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- Message-ID: <sf/fandom-faq_1082200966@rtfm.mit.edu>
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- Expires: 31 May 2004 11:22:46 GMT
- X-Last-Updated: 2002/03/09
- From: vr@redbird.org (Vicki Rosenzweig)
- Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom,rec.answers,news.answers
- Subject: rec.arts.sf.fandom FAQ
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Followup-to: rec.arts.sf.fandom
- Organization: Oxygen Investigation Committee
- Summary: This chatty introduction to rec.arts.sf.fandom answers
- a few frequently asked questions about the newsgroup and
- about science fiction fandom and provides some
- orientation to the newsgroup.
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU
- Date: 17 Apr 2004 11:28:17 GMT
- Lines: 682
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- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu rec.arts.sf.fandom:709168 rec.answers:86633 news.answers:269969
-
- Archive-name: sf/fandom-faq
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
- Last-modified: 2002/03/08
- Version: 1.7.4
- Copyright: (c) Vicki Rosenzweig
- Maintainer: Vicki Rosenzweig <vr@redbird.org>
-
- Frequently asked questions for rec.arts.sf.fandom:
-
- Questions included in this FAQ:
-
- 1. What is this newsgroup about?
-
- 2. But where's the science fiction?
-
- 3. What other fannish newsgroups and mailing lists are there?
-
- 4. So, is anything off-topic here?
-
- 5. Can I post my e-zine or convention report to this group?
-
- 6. So, why do you all post this endless chat?
-
- 7. I don't want chat, I want information. Can I find it on the Web?
-
- 8. Where else can I find out about upcoming conventions?
-
- 9. You said it's social. Do I have to know you folks already?
-
- 10. How do I introduce myself?
-
- 11. What is a RASSEF Award?
-
- 12. Who gives out RASSEF Awards?
-
- 13. Can I give out RASSEF Awards?
-
- 14. Just like that, without asking anyone?
-
- 15. Where can I read RASSEF Award-winning posts?
-
- 16. And what is a RASSEF Gold Star?
-
- 17. Why do the subject lines have nothing to do with the contents
- of the posts?
-
- 18. Is this a family newsgroup?
-
- 19. You know what I mean!
-
- 20. Who is Patrick O'Brian?
-
- 21. Why all the Jewish minutiae?
-
- 22. What's the difference between beer and ale?
-
- 23. Why do people worry when someone's name is the subject
- of a post?
-
- 24. What defines an sf convention?
-
- 25. Are "media conventions" sf conventions?
-
- 26. What's the difference between a "membership" and a "ticket"?
-
- 27. What is the Worldcon?
-
- 28. How do I join?
-
- 29. I can't afford the amount for the upcoming Worldcon, and
- would like to find a less expensive membership. Or, I want to
- transfer my membership, can I do that here?
-
- 30. What is whinging?
-
- 31. What are TAFF and DUFF?
-
- 32. What about the rest of the world?
-
- 33. What is V*nn* B*nt*, why shouldn't I talk about her, and
- why are there those funny stars in her name?
-
- 34. Avram, can we put this in the FAQ? Pretty please?
-
- 35. What does AKICIF mean?
-
- 36. Are cinnamon raisin bagels real bagels?
-
- 37. D?
-
- 38. Why "You are XXX and I claim my five pounds?"
-
- 39. I think the FAQ is jes' fine, except I didn't see a single
- reference to Pogo or Walt Kelly in it.
-
- 40. *
-
- 41. Who's Bob?
-
- 42. Who is Vicki Rosenzweig and why is she keeper of this
- FAQ?
-
- 43. What is Mornington Crescent?
-
- *Frequently Asked (Hah!) Questions for rec.arts.sf.fandom:*
-
- 1. What is this newsgroup about?
-
- A. First of all, science fiction fandom. That includes
- conventions, fanzines, fan funds, and other matters related to
- fandom. Second of all, almost anything else people want to talk
- about. The true subject of this newsgroup appears to be food, but
- politics, gardening, religion, and almost anything else is grist
- for the mill.
-
- 2. But where's the science fiction?
