| [M] Hello; welcome to afp #2/2 [FAQ] [message #260749] |
Do, 04 Mai 2006 12:01 |
|
Last-modified: 7/7/05 (7/7/05 for merkins)
------------------------------------------------------------ -
[M] hello: welcome to alt.fan.pratchett #2/2 [FAQ]
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;
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 <g>,
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
the acknowledgements, & where to find the whole faq (& the copy-
right bit at the end).
if you wish to reply to me directly, please use the e-address,
afpfaq [at] i-m-t.demon.co.uk, first changing the first "f" to a "g",
as both e-addresses given in full, which are valid and do exist,
are set up to *not* *accept* mail.
& please trim any quotation of the faq to the bit(s) to which
you make reference: i already have the full thing! *g*
- thank-you. ppint.
Contents
[PART #1/2:]
1.0 * netiquette
1.0 through 1.12
[<fx: chop>: table of contents of part one: see:
"[M] hello: welcome to alt.fan.pratchett #1/2" [FAQ]
[PART #2/2:]
2.0 * social aspects of the net & afp
2.1 + tolerance
2.2 + afpfriendships, infatuations, romance and love
+ death
2.3 + people ignoring you
2.4 + net addiction
+ net burnout
2.5 + hate mail, harassment & stalking
+ afproposals
3.0 * technical matters
3.1 + spam, and unsolicited commercial e-mail
3.2 + kill files
+ how to killfile this article (#1&2)
+ plonking
3.3 + configuring and using your 'net-software
3.4 + redirecting replies
3.5 + sundry - other good advice for &/or by afpers
____________________________________________________________ _____
[PART 2]
2.0 * social aspects of the net & afp
2.1 + tolerance
one of the most important qualities for peaceful and enjoyble
interaction in real life - and on afp.
possibly best appreciated by considering that every one of us
is in a minority of one: _all_ sorts of people make up afp -
old, young, black, white, yellow, brown, pink, everything in-
between - and that's just the human beans.
as to faiths & religions, you'll also find atheists & theists
- all manner/variety of atheists & theists, including ba'hais,
buddhists [if buddhism be a religion, which gets debated every
so often...], friends [ditto; but so far un-afpdebated sfaiaa],
christians, hindus, jews, muslims, pagans, taoists, wiccans -
and, for all i know, animists, jains, mithraists, parsees, sikhs
and zoroastrians, as well as the - *_far_* more rational (<g>) -
lapsed agnostics...<g>... [- if i've missed out your favourite,
please let me know...('mongst christian brands, i best like the
uniates' - unless friends ("quakers") be considered christian)].
as to sexual orientations, you'll find (- if you're bothered to
look -) bisexuals, heterosexuals, homosexuals, monosexuals, mono-
gamists, polyamorists, polyandrists, polygamists, serial monogam-
ists and possibly even asexual beings, as well as the trans-sex-
ual, trans-gendered, & those undecided, not to mention mainline^H
^H^H^Hframe, pc, macintosh and psion abusers, & even (i believe),
amstrad, atari, commodore and bbc/_acorn_ users on afp - or are
these latter, holders of obscure minor faiths...<g>...?
just about the only *truly* *stupid* way to approach afp, is
to assume that anyone's ideas are unworthy of your attention
simply because they're different from yours... - we can't help
but make assumptions about people based on our prejudices -
which are almost inevitably wrong, when it comes to individual,
real people.
afp mostly gets along fine, as long as afpers remember that ev-
erybody else is people too, and hardly anyone intelligent evil
scum (- 'cept for rocky; hi, rocky; see new X-headerline adopted
as a result of one of your afpdiscuscione - but you will keep us
fully informed on the exploits of the luggage, whilst you're away
won't you ?).
afp's a "place" where a degree of advocacy is accepted - or, at
least, is not _automatically_ out of line. but be careful: this
can all too easily turn into a `your OS/software sucks' (- or
*gun*control*) slanging match; please help keep the temperature
of any advocacy thread way down low. and be alert (- afp *needs*
lerts! -) for _any_ tell-tale sign that someone hasn't realised
when an advocacy article - or even entire _thread_- was meant as
a joke.. ..and please _try_ to keep aware that, whilst being the
butt of any such joke may sting, it isn't half as uncomfortable,
as discovering one's over-reacted wildly to what would otherwise
have been a nine-hour giggle, or wonder (or brought the offender,
rather than yourself, into disrepute)...
afp's a "place" where it isn't exactly very safe to attempt to
justify one's own superstitions or beliefs by logical argument;
and any attempt to so do, automatically lays one's ideas open
to logical analysis and possible - hopefully gentle - ridicule:
and this applies as much to atheists', as to theists', illogical
superstitions;
stating one's superstitions or beliefs openly as such, is by far
the safer policy - or keeping quiet <g> - they may be pressed to
serve as a basis for afpers to build upon more or less logically,
sometimes into quite amazing heath-robinson-esque structures; or
questioned as to their more obscure details, or implications; this
too is almost always done in an interestedly friendly manner <g>
though it can even so get a bit, ummm, "intense".
