The Official FAQ for alt.binaries.e(-)book* - Lite Version - Copyright by +Chiron+ 2001 Version 0.6 The *complete* FAQ can be found by pointing your browser to: http://ebook.ultraslack.net READ THIS FAQ THOROUGHLY If you do not, you're simply asking to be flamed. This is a draft of an abbreviated version of the FAQ. What is this "Lite" version of the FAQ? The light version of the FAQ has been created for those who want to quickly figure out how to download and contribute in the alt.binaries.e(-)book.* hierarchy. Please take time to go back and read the entire FAQ later! Welcome to alt.binaries.e-book and the other e-book* related groups! ABEB is one of the world's largest electronic book evaluation, and preservation library - and is dedicated to the preservation of OPEN FORMAT e-books for everyone. In the interest of education, and to help those who might be new to the entire e-bbok experience, the e-book community is bringing you these Frequently Asked Questions and guidelines for acceptable conduct within these groups, that is- within the *.e-book hierarchy. We wish to recognize the contributions of the members of ABEB to this constantly changing and evolving document. Q: Why should I read this (semi)lengthy FAQ? A: Because these e-book groups involve the transfer of binary postings, they tend to be much more complicated than most other newsgroups that you may have seen, or might be familiar with. Therefore, there are more procedures to know and guidelines to observe in order to preserve the quality of Usenet as a whole. This FAQ is your guide to survival in the e-book community on Usenet. Even more important is the fact that incorrect postings hurt everyone who uses Usenet. The Usenet is a very big place. Posts which are faulty or which do not belong in a group simply increase the traffic. They also increase the requests for reposts and the actual reposts from those people who try to be helpful. All of this can cause the proverbial forest to get lost in the trees. If you wish to be a responsible Usenet netizen, and you would like the usefullness of these groups to continue, you can only profit from following these simple guidelines. General Procedures Q: What is Rule #1? A: Lurk, watch, read the FAQ and learn before jumping in. If you are new here, this will require a certain amount of restraint. Just relax, sit back, and pay attention. The guidelines are for the benefit of all. Most of all, you MUST learn to be patient. e-books are NOT available on demand. Q: What is rule #2? A: Get a well-connected server. Not only will this benefit you (because you will be able to get complete posts), but it will also benefit the group as a whole (since you will have fewer repost requests). How good is your present server? If you are missing more than 10% or so of the parts of multi-part messages, not good. Local ISPs have notoriously bad servers. You have two upgrade paths: (1) Get a new ISP with a well-connected news server. (2) Get an additional stand-alone subscription to another news server. Whatever you have to do or spend will be well worth it in the end. But still, be patient. Mindspring (in the opinion of some, this one has been falling in quality) GigaNews Altopia/Altnet Newscene Newsguy (was Super Zippo) Remarq (was Supernews) Q: What is rule #3 A: BE PATIENT! The point is that, if you don't follow the FAQ, no one has to be patient with you. Q: What is the proper way to post? READ THE FAQ! A: Read the section on "Posting Guidlines". Do not experiment in the binary groups. Test post in alt.test or alt.binaries.test. Violators of posting techniques, or those who disregard the preferred conventions, generally get flamed. (or worse) Don't be a nuisance. ABEB Posting Guidlines Limit your posts to 35 e-Books/megabytes per 24 hours (whichever one comes first) Make good use of the 0-(information) file and include all pertinent info Use informative subject headers that are not too long, avoid using more than 80 characters! Check your e-books before posting them. (Or label them as UC for "Uncorrected") Test post in the test groups ONLY (alt.test for text, alt.binaries.test for binaries) Crosspost into the appropriate subject and group (when applicable) Alert the requestor if you are responding to a request. i.e. "ATTN: " Wait 5 days before reposting (give your post time to propogate AND expire before posting again) Cancel your "oops" if you do mess up. (see the tips section in the FAQ for advice on how to do this) The only acceptable binaries for posting in ABEB* are e-books, and their associated images/diagrams. Any other application/program and/or other non-e-book-related binaries/executables are NOT acceptable. Posting in an open format is strongly