From: irilyth@fenris.claremont.edu (Josh Smith)
Subject: EPC2 Issue #302 Section Zero
Originator: irilyth@fenris
Organization: Evil Geniuses For A Better Tomorrow
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 06:35:31 GMT

==============================
The Electronic Protocol
Chapter Two : Judge Diplomacy
Issue #302 (Volume 3, Issue 1)
Edited by Joshua Smith
January 27, 1993
==============================

SECTION ZERO : Metanews

     INFO : About EPC2
     INFO : About Section Zero
     INFO : For More Information
     ANNOUNCE : New EPC2 Editor
     ANNOUNCE : New EPC2 Format
     ANNOUNCE : New EPC2 Archives
     ANNOUNCE : Delays and Delays
     ANNOUNCE : Coming Attractions

----------
About EPC2
----------

The Electronic Protocol is an electronic magazine devoted to Diplomacy,
Avalon Hill's game of multi-player negotiation and conflict European.
Chapter Two focuses specifically on machine-arbited Diplomacy games played
via Ken Lowe's Diplomacy Adjudicator (Judge), and is edited by Joshua Smith
(irilyth@fenris.claremont.edu) It is distributed via the Usenet newsgroup
rec.games.diplomacy and its corresponding mailing list DIPL-L.

EPC2 is distributed in four separate sections. Section Zero will provide
administrative information about EPC2. Section One will contain articles
written about Diplomacy in general or electronic Diplomacy in particular.
Section Two will chronicle some of the discussions about Diplomacy taking
place on rec.games.diplomacy, the press channels of games on the various
Judges, and via e-mail. Section Three will report on the status of the
various Diplomacy Adjudicators, and will include end-of-game reports and
other game-related information.

------------------
About Section Zero
------------------

Section Zero of EPC2 is for information about EPC2. Segments marked "INFO"
in the table of contents will be unchanged from issue to issue; those marked
"ANNOUNCE" are new announcements unique to the issue. Announcements will
sometimes be incorporated into the info section as well, but anything tagged
as INFO was also published somewhere in Section Zero of the current or
previous issue of EPC2. This issue, of course, is an exception to this rule.

--------------------
For More Information
--------------------

...about the Usenet group rec.games.diplomacy, look for the r.g.d Frequently
Asked Questions file. Sean Starkey maintains the FAQ file, and posts it
bi-weekly to the newsgroup itself; it is also available for anonymous ftp
from netcom.com, as /pub/starkey/rec.games.diplomacy.FAQ.

...about openings on any Judge, send a "LIST" command to the Judge itself.
Volunteers also periodically post a list of openings on the five major
public Judges to rec.games.diplomacy.

...about Judge Diplomacy for newcomers, check out Kendrick Lo's "Beginner's
Guide to Judge Diplomacy". The Guide is presently undergoing revision, and
will be posted periodically in rec.games.diplomacy once it is finished.

-------------------
New EPC2 Editor

By Nick Fitzpatrick
-------------------

I am pleased to announced the passage of the helm of Chapter Two of The
Electronic Protocol to Joshua Smith. Please send your EPC2 submissions
directly to him at irilyth@fenris.claremont.edu

I began publication of EPC2 in late August, replacing long-time editor Danny
Loeb. One of my main goals, while publisher, was the creation of the
rec.games.diplomacy newsgroup. This group is now created, and is affecting
Diplomacy in ways I never expected. First there was a sudden surge in
registrations at the Washington Judge, quickly leading to its moratorium on
new games. (Yes, I think I am to blame, or at least I speeded its demise).
But then, rec.games.diplomacy became the forum out of which the new Judge was
born, and that amazing map command was created. It seems to have invigorated
Diplomacy on the net, just at a time when it seemed to becoming a little
stale.

At the time of the creation of the new Judge, I too felt that I was being
overloaded, and my pet project, the Hall of Fame, was suffering. So with all
the changes in the Dip world, I felt it was time to spread out some of my
stuff. The Internet Guide to Diplomacy has gone, replaced by the
rec.games.diplomacy FAQ, which is maintained by Sean Starkey. Some of the
stats. info I intend to submit regularly to EPC2. I am still trying to
decide on the future of DIPL-L; I think I will be holding a vote soon.

I will be keeping my job as Judge EP# Master, as Eric called it; in other
words, I will still be the person dishing out those EP numbers!

I have the greatest confidence that Josh will be able to do a great job
running EPC2, and now there is a chance that I will produce a new Hall of
Fame before Christmas (big changes coming!).

However, you have not gotten rid of me yet. I hope to continue to submit
articles as my schedule permits me.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me run EPC2, and to Josh for taking over
this project.

Nicholas Fitzpatrick (apologies to Danny Loeb, from whom I stole the format,
	      and some of the text, of this article)

---------------
New EPC2 Format
---------------

This and subsequent issues of EPC2 will be distributed in four sections. See
the second paragraph of "About EPC2" above for more information.

-----------------
New EPC2 Archives
-----------------

There will soon be a North American ftp archive for back issues of EPC2.
The exactly location of the site is yet to be determined. Watch this space
for more announcements.

-----------------
Delays and Delays
-----------------

This issue of EPC2 has been long delayed; in fact, it is a month to the day
later than my original "absolute latest" target date. Even now, it is not
complete, but I wanted to get something out before people began assuming I
had vanished entirely. This issue contains only Section Zero, and is being
published primarily to reassure people that we're still out here. I hope to
publish a full issue within the next ten days, and to begin the special
DIPLOMACY A-Z feature (see below) within the next two.

------------------
Coming Attractions
------------------

ISSUE 303 : The latest version of Mark Nelson's DIPLOMACY A-Z will be
published as a special eight-part issue of EPC2. Everything you ever wanted
to know about Diplomacy!

ISSUE 304 : A pair of articles on "Active Neutrals" variants, a long-overdue
update to the status of the various Judges, and the continuation of Danny
Loeb's Openings Library!

ISSUE 305 : The first of a series of issues focusing on the strengths and
weaknesses of various long-term alliances. In this issue: Austria.

=============================================================================
This concludes Section Zero of Chapter Two of The Electronic Protocol. Send
comments, questions, corrections, submissions, etc. to Joshua Smith
(irilyth@fenris.claremont.edu). All unattributed text in EPC2 is written by
Joshua Smith. Permission to reproduce unaltered copies of this document in
its entirety for non-profit purposes is granted.
=============================================================================
-- 
Josh Smith, User Support Coordinator  ::  Home: irilyth@fenris.claremont.edu
Harvey Mudd College, Claremont CA USA ::  Work:    josh@fenris.claremont.edu
"To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography,
and the dancers hit each other." --Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts