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Organization: Keeper Of The COMP.SYS.AMIGA.ANNOUNCE Mailing List
Keywords: administrivia
From: [e-mail] (Carlos Amezaga)
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Introduction to Comp.Sys.Amiga.Announce
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 94 04:04:01 EST
Lines: 106

          Introduction to Comp.Sys.Amiga.Announce

                   As of October 18, 1993


Welcome to comp.sys.amiga.announce.  This is the "news"
group of the Amiga newsgroups.  My name is Dan Zerkle, and I
am the moderator, your humble servant.

This group contains announcements of import to the Amiga
community.  It contains ONLY announcements.  Discussions of
the announcements do not take place here, but rather in
separate groups indicated on the Followup-To: line of the
messages.

Announcements can be anything that people may find
interesting that concerns the Amiga, but generally consist
of product announcements, news flashes, disk library
releases, software updates, uploads to archives, reports of
major bugs or dangerous viruses, and so on.  Probably the
most common use of the group is to announce new software
uploaded to FTP archive sites.  Fred Fish lists the contents
of all the new disks in his library in regular
announcements.  I send volunteer reporters to the various
Amiga trade shows to get reports and write up the talks and
exhibits here.

The readers and I are particularly interested in
informational commercial announcements.  If you work for a
company that sells hardware or software for the Amiga
computers, I strongly encourage you to send in all your
press releases about new products and updates.

This group is available as a mailing list.  You can receive
all the announcements in your electronic mail.  The mailing
list is managed by Carlos Amezaga
([e-mail]).  To sign up for the list,
send a note to [e-mail].  Carlos, in
a fit of brilliance, wrote most of the news-to-mail gateway
setup himself, and it runs on his Amiga 500.  Carlos is
currently helping with moderation duties, as well.  Thanks
Carlos!

The contents of the group are archived on litamiga.epfl.ch
/pub/amiga/archives/CSAA.  The manager of this anonymous FTP
site is  Marc Schaefer ([e-mail] or
[e-mail]).  If you need an old announcement, you
can use anonymous FTP to get it from the archive.

Comp.sys.amiga.announce is a moderated newsgroup.  That
means that you can not post directly to it, as you can with
most other newsgroups.  If you have an announcement to make,
you should send it to me, and I will post it.  There is
another message posted regularly that describes how to
submit announcements Make sure you read the directions.  If
you don't follow the directions, I will probably send your
post back to you to be revised.  The most important thing is
that submissions should be MAILED to
[e-mail].

Product announcements should not evaluate the product.
However, there is another group called
comp.sys.amiga.reviews.  After a product is announced,
reviews are highly desirable.  If you would like to write a
review, please read the instructions in that group.  The
moderator of .reviews is Dan Barrett and his address is
[e-mail].  Correspondence about .reviews should
go to [e-mail].

Many of the announcement of FTP uploads mention something
called "Aminet."  This is a group of anonymous FTP sites
that share files.  If the file is on one Aminet site, it
should be on all of them.  Please read
comp.sys.amiga.introduction for instruction on how to use
anonymous FTP sites.  Here is a list of Aminet sites:

     Switzerland  litamiga.epfl.ch       128.178.151.32  (*)
     Scandinavia  ftp.luth.se            130.240.16.3
     Germany      ftp.uni-kl.de          131.246.9.95
     Germany      ftp.uni-erlangen.de    131.188.1.43
     Germany      ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de    130.149.17.7
     Germany      ftp.th-darmstadt.de    130.83.55.75
     Germany      ftp.uni-paderborn.de   131.234.2.32
     USA          ftp.wustl.edu          128.252.135.4
     USA          ftp.etsu.edu           192.43.199.20
     Australia    splat.aarnet.edu.au    192.107.107.6  (*)
        (*) closed 6:30am to 4pm weekdays

I want to make this a good group.  If you have any
questions, helpful comments, suggestions, or even
criticisms, please contact me at [e-mail].  Do
not send submissions to that address.  Announcements should
be mailed to [e-mail].

This file is posted every two months.  Other files posted
regularly are:

   o Instructions for making submissions.

   o Guidelines for announcements about software and FTP uploads

   o Disclaimers and warnings.
--
Read all administrative posts before putting your post up.  Mailing list:
[e-mail].  Comments to [e-mail].
MAIL ALL COMP.SYS.AMIGA.ANNOUNCE ANNOUNCEMENTS TO [e-mail].

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Organization: Keeper Of The COMP.SYS.AMIGA.ANNOUNCE Mailing List
From: [e-mail] (Carlos Amezaga)
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Instructions for Submissions
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 94 04:06:59 EST
Lines: 161

                Instructions for Submissions

                    as of August 3, 1993

This file gives instructions on how to make submissions to
the comp.sys.amiga.announce newsgroup.  Possibly revised
editions are posted every month.

