Alt.sex.stories - Alt.sex.stories.d FAQ - August 15, 1996
  Copyright 1996 by [email protected], all rights reserved.

  This Part One of Two Parts


  //// This edition contains much new information and corrections.

  Many people sent in suggestions for adds and changes.  If I
  overlooked something, I assure you it was not on purpose.  Tell me
  again, please.  If you have suggestions or corrections, please send
  them to me at the address given in the appropriate section.

  One major suggestion is to extract certain information into "PIPS." 
  This means Periodical Information Posts, or specific information on
  specific subjects, such as how to post stories.  This would make it
  easier for people to focus on specific subjects, without having to
  weed through all the other material.  This would also make it easier
  for other people to send information to people who need to know, but
  by their posting, are obviously not acquainted with net protocol, or
  Acceptable Use of these two groups.  

  ///Any comments on this technique would be appreciated, and yes, I
  have already contemplated the problem inherent to labeling a file
  "ass.pip."



  This is the accepted Alt.Sex.Stories and Alt.Sex.Stories.d FAQ.
    
  FAQ means Frequently Asked Questions. A FAQ is a convenient vehicle
  to answer  questions frequently asked. This is a FAQ.  It has no
  official function beyond detailing the generally accepted answers to
  questions frequently posed about the two groups. 

  Currently, neither ASS nor ASSD has an official Charter.  Both groups
  were founded prior to the time when the process of consensus Charters
  became the standard methodology of the Usenet.  Plus, the generally
  accepted standard whereby groups in the alt hierarchy do not have
  Charters.

  A FAQ cannot be a Charter.

  Yet many times system administrators will look to a FAQ for
  information on the purposes and conduct of a given group, even an Alt
  group.  So, this FAQ will attempt to enumerate generally accepted
  standards for a.s.s, and a.s.s.d, to assist system administrators and
  the general user group in this regard.

  This FAQ is archived at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu.pub.usenet.*, along with
  mirror sites.  This FAQ is posted to both groups simultaneously on
  the first and third Fridays of each month.



  0) Disclaimers - Copyright
  1) Introduction
  2) Acceptable Use of a.s.s and a.s.s.d
  3) How to post stories?
  4) Posting Stories in Parts.
  5) Non-story postings to a.s.s
  6) What if my site doesn't get a.s.s.d? 
  7) What if my site doesn't get a.s.s? 
  8) Story Archives - FTP or e-mail?
  9) Reposts: Requesting Them and Posting Them
  10) Labeling Stories  - Dr. Bob's FAQ
  11) Anonymous Posting
  12) Let's Split a.s.s into Smaller Groups - NOT.
  13) Kill files
  14) How to contribute if you are not a writer.
  15) Celeste801
  16) Charter considerations
  17) Suggestions- Current mail address
  18) Credits
  19) Josh Laff's parting remarks.  Read this please!
  20) Current Editor's remarks.
  21) Addendums
      A.  How to order stories from ...
      B.  How to format a story in Word Perfect then post in ASCII.
      C.  How to format a story in Microsoft Word then post in ASCII.
      D.  Gravity kill files
      E.  Unix kill files



  0) Disclaimers - Copyright

  This FAQ is maintained by [email protected], with input from
  various persons credited or not credited by their choice.  This FAQ
  is the compilation of input from various people over a long period of
  time, and in whole, does not necessarily represent the personal
  opinion of any one individual or the editor.

  This FAQ is copyright 1996 by [email protected], all rights
  reserved, and includes material from the previous ASS-ASSD FAQ
  maintained by Joshua A. Laff, [email protected], who has granted
  permission to reuse the contents to anyone who cares to accept the
  challenge.

  Permission is granted to archive and distribute without charge,
  provided no changes are made, and this copyright notice is left
  intact.  There are no other copyrights applicable to this FAQ, other
  than the editor's.



  1) Introduction

  Welcome to the alt.sex.stories and alt.sex.stories.d FAQ. This will
  hopefully answer whatever questions you may have about these two news
  groups.

  It is strongly recommended that new readers of the groups read this
  FAQ.

