The rec.arts.sf.written FAQ has gotten too large to continue to post,
so I will be posting just the table of contents (see below), a note of
changes made, and a pointer to it:

http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/sf-written.htm

It is also mirrored at:
http://www.steelypips.org/sfwrittenfaq/

(Thanks to Kate Nepveu!)

(I have also converted it from text to HTML.)

Last change:
27 Jan 2008

Changes:
12D. The next book from Steven Brust
12K. George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire"
12N. The next book from Ken MacLeod

Table of Contents
0. Introduction and Abbreviations
1. Story identification requests
2. Spoilers
3. What books or stories are about X?
A. Cyberpunk
B. Steampunk
C. Alternate Histories
D. Transformation Stories
E. Gender Issues
F. King Arthur and Robin Hood
G. Jewish SF
H. Mormon SF
I. Christian SF
J. Only non-human characters
K. Post-apocalypse
L. SF set in Ireland
M. Other
4. What books have been written by author X?
5. List of the Hugo, Nebula, or World Fantasy Award winners
6. Does anyone want to talk about X?
7. What is science fiction?
7a. Are techno-thrillers science fiction?
8. What is the difference between science fiction and fantasy?
8a. Isn't magical realism just another name for fantasy?
8b. Why are fantasy works nominated for Hugo Awards?
9. The SF-LOVERS Digest
10. Star Trek
11. Common abbreviations
12. Various questions about multiple editions, long-awaited
books,etc.
A. Iain M. Banks
B. The sequel to Steven R. Boyett's ARCHITECT OF SLEEP
C. The next book in David Brin's "Uplift" series
D. The next book from Steven Brust
E. The next book in Orson Scott Card's "Alvin Maker" series
F. The next book in Glen Cook's "Black Company" series
G. The next book in P. C. Hodgell's "God Stalk" series
H. Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana ending
I. The next book in S. M. Stirling's "Draka" series
J. The sequel to David R. Palmer's THRESHOLD
K. George R. R. Martin's "Songs of Fire and Ice"
L. The next book in Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden
Universe
M. The next book in Catherine Asaro's "Skolian Web" series
N. The next Ken MacLeod book (and reading order)
O. The fourth book in Alexei Panshin's "Anthony Villers"
series
P. The next Merlin book from Nicolai Tolstoy
Q. [deleted]
R. The third book in Paul Edwin Zimmer's "Border" series
S. The third book in Meredith Pierce's "Darkangel" trilogy
T. The fifth book in the "Chtorr" series
U. The next book in Vernor Vinge's "Slow Zone" series and the
annotated FIRE UPON THE DEEP
13. Clarke's Laws
14. SF themes in music
15. Oldest Living SF Authors
16. Authors by Ethnicity
A. Black SF authors
B. Asian/Asian-American SF authors
C. Arab-American SF authors
17. Good SF bookstores in town Z and ordering by mail/Web
17a. Are chain bookstores evil?
18. What is Johnny Rico's ethnic group in STARSHIP TROOPERS?
19. In what order should I read:
A. Lois McMaster Bujold's "Vorkosigan" series?
B. Steven Brust's "Dragaeran" series?
C. Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series?
D. Ken MacLeod's books?
E. Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series?
F. Iain M. Banks's "Culture" series?
20. Science Fiction Book Club
21. Recent Obituaries [discontinued]
22. SF ENCYCLOPEDIA et al
23. What is the difference between "mass-market" and "trade"
paperbacks? Why do some books come out in trade paperback
instead of the more affordable mass-market format? What
about A, B, and C format in Britain?
24. What do the letters "PJF" after Steven Brust's name mean?
25. Is Megan Lindholm writing under a pseudonym?
26. Who is William Ashbless?
27. Who is Kilgore Trout?
28. Pronunciation of Cherryh
29. Stephen Jay Gould and Steven Gould
30. Sturgeon's Law
31. What is the Thor Power Tools decision and how did it affect
publishing?
32. What is the best science fiction magazine to subscribe to?
33. How much do authors get in royalties?
34. Who said:
A. "He's a chimp! She's the Pope! They're cops!"
B. "The Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12."
C. "War God of Israel/The Thing with Three Souls"
D. "Science fiction should get out of the classroom
and back in the gutter where it belongs!"
E. "Life is like a simile."
F. The Eight Deadly Words
35. Would the windmills in Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" books
work?
36. What's the world's shortest science fiction story?
37. What are the books that come up again and again in
rec.arts.sf.written?
38. What are good SF books for children/young adults?
39. Spelling
40. Are there multiple versions of "A History of the Twentieth
Century, with Illustrations" by Kim Stanley Robinson?
41. Novel, novella, novelette, short story--what is the difference?
99. Science Fiction Archives