-
- A. Discussions of written science fiction (novels and short
- stories) are in rec.arts.sf.written. Discussions of movies and
- television are in a number of places, including
- rec.arts.sf.movies, rec.arts.horror.movies, rec.arts.horror.tv,
- rec.arts.sf.tv, rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5,
- rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info, rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated,
- rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap, rec.arts.comics.other-media, and
- arguably rec.arts.sf.starwars.info and rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc,
- and probably a large number of alt.* groups. If you want to be a
- science fiction writer, you might want to read
- rec.arts.sf.composition. Announcements of science-fiction-related
- events (radio programs, author readings, online discussions, etc.)
- go in rec.arts.sf.announce, which is moderated, and may be
- crossposted to one of the other rec.arts.sf.* newsgroups.
-
- For more information, check rec.arts.sf.announce for
- the regular posting "Rec.arts.sf groups, an introduction."
-
- 3. What other fannish newsgroups and mailing lists are there?
-
- A. uk.people.sf-fans is a newgroup focusing on science
- fiction and fandom in the UK. upsf is a good place for
- announcements and discussion of club and pub meetings in
- the UK. As of August, 1999, the newer upsf group has far
- less message traffic than rassef. rec.music.filk is for
- discussion of filk music. There's also a whole
- rec.arts.comics.* hierarchy.
-
- Timebinders is a mailing list for people interested in the history
- of sf fandom, but also carries a fair amount of other fannish chat.
- To subscribe to the Timebinders mailing list, send mail to
- LISTSERV@SFLOVERS.ORG with the command
-
- SUB TIMEBINDERS YOURFIRSTNAME YOURLASTNAME
-
- SMOFS is a low-traffic list that deals with convention-running.
- To get on smofs, send mail to smofs-request@sflovers.org.
- However, you should not join this list unless you have some
- experience with or interest in con-running. It's not a general-purpose
- mailing list. Please include some information about yourself (for
- example, what concoms you are or have been on) with your
- subscription request.
-
- The newsgroup alt.fandom.cons is deprecated, along with the rest
- of the alt.fandom.* groups, since rec.arts.sf.fandom has
- essentially replaced it. However, there is no mechanism for
- removing an alt group, so it will probably be with us for a long
- time, and some people like the fact that there's very little
- traffic on alt.fandom.cons.
-
- 4. So, is anything off-topic here?
-
- Two answers, one long, one short:
-
- A. Discussions of actual science fiction will get more response
- elsewhere in rec.arts.sf.* but aren't actually off-topic if they
- arise out of on-going discussions here. But if you want to ask who
- wrote "The Vitanuls" or for the name of the Brunner story about
- the children who got born without any souls, please do it on
- rec.arts.sf.written - and the same goes for similar media questions
- in the appropriate forums. Mostly, what's inappropriate here is
- what's inappropriate in general: spam and trolling. It's okay to
- post "CON: Namelesscon, April 1, Arkham, Massachusetts" and tell us
- where it is, who the guests are, how to register, and so on. It's
- not okay to tell us how to Make Money Fast. And don't post that CON
- announcement every day for a month, but occasional reminders and
- updates are reasonable. (If your guest of honor has had to cancel,
- or you've just convinced J. Famous Author to attend, sure, post
- that.) Also, binaries don't belong in non-binary newsgroups, of
- which this is one. Basic netiquette. See news.announce.newusers and
- news.newusers.questions. There is no Cabal, but it seems to be
- watching out for us anyway.
-
- A. This is a social group--what is off or on topic is very hard to
- define. (However, commercial posts are generally off-topic.) Your
- best bet, as with most newsgroups, is to read the newsgroup for a
- while and get a feeling for the place.
-
- 5. Can I post my e-zine or convention report to this group?
-
- A. If you think it will interest us, sure. If it's very long, you
- might want to post a pointer to a Web address instead, if the zine
- is available on the Web. If your zine involves lots of graphics,
- definitely point to a Website, or give us a plaintext version with a
- note of where we can find the illustrations. Pointers to convention
- photos are also welcome.
-
- 6. So, why do you all post this endless chat?
-
- A. Basically, science fiction fandom is a loose community of people,
- many of whom live a long way from each other. rec.arts.sf.fandom is
- one of the ways we keep in touch with our friends. (Others include
- fanzines, conventions, clubs, other newsgroups and mailing lists
- (see question 3) and the telephone.)
-
- 7. I don't want chat, I want information. Can I find it on the Web?
