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|_| |_| uk.media.tv.sf.startrek Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
| | __ | | Revision: 3.4
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By Paul Roe
(Updated by Avleen Vig)
UMTSS website http://www.umtss.org.uk
E-mail f...@umtss.co.uk
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CONTENTS
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i. Welcome
ii.Scheduling News
1. A Note on Spoiler Policy
2. Off topic posts
3. Standard Do's and Don'ts
4. Commercial Postings and Adverts
5. Where we live on the WWW
* 6. #umtss - The IRC Channel
7. U.M.T.S.S. Members Trek Web Sites
8. Some Frequently Asked Questions
(* denotes change since last revision)
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i. Welcome
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Welcome to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document for
uk.media.tv.sf.startrek. If you intend to read or post to this
newsgroup then it is advisable for you to read this carefully.
Take special notice of the policy of the group, particularly regarding
binary (ie: file attachment) postings and advertising.
The newsgroup is for discussing all aspects of the TV series Star
Trek and all of it's spinoffs and movies, from a UK perspective.
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**********SCHEDULING NEWS**********
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This new section will be updated with news about where and when Trek
series/seasons will appear. We will endeavour to keep this section as up
to date as possible, but (as mentioned below) we don't tend to know much
more about scheduling than you do, so please bear with us.
ST: The Original Series
- no new scheduling information
ST: The Next Generation
- no new scheduling information
ST: Deep Space Nine
- no new scheduling information
ST: Voyager
- no new scheduling information
Enterprise
- no new scheduling information
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1. A Note on Spoiler Policy
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All articles about episodes not yet broadcast on analogue
terrestrial television stations in the United Kingdom should have an
appropriate subject, warning the reader, and a page (or 25 lines) of
space inserted.*
EXAMPLE -
Subject: (SPOILER) Series : Season Episode Title Medium
Series could be TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY or ENT
The Medium could be BBC, SKY, VID or whatever...
This rule also includes information about forthcoming films, rumours
etc.
Although the official position on spoiler space is for it only to be
placed into "articles about episodes not yet broadcast on analogue
terrestrial television stations in the United Kingdom", some members of
the group will include spoiler space on such articles as a courtesy to
those who may have recorded the show for watching later. There is no
official line on the inclusion of spoiler space for episodes shown on
terrestrial television, except that if an article has been posted with
spoiler space, that space must not be removed.
Some people have questioned why we don't use the Form Feed character
(^L) and the answer to this is because it works differently depending on
the news reader and platform.
Similarly, "Why not use ROT13?" - The problem with ROT13 is that
although the great majority of news readers support it, not all do, and
in some cases it is particularly difficult to quote the 'ROTted' text
back.
* 25 lines is the accepted rule of thumb for spoiler space - however
as technology continues it's rampage unabated, we find ourselves looking
at larger monitors with higher resolutions. Bearing this in mind, 25
lines may not now be enough. As an example, I quote an exchange between
myself and Alex Peckover on the group.
AP: The problem is that the rules were written years ago. At work my
machine runs at 1600x1200, so I can clearly see past spoiler space.
GO: I'll ammend the FAQ. Approx. how many lines do you need to clear.
AP: Erm.... loads!
Also, please be good enough to reference your spoilers to their relevant
thread; i.e. no spoilers for, say, Buffy TVS dropped into a Trek thread.
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2. Off Topic Posts
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The group has no specific policy on this, but the majority feel that
it is acceptable to post articles not directly related to Star Trek in
any way.
It is the general feeling that this helps to make the group what it
is, a more three-dimensional social place to be, instead of being
completely full of dry technical discussion.
This group has a definite *family* of regulars who are all the best
of friends, therefore you tend to see most threads drifting off into
off-topic banter, which is just the way we like it. :)
Threads that start as off-topic should be titled as such so that
people not wanting to get involved can ignore them. This is an activity
we try to encourage for threads that drift off-topic too, but more often
than not it gets forgotten, so beware. Or maybe you'd like to get
involved...come on in, the water's lovely.
The most common tags we use for off-topic traffic are: [OT] or, if
it looks like the thread is going way off-topic, [VOT]/[WOT].
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3. Standard Do's and Don'ts
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Firstly, there are several good general guidelines to posting style,
(though not content :) if you are new to the newsgroup or indeed the
net, then please read them...
HTML Posts: Do _NOT_ post using HTML. This is a text based medium
only. Some peoples news readers are unable to read
HTML posts so make sure that your news reader has it's
formatting option set to "Plain Text".
Line Lengths: Please keep them to about 70-80 characters
Quoting: Please try to trim any unimportant lines from a post
that you are following up.
Binary Posts: These are _NOT_ appropriate for this newsgroup. It is
a DISCUSSION group only. Please use the newsgroup
alt.binaries.startrek for this purpose.
Me-Too Posts: Posts consisting entirely of agreement with a previous
post without adding further information or argument
are discouraged.
Signature Files: Please keep signature files to no more than 5 lines.
Capitals: Posts consisting mostly or entirely of capitals
generally make you look silly, and are frowned upon,
and besides, there's no need to SHOUT.
Top Posting: Please reply to posts by added your content _under_
the quoted text. This makes the post much easier to
follow and, most importantly, it stops spoilers from
being visible above spoiler space.
If someone asks a question a reader is in a position to answer, we check
that someone else hasn't answered it already, unless there is further
information specifically to be added.
For more information on general Usenet standards, it is suggested that
you try this online resource which contains just about everything need
to know if you plan to read and post to newsgroups.
http://www.usenet.org.uk/usenet-information.html
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4. Commercial Postings and Adverts
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The group advertising policy is...
* Commercial adverts of any kind from businesses are not acceptable.
* Personal adverts, from either group regulars or people passing
through, selling or offering services direct, that may be of
interest to the group, are acceptable. Please prefix these with [FS].
* Personal adverts, from either group regulars or people passing
through, drawing attention to sales, etc. through forums such as
eBay, Yahoo!Auctions, etc. (that have legal back-up should
something go wrong) are acceptable. Please prefix these with [FA].
* Advertising of conventions (by regs or passers by) that may be of
interest to the group is acceptable. Please prefix these with [AD].
* Advertising of RPG groups (by regs or passers by) is acceptable.
Please prefix these with [AD].
We ask that any adverts posted be prefixed as suggested to allow readers
to filter them out if they wish.
Also, while personal ad's and suchlike are acceptable, what is
condidered bad form is the posting of an advert that just contains a
link to whatever is being sold. Being the very social group we are,
adverts of this kind are seen as rude and discourteous, so please, if
you want to pop an ad on the group, flesh it out a bit. Tell us about
what you're selling and maybe a little about yourself too...we love
interaction and you'll find us more than happy to welcome you to the
family. :)
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5. Where we live on The WWW
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- The Official UMTSS Homepage
http://www.umtss.org.uk
This site is
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