TYPES OF ANNOUNCEMENTS

This group distributes announcements of import to people
using the Commodore brand Amiga computers.  Announcements
may contain any important information, but most likely will
deal with new products, disk library releases, software
updates, reports of major bugs or dangerous viruses, notices
of meetings or upcoming events, and so forth.  A large
proportion of posts announce the upload of software packages
to anonymous ftp archive sites.

WHO SHOULD POST

To make a post, you should be directly associated with the
material in the announcement.  It is best if you are the
author of the software, or the publicity officer of a
company announcing the product or event.  Some companies
give their announcements to people that have e-mail
accounts.  That is fine.  If you are not associated with the
company (just a customer, for instance), please do not
attempt to post.  Instead, contact the company and tell them
about the newsgroup, then ask the company to submit the
announcement directly.

USENET IS NON-COMMERCIAL

This group is not an advertising forum.  The motto here is
"Information, not promotion." Product announcements may not
contain hype or denigrating comparisons with competing
products.  Announcements of products should contain only a
straightforward description of features, requirements,
pricing, and so forth.  A look at the "news" or "new
products" section of a computer magazine should give an idea
of the proper presentation.

Since it is often difficult to quickly get a special version
of a press release, all press releases from commercial
sources are accepted.  However, when there is inappropriate
material in a press release, the moderator acts as a
newsroom editor to remove it before it is posted.

WHAT TO POST

One of the regular administrative posts describes guidelines
for announcements of software, including FTP uploads.
Please read that document before submitting an announcement
of a software package, whether commercial or not.  You may
also wish to follow the basic outline described there for
hardware or other announcements.

If you are announcing hardware, please give power
requirements and list which Amiga models can use the device
(500 / 600 / 1000 / 1200 / 2000 / 3000 / 4000, NTSC/PAL).
Also list any software that is required or included.

If you are announcing a meeting, convention or other event,
make sure you list what will happen at the meeting, with
names, times, topics, and so on.  Give detailed travel
directions to the meeting place so that anybody can find it.

Remember that many new readers join Usenet every day, and
that many of them are novices on their Amigas.  Make sure
that you write your announcement so that most people can
understand it.  Even if your announcement is only for an
update or enhancement of an existing product, make sure that
you adequately describe the original product.

In any case, you must state your name and how you are
associated with the product, meeting, company, or other
material mentioned.  If this information is not in your
post, it WILL BE REJECTED.

FORMAT OF ANNOUNCEMENTS

The exact format of your announcement is not important, so
long as it is clear and well-organized.  Even for non-
software announcements, you may wish to follow the general
format given in a separate post, the guidelines for software
announcements.

Do not right-justify your post.  Leave a ragged right
margin.

Correct spelling and grammar are important.  If you have
difficulty writing in English, ask for help, and the
moderator will correct any problems.

HOW TO SUBMIT AN ANNOUNCEMENT

Once you have your announcement written, you should submit
it to the moderator.  The primary moderator is Dan Zerkle.
The preferred method for submitting announcements is via
electronic mail.  Send your submissions to
[e-mail].  If a secondary moderator is
serving, mail sent to this address will be forwarded to him.

Please do NOT make submissions by simply posting them.  Most
systems will forward these to the moderator, but often the
return address will get mangled, and this may foul up the
forwarding mechanism if a backup moderator is serving.

Other methods of submission are possible.  For instance, if
your company mails out press kits, the moderator can
transcribe them.  Please contact Dan at the e-mail address
shown above or call [phone] to make other
arrangements.

Assuming you send your announcement through electronic mail,
an acknowledgement will be sent within two days.  If you
receive no acknowledgement after a reasonable wait, send the
announcement again.  This time, you should include your
telephone number in case there is some trouble getting e-
mail to you.  If you still get no acknowledgement, call the
number above.

If there are no problems with the announcement, it will be
posted immediately.  The moderator may make minor edits for
spelling, grammar, or clarity.  If there is some problem
with the announcement, it will be returned with a note about
the problem, so you can fix it.  Common reasons for
rejection are inappropriateness for this group, incomplete
information about a product, much too much information
(listing every single minor feature), failing to list your
association with the product/company, failing to list the
final destination directory for an FTP upload, and too much
selling hype.

Your post is quite likely to be rejected with a request to
revise it.  When you send in the revision, put the word
"REVISED" (all capitals) at the beginning of your subject
line.  Your revised announcement will then be posted before
any other waiting announcements.  The only people who know
about this are the ones who actually read the instructions,
so it should speed up the process for you considerably.