-
- A. Quite a bit of it, yes. http://fanac.org/index.html is a good
- starting point for stuff about science fiction fandom. The UK SF
- Archives at http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/ include Dave
- Langford's fannish newszine Ansible, Bridget Wilkinson's Fans
- Across the World Newsletter, and Dave Langford's TAFF page. The New
- England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) has a variety of useful
- links to clubs, sf-related archives, convention listings, sf
- publishers, and fans' email addresses, as well as information about
- NESFA, Boskone, and NESFA Press, at http://www.nesfa.org/
- The Plokta News Network at http://www.plokta.com/pnn has news, con
- reports, and the occasional fanzine review. The emphasis is on
- British fandom, but they cover other parts of the world as well.
-
- Rich brown (drgafia@aol.com) has put together a glossary of fannish
- slang. It's available on the Web at
- http://www.smithway.org/fstuff/termsA-B.html (that's the starting
- point, and includes links to the rest of the alphabet).
-
- 8. Where else can I find out about upcoming conventions?
-
- A. The SF-Lovers Conventions Listing at
- http://www.sflovers.org/Reference/fandom/conlist/cons.html
- and the ConNotation UK, European and World Science Fiction
- Convention Listing at http://www.smof.com/conlist.htm.
- There's also a Webring of sf con Web sites, so if you find
- one (possibly via the listings cited above) you're likely to
- find pointers to quite a few others.
-
- 9. You said it's social. Do I have to know you folks already?
-
- A. No. Think of it as wandering into a party that your neighbor is
- hosting. Hang out, see if we're talking about stuff that interests
- you, and make yourself comfortable.
-
- 10. How do I introduce myself?
-
- A. Any way you like. You can do a formal delurk--"Hi, I'm Z, I've
- been reading this newsgroup for a while. I have three children,
- live in a tree in Maine, and want to be a tiger when I grow up"--or
- just jump into the conversation. If we might know you from other
- contexts, you can include your name or nickname if your email address
- is less than informative. ("Mike3765@aol.com" won't help us know
- which Mike you are.) If, on the other hand, you want to be known only
- as "Purple Rain" and by your yahoo address, you can do that, but
- some people may not take you seriously.
-
- 11. What is a RASSEF Award?
-
- A. This is one of the ways people say "Hey, that was a really great
- post." The emphasis is on humor, but rassf awards are given for
- excellent serious posts as well. Since nobody runs this newsgroup,
- they have no official status, but people who receive them tend to
- cherish them. The awarders sometimes dress them up--not just "RASSEF
- Award" but "RASSEF Award with gold leaves and elephants" or some
- other notional ornamentation that refers back to the post being
- commended. Patrick Nielsen Hayden introduced them here (imported
- from The WELL), and Jo Walton started dressing them up.
-
- 12. Who gives out RASSEF Awards?
-
- A. Anyone who has been sufficiently moved by a great post.
-
- 13. Can I give out RASSEF Awards?
-
- A. Yes.
-
- 14. Just like that, without asking anyone?
-
- A. Yes. But don't hand out too many, it cheapens the effect. They
- should be awarded for what you think are really great posts. If you
- think there are dozens every day, raise your standards.
-
- 15. Where can I read RASSEF Award-winning posts?
-
- A. There is no specific archive, but you can always try using Google's
- Usenet search for messages with "RASSEF Award" in their bodies, then read
- the messages they're following up to. Or just read whatever Ray
- Radlein posts.
-
- 16. And what is a RASSEF Gold Star?
-
- A. Aahz Maruch introduced this term for posts he thinks deserve
- recognition, but aren't quite as noteworthy as those that get RASSEF
- Awards. Since there is no scale for what qualifies for an Award, in
- practice the two are very similar.
-
- 17. Why do the subject lines have nothing to do with the contents of
- the posts?
-
- A. Because people are lazy. Given the chatty nature of this
- newsgroup, topic drift is a way of life. And it's easier to just
- hit "reply" than to edit the subject line to say "Tom Godwin's Law
- (was Re: Nazi Space Pilots)."
-
- 18. Is this a family newsgroup?
-
- A. Well, it seems to have a bunch of cousins, but no spouse or
- children. And it's not very good at match-making, though we've tried.
-
- 19. You know what I mean!
