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- Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
- From: russ@shani.net (Russ Hersch)
- Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers,news.newusers.questions,news.answers
- Subject: FAQs about FAQs
- Supersedes: <faqs/about-faqs_880191403@rtfm.mit.edu>
- Followup-To: poster
- Date: 8 Jan 1998 10:21:17 GMT
- Organization: none
- Lines: 1040
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Expires: 21 Feb 1998 10:21:10 GMT
- Message-ID: <faqs/about-faqs_884254870@rtfm.mit.edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: penguin-lust.mit.edu
- Summary: This article is a description and primer on Frequently Asked
- Questions (FAQs).
- X-Last-Updated: 1997/11/21
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu news.announce.newusers:3240 news.newusers.questions:638420 news.answers:120372
-
- Archive-name: faqs/about-faqs
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
- Last-modified: Nov. 17, 1997
-
- This article is a description and primer on Frequently Asked Questions
- (FAQs).
-
- Webified/HTMLized versions of this FAQ can be found at the following
- locations:
- http://www.faqs.org/faqs/faqs/about-faqs
- http://www.irwa.org/about/faqa.html
-
- This FAQ is also available in the following languages:
- French French USENET newsgroup - fr.usenet.reponses
- ftp://ftp.univ-lyon1.fr/pub/faq/by-name/fr/usenet/faq-des-faqs
- translation by Philippe Ladame <lada1751@eurobretagne.fr>
- Korean http://www.netusers.org/FAQen/faq_about_faq.html
- translation by BangYeon Kim (kbay) kbay@chollian.net
- Spanish <coming soon - maybe - someday>
-
-
- The following topics are addressed:
-
- 1) WHAT ARE FAQs?
- 1.1) What does FAQ stand for?
- 1.2) How is FAQ pronounced?
- 1.3) What do FAQs contain?
- 1.4) What are FAQs used for?
- 1.5) Where are FAQs found/kept/hidden?
- 1.6) What was the first FAQ?
- 1.7) So what IS a FAQ?
-
- 2) WRITING A FAQ
- 2.1) Who may write/compile a FAQ?
- 2.2) Why write a FAQ?
- 2.3) What subjects are appropriate?
- 2.4) How important is accuracy?
- 2.5) What is the format for a FAQ?
- 2.6) What is the maximum size of a FAQ?
- 2.7) What is a header and do I need one?
- 2.8) Additional information
-
- 3) POSTING A FAQ
- 3.1) How do I post/distribute my FAQ?
- 3.2) Where do I post/distribute my FAQ?
- 3.3) How often should my FAQ be posted?
-
- 4) LEGAL STUFF
- 4.1) Do I need to copyright my FAQ?
- 4.2) Do I need a disclaimer?
-
- 5) APPROVAL FOR *.ANSWERS - THE BIG TIME
- 5.1) Why bother getting a FAQ approved for *.answers?
- 5.2) How do I get my FAQ approved?
- 5.3) FAQ maintainers
- 5.4) FAQ maintainers mailing list
-
- 6) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
-
-
- 1) WHAT ARE FAQs?
-
- 1.1) What does FAQ stand for?
-
- FAQ is an acronym for Frequently Asked Questions. It is also
- sometimes used as the singular Frequently Asked Question (Although
- when was the last time you heard only one question?).
-
- Some have called it Frequently Answered Questions as well. This
- isn't necessarily correct, but it isn't necessarily wrong either. It
- effectively has the same meaning.
-
- A compilation of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) is
- referred to as a FAQ list or FAQ article. Sometimes the term FAQ
- itself is used to refer to the article - as an example, I refer to
- this article as a FAQ about FAQs.
-
- The term FAQ has a meaning of its own that could almost qualify it as
- a word of its own. Sometimes, FAQs are full of answers. Other times
- they are policy statements for USENET groups, without the Question
- and Answer format that is popular.
-
- FAQs fall into the realm of articles called "Periodic Postings". In
- addition to FAQs, other articles or compilations of information are
- posted and/or archived.
-
-
- 1.2) How is FAQ pronounced?
-
- FAQ is pronounced three ways:
- 1. By pronouncing the letters individually: F - A - Q
- 2. As a word: fack
- 3. Obscenely: <figure it out on your own>
-
- The first two pronunciations are the most common, and are used about
- equally. Some will say F - A - Q if they are speaking with someone
- that really doesn't know the Internet. Those who are lazy (me for
- example) will use "fack", since it is easier to say. Often when
- initiating a conversation it is useful to say F - A - Q, and then
- once the subject has been established, "fack" should be sufficient.
-
- You will notice that in this document I use the phrase "a FAQ" rather
- than "an FAQ". This is because most of the time I say "a fack"
- instead of "an F-A-Q".
-
- Feel free to use whichever pronunciation you prefer and don't let
- anyone bully you. Both ways are acceptable. If you use the third
- way... well, you're on your own.
-
-
- 1.3) What do FAQs contain?
-
- FAQs are compilations of information which are [usually] the result
- of certain questions constantly being asked (posted) in a newsgroup -
- hence the name FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
-
- It seems that those who frequent USENET are a polite bunch. In my
- house, the "frequently asked questions" that my three rug rats come
- up with are usually referred to as stupid questions or pestering.
- There is a lesson to be learned from this... before asking a question
- in a newsgroup or mailing list, make sure that you've checked out the
- appropriate FAQs. A frequently asked question can be a stupid
- question if the answer is posted right in front of your face in one
- or more FAQs.