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
All art at some time and in some manner becomes mass entertainment,
and that if it does not it dies and is forgotten. --Raymond Chandler

On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:09:43 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

> The rec.arts.sf.written FAQ has gotten too large to continue to post

I don't know why you keep saying that.

Have you ever seen a binaries group?

Let 'er rip!

--

You want a job and a lizard to ride?

< _The Einstein Intersection_

mimus wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:09:43 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
>
>> The rec.arts.sf.written FAQ has gotten too large to continue to post
>
> I don't know why you keep saying that.
>
> Have you ever seen a binaries group?
>
> Let 'er rip!

Too large for my ISP to accept it as a posting, then.

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
All art at some time and in some manner becomes mass entertainment,
and that if it does not it dies and is forgotten. --Raymond Chandler

On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:41:45 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:

> mimus wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:09:43 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
>>
>>> The rec.arts.sf.written FAQ has gotten too large to continue to post
>>
>> I don't know why you keep saying that.
>>
>> Have you ever seen a binaries group?
>>
>> Let 'er rip!
>
> Too large for my ISP to accept it as a posting, then.

Hmf.

Then call it an .mpg.

--

Usenet is a strange place.

< Dennis M. Ritchie

On 2008-03-19, Evelyn C. Leeper <eleeper@optonline.net>
allegedly proclaimed to rec.arts.sf.written:
> mimus wrote:
>> On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:09:43 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
>>> The rec.arts.sf.written FAQ has gotten too large to continue to post
>>
>> I don't know why you keep saying that.
>>
>> Have you ever seen a binaries group?
>>
>> Let 'er rip!
>
> Too large for my ISP to accept it as a posting, then.

Multi-part FAQs are a long-standing tradition.

--
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk (Known to some as Taki Kogoma) quirk @ swcp.com
Just an article detector on the Information Supercollider.

David DeLaney wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:17:44 -0500, mimus <tinmimus99@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>> On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:09:43 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
>>> The rec.arts.sf.written FAQ has gotten too large to continue to
>>> post
>>
>> I don't know why you keep saying that.
>
> Psst: she's not actually retyping that sentence every month.
>
>> Have you ever seen a binaries group?
>> Let 'er rip!
>
> We are not a binaries group, however. Limiting the size of text
> posts
> is something that has a couple points going for it, one of which is
> that you don't really want your ISP deciding that r.a.sf.w or
> r.a.sf.m has become a group that people post binaries to and also
> deciding to drop it on the floor from now on.

Another is that something the size of the FAQ works much better as a
web page (searchable,scrollable, etc.) than as a Usenet post. It
would be even nicer formatted as HTML (which rules out Usenet
posting); I don't know why no one's offered to convert it.

: "Mike Schilling" <mscottschilling@hotmail.com>
: Another is that something the size of the FAQ works much better as a
: web page (searchable,scrollable, etc.) than as a Usenet post.

Usenet posts aren't searchable and scrollable?
I must have been misinformed.


Wayne Throop throopw@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw

On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:17:44 -0500, mimus <tinmimus99@hotmail.com> wrote:
>On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:09:43 -0400, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
>> The rec.arts.sf.written FAQ has gotten too large to continue to post
>
>I don't know why you keep saying that.

Psst: she's not actually retyping that sentence every month.

>Have you ever seen a binaries group?
>Let 'er rip!