CROSS-POSTING

Cross-posting isn't permitted.  Also, it is generally not
necessary to re-post your announcement in other Amiga
groups, as comp.sys.amiga.announce has low traffic and very
high readership.  Comp.unix.amiga is an exception, as many
readers there don't read the comp.sys.amiga.* groups.

CONTACTING THE MODERATOR

Finally, if you have any questions about this group or if
you need help writing an announcement, contact the moderator
at his personal e-mail box.  The address is
[e-mail].
--
Read all administrative posts before putting your post up.  Mailing list:
[e-mail].  Comments to [e-mail].
MAIL ALL COMP.SYS.AMIGA.ANNOUNCE ANNOUNCEMENTS TO [e-mail].

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From: [e-mail] (Carlos Amezaga)
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Guidelines for Software Announcements
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 94 04:08:19 EST
Lines: 195

           Guidelines for Software Announcements,
                   Including FTP Uploads

                  as of October 18, 1993.


This file is a supplement to the document "Instructions for
Submissions," which is posted at the same time as this one.
Read the "Instructions for Submissions" document before you
read this document.  This document gives specific
instructions on how to write an announcement for a software
package, including an FTP upload.  If you follow these
guidelines, you can be reasonably sure that your
announcement will be accepted.

You do not need to follow the exact format given here.
However, you should include all the information noted.

While this document is mainly a guideline for FTP upload
announcements, most of it also applies to other software
packages, such as commercial software or posts to
comp.binaries.amiga and comp.sources.amiga.  While typical
commercial press releases are acceptable, they usually get
edited (cut mercilessly) to remove inappropriate material,
such as hype, denigrating comparisons with competing
products, and stilted quotes from departmental vice
presidents.  If you would like to write an announcement from
scratch, this document provides a good guideline.

It is important to include full information about FTP
uploads.  Many FTP users have to go through a considerable
amount of difficulty to execute a download.  Those using
FTP-by-mail, in particular, can have a lot of trouble.
Therefore, when you post an announcement, make sure the
readers can tell right away whether they want to download
your files.  Even people with direct access to FTP don't
want to spend hours downloading a file, only to discover
that they can't use it.  If you follow these guidelines,
readers will have a good idea of whether they can use your
package, and they will know exactly where to find it.

If you distribute software on comp.binaries.amiga or
comp.sources.amiga, you may post an announcement.  This
should be similar to an FTP upload announcement, except that
you may not submit the announcement until the software
actually appears on the group.

If you are not the author of the software, remember to state
how you are associated with the software or company.  If
your post does not include this information, it will be
rejected.  It may even be something like "Joe wrote this
program and asked me to post the announcement."  In any
case, always include your full name.  I regularly reject
announcements in which the submitter failed to explain why
he or she should be the one submitting the announcement.

A software announcement is fairly straightforward.  Just
make sure to include the following items of information:

TITLE

     Give the name of the software package, animation,
     picture, font package, or whatever.

VERSION

     Most programs have version numbers.  If there is more
     than one release, make sure to give the version number.

COMPANY

     If the package is a commercial product, give the name
     of the company that publishes it.  Also include an
     address and telephone number that customers or dealers
     can contact for further information.  Other methods,
     such as FAX numbers and e-mail address should also go
     here.  If you aren't a company, you don't need to
     include this section.

AUTHOR

     Let everyone know who made the software.  If you wrote
     it, give yourself credit.  If you aren't a company, you
     might want to include phone/FAX number, e-mail address,
     and so forth.

DESCRIPTION

     Give a general overview of the software package.  List
     the important features, and any interesting details.
     If there are similar packages already, make sure to
     state what makes this one special.  Don't overdo the
     description.  Users can always read the documentation.
     Similarly, don't simply submit the documentation as
     your announcement.

     Remember that many of the readers of this group are new
     and inexperienced.  Make sure you explain in clear
     terms exactly what the software does.  Try to avoid too
     much jargon here.  Even if the announcement is only
     about an enhancement of an existing product, make sure
     you describe the existing product.  Remember that many
     readers are hearing about this for the first time.  Try
     to make sure that almost everybody with a passing
     knowledge of Amiga computers can understand your
     announcement.  Two or three sentences here can make an
     announcement much more useful.

