acff FAQ
Robyn Goldstein
Hawk
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alt.comics.fan-fiction FAQ version .2
Alright, this isn't going to be much, basically whatever thoughts that are
going around in my mind and I can recall. A more detailed will be
forthcoming, it's taking longer than I thought it would. I'm using several
other group's FAQs as a guideline for ours, several things in theirs' will
do nicely over here. Remember, this is just what I came up with out of my
head at this moment, some more details will be ironed out later, and much
will no doubt be changed. Any comments or additions that you feel would be
useful to add to this are greatly welcomed.
OK, some essentials:
Welcome to alt.comics.fan-fiction! At long last, after a couple of month's
a hard efort on the part of yours truly, it now exists!
alt.comics.fan-fiction (hereafter referred to as acff) is a newsgroup for
people to write and post stories aobut their favorite comics and
characters, and for others to read and respond to. Feel free to write about
any comic character that moves you. Chances are people will be more than
eager to read what you've done.
Some basic guidelines (not rules! no rules here!:)):
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Adult themed stories:
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acff also exists as a place where stories that just wouldn't, or COULDN'T
be done in normal comics can be posted. Essentially, this means stories
involving sexual content, and other issues that would be deemed too "adult"
for the real comic. If your stories DO include some sexual content, please
mark them as such by using code words in the title header for the post.
This way, people that are not interested can choose to skip the stories,
and we avoid the needless flaming that occurs in other groups often. For
example, if the title contains keywords like [sex, m/m] and that is not
your cup of tea, then just DON'T READ IT.
Above all, Do NOT:
-demand that the story be removed
-insist that no further stories similar subjects be posted
-say profane derogatory remarks about the author
-impose on others your sense of "decency"
I see acff as a type of bookstore or library. You come in, and by skimming
the titles, if something interests you, you read it. If you see something
that you DON'T care for, you don't have a hissy fit and demand certain
books that you don't care for be removed just because you don't like them!
It's a big world, and people have all sorts of tastes. Just do the mature
thing, and ignore it. That's all there is to it.
Formatting of stories:
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When posting to acff, try and follow these guidelines to insure that others
will be able to read your stories in a manner that is best for all. For
headers/titles of posts, first put the comic subject, followed by the title
of the story in quotation marks. For example: X-Men "Days Forever Past". If
your story is in more than one part, indicate in parentheses the story part
and parts total, like this (1/8). Put the story part first, then a slash,
then the number of parts. If your parts need to be divided up further due
to space constrints or other reasons, go into alphabetic sequencing. (1a/8)
would indicate the first part, and (1b/8) would indicate the second. If
your story contains themes of a sexual nature, indicate so in brackets with
further keywords as to what type like [sex, s/m]. here is an example to
illustrate a typical post:
X-Men "Days Forever Past" (1a/8) [sex, s/m]
For the actual stories themselves, after each paragraph type a return. I
think since we are dealing with a strictly ASCII test based medium, certian
things can be done to help convey different typographic styles. If you want
to bold a word, put asterisks around the word or phrase you wish to be
bolded. For underlining or italicising (same thing, really) use the
underline character around the words or phrases. So in the end, your *bold*
words *really look bold*, and your _underlined_ words _really look
underlined_. When you have people talking, use quotes; thinking, use
underlining. After each paragraph, use a carriage return so their is a
space between each paragraph instead of tabbing or spacing in. Using
another carriage return makes it easier to distinguish when a new paragraph
starts and translates better for some people's systems instead of extra
spaces, which can be more easily lost. For example:
When you have a paragraph, and it comes time for a new one to start, add
another carriage return.
Like this.
Don't get to the end of the current paragraph, and then use tabs or extra
spaces to differentiate between the two.
Like this. It's harder to tell than the other way.
As for disclaimers, you should probably include before each major story
part a standard disclaimer, saying something like:
This story features ______, which are trademarks of ____. This is an
unauthorized work and no profit is being made on this work. This work is
coyright of me.
Just something enough so that people will not get any strange
misconceptions that you are suddenly REALLY writing new text-based X-Men
stories that are only being featured on the internet and are not a part of
continuity. make sure they know that these characters belong to others and
you're justusing them in a story of your own making.
Well, that's all I can think of for now. Remember, this is just a .2
version, since we're just starting and there is sure to be more added
later. Lemme know what you think, and if you have any ideas for additions,
let me know!