alt.music.prince Frequently-Asked Questions
Matt Conrad
URL: http://www.prince.org/faq/display_faq.html?type=A
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Copyright: (c) 1999, 2000 prince.org Partners
Maintainer: Matt Conrad (ma...@prince.org)
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alt.music.prince Frequently-Asked Questions
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1. General questions about alt.music.prince
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Q. What is alt.music.prince?
A. alt.music.prince (AMP) is an unmoderated Usenet newsgroup for the
discussion of the musician Prince, who used to go by an
unpronounceable symbol. The usual ASCII representation of his symbol
is:
O(+>
Q. Why wasn't the newsgroup renamed?
A. When he changed his name, it made sense to change the name of the
newsgroup. Unfortunately, he chose a name that has no ASCII
representation, and Usenet is still an ASCII world.
There were other reasons for leaving alt.music.prince as is, one of
them has also been mentioned by others: how would new fans/Usenet
newbies find alt.music.O(+> or whatever (or alt.music.tafkap, as has
also been suggested)?
And probably the most overlooked reason for leaving alt.music.prince
alone was purely technical: overwhelmingly, most systems carrying
Usenet news are UNIX systems; some of the characters often used to
represent the symbol have special meaning to UNIX and should never be
used as part of a newsgroup name (or any other file/directory name).
Of course, now that he's once again calling himself Prince, the issue
is moot.
[credit: Tim Buck]
Q. Who founded AMP, when and why?
A. Ron Jarrell created the newsgroup (on behalf of Tim Buck) on May 9th,
1993 as an unmoderated alternative to the Prince Mailing List (which
became moderated due to abuse).
[credit: Raymond Meyll, Tim Carlson]
For more info, see:
http://www.prince.org/events/showevent.html?m=5&d=9&y=1993&t=O
Q. Does AMP have a charter?
A. Yes. While reading it, keep in mind that it was written in that short
period after Prince's "retirement" but before his name change. At the
time, Paisley Park Records was still in operation and Paisley Park
Studios was available to the public as a rental facility.
Without further ado, here is Tim Buck's charter for AMP:
Despite the recent press release from Prince saying he is
retiring from studio recording, Prince is still an important
force in the entertainment industry. His recording label, Paisley
Park, will still go on, and he is not going to stop writing
music. His album contract with Time-Warner is still valid, and he
has enough material for an estimated 50 albums in the vault at
Paisley Park. Paisley Park Studios is becoming one of the most
popular recording locations for many new and established artists.
Prince is still around.
With that introduction, here is alt.music.prince, a forum for
free-form discussion about Prince, his music, his label Paisley
Park, and other artists on Paisley Park. The emphasis is on news
about just what is Prince up to (like "When is the new album
coming out?", "Who just signed to Paisley Park Records?", etc.)
but discussion is welcome on any topic related to Prince.
Q. What other newsgroups exist for discussion of Prince?
A. You may find that your news server carries alt.fan.prince and
rec.music.prince, but both groups have little-to-no traffic. Why
didn't rec.music.prince catch on as a "Big Eight" replacement for
AMP? Good question.
Although it isn't for discussion per se,
alt.binaries.multimedia.prince was created as a place for AMPers to
post and retrieve binary files (such as images and sound clips).
German-speaking enthusiasts might enjoy checking out
de.alt.fan.prince. Also, Prince-related posts often appear in
rec.music.funky.
Q. How can I access AMP?
A. For starters you'll need some sort of access to the Internet. Most
of the time Usenet is part of the deal. If your news server doesn't
carry AMP, ask the administrator to add it; chances are he/she will
be agreeable if you ask nicely. You can choose from a wide variety
of programs for reading and posting.
Failing the above, many Web-based services offer access to Usenet.
The most popular one is Deja (http://www.deja.com), which allows
you to read and post from your Web browser.
2. alt.music.prince culture
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Q. Can I post about Prince-related merchandise I want to buy/sell/trade?
A. Go ahead. Such posts are a familiar part of the group. But be advised
that you may get flamed if you do something like asking an
excessively high price for a common item, or offering for sale
pirated copies of officially-released recordings still in print.
Generally you will be okay, though.
Q. What can I do to prevent getting ripped off in online transactions?
A. If you're considering a transaction with an unfamiliar person, you
may want to check the Bad Traders list maintained by Rudedog.
For more info, see:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Portal/4995/badtraders.html
Q. What about bootlegs?
A. Bootleg recordings circulate pretty freely in AMP without
interference from anti-bootlegging forces. But they are illegal in
most places, so buy/sell/trade them at your own risk.
Q. What are CD-Rs?
A. CD-Rs (some people omit the hyphen) are recordable compact discs that
will play on most standard CD players. CD-Rs are popular among AMPers
for making digital copies of bootleg CDs and even creating "homebrew"
live/outtake releases.
Q. Who/what are the "Naysayers"?
A. After people began to complain about the long-delayed release of the
Crystal Ball set, O(+>'s Website (http://www.love4oneanother.com)
displayed a message asserting that "naysayers will eat words on toast
when the Ball drops!" Disgruntled fans on AMP immediately dubbed
themselves the Naysayers. This highly informal group has been
critical of some of Prince's recent business practices and music
releases.
3. About this FAQ
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Q. Why doesn't this FAQ answer questions about Prince?
A. The General Prince/O(+> FAQ answers such questions, and to avoid
repetition they are not duplicated here. The prince.org Website is
the official home of the General Prince/O(+> FAQ (and this FAQ as
well).
Additionally, the General Prince/O(+> FAQ is posted to
alt.music.prince, alt.answers and news.answers on a monthly basis.
For more info, see: http://www.prince.org/faq/
Q. Is this the only FAQ for AMP?
A. No. Another FAQ was written in 1994 by Bret Gorsline. He handed it
off to Chris Reayoul in early 1995, who in turn passed it on to
Raymond Meyll later that year. That FAQ hasn't been updated since
late 1995 and is seriously out-of-date. However, it makes for a nice
"historical" document.
For more, info, see:
http://www.mth.uct.ac.za/~webpages/henk/a.m.p.FAQ
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