Newsgroups: rec.humor.funny,news.answers
Subject: Introduction to REC.HUMOR.FUNNY -- Monthly Posting
From: funny-request@clarinet.com (Brad Templeton)
Followup-to: rec.humor.d
Keywords: monthly administrivia

Archive-name: rhf-intro

Welcome to rec.humor.funny, USENET's daily on-line humour magazine
of the netwaves.

Rec.humor.funny (RHF) is a "moderated" newsgroup.  This means that only
one person, the editor/moderator, is allowed to post directly here.  If you
want to post here, you send electronic mail to funny@clarinet.com.  If
the editor decides that you have sent in a new and funny joke that fits
the submission guidelines, it gets sent out to the RHF audience.
Anything that's not an actual joke submission goes to
funny-request@clarinet.com.

RHF is read (they say) by >200,000 people on USENET, Fidonet and GEnie, plus
many more on peripheral networks and other systems.  It is read in the USA,
Canada, Australia, NZ, Japan, Indonesia, Chile, Israel, Brazil, Mexico,
Saudi Arabia, Africa, Iceland & Eastern and Western Europe and many other
places.  We hear somebody even forwards it down to the USA's South Pole
research station. (Hi folks!)

RHF works on a quality, not quantity basis.  You'll usually see
only 1 to 3 jokes per weekday in this group.  These are culled from
around 20 to 30 daily submissions.  We hope that what you see gives
you some amusement to start, or finish your newsreading day.  Those
submissions come via email, from other Usenet newsgroups like rec.humor,
and other sources.

RHF specializes in jokes, although anything funny can show up here.
In particular, topical jokes on the latest news are particularly
popular.  RHF is, in fact, one of the ways these jokes spread around
the world so fast.  Original jokes by netters and computer jokes are
also a specialty -- in fact, there are awards given every year for
original jokes with cash prizes!

If you wish to submit, read the posting after this, which gives the
submission guidelines.

Most RHF postings are categorized with "keywords."  Some of these
keywords give the editor's opinion of the joke's quality, on a
scale that goes (doubt it, maybe, smirk, chuckle, funny, laugh, sidesplit).
Of course, your sense of humour may vary.  Check dealer for terms
and conditions.   Other keywords warn readers about potential offensive
content in jokes, and can be used in kill files.  We try to warn about sexual
context, sick jokes, swearing, bathroom humour, the odd pun and the use
of stereotypes, particularly racial or sexual ones.

Other keywords give general information.  Self-explanatory ones include
"original" and "true."  "Administrivia" is a keyword for postings like
this, that aren't jokes, but administrative information.  "heard it" means
a joke is judged good but moderately well known.

Why do we get to judge what's funny and what isn't?  Well, it's a
dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it.  Seriously, not everybody will
agree with our sense of humour, but then, nobody is forced to read the
group.  As long as the unmoderated groups rec.humor and talk.bizarre
exist, we hold no power to censor or suppress anything anybody wants to say.

Most of the selection of RHF is done by Maddi Hausmann, who is paid for her
work.  RHF is sponsored by ClariNet Communications Corp., the net's electronic
newspaper publisher.   The executive editor and founder of the newsgroup
is Brad Templeton.  Do not send mail regarding this group to anybody's
personal mailbox -- use only the funny-request@clarinet.com address.

As you'll read in the 2nd following posting on possibly offensive jokes,
this is a no-holds-barred newsgroup.  Like a letters to the editor
column in a paper, we don't judge what a joke says, just how well (funny) it
says it.  Jokes that we suspect may go way beyond some people's
thresholds of offense are actually encrypted with a simple letter-
substitution cypher, so that you have to go out of your way to read
them.  WE WILL NOT EXPLAIN THIS TO YOU.  If you dare to read these jokes,
ask a neighbour (not the net) how to do it.

Bitnet readers: RHF is forwarded to the NUTWORKS list.  This is not done
by us, and we don't control it.  PLEASE DON'T SEND ADD/DROP REQUESTS TO US.
Send to listserv@TCSVM.bitnet.    We do not handle any mailing lists of this
newsgroup.

If you see an error, or have a comment on an RHF posting, MAIL TO THE POSTER,
not to us.  Doing a "reply" in your newsreader does this for you.  Ask
the poster to forward the comment to us if it's a question of attribution
etc.   This avoids our getting duplicates on these.

System Admins: If you can, please extend the expiration date of RHF to
something nice and long.  At 2-3 msgs/day, you can keep a month of it
without consuming significant disk space.  This cuts down on back joke
requests.  (Which we reject due to our We're-not-a-joke-server policy.)

Back jokes from RHF are collected into the RHF "TeleJokeBooks."
Rather than repeat them on the net, (or waste $10 posting a message
asking, "does anybody have...") you can get these jokes in
book form.  The 1990 annual (Volume III) is $9.95 USD. + S/H.  Volume II
(1989) is the same price.  Volume I (1987 & 1988) is $13 USD + S/H.  All
three are $29.95 + S/H.

Send mail to jokebook@clarinet.com for details on how to order.  Credit
card orders can call 1-800-USE-NETS (800-873-6387) or 1-408-296-0366.
(I would give more details here, but people go overboard if anything
involving money is mentioned too much on the net, even if it helps the
net.) (Gene Spafford suggested that if I put it on magtape and charged
a $45 "distribution fee," I wouldn't get any complaints!) Back jokes are
also available on GEnie, which allows unlimited non-prime access to the
Joke area and a hundred other areas for $5/month.

	About the rec.humor.funny original comedy awards:

Each year we select the best *original* submissions.  Prizes are awarded
to the winners, including $100 cash and more for first place.  Other prizes
include software, GEnie online time, TeleJokeBooks and E-mail subscriptions
to Dave Barry's column.  Submissions must be clearly marked as original.
Winners appear in the jokebooks.  Judging is done in November.

Now, a few special administrative notes:

		Rec.humor.funny newsgroup joke stream & collection

	Compilation Copyright 1987 ... '93 by ClariNet Communications Corp.

You can copy and distribute the rec.humor.funny stream/collection in whole or
in part in electronic form, as long as you don't try to make money off it,
or pretend that you are the one who put it together.

(A "compilation copyright," by the way, is a special form of copyright that
covers editing and compiling the work of other people -- i.e. exactly what
a moderator or editor does.  There is NO claim on the copyright of the
individual works.  These are either public domain or still owned by their
authors or authors' assignees.  A compilation copyright means you can't
distribute most or all of the compilation, or use it as a significant
source for your own compilation.)

	This newsgroup sometimes contains material some consider
	offensive, and material that may not be suitable for some
	minors.  As such, all redistributors should make sure that
	nobody reads the group other than by personally requesting it, and
	all redistributors must take whatever precautions they feel are
	necessary with regards to newsgroup access by minors.

The warnings and keywords placed on jokes are for the reader's convenience
only.  The editor makes no assurances that such warnings are complete or
correct.  It is up to each reader to decide whether to be guided by these
keywords and/or warnings.

Submitters to RHF grant the editor the right to unlimited electronic
distribution of their submission to USENET and other networks including GEnie
and Delphi, and unless explicitly stated otherwise, rights are also
granted for the inclusion of the submitted joke into the Rec.Humor.Funny
Computer Network Humour Annual book series.  The moderator also has the
right to make edits which, in the moderator's sole opinion, improve the
joke.  The moderator will note whenever substantial editing has taken place.

(Sorry, but it turns out all this legal schmazola is necessary.  we want
this group protected if it ever comes under attack again.)