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- Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail
- Message-ID: <comics/xbooks/readpost_1084272547@rtfm.mit.edu>
- Supersedes: <comics/xbooks/readpost_1083581613@rtfm.mit.edu>
- References: <comics/xbooks/welcome_1084272547@rtfm.mit.edu>
- X-Last-Updated: 2003/04/01
- From: racmx@yahoo.com (Kate the Short)
- Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks,rec.arts.comics.info,rec.answers,news.answers
- Subject: [rec.arts.comics] XBOOKS FAQ: Read Before Posting
- Followup-To: poster
- Organization: Keepers of Frequently Asked Questions, racmx division
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Summary: A netiquette and posting FAQ for rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU
- Date: 11 May 2004 10:50:42 GMT
- Lines: 248
- NNTP-Posting-Host: penguin-lust.mit.edu
- X-Trace: 1084272642 senator-bedfellow.mit.edu 567 18.181.0.29
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks:309644 rec.arts.comics.info:10402 rec.answers:86975 news.answers:271134
-
- Archive-name: comics/xbooks/readpost
- Posting-frequency: weekly
- URL: http://users.rcn.com/kateshort/faqs/
-
- -= READ BEFORE POSTING =-
- a FAQ for rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks
-
- Version 2003.01, last updated April 2003
- URL: http://users.rcn.com/kateshort/faqs/read.htm
-
-
- ------------------------------
- Subject: Table of Contents
-
- Introduction
- BEFORE Posting Your First Post to racmx...
- How To Post (Basic Netiquette)
- Where To Post (and it might not be to racmx)
- Subject Lines and SPOILERS / SPOILERSPACE
- Common Posting Problems
- Credits
-
-
- ------------------------------
- Subject: Introduction
-
- The racmx newsgroup exists as a community; it has rules and customs.
- Breaking these customs may cost you in terms of your "popularity" or
- your credibility. The purpose of this FAQ is to help newer readers
- (and remind older ones) figure out the mysteries of posting to
- rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks.
-
-
- ------------------------------
- Subject: BEFORE Posting Your First Post to racmx...
-
- If you're new to a newsgroup, you should check and see if it has any FAQ
- postings or posting guidelines. In the rec.arts.comics.* family of
- newsgroups, you can usually find such posts in rec.arts.comics.info.
-
- FAQ posts are also posted to most of the comics newsgroups, including
- racmx. It's called a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions list) because it
- answers the questions that many new readers have. Even if you've read
- the books for years, the RACMX FAQ may tell you things that you never
- knew. So check it out! Kate the Short keeps the General RACMX FAQ at:
-
- URL: http://users.rcn.com/kateshort/faqs/racmxFAQ/
-
- You can also find links to almost all of the rac.* FAQs at:
-
- URL: http://users.rcn.com/kateshort/faqs/
-
- Once you've read the FAQs, read racmx itself, preferably for more than
- a month. If you're in a hurry, then try reading *every* *single* *post*
- for two full weeks. You'll see whether your questions have already been
- answered, learn who posts the most helpful answers, and discover which
- topics get on people's nerves. That helps to avoid flamewars.
-
- If you have further questions about newsgroups or posting to news, read
- news.newusers.questions. Whether it is a technical question or a
- netiquette question, these people are the ones to help you out. You can
- also visit the news.newusers.questions mirror site at:
-
- URL: http://users.rcn.com/kateshort/nnq/
-
-
- ------------------------------
- Subject: How To Post (Basic Netiquette)
-
- Please be concise when writing, and format your posts:
-
- * Turn off HTML encoding, MIME encoding, v-cards, attachments, and
- the like, as usenet is an ASCII-text-only medium. If you need
- help turning off the HTML, ask in news.newusers.questions.
-
- * Leave in the attributions and some of the previous poster's text,
- so we know who and what you're responding to.
-
- * Type a response *below* the quoted material you're responding to,
- so it reads like a conversation. Please don't top-post!
-
- * Delete the portions of the post that you aren't responding to,
- including the other person's .sig file, to save news server space.
-
- * Use paragraphs shorter than 24 lines, leave blank lines between
- paragraphs and after punctuation, and hit return after every 72
- to 75 characters, so your posts are readable on any size monitor.
-
- * Use standard punctuation, capitalization, punctuation, and
- spelling, so your posts are easy to read.
-
- * Keep your own .sig file to fewer than eight lines (under four is
- best!), to save news server space.
-
- The easier your posts are to read, the more people will read them.
-
- Please be nice to the other posters to the newsgroup. Remember, there
- *are* creators reading this newsgroup, so qualify your dislikes with
- specific details. Similarly, please don't flame others. Constructive
- criticism gets better results than insults.
-
- Please send private responses over email. If you aren't sure if it
- should be said, take it to private e-mail. Better yet, don't post a
- followup or email a reply at all.
-
- Please make sure you're posting to the appropriate newsgroup(s) and
- delete any groups that are inappropriate. Make sure you post followups
- to the right newsgroup(s), or use email, if you really change topics.
- Rule of thumb: if it's covered in another rec.arts.comics.* group, it
- is definitely off-topic. If there is no other forum for the discussion
- posters tend to be slightly more tolerant of off-topicness.
-
-
- ------------------------------
- Subject: Where To Post (and it might not be to racmx)
-
- Not *every* aspect of the X-Men is on-topic in racmx. The *comics*
- and their creators are, but other aspects generally belong in other
- newsgroups in the rec.arts.comics.* hierarchy:
-
- * *ALL* auction/for-sale posts belong on rec.arts.comics.marketplace.
- Even if you want to buy an X-Men comic, or want to know how much a
- book is worth, ask over at .marketplace. They'll be happy to help!
- Do *not* crosspost your sales lists. Really. Please.
-
- * Stories and fan-fiction should be posted to alt.comics.fan-fiction
- (stories with copyrighted characters), or rec.arts.comics.creative
- (stories based on original material besides copyrighted characters).
- You can post "pointers" to your story-- just post a message on
- racmx saying "I've posted part XYZ of my story Story Name Here
- on alt.comics.fan-fiction."
-
- * Picture files should be posted to alt.binaries.pictures.cartoons or
- alt.binaries.pictures.misc with an appropriate subject, such as
- "X-Men Storm Pic." If it's ASCII art, post it to alt.ascii or
- rec.arts.ascii. You can post a "pointer" telling us what you
- posted, where you posted, and the subject header you posted under.
- Pictures posted to the newsgroups get converted into HUGE binary
- files. These take forever to download, and time equals money if
- you've got a slower connection or live overseas. A binary in a
- discussion group is sometimes 100 times larger than most posts!
-
- * Other newsgroups for discussions include rec.games.frp.super-heroes
- for roleplaying games, rec.toys.action-figures for toys and figures,
- and rec.collecting.cards.non-sports for trading cards and CCGs.
-
-
- ------------------------------
- Subject: Subject Lines and SPOILERS / SPOILERSPACE
-
- *Please* use concise and informative subject lines, which reflect the
- subject of your post, *without* giving away any just-published info
- that would spoil it for anyone who didn't pick up her books yet. That
- way, interested readers can find the subjects they want to read, the
- subjects they want to save for later, and the ones they want to avoid.
-
- * If it didn't occur *in the books* at least two weeks ago, DON'T
- post it without using SPOILERS.
-
- * Use the word SPOILERS in the subject line to indicate that your
- post has plot-sensitive information in it. Even if you're talking
- about info from Previews/Wizard/X-Fan/letter columns, you can't
- assume that all readers will have seen the info, or that they
- *want* to know the info.
-
- * If you just read issue #712 and learn that Cyclops dies, don't put:
- "Cyclops dies! SPOILERS!" in the header, because that gives away
- all the info! Instead, try: "X-Men #712 Cyclops SPOILERS". That
- way, posters who can't get their books for a few days can avoid it.
-
- * When you write your actual post, tell us the issue number and remind
- us that your post includes SPOILERS. Then, hit return twenty-four
- times (one screenful of space) so that there's a whole bunch of
- white space between the beginning of the post and the actual
- spoilers, so a reader can see that there are spoilers ahead. You
- can fill the space with silly quotes if you want. :)
-
- * If you shift topics, say, from talking about Gambit to talking
- about Kitty and Wolvie, just remember to change the Subject header
- to reflect it. If it was: "Re: Gambit is really unique" change
- it to: "Kitty and Wolvie (was Re: Gambit is really unique)". That
- way, the people who like Kitty know that the discussion has gone
- on to talk about her, and the Gambit fans won't have to endure
- talk about Kitty in a thread labelled "Gambit is really unique."
-
- NOTE: REVIEW implies spoilers. Again, leave spoiler space intact.
-
-
- ------------------------------
- Subject: Common Posting Problems
-
- If your posts aren't showing up, or nobody seems to be responding, try
- these tips:
-
- * Go to http://groups.google.com/ and see if your posts are showing up.
- If your post hasn't shown up, do NOT post it to the newsgroup two
- or three more times. Usually, we will have seen it the first time.
- If you want to test your postings, try posting to misc.test; you
- will get about three to five replies from automatic reply servers.
- If you can't find your posts, email your ISP for assistance.
-
- * If nobody is replying to your posts, again, be patient. Remember
- that time moves ... differently on the net. It takes much longer
- for posts to reach some sites than it does others. It may take
- six days to travel around the world, and then six to get a reply.
- Besides, people will respond if they feel like responding to it.
- Some people won't respond because they think someone who knows the
- character or issue better will answer, or they just aren't into a
- particular title or team.
-
- Newsreaders are really funny things sometimes. Some won't show your
- articles until you exit the newsreader and restart it. Others might
- have a delay of a few minutes until your post appears. Still other
- newsreaders will *never* show you anything that you posted yourself.
- If you aren't sure how your newsreader works, ask in the group
- news.newusers.questions.
-
- If your server doesn't get a group, point your browser at Google Groups:
- http://groups.google.com/ . Google Groups is a searchable collection of
- newsgroups, including the really hard-to-find alt.* groups and local/
- regional groups. Through this service, you can read as many posts as you
- wish from any newsgroup or author, and you can post directly to the group
- or send email to the original poster. So, if you haven't been able to get
- any of the alt.comics.* groups on your local internet account, try
- Google Groups.
-
-
- ------------------------------
- Subject: Credits
-
-
- The Keeper of the Read Before Posting FAQ would like the thank the
- following people:
-
- * David R. Henry, for being such an awesome FAQ-Keeper role model;
- * Marty Blase, for lending his considerable time and assistance;
- * and love and kisses to Aardy, who showed me how to use .txt and ftp.
-
-
- Copyright 1995-2003 by Katharine E. Hahn
- SEND ADDITIONS / CHANGES / DEAD LINKS / MOVED LINKS / UPDATES TO:
- Kate the Short, racmx@yahoo.com (mailto:racmx@yahoo.com)
-
-
- --
- Kate the Short * http://users.rcn.com/kateshort/
-
-