Rob Kelk
1st October 2004, 01:50 PM
Archive-name: n/a
Posting-frequency: quarterly, on the 1st of January, April, July, and
October
Last-modified: Thu 01 Jul 2004
The alt.fan.bgcrisis Newsgroup FAQ
==================================
Extracted from "Another Bubblegum Crisis FAQ", maintained by Rob Kelk
------------------------------
Subject: Table of Contents
What is this group about?
What are the rules of the newsgroup?
What does "DYO!" mean?
What do these other terms mean?
Are people in this group *trying* to dislike 2040?
I just wrote a BGC fanfic! Can I post it here?
I just drew some BGC fan art! Can I post it here?
Someone posted something that offended me! What should I do?
How can I avoid being mistaken for a troll?
Where did this newsgroup come from?
------------------------------
Subject: What is this group about?
This group is for discussions of the two Japanese animated series titled
"Bubblegum Crisis" (abbreviated "BGC" or "BGC2040"), and related works.
The original BGC is an eight-episode OAV series made by Artmic and
Youmex between 1987 and 1990, followed by a prequel three-episode OAV
series "AD Police Files" and a sequel three-OAV series "Bubblegum
Crash", both made by AIC. These are released in North America by
AnimEigo, <http://www.animeigo.com/>. (There was also an "AD Police"
manga by Toshimichi Suzuki (writer) and Tony Takezaki (artist),
translated into English by Viz Communications. It acts as a "bridge"
story between ADP and BGC.)
BGC2040 is the twenty-six-episode TV series "Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo
2040" made in 1999 by AIC. There is also an "AD Police" TV series, made
in 1999 by AIC, that appears to be yet another unrelated story. The
North American rights to these versions of BGC are owned by ADV Films,
<http://www.advfilms.com/>.
------------------------------
Subject: What are the rules of the newsgroup?
1) Do not divulge any "binary" information to this newsgroup. (Post
"binaries" to <news:alt.binaries.anime> or
<news:alt.binaries.pictures.anime> instead.)
2) Do not act upon a personal grudge in the newsgroup - take the
"flamewars" to e-mail.
3) Do not act against other newsgroups - no "cross-group flamewars".
4) Do not force anyone else to secede from the newsgroup - don't
"troll" the group.
5) Members are personally responsible for any damage done to this
newsgroup's reputation.
6) Do not divulge any information concerning BGC's plot twists, unless
you put a "SPOILER" tag in the headers *and* spoiler space in the
message body.
7) Do not gather informaton on your own. The task of gathering
BGC-related information is to be distributed evenly among all the
members. (So ask BGC-related questions here before trying to find
the answers on your own - we may already have the answers.)
8) Keep in contact with the newsgroup regularly (as often as you want).
9) The members do not know whether Priss is a lesbian, so don't bother
asking unless you *want* a "flamewar" in your e-mail inbox.
10) Do not get involved with a "troll".
11) The penalty for violating any of the ten regulations listed above
is... well, there is no penalty. (You might be thought of as a
"baka" by the regulars if you break the rules on purpose, though.)
Like the "Rules of the Knight Sabers" (found on many websites, such as
<http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/bgc/original.html#knightsabersrules>),
most of these get broken once in a while, but that's pretty much the
ideal we go by.
------------------------------
Subject: What does "DYO!" mean?
It's short for "Damn you, Overstreet!" Kris Overstreet and Larry Mann
wrote a fanfic called "Bubblegum Pink: Raging Fires", which was (and
possibly still is) the most gratuitously hentai BGC fanfic ever written.
(A copy is in the rec.arts.anime.creative archives.)
Now, whenever discussions move toward gratitous sex, many regulars will
post messages saying nothing but "DYO!" (Yes, "DYO&M!" *would* be more
accurate...)
------------------------------
Subject: What do these other terms mean?
"a.f.bgc", "a.f.b.g.c", "afbgc", and "AFBGC" all stand for
alt.fan.bgcrisis.
There are some abbreviations used in the OAVs:
* ADP: the ADvanced Police - a SWAT force designed to fight Boomers.
* OMS: the OverMind control System - a top-secret Genom system.
* MFS: Mind Feedback System - a control system developed by Doctor
Raven.
* SDPC: the Space DeveloPment Corporation - the agency responsible for
the Moonbase and the "Genaros"/"Generous" space station.
* USSD: the United States Space Defence command (?) - the military body
responsible for maintaining the orbital particle beam satellites seen
in OAVs 1, 2, and 6.
