From: "ppint." Subject: [FAQ] "hello: welcome to alt.fan.pratchett" #1/2 Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett Followup-To: poster Organization: interstellar master traders, lancaster (u.k.) Keywords: Pratchett Discworld FAQ netiquette Approved: afpa-mod@lspace.org,ridcully@unseen.ankh.edu X-Autoposter: This FAQ was autoposted by Archive-name: pratchett/welcome-to-afp-1 Posting-Frequency: weekly (on fridays) Last-modified: 4/4/99 (4/4/99 for merkins) Maintained-by: ppint. URL: http://www.lspace.org/faqs/ --------------------------------------------------------------- [FAQ] "hello: welcome to alt.fan.pratchett" article #1/2 it's long, but it does explain many of the things you may not have met before, if you're new to afp, or to the 'net; or which you may have forgotten, an' you're not; and which you may find it helpful at first to print out, to be able to refer to it, whilst doing other things on, or with , your computer; that's fine, so long as you print it out in full - or, if there should only be some bits you need, those bits, plus where to find the whole faq, & the acknowledgements (& the copy- right bit) at the end. Contents PART 1: 1.0 * net etiquette - "netiquette" - how we behave on the 'net - 1.1 + what is it, and _why_ is it ? + smileys 1.2 + trimming quotation when posting to afp (or when e-mailing); + starting your reply; tidying up intro lines + one-line follow-ups 1.3 + replying: when to follow-up, e-mail, or both ? + don't quote from e-mail 1.4 + line length 1.5 + subject lines & afp's "[X]" keycode letters 1.6 + changing a thread's subject line & [X] letter 1.7 + the sig.file 1.8 + don't post binaries, or ascii "art", or in html + how to post large text files 1.9 + afp is an international newsgroup - implications + spoilers 1.10 + posting for other people 1.11 + other afpers' netiquette 1.12 + cancelling articles 1.13 + afp and the laws of slander, and of libel + use of the words "plagiarise" [or "plagiarize"], "plagiarisation" on afp, abp (and other groups) PART 2: 2.0 * tolerance 3.0 * technical matters (3.2 + unsolicited commercial e-mail, spam & killfiling including:+ how to killfile this article (# 1 & 2) ) [: contents - see "[FAQ] "hello: welcome to afp" article #2/2"] ____________________________________________________________ 1.0 * net etiquette - "netiquette" - how we behave on the 'net - 1.1 + what is it, and why is it despite its somewhat arch name, netiquette _matters_: whilst some afpers do get to meet up in real life - at afpmeets, and the odd (some very odd) conventions, the type-written word & "smileys" are the only way most of us have to get to know each other, and understand what's being said. there's no tone of voice on the 'net, almost no way of indicat- ing the expression on your face, when you post (or e-mail), and none whatsoever of seeing how your words are received, at the time they're read - all things that are important parts of our conversations in real life ("IRL"). it's not always easy to tell, whether someone's being funny, ironical, or sarcastic - or deadly serious - and sometimes it may seem as though they are, when they did not intend to be... + smileys "smileys" - typographical "pictures" which you need to turn your head sideways to view - are an attempt to indicate this - the basic ones are :-) [smile, happy]; :-)) [big smile]; etc; :-( [sad, unhappy]; :-(( [very sad/unhappy]; etc; [grin] (not strictly a smiley, but then nor are _sad_ faces); plus ;-) [wink]. some people don't like them very much, but if you think using one will make it clearer what you mean, then use it. (scattering _lots_ around will tend to make your article, and your meaning, harder to read, though, rather than easier.) but smileys _can't_ tell you, or anyone else, what anyone's expression truly is, or was - just what you're told it was. there're also a whole host of abbreviations, such as "IRL", that include expressions of emotion, inter alia - see my afp "[FAQ] Acronymphomania !", which is "afposted" every week by courtesy of leo [1/99: this faq is now maintained by karen]. most of the "rules of netiquette" are about making it easier for people to read & understand everyone else's words; we're all "here" by choice, and if it gets unpleasant, or too much like hard work, most of us'll stop reading, and maybe go away. some of the rules are essential to follow, if your words're going to reach the right places; some are helpful to others using different readers from yours, or even different ways of obtaining newsgroups, and some are "only" rules of polite and courteous behaviour. all of them, together, help everybody to handle newsreading with a minimum of fuss and frustration, and a maximum of fun. if you make them your normal afp posting habits, you'll also