From: swbaker@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Texas Bob or Eddie Froman depending on the moon)
Subject: Here's the FAQ!
Summary: Written by Paul, posted (w/comments) by Steve
Organization: Oakland University, Rochester MI.
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 12:42:22 GMT


                             Welcome to...

                  A L T . G A L A C T I C - G U I D E

     This is the FAQ for alt.galactic-guide.  Currently, it's being written by
Paul Clegg, more commonly known as "...Paul", or "cleggp@rpi.edu".  I am (was)
the Head Honcho of Heverything, but people protested, so now I'm not.

     I am, however, something of the organizer around here, and have been
considering this little newsgroup as my personal domain...  But that's a
bit selfish and megalomaniacal, so I won't say that.

     This newsgroup was created for the sole purpose of allowing uninterrupted
communication between people involved in Project Galactic Guide.  What is this
project, you ask?  Let me tell you...

     It all started back in, oh, November of '91, in the alt.fan.douglas-adams
newsgroup.  I said "Hey, why don't we create a REAL guide to the galaxy?" and
everyone else said "Sounds good, let's do it!".  So, with great fervor we
started working on the skeletal structure of Project Galactic Guide, although
at that time, we often called it "The HitchHiker's Guide the Known Galaxy".
It was originally supposed to be about REAL things (as opposed to made up
things), but just recently we broke down and decided to incorporate
EVERYTHING.  So, now we'll take humorous entries about fictitious things
(done in the Douglas Adams style, of course), and humorous entries about real
things (also done in the Douglas Adams style, of course).

     The current state of affairs, as I see it, is this.  We've basically 
agreed on the exact format of the Guide entries, but we're still at some
odds as to how we plan to store and distribute those entries, and how we're
going to manage it all coherently.

     I think the most popular idea at the moment is to have single files in
chronological order, each file containing 50 entries (or did we say 100?),

[ we finally settled on 25, since we aren't exactly bombarded with articles
  like we had hoped...   - swb ]

anyway, it's an as-yet-to-be-defined number of entries per file.  These will
be stored in FTP sites to be d/led (that's downloaded) by those who want 
them.  Several people, I believe are working on writing reader programs, which
will allow the automated perusal of whatever entries you happen to have copies
of at the time.    There is also another program in the concept stage, which
would take the new "packets" of entries and toss them into the proper files,
depending on what kind of reader you have.  This is all, of course, entirely
experimental at the moment.

[ The Guide!, a system for IBM/compatible PC's, is currently in production
  and available on various FTP sites; article readers for other computers are
  under construction...   - swb ]

     What HAS been decided on is the format of the entries, which is contained
in a message that I occassionally repost now and then, particularly when
someone asks for it.

[ This "Writing Style Guide" is in the preliminary revision stages... some
  minor changes, some new fields, etc; the complete proposal will be posted
  once a final rough draft is finished...   - swb ]

     Some commonly asked questions, and my commonly issued replies:

     Q:  Is there an FTP site where I can download a copy of the Guide?
     A:  Yes.  At the moment, the only "official" FTP site where copies
         of The Guide! reader software and articles (which, at the moment,
         are archived with the software) is vela.acs.oakland.edu, in the
         subdirectory pub/swbaker.

     Q:  Is this newsgroup about Adams' "HitchHiker's Guide" Trilogy?
     A:  No, you goof, read the first half of the message.  If you want
         "real" Douglas Adams, try newsgroup alt.fan.douglas-adams.

     Q:  Is there a FAQ for this newsgroup?
     A:  Yes.

     Q:  I heard you're the guy in charge here, what's the scoop?
     A:  Just follow along, and you'll catch the drift...

     Q:  How tall are you?
     A:  6'3" and still growing.

     Q:  Can I help out with the Guide?
     A:  Sure.  I will personally accept articles emailed to
         cleggp@aix.rpi.edu.  I will edit them for typos and format re-
         quirements, and then append them to the current "chunk" of files.
         When the chunk is full, I'll send them to the aforementioned FTP
         site for download.  Please, help me out and try to follow the
         format stated, otherwise it may be a while before your article is
         accepted/included.  I reserve the right to "toss out" articles
         that a) don't make sense, b) aren't hoopy enough, and/or c)
         are very irrelevant. 

     Well, that's about it, really...  If you have any questions, post them
publicly here on alt.galactic-guide, or if it can't wait, or if it's too
small to waste bandwidth, you can e-mail them to cleggp@rpi.edu, and I'll get
to them probably within 24 hours, if not sooner.

...Paul