-
- Sometimes a FAQ or periodic posting is compiled as a result of
- extensive research on a specific subject. A convenient way to share
- the information with others is by posting the article. In this case,
- the article might not really be a FAQ - that is, it isn't necessarily
- based on frequently asked questions. However, the term FAQ is
- sometimes used as a catch all term for articles, periodic postings,
- compilations, etc.
-
- It is becoming common practice to refer to some "off-line
- documentation" as FAQs. Yes, it's true, off-line documentation still
- exists, I actually saw some a little while back ;-). All sorts of
- stuff now comes with support-staff-written FAQs, whereas they would
- have been called Q&A sections before.
-
- Many of the FAQs found on USENET or the Internet today (including
- mine :-) could actually be considered NSFAQBTIWTS - Not So Frequently
- Asked Questions, But Things I Wanted To Share (thanks to Robin Getz
- for this gem). I've also seen them referred to as LFAQ (Less
- Frequently Asked Questions). Is there no end?! Where is Chicken
- Man, now that we need him?
-
-
- 1.4) What are FAQs used for?
-
- Before asking a question in a USENET newsgroup, check out the
- appropriate FAQs. If you can't find the answer to your question
- there, then you can post your question to the newsgroup. Frequently
- asked questions in a newsgroup tend to make the news hard to read.
- With more news traffic, there is more to sift through. Do everyone a
- favor, first try to find the applicable FAQs. Then read them. If
- you can't find them, look for them. If you still can't find them,
- ask where they are. Then read them.
-
- If after reading the appropriate FAQs, you still can't find the
- answer to your question, then you can post your question to the
- appropriate newsgroup. It is recommended that after you receive your
- answer(s), you post a summary to the newsgroup. It might also be
- nice to notify the maintainer of the appropriate FAQ(s) of the
- answers so that they can update their articles accordingly (keep in
- mind that they don't always have the time to scan the newsgroups for
- new information).
-
- Don't assume that the FAQ maintainer is willing or able to answer
- every question he or she receives. Some make every attempt possible
- to answer as best as they can. Others either just get too many
- questions to deal with, or they're busy with other things. Please
- keep this in mind - it might be better to ask your question in a
- newsgroup.
-
-
- 1.5) Where are FAQs found/kept/hidden?
-
- Please do not ask the FAQ maintainer to mail you a copy of their FAQ.
- They just don't have the time - believe me, I know. Instead, make
- every possible effort to obtain the FAQ from the standard locations
- described in this section (USENET newsgroups, archives, etc).
-
-
- 1.5.1) USENET
-
- FAQs can be found all over the Internet. The most common place to
- find FAQs are in USENET newsgroups. USENET is a distributed
- discussion system that exists on the Internet and some other
- networks. Many newsgroups have a FAQ specific to the subject of the
- newsgroup. It is also common, in some newsgroups (that by nature
- cover more ground), to have a number of FAQs on different, pertinent
- subjects. Some FAQs that have been approved by the *.answers
- moderators team (more on this in section 3) appear in the various
- *.answers newsgroups (news.answers, comp.answers, sci.answers, etc).
- A quick browse through these newsgroups will turn up many interesting
- articles - do yourself a favor and check from time to time.
-
-
- 1.5.2) Mailing lists
-
- Many mailing lists also have their own FAQs. Some mailing lists
- automatically mail the FAQ to the list of subscribers. Other lists
- send a notice advising subscribers how to get a copy. The second
- option seems to be the most prevalent. An important reason for this
- is that most FAQs are fairly large (some are even multi-part), and it
- wouldn't make sense to periodically mail it out to an entire mailing
- list. Some mailing lists automatically mail the FAQ(s) out to new
- subscribers (probably with the hope that this will avoid stupid
- questions), and then letting the subscriber retrieve updated versions
- of the FAQ(s) by ftp.
-
-
- 1.5.3) Archives
-
- Many FAQs are also archived. One important repository of FAQs and
- other articles is the news.answers archive maintained by the
- moderators of the news.answers newsgroup. All FAQs that have been
- approved for posting to the news.answers newsgroup are archived at
- ftp://rtfm.mit.edu (and all of the mirror sites) in the following
- directories:
-
- By subject line -
- /pub/usenet/news.group.name
- /pub/usenet-by-group/news.group.name
-
- By subject category -
- /pub/usenet/news.answers
- /pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers
- and for the other *.answers newsgroups
- /pub/usenet/*.answers (eg. comp.answers, sci.answers, rec.answers)
- /pub/usenet-by-group/*.answers
-
- By newsgroup hierarchy -
- /pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/news/group/name
-
-
- To find a FAQ by the newsgroup it belongs to, look in the directory
- /pub/usenet (which is the same as /pub/usenet-by-group). There you
- will find that each newsgroup has its own subdirectory (if
- applicable). As an example, if you are looking for one of my FAQs on
- microcontrollers, look in
- /pub/usenet-by-group/comp.answers/microcontroller-faq. There you
- will find three entries: 8051, 68hc11, and primer.
-
- You can also search for FAQs by working your way through the
- newsgroup hierarchy. Look in the directory /pub/usenet-by-hierarchy
- and you will find a subdirectory for each newsgroup category (news,
- comp, rec, alt, ...). Then just keep working your way down the
- hierarchy by entering the appropriate subdirectory to find the FAQs
- that you are looking for. For example, to find my FAQs on
- microcontrollers, look in /pub/usenet-by-hierarchy. Go into the comp
- subdirectory, and then go into the answers subdirectory. All of the
- FAQs posted to comp.answers will be listed under this directory.