We are not a binaries group, however. Limiting the size of text posts is
something that has a couple points going for it, one of which is that you
don't really want your ISP deciding that r.a.sf.w or r.a.sf.m has become a
group that people post binaries to and also deciding to drop it on the floor
from now on.

Dave
--
\/David DeLaney posting from dbd@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

Wayne Throop wrote:
>> "Mike Schilling" <mscottschilling@hotmail.com>
>> Another is that something the size of the FAQ works much better as
>> a
>> web page (searchable,scrollable, etc.) than as a Usenet post.
>
> Usenet posts aren't searchable and scrollable?
> I must have been misinformed.

Perhpas I have simply never found it, but I've never seen a newsreader
as good at both of those as a web browser.

::: Another is that something the size of the FAQ works much better as a
::: web page (searchable,scrollable, etc.) than as a Usenet post.

:: Usenet posts aren't searchable and scrollable?
:: I must have been misinformed.

: "Mike Schilling" <mscottschilling@hotmail.com>
: Perhpas I have simply never found it, but I've never seen a newsreader
: as good at both of those as a web browser.

Or maybe I misunderstand what features are included in "scrolling"
and "searching". To me, that's scroll bars and the usual buttons,
and the usual "search within this page" and the fact that google
indexes newsgroups. Plus... since thundermumble... uh... thunderbird
is a news browser with pretty much the same gui-ness as mozilla/firefox,
it behaves an awful lot like a web browser, scroll-and-search-wise.
And of course many newsreaders will follow clicks on URLs in messages
even if they aren't decorated with a markup language.

So... I can't say I've noticed a deficit. Just takes a newsreader
that uses the usual gui widgets.

That's not to say that a large FAQ *shouldn't* be on a web page,
just that I don't perceive those as reasons that it should.
My reasons would be more that it would be more referenceable
in posts; urls to specific sections, and mentining the url of the
whole thing in a posting is not prohibitive of bandwidth at all.
Plus, it could have embedded images and clicky buttons to pronounce
difficult words and such. And filk songs; that'd be nice.


"One word. Thundercougarfalconbird." --- Futurama


Wayne Throop throopw@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw

Wayne Throop wrote:

>
> That's not to say that a large FAQ *shouldn't* be on a web page,
> just that I don't perceive those as reasons that it should.
> My reasons would be more that it would be more referenceable
> in posts; urls to specific sections, and mentining the url of the
> whole thing in a posting is not prohibitive of bandwidth at all.
> Plus, it could have embedded images and clicky buttons to pronounce
> difficult words and such. And filk songs; that'd be nice.

This is all part of my second point, that the FAQ would benfit from
HTML formatting. Currently, it's just a lotta text.

: "Mike Schilling" <mscottschilling@hotmail.com>
: This is all part of my second point, that the FAQ would benfit from
: HTML formatting. Currently, it's just a lotta text.

I wouldn't call hyperlinks or multimedia content "formatting",
so I was misled.


Wayne Throop throopw@sheol.org http://sheol.org/throopw

In rec.arts.sf.written Mike Schilling <mscottschilling@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Wayne Throop wrote:
>
>>
>> That's not to say that a large FAQ *shouldn't* be on a web page,
>> just that I don't perceive those as reasons that it should.
>> My reasons would be more that it would be more referenceable
>> in posts; urls to specific sections, and mentining the url of the
>> whole thing in a posting is not prohibitive of bandwidth at all.
>> Plus, it could have embedded images and clicky buttons to pronounce
>> difficult words and such. And filk songs; that'd be nice.
>
> This is all part of my second point, that the FAQ would benfit from
> HTML formatting. Currently, it's just a lotta text.

The FAQ at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/sf-written.htm
has various links both internal and external to the document.
Is there additional HTML formatting you'd like to see?

