Steven Willner <swillner@cfa.harvard.edu>

 A recurring subject of discussion is the posting of homework problems.
Students should NOT ask readers to solve their homework problems in detail
in this group because they are supposed to do it themselves in the first
place, and readers are unlikely to be sympathetic to a lazy attitude.  More
importantly, answers are not guaranteed to be correct (far from that!), and
instead of getting an answer, you may initiate a long and useless
discussion on factors of two.  Do not try to disguise homework: long time
readers (there are many) will detect it and you will get flamed!

 However, if there is a concept you do not understand in a problem and
would like some guidance or some help getting started (not the solution),
then feel free to ask.  Or if you find conflicting sources, it's fine to
ask about that.  Basically, think of the net as a group of friends.  You
wouldn't ask your friends to do your homework for you, but you might well
ask for help in the circumstances described.  Of course it's up to you to
evaluate the answers you get!

 Please keep in mind that articles take anywhere from one hour to several
days to propagate to other sites.  Therefore, it is hopeless to get an
answer for an assignment you have to turn in the next day, or after the
weekend...  USENET is NOT a last minute solution!