MONTHLY POSTING: Introduction to comp.sys.amiga.reviews
comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator
Introduction And General Information
Last modified 01 Jul 1997
Welcome to comp.sys.amiga.reviews! This is a moderated
newsgroup for reviews of products related to the Amiga computer. All
reviews are written by YOU, the wonderful readers of USENET, and I
invite you to send me your opinions of any Amiga hardware, software,
books, or whatever else you believe is interesting and relevant to the
Amiga.
This document describes:
I. How to write your review.
II. How to submit your review.
III. Special help for non-native English speakers.
IV. How to get copies of previous reviews.
V. How to receive new reviews.
VI. Finding new reviews quickly ("mirrors" please note!).
VII. Policy on vendor responses to reviews.
VIII. Disclaimer and legal stuff.
This is one of several documents describing comp.sys.amiga.reviews.
The others are:
o An index of all reviews.
o A "fill in the blanks" template for writing a review.
o Some guidelines for review writers.
o The newsgroup's charter.
o A list of requested products that need reviews.
You can ftp these from
where they are found in the directory
/pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/doc
or request them by e-mail from
Note that this is not a "ListServ" but a live human -- me. :-) They may
also be accessed on the World Wide Web at the URL
http://math.uh.edu/~barrett/reviews.html
I. HOW TO WRITE A REVIEW FOR COMP.SYS.AMIGA.REVIEWS
You do not have to be a "great writer" in order to write a review.
All you need is enthusiasm and some experience with the product you are
reviewing. If English is not your best language, you can arrange to get
special help with English grammar and style (see Part III).
Everybody loves a good review; and by writing one, you are doing a
great service for all your friends in the Amiga community! In addition,
when your review is posted in c.s.a.reviews, its usefulness doesn't end
there. Your review is archived (saved) on a publically accessible computer,
so anybody on USENET can retrieve it and refer to it in the future.
There are three kinds of reviews that you might write. They
are the MINI-REVIEW, the FULL REVIEW, and the SURVEY.
(1) The mini-review
Did you just get a program that, on first impression, looks
really good? Or really terrible? A mini-review is for
exactly this: first impressions.
Write down 2-4 organized paragraphs (or more, if you like)
about the product, describing it briefly, and stating what
you like and don't like about it.
Later, when you know the product better, please consider
writing a full review. After all, your impressions might
change after you have used the product for more time.
(2) The full review
Just like in the magazines, only better... because YOU
wrote it!
You should feel familiar with the product before writing a
full review. It can be in any format you like, and any
length, as long as it is organized and readable. If you are
having trouble organizing your thoughts, I encourage you to
use the "comp.sys.amiga.reviews Full Review Template", which
appears in a separate article posted every month. This is a
"fill in the blanks" form with instructions and hints on how
to organize your review. (You may request a copy from
amiga-revie...@math.uh.edu any time. Note that this
is not a "ListServ" but a live human -- me. :-))
Even if you don't use the Template, I encourage you to look
at it because it might give you ideas about what to write.
Most importantly, remember that your review is going to be
read by thousands of people. Some of them will base their
buying decisions on your review. So, be as careful and
accurate as you can, and try to make your review interesting
to read.
(3) The survey
Once in a while, a reader will ask USENET for opinions about
an Amiga product. Sometimes, the reader even collects all
the responses and posts a summary. This is a great idea...
but a few months later, the summary is gone and forgotten.
This does not have to happen! After you collect the
responses and organize them, send the results to
comp.sys.amiga.reviews, so they can be archived and made
available to future readers.
I have only a few guidelines for the survey article. First,
make sure you inform everybody (in your original posting)
that you will be making their responses public. Second,
when you write your survey, don't just append everybody's
responses and send it out. Try to summarize and organize
the information in useful ways, perhaps using tables,
or grouping similar pieces of information. Then, at the
end of the survey, you can append everybody's responses if
you like.
If you would like to see an example of a finished survey,
send a request to the "amiga-reviews-requests" address
listed in section II.