increase the chances of your words getting read, and thought about & responded to - people with poor netiquette are likely to gather complaints by e-mail, or on afp, or sometimes - but usually for repeated offence - abused or even flamed; though abuse and flaming are fairly rare on afp, and are not exactly generally encouraged). but please note that "criticism" *isn't* the same as "flaming"; not only is criticism normally friendly-enough meant, & polite- ly and temperately expressed - it may even be constructive... eventually, though, persistent misbehaviour will get people's attempted contributions to a newsgroup widely kill-filed (that is, *automatically* ignored by newsreaders) and maybe even get their e-mails automagically bounced by most, too. 1.2 + trimming quotation when posting to afp (or when e-mailing); when following up to an article, it's usually helpful to quote some of the article to which you're responding; but please trim everything except the specific points to which you are replying (including the quoted person's sig.file, replacing it, if the article'd otherwise be unsigned, with their name in brackets): most afpers reading the thread won't want to read it all over, time and time again; just to be reminded of the salient points. + starting your reply always leave one blank line between the end of a quotation and the start of your contribution: although it looks like "a whole blank line" on your screen, that extra carriage return is only one character, almost no difference to the message's length, and it makes it *much* easier for all readers to see where you have started talking. the reason for placing follow-ups after the articles to which they refer (or, if split, after the relevant paragraphs), which is the 'net-wide convention, is that it means that threads of debate, or argument, develop in chronological order as articles are naturally read: if you place your contribution above, as is unfortunately the default of some shoddy web-browsers, you will disrupt this, irritate readers (until they learn to skip every- thing you write) and invite correction that is terse - or worse. quoting the previous article in full, including paragraphs you are not addressing, is also liable to attract adverse reaction - and this, too, is effectively encouraged by the default settings of such shoddy web-browsers. tidy up the intro lines identifying the previous posters who are being quoted, if need be; and also the quoted text: whether these've got into a mess, or because they will do so, very soon (i.e. some lines are approaching column 80, and so are about to fragment into "widows and orphans"); or because some quotations have been further trimmed - or completely cut out. if the name at the bottom is different, the attribution line at the top needs modifying (some people who share accounts are not allowed unlimited different mailboxes at no further charge, as e.g. demon permit ...), to make it as clear as possible, who has written the article to which yours is a following-up. but "fix your headers" needs to be graven in highly disturbed electrons upon every afp new bug's screen () (- "default" is not a valid entry in any headerline or message id) together with "make the use of any spam/uce traps _clear_, and *_above_* the .sig file separator" (- many newsreaders can be - and are - set, to chop .sig files from the articles displayed to be read...) when a thread has gone on at some length, with people answer- ing bittily, it can sometimes be necessary for clarity's sake, for attributions-in-brackets to be inserted along the way - this seems to work best, if it's done after their words, rather than before: possibly because reading signed letters is more generally common, than is reading playscripts; but certainly, don't _cut_ attributions (- save in a cascade...[see 1.5 "[C]"]). where a thread is mainly banter, most people find it annoying to see old, and now dead, minithreads within quoted articles - they have to be reread in case they've been quoted to provide context for some of the latest contributor's words: and _then_ it's discovered there are *none* - they've just been wasting everyone's time: so trim them, if they've got as far as you. where a thread's mostly informative, or discursive, & either making, or debating an argument, it's generally better to trim the quotations (and requotations) to the points being replied to; and then either write the follow-up article at the end; or at the end of each discrete argument's section. it's far easier to follow an argument, when it's clearly made and all in one place; you are more likely to be read and your point of view understood, if you don't present it chopped it into bits that are interspersed throughout re-quotations of other peoples' bits & pieces: an article that's difficult to follow isn't an effective article. most people read afp via relatively slow modem lines, paying for the phonecalls by which they download the articles in bulk, and then reading them off-line. excessive quoting costs people both time and money, over many articles: please remember this, and behave considerately even if you're lucky enough to have free-of-charge access to newsgroups. + one line follow-ups it can be *extremely* annoying to read through half a page or more of quoted text, to discover only one or two original lines at the end of the quoted article: this grossly disproportionate and unecessary over-quotation, combined with having very little to say, is the essence of the dreaded OLF "netcrime": abjure it. (a sharply witty, or very silly, OLF can be enormously funny: but only if the amount of any quotation has been reduced to the *_absolute_*_minimum_* that's *_necessary_* to establish the OLF's point). don't post extra lines simply to avoid what would otherwise be a perfectly good one-liner: if you believe it needs excusing, you've implicitly determined that it isn't worth your posting. 1.3 + replying: follow-up post to afp, or e-mail a reply ? before you start to post a follow up, ask yourself whether an e-mail mightn't be better. a private e-mail has advantages: it allows a more personal message to the addressee, than might be suitable in "afpublic", and it also helps reduce the traffic level on afp. it is polite, especially when following up to an article in so high-traffic a newsgroup, as afp, to send a courtesy copy to the person to whom you're responding - unless it was to make a (hopefully witty) olf, or similar frivol - but _always_ make it clear that it is a cc. of an article being posted to afp, in the first couple of lines, and _don't_ send such cc-s to anyone you learn is annoyed or confused by such them, or just plain doesn't want them. also, check not just what you've said, but also that you are doing what you intended do, whether it be post, post with cc, or e-mail, *before* you press the "send" key (- >). e-mail replies are especially appropriate for simple messages of congratulation or commiseration for personal events, or wel- comes to new bugs, or answers to many requests for help: it's also a good idea to post an olf - with the very minimum of quotation or pr‚cis, to establish the context - to say that you have replied to a request: elsewise the person who's asking may receive dozens and dozens of replies: e.g: the attribution line [afper@somewhere.co.uk/wherever] (+ their sign-off name, if different) wrote: [Does anybody have Terry's US tour dates?] reply emailed - [you, who knew] -- [your .sig file] another thing to consider before responding, is that somebody may already have said what you're about to say. this can often be the case if someone asks a question with a specific answer. it's a good idea to mark any posts to which you might want to reply, read through to the end of the thread's articles, and more recent threads that have a similar subject, and _then_ go back and answer them, if no-one else has done so. + don't quote from e-mail mail-list items and commercials, etc, aside, e-mail is private mail. it should no more be publicly quoted without both seeking and receiving its author's permission for this, than should any private mail that is hand (or type) -written. there may sometimes be occasions when this universally agreed point [of general etiquette, as well as of netiquette] must be broken, in order to prevent a greater crime or injustice being committed, or repeated: this is a matter of personal judgement, and necessarily so - but such occasions are the rare exception; in general, don't quote e-mail, privately or in public. however, it is equally unrealistic to assume that aught you tell anyone will remain behind sealed lips, forever unacted upon; information you give people is information that _will_ spread. "the only secret that is kept is the secret that's never told." 1.4 + line length when you type your posts, please hit the return key before you reach the end of each line of text. most terminals display lines which are 80 characters in length, so you should include returns at around the 68-72 character mark. if you do not do this, then many people will be unable to read anything which extends beyond the 78th character of each line, as soon as your words've been quoted even once ! (it may not be a problem on the screen you use, but this does not mean that it won't be on *many* others.) my own recommendation is to aim to start a new line around col. 65; this allows for some overshooting......