From: mortel@chose.cam.org (Stephane Lussier)
Newsgroups: alt.galactic-guide
Subject: Just Ideas and Stuff - part 2 of 4 : FIELDS
Distribution: world
X-NewsSoftware: GRn 1.16e (7/4/92) by Mike Schwartz & Michael B. Smith
Date: 4 Sep 92 17:35:54 EST
Organization: J'en aurai une!  Un jour, j'en aurai une!!


 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

         COLLECTION OF PROPOSALS
                             FOR  Writing Guide for Entries    and unknown
                                  For Publication in                 v
                                  The HitchHiker's Guide to the Known Galaxy

  with an additionnal free gift:  NEW GUIDE ENHANCEMENTS

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                             P A R T   T W O



1. SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN THE FIELDS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From now on, all %field markers should occupy a single line.
Each data field shall begin and end with the approptiate marker.

ex: %t
    the NEW improved guide formats
    %t

Why?  Summaries are too short, there isn't always enough place
to write every writer's names on one line (for collaborative
works), and it makes place for simple code optimization.

There are also two new fields (%u updates and %g glossary), a new
policy(?) on writing text, & even more!

Here's the latest format proposed:
(The newlines placed between each field are not required but welcome since
it makes everything easier on the eye )


| %t  { title BEGIN }                [80 characters]
| %t  { title END }
|
| %n  { ID number BEGIN }            [editor ID++reality index++message ID]
| %n  { ID number END }
|
| %s  { summary BEGIN }              [see below: "Writing Text"]
| %s  { summary END }
|
| %c  { comments BEGIN }             [see below: "Writing Text"]
| %c  { comments END }
|
| %a  { author(s) BEGIN }            [Firstname Middle Last (email address)]
| %a  { author(s) END }              (any number/ one per line)
|
| %d  { date BEGIN }                 [YYYYMMDD]
| %d  { date END }
|
| %x  { xrefs BEGIN }                [80 characters]
| %x  { xrefs END }                  (any number / one per line)
|
| %i  { index BEGIN }                [80 characters]
| %i  { index END }                  (any number / one per line)
|
| %u  { NEW FIELD: updates BEGIN }   [80 characters]
| %u  { NEW FIELD: updates END }     (any number / one per line)
|
| %e  { entry BEGIN }                [see below: "Writting Text"]
| %e  { entry END }
|
| %f  { NEW FIELD: footnotes BEGIN } [see below: "Writing Text"]
| %f  { NEW FIELD: footnotes END }
|
| %g  { NEW FIELD: glossary BEGIN }  [see "1.0: glossary" for more info]
| %g  { NEW FIELD: glossary END }
|
| %.  { END OF ARTICLE marker }


                       -   -  - -+- -  -   -


1.0 Fields description
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--------------------------
 %t   { title }
--------------------------

Should not wrap around an 80-column screen, if possible.
This is the subject title of the entry.
Names should be put in last, first middle fashion.

--------------------------
 %n   { ID number }      ** CHANGES
--------------------------

This string is composed of three main parts: ( ++ means CONCAT )

        Editor ID  ++  Reality index  ++  Message ID

   -Editor ID:  Every editor has a unique ID number (see "Additionnal
                Feature: Editor's List" for more about the editors)
                The number is a hexadecimal one.

   -Reality Index/credibility rating:  It is a single character long:

    There are now many kinds of entries:

    T  Technical Articles (like charts, writing policies,...)
    H  Hypefiles (see section 2.3 for more info on that)

    As for the more "creative" entries, they are noted following a
    Credibility Rating:

    P  Plausible: what is written in this entry is either true or likely
        to be true.  Those are mostly informative articles that used to
        be be marked as R REAL articles.  They might be sightly subjective
        but, once again, mostly informative.
    S  Subjective: These entries are greatly affected by a field researcher
        imagination and/or frustrations but their contents remain part of
        the known galaxy(tm).  They aren't usually very informative in the
        common sense of the word but can be of enough interest to rassasiate
        a psychanalist hunger for intellectual exctasy.
    U  Unreliable: Some would have called this BOTH.  In other words, if
        you believe in an unreliable entry you might be considered as a loony
        by your fellow field researchers and even by some normal people too!
    I  Impossible: Entirely UNREAL, more mystifying than bureaucracy itself.

    O  Original: IF we ever get the permission to include genuine HHGTTG
        articles, these entries shall bear the reality index 'O'.

   -Message ID: A hexadecimal ID number representing the article number
           n written by a specific editor under a certain reality
           index.  For example,

  the 19th REAL article written by editor #4 will be coded as 4R13.