No matter what kind of review you write, always include the
following information at the top of the review:
o The name of the product.
o The name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address
(if applicable) of the author or manufacturer. If the
telephone number is an "800" number (toll-free in the USA),
please call it and ask for a non-800 number for our
international friends.
o The list price. Be sure to say what currency units (US
dollars, francs, etc.) you mean, since USENET is
international.
o A short description (1 or 2 sentences) of the product.
o Whether the product is copy-protected and/or installs
on a hard drive.
o Whether or not the product works with accelerated CPU's
(68030, etc.) and the latest version of the Amiga operating
system, if you know.
In addition, please:
o Proofread your review. Run it through a spelling checker
and re-read the whole thing before submitting it.
o Keep all your lines of text shorter than 80 characters.
o Remember to use proper capitalization. For example,
"RAM" and "ROM" are in all capitals because they are
abbreviations; use "MB" for megabytes, not "Mb" nor "mb"
which mean megaBITS (same for K=Kilobytes, k=kilobits);
o Try to avoid abbreviations and slang that are unique to your
country. Remember that people all over the world will read
your review.
o Make program names noticeable. For example, the sentences
I did a list on devs.
Double-click on edit to invoke se.
are more clear if you write:
I did a List on DEVS:.
Double-click on "edit" to invoke "se".
o Use tabs, not spaces, for consistent indenting.
o Put 1 blank line between paragraphs.
A complete set of helpful writer's guidelines is available in the
"Writer's Checklist" article posted every month. It is also available on
our ftp site in the "doc" subdirectory.
II. HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR REVIEW TO COMP.SYS.AMIGA.REVIEWS
comp.sys.amiga.reviews is a "moderated" newsgroup. This means
that you cannot post anything in the newsgroup directly. Instead,
you send it to the moderator (me) who can accept or reject the review.
When the review is accepted, the moderator posts it.
Mail your completed review to:
In addition, if you want to discuss something with me about a
review, send mail to:
Do not worry whether your review will be accepted or not. As long
as your review is accurate and clear, it will almost definitely be
accepted. My job is really to help make the reviews look "standard" (in the
Subject: line, for example) and readable, keep non-review material out of the
newsgroup, and avoid biased commercial announcements.
III. SPECIAL HELP FOR NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKERS
If English is not your first language, don't be afraid to write a
review. Try it anyway. And when you submit your review, include an extra
note to me at the top of the letter, asking for help. I will read your
review, make suggestions and corrections, and send it back for you to check.
IV. HOW TO GET COPIES OF PREVIOUS REVIEWS
An index of all previous reviews is posted on the first day of every
month in comp.sys.amiga.reviews.
If you have ftp access, you can download reviews from the following
machines:
Location: USA (the "real" archives)
Machine: math.uh.edu
IP address: 129.7.128.1
Directory: pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Location: Europe (a "mirror" site)
Machine: nic.funet.fi
IP address: 128.214.6.100
Directory: pub/amiga/misc/reviews
(Reviews are compressed in GNU "gzip" format.)
Use the login name
anonymous
and use your own e-mail address as the password. The reviews are in the
directory given above. Administrative information, such as this
"Introduction" article, are in the subdirectory "doc".
As an example, to get a reviews from math.uh.edu after you are
logged in, type at the "ftp>" prompt:
ftp> cd pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews
ftp> ls -C
(a list of files and subdirectories is shown)
ftp> cd software/text
(pick the one you want and use the "get" command)
ftp> get Name_Of_Review
ftp> get Another_Review
ftp> cd ../../doc
ftp> get Introduction
ftp> cd ../hardware/graphics
ftp> get Yet_Another_Review
...
ftp> quit
If you need help using ftp, please ask a user consultant or systems
administrator at your site.
If you do not have ftp access, send mail to
ask for a copy of the review, and I will mail it to you. BE SURE TO
INCLUDE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS. For faster service (probably) by e-mail,
you can use the mailserver at lists.funet.fi to request reviews by mail.
Send the word "help" (no quotes) on a line by itself to
Note that this address is a "ListServ", but all the "math.uh.edu" addresses
reach a live human -- me.
If you would like to see a review of a particular product that is
not in the index, send a request to amiga-revie...@math.uh.edu.
