FAQ (circa July 16, 1996)
Kar-El, Bluesweirdo from a Planet Near Mars
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ALT.HUMOR.BLUESMAN -- THE FAQ
PART I -- HISTORY OF A.H.B.
Alt.humor.bluesman was created in the fall of 1994 by Jason Kuznicki at Case
Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. His idea in his words:
"I intended it to be something like the Second City or early Saturday Night
Live--a place where a group of writers would put together sketches, stories,and
regular "features" material (top ten lists etc.). I wanted to develop a sort of
group repertoire of ideas, making it easy for even relatively new humor writers
to find material to draw on and develop their talents. Threads would develop as
writers played on a chain of ideas, and eventually the very best material would
end up in the FAQ, which would be where newbies would start out." -Jason
Kuznicki
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT :)
In May of 1995 Jason left for the summer and gave the newsgroup to Chris Curtis
for the summer. Due to a lot of regulars being away from school posts were
sporadic. When Jason returned in August of 1995 he retired from the group and
turned it over to Chris and Will Zuidema.
May 1996 - The virtual pub Will's Place is moved from alt.devilbunnies to
alt.humor.bluesman. Will's Place is a pub run by Will the Bunntender. Anyone
who drops by a.h.b is welcome to come in and enjoy a drink and banter with the
regulars. You are also welcome to create characters and post stories about them
to the group. For more information click on the like to Will's Place above.
PART I -- Historic References
1. The "Blues" nicknames, Bluesfans and Characters
Jason Kuznicki the original 105th Street Bluesman, no longer here
WillZ - the current Bluesman
DirtMan - needs no explanation he *is* the DirtMan
DJ Kroeger is the BluesGoalie. DJ is in Houston again.
Chris Curtis is the Blueswoman
Jason's brother is the Bluesbrother
Jason's parents are the Bluesmom and Bluesdad.
Emily is, of course, the BluesAuntie
Chris's cats are the Bluescats
Millie is the bluesgreyhound
Eisme is our Memphis Bluesfan
Josh Trelease is listed here because he whined.
Merlin is listed because you can't list Josh without listing Merlin
Amy - the Aimster, bakes the cookies WillZ whines for
Steve Kohler is the human friend of Ernie the hamster, head of the
Church of Ernie (TM)
Will the Bunntener - proprietor of Will's Place, a 4 ft calico bunny
C-Mouse - the Bunntender's kangaroo mouse assistant
Lucky Bunny - The BluesLagomorph
BunnyBabe - waitress at Will's Place
Aldin - Clusters Cereal Spokesquirrel
Apricot - The Bunntender's sweetie
Amanda - She will introduce herself
Karl - occasionally visits to enlighten us with his wisdom
Gibran - a ground squirrel with attitude and a bazooka
2. Golden Donuts
Golden Donuts were a prize for original humor when Jason ran the group. We are
no longer awarding them. The purpose of the group is not a competition.
3. Top 10 lists - the rules
Top 10 (20, 30 whatever lists) are an ongoing feature of this group. There are
a couple of conventions, though:
a. The list always goes from highest number to lowest.
b. You always skip at least one number and act as if nothing is wrong.
c. Its not a requirement but almost all the lists contained points that
had nothing to do with the list.
4. Words ending in "er".
If you use a word ending in "er" such as stinker don't be surprised if someone
says "Stinker I don't even know her." Its a "Bluesmanism."
5. The purity test.
The purity test is still around. It will be posted occasionally and scores can
be put in your .sig.
PART II -- The Rules
1. No flaming. This doesn't mean all flaming, it means deliberate, not funny
attacks on someone. If you want to get into a funny bantering back and forth
type thread, go ahead. However, if someone new comes in and flames a regular
they are asking for it and can expect to be roasted.
2. If you don't like what somebody posts don't be posting complaints on the
group. Not everybody has the same sense of humor. If you don't find them funny
then skip the post and don't hurt their feelings. There has been too much of
this in the past.
NOTE: If the person actually does post something that is entirely inappropriate,
please make your comments in email.
3. Spam will not be tolerated. That means anyone selling anything or posting
1-800 numbers etc. will be turned into their respective postmaster.