Many other acronyms are defined in the "Acronym List", posted
regularly to the newsgroups <news:rec.arts.anime.fandom> and
<news:rec.arts.anime.misc> and found on the Web at
<http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/acronyms.html>.
------------------------------
Subject: Are people in this group *trying* to dislike 2040?
This came up on 1 June 2000, in an exchange between Will Svenselius and
Andy Skuse. Will asked the question I've used for the section header -
this is Andy's reply:
> Will, here's a little history lesson that may shed some light on the
> feelings of many people in this newsgroup. It is precisely because of
> history that the majority of people in this newsgroup are fans of the
> original series. And it was a series that did not just have fans. Oh
> no. BGC ORIG was a series that created Very Devoted Fans. They
> carried the original series well after its demise and continue to do
> so today. They helped spread the word that has kept BGC Orig selling
> all these years. Consider that it is over 10 years since the series
> was released and people here are all still coming up with new things
> to discuss about it. I may be a bit out of line here, being a
> relative newcomer to the group (about 5 years now I think), but if
> people hadn't continued to discuss BGC in a newsgroup like this I
> wonder if BGC2040 would ever have been made?
>
> So anyway, along comes a new series, which has very thin ties to the
> old series. The VDF's (Very Devoted Fans) are very disappointed.
> Why? What's the big deal? First remember that the old fans are VDFs.
> This is an important fact. Music comes and goes, movies come and go,
> but if a movie or a band or any other creative effort manages to
> acquire VDFs, the potential to sustain popularity beyond the usual run
> increases tenfold. My favorite band Rush has been around since the
> early seventies and yet they continue to put out music and sell out
> concerts. Why is this? Because they have managed to convince their
> fans that they have integrity, that they will not compromise on their
> music or their vision, and that they will do their very best to
> entertain us. And to Rush fans, they keep putting out interesting
> music. They have always kept their fans in their minds and they have
> always been sensitive to what the fans like and don't like. Not so
> much that they would alter course drastically if a small faction
> demanded it, but when the fans complained about particular songs
> missing off their last live CD, they changed the CD. This kind of
> devotion to the fans is what makes them popular and keeps them there.
>
> Along comes BGC2040. I remember watching AIC's Rumors website page
> very carefully for many months as the series was announced, and as it
> went into production. There were many promises made about what the
> VDFs could expect. They reassured us that "this would be no BG
> Crash!"
>
> Well it wasn't. But it certainly isn't the BGC that the VDFs were
> expecting based on AIC's Rumors page. When I think back to all the
> discussion that took place over the new series while we all waited for
> it, there was a good deal of optimism here, that AIC would get it
> right. That they would make up for how badly BG Crash was received.
> But that didn't happen. In fact if anything, they seemed to ignore
> almost all of the promises they had made. The story had changed,
> characters had changed (and not just minor aspects), the music had
> changed, the settings had changed. Just about everything had changed.
>
> That may sell anime to the new generation of fans, who haven't got any
> preconceived notions of what characters should look like or what
> hardsuits should look like. But to the VDFs, who have kept the memory
> of BGC alive all this time, it doesn't sell very well at all. It just
> says to them that they weren't really part of the equation, and yet
> AIC quite clearly stated on their Rumors page that they were thinking
> about the fans of the original series.
>
> "This will not be BG Crash!"
>
> Whatever.
>
> So Will, that is what once was, and I hope it helps explain why your
> views are meeting with so much negativity. You are up against history
> here, and while you certainly have the right to discuss your views on
> BGC 2040 here (it's alt.fan.bgcrisis after all) you should be aware
> that a precedent has been set, and 2040 is the new kid in town. New
> kids tend to get bumped around a lot. Put a new kid in a school full
> of VDFs... there's gonna be a few "Out back behind the school.
> 3 o'clock! BE THERE!" gatherings ;)
>
> I feel a little sorry for BGC 2040 actually. It had a lot to live up
> to and didn't. I imagine there was a lot of pressure on the creators
> to please the old fans as well as create something new for a new
> generation of fans. They weren't just starting from scratch with a
> blank page. That's not an easy task. But the result was not even a
> compromise. The only thing I saw that tied the old series to the new
> were the first hardsuit designs. And even those have changed
> radically as we have seen now. It is this feeling of being ignored
> that I think most fans are upset about, myself included.