2.2 + afpfriendships, infatuations, and romance
on afp, you're likely to be getting to know people whose inter-
ests are closer to your own, and overlap with yours to a great-
er extent, than many of the people you know in real life. sooner
or later, you will probably find yourself chatting with an afper,
apparently of the appropriate sex, who you find increasingly att-
ractive - and who, it seems, finds you interesting in return...
...and a flirtation, or something rather more serious, develops.
if it remains a flirtation, and you're both happy with this,
that's fine. but if either (or both) of you, want to see if it
could become something more than this, "don't panic" <g>.
(_do_ remember that you most probably know nothing about each
other, save for what you've read of one another's afp articles
and in private e-mails, and possibly phone conversations, and
so it's a good idea to arrange the first meetings on "neutral
territory", at an afpmeet arranged on the newsgroup in a public
place, such as a pub, or a book-signing by pterry, or anywhere
else where neither of you will feel under too much pressure -
and where either, or both of you can decide "it was a mistake"
without risking ruining the 'net friendship you have - or the
social date.)
(and also, that anyone's net.persona is only one expression
of the whole person and, as in the characters people choose to
play in fantasy role-playing games, may be an idealisation, or
a gross distortion, or a complete fabrication - or anywhere be-
tween these, and some part of the real person posting...)
all this is fine (hopefully), if this afper happens to live
within anything from half a dozen, to a hundred miles away from
you - depending on whether either of you have a car, or a bike,
or can afford bus, coach or rail fares - but what happens, if
you live three hundred, a thousand, or _tens_ of thousands of
miles apart ?
this is when things can get painful; and _especially_, if you
find you are well and truly in love with each other, strange
though this might sound: but separation from your beloved can
become unbearable, or seem very like it; & not all endings can
be happy - whilst, if it had remained a flirtation, an affair,
or a non-sexual friendship, and had been accepted as this, the
parting, or partings, or the separation, might not've hurt so
much...
but there's no legislating for love; and even distances of
_tens_ of thousands of miles - and more -_may_ be surpassable.
have _proved_ to be surpassable, even - the afpincidence of
"vomfetti" is rising <g>.
but it is also possible for things to go wrong. the man or
woman who seemed so loveable by e-mail, may prove to be very
different IRL (in real life); or maybe the flirt who seemed so
very physical is in fact frightened of being touched, for all
too real reasons; or maybe s/he's _too_ attentive physically,
and it feels like they're constantly pawing at you, never
giving you a moment of peace; or maybe there's a side to their
character they've hidden, not necessarily with the _intent_ of
deceiving you - maybe, a drug dependency such as alcoholism, or
an irresistable urge to gamble, or a history of violent abuse
of their partners.
the only advice is, take the time you need to get to know the
real person, and to let them get to know the real you, as you
would anyone else you were meeting for the first time, whether
meeting them at a party, or in a pub bar, or through an intro-
duction by mutual friend, or (possibly the nearest comparison)
the first visit by a pen-friend.
+ death
our afpworld is a reflection of the real world, and cannot be
entirely divorced from it, though we may work together to keep
afp as happy and friendly a place as may be: and deaths occur
in both, as well as births. sooner or later, we will all suffer
bereavement on afp as well in real life, if we remain here long
enough.
please grant anyone who is evidently deeply affected by their
loss the space to grieve, and don't mock the manner of their
so doing, or the expression of it, however it may strike you at
the time. your friends will almost certainly appreciate offers
of support (but be very wary of offering more than you may be
likely to be able to provide), and expression of sympathy in the
immediate aftermath also; but no more than you truly feel.
should you find something in the manner in which someone's
grief is expressed inappropriate, please turn a blind eye to
this if you possibly can, and certainly in the days and first
weeks immediately following their loss; a quiet e-mail simply
and calmly explaining what it is, that seems so out of place
to you, as to be unacceptable will probably be the best way of
raising the matter after that, if you feel it is still needed.
given the world-wide spread of afpers, it is very likely that
someone's cultural and social "normal behaviour" for such very
deeply emotional events *will* seem strange to at least some
others; but the need for space to adjust to one's loss, and to
remember and to celebrate the life of one's friend, is universal.
