From: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: MONTHLY POSTING: Introduction to comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Date: 3 Jan 1993 03:54:56 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Distribution: world
Expires: Mon, 1 Feb 1993 05:00:00 GMT
Reply-To: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
Summary: How to write, submit, and request reviews
Keywords: monthly posting


			  AN INTRODUCTION TO
			COMP.SYS.AMIGA.REVIEWS

This document was last updated on:	November 22, 1992

	Welcome to comp.sys.amiga.reviews!  This is a moderated newsgroup
for reviews of products related to the Commodore Amiga computer.  All
reviews are written by YOU, the wonderful readers of USENET, and I invite
you to send me your opinions of any Amiga hardware, software, books, or
whatever else you believe is interesting and relevant to the Amiga.

	This document describes:

	I.	How to write your review.
	II.	How to submit your review.
	III.	Special help for non-native English speakers.
	IV.	How to get copies of previous reviews.
	V.	Finding new reviews quickly ("mirrors" please note!).
	VI.	Policy on vendor responses to reviews.
	VII.	Disclaimer and legal stuff.


I.  HOW TO WRITE A REVIEW FOR COMP.SYS.AMIGA.REVIEWS

	You do not have to be a "great writer" in order to write a review.
All you need is enthusiasm, plus some experience with the product you are
reviewing.  If English is not your best language, you can arrange to get
special help with English grammar and style (see Part III).

	Everybody loves a good review; and by writing one, you are doing a
great service for all your friends in the Amiga community!  In addition,
when your review is posted in c.s.a.reviews, it doesn't end there.  Your
review is archived (saved) on a publically accessible computer, so anybody
on USENET can retrieve it and refer to it in the future.

	There are three kinds of reviews that you might write.  They
are the MINI-REVIEW, the FULL REVIEW, and the SURVEY.

	(1)	The mini-review

		Did you just get a program that, on first impression, looks
		really good?  Or really terrible?  A mini-review is for
		exactly this:  first impressions.

		Write down 2-4 organized paragraphs (or more, if you like)
		about the product, describing it briefly, and stating what
		you like and don't like about it.

		Later, when you know the product better, please consider
		writing a full review.  After all, your impressions might
		change after you have used the product for more time.

	(2)	The full review

		Just like in the magazines, only better... because YOU
		wrote it!

		You should feel familiar with the product before writing a
		full review.  It can be in any format you like, and any
		length, as long as it is organized and readable.  If you are
		having trouble organizing your thoughts, I encourage you to
		use the "comp.sys.amiga.reviews Full Review Template", which
		appears in a separate article posted every month.  This is a
		"fill in the blanks" form with instructions and hints on how
		to organize your review.

		Even if you don't use the Template, I encourage you to look
		at it, to give you ideas about what to write.

		Most importantly, remember that your review is going to be
		read by thousands of people.  Some of them will base their
		buying decisions on your review.  So, be as careful and
		accurate as you can, and try to make your review interesting
		to read.

	(3)	The survey

		Once in a while, a reader will ask USENET for opinions about
		an Amiga product.  Sometimes, the reader even collects all
		the responses and posts a summary.  This is a great idea...
		but a few months later, the summary is gone and forgotten.

		This does not have to happen!  After you collect the
		responses and organize them, send the results to
		comp.sys.amiga.reviews, so they can be archived and made
		available to future readers.

		I have only a few guidelines for the survey article.  First,
		make sure you inform everybody (in your original posting)
		that you will be making their responses public.  Second,
		when you write your survey, don't just append everybody's
		responses and send it out.  Try to summarize and organize
		the information in useful ways, perhaps using tables,
		or grouping similar pieces of information.  Then, at the
		end of the survey, you can append everybody's responses if
		you like.

		If you would like to see an example of a finished survey,
		send a request to the "amiga-reviews-requests" address
		listed in section II.

	No matter what kind of review you write, always include the
following information at the top of the review:

	o	The name of the product.

	o	The name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address
		(if applicable) of the author or manufacturer.  If the
		telephone number is an "800" number (toll-free in the USA),
		please call it and ask for a non-800 number for our
		international friends.

	o	The list price.  Be sure to say what currency units (US
		dollars, francs, etc.) you mean, since USENET is
		international.

	o	A short description (1 or 2 sentences) of the product.

	o	Whether the product is copy-protected and/or installs
		on a hard drive.

	o	Whether or not the product works with accelerated CPU's
		(68030, etc.) and the latest version of the Amiga operating
		system, if you know.

In addition, always spell-check your review, and please make all lines of
text shorter than 80 characters.


II.  HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR REVIEW TO COMP.SYS.AMIGA.REVIEWS

	comp.sys.amiga.reviews is a "moderated" newsgroup.  This means
that you cannot post anything in the newsgroup directly.  Instead,
you send it to the moderator (me) who can accept or reject the review.
When the review is accepted, the moderator posts it.

	Mail your completed review to:

		amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu

	In addition, if you want to discuss something with me about a
review, send mail to:

		amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu

	Do not worry whether your review will be accepted or not.  As long
as your review is accurate and clear, it will almost definitely be
accepted.  My job is really to help make the reviews look "standard" (in the
Subject: line, for example) and readable, keep non-review material out of the
newsgroup, and avoid biased commercial announcements.


III.  SPECIAL HELP FOR NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS

	If English is not your first language, don't be afraid to write a
review.  Try it anyway.  And when you submit your review, include an extra
note to me at the top of the letter, asking for help.  I will read your
review, make suggestions and corrections, and send it back for you to check.