NEW FEATURES

     If this is an update, give a short list of what is new.
     Even if you need this section, still include the
     DESCRIPTION section.  Not everybody has heard of your
     package already.  Again, don't overdo it here.  Simply
     saying "This version improves the user interface and
     fixes a few nasty bugs" is adequate.  Some people try
     to submit an entire detailed list of everything that
     they changed.  That is entirely inappropriate for this
     group.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

     If the package needs a hard disk, a modem, over 512k of
     regular memory, over 512k of CHIP memory, version 2.0
     (or 2.1 or 3.0) of the OS, the AGA chip set, a PAL
     video system, a numeric co-processor, special hardware,
     or anything else that not everybody has, state here
     what is needed.  If another piece of software is
     required to use your software, state that here,
     including instructions on how to get the additional
     software.  If some unusual archiver is needed (anything
     but zoo or lha), note that here as well.  Include this
     section even if you only say "none."

HOST NAME

     Include this section if your software is available via
     anonymous FTP.  Include the full Internet address of
     the anonymous FTP server, with both the name and the
     number.  For example, you might list "ftp.wustl.edu
     (128.252.135.4)."

     If you put the program on Aminet, simply state this and
     name any one site on Aminet.  A list of all the sites
     is in the introduction to this group, so readers can
     find other sites there.  Make sure you list at least
     one site.

DIRECTORY

     MORE PEOPLE FORGET THIS THAN ANYTHING ELSE.  So pay
     attention.  Include this section if your software is
     available via anonymous FTP.  List the directory in
     which you upload the files.  Make sure you list the
     complete directory.  Don't leave out things like
     "/pub/aminet."

     Many sites have separate "incoming" or "new"
     directories.  If this is so on your host, list BOTH the
     "incoming" directory AND the eventual home directory.
     If you don't know where the file is going to end up,
     ask the administrator of the archive.  POSTS LISTING
     ONLY THE "INCOMING" DIRECTORY WILL BE REJECTED.

     One of the administrators on Aminet asks that you wait
     and check to see that the file actually appears in the
     directory before you submit your announcement.  That
     will save users much trouble if your file is late,
     misdirected, or corrupted.

FILE NAMES

     Include this section if your software is available via
     anonymous FTP.  List the names of all the files needed.
     Also list the size (in bytes) of the different files.

PRICE

     Give the list price or the requested shareware fee, if
     any.  If it is free, say so.

DISTRIBUTABILITY

     Give the distributability: Is is public domain?
     Copyrighted (by who, what year)?  Gnu Public License?
     Shareware (fee requested)?  Or what?

OTHER

     If there's anything left out, but that you feel is
     important, include that, too.
--
Read all administrative posts before putting your post up.  Mailing list:
[e-mail].  Comments to [e-mail].
MAIL ALL COMP.SYS.AMIGA.ANNOUNCE ANNOUNCEMENTS TO [e-mail].

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Organization: Keeper Of The COMP.SYS.AMIGA.ANNOUNCE Mailing List
From: [e-mail] (Carlos Amezaga)
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: DISCLAIMER FOR COMP.SYS.AMIGA.ANNOUNCE
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 94 04:13:07 EST
Lines: 50

DISCLAIMER FOR COMP.SYS.AMIGA.ANNOUNCE

1. Spirit of disclaimer

The purpose of this disclaimer is twofold.

First of all, I would like to be able to use the information I get in
ways other than simply posting it.  Due to certain copyright laws, this
is not normally permissible (although it is done regularly).  If you
wish to restrict rights on some copyrighted material that you still
wish to post, you may put a notice in the posting indicating that it is
copyrighted and what rights are restricted and what is permitted.  If
you have any problems or questions about the policy, please contact
me.

Second of all, I wish to protect myself against being sued.  I am doing
this work on a volunteer basis, and I want to be able to work freely
without worry about being sued for any of my actions or the actions of
someone submitting information to me, especially since I'm doing this
for the greater good.  To this end, there is a warning that errors may
occur and a statement that since I get my information from somewhere
else, I won't be liable about it.  I'm just passing it on from the
submitter to the readers.

2. Language of disclaimer

By submitting announcements to the moderator, the submitter implicitly
agrees that the material may be posted on Usenet.  Unless the submitter
indicates otherwise, this submission releases the material into the
public domain, so that it may be archived, re-published, put in a
collection, sent to readers via electronic mail, or otherwise used in
any manner whatsoever.

Typing, transmission, or other errors and inaccuracies of commission or
omission may occur, and the moderator assumes no liability for these
errors.

Material submitted is the responsibility of the submitter.  The
moderator will not be held liable for the accuracy or content of such
material.  In addition, the moderator will not be held liable by either
submitters or users of such material for any errors of omission or
commission the moderator may make.

If you disagree with these conditions, do not use information the
moderator posts to comp.sys.amiga.announce, and do not submit material
to the moderator.
--
Read all administrative posts before putting your post up.  Mailing list:
[e-mail].  Comments to [e-mail].
MAIL ALL COMP.SYS.AMIGA.ANNOUNCE ANNOUNCEMENTS TO [e-mail].