-
-
- Instead of searching through the archive, many of the periodical
- postings on USENET are listed in the news.lists newsgroup under the
- heading:
- "List of Periodic Informational Postings, Part * *"
- These lists are archived at /pub/usenet/news.lists with the archive
- names:
- "List_of_Periodic_Informational_Postings,_Part_*_*"
-
- If you do not have access to anonymous ftp, you can also send e-mail
- to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu to get FAQs by e-mail.
-
- Initially, try a message with no Subject: and just the following
- lines in the body:
- help
- end
-
- One useful command is the index command. This returns a list of the
- contents of a particular directory. Some examples of how to use this
- command are:
- index
- index usenet-by-group
- index usenet-by-group/news.announce.newusers
- index usenet-by-group/news.answers
- Be warned that news.answers has a LOT of information in it. The
- directory listing that will be sent to you by Email will be LARGE.
-
- Another main FAQ archive is ftp://ftp.faqs.org/faqs/ which contains
- the same FAQs as the rtfm site.
-
-
- 1.5.4) World Wide Web
-
- The following sites have converted some or all of the FAQs into HTML
- making referenced links
- much easier to follow.
-
- http://www.faqs.org/faqs/
- http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/FAQ-List.html
- http://www.cs.ruu.nl/cgi-bin/faqwais
- http://www.intac.com/FAQ.html
- http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk/internet/news/faq/by_group.index.html
- http://www.ucsalf.ac.uk/cgibin/faqsearch
- http://www.superb.net/FAQ/
- http://www.landfield.com/faqs
-
- The World Wide Web uses hypertext links, contained in HTML (HyperText
- Markup Language) documents, to join pieces of information located
- either at the same or different sites. The links are in the form of
- URLs (uniform resource locators), a standard way of coding the
- location of hypertext information.
-
- Check with your system administrator or on-line service for more
- information on how to access the World Wide Web.
-
-
- 1.5.5) Collections and Compilations on CD-ROM
-
- This is a controversial subject among FAQ maintainers. Even my
- mentioning this subject puts me in danger ;-). Many FAQ maintainers
- (such as myself) object to the practice of some firms grabbing
- everything available from the USENET archives (including many
- copyrighted FAQs), putting it on a CD-ROM, and then selling it.
-
- In some ways, the idea of a FAQ being distributed in a CD-ROM
- collection isn't necessarily evil. After all, the main idea behind
- writing the FAQ in the first place is to share information with
- others. The CD-ROM is another way to share this information. It
- even gives access to those who don't have access to the Internet.
-
- On the other side of the coin, you'll find many FAQ maintainers who
- think that the whole idea of restricting the distribution of FAQs
- (theirs in particular) is misguided. That's fine - the owner of a
- FAQ can set whatever conditions for distribution that they want.
-
- The basic objection to the use of FAQs without the permission of the
- author, is one of control over copyrighted material. The FAQ
- maintainer works hard at compiling and maintaining the FAQ. The
- issue is not one of greed, since it is clear that the FAQ maintainer
- wants to share with others. It just isn't fair for someone else to
- make a buck at it.
-
- Some FAQ maintainers are fussy about the most recent information
- being available. A FAQ on a CD-ROM is out of date - PERIOD. The
- only place to get a FAQ, and be sure that it is up-to-date, is from
- the appropriate USENET group (or archive). It should be the right of
- the FAQ maintainer to decide what to do with the FAQ.
-
- Finally, the practice of using copyrighted works without permission
- is illegal. Most FAQ maintainers have a copyright statement, along
- with the phrase "all rights reserved", appended to their FAQ.
- Therefore, the FAQ maintainer, and no one else, has the right to do
- whatever (s)he wishes to do with the FAQ.
-
- If you come across such a FAQ (with the appropriate copyright
- statements) in a commercial collection, please notify the company you
- purchased it from that what they are doing is illegal. It would also
- be appropriate and appreciated if you would notify the author of the
- FAQ that his/her FAQ is illegally being sold.
-
-
- Many popular magazines have advertisements for collections on CD-ROM
- of Internet/USENET archives. I cannot verify whether they adhere to
- the proper legal practices in the compilation and distribution of the
- contents of their collections. I'm not even sure if I (personally)
- agree or disagree with the practice. Please keep the FAQ
- maintainers' interests (and feelings) in mind.
-
-
- 1.6) What was the first FAQ?
-
- FAQs on the Internet
- --------------------
-
- Eugene Miya is usually credited with being the author of the first
- FAQ. Although, in his words, "I didn't do the very first FAQ, but I
- probably did the first one of an informational nature." His article
- might possibly be the first one that was called a FAQ. Eugene points
- out that Mark Horton kept an "18 question" periodic post. This was
- posted to "general", which was later called news.announce.*. It had
- answers to questions such as "What does 'foobar' mean?" and "What
- does 'unix' stand for?"
-
- In 1982, while acting as an official NASA presence on the gatewayed
- ARPAnet mailing list SPACE[-Digest]/net.space news groups, he tired
- of seeing "dumb answers" to recurring questions. The situation as
- Eugene saw it was that the answers to these questions were are often
- poorly thought out, inconsistent, and uninformed. Furthermore, the
- posters of the questions often weren't trying to find the answers
- from books, magazines, or other references. They also weren't paying
- attention to previous answers to these same questions. Rather, they
- were just taking the easy way out - email the question and wait for
- the answer.