-
- A. Okay, okay. The FAQ compiler just dislikes that particular
- euphemism. Most of the posts on this group are suitable for all
- audiences, at least in the sense that they're unlikely to scar
- anyone's psyche. We do, however, talk about whatever we feel like,
- and that has been known to include sex, politics, and religion. If
- reminders that ordinary people differ from you in any or all of these
- areas might be painful, you may not be happy in this newsgroup, since
- there's no guarantee that the thread labeled "Patrick O'Brian" or
- "Orycon report" won't be about weaponry or sex. Caveat lector.
-
- 20. Okay, who is Patrick O'Brian?
-
- A. The author of a series of novels about the British Navy, which
- many people on this newsgroup enjoy and talk about.
-
- 21. Why all the Jewish minutiae?
-
- A. Why is this newsgroup different from all other newsgroups?
-
- A. I have no idea, but they do keep coming back. Combine the
- newsgroup's general talent for topic drift with a penchant to analyze
- any philosophical or legalistic question (and many of the questions
- about Jewish practice are both) into the ground, and it's probably
- inevitable.
-
- 22. What's the difference between beer and ale?
-
- A. (by Mike Cheater, with minor editing by Vicki Rosenzweig): Ale
- is a drink that can be traced back to prehistoric times from Sumeria
- and is brewed from malted barley, yeast and water to produce an
- alcoholic beverage.
-
- Beer was introduced to Britain in the 15th century by brewers from
- Germany and Flanders. Essentially beer is ale with the addition of
- hops, a flowering plant, which adds to the bitterness of the product
- but more importantly enables it to keep longer.
-
- Malt, hops, yeast and liquor (water) were the traditional ingredients
- for beer until the 1950s (and in Germany are still the only permitted
- ingredients [I think EU regulations have overridden this, but "brewed
- according to the German beer purity laws" sells beer, even outside
- Germany.--VR]). In the late 1950s and early 1960s British brewers,
- amongst others, discovered that the quality of beer was dependent on
- the skills of the cellar man of the pub who sold them. To produce a
- more standard product practices like pasteurisation (to kill the yeast
- bacteria that gave living i.e. real beer its character) and the
- addition of carbon dioxide (to make the beer fizzy and give the
- impression of being alive) became common since the product only had to
- be kept at a constant temperature and the skills of the cellar man
- were dispensed with. Many people disliked the cold metallic taste of
- "keg" beer and in the U.K. an organisation called CAMRA (The Campaign
- for Real Ale) emerged to promote the cause of traditional beer. The
- difference between ale and beer was forgotten for the sake of a
- memorable acronym. Nowadays Real Ale is a term used to refer to Beer
- produced to a traditional recipe whilst beer is a generic term that
- includes real ale, keg bitters, lagered beer and others.
-
- 23. Why do people worry when someone's name is the subject
- of a post?
-
- A. Because that type of subject line may convey the wrong message.
- For a long time, it has been a rassef tradition that bad news about the
- person is conveyed in such posts--announcements of ill turns of health
- or death, for instance. Rassef functions as a bush telegraph--we pass
- along information about friends and acquaintances, because other people
- may also want to know. It's best to use subject lines which are more
- informative--"Query about John Barnes's Books"; "Fred Derf's teeth"; or
- "RIP Joe Shlabotnik 1919-2001"--to reduce misunderstanding. (Thanks to
- Kevin Maroney for revising this answer.)
-
- 24. What defines an sf convention?
-
- A. A science fiction convention is a gathering of the tribe, or some
- part of the tribe, or just some folks who want to hang out for the
- weekend. Most sf conventions ("cons") have programming--speeches,
- panels, slide shows, etc.--some of which is related to science
- fiction, fantasy, horror, or fandom. And some of which isn't. If
- the guest of honor wants to organize tai chi at 8:30 Sunday morning,
- most con committees will let him.
-
- 25. Are "media conventions" sf conventions?
-
- A. This one is open to debate. Most fans, regardless of whether
- they attend them, would agree that being devoted to a particular
- television program, or a particular author's work, doesn't make
- something not an sf con. On the other hand, if the main activities
- involve actors, and most of those are autograph sessions, a lot of
- people don't think it's a real con. In other words, of course a con
- can discuss Babylon 5 as well as, or even instead of, the writing of
- Philip K. Dick or Ursula Le Guin; if it isn't interested in
- discussing much of anything, it's not a convention--a gathering of
- people with shared interests--it's a show.
-
- 26. What's the difference between a "membership" and a "ticket"?