IV.  HOW TO GET COPIES OF PREVIOUS REVIEWS

	An index of all previous reviews is posted on the first day of every
month in comp.sys.amiga.reviews.

	If you have ftp access, you can download reviews from the following
machines:

	Location:	USA		(the "real" archives)
	Machine:	math.uh.edu
	IP address:	129.7.128.1
	Directory:	pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews

	Location:	Europe		(a "mirror" site)
	Machine:	nic.funet.fi
	IP address:	128.214.6.100
	Directory:	pub/amiga/misc/reviews

Use the login name

		anonymous

and use your own e-mail address as the password.  The reviews are in the
directory given above.  Administrative information, such as this
"Introduction" article, are in the subdirectory "0admin".

	As an example, to get a review from math.uh.edu after you are logged
in, type at the "ftp>" prompt:

		ftp> cd pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews
		ftp> ls -C
		(a list of review files is shown)
		(pick the one you want and use the "get" command)

		ftp> get Name_Of_Review
		ftp> get Another_Review
		ftp> cd 0admin
		ftp> get Introduction
		ftp> cd ..
		ftp> get Yet_Another_Review
		...
		ftp> quit

If you need help using ftp, please ask a user consultant or systems
administrator at your site.

	If you do not have ftp access, send mail to

		amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu

ask for a copy of the review, and I will mail it to you.  BE SURE TO
INCLUDE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS.

	If you would like to see a review of a particular product that is
not in the index, send a request to amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu.
When any product receives 3 or more requests (from different people), I post
a note in c.s.a.reviews asking for a volunteer to write one.  There is no
guarantee that anybody will do it, but at least I will provide the service.


V.  FINDING NEW REVIEWS QUICKLY ("MIRRORS" PLEASE NOTE!)

	The main ftp site, math.uh.edu, has files that contains the names of
all reviews modified in the last 1, 7, and 30 days.  They are called

		pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/0admin/NewSince1Days
		pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/0admin/NewSince7Days
		pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/0admin/NewSince30Days

and are updated automatically every day.  If you set up a "mirror" site, it
will save you lots of time if you transfer ONLY the reviews listed in
these files.


VI.  POLICY ON VENDOR RESPONSES TO REVIEWS

	Sometimes, the author or company ("vendor") who created a product
will submit comments about someone's review of their product.  Here is my
policy of what to do with these comments:

(1)	Factual corrections

	These include corrections in address, telephone number, list price,
	reports of bug fixes completed or in progress, and other matters
	that the vendor would know best.

	I post these corrections in c.s.a.reviews and insert them directly
	into the archived copy of the review.

(2)	Statements about the product's operation

	The review author says the product does something, but the vendor
	disagrees.  Essentially, these are statements of fact that I, as
	moderator, cannot verify.

	If these statements are well-organized and non-commercial in nature,
	I post them in c.s.a.reviews.  Then, if the reviewer has no
	objection, I may insert them into the archived copy of the review.
	They are CLEARLY MARKED that they were not part of the original
	review and came from the vendor.

(3)	Differences of opinion, and commercial information

	These include disagreements with the review author's opinions,
	advertisements, product "hype", announcements of products and
	services that are not yet on the market, and anything else that
	concerns opinions rather than facts.

	Essentially, I do nothing with these.  The reviews newsgroup is not
	for discussion of products.  The vendor is welcome to post opinions
	about the review in any other Amiga newsgroup.  (Every review has an
	appropriate newsgroup listed in its "Followup-To" line.)


VII.  DISCLAIMER AND LEGAL STUFF

	In the following conditions, the "reviewer" is the person who wrote a
particular review.  The "moderator" is the moderator of the newsgroup
comp.sys.amiga.reviews.

(1)	All opinions stated in a review are those of the reviewer, and
	not necessarily those of the comp.sys.amiga.review moderator,
	nor the organization whose computers are used to post the review.

	Neither the moderator, nor the organization whose computers are
	used to post the review, will be held liable for the accuracy or
	content of the review material, nor for any errors of omission
	the moderator may make when editing or posting the review.

(2)	All reviews remain the property of the reviewer.

	By submitting a review, the reviewer agrees that his/her review
	may be posted on USENET and included in:

	    1. Newsletters and other printed matter available freely with a
	       copying and distribution fee of not more than $2.00 an issue;
	       and,

	    2. Newsletters on magnetic media and other forms of magnetic
	       distribution such as the USENET summary disks available
	       freely with a copying and distribution fee of not more than
	       $6.00.

	    3. Electronic network distributions, either by the standard
	       USENET distribution or on a commercial information system
	       (e.g., the Portal System) charging no more than $6.00 per
	       hour of non-prime time 2400 baud connection not including
	       local access charges (e.g., Telenet or Tymnet access charges).

All currency units above are in US dollars.

	The above notwithstanding, articles appearing in
comp.sys.amiga.reviews may NOT be included in any distribution over which a
compilation copyright is enforced.

	Articles to be included cannot be edited nor modified in any way
except to remove the standard news headers and the MODERATOR's network
signature.  The original AUTHOR's signature must not be removed.  The
original author is to be credited with authorship.  Excerpts may be used
according to the Fair Use Laws of the United States.

	If anyone wishes to use a review in any way that would violate the
above conditions, he/she should contact the original author of the article.
The moderator of comp.sys.amiga.reviews will not act as arbitrator in this
situation.

	If you disagree with any of these conditions, you are welcome to
discuss them by sending mail to amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu.  If you are
not willing to abide by these conditions, then do not submit a review.

---

   Dan Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
   Send reviews to:	amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu
   Request information:	amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu
   General discussion:	amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu