From: Karen Subject: [FAQ] {M} {I} {G} {R} {A} {F} - tagging and how it works Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett.announce,alt.fan.pratchett,alt.books.pratchett Summary: This FAQ documents the system of Subject tags used in the Pratchett newsgroups to keep the traffic manageable. Followup-To: poster Reply-To: faqs@goodgulf.demon.co.uk Organization: I live in hope Keywords: Pratchett Discworld FAQ netiquette subject tags keycodes Approved: afpa-mod@lspace.org X-Autoposter: This FAQ was autoposted by X-Archive-name: pratchett/subject-tag-faq X-Posting-Frequency: weekly (on Wednesday) X-Last-modified: 2 June 2005 X-URL: Archive-name: pratchett/subject-tag-faq Posting-Frequency: weekly (on Wednesday) Last-modified: 2 June 2005 URL: NB: Please note change in FAQ email address and that the old address is no longer valid after being abused by a spammer. This and all the other FAQs for Pratchett newsgroups and things Pratchett related may be found at: Additionally, if you are unable to find the answer to your query in the relevant FAQ, or have a more general query or request, there is a Help Facility to be reached by mailing: --------------------------------------------------------------- * Alphabetti Spaghetti * AFP's [X] subject tags for threads - how and when to use them. You may find it useful to print this out and keep handy until you are familiar with the usage. Alt.fan.pratchett can be a fairly heavy-traffic newsgroup. In addition, afp'ers rarely restrict their contributions to matters strictly to do with Terry Pratchett, and his writings. Tagging assists visual selection of threads likely to be of greatest interest and avoidance of threads of least interest. It also enables automatic selection, sorting or kill-filing, for those with newsreaders with a kill-file facility [1][2]. NB if you are posting through Google Groups please be aware that the recent changes to that system cause your tags to be stripped from the subject header along with the quoted content from the previous post so you need to add the tags and quoted content manually. Feedback to Google to point out how unhelpful this is to usenet groups may eventually convince them to return to something more suitable to newsgroups. The following guidelines and definitions should help you but if all else fails please remember the zeroth law of tagging. It does't merit outraged nitpicking reactions to untagged or wrongly tagged articles - a courteous explanation or reminder is ample. Our articles are in practice more likely to be read if tagged correctly but its not a hanging offence to make a simple mistake and shouldn't be treated like one :- 0) Tagging was devised to serve afp and afpers. Not the other way around. 1) Please use tags when starting a thread, or when following up to a thread where someone has omitted to use a tag. The tag is most useful at the beginning of the subject so that it can aid sorting. 2) Please change the tag, as the nature of the discussion changes [remove the old tag completely, or else "deactivate" it, by changing the square brackets to some other symbol, e.g. "*X*". In the case of this FAQ the square brackets surround the actual tag which is [FAQ] and curly brackets are used to "deactivate" the other tags. 3) Please use one tag only. Multiple tagging can generally be avoided by reading the definitions below. If in doubt feel free to ask! 4) Please *don't* introduce use of new tags. Such proposals should be discussed on group first. Many new tags have been suggested before - try looking on google groups before suggesting new tags, its a regular subject :-} 5) Please don't modify the strict "[X]" format - else, this voluntary system breaks down. Square brackets only, please for the actual tag - in this case [FAQ]. 6) NB for those who are new to afp but are familiar with tagging, the [Q] tag for questions is not in use on these groups. Nor is there a need for a separate "newbie" tag. Currently recognised tags are: [A] - Annotation - articles commenting upon, or explaining, references in Terry Pratchett's novels and shorter stories. Leo Breebaart (leo@lspace.org), and his able assistant Mike Kew (MiQ@lspace.org) use [A] tagged articles to help them select additions to the awesome Annotated Pratchett File which may be obtained by ftp from ftp.lspace.org (also ) Please check the APF before submitting new annotations. And as a general policy, yes we have all seen Star Trek, no it doesn't generally stand up to scrutiny as an Annotation :} [R] - Relevant - articles (other than annotations) that are directly related to and are discussing Terry's works, publications, theatrical productions, films, websites, and other activities based upon them, including the companion maps, art & craftwork, inasmuch as they relate to the original works and each other. [I] - Irrelevant - threads whose subjects are not directly related to Terry's works, publications or other "spin-offs", nor to afp fan activity, nor to afp-the-newsgroup. Please bear in mind that [I] is not intended as a licence to repeatedly introduce contentious or other subjects for their own sake - consider whether the subject has already been aired recently and is still of wider interest:)) [M] - Meta - These are for the discussion of issues relating to afp itself and how it operates. Please take the time to look at them as and when they arise - this is your group after all. They are the forum for discussing changes to the way your usenet