[rec.autos.simulators] New Readers please read

Michael E. Carver

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Jul 11, 1999, 3:00:00 AM7/11/99

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Archive-name: autos/simulators/introduction
Posting-Frequency: weekly
Last-modified: 1999/03/28
Version: 1.13
URL: ftp://ftp.teleport.com/users/mcarver/AutoSim/rasfaq.txt
Copyright: (c) 1997-1999 Michael E. Carver
Maintainer: Michael E. Carver <mca...@teleport.com>

**** Please send any comments and feedback to mca...@teleport.com ****

Welcome to rec.autos.simulators. This is an unmoderated newsgroup for
discussions of realistic computer simulations of automotive vehicles,
irrespective of the platforms on which the simulations are supported.
This includes simulations which have a competitive component (racing
simulations) and those which do not. Arcade racing simulators, which
give an overhead perspective and which do not attempt to provide realism
of handling of the vehicle, would not be appropriate in this newsgroup,
whilst discussion of Microprose's Formula 1 Grand Prix and Papyrus's
IndyCar Racing would be appropriate. (From the original charter of
r.a.s. -- ras...@bath.ac.uk)

[Editor: While the original charter states that "Arcade racing
simulators" should not be discussed in r.a.s., the general consesus is
that they are welcome to participate in r.a.s.]

This message will be posted every 7 days to rec.autos.simulators. It
has some guideline on posting to this newsgroup as well as instructions
on how to obtain the FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) related to
topics discussed in this forum.

1. NETTIQUETTE

A lot of people read these newsgroups - over 100,000 at the latest
estimate (that's newsgroups not people). Some readers are restricted to
tortuously slow connections. Some people pay for their connect time by
the minute. Other people just like to read news when the Net is running
slowly.

If your article contains quoted text please take some time to pare it down
to just the key points to which you are responding, or people will think
you are a dweeb! Many people have the habit of skipping any article whose
first page is largely quoted material. Format your article to fit in 80
columns, since that's the conventional size. If your lines are too long
they'll wrap around ugly and people won't read what you write. If you
aren't careful and considerate in formatting your posting, people are
likely to ignore it completely. It's a crowded net out there.

1.1 The Content and Style of Your Post

o It is perfectly legal to reproduce short extracts of a copyrighted
work for critical purposes, but reproduction in whole is strictly and
explicitly forbidden by international and US copyright law
unless given permission by the author.

o Would you want to read what you are writing ? Might it be better to
email a comment, or even make no comment ? Spelling and grammar
flames are particularly dull for the rest of the world, as are posts
which follow fifty lines of quoted text with "I agree".

o On the Net, most people only know you by the words that you write.
People will pay more attention to your thoughts if your writing is
clear and easy to read.

o Trim down your quotes. Delete parts of the article that you are not
responding to such as other people's signatures. Its best to have as
little as possible from previous posts. However, do be careful when
you "edit" a post. Do not cut it so it appears that someone wrote
something they did not.

o Humour, and particularly sarcasm, is often misunderstood over the Net
with hilarious consequences. A smily, :-), may be advisable.

1.2 Practicalities

o Is the subject line both descriptive and accurate ?

o People can select the articles which most appeal to them if you
include a keyword in your Subject Field with something about the
topic you are posting about. Since many different simulators are
discussed, it is highly suggested that you start off your Subject
Field with a "code" related to the topic you are posting. This
will make it easier for readers to choose the posts they wish to
read. Also, some news readers can actually filter out specific
posts to be read or discarded based on keywords.
Examples:
Code Simulation