-
- A. Attitude, either that of the buyer or of the organizers. If the
- convention says it's selling tickets, it's almost certainly a
- commercial venture, whose main goal is to make a profit for the
- organizers. This isn't necessarily a sin, but it does mean that
- you're likely to find little conversation or sense of community,
- and a major distinction between the stars and the people who buy
- tickets.
-
- If a convention is selling memberships, the expectation is that,
- to some extent, the members will make their own fun and help make
- the convention happen. Those people wearing ribbons that say "staff"
- or even "committee" will be volunteers, and even the people who are
- on programming won't be paid for their time and effort. (A few guests
- of honor will have their expenses paid; some other participants may
- get their memberships free but will pay for their own transport,
- hotel rooms, and meals.)
-
- Back to the party analogy: your $30 or $45 isn't buying you a
- weekend's entertainment. It's paying for the rental of the hall,
- and for some snacks. You can go to the panels that interest you--and
- contribute if you're so inclined, and if the moderator has time to
- take audience comments. Or you can sit in the bar or (if it's a North
- American convention) the con suite and just chat. If things are going
- really well, you can spend an hour in the bar with someone you just
- met, discussing the last panel or the guest of honor's speech. You
- can also spend the weekend in the video room, or go home every
- evening after the formal events are over--nobody will stop you, but
- you'll miss a lot of the fun.
-
- From another angle, if you've bought a ticket to a show and there's
- a long line to get in at the door, you'll kvetch. If you've bought
- a membership in a convention and registration is going slowly, you
- might say "Hi, can I help here?" and spend an hour working at the
- registration table. Put in enough hours and you might get a free
- t-shirt, but that isn't why most of us do it. We do it because we want
- the con to happen, and because there's pleasure in a job well done.
-
- 27. What is the Worldcon?
-
- A. The Worldcon is, in some sense, the center of the
- fannish/convention year. Among other things, it's where the Hugo
- Awards (for best science fiction in a variety of categories, plus
- related categories such as best fanzine, best editor, and best
- artist) are given out. Worldcons can be held anywhere in the world,
- though (so far) most have been in the United States. They're usually
- held at the end of August or beginning of September (August bank
- holiday weekend for UK Worldcons, Labor Day weekend for US
- Worldcons), but that isn't a hard and fast rule.
-
- 28. How do I join?
-
- A. You join by sending money for your membership to any active
- Worldcon committee. Worldcon sites are chosen three years in advance,
- by a vote of members of the then-current Worldcon. Thus, in October
- 2001, there are active committees for 2002, 2003, and 2004, all of
- which will be happy to sell you a membership. The Web site
- http://www.worldcon.org/ is an online home for all Worldcons. You can
- buy a supporting membership--which entitles you to nominate and vote
- for the Hugo Awards, vote for the site of the three-years-later
- Worldcon (for an additional fee, which gets you a supporting membership
- in that future Worldcon), and receive all publications--or an attending
- membership, which gets you all of that plus the chance to attend the
- convention. The price for attending memberships increases as the
- convention draws closer. (Getting money early is useful for a variety
- of reasons--the con has expenses well before people show up for a
- five-day extravaganza--and knowing how many people will show up is
- useful to people who are trying to plan everything from how many panels
- to have on Friday afternoon to whether a particular hall is big enough
- for a convention banquet.)
-
- 29. I can't afford the amount for the upcoming Worldcon, and would like
- to find a less expensive membership. Or, I want to transfer my
- membership, can I do that here?
-
- A. Yes. As the Worldcons approach, there are people who offer
- memberships for transfer at rates lower the the current registration
- rate. But you need to be quick, they tend to get grabbed quickly.
- Once an agreement is reached, you'll need to contact the Worldcon
- about the transfer by supplying both names and addresses and the
- membership number. It's also a good idea for the new member to have
- a written backup to bring with them to the Worldcon.
-
- 30. What is whinging?
-
- A. This wonderfully expressive term seems to be primarily a British
- and Australian usage, or at least not a North American one. To quote
- the Oxford English Dictionary:
-
- whinge, v. orig. Sc. and north. dial. Forms: 6 quhinge,
- quhynge, 9 winge, wheenge, 8 whindge, 7_ whinge, 20 winge.