- some people say to use 70, but don't overshoot it... if your news/mail editor can be configured to automatically re- turn as you reach the end of a line, set this length around 70: check the manual, or helpfile, to see if you can do this. (don't confuse this with word-processors which do line-wrapping - this doesn't actually insert returns, in at least some wppsers; what- ever you use as your news/e-mail editor, always remember to use hard [real] returns, typing them in if needs be.) problems with using outlook express include that it tends to impose the line-length you choose upon text you re-quote, but without properly reformatting the text - i.e, without removing the original hard returns; this produces a mess of alternating long and stub lines ["widows & orphans"] that is extremely un- pleasant to read; and again, many people simply won't bother, but will skip your entire article, as too much like hard work. the work-around is to set your line-length at 78 [reformat the trimmed text you're requoting for context if necessary], and to type your own hard returns to move to each new line, according to the "aim for 65, accept 72" rule: but outlook express is in fact "broken" as a newsreader in other ways, and the generally expressed informed advice is to use another news reader/browser [see 1.7 re sig files, for more of oe's brokenness]. 1.5 + afp's subject line keycode letters as you may have noticed, alt.fan.pratchett can be a fairly heavy-traffic newsgroup. in addition, the denizens of afp are only occasionally observed to be constrained to restrict their contributions to matters strictly to do with terry pratchett, and his writings - which is part of what makes afp what it is. to make it possible for afpers short of time, or patience, or both, to visually select threads likely to be of greatest inter- est to them - or, conversely, to avoid threads liable to annoy, or to (in their minds) constitute a waste of time, the a.f.p. [X] letter-in-square-brackets key-coding of threads has evolved. it also enables automatic selection, or kill-filing, for those with readers that are capable of it. [kill-filing is covered in section 3.2, see "hello: welcome to afp #2/2"; this includes a guide to killfiling on the afp keycode letters. a step-by-step guide to killfiling in the dos shareware news, e- mail (etc.) 'net suite [- dis216d, dis217 and (i think) dis22], which is particularly friendly to poorly-sighted and to blind "denetzens" dependent on announcers to read out from the screen, plus details of where and how to find this shareware, is currently appended to "[M][I][G][R][A][F] - What's it all about ?" the afp key-code faq, in the absence of an afp guide for the blind and visually impaired.] please _don't_ introduce use of a new key-letter without first discussing it on afp and gaining *general* support for it - nor modify the "[X]" format; else, this voluntary system breaks down. the currently recognised keycode letters are: [A] - annotation - articles commenting upon, or explaining, ref- erences in terry pratchett's novels and shorter stories. leo uses [A] keycoded articles, from which to select the additions, elaborations & elucidations for the awesome annotations file. please _use_ the apf, to check that your proposed gem has not already been spotted (this should not be taken as ruling out any corrections, modifications or elaborations), and [A], when making, suggesting, discussing - or objecting to - annotations on afp. [current afp is apf7.0a, which may be obtained by ftp from ftp.lspace.org + mirrors; afp #9's coming rsn, as and when leo finds time to complete it.] [C] - cascade - content-free, or near-content-free, "articles" deliberately building up a "cascade", or visual (or other, largely content-free) effect; arguably including partial answers to posted quizzes. please have regard to the general prevalence of cascades upon afp as well as quite how irresistible the particular provocation, before starting a fresh cascade; and when cascading, please *trim* quotation to the bare references, plus the cascade itself. successful cascades seem to be started more accidentally, than by design, so the keycode letter tends to be added after one has started: once it is, keep any and all addit- ions to the cascade to the keycoded thread - _please_. [F] - fan - details of afp fan activity, normally "in real life" (or as close as afpers get to the same), frequently invol- ving hostelries and other establishments serving alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and/or curries... also, reports on such activities (and where to find all the incriminating evidence, in all its gory detail), and proposals for repeating the experience(s), once the perpet- rators of the previous outrage have recovered sufficiently. [G] - game - articles about the discworld computer games and, by extension, about earlier discworld games, and those as-yet unwritten...