supported. Posting closed formats is strongly discouraged. Q: I've been flamed. What do I do about it? A: Learn from your mistake. And don't take it personally. Shooting off your mouth only compounds your error and illustrates in clear detail how lame you really are instead of merely inexperienced. This is a rough and busy neighborhood, don't expect to have your hand held. Q: What might I post in ABEB? A: Scanned or otherwise created electronic versions of BOOKS. NO Closed formats! NO CD images/CD-based ebooks! NO freeware! NO shareware! NO Cracks! NO Magazines! NO Programs! NO e-book "readers"! NO Audio files! PLEASE don't post anything that is freely available elsewhere! Games and CD images have their own newsgroups. Freeware and shareware can be found on the Web. Direct people there by giving the URL if you think the software is useful. Direct them to the cracks groups or other source you know of for the crack to any given program/utility. [Posting] Q: Can I start posting as soon as I read this FAQ and learn how my newsreader works? A: Well you CAN, but too many people do this already. Most people, when they begin, do not have a great deal of stuff to post. Perhaps the best thing to do is respond to requests (REQ) from others if you have managed to get pieces they have missed. If you have not been here very long, even if you have something fairly new, you wouldn't know that it was just posted just two days ago. The idea is not to show everyone how much you can post, but to post useful or requested materials. With technology being what it is, many newcomers have ISDN or cable modems (some even have access to T1s or better) and can literally flood the groups with posts. All this does is decrease the amount of time the posts stay on the servers, so fewer people get them and more repost requests are generated. If you have a high-speed connection be conscious of the fact that most people here do not, and shorter expire times get everyone agitated. Start SLOWLY. If you are not sure it will be welcomed, wait awhile. We know that many are anxious to contribute, to pay back the group for what they have been able to get. But another post of Anne McCaffrey or Piers Anthony will not really help. They already get posted a couple of times a week. If you are patient, you will eventually see everything you wanted and more. And you will learn what is needed and what is not. And NEVER post for the first time without first posting to a test group to insure that your settings are adjusted correctly. If you screw up, you will be flamed, and rightfully so for wasting so much bandwidth with a useless binary. Even most long-time regular contributors post to a test group first whenever they upgrade their newsreader. Q: Should I post shareware or freeware? A: ABSOLUTELY NOT. Posting programs is inappropriate. Period. (instead just post a link to the shareware site). Q: Should I post ? A: ABSOLUTELY NOT. The members of ABEB cannot stress enough how much this is disliked. ANY and ALL posts made *should be* in an OPEN format. The open formats commonly used are: Text, HTML, PDF, and RTF If your e-book requires a specific reader to be able to read it, it is then considered to be a CLOSED format. The preferred format is plain text files, closely followed by GOOD HTML. Simply whipping a file through the converter of your liking is NOT enough justification for you to post it. The entire point is to provide e-books that EVERYONE *regardless of their OS/hardware* can access and READ. Closed formats make this not only impossible, but aggravating as well. Q: Should I post cracks or serial numbers? A: ABSOLUTELY NOT. These should be posted in alt.binaries.cracks (or a similar group). Requests for cracks should also be made there. Q: Should I post CD Images/CD-based e-books? A: ABSOLUTELY NOT. These should be posted in one of the image groups. Or, alternatively, alt.binaries.misc and a pointer posted in here. This group generally deals in very small text/html files of books. Not everyone has a CD Recorder, nor the space needed to store a 600MB CD. Besides, posting in such large amounts would most certainly get you flamed for being a complete, and mind-staggering moron. Don't do it. Q: How long should I wait to post a repost request? A: DAYS, not hours. Anything LESS than a MINIMUM of 5 days will be ignored or flamed by most experienced posters. No one owes you anything! The random nature of NNTP propagation means that parts of messages may come in days later. Posting requested files before they have a chance to expire from servers only places redundant files on the servers and drives up expiry rates. Be patient (also see Rules#1, 2 & 3). Further, if you have a weak news server, don't