  Note, this FAQ is not the law.  However, it does contain material
  which most Usenet access providers will interpret and judge to be
  standards for the application of Acceptable Use policies under their
  Terms of Service, with regard to the posting of articles to this
  group.

  In other words, if you do not adhere to the standards contained
  herein, you may be subject to complaints filed against you with your
  access provider, and the recipient of unpleasant flames and
  confrontations, including admonitions from your provider.  



  2) Acceptable Use of a.s.s and a.s.s.d

  Alt.sex.stories

  The posting of articles containing stories and poems that contain
  some form of erotica is Acceptable Use of a.s.s.  During the past two
  years, it has also become Acceptable Use to post organized reviews of
  stories, Dr. Bob's FAQ on the categorization of stories, and this
  FAQ.

  There are NO limitations on the type or degree of erotica the stories
  can or can not include.  A story with very little erotica is
  Acceptable Use.  A story that is ALL erotica, is Acceptable Use.  The
  stories may or may not be true.  

  The degree of literary merit is not a determinant for Acceptable Use.

  The stories may or may not be complete.  The stories may or may not
  be copyrighted extracts used with or without the permission of the
  copyright holder.  The Editor of this FAQ, and the access providers
  who carry the groups, exercise no oversight with regard to the
  posting of any material, including material which is copyrighted.

  However, it is a really BAD idea to post copyrighted material without
  permission of the copyright holder.  Some providers will cancel
  accounts when it is brought to their attention that one of their
  users is posting copyrighted material.  

  Some copyright holders will sue a person posting their material. 

  Let the Poster BEWARE.

  Alt.sex.stories.d

  The '.d' at the end of a.s.s.d stands for 'discussion', i.e.,
  chatter. Any subject matter pertaining to stories/poems that is not
  itself a story/poem is considered Acceptable Use of a.s.s.d. This
  includes comments, requests, archive information, or any other
  subject of a similar nature. 

  While the following will probably enrage many people, it is NOT
  considered inappropriate use for advertisements for the sale of
  stories and poems to be posted to a.s.s.d.  The rational for this is
  that such a post would be on-topic.  HOWEVER, the repetitious posting
  of such an ad WOULD be inappropriate.  Basically, the 45 day rule and
  the Briedbart Index applies.  

  See the net abuse FAQ at: 

          http://www.cybernothing.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq.html

  Both Groups.

  It is NOT Acceptable Use to post articles such as test messages,
  personals, 'Make Money Fast' (and its various derivatives), binaries,
  chain letters, discussions of sexual preferences (except as
  incidental to the discussion of a story), or repetitive posting of
  advertisements wherein the ad copy is greater than one percent (1%)
  of the content of the article/story, or part of a four line (4)
  signature, whichever is greater.

  The comment regarding a four (4) line signature applies only to
  commercial advertising and not to personal signatures, no matter how
  lacking in taste.  The 1% rule is simply an attempt to find a
  compromise position between those who would ban all commercial
  'motives' from Usenet, and the very practical notion that a total ban
  is simply impossible.    

  It is NOT Acceptable Use to cancel articles not your own, unless you
  are the access provider for the originator of the article, or the
  cancel convention is followed, including a cross-post to
  news.admin.net-abuse.misc.

  It is NOT Acceptable Use to post comment condemning the purposes of
  either group.  If you do not like the purpose of the group, simply do
  not download or participate. 

  When following up to a post, you should look at the "Newsgroups:"
  line in the header to be sure that the appropriate news groups
  (usually alt.sex.stories.d)  are listed. Inappropriate news groups,
  such as alt.sex.stories, should be removed.  

  Authors should post their stories with the Follow-Up header line
  reading: 

  Follow-Up to: alt.sex.stories.d. 

  Finally, it might be considered Acceptable Use for one (1) person to
  post "whois" information detailing how and where complaints might be
  filed against a major spammer, to facilitate the kind of massive
  response that seems to be the only way to get through to certain
  access providers.  The best place for this post is a.s.s.d.  See more
  on this subject under part 5.