3a. NEW
This is a humor group. It is not a forum to list URL's or addresses of humor
mailing lists. The purpose of this group is to post jokes, stories, banter
etc.
Lately there seem to be more and more posts that list only a URL or email
address. This will only be allowed from now on if the person posting
contributes to the group by posting some of their advertised humor. Posts
containing only a URL or email address will be treated the same as all other
SPAM and will result in a complaint letter to the postmaster of the person
posting such SPAM.
4. Posting something funny you found on another group is ok. Keep the
following guidlines in mind.
If it is a public domain joke that has been posted and passed around many many
times on the internet go ahead and post it giving credit to the last poster,
newsgroup and author (if known).
Remember: If it is an original work by someone, make sure to get their
permission first.
5. Cross-posting to another group may or may not be ok. If both groups agree,
and the content of the posts is valid for both groups then this is allowed.
This is something you should probably discuss with Will, Chris and the FAQ
keeper/moderator of the other group.
PART III -- MAILING LIST
The mailing list is no longer published in the FAQ. To get a copy of it, add
your name, or change information send an email to the list-keepers Michael
Pellerin, dir...@primenet.com or Chris Curtis, cj...@ultranet.com. You can also
ask Will, if you have difficulties contacting Chris or DirtMan. Of course he
will probably loose your mail though. :>
PART IV -- POSTING ANONYMOUSLY
To post without your email address appearing send your post as an email to
wi...@wpi.edu Twice a day I will post all the emails to the group. There are a
few rules for this.
1. You must have a real email address that I can contact you at and a name or
nickname you go by on the group. This service I am providing is basically for
people who work and can't have their work address posted to usenet. This is not
a way for you to be anonoymous from the world at large. For that, see one of
the anon services such as he...@anon.penet.fi.
2. I will not post anything that contains anything that can cause me to loose
my account. This is mainly extremely foul language or malicious flames. I will
contact you if there is something questionable about your post.
Part V -- IRC: THE BLUESCHAT
We are going to try these again. If you are interested send email to Will or
Chris or DirtMan. Notices of chats are sent through email.
PART V - IMPORTANT EMAIL ADDRESSES
Acting Bluesman:
Will Zuidema, wi...@wpi.edu or wzui...@aol.com or waz...@cris.com
FAQ Keeper and #1 Bluesfan:
Blueswoman, Chris Curtis, waz...@cris.com or ghoun...@aol.com
Director of Generica:
DirtMan, Michael Pellerin, dir...@primenet.com or dirtm...@aol.com
Complaint Dept:
alt.life.sucks <grin>
I was really tempted to add Jwagner here, but I'll be good..
Home Page:
http://www.wpi.edu/~willz/AHB.html (this is moving soon if it does not
work try Http://www.wpi.edu/~willz/willz.html)
Group Motto:
"Alt.humor.bluesman - I only read it for the articles, honest!"
-- Jason Kuznicki
"Alt.humor.bluesman - Hey, where are all the naked people?"
-- William Zuidema
-Karl
alt.humor.bluesman: Demonstrating the fallacy of single-sided FAQs since 1998!
--
To contact me by e-mail, remove all X's from my e-mail address.
Chris
This is not the current faq and Kar-El has no business posting it.
--
----,-----'---<@ Chris Curtis @>---'-----,----
elis...@iname.com chriscxs@aolcom
*** current projects ***
4 15th Century Tapestry Adaptations, Marbeck's Nativity,
Christmas Traditions Silent Night, M. Bastin's 4 Seasons
Will Zuidema
Karl,
Stop posting a long-dead FAQ. I did not Authorize it.
It was posted without my permission.
Cease and desist immediately. If you cannot post following the rules of
the current FAQ, or if you do not like the currnet FAQ, Leave.
Will, Bluesman
Kar-El, Bluesweirdo from a Planet Near Mars
>If you cannot post following the rules of
>the current FAQ, or if you do not like the currnet FAQ, Leave.
No, I don't like the curr.net FAQ, dogged though you may be to get it accepted.
-Karl
alt.humor.bluesman: I got a dog and named him `Stay'. Now, I go `Come here,
Stay!' After a while the dog went insane and wouldn't move at all.
--Stephen Wright