ask! Go get a new server instead (see Rule#2). Q: If I only have parts of a larger e-book, should I post what I have with a request for the rest? A: NO! Do this and and you will have your head handed to you on a platter! This is known as a HWIH post (Here's What I Have - fill in the rest). Do not post partials except to fill a specific request for those pieces. To do otherwise will simply result in more people missing the same pieces you are, and that generates more requests. But even more than that it is an egregious waste of valuable bandwidth which clogs up the group with worthless binaries that contribute to pushing complete posts off the servers and shortening expire times for everyone including you. If you are missing pieces of an especially large e-book, simply request the parts you are missing. HWIH posts are THE supreme irritant for almost everyone in the binary groups and is an excellent way to be completely ignored by everyone (after they're done roasting you) who can help you. [Asking for help] Q: Can I ask for installation help? A: First read any information files contained in the programs help option. These are generally the best place to find your answers. There may also be useful information on the programs website. If you're still stuck, read the FAQ, the help files again (RTFM ) or do a web search on www.google.com. If you're STILL completely lost, THEN, and ONLY then ask your question in the group. If you show that you've actually made some effort on your own, people tend to be MUCH more helpful with offering a possible solution. Don't simply post a question and *expect* to be spoon-fed your answers. Be aware that some groups on usenet have companion groups for discussion. These normally have the same name as the main group with an additional ".d" at the end, or the word "discussion" in the group name. If such a group exists it is appropriate to ask your questions in that group, rather than the main one. Most of the readers are willing to offer help and advice on scanning, compression or any other relevant topic. Q: What are xxx files and how do I open them? A: First, read the FAQ. http://ebook.ultraslack.net All of the commonly used/posted file types are listed there, as well as the types of compressed files that you might come across, and how to "open" them. Most of the files you'll see in here can be viewed with notepad, quickview or any text editor. Inside a zip, they can also be viewed with WinZip's Internal ASCII TextViewer. Basically, read the FAQ. Q: Should I worry about being embarrassed for asking a newbie question? A: No. So long as you have read the FAQ and done your best to RTFM, most folks are willing to answer questions not covered here or in your PC and newsreader help files. Everyone here was a newbie once. If you receive a facetious answer, ignore it. Most regulars in these groups are genuinely interested in helping others. Not every answer can be put into a FAQ, only the most frequently asked questions are intended to be here. However, if you fail to read your newsreader documentation or the FAQ carefully, and you ask a question answered in those places, you *will* get heated responses. RTFM!!! [FTP sites] Q: Should I respond to a "e-book FTP site" message? A: No. Most are trolls designed to entice you in. By responding with your "me too," you expose yourself to the e-book world as a total moron. At best you will begin receiving commercial e-mail (junk mail), at worst you may be subjected to harassment, mail bombing, or worse. You should never post your personal e-mail address anyway. You may be wondering, "But can ALL of these people replying be wrong?" A: YES! Think about it, do you *really* know who's behind that machine and is watching those IP connection logs? [E-Mail Requests] Q: Should I respond to a message offering to send me anything via e-mail? A: No. See the above question. Don't be foolish. What we do in here isn't exactly legal, and you *could* be opening yourself up for very serious trouble be exposing yourself to "THEM". Q: Should I request that someone e-mail files to me? A: NO. Think about this one for a minute. Is your e-mailbox even large enough to hold the books? If not, it will be returned to the sender, taking him just as long to get it back from you as he did to send it. Why should anyone do this anyway? It would be much better for them to post it in the group, where everyone can enjoy it. It is considered foolish and marks you as a lamer even to ASK for files by e-mail. [Compression types] Q: How do I decompress .zip files? A: Get WinZip. The file you will get is a self-extracting archive. Setup is a snap. After downloading a .zip file, just double-click on it. Easy. Get Pkzip for