-
- Eugene therefore decided to start a series of monthly posts in 1983
- to rectify this sorry state of affairs. The mechanism of periodic
- postings was also a way to provide information to those who didn't
- have access to the archives.
-
- The first posts included the addresses of NASA Centers, some basic
- references, etc. He also had a yearly posting trying to attract
- summer hires for the various NASA centers. All of these are still
- being posted, albeit by someone else now.
-
-
- Interesting historical note (at least I think so)
- -------------------------------------------------
-
- While going through some junk (and I have lots of that) I ran across
- an old Mura, 300 baud, manual modem. Interestingly enough, a one page
- FAQ dated Dec. 1980 was included with the Owner's Manual. Entitled
- "Frequently Asked Questions about Public Utilities Charges for Your
- Muraphone" this FAQ discussed the various charges that the customer
- might incur from the phone and electric companies as a result of
- using a Muraphone (Mura's cordless phone). The issues were equally
- applicable for the use of a modem.
-
- Although not an Internet FAQ, Mura's small insert is of interest due
- to the use of the name "Frequently Asked Questions" way back in 1980.
-
-
- How far back?
- -------------
-
- If anyone is aware of an Internet FAQ predating Mark Horton's or a
- non-Internet FAQ predating Mura's, please send details to me at
- russ@shani.net.
-
-
- 1.7) So what IS a FAQ?
-
- From their humble beginnings as a way to prevent stupid questions
- from being asked on the newsgroups (yeah, I'm sure this really
- helped!), FAQs have become a form of contemporary literature - an art
- form spawned from the Internet. Today you'll find FAQs popping up
- just about anywhere - that is, anywhere there are frequently asked
- questions, and frequently answered answers. Anyone can write a FAQ,
- many people read them, and everyone benefits. Can't beat that with a
- stick.
-
-
- 2) WRITING A FAQ
-
- 2.1) Who may write/compile a FAQ?
-
- Anyone - no rule exists about who may or may not compile/write a FAQ.
- If there is a need for the information contained, your FAQ will be
- appreciated.
-
-
- 2.2) Why write a FAQ?
-
- The Internet (and USENET) is frequently referred to as the
- Information SuperHighway. You can argue the merits of this analogy,
- but you can't deny that there's lots of stuff out there. The big
- problem is finding it - and I mean BIG PROBLEM. It might be more
- accurate to refer to the Internet as "the large, multi-storied,
- over-crowded, Information Parking Lot." And the attendant is away!
-
- One thing that I've discovered in the short time that I've been on
- the Internet, is the willingness of those who frequent USENET to help
- others find their way around this great big wonderful mess. A FAQ is
- a good way to help lots of good folks at the same time. The first
- FAQ that I wrote was as a result of my search for information on
- Intel 8051 microcontrollers. I couldn't find anything for a long
- time. I used Archie, Gopher, and lots of other methods that I either
- read about or that friends recommended. In addition, I scanned the
- appropriate newsgroups. However, all that I could find were the same
- questions that I was asking. I nearly came to the conclusion that
- the Internet was a waste of time.
-
- After compiling a few facts, I put them together in a small article
- (under 5K) and posted it to a few USENET newsgroups that seemed to
- have a reasonable connection to the subject matter. In a short time
- I was inundated with Email. Readers of my FAQ from all over the
- world sent additions and corrections for the FAQ, requests to post to
- other newsgroups, kind words of appreciation, offers of free software
- and literature, and even a job offer. Today the FAQ is over 100K in
- size and two other FAQs were born from the leftovers from this first
- FAQ.
-
- As a result of this modest effort, I have learned a lot. I have more
- than enough information about the 8051 microcontroller, I learned my
- way around the Internet, and I have made connections with a number of
- really nice people. Even more, my FAQ had a snowballing affect.
- Several other people are now either maintaining or starting FAQs on
- other microcontrollers. In a short time, if a newcomer to the
- Internet is looking for information on microcontrollers, a pile of
- information will be immediately available, without the need for
- months of searching. Hopefully, the same will be true about the
- subject(s) that you are interested in.
-
-
- 2.3) What subjects are appropriate?
-
- Just about anything. If you see the same questions always popping up
- in your favorite newsgroups, a FAQ might be needed. First, look in
- the USENET archives and ask in the appropriate newsgroups if such a
- FAQ exists. If there is no FAQ, and you know the answers (or at
- least a good number of them), do yourself and everyone else a favor.
- Compile the questions and answers together in an article, and post it
- regularly to the newsgroup.
-
- Just as important, make sure that your FAQ is made available to the
- right audience. This means carefully choosing which newsgroups to
- post it to. Often, requests from other newsgroups will inform you
- that others are also interested in your FAQ.
-
-
- 2.4) How important is accuracy?
-
- If you are maintaining a listing of all of the Gilligan's Island
- episodes (yeah, there is such a FAQ, and it's great!), the chances of
- causing serious damage to someone are pretty slim.