>
> But despite the threat of any behind the school gatherings or strong
> feelings from the VDFs of this newsgroup (to be fair most people here
> are offering solid reasons for their opinions), if you like what you
> see in BGC2040 then that's cool. The story has that same spirit of
> mystery (that I didn't think it had at first) as the original and it
> does attempt to challenge our thinking about the co-existence of
> machines and humans. If the story grabs you and makes you think, then
> it can't be a bad thing. It may never be as popular and
> self-sustaining as the original, but hey, that's usually the way it is
> with most new and old things anyway ;)
>
> Like what you like.
------------------------------
Subject: I just wrote a BGC fanfic! Can I post it here?
Certainly. Some of the newsgroup's "regulars" will even give you
feedback on your story if you ask for it.
However, there is no central archive of fan-fiction posted to a.f.bgc.
If your story is complete and you want a copy of it kept with the other
fanfics, please also post it to <news:rec.arts.anime.creative>.
------------------------------
Subject: I just drew some BGC fan art! Can I post it here?
Sorry, no - that would violate Rule #1 of the newsgroup.
Fan art is accepted on the <news:rec.arts.anime.creative> group.
However, a copy will be kept in the rec.arts.anime.creative archives.
If you don't want this to happen, post your fan art to
<news:alt.binaries.pictures.anime> instead.
Alternately, you can put your fan art on your website.
Once you post fan art to rec.arts.anime.creative or
alt.binaries.pictures.anime, or put it on your website, feel free to
post a short note saying you've done so to alt.fan.bgcrisis (so we know
to go look for it).
------------------------------
Subject: Someone posted something that offended me! What should I do?
Nothing.
alt.fan.bgcrisis is an unmoderated Usenet newsgroup - there's no central
authority to tell you what you can and cannot post. This means everyone
has complete freedom of speech in the newsgroup. Some people are going
to use that freedom to say something that you think is wrong. Others
are going to take advantage of that freedom in inappropriate ways
(spamming, trolling, and so on).
However, just because people use (or misuse) their freedom of speech
doesn't mean anyone else is forced to pay attention to them. Nobody is
forcing you to read every message posted to the newsgroup. If you find
someone's messages offensive, DON'T READ THEM. You might even want to
use your newsreader's "killfile" in order to ignore that person
completely.
------------------------------
Subject: How can I avoid being mistaken for a troll?
There is at least one troll who posted regularly to alt.fan.bgcrisis.
(Since the aim of most trolls is to gain recognition, I won't name names
here.) However, you probably don't want to be mistaken for this
person/these people, so here's a few pointers on how to avoid being
mistaken for a troll. You can break one or two of these rules safely,
but breaking them all is a sure sign of "trolldom":
1) Use your real name, and your real e-mail address. Trolls hide behind
false names and e-mail addresses because they believe that makes it
harder for other people to track them down. Also, over half of the
"regulars" on alt.fan.bgcrisis use their real names. (If you're
already known by a pseudonym in other Usenet groups, it's okay to
keep using that "screen name", but don't change it! Changing
pseudonyms repeatedly is a sure sign of being a troll.)
2) Avoid using profanity. Trolls like to use emotionally-charged words
and phrases in order to get people to reply to them, and profanity is
some of the most emotionally-charged language in existance.
3) Be willing to admit that other people are entitled to an opinion that
doesn't match yours. Even if you aren't a troll, telling people
anything that amounts to "I'm right and you're wrong" won't win you
any friends.
4) When you *do* reply to someone else's post in order to disagree with
what they've said, don't flame the other person. (Saying "I think
your opinion is wrong" is okay; saying "I think you're an idiot" is
not.)
5) Be willing to defend your opinions if and when someone says they
think you're wrong. Some trolls will post messages saying they
believe one "side" of particularly-divisive topics, then watch in
silence as everyone else argues the topic. If you are willing to
take part in the resulting debate, people will be less likely to
think that you are a troll.
6) Make an effort to use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. Many
junior-league trolls will purposely misspell words and use incorrect
grammar because they expect other Usenet readers to reply to them,
pointing out their errors. (The FAQ maintainer assumes these trolls,
and the people who reply in this manner, haven't learned the
difference between Usenet and grade school yet.) This includes
proper capitalization - e.e.cummings may have made a career of
writing poetry without using any capital letters, but you're not
e.e.cummings. (If you were that good with your words, you wouldn't
be wasting your time posting them to Usenet.)