2.3 + people ignoring you
the first few times you post to afp, it is quite possible that
no-one will follow up to your articles, and no-one e-mail you a
reply, either: how come, if we're so friendly a crowd as we say ?
the 'net is _not_ totally reliable. sometimes a post takes sev-
eral days, to make it around the world to all the news-servers
afpers depend upon for their newsfeeds - and sometimes an article
never does appear on the newsgroup it was posted to, or appears
on no server other than your own. this is rare, in my experience,
but i have known maybe a dozen of my own articles go missing over
the past ten or fifteen years. [one, just a few months ago; eheu.]
if your first articles consistently do not appear upon your
own newssupplier's download of afp to you within a day or so
of your posting them, check your 'net/news/e-mail set-up,
reading all the available documentation, ask your ISP (internet
service provider) or your local friendly "bofh" someone you know
to be reliable, who is familiar with the software you use - or
person in the computing department you went to, to first get
news access), if you cannot trace the problem and fix it, and
possibly ask people, who seem both friendly and to know what
they're talking about, upon a newsgroup appropriate to both the
"platform" (the computer) and the software that you're using.
[see section 3.3]
it's also nearly inevitable that quite a lot that "new bugs"
post to begin with, has been posted and read by afpers before
them (especially "casting thread" suggestions): they may just
fail to strike a chord in the people who see them.
other possibilities include:
you may have been killfiled if your previous behaviour was
sufficiently obnoxious, though this isn't very likely to be
true, and you're a new bug; not unless your first articles
were _really_ grossly unpleasant or nasty, or a real pain to
read (badly laid-out, using html, etc...); or simply gratuit-
ously irritating, or hurtful. if you _have_ been "here" long
enough to form e-relationships, and someone whose friendship
you value seems to be ignoring you, it is possible that you
have upset them sufficiently greatly, whether by "coming on
too strong" to them, or misbehaving - possibly unwittingly -
in some other way, that they find unacceptable and, for some
reason, are unable to deal with or raise with you, at least
for the moment. or are inordinately touchy, or intolerant of
something they've newly discovered in you, or simply cannot
bear your puns any longer... - as IRL, there's *no* simple
answer to this, and there's not always a mutual friend trust-
ed by both of you, to intercede - and s/he may truly be the
bastard/bitch/[fill in your own politically-unsound epithet]
and wedded to the colours they are now showing. sh/it happens:
but "time wounds all heels."
your article may have said it all; sometimes, an afparticle
doesn't turn into a thread, because there simply isn't any-
thing else that could be said [save "aol ! aol ! aol !"]
your article may have turned up on afp slightly later than
another article which was basically similar, and followups
have been made to that article, rather than to yours.
you may have had the misfortune to post to afp in the middle
of a discworld convention, when up to seventy per cent of all
active afpers are enjoying themselves in a large uk hotel (the
hotel where the fifth discworld convention is to be held, in
2006 AD/CE, will hopefully be somewhat more fan-friendly than
was the escher hotel (aka the radisson edwardian, near heathrow
airport, london)), or coughing in the dust at a clarecraft do in
the fens and (some sub-) sea-level marshes of norfolk, listening
to the roAR! of a surprised dinolush in a little red tent - when
not serving as valued i.m.t.book-slave, catering to the 'satiable
demands and curiousities of other afpers, others, and the other;
book-slaves, remember to claim your i.m.t.entitlement of potent
formerly-apples, fruit juice & fizzy fruit-flavoured water - one
or two of the above could help avoid heat-exhaustion, or worse,
as also may remembering to consume sufficient snacksaltinesses).
you may be posting too many articles, too fast, for afpers to
bother reading *any* of them; this trap is especially easy to
fall into, if reading afp on-line, though by no means unknown
amongst others: if you're posting so many as four or five news
articles a day to afp, STOP ! - and *_think_*_about_each_one_:
"would _i_ be interested in reading this, if *_someone_else_*
had written and posted it to afp ?"
and if not, don't.
but don't give up, just because there was no response to your
first posting - go on reading, and sooner or later you'll find
yourself in the middle of a passionate discussion of the anglo-
dutch wars, or choux pastry, or the numbering systems used for
identifying uk and merkin trunk roads, or whether or not the
master truly *could* have been on the verge of comprehending
the clangers' musical language (invented for them, by oliver
postgate)...
