A GUIDE TO POSTING ON REC.ARTS.COMICS.*
Okay, to begin with, we want you to post here. We want conversation. We want new people to feel welcome. The problem is that we just got new carpet, and we're asking you to take your shoes off. Well, not quite. We don't own the newsgroup. We can't make you do anything. The thing is some of us have been reading and posting to rec.arts.comics.* for a long time and we have found that there are certain little conventions that make life easier, not just by excluding certain topics from certain groups, but by consolidating those topics as well.
You want to sell your books? Well, rec.arts.comics.marketplace exists solely to help you do that. It's there to get you together with your customers. But the other groups aren't for that. Nobody who isn't reading rec.arts.comics.marketplace cares. We know about rac.mp, and if we want to buy a comic, we'll wander over there, but please keep "for sale" posts off the other groups. It's like smoking in a restaurant or a changing room for babies in church. Certain areas are designated for certain things, and it impedes the enjoyment of others if you post in the wrong areas.
Case in point: X-Men comics. The main reason rac.marvel.xbooks was proposed was to get rid of that stuff. You think it's neat to discuss casting the X-Men movie? So did we, the first fifteen or so times. The fifteenth time was back in 1991, however, and it's starting to wear a bit thin. Over in rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks you will find people who want to discuss this type of thing.
The same general principle is true of every group in the hierarchy. They have good reasons for existing, and we, as a community, would ask you to respect that should you choose to participate. If you don't have one of the groups listed below, then ask your system administrator to create it. It's considered bad manners to post anyway simply because you don't happen to get a particular group. These groups are all valid, and they all passed votes. Your sysadmin would probably be willing to add them.
Anyway, here's a brief summary of the groups in rec.arts.comics.* and examples of the sorts of things that might go there. (Note: these aren't the charters, these are actual examples.)
rec.arts.comics.creative
Stories about characters which are created by the posters of racc. Take note, you don't post fanfic using trademarked characters (Spider-Man, Batman, Icon, whoever) here, there's an alt.* group for that. (It's called "alt.comics.fan-fiction," and if you don't get it at your site, ask your system administrator to create it.)
This group became moderated in December 1996 in order to enforce the charter. Russ Allbery is the head moderator.
rec.arts.comics.dc.lsh
Posts on Legion of Super-Heroes go here and nowhere else unless there's a reason to crosspost.
rec.arts.comics.dc.universe
Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, New Gods, Wonder Woman, Impulse. Anything that takes place in the shared world of the DC publishing company goes here. Wildstorm/ABC/Homage doesn't go here because that's not part of the DC universe. (Pop over to rec.arts.comics.misc. They have a multitude of interesting threads there). Also, LSH and Vertigo have their own groups and don't go here.
rec.arts.comics.dc.vertigo
Easy. If it has Vertigo written on it - be it a comic, a poster or a statue - it goes here. This means, by the way, that stuff that has Paradox on it doesn't go here (it goes in rac.misc).
rec.arts.comics.elfquest
Posts about all the different titles (past, present, and future; from the original quest to Jink, The Rebels, and beyond) and characters under the Elfquest banner goes here.
rec.arts.comics.info
Purely informational articles like news and FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions lists) are the main posts to this group. Everything posted to this group is subject to approval by the moderator, Martin Wisse. You can send posts directly to him at mpwisse@ad-astra.demon.nl
rec.arts.comics.marketplace
Any post offering to buy, sell or auction (eBay users take note) anything comics related goes here, and ONLY here. This is the big one. Please take this stricture seriously.
rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe
Spiderman, Hulk, Dr Strange, etc. Marvel mutant books have their own group, to wit:
rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks
Marvel Mutant stuff goes here. New-X-Men, X-Factor, Wolverine, Cable, X-men novelizations, etc.
rec.arts.comics.misc
Anything that doesn't go in another comics group, goes here. Image, Wildstorm, Crossgen, Disney, Acclaim, Dark Horse, ABC Comics, Bongo, Fawcett, Archie, 2000AD, Tintin, Cerebus, Bone, Castle Waiting, what have you. Also, stuff about creators and the industry goes here.
rec.arts.comics.reviews
Reviews of anything that's appropriate for discussion in any other group in the hierarchy. Moderated by Peter B. Juul. You can send posts directly to him at racr-admin@enzym.rnd.uni-c.dk
rec.arts.comics.strips
Post something here if it deals with short-form comic strips or panels of the sort found in newspapers
(editorial or funny pages) or other periodicals. Web comics of this type are also on-topic.
That's a ton of groups. Figuring out what goes where can be kinda tricky sometimes. Try thinking about it this way. There are basically four types of groups.
