than sign. For example, replying to a message written by John Smith, each and every line being quoted would start with "JS>". Other quote characters or combinations are discouraged.
All messages in this Japan_Link are public. Anyone can read your messages. Fidonet Private Flags are automatically removed. If you want to send a private message, use Fidonet NetMail or Internet email.
Advertising is generally not permitted. However, if there is a product, service, or publication that is of special interest to Japan_link members, a proposal may be submitted by NetMail or email to the moderator. The moderator will appraise your proposed message and post it if applicable.
Discussions of products, services, publications is permitted if it falls within the PURPOSE & TOPICS in section 2, above.
If you are offended by a message addressed to you, you have three options: 1) simply ignore the message, 2) Respond in an impersonal but polite way, or 3) expressing your objections to the moderators via NetMail or email.
If you are offended by a message addressed to someone else or to "All", do not take matters into your own hands. Send NetMail (private e-mail) to the moderators, expressing your objections.
In general, if you have complaints or disputes about any message, any members, or the policies of Japan_Link, do not post them in Japan_Link. Send NetMail or e-mail to the moderator.
The moderators are the owners of this Echo/List and have the final say in any disputes pertaining to Japan_Link.
| Moderators: | Fidonet: | Email: |
| Stephen M Brown | 6:730/40 | |
| Tsuneo Tanaka | 6:730/23 |