- [North. form of OE. hwinsian, corresp. to OHG. win(i)s⌠n
- (MHG. winsen; cf. MHG., G. winseln):---OTeut. *_winisojan,
- f. root of hwφnan to whine. For the suffix cf. OE. clµnsian
- to cleanse, bletsian to bless, rφcsian to rule, ON. hreinsa
- to cleanse; for the phonology of the form whinge
- cf. clenge, ringe, north. forms of cleanse, rinse.]
-
- intr. To whine; esp. to complain peevishly. Hence
- whinging (also w(h)ingeing) vbl. n. and ppl. a.
- [Sorry, this isn't 7-bit clean--the etymology may
- look weird to some people, but the definition should
- be clear.]
-
- 31. What are TAFF and DUFF?
-
- A. These fan funds (that's what the "FF" stands for in both) are
- long-running projects to enable fans to travel between (for TAFF)
- North America and Europe, and (for DUFF) North America and
- Australasia. TAFF is the "Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund" and DUFF is the
- "Down Under Fan Fund." Fans tend to think of them as part charity,
- part award, but they aren't registered charities and have no legal
- existence. The person who will make the trip is chosen by a vote;
- the eligible constituency is people who have been active in fandom for
- at least 18 months, and the practical constituency is some subset of
- that number, who think it's worth having these things happen and are
- willing to contribute a few dollars or pounds to the cause.
-
- 32. What about the rest of the world?
-
- A. It's all purely voluntary, and there are other fan funds. GUFF
- sends fans between Europe and Australasia; FFANZ sends people between
- Australia and New Zealand (which are not as close together as North
- Americans tend to think); and CUFF sends Canadian fans to Canada.
- Okay, okay, from one part of Canada to another. There have also been
- a number of one-time funds designed to bring a specific fan to a
- specific place/event: TAFF is the outgrowth of a fund to bring Walt
- Willis to the United States (from Ireland) in 1952. Walt wrote
- about the trip in "The Harp Stateside." More recently, a number of
- British fans paid Gary Farber's <gfarber@savvy.com, a prolific
- poster to this group> way to Britain for a month, and the Auld
- Lang fund raised money to send Dave Langford (a witty
- man who says he has too many Hugos) to Australia for the 1999
- Worldcon.
-
- 33. What is V*nn* B*nt*, why shouldn't I talk about her, and why
- are there those funny stars in her name?
-
- A. She is the author of a very bad novel. She claims it is "quantum
- fiction" rather than science fiction, so I suppose we could argue
- that it's off-topic, except that isn't the point. The point is that
- some people (who may be aliases for the author or her publicist) who
- had not otherwise participated in this newsgroup came in, posted at
- great length about how wonderful the book was, and precipitated quite
- a bit of flamage. The stars are in the name because at one time she
- or her supporters seemed to be searching the Usenet feed for her
- name. (If you care that much, the stars in the first name are a's,
- and the stars in her last name are an o and an a, respectively.)
- The novel, Fl*ght, seems to have been self-published, and is the
- only book I have seen or heard of in which the publisher faked the
- Library of Congress cataloguing-in-publication data, replacing a
- simple set of material that might be useful to librarians with a
- badly written blurb.
-
- 34. Avram, can we put this in the FAQ? Pretty please?
-
- A: "Rasseff Man, Rasseff Man,
- Discussing the entire universe, man.
- Usually some kind of SF fan,
- Rasseff Man.
-
- He'll write a post about a candied yam,
- And Jewish minutiae in Pakistan,
- And print it all in his .plan,
- Eclectic man, Rasseff Man."
-
- (with thanks to Avram Grumer and apologies to
- They Might Be Giants)
-
- 35. What does AKICIF mean?
-
- A. All Knowledge Is Contained In Fandom. Alternatively, and mostly
- offline, All Knowledge Is Contained In Fanzines. On rassef, it's
- being used as a tag by people who want the newsgroup to answer a
- (usually factual) question on almost any subject.
-
- 36. Are cinnamon raisin bagels real bagels?
-
- A. Depends on your definitions. I think of them as real because
- they've been around for quite a while and make a fine breakfast
- when buttered and accompanied by a cup of tea. Others insist that
- nothing sweet can be a bagel, because who in their right mind would
- put lox and cream cheese on a cinnamon-raisin bagel? Plain, garlic,
- onion, poppy seed, salt, pumpernickel, sesame seed, and egg bagels
- are definitely real. Blueberry, pesto, sun-dried tomato, and
- cranberry-orange are newfangled impostors. Cinnamon-raisin is the
- current borderline between the two, but borders do shift, and it's
- becoming harder and harder to find a decent pumpernickel bagel.