community operates (eg how tagging is used, FAQ issues etc), as well as activity on the newsgroup and matters generally within the group itself which may be of concern/interest to subscribers. [F] - Fan - details of afp fan activity, normally "in real life" (or as close as afpers get to the same), frequently involving hostelries and other establishments serving alcoholic beverages and/or curries... Also, reports on such activities (and where to find all the incriminating evidence, in all its gory detail), proposals for repeat events and other activities, information about fandom services, resources etc. [C] - Cascade - content-free, "articles" deliberately building up a "cascade", or visual effect. Please have regard to the negative effect of cascades upon afp as well as bandwidth wasted, before starting another cascade. If you must cascade, please trim quotation to the references, plus the cascade itself. [n.b. afp has already experienced the completely content-free cascade on numerous occasions.] Where a cascade arises from another thread please retag it promptly. [G] - Game - articles about the discworld computer games and, by extension, about earlier discworld games, and those as-yet unwritten... - whether board-, computer-, jigsaw- or fantasy role-playing- games... TCoM is on ftp.lspace.org. [ANNOUNCE] - an article cross-posted from alt.fan.pratchett.announce, and also cross-posted to alt.books.pratchett; plus followups. This may be [F], [G], [M] - or even [R]. [to make an announcement to afpa, please send it to the moderator afpa-mod@lspace.org - submissions should be sent in with good, clear subjectlines, repeating all important information from subjectlines in the main body of the text. There is a FAQ for submissions to afpa which you should check first.] For meet related activities it is also a good idea to mail the relevant meet mail list with copies of announcements and the additional details for speedier spreading of information. See: [FAQ] - an article of fundamental importance to the way the newsgroup works - from Frequently Asked Questions. These should be considered the supporting documents of the afp community - ie of recurrent and/ or abiding interest to everyone on alt.fan.pratchett. periodically posted to afp; available by anonymous ftp from ftp.lspace.org and mirrors (incl. ftp-au., ftp-uk., and ftp-us.lspace.org) in the directory /pub/pratchett/words/faqs/ and also to be found on Guidelines specific to Alt.books.pratchett: Please read the "ABP Posting Guidelines" for detailed information specific to ABP. These comments relate to the use of tagging specifically. This is now posted regularly to ABP as a FAQ. Since all posts should be relevant to the works of Terry Pratchett the [R] and [I] tags are effectively redundant on posts specific to ABP. [R] is obviously still needed for posts crossed to AFP, [I] cross-posts from/to AFP would inevitably be off topic for ABP and so should not be made. The tag most commonly in use on ABP is the [A] tag, which distinguishes annotations from other relevant posts. Where threads become [I] they may be crossed to AFP to continue the [I] discussion on that group - please remember to change/add the tag and set followups to AFP. Please also remember first to consider whether or not the embryonic [I] thread is likely to be of *interest* to the readers of AFP (of which you may well be one). If it is not likely to be of interest to AFP please let it die out or cross to a more appropriate group instead. Or of course there is always "follow-up to poster"... Finally, speculation about future developments is now considered acceptable on ABP. BUT please remember to include a subheader [SPECULATION] inside the post just above the speculative section. This is not a "tag" as such and does not need to be added to the heading unless the entire post is [SPECULATION]. Currently speculation is still considered unacceptable on AFP - please remember this if cross posting threads there - add the [R] and excise the [SPECULATION]. There is also now a 'speculation mail list' available. General comments: If you are new to usenet and everything seems strange, and hard to follow, lurking a while, reading threads as they develop, and also reading the other FAQ's (such as the "Welcome FAQ's") should help. The main newsgroup FAQ, the afp-faq, maintained by Orin Thomas, is essential reading whilst you are lurking and a useful reference subsequently. Then when posting - think about last week's posts. Which do you actually remember? Which do *you* wish you had written? Which of your own posts will you be pleased to see in the *public archives* in years to come? And remember - you are never obliged to follow up a post. Thanks to Julie Lund for tidying up the FAQ formatting for me :) [1] - afp-help can probably answer questions on how to killfile using most of the popular offline newsreaders in use - but _do_ read the documentation ("rtfm")() *first*, then ask of your 'net software's publisher, or your isp's help/support desk (or line), if they were the provider: they are more likely to have the detailed answers already. [2] - I have a set of guidelines for killfiling using dis216d/snz130, dos-based shareware which as a number of people have pointed out to me really belong in the relevant VI FAQ (which as yet we don't have) Please mail me for these at the above address. I will send them along with any other info I have which may be of help to VI users:) -- Karen@lspace.org