-
- However, as a purely hypothetical example:
- - if you are maintaining a FAQ on the Pentium processor
- - you claim that the Pentium is 100% accurate and bug-free
- - someone reads your FAQ, bases a project on this information, and
- encounters a bug that has terrible consequences
- - at the least, you will be considered vermin by your dear reader
- - at the worst, you might find yourself being sued by same
-
- Some FAQs are in the business of sharing information about different
- products. This can be a bit touchy when trying to convey quality or
- usability. Care should be taken when relying on opinions (even, or
- especially, your own) or hearsay. Try to check out the details the
- best that you can. You might consider stating if an item is opinion
- or fact (whatever that is). Be open for suggestions. The inclusion
- of a disclaimer might be called for, although it really shouldn't be
- necessary (see section 4.2).
-
-
- 2.5) What is the required format and style for a FAQ?
-
- No format is required. You are free to be as creative as you wish.
- Keep in mind however, that the FAQ should be readable. Don't just
- cobble together a document that has no organization or flow.
-
- One common practice is to organize the FAQ as questions and answers,
- much like this article itself. This fits in well with the name
- Frequently Asked/Answered Questions. In other cases, it may make
- more sense to organize your FAQ as a reference. That is, lots of
- answers without the questions being stated (asked) specifically.
- Some FAQs can use both of these techniques in the same document. One
- part of the article can be in question/answer format, while the rest
- can be a reference.
-
- It is highly recommended that you establish a consistent and easy to
- read format. For this document I chose to use a hierarchical
- numbering system, but you may prefer another method (e.g. Roman
- numeral, Capital letter, number, small letter). Indenting the text
- also makes it easier to read the document (Ask just about any
- graphics artist, and they will tell you that white space is
- important). If you prefer a particular formatting technique, by all
- means use it. Just please keep in mind that everyone will get more
- out of your efforts if the result can be easily read.
-
- In addition, a FAQ can be in straight ASCII, or in several other
- special formats. I prefer using straight ASCII since it is more
- easily accessible to a larger number of users.
-
-
- One proposed format is "FAQs: A Suggested Minimal Digest Format".
- This article is posted periodically to:
- news.admin.misc, news.software.readers, news.answers
- The author is:
- clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis)
- This article is also archived as:
- faqs/minimal-digest-format
-
-
- Another format is the html document standard for use on the World
- Wide Web (WWW). This is becoming a popular way to "publish"
- information, however there are some disadvantages:
- - "webifying" or "htmlizing" isn't necessarily easy
- - many people prefer reading a straight ASCII document instead of
- jumping around
- - not everyone has access to the Web (oh yeah? who?)
-
- It is becoming common practice to maintain two versions of a FAQ.
- One is in straight ASCII and is posted to the appropriate USENET
- newsgroups. The other version is in html and is made available on a
- web site, giving the reader easy and instant access to the various
- site links contained in the FAQ.
-
-
- Grammar and spelling are also important. Poor grammar can cause
- ambiguities and make it difficult for the reader to understand what
- you're trying to say. Spelling mistakes are distracting, and can
- also create confusion. Although it isn't necessary to work towards a
- doctorate in English literature, take a few moments to review your
- work and clean it up.
-
-
- 2.6) What is the maximum size of a FAQ?
-
- FAQs have no size limit, although sometimes a system may impose
- certain restrictions - 64K is always a magic number. I've also seen
- 100K used as a limit. In addition to system limits, FAQs that are
- very large (over 64K) might be difficult to handle. You might
- consider splitting your FAQ up into pieces, with each piece having
- its own theme.
-
- Many old USENET sites will not accept articles over 64k. Some
- on-line services have smaller limits (32k for America Online). FAQ
- maintainers have to make a trade-off between the universality that
- they wish their FAQ to achieve, and the convenience of one large
- article as opposed to several smaller articles.
-
- The trend seems to be towards keeping FAQs in one piece, no matter
- how large they get. I recently asked the readers of my
- microcontroller FAQs if they wanted the FAQs split into multiple
- parts or kept in one piece. Even though two of the FAQs are over
- 100K, and the third is approaching 100K, the results were unanimously
- for keeping each of the FAQs intact and in one piece. The
- convenience of not having to juggle different pieces of the document
- (both for the author/maintainer and for the reader) outweighs the
- inconvenience of an occasional newsreader program that can't handle
- large articles. Also, most on-line services are in the process of
- removing size restrictions, making the size of the FAQ more dependent
- on personal taste, and less on "technology" (or the lack thereof).
-
-
- 2.7) What is a header and do I need one?
-
- A header contains descriptive information about your posting. If you
- post your FAQ by means of a newsreader, a [minimal] header will be
- supplied automatically. This header is required by the posting
- mechanism.
-
- Providing additional header information isn't really crucial unless
- there is a specific need (such as providing a version number). If
- you are considering submitting your FAQ for *.answers approval,
- certain header information is required. See section 5 for more
- details about this. If you aren't worried about approval for now,
- then you don't need to worry about the header either.
-
-
- 2.8) Additional information
-
- There are several additional sources of information on FAQs and FAQ
- writing.
-
- The main source of information on FAQs is the collection of documents that have been
- produced by the news.answers team. If you are considering putting together your own
- FAQ, these are required reading.
- Introduction to the *.answers newsgroups
- http://www.faqs.org/faqs/news-answers/introduction/preamble.html
- *.answers submission guidelines (the bible for getting your FAQ approved)
- http://www.faqs.org/faqs/news-answers/guidelines/preamble.html"
- *.answers post-approval guidelines
- http://www.faqs.org/faqs/news-answers/postapproval-guidelines/preamble.html
-
- A couple of other good sources of information on FAQs:
- Infinite Ink's (Nancy McGough) "Finding and Writing FAQs and
- Periodic Postings"
- http://www.jazzie.com/ii/internet/faqs.html (primary)
- http://www.best.com/~ii/internet/faqs.html (mirror)
- David Alex Lamb's "FAQ maintenance aids"
- http://www.qucis.queensu.ca/FAQs/FAQaid/
- FAQ author support page
- http://www.landfield.com/faqs/authors.html
-
- Eugene Miya also has an article "FAQ on FAQs n.g.FAQ" posted to:
- news.groups (hint: the n.g. is short for news.groups).