-
- 37. D?
-
- A. There are secrets of Chuck Harris with which fandom was not meant
- to meddle. (The late Chuck Harris, bless him, never quite
- mastered his news software and was notorious for postings consisting
- of that solitary letter.)
-
- 38. Why "You are XXX and I claim my five pounds?"
-
- A. This started with publicity campaigns by the British *Westminster
- Gazette* (from 1927) and *News Chronicle* (mid-1930s), whose agent "Lobby
- Lud" prowled pre-announced seaside resorts. If you recognized him from his
- published photo you could win ten pounds by producing the newspaper and
- saying, "You are Mr. Lobby Lud, I claim the [name of paper] Prize." When
- the postwar *Daily Mirror* imitated the campaign, its phrasing "... and I
- claim my five pounds" passed into the language. It's now used for joky
- recognitions of "real identity". Thus some r.a.sf.f posting about hideous
- personal injuries might be greeted with a nod to our most disaster-prone
- regular: "You are James Nicoll and I claim my five pounds!" Abbreviations:
- AICMFP or AICM5P. "UR Ralph 124C41+ AICM5P!"
- [Explanation by Dave Langford, with help from Eddie Cochrane.]
-
- 39. I think the FAQ is jes' fine, except I didn't see a single
- reference to Pogo or Walt Kelly in it.
-
- A. We have met the Frequently Asked Question, and it is us!
-
- 40. [*]
-
- A. An asterisk is the conventional footnote symbol. On rassef, [*] and
- other forms of asterisk-in-box mean "Please provide the footnote." It's
- a way of asking for an explanation or cross-reference for a previous message.
-
- I believe that this is derived from a panel at Minicon, in which four interesting
- and erudite fans were invited to sit at the front of the room and chat, while the
- audience held up paper asterisks whenever confused. The panelists cheerfully
- explained, digressed, and had fun, as did the audience. We should do it again.
-
- 41. Who's Bob?
-
- A. (Your uncle.) "Bob" is the character in old fashioned stories to whom
- everything he already knows is explained in excruciating detail. "As
- you know, Bob, we are at this moment on the planet Earth, which has a
- nirtogen-oxygen atmosphere, is third out from the sun and encircled by
- its very own moon." People sometimes use it on rasseff when they're
- saying something they're fairly sure the person they're addressing knows
- already, but which they feel wants to be explained to everyone else, or
- sometimes when they suspect there's a certain element of instructing
- grandmothers on egg-sucking techniques creeping into their post.
-
- 42. Who is Vicki Rosenzweig and why is she keeper of this FAQ?
-
- A. Vicki Rosenzweig (vr@redbird.org) is a long-time fan who has
- been reading this group for a while and decided a FAQ might be useful,
- or at least amusing. Fandom being somewhat anarchic, she gets to do
- the work because she's willing. If she screws up badly enough,
- someone else might take over. If she screws up but not too badly,
- please let her know, preferably with useful specifics. ("You really
- ought to have something about X, here's some draft text" is better
- than "How could you omit X, you fool!") The questions here were
- contributed by various r.a.sf.f posters; I've dropped some that
- seemed irrelevant (meaning they're not frequently asked and I
- couldn't come up with amusing answers) as well as a few that are
- basic intro-to-netnews stuff. I do have opinions on a variety of
- subjects, like most posters to this newsgroup; I've tried to keep
- them down to a dull roar in this FAQ.
-
- 43. What is Mornington Crescent?
-
- A. A station on the Northern Line of the London Underground. Also, a
- rather odd game. As such, it's one of the places where old threads
- go to die.
-
- You could look at alt.games.mornington.crescent, or
- uk.games.mornington.crescent, but it probably won't help.
-
- Last revised 8 March 2002. (Minor cleanup; thanks to the vigilant
- eyes of Sharon Sbarsky, Philip Chee, and David Goldfarb.)
-
- Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Vicki Rosenzweig.
- --
- Vicki Rosenzweig | vr@panix.com | http://www.redbird.org
- Data is a superfluid: it flows with zero viscosity
- and gets everywhere. --Matthew Skala
-