NOTE: Since these %n fields are assigned by editors upon approval, this
field should be left BLANK by roving reporters, or at most simply
containing the Reality Index (O, P, S, U, I, H or T) [swb]

--------------------------
  %s  { Summary }        ** CHANGED
--------------------------

A short summary (usually under 4 lines) giving the reader a good idea
of whatever he will read or run away from.  (See "Writing Text" for more
info on text formatting)

--------------------------
  %c  { Comments }       ** NEW FIELD
--------------------------

Editors should be strict on this.  Comments should be either fun,
relevant or really short.  They can also be bibliography of some sorts
or useful information concerned by the matter discussed.  It can also
be a "where did I get this idea from" thing, if it is good enough.
This space is also used by field researchers willing to make their
work Public Domain or overrule point 0.2.1 of the chart.

(See "writing Text" for more info on text formatting)

--------------------------
  %a  { author }
--------------------------

Your name, in straight First-Middle-Last fashion.
In parenthesis (), add your email address after your name, so that people
can figure out who to talk to if they have questions (more likely, it'll
be for the editors and such to get back to you).

--------------------------
  %d  { date }
--------------------------

The date you wrote the article.  The fashion is: YYYYMMDD
December 25, 1991 would be written 19911225.
Single-digit numbers should be filled out with zeros.
July 4, 1992 would be 19920704, NOT 199274!

--------------------------
  %x  { cross references }
--------------------------

Your entry can contain any number of logical cross references.
Each line should always contain the names of ACTUAL ENTRY TITLES

** CHANGE  Since data fields are no longer written beside their
           %x markers, Xrefs are simply separated one another by
           a newline.

--------------------------
  %i  { indexes }
--------------------------

These are names by which the Title might also be known by.
Your entry can contain any number of these.

** CHANGE  Since data fields are no longer written beside their
           %i markers, indexes are simply separated one another by
           a newline.

For entries on people, indexes that should definitely be included are
their full names in first-middle-last format, their first-last names,
their last-first names, and so on.  This also includes permutations
of the title, such as RPI, Rensselaer Polytechnic, and Rensselaer
Polytechnic Inst, would all be %i's for Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute.  Don't be afraid to go a bit overboard, just so long as
every index used is obviously appropriate.

--------------------------
  %u  { updates }        ** NEW FIELD
--------------------------

The purpose of this field is to enable already existing entries
to cross reference yours when added to the database.  You can
have any number of those, just separate each ACTUAL ENTRY TITLES
by a newline.
It is also possible to submit an update without an entry.

(for more info on the subject, see "Additionnal Fields: updates".)

--------------------------
  %e  { entry marker }
--------------------------

It indicates the beginning of an entry.
Everything after the first %e is the entry, and the entry is ended by
another %e on a separate line.

--------------------------
  %g  { glossary }       ** NEW FIELD
--------------------------

How would the average field researcher express himself correctly
when confronted with an indescriptible situation if he's not really
good in english?  He would invent a new word.

(more on this in "1.2 Additionnal Fields: glossary")

--------------------------
  %f  { footnotes }     ** NEW FIELD
--------------------------

(see "1.2 Additionnal Fields: footnotes" for more details)

--------------------------
  %.  { END OF ARTICLE marker }
--------------------------

This indicates the end of an article.
Everything after the mark is officially inexistant.
It makes end of file testing easier on the program.



                        -   -  - -+- -  -   -

1.1 Writing Text
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~

For readability, space considerations, and technical reasons, the
editors of the Guide ask that your entries be written in a specific format.


TABULATION
----------

Under no occasion should a paragraph start with a TAB; they must start on
column 1.

PARAGRAPH SPACING
-----------------

There should be an extra blank line between paragraphs, but NOT after
the final paragraph, which should be followed by the %e.

LISTS   **MODIFIED (from 10 to 5 to facilitate the use of imbricated lists)
-----

If, for some reason, you find a list necessary for your entry, it
should be spaced in from the left 5 characters, and begin with a
number, followed by a ')'.  Thus, the 3rd entry in a list would begin:


     3) This is the third part of a list.
<-5->

If, for some reason, your list goes to 1000, do NOT add commas in the
number.  Also, there should be a blank line just before the first
list entry, and just after the last entry, as seen in the example
above.

UNDERLINING
-----------

Things that should be underlined (like book names) should be
preceded by an underscore "_" and then ended with an underscore "_",
but there should NOT be underscores between words.  Thus, the name
of The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy would be written as _The
HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy_, and NOT _The_Hitch.. etc...

HYPHENATION
-----------

Words should NOT be hyphenated at the end of a line.  If it doesn't
fit, just move the whole thing to the next line.