2.4 + net addiction
the amount of time it's possible to spend keeping up with afp
can become a problem, either because the financial cost of the
time you spend becomes more than you can afford, though this is
unlikely (unless you are reading afp online), or because you're
devoting so much time to afp, that important activities such as
work, and play, and relationships in real life begin to suffer.
this is especially easy on irc, which has the magical ability
to make even the unlikeliest of mundanities in the rl lives of
afpers one's never met, appear interesting... - but it's also
quite possible, downloading news articles and reading off-line.
how much time is too much ? it differs from person to person;
it depends a lot on how much else there is in your life. if you
notice the warning signs, or if your friends, relatives or work
colleagues - or bosses - point them out to you, think seriously
about whether you need to cut down, or schedule your life, and
afp, rather better. [<thinks>: memo to self: _why_ was i typing-
up the first draft at 02:10, tuesday morning, when i needed to be
up and out early, and i was feeling more than a little under the
weather, from a combination of the bug that'd given me tonsilitis,
and the second antibiotic course i had been prescribed ? -
"_how_ much time is_too_much_?" - <wry *g*>: am _i_ an afpdict ?]
if you don't have a social life outside afp, is this by your
own choice ? if it is through force of circumstances, about
which nothing can be done, that you are so dependent upon the
'net, it is still worth asking whether it wouldn't be a good
idea to add other groups to your ambit, for times when you're
fed up with everyone - or nearly everyone - here ? if it is
not, it may well be time to start asking yourself whether to
start doing things to build, or rebuild yourself a life in the
real world, as well as "here" on afp (and other newsgroups).
+ net burnout
afpers tend to care for each other, especially in times of
personal crisis or loss, and one day, you may find yourself
helping. do be careful, however, not to trap yourself into
a supportive rle for too many people at once: you could end
up over-taxing your physical or emotional resources, risking
damage to yourself. this might also leave you too drained to
be of further help to any of them, when they'd come to rely
upon your support: pace yourself, and your help will last the
longer, be more rewarding, and of more use to your friends.
your time spent on afp should always be fun, on balance. if
you find it becoming a drag, or hard work, or depressing, ask
why; is it because of anything that you can affect, or should
you take a break and relax by doing something you enjoy IRL ?
physical activity is good, exercising muscles and keeping the
blood circulating freely - ideally, in the company of friends.
walking, jogging, cycling, dancing, helping share looking after
friends' kids, if you have none of your own to keep you honest -
or even getting on with (your share of ?) the housework, though
i can't claim this last is very high on my list of favourite re-
creational activities - at home *or* in i.m.t. <rueful*g*>.
2.5 + hate mail, harassment & stalking;
there is a nasty side to the 'net, as there is to real life: it
isn't anything like so common in the uk, as it - apparently - is
in merkia (i don't know about other countries); but this could
change, though i hope not (save by the merkin incidence falling).
there are many more people reading newsgroups, than posting to
them - the figure i've seen quoted is that there are around one
hundred "lurkers", for every "poster" (- i don't know where this
statistic comes from, if from anywhere other than out of thin air.
i suspect that afp has rather a higher proportion of posters, but
i don't know this, and know of no way that anyone, other than a
newsmaster/mistress could even begin to find out).
most are good people, give or take a little now and then, but
there are also dangerous nutters out there in the real world -
people who hold deeply prejudiced, biased, or plain _hateful_
views of some topic or other, whether upon religious grounds,
or because they suffer from personality disorders, or because
they are psychopaths, either unable to distinguish between
right and wrong, or incapable of learning the reasons to behave
according to any moral code, or physically incapable of the
mental processes necessary to follow any such thought process.
these people usually prefer to keep out of the public eye, but
may make their presence felt by sending anonymous or semi-anon-
ymous hate mail, or threats, to people against whom they feel
they have a grievance.
you will hopefully never receive such a message, but if you do,
here are steps you should take:
do *not* attempt to e-mail a reply to the person, and do *not*
make a public post mentioning it. acknowledging the mail in any
way may provoke further, and more disgusting, responses.
*do* realise that the person is intolerant and misguided: do not
believe *anything* of what they say about you, or anyone else.
*save* the message, and forward a copy, with all the header lines,
by e-mail to your internet service provider, or to the responsible
person in charge of the net access in your workplace, or print out
a copy and take it to the person for your "pastoral care", if you
are a student in a school, or other academic institution (- they
used to call 'em "moral tutors", when i was at university - at some,
they probably still do *g* -) and ask who the appropriate person is,
to take steps to deal with the matter. (if you are of an age, that
pastoral care is inappropriate, then either a local friendly bofh,
or security, or the police - or a combination of these - may be app-
ropriate.)
if the sender of the hatemail persists, and *especially* if they
show any familiarity with your real life workplace, home address,
or children, or your children's nurseries or schools, print out
the saved e-mails with full headers, write out a letter that ex-
plains the problem in simple, step-by-step stages, and contact the
police. _they_ may need taking through the idea of e-mail fairly
slowly, but be clear to them that it is essentially either a hate-
mail, or a harassment, or potentially a stalking problem, where it
just happens that the means of delivery is, by telephone line (like
fax, but it's via the net), and they should understand this, and be
concerned to help you.
