From: cleggp@rebecca.its.rpi.edu (Paul Jason Clegg)
Subject: ADMIN:  FAQ repost
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:49:22 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.

     The articles that are accepted are stored in chronological order within
archive files, each archive file containing 25 accepted Guide entries.  These
are stored on 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.  See below for a listing of what
Guide programs are available for various platforms. 

     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.

     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:  Can I help out with the Guide?
     A:  Sure thang.  Everyone is invited (in fact, urged) to write articles
         for the project.  We (the editors) urge you to try to follow the
         set format for writing your articles.  Then just email the articles
         to either myself (cleggp@rpi.edu), or to Steve Baker, the second
         editor, (swbaker@vela.acs.oakland.edu).  Our standard process is to
         reply to you that we've received the article, then we edit it, and
         send an edited copy back to you to verify that we haven't screwed up
         any of your article too much.  We reserve the right to "toss out"
         articles that a) don't make sense, b) aren't hoopy enough, and/or c)
         are very irrelevant.

     Q:  What's the deal with copyrights and Douglas Adams' material?
     A:  We don't want you to regurgitate Adams' material.  Not only is this
         very unoriginal, it's also known as plagiarism.  (Unless DNA himself
         decides to write it! :)  Please do NOT copy other people's work or
         ideas.  We don't want the project stopped because we violated some
         silly copyright law!

     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

-- 
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  Paul Clegg, cleggp@aix.rpi.edu.   <I> killed God, why do you ask? 
         System One RPG designer.   Project Galactic Guide Coordinator.
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