  Acceptable Use is determined by each access provider.  The Acceptable
  Use policy shown herein is provided for their guidance, and the
  guidance of those posting articles to the groups, should they elect
  to be so guided.  

  It should be noted that access providers respond to complaints, and
  the more complaints that are registered against someone who does not
  follow these guidelines, the more likely they are to respond
  favorably by taking action that limits an abuser's ability to create
  problems.

  Keep firmly in mind that the alt hierarchy has no content rules
  beyond what each individual access provider imposes.  Abuse is always
  viewed as something that is an attack *on* Usenet, not an attack *in*
  the net.  Again, for a complete discussion on net abuse, see the net
  abuse FAQ at:

          http://www.cybernothing.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq.html



  3) How to post stories.

  Line length. 

  The vast majority of terminal setups and text readers, are set to no
  more than 80 characters per line.  Therefore, it is a good idea to
  keep line length to less than 80 characters.  It is probably even
  better to keep line lengths to about 72 so that follow up responses
  do not have their lines wrap around, and so that certain other
  systems for reading text files do not have problems.

  When using courier, 12 characters to the inch, and 12 point standard
  font, the line length should be set to 72 characters.  This FAQ was
  posted by first writing and editing it in Word Perfect 7.0, then
  printing to a file.  After that, the DOS editor was used to clean up
  page breaks.  See the appendix that was written to cover formatting
  with Word Perfect.

  For those who have Win95, Notepad is a great editing and writing
  tool.  Set it to word wrap, and use a fixed length font such as
  courier.  Make sure that the number of characters at 12cpi do not
  exceed roughly 72 to a line, or so.

  AUTHORS - Just for fun, type a sample paragraph or two, then upload
  using whatever technique you normally intend to use.  Then use your
  news reader to go look at it.  Surprise!  There are places to test
  upload set aside for this specific purpose.  Alt.test comes to mind. 
  But do read the FAQ in that group unless you want to get
  confirmations from all over the world.

  If someone wants to write a complete and detailed guide on the
  subject of posting stories, please do so and send it to me.


  Formatting. 

  If you did not type your story on a UNIX or DOS system in straight
  ASCII format (i.e. you downloaded your story from a word processor or
  something similar), you should remove any special formatting codes. 

  Most readers of a.s.s are using a UNIX, DOS Editor, or other program
  to read TEXT in ASCII format.  Word Processor formatting codes DO NOT
  translate into ASCII.  See the appendix for formatting with Word
  Perfect.


  Spacing. 

  Double spaced stories are usually rather difficult to read on a
  computer terminal. Therefore, you should single space stories. 

  Also, text that is justified to completely fill from the left to the
  right margin (resulting in extra spaces between words) is *very*
  difficult to read on the computer, and is a waste of bandwidth.

  Similarly, although it may look nicer on your terminal, there is no
  point indenting your whole story.  The author of this FAQ does not
  follow this convention. :-) I use two spaces on the left to make it
  easier to read, in my opinion.

  Finally, avoid the use of tabs. Many systems set tabs to a different
  numbers of spaces, potentially causing lines to run off the screen.
  Also, printers don't always treat them nicely either; some ignore
  them completely, some print a tab character of some kind. If you want
  to indent or center something, please use spaces rather than tabs.


  Encoding

  Text files posted to a.s.s should not be encoded using uuencode or
  base64 (MIME).  Not only is decoding a hassle but it also increases
  the download size.  If you're using a modern "mail agent", you should
  check that your attachments are really plain ASCII and do not contain
  any system specific formatting characters, quotes and such.


  Language. 

  Stories should normally be in English. Readers of a.s.s are assumed
  to understand English, and there are newsgroups for stories in other
  languages.  However, this suggestion should not be construed to be an
  Acceptable Use prohibition.


  Content. 

  Even though it is stated in the Acceptable Use section above there
  are no limitations on what content can be included in a story - so
  long as it contains some form of erotica, it is recommended that
  authors at least consider the content of their stories in terms of
  their own local legal jurisdiction.  For example, there is generally
  no legal ramification for the posting of any material in written form
  in the United States.  This is not the case in Singapore and certain
  other locations.