DOS Some people prefer to work with the DOS version. If you take the time to learn it, it can be more flexible. Q: How do I decompress these .arj and .a01, .a02, etc. files? A: Get Arj.exe. ARJ is not as easy to use as WinZip, but is much more powerful. ARJ is typically used to split a large file into smaller, more postable pieces. Don't use WinARJ, use plain old DOS ARJ (widely available; follow the link at the beginning of this answer). Open a DOS box in the directory where the .arj files are located (MS Powertoys Command Prompt Here is great for this under Win95). Q: How do I decompress these .001, .002, .003, etc. files? A: That depends. They could be either ARJ files (see above), RAR files (see below) or even JAR or ACE files (see below). Try RAR first. If they don't decode, then try one of the others. Some posters will tell you which format in the .nfo files or the 0/ file of the post. Q: How do I decode these .rar, .r01, .r02, etc. files? A: Get RAR (or more specifically, its companion program, unrar) or WinRAR. The procedure and commands are much the same as for ARJs. An example might be: [unrar x -v -y .rar d:\temp]. If there is no .rar file, use the lowest numbered extension. Also, remember that unrar.exe must be in your PATH or present in the directory. Q: How do I decode these Jar32 or Jar16 archive files? A: Get JAR32 or JAR16. This is a relatively new archiving tool by the same author as ARJ. It is NOT in general use in the groups as of this writing, but it appears to have good compression and will preserve long file names. Q: Why would someone zip an .arj or .rar archive? A: Three reasons are usually given: (1) it allows the poster to enclose information files in the zip, (2) it is rumored that zips transmit more reliably than .arjs, and (3) damaged zips can sometimes be repaired (see Appendix C). Of these, #1 is probably the most accurate. Q: How do I unzip more than one zip file at a time? A: Get Pkzip for DOS. An example might be: [pkunzip -o -d *.zip d:\temp]. The [-o] switch ("oh" not "zero") overwrites previously existing files such as duplicate file_id.diz and .nfos. The [-d] switch restores/creates directory structure stored in the .ZIP file. Remember that pkunzip.exe must be in your PATH or present in the directory. [Reading Usenet] Q: I can't read the entire subject line. What should I do? A: There are several ways to solve this problem. If you are using Agent, first make sure that Agent is displaying the headers as a full screen, not the multi-pane default view (just click on the maximize window icon). Second, reduce the size of the browser font [options | display preferences]. Third, make sure that the browser font is not bold. Finally, if you still can't read the entire subject line, just click the send-follow-up-message icon. You can read the entire line and scroll if necessary. Then, just click the close window box. If you are using another newsreader, refer to its documentation. And don't be part of the problem when you post. Try to keep your headers under 80 characters. Q: What are all these meaningless combinations of letters I see in the articles? A: They are a form of Internet Shorthand. Some common ones are: TIA - thanks in advance. Plz - please, Thx - thanks, - grin, - big grin, - big fucking grin RTFM - Read The Fucking Manual FOAD - Fuck Off And Die ESAD - Eat Shit And Die WTMKF - Welcome To My Kill File PLONK! - Person Leaving Our Newsgroup: Killfiled (you have been kill filed) PITA - Pain In The Ass KUTGW - Keep Up The Good Work BTW - By The Way IMHO - In My Humble Opinion LMAO - Laughing My Ass Off ROTFLMAO - Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off [snip] - portions of the original message to which I'm replying, and which are unrelated to my reply, have been deleted. For some of the more common acronyms you might see, check this out. http://www.netlingo.com/e-mailsh.html [Netiquette] Q: What is the proper way to request? A: NO MORE THAN ONCE per day, per newsgroup. Multiple requests (i.e. one right after the other sometimes called a "billboard" or "vertical spam") are rude and will be ignored or flamed by the most experienced readers. This is very important! In extreme cases you may be added to their kill filter which screens out all future messages from you. As far as they are concerned you will simply disappear. This is unfortunate as they are the ones most likely to be able to provide the stuff you need. The generally accepted format is "REQ: " Q: What considerations are important when posting? A: Many people today have connections faster than a 56K modem. But there are also many who do not. If you have a fast connection, avoid the impulse to post as fast as you can. This is especially