NEW WORDS ** NEW, of course!
---------

On their first occurence, each new word or idiom should end by a '*'
so the reader knows that he can find its definition somewhere in the
realms of the guide.  If you decide to use another field researcher's
word and be aware of it, you should also end the word by a '*' because
it's only definition still resides within the guide.

(See "1.2 Additionnal Fields -- glossary" for more about this)


FOOTNOTES ** also NEW!
---------

If you want to insert a footnote in your text, just type the number
of the footnote (in chronological order) between parenthesis () and copy
it in the %f field followed by the footnote text in question.  You can
write a footnote of a footnote if you want.  Never forget to separate
every footnote from each other by typing a newline between each of them.

(See "1.2 Additionnal Fields -- footnotes" for more about this)


                            -   -  - -+- -  -   -


1.2 Additionnal Fields
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FOOTNOTES

Take this example and the pattern will find itself.

|[beginning of header stripped]
|%e
|[...]
|They believed that natural selection(1) was a good way to wipe out
|non-believers out of existence.  This was the main idea: the afterlife
|made sure that whatever you thought would happen after your death would
|really happen.  So people would spend all their lifes planning for their
|death.  They would conceive unthinkable worlds, new lifeforms and all sort
|of really weird things and the extraordinary fact of the matter is that
|it would really happen(2)! [...]
|%e
|
|%f
|(1) In reality, it's a kind of transcendental natural selection.  If you
|want to know more on this, please consult "natural selection beyond the
|realms of nature itself" by field researcher Veranda Dacota.
|
|(2) Even if people believed in kukhundah's world(3)!
|
|(3) Kukundah's world was created during a wave of doubt dominating most of
|the 321th century of the gug'glang civilisation.  Kukundah was a sceptical
|sceptic; he wasn't sure about the beliefs of his own tribe but was afraid
|of rejecting his people's beliefs in case they where right.  So he made out
|an impossible world that defied every law of physics, causality or
|logic he ever learned.  Needless to say, this lead him to a very
|troublesome afterlife.
|%f
|
|%.  {END mark}


FORMAT:  (#)

    %f
    (#) ...
    %f

* don't forget to leave a newline between every footnote in the %f field.


                               +----------+


The following fields are special because (1) they are optional and (2)
they can be sent along individually, without any article.

UPDATES

Suppose last year some field researcher wrote an article on
the pope's religious fanmail in wich he mentionned something
about a mysterious believing device.  At the time, he didn't
know that someone would write a whole article about those
devices and omitted adding the following X-ref field in his header:

%x
The mystery of those famous believing devices untied!
%x

Today, you just wrote a nice entry on the subject and would like
the article about the pope's religious filename to X-ref yours.
How would you proceed?  Just submit the following:

|%t
|The mystery of those famous believing devices untied!
|%t
|%u
|All about the pope's religious fanmail - a critical approach
|%u
|%.


FORMAT:

    %t  {title}
    <name of the article the old ones will Xref to>
    %t
    %u  {updates}
    <actual entry titles of old articles that will Xref the title>
    <...>
    <...>
    %u
    %.

If you want already existing articles to cross reference yours,
the %u field can be inserted in any submitted entry.
You can also, as a reader, submit an update-only file so to link
two or more entries together, the updates referencing the title.


GLOSSARY

Let your brain find the pattern in this example, all by itself,
and without your help:

|[beginning of header stripped]
|%e
|Here's a reminder:
|
|Real clunes* are naturaly immuned to clixby* remarks and hove*
|expressions.  They don't just seem to be unaffected by them, they
|actually comment on them!
|
|PS: It's not because this post is long that I'm a clune.  Am I?
|%e
|
|%g
|Clunes: (pl. n.) People who just won't go.
|
|Clixby: (adj.) Politely rude.  Briskly vague.  Firmly uninformative.
|
|Hove: (adj.)  Descriptive of the expression seen on the face of one
|person in the presence of another who clearly isn't going to stop
|talking for a very long time.
|%g
|
|%.  {END mark}

   [words taken WP from the Meaning of Liff. By DNA & John Lloyd.]


FORMAT:  <new word>*

    %g
    new word: (<type of word>) Definition(s).
    <newline>
    new word: (<type of word>) Definition(s).
    <newline>
    ...
    ...
    new word: (<type of word>) Definition(s).
    %g

You can submit just a word and a definition or you can include them
at along an entry.  In this case, don't forget to type a star*
at the end of the first occurence of the new word in your %e entry.


                        -   -  - -+- -  -   -

                          To be continued...




--
                    ___________________________________mortel@chose.cam.org
 Stephane Lussier  /
__________________/
Newsgroups: alt.galactic-guide