as i said, this will hopefully never happen to you at all, whether
as a result of posting to afp, or anywhere else - but you should be
aware that it could, and act prudently with regard to publishing
your own personal details.
murky (at lspace.org) has kindly made an offer, though he's aware
he's perhaps not the most technically competent to undertake the
task (and despite his free time now being about as rare, as are
hen's teeth) to do his best to track down the culprit and contact
the isp's administrators with the evidence of hatemail; but please
remember that whoever you ask to help you will *need* the original
e-mails *complete*with*all*headers*.
others of us afp "old farts" will do our best, also; but n.b. that
not everyone who's been here longer than you has necessarily been
here long; nor has necessarily the time, access, or "clue" to assist
in such circumstances: so please accept that some of us may decline
not because we don't wish to help, but because we wouldn't be much
use to you, should you need help in this.
+ afp proposals
these are a tradition, light-hearted and meant in fun and in good
humour: feel free to ignore, reject and/or accept - but be warned:
doing _any_ of these may involve you in duels on afp in which the
most common weapons are cabbages & brussel sprouts, multiple marri-
ages, harems, heaps, hoards (or hordes), piles, collections and/or
flirtations... ...or not.
afproposals seem to come either as very rare (& highly-prized)
expressions of appreciation for an afper's contribution to afp,
whether for helping maintain aspects of the group over extended
periods, or one specific act, or article; or in crazes or waves,
like waves of egg-kings *g*, when they may be no less sincerely
intended, but are liable to get drowned in the wash.
3.0 * technical matters
3.1 + spam, and unsolicited commercial e-mail, and how to minimise them
"spam" and "velveeta" are the names given to multiply- posted and
cross-posted articles, frequently commercial advertising, inapprop-
riately posted to newsgroups. they are an irritation which would be
far worse, were it not for the actions of a number of people to help
cancel such unwanted postings nigh as fast as they are perpetrated -
but only pressure upon ISPs, and in turn by them, upon those major
isp-s and carriers permitting the abuse, can have a preventative
effect - iiuc (if i understand correctly).
there is not normally any point in following up to spam on news-
group: spammers don't read newsgroups in general, and certainly
not those groups, to which they spam. however, their inanities do
occasionally spark off ideas that may raise a laugh; fine - but
*don't* repeat the url, e- or snail-mail address in your follow-up
as no-one is interested in these, and *do* trim as much as possible
(which you would, of course, in any case be doing *g*), of their
garbage, to leave only the minimum necessary, to establish con-
text.. ..including any cross-posting to other groups; look in the
article's headers, in the Newsgroups: line: this should only list
"Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett" in any follow-up article.
"unsolicited commercia e-mail" (uce) and "unsolicited bulk e-mail"
(ube) are the e-mail equivalents of junk mail; "make money fast"
(mmf) pyramid schemes are illegal virtually everywhere in the world
& may be found received in news downloads & by e-mail: they also
may be shown mathematically to be incapable of working other than
in the extremely short run - typically for the founders (- until
they're caught by their local police - if they're lucky).
a judicious combination of the use of a mailkill file [see the
next section down, 3.2];
the choice & configuration of the mailbox from which you post to
newsgroups (especially if your isp allows you a number of boxes on
one subscription fee);
&/or using a simple trick in varying the address given in the
"From: " line, in the articles you post;
will help control this nuisance.
but remember to tell people to use the reply-to: address in a short
message _above_ the sig.file separator, just as your articles end;
this brief message can be stored as a small file, and imported into
your articles, rather than having to write it out afresh each time;
do *not* use any domain name [the part of an e-address after
the " [at] "] which you do not have permission to use; even if it does
not currently exist, it may yet in the future, and cause problems.
the top level domain (last .part of a domain name), ".invalid",
is defined as unallocatable and therefore available - but this is
a thing of which some spammers'-list-builders seem to be aware;
if a demon subscriber, the sub-domain, "nospam.demon.co.uk", is
available for use (even though the customer who registered it for
this purpose is no longer using it), as demon have stated it will
not be issued to any other subscriber in the future.
e-mail attempting to arrive at a non-extant mailbox on a real
machine will either bounce or, in some circumstances, create a
file to await the box's creation (if there is a "default deliver"
line in the alias file, or equivalent [which should therefore be
removed from that file, if you wish to bounce wrongly-addressed
e-mail; but n.b., this may necessitate the modification of other
files in your set-up]).
these are steps you can take that will significantly reduce the
amount of uce and ube you receive - especially if you adopt this
last tactic from the start of your newsposting career.
[n.b. do _not_ do this with your own private e-mails, & remove the
"uce/spam trap" from any courtesy copies (cc.s) you're sending,
before you send them.] [unless this is technically impossible.]
some people object to this tactic on principle - most of these do
not seem to regard the waste of time uce/ube causes, nor the phone
costs of their - or perhaps your - 'net time, as significant, and
express disbelief that uce and ube could commonly reach a level of
a thousand a day, and 99% of the mail, or higher - <very wry <g>>
and some appear to believe that any attempt to minimise the amount
of u.b./c.e. one receives by any means other than ending u.c.e. and
filtering (kill files) to be immoral, illegal and quite probably
fattening; some refuse on principle to reply privately to anyone
trapping their news articles From: header line - i think, because
doing so implicitly recognizes the existence of u.c.e (- "bicbw").
3.2 + kill files
news and mail kill filing are an ever-increasingly important
part of the 'net; both to filter out postings liable to be of
no interest to you, before even downloading them, and to reduce
the amount of junk posts and mail getting through. if your news
and e-mail reader(s) don't have a killfile option, you almost
certainly will want one that does.
different afpers will support different readers about as vehe-
mently as they will their favourite operating systems - it's
mostly a matter of taste, so long as they perform the functions
required of them - though afpers seem generally agreed that no
web-browser is also even half-way decent a news & mail client.
if you are not happy with your software - or, indeed, your ISP -
asking for advice will almost certainly garner recommendations
afplenty - but be sure to specify what machine you are using for
net access, and the operating system(s) you have available <g>,
and the country (and state, for merkins) you're living in...
you can set a properly functional kill-filing system to exclude
all posts with certain words in the subject line, or from partic-
ular addresses, or over a chosen length - any of the categories
that exists in the header lines - & you can make any exceptions
that you wish to, from these given killfile criteria - n.b. not
all spammers give a "Lines: " header, and mega-binaries are not,
sfaiaa, counted in lines...
the afp subject line keycode letters [see section 1.5] allow you
to killfile whole topic areas of afp, but don't killfile on [FAQ]
or [announce] - the articles covering frequently asked questions
(and some that aren't asked so often, but perhaps ought to be),
provide information about afp, lspace & the other pratchett news-
groups, and on pterry's books and other related publications, get
updated, as is necessary, and added to, from time to time; whilst
you could miss out on messages of immediate importance from a.f.p.a.
to killfile on an afp keycode letter, enter a line in your news
killfile:
Subject: *\[X\]*
- where "X" is the keycode letter by which you wish to killfile
_all_ articles (save any specifically excepted in lines starting
with a "!", followed by the criterion for unconditional acceptance
listed in that line: exclusion-from-kill lines overrule all kill
lines' criteria).
[the two "\"s force recognition of the "[" & "]" as characters;
their choice to denote the afp key-code letters was technically
unfortunate, as they are reserved in dos & unix to denote the
opening and closing of ranges of characters & of digits: not
least, i am told, the software on certain archive sites cannot
override this reserved meaning, which makes it impossible to
search on the afp keycodes.] [and whilst this is undoubtedly a
shortcoming of the software they employ, it is nevertheless the
real - as well as virtual - world state of things.]
see section 1.5 for full details of the keycodes, but:
[A] = annotation; [C] = cascade; [F] = afp fan activity IRL
such as afp meets, discworld conventions, signings by
terry if afpers're arranging meeting up at them, etc;
[G] = game related; [I] = irrelevant (to terry & his works);
[M] = meta (about the newsgroup, alt.fan.pratchett);
[R] = relevant to terry pratchett, his works, and those of
others based directly upon his - and without a keycode
of their own.
to killfile news from a particular address, enter a line in your
news killfile:
From: <someone [at] somewhere.co.uk>
filling in the particular address;
to killfile all news articles from a particular site, whoever may
have posted them, enter a line in your news killfile:
From: * [at] <somewhere.com>
filling in the particular domain (the address from the " [at] " sign
onwards): "*" is a wildcard, matching any and all characters in a
given position;
it's a good idea to except the postmaster at most domains from
any general killfiling:
!From: postmaster [at] <somewhere.ac.au>
etc; or possibly:
!From: postmaster [at] *
it is one address that will be used from which to write to you
upon "official" matters (such as reports of spam/uce/ube, etc).
(I say "most", because I do see some junk mail sent by idiots
making fraudulent use of <postmaster [at] somewhere.com> and .co.uk>
& .net> addresses.)
nobody can stop you killfiling, so long as your software allows
it, and it can be a good way of avoiding unnecessary annoyance,
rising blood pressure and outright confrontation - although it
can also be argued that standing up to it - politely - is more
public-spirited [which latter course of action is that advocated
by counsels of perfection, inc...].
news killfiling by a subject class that consistently irritates
you, should you discover this to occur, is in principle probably
"better" than killfiling afper contributors - there is always the
chance that they'll post more interesting stuff in other threads;
at least, in theory <wry <g>>.