Tony

Anthony Nance wrote:
> In rec.arts.sf.written Mike Schilling <mscottschilling@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>> Wayne Throop wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> That's not to say that a large FAQ *shouldn't* be on a web page,
>>> just that I don't perceive those as reasons that it should.
>>> My reasons would be more that it would be more referenceable
>>> in posts; urls to specific sections, and mentining the url of the
>>> whole thing in a posting is not prohibitive of bandwidth at all.
>>> Plus, it could have embedded images and clicky buttons to
>>> pronounce
>>> difficult words and such. And filk songs; that'd be nice.
>>
>> This is all part of my second point, that the FAQ would benfit from
>> HTML formatting. Currently, it's just a lotta text.
>
> The FAQ at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/sf-written.htm
> has various links both internal and external to the document.
> Is there additional HTML formatting you'd like to see?

That one's quite nice. Google led me to the version at
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sf/written-faq/, which has only external
links .

In rec.arts.sf.written Mike Schilling <mscottschilling@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Anthony Nance wrote:
>> In rec.arts.sf.written Mike Schilling <mscottschilling@hotmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> Wayne Throop wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> That's not to say that a large FAQ *shouldn't* be on a web page,
>>>> just that I don't perceive those as reasons that it should.
>>>> My reasons would be more that it would be more referenceable
>>>> in posts; urls to specific sections, and mentining the url of the
>>>> whole thing in a posting is not prohibitive of bandwidth at all.
>>>> Plus, it could have embedded images and clicky buttons to
>>>> pronounce
>>>> difficult words and such. And filk songs; that'd be nice.
>>>
>>> This is all part of my second point, that the FAQ would benfit from
>>> HTML formatting. Currently, it's just a lotta text.
>>
>> The FAQ at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/sf-written.htm
>> has various links both internal and external to the document.
>> Is there additional HTML formatting you'd like to see?
>
> That one's quite nice. Google led me to the version at
> http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sf/written-faq/, which has only external
> links .
>

Yeah, I don't know how faqs.org gets their faqs, nor how often.
Evelyn had mentioned here that someone (perhaps Evelyn or Kate,
who is providing a mirror) had made an HTML version of the rasfw
faq. I like it, too.

Tony

Mike Schilling wrote:
> Anthony Nance wrote:
>> In rec.arts.sf.written Mike Schilling <mscottschilling@hotmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> Wayne Throop wrote:
>>>
>>>> That's not to say that a large FAQ *shouldn't* be on a web page,
>>>> just that I don't perceive those as reasons that it should.
>>>> My reasons would be more that it would be more referenceable
>>>> in posts; urls to specific sections, and mentining the url of the
>>>> whole thing in a posting is not prohibitive of bandwidth at all.
>>>> Plus, it could have embedded images and clicky buttons to
>>>> pronounce
>>>> difficult words and such. And filk songs; that'd be nice.
>>> This is all part of my second point, that the FAQ would benfit from
>>> HTML formatting. Currently, it's just a lotta text.
>> The FAQ at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/sf-written.htm
>> has various links both internal and external to the document.
>> Is there additional HTML formatting you'd like to see?
>
> That one's quite nice. Google led me to the version at
> http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sf/written-faq/, which has only external
> links .

And hasn't been updated in years, you'll note.

Alas, I no longer have the ability to do what is necessary to get my
updates there.

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
All art at some time and in some manner becomes mass entertainment,
and that if it does not it dies and is forgotten. --Raymond Chandler

Anthony Nance wrote:
> In rec.arts.sf.written Mike Schilling <mscottschilling@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Anthony Nance wrote:
>>> In rec.arts.sf.written Mike Schilling <mscottschilling@hotmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> Wayne Throop wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> That's not to say that a large FAQ *shouldn't* be on a web page,
>>>>> just that I don't perceive those as reasons that it should.
>>>>> My reasons would be more that it would be more referenceable
>>>>> in posts; urls to specific sections, and mentining the url of the
>>>>> whole thing in a posting is not prohibitive of bandwidth at all.
>>>>> Plus, it could have embedded images and clicky buttons to
>>>>> pronounce
>>>>> difficult words and such. And filk songs; that'd be nice.
>>>> This is all part of my second point, that the FAQ would benfit from
>>>> HTML formatting. Currently, it's just a lotta text.
>>> The FAQ at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper/sf-written.htm
>>> has various links both internal and external to the document.
>>> Is there additional HTML formatting you'd like to see?
>> That one's quite nice. Google led me to the version at
>> http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sf/written-faq/, which has only external
>> links .
>>
>
> Yeah, I don't know how faqs.org gets their faqs, nor how often.

It would get there by my posting it to a moderated group. I could do
that from my work email, but when I retired in 2001, my new email access
would not let me do that. :-(

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
All art at some time and in some manner becomes mass entertainment,
and that if it does not it dies and is forgotten. --Raymond Chandler

Back to the subject of how much to post, I'd really like to see the
sections that changed since last version. In fact, I'd find that much
more useful than the table of contents (unless something was changed
there too). Or maybe just post the top-level of the TOC?

--
Konrad Gaertner - - - - - - - - - - - - - email: kgaertner@tx.rr.com
http://kgbooklog.livejournal.com/
"If I let myself get hung up on only doing things that had any actual
chance of success, I'd never do *anything*!" Elan, Order of the Stick

Evelyn C. Leeper <eleeper@optonline.net> wrote:
>Anthony Nance wrote:
>>> That one's quite nice. Google led me to the version at
>>> http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sf/written-faq/, which has only external
>>> links .
>>
>> Yeah, I don't know how faqs.org gets their faqs, nor how often.
>
>It would get there by my posting it to a moderated group. I could do
>that from my work email, but when I retired in 2001, my new email access
>would not let me do that. :-(

....I'm thinking there's something else involved, if that's the collection
that gets FAQs from -all- of Usenet? I certainly remember that back when my
FAQ was being posted (over a decade ago), it didn't have to be posted to a
moderated group as such, though it did have to appear on one of the *.answers
groups, which are themselves moderated, but there was some mail-capable
interface for that somehow.

(Would looking into the options available at optonline.net for you help any?
Email and/or Usenet?)

Dave
--
\/David DeLaney posting from dbd@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

David DeLaney wrote:
> Evelyn C. Leeper <eleeper@optonline.net> wrote:
>> Anthony Nance wrote:
>>>> That one's quite nice. Google led me to the version at
>>>> http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sf/written-faq/, which has only external
>>>> links .
>>> Yeah, I don't know how faqs.org gets their faqs, nor how often.
>> It would get there by my posting it to a moderated group. I could do
>> that from my work email, but when I retired in 2001, my new email access
>> would not let me do that. :-(
>
> ...I'm thinking there's something else involved, if that's the collection
> that gets FAQs from -all- of Usenet? I certainly remember that back when my
> FAQ was being posted (over a decade ago), it didn't have to be posted to a
> moderated group as such, though it did have to appear on one of the *.answers
> groups, which are themselves moderated, but there was some mail-capable
> interface for that somehow.
>
> (Would looking into the options available at optonline.net for you help any?
> Email and/or Usenet?)

That's what doesn't work.

It turns out that tons of the FAQs at faqs.org are outdated--nothing has
been updated in several years, and no one can locate anyone responsible
for it. However the domain has paid for through 2012, so there is
little hope of even just making it go away.

Bleh.

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
All art at some time and in some manner becomes mass entertainment,
and that if it does not it dies and is forgotten. --Raymond Chandler

begin fnord
"Evelyn C. Leeper" <eleeper@optonline.net> writes:

> It turns out that tons of the FAQs at faqs.org are outdated--nothing
> has been updated in several years, and no one can locate anyone
> responsible for it. However the domain has paid for through 2012, so
> there is little hope of even just making it go away.

It's playing a bit rough for the circumstances, but if the registrant
contact info in the whois database doesn't get replied to, it's at
least theoretically possible to get the domain suspended:

http://wdprs.internic.net/

--
Steve Coltrin spcoltri@omcl.org Google Groups killfiled here
"A group known as the League of Human Dignity helped arrange for Deuel
to be driven to a local livestock scale, where he could be weighed."
- Associated Press

In article <47e7aa75$0$25059$607ed4bc@cv.net>, Evelyn C. Leeper
<eleeper@optonline.net> wrote:

[faqs.org, which is essentially a news.answers mirror]
> It turns out that tons of the FAQs at faqs.org are outdated--nothing has
> been updated in several years, and no one can locate anyone responsible
> for it. However the domain has paid for through 2012, so there is
> little hope of even just making it go away.

