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- From: rsingers@hotmail.com
- Newsgroups: rec.games.miniatures.warhammer,news.answers,rec.answers
- Subject: [FAQ] rec.games.miniatures.warhammer Monthly FAQ
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- Summary: Information for posters to rec.games.miniatures.warhammer
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- Date: 20 Apr 2004 13:45:36 GMT
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-
- Archive-name: games/miniatures/warhammer-faq
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
- Last-Modified: January 17th, 2003
- Version: 3.1
- URL: http://www.rgmw.org
- Copyright: (c) 2002 Robert Singers
- Maintainer: Robert Singers <rsingers@hotmail.com>
-
- This article covers questions frequently asked by new comers to
- rec.games.miniatures.warhammer and those wishing to understand common
- practice and courtesy in the newsgroup.
-
- HTML versions of this FAQ can be found at http://www.rgmw.org
-
- The following topics are addressed.
-
- 1) What is RGMW?
- 1.1) What is the history of RGMW?
- 1.2) What topics are appropriate for RGMW?
- 1.3) What topics are inappropriate for RGMW?
-
- 2) Posting to RGMW
- 2.1) What should I do before posting?
- 2.2) What format should my post be in?
- 2.3) What can I include in a post.?
- 2.4) What are tags?
- 2.5) I want to ask a question, any tips?
- 2.6) I posted and no one has answered what do I do?
- 2.7) I want to sell or advertise something on the newsgroup.
-
- 3) Flame Wars
- 3.1) What do I do if I get flamed?
- 3.2) To kill file or not.
- 3.3) Who is Erik Setzer and what is 'the shunning'?
-
- Appendix One: Tags
- Game Systems - Fantasy and Historical
- Game Systems - SciFi
- General Topics
- Commercial Posts
-
- 1) What is RGMW?
-
- 1.1) What is the history of RGMW?
-
- Once upon a time there was a newsgroup called rec.games.miniatures.
- A request for discussion was called to split it into three groups
- rec.games.miniatures.historical, rec.games.miniatures.misc and
- rec.games.miniatures.warhammer. You can read the RFD here
- http://www.faqs.org/ftp/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/rec/rec.games.
- miniatures-reorg.
-
- The charter for rec.games.miniatures.warhammer is
-
- 'Rec.games.miniatures.warhammer shall be an unmoderated
- recreational newsgroup devoted to the discussion of various
- fantasy and science-fiction miniatures games set in the
- "Warhammer" universe, including but not limited to such
- games as Warhammer Fantasy Battles (WFB), Warhammer 40000
- (40K) and Man o' War (MOW).'
-
- 1.2) What topics are appropriate for RGMW?
-
- The appropriate topics for RGMW are the games produced by Games
- Workshop and modelling or painting discussions related to said games.
- Discussions about other game systems are not appropriate unless they
- are comparisons to Games Workshop games.
-
- 1.3) What topics are inappropriate for RGMW?
-
- RGMW has a very high tolerance for off topic posts as long as they
- are properly tagged as such (see 2.4) What are tags?). However
- having said that there are a number of topics that spark long
- and nasty flame wars. These are
- - Splitting the newsgroup
- - Ethnicity or Race
- - Gender or Sexual Orientation
- - Copyright Infringement or Theft of Intellectual Property
- (leeching).
- - Telling people to stop complaining about the business practices of
- game and miniature companies.
-
- 2) Posting to RGMW
-
- 2.1) What should I do before posting?
-
- Before posting to RGMW you should read this FAQ in its entirety and
- bone up on your netiquette. RGMW as a whole has a low threshold for
- poor netiquette and top posting in general. For more information on
- Usenet and Netiquette, refer to news groups such as
- news.announce.newusers and news.newusers.question
- (http://members.fortunecity.com/nnqweb/) or search for "netiquette"
- with your favourite search engine.
-
- Netiquette may seem a trivial thing but RGMW is a truly international
- newsgroup and many of the posters do not have English as a first
- language. Add to this that discussing rules or army lists is made
- difficult by poor netiquette such as top posting, it is essential
- that you follow Usenet conventions if you wish to get any value out
- of RGMW.
-
- Another good idea before posting is to use a search engine before
- asking questions. Google (http://www.google.com) is a good search
- engine to use as it also allows you to search news group archives.
-
- 2.2) What format should my post be in?
-
- All posts to RGMW should be in text. None of the RFCs relating to
- newsgroups specify HTML as a valid message format. Not all
- newsreaders can read HTML posts and they display as garbage.
- Newsreaders and WebTVs that default to HTML are the misbehaved
- applications not those of us with properly configured newsreaders.
-
- You should also try to post in English as it is the primary language
- of the newsgroup. If your English is not good then by all means
- explain this and ask for help. Often there will be someone who
- speaks your language that can help.
-
- There are also various non english web forums and an Italian news
- group for Warhammer nttp://free.it.giochi.warhammer.
-
- 2.3) What can I include in a post.?
-
- You can include text in posts. RGMW is not a binary newsgroup so if
- you want to include a picture then you will need to place it on a web
- server and include a link.
-
- There are plenty of free web servers such as Tripod or Freewebz that
- you can use. Your ISP might also provide a certain amount of space
- free or at a low cost.
-
- 2.4) What are tags?
-
- Tags are an indicator of what subject or game system you are
- discussing. They are not mandatory but they definitely a good idea.
- Common netiquette does dictate however that anything not on the topic
- of the news groups should be tagged as Off Topic [OT]. Tags are
- simple to use. You simply include the appropriate abbreviation in
- your subject line. They should be enclosed in square brackets "["
- and "]" and separated from the subject text by a space.
-
- Many people use tags to colour code the subject line based on games
- system.
-
- See Appendix One: Tags for a list of current tags. You can use
- multiple tags, just remember to include a space between the tags as
- many newsreader filters don't appear to work without it.
-
-
- 2.5) I want to ask a question, any tips?
-
- Chances are that any question that you may want to ask has been asked
- before. It's a good idea to use the Google newsgroup search facility
- to check. You can save yourself time and get more information by
- being able to expand on previous conversations.
-
- Make sure that you use the tag appropriate to the topic so you catch
- the attention of the right people. If you have a question about
- Chaos in Warhammer 40K then having Warhammer Fantasy Battle players
- respond is not likely to help much.
-
- Make sure your spelling, punctuation, and grammar are the best you
- can manage. Answering a question when you don't know what the
- questioner means is difficult.
-
- 2.6) I posted and no one has answered what do I do?
-
- RGMW runs on Usenet time. There is a propagation delay as your post
- travels between servers around the world. If no one has answered
- your post it's for one of two reasons. The first is that no one's
- interested and the second and more likely due to the promiscuous
- nature of RGMW is that no one has had a chance to. Give it at least
- twenty-four hours before posting the same thing again.
-
- If you do post the same or similar thing you will get flamed.
- Multiple posts equate to spam in most people's minds.
-
- 2.7) I want to sell or advertise something on the newsgroup.
-
- The newsgroup is not a commercial notice board. People don't read it
- with the aim of purchasing items. For selling your best option is to
- use Ebay or a national auction site, as most people who buy second
- hand miniatures and rules don't take notice of ads on RGMW. If you
- must make posts about buying, selling, or trading items then use the
- appropriate commercial tags (see Appendix One: Tags - Commercial
- Posts).
-
- If you have multiple items for sale them combine them into one post.
-
- RGMW is however a good place to discuss various online merchants and
- give feedback.
-
- If you are a commercial operation do not constantly spam the
- newsgroup with advertisements. The members of the newsgroups will
- take every opportunity to make complaints to your news provider and
- ISP and have you closed down. If you must advertise and it will only
- garner you poor will, then make sure you use a tag.
-
- 3) Flame Wars
-
- 3.1) What do I do if I get flamed?