CMR Collin McRae Rally
CPR CART Precision Racing
DD2 Destruction Derby 2
F1RS F1 Racing Simulation
GP1 Grand Prix 1 or World Circuit
GP2 Grand Prix 2
GPL Grand Prix Legends
ICR1 Indycar Racing 1
ICR2 IndyCar Racing 2
MGPRS2 Monaco Grand Prix Racing Simulation 2
MTM Monster Truck Madness
N1 Nascar Racing 1
N2 Nascar Racing 2
N99 Nascar Racing 1999 edition
NFS Need For Speed
NFSSE Need For Speed Special Edition
S1 Screamer 1
S2 Screamer 2
SCGT Sports Car GT
SODA SODA (Short-Course Offroad Drivers Association)
TOCA TOCA (Touring Car Contructors Association)
Touring Car Championship

o If you are following up an article to create a new article, please
remember to delete the References: line in the header. This will help
the readers who use a threaded news reader; otherwise your new topic
will be mixed in with an old one.

o Please do not post large binary files like GIFs, JPEGs, MPEGs or WAVs
to rec.autos.simulators. They will fill the Usenet disk partitions at
some sites. Some people cannot select which articles they want before
they have to download them. Post them to alt.binaries.simulators.autos
newsgroup with a short post to rec.autos.simulators to notify anyone
who is interested.

o Please do not post "test" messages to rec.autos.simulators. You
should *never* post a test article to a regular newsgroup, even to
the "newusers" groups, even with a polite subject line like "test,
please ignore." It's an expensive waste of Usenet resources, and if
you do it, you're guaranteed to get lots of angry mail.

Check for local test newsgroups first, if you have access to one,
it's strongly recommended that you use it rather than a global test
group.

To test a world-distribution newsgroup, use rec.test, misc.test or
alt.test. However, use these newsgroups only when you are testing
distribution, and not just for casually testing a newsreader.

Various sites will "auto-respond" to any message posted to
misc.test, which is one way of knowing whether your message got
through or not. But if that's not what you're testing, the auto-
responses can be pretty annoying, and you should put the word
"ignore" in your subject line to suppress them. You can also try
restricting distribution on your test post by changing the
"Distribution" header on your post to "local".

1.3 Handling Frequently Asked Questions

o If you are asking a basic question, please check the FAQ's first. If
the FAQ is has expired on your system, see section 2 for information
on how to get a copy.

o If someone posts a question about something that was resolved
recently, please answer the poster via email. Rehashing something
that was just discussed is a waste of bandwidth unless you have
something new to add. ("Please don't dominate the rap, Jack, if
you got nothing new to say" -- New Speedway Boogie, Robert Hunter)

o Many news reading programs allow you to filter the articles in a
newsgroup to ignore articles from a particular author or on certain
subjects using a KILL file. If you're using rn or its brethren, see
the rn KILL file FAQ in news.answers.

2.1 Known FAQ's for Simulations discussed in rec.autos.simulators.

o F1 Racing Simulation (F1RS) FAQ is available at:
http://www.f1racingsim.com/faq.htm

o Grand Prix I/World Circuit (GP1) FAQ is available at:
http://www.grandprix1.com/tips/faq.shtml

o Grand Prix II (GP2) FAQ's are available at:
http://www.grandprix2.com/gp2faq.htm
http://www.internet.dk/hjemmesider/petetoft/gp2faq.txt

o Grand Prix Legends (GPL) FAQ is available at:
General FAQ:
http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison/gpl/faq.htm
Hardware FAQ:
http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison/gpl/faq-hw.htm
On-Line FAQ:
http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison/gpl/faq-online.htm

o IndyCar Racing II (ICR2) or CART Racing FAQ is available at:
http://www.teleport.com/~mcarver/icr2faq.htm
ftp://ftp.teleport.com/users/mcarver/AutoSim/icr2faq.txt

o NASCAR Racing II (N2) FAQ is available at:
http://www.sequoia-dev.com/Hawaii/Features/N2FAQ.txt

2.2 Contacting Auto Simulator vendors.

o Bethesda Softworks
http://www.bethsoft.com

o Codemasters
http://www.codemasters.com

o Electronic Arts
http://www.ea.com

o Europress
http://www.europress.co.uk