-
- A few other sites of interest:
- AOL's Internet Development and Outreach Team has put together a
- site dedicated to the subject of Netiquette.
- http://www.idot.aol.com/netiquette/
- "Net Lingo" is a site to aid in the understanding of the terms
- and acronyms found on the Internet.
- http://www.netlingo.com/
- The International Webmasters Assocation web site
- http://www.irwa.org/
-
-
- 3) POSTING/DISTRIBUTING A FAQ
-
- 3.1) How do I post/distribute my FAQ?
-
- If you only need to post your FAQ to one or two USENET newsgroups (or
- mailing lists), then you can just manually post it whenever the
- posting date rolls around. It is also possible to cross post it to
- several groups at once. Check with your system administrator for
- more details on how to do this.
-
- Some sites don't keep their news around for a long time, so your
- posting might disappear from those location sooner than you planned.
- For this reason, and to allow general access to your FAQ, it is a
- good idea to archive it somewhere if possible. This might be on a
- friendly ftp site that agrees to keep the current copy available for
- ftp'ing, on a mail server, or on your own system (as long as others
- have some sort of access).
-
- If your FAQ is to be posted to a large number of newsgroups, then it
- might be a good idea to take advantage of the faq-server set up by
- the *.answers team. The faq-server can be used to automatically post
- any periodic posting that is first approved by the *.answers team.
- It allows automatic posting at set intervals to as many newsgroups as
- required. A big advantage of using the faq-server is that it is
- quick, easy, and automatic. Check with the *.answers team for more
- details on this.
-
-
- 3.2) Where do I post/distribute my FAQ?
-
- Among the many places that you might choose to post or distribute
- your FAQ:
- - Internet Web sites
- - USENET newsgroups
- - Commercial on-line services (Compuserve, America On Line,
- BIX, Prodigy, etc)
- - Bulletin Board Systems (BBS)
- - manufacturers' literature (I have given my permission to
- several major corporations to include portions of my
- microcontroller FAQs in various product/technical documents.)
- - published works (many authors or publishers like to include
- portions of the appropriate FAQs in their works, this gives
- the reader an easy way to find more information on the
- subject)
- - a number of FAQs (as well as other articles that started out
- as information guides on USENET) are now being made available
- in print (these range from full-blown works issued by major
- publishers, to simple pamphlets printed privately)
-
-
- 3.3) How often do I post/distribute my FAQ?
-
- Posting your FAQ once a month should be sufficient. In some special
- circumstances, you might need to post your FAQ twice a month to keep
- it available in the newsgroup. Adding an expiration date in the
- header also helps keep it from being purged too soon. This doesn't
- always work, since your local system determines when the articles
- will be purged, and this doesn't always coincide with the expiration
- date.
-
-
- 4) LEGAL STUFF
-
- 4.1) Do I need to copyright my FAQ?
-
- If you invest a lot of time on your FAQ, and most FAQ maintainers do,
- you might be concerned about protecting your work. Under the Berne
- Convention (to which the vast majority of "Western" nations are
- signatories), as soon as something is published, then the
- writer/producer of the item is held to own the copyright. You can
- add (C) copyright 1997 if you want, but it is no longer necessary
- (sort of like chicken soup, doesn't necessarily help, but it couldn't
- hurt).
-
- Protecting your work with a copyright protects your rights if someone
- else decides to steal your work and make a buck from it. As
- mentioned above in section 1.5.5, it is very common for companies to
- compile information from the Internet, put it on a CD-ROM, and sell
- it. While copyright protection won't prevent this from happening, it
- at least makes it illegal and gives you legal recourse if you need.
-
- Check the copyright FAQ for further details. If it is important
- enough, you should consult with a lawyer experienced in copyright
- law.
-
-
- 4.2) Do I need a disclaimer?
-
- In this "sue the pants off of anyone that looks at me cross-eyed"
- world that we live in today, many FAQ maintainers are using
- disclaimers to protect against possible law suits. If your FAQ
- contains information that might be used in sensitive applications,
- and if something were to go terribly (and tragically) wrong, do you
- think that you would be sued? Does a bear defecate in the woods?
- See section 2.4 (How important is accuracy?) for more information on
- this subject.
-
- I'm not a lawyer, so I won't attempt to give definitive advice here
- (yes, this is a disclaimer), but something such as the following
- might help cover your tush. Whether it in fact really helps or not,
- I don't know.
-
- This article is provided as is without any express or implied
- warranties. While every effort has been taken to ensure the
- accuracy of the information contained in this article, the
- author/maintainer/contributors <take your pick> assume(s) no
- responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting
- from the use of the information contained herein.
-
- Another common disclaimer (that you have more than likely already
- encountered), is that used to disclaim any connection between the
- author's opinions and those of their employer. If your article is in
- anyway related to what you do for a living, and if there might be a
- conflict of interest, it might be worthwhile to include something
- like this:
-
- The contents of this article reflect my opinions only and not
- necessarily those of my employer.