-
- Flame wars are common in RGMW. They are part of it's charm. If you
- find yourself being flamed and are surprised the first thing to do is
- go back and read whatever it was that you wrote that caused you to be
- flamed. If you were in the wrong or may not have explained yourself
- well then apologise. It's amazing how much goodwill an honest
- apology will buy you. If you are in the right then stick up for
- yourself or let it go. Just be aware that anyone who has been
- around the newsgroup for a while is likely to have a thick skin and
- a certain amount of skill flaming, or is just obnoxious, be careful!
-
- 3.2) To kill file or not.
-
- At some stage you are bound to run into someone on the newsgroup that
- you just can't stand or won't cut you a break. Think about using a
- newsreader with a kill file.
-
- Check out http://www.hyphenologist.co.uk/killfile/killfilefaqhtm.htm
- for information on how to use kill files with various news readers.
-
- Kill filing people cuts down on pointless noise on newsgroups.
-
- 3.3) Who is Erik Setzer and what is 'the shunning'?
-
- Erik Setzer is RGMW's most persistent 'troublemaker'. Many new
- comers to RGMW complain about how unfairly he's being treated, until
- they experience his hypocrisy for themselves. The shunning is an
- attempt to teach Erik restraint by asking people not to encourage
- him. Any 'shunning' posts should include the [SHUN] tag so they can
- be filtered. If you want to know about Erik, use Google to look at
- his past exploits. The best option is to kill file Erik if you
- don't like what he posts.
-
- Appendix One: Tags
-
- Game Systems - Fantasy and Historical
- [WFB] Warhammer Fantasy Battles
- [MORD] Mordheim
- [WM] WarMaster
- [LOTR] Lord of the Rings
- [BB] Blood Bowl
- [MOW] Man o' War
- [AHQ] Advanced HeroQuest (MB/GW)
- [TAL] Talisman
- [WAB] Warhammer Ancient Battles (Warhammer Historical Wargames Ltd)
- [WFRP] Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play (Hogshead)
- [WQ] Warhammer Quest
-
- Game Systems - SciFi
- [40K] Warhammer 40,000. [40K2] can be used for comments specific
- to 2nd edition, and [RT] for comments about Rogue Trader (the
- original version of Warhammer 40K).
- [INQ] Inquisitor
- [BFG] Battlefleet Gothic
- [EPIC] Epic Warhammer 40,000 includes [SM] Space Marine and [TL]
- Titan Legions
- [SH] Space Hulk
- [NEC] Necromunda
- [GM] Gorka Morka
-
- General Topics
- [Paint] Questions regarding painting, non-system specific (you never
- know when a 40K player will have a good idea pertaining to
- your fantasy figures).
- [Model] Questions about modeling, non-system specific (you never
- know when a 40K player will have a good idea pertaining to
- your fantasy figures either)
- [WD] Questions or comments on White Dwarf
- [GW] Anything regarding Games Workshop, but not related to any of
- the above, such as prices.
- [FAQ] Questions or discussion regarding either the RGMW FAQ proper,
- or the RGMW MiniFAQ, including posting of said FAQs.
- [RGMW] For any group business.
- [OT] Anything that has nothing to do with Warhammer in all it's
- incarnations such as birthday announcements, season's
- greetings, etc.
- [Rant] This tag is to be used in conjunction with any of the above
- tags, and denotes the post as a rant (read: long, impassioned
- complaint, or whine). For example [40K] [Rant] denotes the
- post as rant directed at Warhammer 40,000.
-
- Commercial Posts
- [WTB] Want To Buy
- [WTS] Want To Sell
- [WTT] Want To Trade
- [FS] For Sale
- [FT] For Trade
- [AD] If you have to post an advert use one of these tags.
- [ADVERT] As above.
- [AUC] For posting or responding to auctions.
- [EBAY] For posting or respondin to EBay auctions.
- [SWP] Shameless Website Plug: If the topic at hand happens to
- relate to something you are involved in and you want mention
- this then you can use this self-depreciating tag.
-