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"Welcome to the real world."
- Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus) in The Matrix
What's "ASA"?
ASA refers to alt.security.alarms, an unmoderated news group in the "alt" hiearchy. There are over 80,000 news groups currently listed and they span a variety of subject matter and diverse issues. You can view the founding FAQ of this particular group by clicking on the ASA FAQ button to the left.
Does the alt.security.alarms news group endorse or maintain an on-line list of vendors?
This is a simple question with a rather complex answer. Several years ago, a participant in the newsgroup decided to organize a list of alarm companies whose owners/managers were frequent contributors to the forum and who also offered their products and services on line. In it's first "iteration", the listed company was known as an "ASA Approved Vendor", and over time it progressed to "ASA Online Vendor". The participants in the newsgroup have never been nor are they now involved in any process that formally designates a merchant as either an "ASA Approved", "ASA Listed", or "ASA Online" Vendor. Sadly, the gentleman responsible for initiating "the list" passed away last year. As it currently stands, there is also no governing body or complaint mechanism currently in place to handle the conduct of on line security dealers or the marketing of security equipment and services via the internet other than that provided by local State or Provincial authorities (which at present is woefully inadequate).
Can I post a question in the newsgroup and expect an authoritative answer?
Yes. The newsgroup boasts several alarm professionals that are regular participants willing to share both their knowledge of alarm panels and their installation/service expertise. A very select few have demonstrated an agenda that doesn't always follow the founding FAQ. The group maintains an interesting dynamic as a result from frequent clashes between the few that feel they should be allowed to advertise freely to alarm users/do-it-yourselfers and the rest who view the group as a professional forum. It's a fairly simple matter to differentiate between the two. One will simply answer your question while the other will try to sell you the answer as well (they invariably include a direct link to a specific page on their website with "more details").
Please note: The following has been adopted from the original document posted by Mr. Steven Ryckman. Mr.Ryckman (as the author) retains any Copyright. It is posted here as a courtesy. The purpose of the FAQ is to ensure participants in ASA have a guide which to follow. Links that are outdated have been removed. Reference is made to a "Group Host". At present, the alt.security.alarms newsgroup does not have a "Group Host".
To provide a place for members of the Alarm/Security industry to interact with each other and with the public in manners regarding the installation and/or use of Alarm and Security equipment.
On March 24, 1996 the original proposal for the alt.security.alarms newsgroup was sent out by Steve Ryckman of SIMS, Inc. in several existing groups commonly used for discussion of new groups. One week later the actual newgroup was sent out to create the group since all response was favorable to it's creation.
The group was cross-posted with the RelayNet (RIME) Alarm/Security conference which was also created by Steve Ryckman, seven years before in October of 1989. All messages on the alt.security.alarms newsgroup were automatically copied to the RelayNet conference as well and all messages on the RelayNet confererance were also mirrored back into the usenet alt.security.alarms newsgroup. The group existed in this cross-posted manner until December of 1996 when the RelayNet conference was abandoned due to logistical problems in the mirroring of the conferences.
The group is an un-moderated forum meaning that messages are not subject to approval before being made available to everyone in the group. The choice was made to make this group un-moderated originally because of the time delay that can occur when a small group of people are responsible for checking the messages and that it seems to cause people to be afraid of posting for fear of being moderated. Up until recently (August 1997) the un-moderated principle has worked fine, most people have acted professionally as Steve Ryckman acted as the un-official moderator. This entailed sending messages asking others to be professional or adhere to the purpose of the group, when requested by other members of the group.
September 1st, 1997 this FAQ was first published in the group by Steve Ryckman in an effort to regain some professionalism in the group. Several people have wandered far from the original purpose of the group and without a published FAQ there is little that an ISP is willing to do to help.
This is a proposal for the creation of the unmoderated newsgroup named alt.security.alarms on March 24, 1996.
This group is intended to be an unmoderated forum for the discussion of security alarm systems for homes, business and vehicles. It will serve as a forum for members of the alarm industry to interact with each other as well as answer questions from the public.
Anyone who wishes to discuss security alarm systems is welcome to participate, however some rules should be followed:
- Discussion of alarm systems and their installation, use and features shall in no way jeopardize the effectiveness of any existing or future alarm system. Requests for information regarding bypassing systems, master codes and the like shall be ignored by all other participants.
- Messages which are cross-posted to this newsgroup advertising goods or services not directly related to the alarm industry shall be considered spamming of the newsgroup and ignored by all particpants.
- Advertisements of any type shall not be allowed. Announcements of new products or services directly to the alarm industry will be permitted providing they do not provide pricing or ordering information. An email address or phone number shall be provided so that people with inquiries can respond by private email or phone instead of the newsgroup.
From: Steve Ryckman
Newsgroups: alt.config
Reply-To:
Control: newgroup alt.security.alarms
Subject: cmsg newgroup alt.security.alarms
Approved:
For your newsgroups
file:
alt.security.alarms Discussion of Home/Business/Vehicle security alarms
On March 24th, 1996
a proposal for the creation of an unmoderated
newsgroup to be named alt.security.alarms was submitted into
the alt.config and alt.security newsgroups. All responses to this
proposal have been favorable, thereby this is the request for you
to configure this conference on your server.
This group is intended
to be an unmoderated forum for the discussion
of security alarm systems for homes, business and vehicles. It will
serve as a forum for members of the alarm industry to interact with
each other as well as answer questions from the public.
The security alarm
industry is in strong support of the creation of
this newsgroup separate from the existing alt.security newsgroup.
We hope this will provide a means of those in the industry to
communicate with each other as well as entertain questions from
the public.
Steven M. Ryckman
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Olson
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October 26, 2009
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