  This may or may not continue to be the case.  Certain types of
  erotica involving persons below the age of majority is actually
  prohibited by law in various places, including all or part of the
  USA.  A local jurisdiction may decide to selectively enforce the law. 
  For this reason, there is much discussion on the Usenet about how to
  post anonymously.  This is not a recommendation for or against
  posting anonymously, just an observation of material readily
  available on the net in various places whereby a person might find
  information to protect themselves from capricious enforcement.

  Here is an interesting bit from a contributor:

  I asked a publisher of erotica about the current legal situation with
  certain types of genre.  He replied:

  "Yes, Lolita got passed 30 years ago, but my guess is that if the
  book were submitted to established publishers today it would be
  rejected to avoid the possibility of prosecution by the Justice
  Department. There is de facto government censorship of text at
  present since publishers are intimidated into not publishing. You
  don't need to go to Singapore to find successful thought control.

  "What we are doing is dotting out passages in our books where minors
  are involved with sex of any kind. Like so ...................

  "So many lines of dots for so many lines cut. We started this with
  [deleted by editor to protect the source]. 

  "Which brings up an anecdote: 

  "In the Fifties, Madame de Gaulle ran around the bookstores in Paris
  like an avenging angel looking for pornography and then complaining
  to her husband, who got the gendarmes after the publishers. So the
  French publishers started "dotting" texts. Before long there were
  complaints from both the Church and Madame de G. that the dots were
  an abomination since readers were imagining the scenes and very often
  what they were imagining was actually worse than what had been dotted
  out by the publishers.

  "We're wondering how long it will take before someone here is
  convicted for publishing a book consisting mostly of dots and titled:
  Confessions of a Twelve Year Old Nymph.

  "Given all of the above, despite the fact the most of what's in
  a.s.s. is either unreadable or crazy, it needs to be there to help us
  all be free.

  "So keep the fire burning. 

  As Editor of this FAQ, I will add one comment.  A great number of
  stories in a.s.s., are quite excellent.  But compared to the total
  number of postings the proportion of stories to garbage would
  absolutely lead one to conclude that most of what's in a.s.s. is either
  unreadable or crazy.
    
  That's why kill files are so important.


  Header

  The following is considered to be a standard posting header for a
  story.

  Title - Author -[1/4] Classification

  Example:

  Taming of the Shrew - Wm. Shakespeare [1/1] M/F Rom d/s

  In the examples above, the bracketed information indicates how many
  parts to the story. [1/4] means the first of four parts.  See the
  next section.

  There is no other Acceptable way to post a story.  The format for the
  subject line is cast in concrete.

  See Section 10, Labeling Stories for a more complete discussion on
  this subject.



  4) Posting Stories in Parts.

  Posting stories in parts seems straightforward enough, and it usually
  is, but there are a few things to keep in mind when posting stories
  in parts:

  Put the part number in the Subject line (such as 1/4, 2/4...). Note
  that the first number gives the part number of the article and the
  second one gives the total part count, so that the reader can
  identify when a story is complete. If the story is in more than 9
  parts, leading zeroes should be used (01/12, for example). This helps
  to facilitate automatic archiving.

  Send the posts to the posting software in order. You may even want to
  include a short 2 minute or so delay between each part posted. This
  will help get the stories distributed, and therefore listed, in their
  proper order, making it easier for people to read and save.

  Typically, segments should be limited to no more than 1000 lines
  (including headers, etc). Some BBS news readers can not process posts
  larger than this. Segments should also not be less than 300 lines
  except for the last one.  

  Do not post segments as follow ups of a previous segment. Many people
  put follow ups in their kill files, and your segments will not be
  seen by them (see the section on kill files for more details).

  PLEASE do include a beginning and end reference for each segment. 
  Truncated files are common for stories posted through anon.penet.fi,
  especially.  At the beginning of the segment, type in:

  Part One of Three Parts.

  At the end of the first part, type:

> 

Transfer interrupted!