Everything You Wanted To Know About

THE USENET ORACLE
(But Were Afraid To Ask)

"Know thyself."			    "The folly of mistaking a paradox
	-- Delphic Oracle,	    for a discovery, a metaphor for a
	   8th century BC	    proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
				    spring of capital truths, and
				    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
				    us."           -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


			THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

			     also known as
			 The Usenet Oracle (TM)

The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions.	You may
mail them to:
			 oracle@cs.indiana.edu

The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
please tell me ...".  Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
"tellme" somewhere in it.  Capitalization doesn't matter.  The body of
the mail should contain only your question.  You should receive a reply
within a few days at most, probably much sooner.

In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
as payment for its services.  You will receive this question in the mail.
You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
Mail the response to oracle@cs.indiana.edu, preserving the message's
"Subject:" line.  Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail
through the normal means in your mail program, for example, using the "r"
command in the standard Berkeley mail program.  Actually, the subject
just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
in it.  The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
don't include the question itself.  Please try to respond within at most
a day's time.  If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
will be answered by someone else first.

Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will get
you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.  If you mail
the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the subject, the Oracle
will send you a question to answer, if there are any available.

Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome.
Please address them to oracle-people@cs.indiana.edu.