Um, well, 2012 is much closer than the last-modified date of many many
FAQs.

The moderated news.* groups were mostly in advanced decay some years
ago. I was one of a board meant to revive news.announce.newgroups;
I profoundly disagreed with the approach chosen by the majority of
that board and handled the disagreement ineptly, so am no longer
involved. But one of the things that group did tackle with some degree
of success was doing something about the mess in moderated news.*,
and I know news.answers was on the list. I just don't know what's
happened more recently.

(This is partly a troll for Tim Skirvin, who is now head of the
nan bunch and who once told me he'd started reading rasfw, to comment.)

Joe Bernstein

--
Joe Bernstein, tax preparer, bookkeeper and writer joe@sfbooks.com
<http://www.panix.com/~josephb/>

Joe Bernstein wrote:

> In article <47e7aa75$0$25059$607ed4bc@cv.net>, Evelyn C. Leeper
> <eleeper@optonline.net> wrote:
>
> [faqs.org, which is essentially a news.answers mirror]
> > It turns out that tons of the FAQs at faqs.org are
> > outdated--nothing has been updated in several years, and no one can
> > locate anyone responsible for it. However the domain has paid for
> > through 2012, so there is little hope of even just making it go
> > away.
>
> Um, well, 2012 is much closer than the last-modified date of many many
> FAQs.
>
> The moderated news.* groups were mostly in advanced decay some years
> ago. I was one of a board meant to revive news.announce.newgroups;
> I profoundly disagreed with the approach chosen by the majority of
> that board and handled the disagreement ineptly, so am no longer
> involved. But one of the things that group did tackle with some
> degree of success was doing something about the mess in moderated
> news.*, and I know news.answers was on the list. I just don't know
> what's happened more recently.
>
> (This is partly a troll for Tim Skirvin, who is now head of the
> nan bunch and who once told me he'd started reading rasfw, to
> comment.)

Take a look at news.groups.proposals, for some idea of what's happened
recently.


--
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
Futures http://dangoodman.livejournal.com
mirror 1: http://dsgood.insanejournal.com
mirror 2: http://dsgood.wordpress.com
Links http://del.icio.us/dsgood

Joe Bernstein <joe@sfbooks.com> writes:

> [faqs.org, which is essentially a news.answers mirror]
>> It turns out that tons of the FAQs at faqs.org are outdated--nothing has
>> been updated in several years, and no one can locate anyone responsible
>> for it. However the domain has paid for through 2012, so there is
>> little hope of even just making it go away.

> Um, well, 2012 is much closer than the last-modified date of many many
> FAQs.

> The moderated news.* groups were mostly in advanced decay some years
> ago. I was one of a board meant to revive news.announce.newgroups;
> I profoundly disagreed with the approach chosen by the majority of
> that board and handled the disagreement ineptly, so am no longer
> involved. But one of the things that group did tackle with some degree
> of success was doing something about the mess in moderated news.*,
> and I know news.answers was on the list. I just don't know what's
> happened more recently.

The real problem is that faqs.org isn't really a mirror of
news.answers anymore, it's a mirror of an *old version* of news.answers.
That's not very helpful to anyone. Past that, there is a FAQ maintainers
list again which is doing the old job, but I don't know how much has
happened lately and I don't think they have any way to affect the faqs.org
mess.

> (This is partly a troll for Tim Skirvin, who is now head of the
> nan bunch and who once told me he'd started reading rasfw, to comment.)

I'm actually stepping down from the "head" position shortly, and
I'm well behind on my rasfw reading lately. But that's okay, it still
worked. (Happy April!)

- Tim Skirvin (skirv@big-8.org)
--
http://www.big-8.org/ Big-8 Management Board
http://www.killfile.org/~tskirvin/ Skirv's Homepage <FISH>< <*>