7) Stay on-topic. This group is for discussion of the anime "Bubblegum
Crisis" and related works. If you insist on talking about model
railroads, or weather forecasting, or live-action movies, or computer
operating systems, or anything else that isn't related to "Bubblegum
Crisis", expect to be ignored (if you're lucky) or labelled as a
"troll" (if you're unlucky). (This is the rule that the FAQ
maintainer breaks most often ...)
8) If you choose to critize someone else's work of fiction, avoid
insulting the work. Constructive criticism helps the original
author; insults do not. (If you feel the fiction is utterly bad and
you *have* to reply, consider giving the story the "Mystery Science
Theater" treatment, or "MST" for short. The MST approach requires
you to actually do some work, and shows everyone else that you're at
least as good a writer as the other person is.)
9) Make an effort to follow the "Rules of the Newsgroup" (above). While
they're written in a humourous manner, the rules themselves are for
the most part a re-cap of good "netiquette", with only a couple of
group-specific guidelines.
------------------------------
Subject: Where did this newsgroup come from?
(Okay, this question isn't asked frequently. Indulge me, ne? - Rob)
Way back when, Ben Cantrick decided it was time for a newsgroup all
about "Bubblegum Crisis". He sent a "new group" message creating
"alt.fan.priss-and-the-replicants". Unfortunately, many news servers
aren't able to handle newsgroup names with more than 14 characters
between the dots, and "priss-and-the-replicants" is 24 characters long.
Ken Arromdee ended up sending this "new group" message for
"alt.fan.bgcrisis" on July 13, 1993:
> After alt.config discussion for a while, here it is. The new group name
> (originally alt.fan.bgc) has been changed due to the discussion.
>
> For your newsgroups file:
> alt.fan.bgcrisis The Bubblegum Crisis series and related material.
(This, BTW, is probably why variations of "alt.fan.bgcrisis" are used as
an example of what *not* to do in the FAQ "So You Want to Create an Alt
Newsgroup", posted regularly to <news:alt.config>, <news:alt.answers>,
and <news:news.answers>.)
--
Rob Kelk My e-mail address is at <http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/>
If you're reading this through Google Groups, you're not getting the
complete picture. See <news:news.admin.net-abuse.policy> for more.
(My regular sigfile will return later.)
Posting-frequency: quarterly, on the 1st of January, April, July, and
October
Last-modified: Thu 01 Jul 2004
The alt.fan.bgcrisis Newsgroup FAQ
==================================
Extracted from "Another Bubblegum Crisis FAQ", maintained by Rob Kelk
------------------------------
Subject: Table of Contents
What is this group about?
What are the rules of the newsgroup?
What does "DYO!" mean?
What do these other terms mean?
Are people in this group *trying* to dislike 2040?
I just wrote a BGC fanfic! Can I post it here?
I just drew some BGC fan art! Can I post it here?
Someone posted something that offended me! What should I do?
How can I avoid being mistaken for a troll?
Where did this newsgroup come from?
------------------------------
Subject: What is this group about?
This group is for discussions of the two Japanese animated series titled
"Bubblegum Crisis" (abbreviated "BGC" or "BGC2040"), and related works.
The original BGC is an eight-episode OAV series made by Artmic and
Youmex between 1987 and 1990, followed by a prequel three-episode OAV
series "AD Police Files" and a sequel three-OAV series "Bubblegum
Crash", both made by AIC. These are released in North America by
AnimEigo, <http://www.animeigo.com/>. (There was also an "AD Police"
manga by Toshimichi Suzuki (writer) and Tony Takezaki (artist),
translated into English by Viz Communications. It acts as a "bridge"
story between ADP and BGC.)
BGC2040 is the twenty-six-episode TV series "Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo
2040" made in 1999 by AIC. There is also an "AD Police" TV series, made
in 1999 by AIC, that appears to be yet another unrelated story. The
North American rights to these versions of BGC are owned by ADV Films,
<http://www.advfilms.com/>.
------------------------------
Subject: What are the rules of the newsgroup?
1) Do not divulge any "binary" information to this newsgroup. (Post
"binaries" to <news:alt.binaries.anime> or
<news:alt.binaries.pictures.anime> instead.)
2) Do not act upon a personal grudge in the newsgroup - take the
"flamewars" to e-mail.
3) Do not act against other newsgroups - no "cross-group flamewars".
4) Do not force anyone else to secede from the newsgroup - don't
"troll" the group.
