From: Leo Breebaart <leo@lspace.org>
Subject: [FAQ] Welcome to the Pratchett newsgroups!
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett.announce,alt.fan.pratchett,alt.books.pratchett
Summary: A concise introduction to the Pratchett newsgroups on Usenet.
Followup-To: poster
Organization: L-Space
Keywords: Pratchett Discworld FAQ newsgroups alt.fan.pratchett alt.books.pratchett alt.fan.pratchett.announce
Approved: afpa-mod@lspace.org
X-Autoposter: This FAQ was autoposted by <leo@lspace.org>
X-Archive-name: pratchett/mini-faq
X-Posting-Frequency: weekly (on Monday)
X-Last-modified: 3 July 2005
X-URL: <http://www.lspace.org/faqs/>
Archive-name: pratchett/mini-faq
Posting-Frequency: weekly (on Monday)
Last-modified: 3 July 2005
URL: <http://www.lspace.org/faqs/>
Changes: + Updated a changed URL.
+ Reformatted for 65 columns.
+ Minor textual tweaks.
*** Welcome to the Pratchett newsgroups! ***
Who is Terry Pratchett?
-----------------------
Terry Pratchett is an author of humorous fantasy-based novels.
In order to find out more, read the alt.fan.pratchett
Frequently Asked Questions list (or FAQ). The FAQ is posted
monthly, but is also available from the L-Space Web (see
below). There are in fact several FAQs, covering a range of
topics about these newsgroups and other Pratchett-related
issues.
<http://www.lspace.org/faqs/>
What are the Pratchett newsgroups?
----------------------------------
There are three different newsgroups devoted to Terry
Pratchett's work.
- alt.fan.pratchett.announce (or afpa) is a moderated,
low-volume newsgroup where announcements of general interest
such as signings, meets, etc. are posted. You really should
subscribe to it if you are interested in Terry's work at
all.
- alt.books.pratchett (or abp) is an unmoderated medium-volume
newsgroup where all aspects of Terry's novels and other
related, "Pratchett-relevant" issues are discussed.
Subscribe to it if you are primarily interested in talking
about the books themselves.
- alt.fan.pratchett (or afp) is an unmoderated high-volume
meeting place for the fans of Terry's books. The discussions
often have nothing to do with Terry or his writing at all.
Subscribe to it if you are interested in hanging out with a
bunch of friendly people, who also happen to be Pratchett
fans.
On the Pratchett newsgroups you will mostly find good-natured
people who do their best to welcome new posters. However, it
is a lot easier and more pleasant for yourself and the other
posters if you spend some time reading other people's posts
and a FAQ or two before first posting.
First-time posters to afp can expect to receive an e-mail with
basic newsgroup info from the afp Welcomer. This is a service
run by the afp Clue Fairies, who you can also turn to if you
have any further questions concerning the newsgroup. The Clue
Fairies can be reached at <afp-help@lspace.org>. Please do not
hesitate to contact them.
What do the [R], [I], etc. in the article subjects mean?
--------------------------------------------------------
They are 'subject tags' that subdivide the newsgroup traffic
in categories. People use the tags to automatically filter out
or select articles, and thus keep the newsgroup manageable.
Please use them if you plan to post to the newsgroup.
A complete explanation of the subject tags can be found in the
Tagging FAQ posted weekly to the groups, and available from
the L-Space Web.
<http://www.lspace.org/faqs/>
However, the following summary covers all the important
points:
[A] Comments on references and annotations in the novels.
[R] Otherwise directly relevant to Terry or his work.
[I] Not related ("irrelevant") to Terry or his work.
[M] Discussion of 'meta'-issues relating to the newsgroups
themselves.
[F] Fan activity (such as meets and get-togethers).
[G] Discworld games.
[C] Content-free, "cascading" performance art posts.
[FAQ] Frequently Asked Questions and other periodical
documents.
[ABP] Cross-posted from, or to, alt.books.pratchett.
[ANNOUNCE] Cross-posted from alt.fan.pratchett.announce.
What books has Terry Pratchett written?
What is the (chronological) order of the Discworld novels?
----------------------------------------------------------
In order to find out, you can read the Terry Pratchett
Bibliography, posted monthly to afp/abp, or consult Colin
Smythe's on-line Checklist at:
<http://www.colin-smythe.com/terrypages/tpindex.html>
Did you notice that in novel X...?
What is the 'N-word' in Soul Music?
-----------------------------------
Terry Pratchett's work is chock-full of references, allusions,
parodies and in-jokes. We have collected over 2000 of such
annotations in a huge document called the Annotated Pratchett
File (or APF). This file, too, is available from the L-Space
Web.
<http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/>
Discussing annotations is a favourite pastime in these groups,
but if you want to post something along those lines please
check out the APF first, to make sure you are not wasting
bandwidth on something we already know. Also, please use the
tag "[A]" in your Subject to make sure the APF editor will get
to see your article (See below).
So where is this L-Space Web, then?
-----------------------------------
The L-Space Web is a World Wide Web site located in Europe,
with identical mirror sites all over the world.
Besides the various FAQs and the APF, the L-Space Web also
contain many other items of Pratchettian interest, including a
quotes file with more than 600 quotes, a large section on the
various Discworld games, different versions of the Hedgehog
Song, and scanned images of most of the original covers of the
novels.
The L-Space Web can be found at:
<http://www.lspace.org/>
Um, what *is* a newsgroup? What does "http" mean?
-------------------------------------------------
If you are new to Usenet and its terminology, you might want
to read the general introductory articles found in the
newsgroup news.announce.newusers (also available from web
sites such as <http://www.faqs.org/usenet/>). Doing so will
make your life on the net much easier, and will probably save
you from making those embarrassing silly beginner's mistakes
that you'll regret in the future.
If you think that right now you are reading an echo, a
conference, or a bboard, I'd also strongly suggest a trip over
to news.announce.newusers.
(It is true that some of you may indeed be receiving this
group as an web page, echo, conference, or what have you, but
that just means somebody set up a gateway. Generally, it will
be wise not to forget that most of the articles in these
newsgroups originate (and end up!) on Usenet.)
--
Leo Breebaart <leo@lspace.org>