From: alanf@eng.tridom.com (Alan Fleming)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Looking for comments on the late [FAQ - What is the DoD?]
Keywords: It's a joke, son.  A Joke.
Date: 10 Nov 92 22:21:17 GMT
Article-I.D.: tridom.BxIu3I.9rG
Reply-To: alanf@eng.tridom.com (Alan Fleming)
Followup-To: rec.motorcycles
Organization: AT&T Tridom, Engineering

In article <BxBnwL.D6D@javelin.sim.es.com>, blgardne@javelin.sim.es.com (Dances With Bikers) writes:
> 
> 1a) Crossposting. To news.answers, since it is the official
> repository of FAQ-type postings, and at least some sites provide a
> longer expire time for that newsgroup, so it might eliminate a few
> "What's a DoD?" postings.
>
I think that making it more available is a nice idea, especially on sites
with short expires, but I don't think most of the "What's a DoD?"er's actually
look for the answer that hard anyway.
 
> 1b) And to r.m.dirt, r.m.racing, and r.m.harley since The Question has
> popped up there on occasion.
>
Unless there is a consensus (like that is likely on the net...ha!) against
it, I'd think it is a good idea.  One posting a month might save a few 
"go look in rec.motorcycles" postings.
 
> 2) More frequent posting of a _very_ brief answer (a couple of lines,
> one screenful, tops).
>
You mean you can't just do a "man" on it?

tridom> man dod

DOD(8C)              MAINTENANCE COMMANDS                     DOD(8C)


NAME
     dod - DoD services daemon

SYNOPSIS
     /bin/dod [ options ]

DESCRIPTION
     dod, the DoD services daemon, is normally invoked to to answer a 
     question on the usenet newsgroup rec.motorcycles.

     The environment variable DODNUMBER will effect the defaults of the
     program.  If DODNUMBER is null, then the defaults listed below as
     [default] are used.  The results of a non-null DODNUMBER are also
     noted below. 

     The daemon will ignore all options, if the environment variable
     ORGANIZATION contains the string ".edu". 

          example%  dod

     Options to make things more interesting are as follows:

     ?        Ask "What is the DOD?"  The dod daemon normally responds by
              spawning a flame(1).  [default]

     -F       Ask for the "DOD FAQ"  The dod daemon responds by either mailing                the FAQ, spawning a flame(1) or sending a wait(1) signal.

     -K       Ask for status of "KOTL(8C)"  The dod daemon responds by spawning
              either a flame(1) or sending the error message "See DOD FAQ"
              See -F option.

     -L       Request status of llama process.

     -ED      Send "Ed Get A Bike" message to DoD daemon.  Message is usually 
              respawns itself rand(1) times.  Messages are ignored by Ed.

     -CS      Send Countersteering message to DoD daemon.  If DODNUMBER is
              0111, the DoD daemon will respond with "Ed Get A Bike" message.
              See -ED option.  DoD daemon may respond with msf(1) command or
              a random, meaningless bit stream from /dev/physics.

     -FJ [n]  Send status message about FJ being top priority bike.  DoD daemon
              normally responds with similar Harley status message and BMW
              status message.  DoD daemon may begin to rapidly spawn flame(1)
              commands and crash.  FJ status message can be repeated n times.

     -BMW [n] Send status message about BMW being top priority bike.  DoD daemon
              normally responds with similar Harley status message and FJ
              status message.  DoD daemon may begin to rapidly spawn flame(1)
              commands and crash.  BMW status message can be repeated n times.

     -HD [n]  Send status message about FJ being top priority bike.  DoD daemon
              normally responds with similar FJ status message and BMW status
              message.  DoD daemon may begin to rapidly spawn flame(1) commands
              and crash.  HD status message can be repeated n times.

ENVIRONMENT
     DODNUMBER
        is a current DoD number.  If the environment variable DODNUMBER is
        set to DoD number other than that owned by the invoker, the dod
        daemon will crash.  This is often caused by a flame(1) command
        being spawned out of control.

     ORGANIZATION
        is the invoker's organization.  If the string ".edu" is included
        in the ORGANIZATION environment variable, all options are ignored
        and the DoD daemon responds by spawning flame(1) commands. 

FILES
     cerritos:/dod/demon1.ps         PostScript picture of DoD daemon.
   
     cerritos:/dod/dod.list          List of dod members.

     cerritos:/dod/*.gif             Digitized pictures of dod'ers.

     cerritos:/dod/dod_faq.txt       Answers to all dod questions.

BUGS
     Any message sent to the DoD daemon may cause it to spawn flame(1)
     commands and crash.  Apparently, some valuable status messages are
     either being redirected to /dev/null, or are being encrypted to 
     appear as request for a flame(1).  This problem is being examined.

MAN AUTHOR
     Alan Fleming - DoD 4210

HISTORY
     Program written soon after the invent of rec.motorcycles.

SEE ALSO
     flame(1), kotl(8C), msf(1), wait(1)

Printed 11/10/92              11/10/92                            1

tridom>

Think Peace.
-- Alan (alanf@eng.tridom.com)
KotBBBB (1988 GSXR1100J)  AMA# 634578  DOD# 4210
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles