From: trek-info@dweeb.Berkeley.EDU (Jim Griffith - Moderator)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.info
Subject: Administrivia
Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Date: 22 Jul 1992 18:46:56 GMT
Organization: Vulcan Science Academy, Tau Ceti Sector
Distribution: world
Expires: 31 Aug 92
Reply-To: trek-info-request@dweeb.fx.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: xcf.berkeley.edu
Originator: griffith@xcf.Berkeley.EDU


As you may have noticed, there haven't been any new articles in a couple of
weeks.  This is because of a couple of problems at my site.  The original
problem was that Pnews wasn't sending articles off-site correctly (and due
to an impending release, no one here had time to research a fix).  So as a
stop-gap fix, I was remote logging-in to my account at Berkeley.  Well,
a couple of weeks ago, our connection to the Real World, a 38400 baud
SLIP line being fed by a kindly site, decided to stop functioning at that
site's end.  I could still dial in to the Berkeley machine, but I couldn't
transfer the articles from dweeb to the Berkeley machine for posting.  And
about the same time, the Berkeley site upgraded its OS and Pnews was gone
for a while.  Then to make matters worse, I found myself unable to use the
modems at work to even dial into Berkeley.  And a water pipe under my
driveway burst.

Ever had one of those months?

Anyways, Pnews at dweeb is still down and the SLIP line is still down, but
I figured out the modem problem and Pnews has been restored at Berkeley.  I
think.  I'll find out in a few moments, I guess.  So what I am going to do
is post the articles by CUT-BUFFERING THEM ACROSS MY X DISPLAY FROM A DWEEB
LOGIN TO THE BERKELEY LOGIN.  I hope you're happy.  The sys-admin here finally
has time to research the Pnews problem, so timely postings *may* return soon.
I hope.  Until then, articles will be buffered somewhat, but hopefully by
only two or three days, not two weeks...

On a brighter note, my lowly SPARCStation I will be upgraded to a mighty
SPARCStation II soon, hopefully, not that there will be much impact on
r.a.s.i., other than that cut-buffering will work more quickly (sigh).

I apologize for the problems.  As far as I can tell, none of the accepted
submissions were of a timely nature, other than one convention ad which
wouldn't have been posted before the convention anyways, so hopefully
this myriad of problems has only been an inconvenience (I try to use a word
like "myriad" at least once every day).  I would merely ask that you bear
with me as I try to work out my problems and streamline the process a bit.

On another note, I am experimenting with an automatic reply system like Brad
Templeton uses for r.h.f., where a note is automatically fired off saying
that I received a submission, and I send an acceptance/rejection note
later.  See, I only send out acceptance/rejection letters right when I post
(or don't post) an article, so in cases like my recent problems, people have
to wait weeks to find out if I've even received the submission.  If you have
received a strange mail bounce in the past, that was probably the cause.  If
you receive one in the future, please forward the bounce to
griffith@dweeb.fx.com so I can deal with the problem (although for the most
part, I receive a similar bounce addressed to postmaster@dweeb).

On another note, I think I have to make a policy change.  I can no longer
accept submissions which are magazine articles.  With a newspaper article,
the newspaper ceases to profit from the article the day after it is published
(except for API and similar syndicated articles).  With a magazine, they
profit for an entire month (typically).  As such, getting reprint permission
is difficult, if not impossible.  If you see an interesting Star Trek
article in a magazine and you want to tell r.a.s.i. readers about it, what
you can do is post an article which contains a *very brief* summary of the
article, with references so people can read the article in its entirety.
You can even include a word-for word excerpt of an interesting comment if
you like.  The gist of copyright law is that if a reference to a work
contains sufficient information that the reader has no possible reason for
reading the original copyrighted work, then it's a copyright violation.  Any
reference which does not convey the entire message of a copyrighted peace
does not violate copyright law.  This has only become an inssue recently,
so I don't think that this will be a significant change.  But I want it out
in the open.

Oh yeah, if any of you at Davis know a Julie Griffith, junior-to-be studying
some conglomerate of sociology, psychology, and Spanish, be sure to wish her
a happy birthday next time you see her.

				Jim

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edited by Jim "The Big Dweeb" Griffith - the official scapegoat for r.a.s.i.
Email submissions to trek-info@dweeb.fx.com, and questions to
                                                trek-info-request@dweeb.fx.com