5) Members are personally responsible for any damage done to this
newsgroup's reputation.
6) Do not divulge any information concerning BGC's plot twists, unless
you put a "SPOILER" tag in the headers *and* spoiler space in the
message body.
7) Do not gather informaton on your own. The task of gathering
BGC-related information is to be distributed evenly among all the
members. (So ask BGC-related questions here before trying to find
the answers on your own - we may already have the answers.)
8) Keep in contact with the newsgroup regularly (as often as you want).
9) The members do not know whether Priss is a lesbian, so don't bother
asking unless you *want* a "flamewar" in your e-mail inbox.
10) Do not get involved with a "troll".
11) The penalty for violating any of the ten regulations listed above
is... well, there is no penalty. (You might be thought of as a
"baka" by the regulars if you break the rules on purpose, though.)
Like the "Rules of the Knight Sabers" (found on many websites, such as
<http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/bgc/original.html#knightsabersrules>),
most of these get broken once in a while, but that's pretty much the
ideal we go by.
------------------------------
Subject: What does "DYO!" mean?
It's short for "Damn you, Overstreet!" Kris Overstreet and Larry Mann
wrote a fanfic called "Bubblegum Pink: Raging Fires", which was (and
possibly still is) the most gratuitously hentai BGC fanfic ever written.
(A copy is in the rec.arts.anime.creative archives.)
Now, whenever discussions move toward gratitous sex, many regulars will
post messages saying nothing but "DYO!" (Yes, "DYO&M!" *would* be more
accurate...)
------------------------------
Subject: What do these other terms mean?
"a.f.bgc", "a.f.b.g.c", "afbgc", and "AFBGC" all stand for
alt.fan.bgcrisis.
There are some abbreviations used in the OAVs:
* ADP: the ADvanced Police - a SWAT force designed to fight Boomers.
* OMS: the OverMind control System - a top-secret Genom system.
* MFS: Mind Feedback System - a control system developed by Doctor
Raven.
* SDPC: the Space DeveloPment Corporation - the agency responsible for
the Moonbase and the "Genaros"/"Generous" space station.
* USSD: the United States Space Defence command (?) - the military body
responsible for maintaining the orbital particle beam satellites seen
in OAVs 1, 2, and 6.
Many other acronyms are defined in the "Acronym List", posted
regularly to the newsgroups <news:rec.arts.anime.fandom> and
<news:rec.arts.anime.misc> and found on the Web at
<http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/acronyms.html>.
------------------------------
Subject: Are people in this group *trying* to dislike 2040?
This came up on 1 June 2000, in an exchange between Will Svenselius and
Andy Skuse. Will asked the question I've used for the section header -
this is Andy's reply:
> Will, here's a little history lesson that may shed some light on the
> feelings of many people in this newsgroup. It is precisely because of
> history that the majority of people in this newsgroup are fans of the
> original series. And it was a series that did not just have fans. Oh
> no. BGC ORIG was a series that created Very Devoted Fans. They
> carried the original series well after its demise and continue to do
> so today. They helped spread the word that has kept BGC Orig selling
> all these years. Consider that it is over 10 years since the series
> was released and people here are all still coming up with new things
> to discuss about it. I may be a bit out of line here, being a
> relative newcomer to the group (about 5 years now I think), but if
> people hadn't continued to discuss BGC in a newsgroup like this I
> wonder if BGC2040 would ever have been made?
>
> So anyway, along comes a new series, which has very thin ties to the
> old series. The VDF's (Very Devoted Fans) are very disappointed.
> Why? What's the big deal? First remember that the old fans are VDFs.
> This is an important fact. Music comes and goes, movies come and go,
> but if a movie or a band or any other creative effort manages to
> acquire VDFs, the potential to sustain popularity beyond the usual run
> increases tenfold. My favorite band Rush has been around since the
> early seventies and yet they continue to put out music and sell out
> concerts. Why is this? Because they have managed to convince their
> fans that they have integrity, that they will not compromise on their
> music or their vision, and that they will do their very best to
> entertain us. And to Rush fans, they keep putting out interesting
> music. They have always kept their fans in their minds and they have
> always been sensitive to what the fans like and don't like. Not so
> much that they would alter course drastically if a small faction
> demanded it, but when the fans complained about particular songs
> missing off their last live CD, they changed the CD. This kind of
> devotion to the fans is what makes them popular and keeps them there.