- whether board-, computer-, jigsaw- or fantasy role-playing- games... TCoM is on ftp.lspace.org + mirrors... [I] - irrelevant - threads whose subjects aren't directly related to terry's works, publications, theatrical productions and other similar activities, or other "spin-offs", nor to afp fan activity. [M] - meta - discussion of afp the newsgroup, the way it works (including, e.g., these key-codes and whether a new key- code letter is needed...), itself. [R] - relevant - articles that are directly related to terry & 's works, publications, theatrical productions, films and other activities that are based upon them, including the companion, maps, art & craftwork - other than annotations articles. [abp] - not an afp keycode letter, obviously, but indicates a thread cross-posted from, or to, alt.books.pratchett. liable to be - or to have started off - [R] - please remove the cross-posting to abp in the "Newsgroups: "header line, if veering far from [R]elevance. [announce] - an article cross-posted from alt.fan.pratchett.announce, and also cross-posted to alt.books.pratchett; plus follow-ups. may be [F], [G], [M] - or even [R] ! 1.6 + changing the subject line much of the time when you follow up to a post, there'll be no need to change the subject line: if someone's posted an article in the thread, "[I] Fruited Bread Products", _don't_ change the the threadname to "[I] More Fruited Bread Products", as this will wreck the threading in many newsreaders. they'll "think" the articles are totally unconnected, and not thread them to- gether - and the chances are good that your words won't be seen by afpers reading the first thread, and so they'll be ignored. however, if your article takes one theme from the "[I] Fruited Bread Products" thread, and concentrates upon it to the exclusion of such items, turning say to a discussion of Sexy Food, it's a good idea to change the subject line to reflect this. you'll need to edit a line in your follow up article's headers: from: "Subject: [I] Fruited Bread Products" to: "Subject: [I] Sexy Food (was: Fruited Bread Products)" this is being considerate to people who aren't interested in sexy food, but who like fruited bread products (& vice versa). n.b. add the afpropriate keycode letter if none has been used: just put in the suitable [X] before the threadname if this was o.k. - this will break the threading, but only with the one article, and the rest of the thread will follow on properly (if lots of follow-ups are made to the original article, all adding the appropriate afpkeycode letter, in the same way: "Re: [X] " these followups will all be threaded together in most readers.) when the afp keycode letter that's appropriate changes, as the actual subject of the thread drifts - say from [R] to [I], add the new keycode letter and thread name and drop the old letter - or make a change from the system's square brackets around it - there's no consensus as to whether this should be to the use of curly brackets "{X}", or asterisks "*X*", but these are the two most common deactivated keycode forms; elseways, the system for selecting by keycode letters breaks down. 1.7 + the sig.file - over which, major wars have been fought... most newsreaders allow you to write and save a signature file, which is appended to all your posts after the sig.file separator (-- ). [hyphen hyphen space ]. a lot of people use them to say a little about themselves, but it is important not to go overboard ! *remember* - most people are going to see it *every* time you post ['til you get round to changing it; which may be months, or even _years_ later]. as a general guideline, sig.files should be kept to roughly 4 - or fewer ! - lines in length. go too far above that number and you're likely to receive an e- mail reminder or two from the kinder afpers who care about this - and maybe short warnings from others - and serious flaming, on some newsgroups. some newsreaders allow the automatic chopping of sig.files from all articles displayed, so don't put information in them which it is essential others see, in order to reply to you, such as how to remove any uce-trap from your address as given. outlook express is in fact "broken" as a newsreader in this, as in other ways: it automatically strips all trailing spaces from line ends, including from the .sig separator [- versions through OE5 new in 1999 :-(( ]. elfin kindly offers a fix for this, on http://www.elfden.freeserve.co.uk/elfin/ and look for oefix.zip [n.b. this does not work properly on OE5, which is still broken]. the generally expressed informed advice is to use another news reader/browser [see 1.4 linelength for more of oe's brokenness]. 