The first type has complete precedence. If it could possibly belong in these groups, it belongs in no other group at all, period, full stop. That's because these groups hold threads which a lot of people find really annoying. The two groups here are rac.creative and rac.marketplace.
The second type has high precedence. These are the specialist groups like rac.elfquest, rac.dc.lsh, rac.dc.vertigo, and rac.marvel.xbooks. Posts go here if they don't go in the first group and they are about the specialist topic. Try not to do much crossposting into or out of these groups.
The third type has middle precedence, so figuring out where an ambiguous post goes can be ambiguous. These are the rac.dc.universe and rac.marvel.universe groups. Posts go here if they're about DC or Marvel comics or characters but they don't fit into the specialist groups. rac.strips is also a middle precedence group because it is more specialized than rac.misc but its topics are still quite broad.
The fourth type has minimal precedence. Posts go here only if you're certain that they don't go anywhere else. This group is rac.misc.
(rac.info and rac.reviews don't fit into this categorization, since they're set up so that news and reviews from all the other groups fit here in addition to wherever they fit in the rest of the hierarchy.)
For clarity's sake (and for those of you with nested newsreaders) here is a map of the rac.* hierachy which was originally drawn by Paul O'Brien and kindly updated by Kate Hahn.
rec.arts.comics.*
|
|
+--------+--------+--+----------+--------+---+--------+--------+
| | | | | | | | |
| rac.creative | | rac.marketplace | | rac.strips |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
\ | \ / | /
rac.reviews | rac.info rac.misc | rac.elfquest
| |
| |
+--------------+---+ +----------+--------------+
| (rac.marvel.*) | | | (rac.dc.*) |
| | | | |
racm.xbooks racm.universe racdc.lsh racdc.vertigo racdc.universe
Crossposting:
Posting to more than one group is allowed fairly liberally if you have a good reason. If you don't think it's self-evident, you might want to provide an explanation. For example: when Mike Chary posted on Icon 30, he crossposted to rec.arts.comics.misc and to the DC and Marvel universe groups because it contained a parody of several characters from those companies. His reasoning was that there would inevitably be discussion of those characters. It didn't take place in the universes, but it was related to those universes. If Icon fights Hulk, you can crosspost to rac.marvel.u and rac.misc, for example.
Subject headings:
When you post, make sure the subject header of the post says something that will let your reading audience know what you are talking about in the article. Also, try to be somewhat explicit to avoid confusion. If you are asking what episodes of Batman Beyond are airing in September, dont make your subject header "BATMAN BEYOND: The September Episodes." Someone's going to think you are telling what the episodes are. If they know already, they might not even read your post. A simple "?" at the end of the subject heading can fix that. Also, if you follow something up but to talk about something tangential in the post, change the subject header. The use of keywords is also suggested. However, I don't want to go into that here, it's in the FAQ.
Also, covered in the FAQ is the concept of "spoilers." Basically, don't give away major plot points in a comic without some kind of warning in the subject line: "SPOILERS," and blank space in your text after a sentence saying "Spoilers below." As you might imagine, this is a big issue. (Have you ever had someone tell you the end of a movie you haven't seen?) Tempers are rather short in this area. Anyway, the FAQ covers this in some detail.
Which brings me to the next thing. The point of this post is to enable you to post without annoying anyone. However, if you have not read the rec.arts.comics.* FAQs, please do. They're divided up so that each part is easily digestible, so there's really no excuse for not reading them. You can get the FAQs from the following URL if it's not on your site currently:
http://www.enteract.com/~katew/faqs/
A couple of final notes, particuarly if you are new to Usenet:
Do yourself a favor and go read news.announce.newusers. I don't have much faith that you actually will do this, mind you. Nobody ever does. I have visons of these posts sitting alone there like the Maytag repairman, waiting, hoping that someday they too will be read. I go by and read n.a.n sometimes just to let the posts know they are loved :):):) Anyway, it would be a good idea to read those posts, because we were new once too, and we did not read them, and look how people are treating us now? :) Learn from our mistakes. That group is your Usenet birthright. Also, treat yourself to some Usenet software with a decent killfile capability. This will allow you to avoid those topics or posters in whom you have no interest and make your browsing all the more speedy and enjoyable. Carpe diem. :^) And have fun here, that's what rac.* is for: having fun.
original by Jonathon S. Tuttle, tuttle@alumni.berlin-polytechnic.de
as modified by Mike Chary
as maintained by the uberFAQ consortium
as updated by Andrew Black, ablack01@optusome.com.au
(Thanks muchly, Kate!)Last change: 24 Jan 02
--
Andrew Black
ablack01@optusome.com.au
http://members.optushome.com.au/ablack01/PostFaq.html