+ how to killfile this article (# 1 & 2)
to killfile this afpfaq (# 1 & 2/2) so you don't see it in afp
every seven days, what you need to enter in your news killfile is
a line (- no gap between the first letter and the lefthand edge):
Subject: *hi: welcome to afp*
[the asterisk matches any character, or characters] - your news-
reader's documentation should tell you how to do this ("rtfm" <g>).
+ plonking
it is unusual, to say the least, to make a post saying that you
have killfiled somebody. doing so's a personal statement of the
unacceptability of their 'net behaviour, made publicly. but when
they've been deliberately & persistently unpleasant, and neither
polite private e-mail, nor even more carefully-worded afparticles
pointing out misbehaviour have been heeded, some people (including,
upon occasion, yr.hmbl.spnt.) follow up the "last straw" article
with a "*plonk*".
this is an article following up to the offensive last straw,
quoting the part or parts to which you take exception, unless
this would be everything, and replying "*plonk*".
this is an afpccepted way of saying that you've killfiled some-
one's articles, after more than reasonable and polite attempts
to induce them to reform their sins, in exasperation - mostly;
afpers seem to do this very rarely, if at all; and most of those
who do, seem to killfile so for some limited period of time, such
as a week, or a month - at least, to begin with...
what's the reasoning ? - i think the reasoning came after the
rise of the practice, not before, but i've seen it explained thus:
it lets other afpers know that you've tried - or feel you've
tried - long enough, with this particular spog, and that if they
've been feeling the same way, they now know they're not alone.
and they, too, may decide to plonk the offender - who just may
discover that quite a larger number of people, than e-wrote to
him (or her), feel that (s)he's been way out of order. it also
allows others to say "no, it's *you* who's being over the top
here"; or "you're *both* behaving like little boys (or girls)",
and possibly provide _you_ with food for further thought...
and the offender may, finally, decide to apologise - and change
his or her ways, which is the more important thing, before (s)he
simply runs out of people with whom to afpsocialise. or not.
whereas, if an offender's articles are killfiled without the
afpublic plonk, no-one, including the miscreant, may ever know;
and so, will probably never dream of changing their ways - not
even _slightly_.
i do not know whether anyone's kept record of whether or no
the "*plonk*" process works.
3.3 + configuring and using your 'net-software
many of the tips and suggestions in this article rely on your
ability to use your editor and newsreading software properly.
if you don't know how to use either of these to achieve these
effects, first read the documentation provided with the 'net
suite ("RTFM" <g>). if you are not certain you have understood
it, try playing around with it, _after_ first saving a copy of
the initial settings - so you can restore them afterwards, if
needs be !
if you still have no luck, it's usually best asking your ISP's
help or support desk - or the suppliers', or the software's pub-
lishers, if your ISP wasn't the supplier, and doesn't support it.
if that doesn't work, there are newsgroups devoted to the prob-
lems, and the advantages, and new developments, of most of the
popular 'net suites - and many that aren't so popular.
the demon.ip.support.* groups, which are available to any ISP
"peering news" with demon, or anyone else who carries them, are
good places to post a request for help - but do be as careful as
you can, to ask in the right group (the obviously tricky one is
demon.ip.support.pc - which is for queries and news about 'net
software that runs under dos (msdos, ibmdos, drdos, novell dos,
caldera opendos), and is _not_ for software that only runs atop
windows - windows users, and windows 95/8 users, have their own
groups (this arose because the dos group was named before it was
considered anyone might attempt to access the 'net using windows,
and it's all but impossible to rename a newsgroup).
if your problem is afp-specific, it's probable there's at least
one afper who knows the answer, or can work it out - and we may
be able to help with more general questions. indeed, the afp-
cluefairies (- hi, karen'n'esmi'n'elfin'n'friends -) will do their
best to find the - or a - solution to many problems that are truly
micro$loth's responsibility, too ! [e-mail <afp-help [at] lspace.org>]
but in any case, it is important that you tell whoever you ask
for help, exactly what computer, which operating system, which
newsreader and mailreader, and which editor you are using.
3.4 + redirecting replies
if you want, or need, to have any e-mail replies to you sent
to another account name, not the one you use to post, set your
newsreader or editor to give this other e-mail address in the
"Reply-to: " line:
Reply-To: <me [at] my.other.address>
whatever the address may be, and it will do so automatically, to
every article you post.
if you wish to take discussion to another newsgroup, list this
group in the "Followup-to: " line;
if you only want to redirect replies or follow-ups to the odd
article, which is usually the case, then edit the header line
during composition, or from the mailqueue, before dialling up
to connect.
+ redirecting replies for other people
if you open a mailbox for a visiting afper, and do not need to
close it immediately after they return home (or move onto another
afphost), it's a good idea to keep their username [at] yournode live,
but to alias it to their home address (or, to the mailbox their
new afphost has opened for them): this should be fairly simple to
accomplish, if you follow the instructions for your e-mail software
("rtfm !" <g>), and will usually involve the following line in the
"alias file" (or equivalent):
username their.user.name [at] their.home.domain.name
or
username their.user.name [at] the.new.host's.domain.name
this will automatically forward their mail into their mailbox.
3.5 + sundry - other good advice for afpers
if you're new to the 'net, it's a _very_ good idea to take the
newsgroups, news.announce.newusers & news.newusers.questions.
these groups have lots of good information for people learning
to find their way around the newsgroups, and learning how to be-
have on the net, including how to use kill files and how to do
intelligent and useful things with article headers. most of your
early questions will probably be answered by periodic posts in
these newsgroups. the somewhat archly-entitled "Emily Postnews
Guide to Netiquette" is also well worth reading (even though i've
covered some of what is contained therein), and is posted to the
group, news.announce.newusers, frequently; also worth attention
is "FYI28", RFC 1855, on Netiquette, which is less whimsically
[annoyingly] [? or humanly ?] phrased; some of the "RFC"s are
perhaps a bit heavy going, though some are fun. (the RFCs should
be available from your ISP or other 'net connectivity provider.)
____________________________________________________________ ___
<phew !>: reached the end of this introduction to afp, at last.
much more information on afp is available in the FAQs:
these are afposted periodically - variously monthly, or weekly,
depending on the particular article - and are also available by
"anonymous ftp" [re-read your software's documentation] from
ftp.lspace.org and its mirror-sites on different continents,
ftp-au.lspace.org, ftp-uk.lspace.org, ftp-us.lspace.org - along
with an awful lot more, including the full text of a story set
on a circular world, free for afpers' private delectation, by
its author, one terrance pilchard (or some such) and, doubtless,
other places as well, in the directory /pub/pratchett/words/faqs
and also, i believe, on www.lspace.org
(c) copyright p.pinto, ppint [at] lspace.org
7/7/05 (7/7/05 for merkins) latest revision:
permission to store electronically and magnetically and to print
out copies for purely personal use explicitly given by the author.
____________________________________________________________ _____
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 to any other afper
whose name i've forgotten, and to nearly all of afp, for being
a truly friendly 'net place well worth working to help maintain.
____________________________________________________________ _____
<fx: mops brow>: o.k, what have i missed out, or plain got wrong ?
"hello, welcome" is also on my web page: and zipped, too;
eventually also with those funny <html> </html> thingies,
even :-) - that is, on:
<URL: http://www.i-m-t.demon.co.uk/afp/hello1.txt>
<URL: http://www.i-m-t.demon.co.uk/afp/hello2.txt>
<URL: http://www.i-m-t.demon.co.uk/afp/hello1.zip>
<URL: http://www.i-m-t.demon.co.uk/afp/hello2.zip>
the most up to date revision should be available from my web page
as well as periodically cross-posted to the two newsgroups. ppint.
autoposted to alt.fan.pratchett weekly, on saturdays, by myself.
many thanks to leo breebaart <leo [at] lspace.org> who for a time
kindly autoposted this, and the other six afpfaqs/partafpfaqs
i wrote. [- ppint.]
- constructive comments very welcome: please trim all of the above
article, except the bits you're commenting upon, before posting <g>.
- new & relatively new bugs', and lurkers' reactions and opinions
are especially welcome, though it's open season for all...
- love, ppint.
please use afpfaq [at] i-m-t.demon.co.uk, first changing the first
"f" to a "g", to e-mail me directly about "hello, welcome", as
"v$af$ppint [at] " & "afpfaq [at] "(both of which e-addresses exist, and
are legal) are set up to *not* accept e-mail in order to help
reduce the rate at which junk e-mail gets through. i trust this
causes you no inconvenience.
- and please trim quotation of the faq to the bit(s) to which
you make reference, as i already have the faq in full! *g*
- thanks. ppint.
--
interstellar master traders 33 north road, lancaster LA1-1NS england
lancaster's sf, fantasy & horror book & role-playing game shop
10(ish) - 19:00 gmt mon - fri; 10:00 - 18:00 gmt saturdays
i.m.t. web-site: http://www.i-m-t.demon.co.uk/
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