1.8 + Posting Large Files once in a blue moon, or a little more often, you may have a particularly large file of some sort which you want to share. it may be ascii graphics or a binary, maybe a sound file. if you have any such files, *_don't_*_post_*_them_*_on_*_afp_* + a) binaries + ascii art + html *never* post a file which humans cannot easily read. they are almost invariably huge, and provoke howls of anguish - at the very least; maybe also cabbages - aimed in your direction: lots of people around the world have to pay their telephone com- pany for the duration of the time they are connected, and you are effectively e-mailing everyone on the group who downloads news to read it, and compose replies, off-line this unreadable rubbish - and, to add to the insult, forcing them to pay for it ! there are newsgroups especially designed for binary posts, and they form the only exceptions to this rule; find them under the hierarchies, alt.binaries.* and comp.binaries.*. _don't_ post in html, etc: human beans don't yet come equipped to translate this (sfaiaa), the commands get printed in amongst the text of the article, rendering it more difficult to read, and unpleasant to try: most people simply won't even bother. similarly, keep microsoft, netscape, and anyone else's binary "calling cards" ("v card", etc.) & just about any other binary attachments, for e-mail [save only afp or purity codes - *if* these latter be fitted into your standard4-line sig.] + b) long text files if you have a long text post, you should split it into parts, with each part 400 - 600 lines long. this is a rough guideline, and can vary a bit either way. there's some general 'net wisdom, however, that people rapidly lose interest in posts over c.200 lines long (- like this article...>...-) and i doubt whether, aside of FAQs (files providing information of general & permanent, or recurring interest), there's often an occasion that posting an article longer than that to afp's a good idea. _either_ way, post an afparticle announcing that you have such a file, describe it, & then say that you'll send it on e-reqest, or have uploaded it to such & such an ftp site, or web page, and give the address [the URL]. this is both the considerate - and the safe - way to do it. ("practise safe binary/fission" ?) 1.9 + afp is an international phenomenon [1] afpers have been noticed posting from RL places as far afield as merkia, canadadada, xxxxia, kiwiia, scandawegia (whether or no this includes more than the scandawegian peninsula gets afp- debated every eighteen months or so), the island of ireland, and south africa, singapore, malaysia, hong kong (now china) and hawaii, cyprus and croatia, iberia and israel, as well as taiwan, russia, france, germany, scotland, wales, holland (and other parts of the netherlands), belgium, france and even england (and i've almost certainly missed out *someone*)... although the language of afp is english, not everyone "here" is as fluent in this, or possessed of so wide a vocabulary, as (e.g.) our leo, who puts to shame many a native speaker of the tongue - or should do; and even jove nods... please make allowances for this, and take the time to explain, where it becomes apparent there may have been a misunderstanding. everything posted here is for world-wide distribution. if your newsreader defaults to something other than "world", please re- member to edit the headerline before you post. this is true even for news of local afpmeets & similar fannish RL activities, as we like to hear the gory details/what fun our friends are getting up to in our absence (), or have indulged in, and where the bodies are buried; and 'cos occasion- ally, some afper will happen to be visiting the right country at exactly the right time to join in, if they know in advance; it has happened, and will do so again, and ever-more frequently, as afp grows. + spoilers one consequence of this, is that afpers' (including the most devout lurkers) discworld/pterryhabits are served by different publishers, who are not all anywhere *near* up to date with the uk publishing schedule, and in some cases appear to have missed out, or allowed to fall out of print effectively (if not always technically), almost *any* pterrytitle you can think of; added to which, people are everincreasingly coming to afp, having only ever read one or two discworld (or nomes, or the johnny maxwell) books in their lives so far, thanks to the weird and wonderful world of the book trade [and sometimes, 'cos they aten't been born long enough ago, to've read 'em, first time around]. *please* therefore, whenever you start a thread that will, simply because of the things of which you are talking, _inevitably_ give away plot twists, key details (or almost anything that you'd have not wanted to be told, before reading the book, or books), signal clearly that this thread contains "spoilers for [these titles]" both in the subjectline and right at the beginning of the article, followed by a clear page (c.24 lines) so as to help minimise the risk of anyone reading any spoiler there might be in the starting paragraph; and *don't* remove the warning *or* the spoiler space in a thread, unless the discussion (and the quotes) 's drifted so far, that there's no chance of any spoiler remaining. (- but the chances are the thread subjectline and keycode letter'd need changing by then.) similarly, if you're afposting an article in which you're risking giving away crucial scenes or details in a book or story by some- one other than pterry, please give a clear spoiler warning first: don't risk diminishing or even ruining, a fine piece for everyone who happens to read your article, who hasn't already read it. many readers may be unfamiliar with your local slang, jargon, customs, commercial products, politics, sport, tv programmes, adverts, etc. quite how much of our regular life is foreign and exotic to people in other countries - especially those with whom we supposedly share a language - can come as a shock ! be prepared to explain things to curious questioners who want to learn about your culture, and maybe even volunteer explanat- ions before you are asked, if you're aware of the obscurity of what you're posting (- unless it promises to be funnier not to do so...). but bear in mind people may not know what you are talking about if you refer to something cultural, unless it's from inspired old uk comedies, or children's t.v. programmes, the truly *direst* of *dire* xxxxian soaps, or the teletubbies... another consequence of this is that absolutely anyone, any- where on the 'net, may download news articles and quote from them - now, or at any time later; and there are sites, such as deja news', where all postings to newsgroups they carry are held in publically availably archives (deja news honour the optional header, "X-Do-Not-Archive: Yes" - but not all such sites do): so don't post what you know you won't want half-remembered and dug up at a later date to your great discomfort; or personal details you wouldn't want published locally, never mind world-wide. 1.10 + posting for other people when afposting an article for someone, at their request (or e-mail, with their permission), don't alter it without first checking with them, and getting their o.k. to the changes you want to make. 1.11 + other afpers' netiquette sooner or later, everyone forgets, and leaves a subject line unchanged when they go off on a complete tangent, or afposts quoting three screenfuls of text, without even _one_ line of their own added, accidentally, or uses a keycode letter wrongly... it's not "afpropriate" to post just to point out such mistakes on afp, not unless you do so funnily; though merely noting it in passing's fine. otherwise, if you wish, send a polite e-mail to point out the error; but do it tactfully, and don't send such a reminders when someone's obviously forgotten because they were really upset when they posted. if you don't think you can do it tactfully, leave it to someone else ["how not to be a Gotdamerell"......] - though _do_ bear in mind also, that this loose system of control by peer pressure depends on everyone _sharing_ the load - one reason the gotdamm- erell got that way was almost certainly from feeling that he was having to try to do it all singlehanded... if you can, let the afper, be they new bug or old lag, know, reasonably tactfully, that something they're doing really gets up your nose (or "gets on your wick", etc.); _think_ about it, before you e-write to them, but _don't_ keep it all bottled up inside until it explodes in your being far angrier - nastier, maybe - than you otherwise would've been. e-writing to complain about an afper's 'net "hand" _can_ lead to an involved corresp- ondence, and both of you learning more about each other; or, it must be allowed, a short and somewhat rude reply, on occasion. but if a major blunder's been perpetrated by some afper around long enough to know better - or a truly gross blunder by anyone - we're rather more likely to post a brief scream of pain, and a more or less terse instruction to cease & desist forthwith from such behaviour, as this also serves as a general reminder - and may prove the more salutory. and nothing *whatsoever* to do with the [alleged] fact that we're all human [2], and can lose our tempers...(>). at the other end of the degree of offence, if following-up any- way, something along the lines of "[excessive quoting snipped]", rather than a normal "[snip]" is hopefully sufficiently inoffens- ive that none will be hurt, and still getting the message across. 