true if you are posting a series of e-books. So that everyone has an opportunity to download your post(s), try to spread it over several days, and *don't* exceed 35 files/MBs per day. (whichever one comes first) Q: Should I signify how desperate/urgently/badly I want a book? A: No. "Stephen King needed urgently" will totally discredit you. No one dies from e-book deficiency. If you need it that badly, then go out and buy it. Similarly, requests that beg and plead or say "I will eat/stuff/screw (fill in the blank) for XX book", are the mark of a lamer/troll and are generally ignored or flamed. Q: iS it KewL tO Use fuNky TyPE or symbols in mY SubjECt liNES? A: Not even close to cool. It is difficult to read and widely regarded as immature. This is not a "warez" group, and YOU are not an 31337 h4xx0r. You are much more likely to get a response using standard type. Q: IS ALL CAPS CONSIDERED OKAY? A: NO. It is the Internet equivalent of SHOUTING. Use it sparingly. Q: I have asked and asked, but no one has uploaded my REQ. What gives? A: It could be any one of several things. Perhaps no one has what you asked for. Perhaps, before you got smart enough to read and follow these guidelines, you pissed everybody off and they kill filtered you. Perhaps nobody feels like uploading anything right now. This is Usenet, not real life. There is no "refund desk" or complaint department. Nobody owes you anything, and you don't owe them. If this fact is too hard for you, find another hobby. We really don't want to hear it, and we don't care. Q: The Internet is a total anarchy, right? So is it okay to use racial slurs, posts that say "FUCK THE FAQ!" and other patently offensive language? A: NO. This group is devoted to e-books. Not race, politics, religion, sexual preferences, etc. Just books. Period. End of discussion. Subject closed. Take it somewhere else. Die. Q: Is Intel better than Cyrix? Is the PC better than the Mac? Is Windows better than Linux? Is my dick bigger than yours? A: We don't care here. Take it somewhere else. And please don't cross post this kind of stuff to e-book groups. (and yes, +Chiron+ is a bastard. Get over it.) Q: Will I get a better response if I cross-post my REQ to all of the e-book groups? A: NO. Experienced usenet readers do not like excessive cross-posts (ECP) and such posts can be detected by some of the cancelbots, so they will be eliminated and not reach any audience at all. There are always exceptions, but generally, if you MUST cross-post, try not to post to more than three groups at a time. ECP will subject you to flaming and land you in kill files. Fast. Q: Do I have to follow all of these rules? A: NO. No one owns the Internet and no rules are mandatory. However, newsgroups are based on voluntary association. If you don't like the folks here, simply leave. If they don't like you, you will be ignored. If, however, you are an intelligent and reasonable person who wants to make the most out of the time spent here, you would be well advised to stay within the yellow lines. And by all means, BE PATIENT! (see Rule#1) Q. Is ABEB moderated? A. No, ABEB's rules and standard are discussed and "voted" upon by the members and regulars of the group, and then are put up here in the FAQ for general reference. (you'll know when a proposal is being made - look for any thread with 500 replies to it ). Q. Then what's with all these rules? A. ABME is controlled by it's charter and these FAQs, and by the willingness of its users to write complaints to the ISP's of those who consistently violate the concept behind them. These are time tested practices for keeping the newsgroup healthy, pleasant and available. Most ISP's consider and posted FAQ for a group to be the "law" for that group, and will take measures to prevent it's customers from abusing their privilege (not right) to access Usenet, up to and including canceling the account in question. Don't say you were never warned. Q. Is there an IRC channel where I can talk with ABEB posters? A. Presently - no. (were you offering one?), there isn't alot of demand for said channel on most IRC networks. However, there is a "talker" (kind of like a MUD only there's no games being played except for the ones with your head) that is OP'ped by one of the members in ABEB. To access this "talker", Simply point your choice of telnet client to the following: The Freehold (http://freehold.signwave.com/) telnet://freehold.signwave.com:1313 Bring beer, questions and a sense of humor. Tell 'em "The FAQ guy" sent ya. There are guidelines about what's acceptable in ABME. Both what's been listed here, and in the posting section of the actual FAQ for ABEB. Be sure to look them over, just so you know what's what.