>
> Along comes BGC2040. I remember watching AIC's Rumors website page
> very carefully for many months as the series was announced, and as it
> went into production. There were many promises made about what the
> VDFs could expect. They reassured us that "this would be no BG
> Crash!"
>
> Well it wasn't. But it certainly isn't the BGC that the VDFs were
> expecting based on AIC's Rumors page. When I think back to all the
> discussion that took place over the new series while we all waited for
> it, there was a good deal of optimism here, that AIC would get it
> right. That they would make up for how badly BG Crash was received.
> But that didn't happen. In fact if anything, they seemed to ignore
> almost all of the promises they had made. The story had changed,
> characters had changed (and not just minor aspects), the music had
> changed, the settings had changed. Just about everything had changed.
>
> That may sell anime to the new generation of fans, who haven't got any
> preconceived notions of what characters should look like or what
> hardsuits should look like. But to the VDFs, who have kept the memory
> of BGC alive all this time, it doesn't sell very well at all. It just
> says to them that they weren't really part of the equation, and yet
> AIC quite clearly stated on their Rumors page that they were thinking
> about the fans of the original series.
>
> "This will not be BG Crash!"
>
> Whatever.
>
> So Will, that is what once was, and I hope it helps explain why your
> views are meeting with so much negativity. You are up against history
> here, and while you certainly have the right to discuss your views on
> BGC 2040 here (it's alt.fan.bgcrisis after all) you should be aware
> that a precedent has been set, and 2040 is the new kid in town. New
> kids tend to get bumped around a lot. Put a new kid in a school full
> of VDFs... there's gonna be a few "Out back behind the school.
> 3 o'clock! BE THERE!" gatherings ;)
>
> I feel a little sorry for BGC 2040 actually. It had a lot to live up
> to and didn't. I imagine there was a lot of pressure on the creators
> to please the old fans as well as create something new for a new
> generation of fans. They weren't just starting from scratch with a
> blank page. That's not an easy task. But the result was not even a
> compromise. The only thing I saw that tied the old series to the new
> were the first hardsuit designs. And even those have changed
> radically as we have seen now. It is this feeling of being ignored
> that I think most fans are upset about, myself included.
>
> But despite the threat of any behind the school gatherings or strong
> feelings from the VDFs of this newsgroup (to be fair most people here
> are offering solid reasons for their opinions), if you like what you
> see in BGC2040 then that's cool. The story has that same spirit of
> mystery (that I didn't think it had at first) as the original and it
> does attempt to challenge our thinking about the co-existence of
> machines and humans. If the story grabs you and makes you think, then
> it can't be a bad thing. It may never be as popular and
> self-sustaining as the original, but hey, that's usually the way it is
> with most new and old things anyway ;)
>
> Like what you like.
------------------------------
Subject: I just wrote a BGC fanfic! Can I post it here?
Certainly. Some of the newsgroup's "regulars" will even give you
feedback on your story if you ask for it.
However, there is no central archive of fan-fiction posted to a.f.bgc.
If your story is complete and you want a copy of it kept with the other
fanfics, please also post it to <news:rec.arts.anime.creative>.
------------------------------
Subject: I just drew some BGC fan art! Can I post it here?
Sorry, no - that would violate Rule #1 of the newsgroup.
Fan art is accepted on the <news:rec.arts.anime.creative> group.
However, a copy will be kept in the rec.arts.anime.creative archives.
If you don't want this to happen, post your fan art to
<news:alt.binaries.pictures.anime> instead.
Alternately, you can put your fan art on your website.
Once you post fan art to rec.arts.anime.creative or
alt.binaries.pictures.anime, or put it on your website, feel free to
post a short note saying you've done so to alt.fan.bgcrisis (so we know
to go look for it).
------------------------------
Subject: Someone posted something that offended me! What should I do?
Nothing.
alt.fan.bgcrisis is an unmoderated Usenet newsgroup - there's no central
authority to tell you what you can and cannot post. This means everyone
has complete freedom of speech in the newsgroup. Some people are going
to use that freedom to say something that you think is wrong. Others
are going to take advantage of that freedom in inappropriate ways
(spamming, trolling, and so on).
However, just because people use (or misuse) their freedom of speech
doesn't mean anyone else is forced to pay attention to them. Nobody is
forcing you to read every message posted to the newsgroup. If you find
someone's messages offensive, DON'T READ THEM. You might even want to
use your newsreader's "killfile" in order to ignore that person
completely.