-
-
- 5) APPROVAL FOR *.ANSWERS - THE BIG TIME
-
- 5.1) Why bother getting a FAQ approved for news.answers?
-
- When your FAQ is approved for posting to one or more of the *.answers
- newsgroups (news.answers, comp.answers, sci.answers, etc), it is
- brought to the attention of those who might not be regular readers of
- the newsgroup(s) that you usually post your FAQ to. This means that
- a larger potential audience gets a chance to know about your hard
- work.
-
- One of the major reasons for getting your FAQ approved by the
- news.answers team, is that a FAQ that is posted to one of the
- *.answers newsgroups is automatically archived. This is important
- since some sites purge old postings more frequently due to lack of
- space. The archive makes your FAQ available anytime someone wishes
- to ftp it from rtfm.mit.edu (the archive site) or any of its mirrors.
-
- Another important reason to get your FAQ approved, is that you can
- then use the faq-server to automatically post to whichever newsgroups
- you want.
-
- Last, and least or most (depending on your personality), there is
- always the fame and glory associated with being a FAQ maintainer.
- Once your FAQ becomes widely read and distributed, you will be amazed
- at how many times your name will be mentioned in postings or other
- articles.
-
-
- 5.2) How do I get my FAQ approved?
-
- In order to get a FAQ approved for posting to news.answers, you need
- to submit your FAQ to the *.answers team. For a detailed explanation
- of what you need to do to make your FAQ *.answers compliant, read the
- *.answers guideline. Check in news.answers to see if it is posted
- there under the heading "news.answers submission guidelines". If the
- document isn't currently available at your site, send a mail message
- to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the command "send
- usenet/news.answers/news-answers/guidelines" (without the quotes) in
- its body. You can of course ftp the document from the same place.
-
- Getting a FAQ approved is easy and doesn't require much on your part.
- The most important consideration for approval is a proper header. A
- minimal example follows:
-
- From: russ@silicom.co.il (Russ Hersch)
- Newsgroups: comp.robotics,comp.realtime,sci.electronics,comp.answers,sci.answers,news.answers
- Subject: 68hc11 microcontroller FAQ
- Followup-To: poster
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Summary: This article is a collection of information sources on
- the Motorola 68hc11 line of microcontrollers.
-
- Archive-name: microcontroller-faq/68hc11
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
-
- This is a real live header taken from one of my FAQs. Another
- example would be the header to the FAQ you are currently reading.
- The news.answers guideline document clearly explains the purpose of
- each line of the header. To make things simple, you can just take
- the above example and adapt it for your FAQ. Just a few cautions:
- - All of the fields in the above header are required and all must
- be included. There are additional, optional fields which may be
- included if you want to take the time to figure out what they're
- used for. Personally, I'm too lazy.
- - The Newsgroups line must have one space after the colon. All of
- the newsgroups must be listed on one line with no spaces or
- extraneous characters (which is why the Newsgroups line seems to
- fall off the edge of this document - it is not a mistake).
- - Followup-To must specify either "poster" (which directs followups
- back to the author of the FAQ) as done above or the home
- newsgroup of the FAQ (which directs followups to the newsgroup).
- Do not forget this field since responses then might be directed
- to the news.answers team, and they will not be very happy about
- that. Do NOT put an E-mail address in the "Followup-To:" field.
- - *** IMPORTANT *** The Approved heading is ONLY used when your
- FAQ is actually approved. When you are notified by the
- news.answers team that your FAQ has been accepted, then you may
- add this line to your header. DO NOT include this field until
- your FAQ is approved, or you will find yourself in deep doo-doo.
- - For a multi-line summary, the second line of the Summary field
- should start with at least one space.
- - One blank line should appear before the Archive-name line.
- - Archive-name should be fairly descriptive but short. If you
- aren't sure about this, take your best shot at it and the
- *.answers team will adjust it if necessary.
-
- Once you've added the appropriate header to your FAQ, you can submit
- it to the news.answers moderators for approval. Send it to the
- following address: news-answers@mit.edu. Don't expect an immediate
- answer as these guys are REALLY busy. They will send you back a
- letter indicating if your FAQ has been approved, and if not, what
- needs to be done to get it in order.
-
- If you have any questions, don't be embarrassed to ask the
- news.answers moderators, that's what they're there for. Most of the
- time the problem is simpler than you think. As you gain more
- experience, things will become clearer. Send your questions to:
- news-answers-request@mit.edu.
-
- To get your FAQ approved for posting to *.answers, you need to do the
- following:
- 1. Get (as described above) the "news.answers submission guidelines"
- article before you do anything. This is a good reference
- document which discusses many details that I chose not to delve
- into.
- 2. Make sure your FAQ is accurate. If you've already been posting
- it, then your readers have probably already helped you out on
- this. If you prefer, you can begin by posting the article marked
- as "DRAFT" a couple of times, to get feedback - then submit it
- for approval.
- 3. Make sure that your FAQ is organized so that the material is
- easily accessible to the reader.
- 4. Similarly, make sure your FAQ is formatted nicely (proper margins
- and indentation). This really helps when trying to read it.
- 5. Prepare a header (as described above) to add to the beginning of
- your FAQ.
- 6. Submit your FAQ for approval.
- The address for submitting your article:
- news-answers@mit.edu - ONLY for submissions (no questions!)