1.12 + cancelling articles if the miscreant who committed the major blunder was yourself, you should issue a cancel control message for your article: this is a post to the same newsgroup(s) with header lines of the form: Path: From: Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett,alt.books.pratchett Subject: cmsg cancel Message-ID: Control: cancel Date: Lines: the above example assumes the article concerned was crossposted, to alt.books.pratchett and alt.fan.pratchett. this control message doesn't need a body, but you might want to explain - briefly - why you're cancelling, all the same; upload the article in the usual way. do not cancel, nor attempt to cancel, other afpers' messages; this is for them (or their ISP, or one of a dedicated band of spam cancellers), to do - if they will not, a forward of the offending afparticle, with its full headers, together with a brief explanation of why you consider it should be cancelled, to postmaster@ should do the trick unless they are their own ISP, or posted from a rogue: in which case, a fwd to postmaster@lspace.org would be advised for gross misppostings to the pratchett newsgroups. n.b. cancel messages do *not* automatically cause the deletion of posted articles from archives, such as deja news, etc. 1.13 + afp and the laws of slander, and of libel the legal implications of the 'net are still largely unexplored; so whether any particular jurisdiction applies to afp is in doubt. but *everything* posted here has been made public, and remains so indefinitely (even if later cancelled, "the scratchmarks remain"). whether the uk laws of slander, or libel, might apply, or whether someone might bring a case for damages in a merkin court, is one thing that hasn't yet been tested - sfaiaa - and i hope it never will - but i'm sure that lawyers the world over will be only too happy, to take the money of anyone who thinks they've been so mal- igned - and defending yourself against such a case could bankrupt you, however unlikely the grounds might be. there has (7/97) been a case in which Norwich Union, a large uk pensions/insurance/life assurance company has had to pay out a _seriously_ large sum of money (ukL 450,000 - c. us$ 750,000) in damages to Western Provident Association (another such), for NU allowing defamatory rumours and stories about this competitor to circulate upon their intranet - their *_private_internal_* net - [sources: PCWeek 22 Jul 97; Computer Weekly 24 Jul 97; Computing 24 Jul 97][3]; and newsnet is very definitely a _public_ network, *not* a private, internal net... + use of the words "plagiarise" [or "plagiarize"], "plagiarisation" to "plagiarise" is to "steal" - period. understand this. to state that anyone has plagiarised someone else's work is an accusation of an offensive nature that is actionable under laws of slander or libel, as may be appropriate, in all jurisdictions of which i am aware. i strongly advise that you do not use these words in afpublic of *anyone* - and certainly not, without your thinking long and hard about the possible consequences. that an author may, or may not have drawn upon any particular source material, or the general body of tradition of their, or any other culture [cf. "Tree" by j.r.r.tolkien], is a *totally* different thing: it is virtually impossible for any author to write in a vacuum, and debate over whether and whence particular elements (or elephants) have their derivations, references and antecedants will occupy afp, abp and eventually learned tomes for generations to come, with any luck . [1] - doop-doop, di-di-doop-doop... (sorry) [2] - save for alien - and the .net.goddess (aka the boojette) - and rats, kats, kittens, mice, supermice, mad purple & other dragons, wombats and energiser bunnies... [3] - thank-you, gareth. - end of part one. (c) ppint., ppint@lspace.org (p.pinto) 4/4/99 (4/4/99 for merkins): permission to print out copies for purely personal use explicitly given. _________________________________________________________________ my thanks to: kitten, Margaret Gibbs, Alfvaen, Nicarra, Jason Magnus, John Palmer, /*, John Ockerbloom, David Mar, and John Barnstead, of alt.callahan's, upon whose "Guide to New Patrons" this article was, with permission, modelled; and also to the bellinghman, and to karen, and to tamar, and any other afper whose name i've forgotten, and to all of afp, for being a truly friendly 'net place well worth working to help maintain. _________________________________________________________________ - : o.k, what have i missed out this time - or plain got wrong ? - new, and relatively new bugs', and lurkers' reactions and opinions are especially welcome, though it's open season for all... - love, ppint. [to reply, please remove any "y"s from the reply-to: line] -- "decadence, n: the finest flowering of civilisation" - ppint., 8/72