------------------------------
Subject: How can I avoid being mistaken for a troll?
There is at least one troll who posted regularly to alt.fan.bgcrisis.
(Since the aim of most trolls is to gain recognition, I won't name names
here.) However, you probably don't want to be mistaken for this
person/these people, so here's a few pointers on how to avoid being
mistaken for a troll. You can break one or two of these rules safely,
but breaking them all is a sure sign of "trolldom":
1) Use your real name, and your real e-mail address. Trolls hide behind
false names and e-mail addresses because they believe that makes it
harder for other people to track them down. Also, over half of the
"regulars" on alt.fan.bgcrisis use their real names. (If you're
already known by a pseudonym in other Usenet groups, it's okay to
keep using that "screen name", but don't change it! Changing
pseudonyms repeatedly is a sure sign of being a troll.)
2) Avoid using profanity. Trolls like to use emotionally-charged words
and phrases in order to get people to reply to them, and profanity is
some of the most emotionally-charged language in existance.
3) Be willing to admit that other people are entitled to an opinion that
doesn't match yours. Even if you aren't a troll, telling people
anything that amounts to "I'm right and you're wrong" won't win you
any friends.
4) When you *do* reply to someone else's post in order to disagree with
what they've said, don't flame the other person. (Saying "I think
your opinion is wrong" is okay; saying "I think you're an idiot" is
not.)
5) Be willing to defend your opinions if and when someone says they
think you're wrong. Some trolls will post messages saying they
believe one "side" of particularly-divisive topics, then watch in
silence as everyone else argues the topic. If you are willing to
take part in the resulting debate, people will be less likely to
think that you are a troll.
6) Make an effort to use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation. Many
junior-league trolls will purposely misspell words and use incorrect
grammar because they expect other Usenet readers to reply to them,
pointing out their errors. (The FAQ maintainer assumes these trolls,
and the people who reply in this manner, haven't learned the
difference between Usenet and grade school yet.) This includes
proper capitalization - e.e.cummings may have made a career of
writing poetry without using any capital letters, but you're not
e.e.cummings. (If you were that good with your words, you wouldn't
be wasting your time posting them to Usenet.)
7) Stay on-topic. This group is for discussion of the anime "Bubblegum
Crisis" and related works. If you insist on talking about model
railroads, or weather forecasting, or live-action movies, or computer
operating systems, or anything else that isn't related to "Bubblegum
Crisis", expect to be ignored (if you're lucky) or labelled as a
"troll" (if you're unlucky). (This is the rule that the FAQ
maintainer breaks most often ...)
8) If you choose to critize someone else's work of fiction, avoid
insulting the work. Constructive criticism helps the original
author; insults do not. (If you feel the fiction is utterly bad and
you *have* to reply, consider giving the story the "Mystery Science
Theater" treatment, or "MST" for short. The MST approach requires
you to actually do some work, and shows everyone else that you're at
least as good a writer as the other person is.)
9) Make an effort to follow the "Rules of the Newsgroup" (above). While
they're written in a humourous manner, the rules themselves are for
the most part a re-cap of good "netiquette", with only a couple of
group-specific guidelines.
------------------------------
Subject: Where did this newsgroup come from?
(Okay, this question isn't asked frequently. Indulge me, ne? - Rob)
Way back when, Ben Cantrick decided it was time for a newsgroup all
about "Bubblegum Crisis". He sent a "new group" message creating
"alt.fan.priss-and-the-replicants". Unfortunately, many news servers
aren't able to handle newsgroup names with more than 14 characters
between the dots, and "priss-and-the-replicants" is 24 characters long.
Ken Arromdee ended up sending this "new group" message for
"alt.fan.bgcrisis" on July 13, 1993:
> After alt.config discussion for a while, here it is. The new group name
> (originally alt.fan.bgc) has been changed due to the discussion.
>
> For your newsgroups file:
> alt.fan.bgcrisis The Bubblegum Crisis series and related material.
(This, BTW, is probably why variations of "alt.fan.bgcrisis" are used as
an example of what *not* to do in the FAQ "So You Want to Create an Alt
Newsgroup", posted regularly to <news:alt.config>, <news:alt.answers>,
and <news:news.answers>.)
--
Rob Kelk My e-mail address is at <http://robkelk.ottawa-anime.org/>
If you're reading this through Google Groups, you're not getting the
complete picture. See <news:news.admin.net-abuse.policy> for more.
(My regular sigfile will return later.)