- The address for requesting information and for asking questions
- about the process:
- news-answers-request@mit.edu (questions and requests for
- help)
- 7. Please be patient and don't ask the moderators about the status
- of your submission. They are very busy and are not able to deal
- with "nuisance" mail. Use your judgement - if your teenage
- daughter was in Kindergarten when you submitted the article, then
- you might be justified in sending them a note. If she was only
- in fourth grade, think twice.
-
-
- 5.3) FAQ maintainers
-
- Once your FAQ is approved, you are now included in the fraternity of
- elite individuals known as FAQ maintainers (FAQers might not be the
- best term for obvious reasons). Pass out cigars, throw a party, have
- a beer, and write and tell Mom about it.
-
- So what now? Well, you should prepare yourself for Email. Possibly
- lots of it. You've now become a "personality" on the Internet (as
- Jonathan Horen, a good friend of mine put it), and an "authority" on
- the subject that your FAQ covers (whether you really are or not).
- You will more than likely become a central address for those who have
- questions about the topic that you've addressed in your FAQ. Enjoy
- yourself - you will end up "meeting" a lot of very nice people from
- all over the world. These new friends of yours will help you keep
- your FAQ up-to-date. Everyone will benefit.
-
- It is very likely that you will find yourself very busy maintaining
- your FAQ. Some FAQs require a lot of attention. Others, once they
- hit their maturity, just sort of coast for a while. My
- microcontroller FAQs keep me pretty busy and often keep me from
- working with the very microcontrollers that I originally set out to
- do. Since I'm still learning a lot about the subject, I don't mind
- this too much. However, I would like to apply what I'm learning and
- actually accomplish something. I wouldn't want anyone to say (to
- paraphrase an old saying), "Those who can do, those who can't write
- the FAQ."
-
-
- 5.4) FAQ maintainers mailing list
-
- As a FAQ maintainer, you might want to consider joining the
- faq-maintainers mailing list. This is used for discussing issues
- related to the *.answers newsgroups and the maintenance of FAQs.
- There is also a faq-maintainers-announce list, which is used only for
- announcements. Subscribers to the faq-maintainers list automatically
- receive messages sent to faq-maintainers-announce.
-
- Traffic on the faq-maintainers list is sporadic and the topics
- eclectic. There are times that I feel this mailing list is really
- useful, other times I have no use for it whatsoever. Sometimes the
- traffic is heavy and the topics varied, some interesting and some not
- so interesting (in my opinion). Other times all you can do is
- scratch your head trying to figure out what's going on. Try it out
- for yourself and see if you get anything out of it. You can always
- terminate your subscription if you don't find it useful (don't try
- asking for your money back though :-).
-
- To subscribe to the faq-maintainers mailing list, send email to
- <faq-maintainers-request@consensus.com> with "subscribe" (without the
- quotes) in the Subject. If you have problems, send the command
- "help".
-
- If you wish to subscribe to just the faq-maintainers-announce list,
- send an Email request to faq-maintainers-request@rtfm.mit.edu with a
- short message in the body requesting a subsription to the announce
- list.
-
- If you have problems subscribing or unsubscribing to the Faq
- maintainers mailing list, send email to
- <owner-faq-maintainers@consensus.com>.
-
- The faq-maintainers lists are not restricted to only those who have
- [approved] FAQs that are posted to news.answers. Anyone who is
- interested in the fine points of FAQ writing/maintaining is invited
- to participate in the discussions. If you are considering putting a
- FAQ together, even if you don't intend on getting it approved, the
- faq-maintainers list is a valuable source of information, and a good
- place to ask questions.
-
-
- 6) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
-
- I would like to thank the following individuals who have helped and
- contributed to this document:
- Pamela Greene, Ping Huang (a true gentleman and a scholar), Thomas
- Koenig, Aliza Panitz, and the rest of the news.answers
- moderation team for their valuable help in getting my various
- FAQs approved for news.answers and for providing important
- suggestions to this document
- Mark Moraes (the news.announce.newusers moderator) for his
- valuable contributions and continuing support
- The subscribers to the FAQ Maintainers mailing list who from time
- to time provide valuable insight and who are always there when
- help is needed
- Mark Israel (the maintainer of the alt.usage.english FAQ) who
- pointed out a lot of errors that I finally fixed much later!
- Carl Aude for his suggestions about copyrights.
- You, my readers for your support and encouragement - I'm glad I
- was able to help.
- My three rug rats (son Menachem, and daughters Michal and Edya)
- for your "Frequently Asked (stupid?) Questions" :-) and our 10
- month old son, Noam, who hasn't yet started asking questions.
-
- Special thanks to my Mom and Dad (Gloria and Morton Hersch) who never
- hear from me because I'm always busy with my FAQs. I'm writing a FAQ
- about myself to send to them, so they'll know what I'm up to.
-
- __________________________________________________________
-
- I disclaim everything. The contents of this article might be totally
- inaccurate, inappropriate, misguided, or otherwise perverse - except for
- my name (you can probably trust me on that).
-
- Copyright (c) 1995 - 1997 by Russ Hersch, all rights reserved.
- This FAQ may be posted to any USENET newsgroup, on-line service, web
- site, or BBS as long as it is posted in its entirety and includes this
- copyright statement.
- This FAQ may be distributed as class material on diskette or CD-ROM as
- long as there is no charge (except to cover materials).
- This FAQ may not be distributed for financial gain.
- This FAQ may not be included in commercial collections or compilations
- without express permission from the author.
-
- -----------------------------------
- Russ Hersch - russ@shani.net
-