Every month, I post a list of all requested reviews and ask for volunteers
to write them. There is no guarantee that anybody will do it, but at least
I will provide this service.
V. HOW TO RECEIVE NEW REVIEWS
If you have USENET access, new reviews are posted in the newsgroup
comp.sys.amiga.reviews. If you do not have USENET access, you can join
the Amiga reviews mailing list by sending a request to
with the message
SUBSCRIBE "Your Email Address"
Make sure you mention your e-mail address in your request! Don't
assume that your return address will be accurate. Every month, I
receive several requests with incorrect return addresses.
If you have USENET access, please do not join the mailing list.
The list is a pain for me to maintain, and the smaller it is, the less work
I have to do. Also, any address that fails 2 times (that is, bounces mail
back to me) will be automatically deleted from the list.
VI. FINDING NEW REVIEWS QUICKLY ("MIRRORS" PLEASE NOTE!)
The main ftp site, math.uh.edu, has files that contains the names of
all reviews modified in the last 1, 7, and 30 days. They are called
pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/new/NewSince1Days
pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/new/NewSince7Days
pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/new/NewSince30Days
and are updated automatically every day. If you set up a "mirror" site, it
will save you lots of time if you transfer ONLY the reviews listed in
these files.
VII. POLICY ON VENDOR RESPONSES TO REVIEWS
Sometimes, the author or company ("vendor") who created a product
will submit comments about someone's review of their product. Here is my
policy of what to do with these comments:
(1) Factual corrections
These include corrections in address, telephone number, list price,
reports of bug fixes completed or in progress, and other matters
that the vendor would know best.
I post these corrections in c.s.a.reviews and insert them directly
into the archived copy of the review.
(2) Statements about the product's operation
The review author says the product does something, but the vendor
disagrees. Essentially, these are statements of fact that I, as
moderator, cannot verify.
If these statements are well-organized and non-commercial in nature,
I post them in c.s.a.reviews. Then, if the reviewer has no
objection, I may insert them into the archived copy of the review.
They are CLEARLY MARKED that they were not part of the original
review and came from the vendor.
(3) Differences of opinion, and commercial information
These include disagreements with the review author's opinions,
advertisements, product "hype", announcements of products and
services that are not yet on the market, and anything else that
concerns opinions rather than facts.
Essentially, I do nothing with these. The reviews newsgroup is not
for discussion of products. The vendor is welcome to post opinions
about the review in any other Amiga newsgroup. (Every review has an
appropriate newsgroup listed in its "Followup-To:" line.)
Under no circumstances will I act as an arbitrator between the reviewer and
the vendor.
VIII. DISCLAIMER AND LEGAL STUFF
In the following conditions, the "reviewer" is the person who wrote a
particular review. The "moderator" is the moderator of the newsgroup
comp.sys.amiga.reviews.
(1) All opinions stated in a review are those of the reviewer, and
not necessarily those of the comp.sys.amiga.review moderator,
nor the organization whose computers are used to post the review.
Neither the moderator, nor the organization whose computers are
used to post the review, will be held liable for the accuracy or
content of the review material, nor for any errors of omission
the moderator may make when editing or posting the review.
(2) All reviews remain the property of the reviewer.
By submitting a review, the reviewer agrees that his/her review
may be posted on USENET and included in:
1. Newsletters and other printed matter available freely with a
copying and distribution fee of not more than $2.00 an issue;
and,
2. Newsletters on magnetic media and other forms of magnetic
distribution such as the USENET summary disks available
freely with a copying and distribution fee of not more than
$6.00 per floppy disk (2 MB and under).
3. The Fred Fish "Fresh Fish" CD-ROMs, the Walnut Creek "Aminet"
CD-ROMs, and any other CD-ROM of freely distributable material
with a cost of not more than $30.00.
4. Electronic network distributions, either by the standard
USENET distribution or on a commercial information system
(e.g., the Portal System) charging no more than $6.00 per
hour of non-prime time 2400 baud connection not including
local access charges (e.g., Telenet or Tymnet access charges).
All currency units above are in US dollars. These monetary amounts may be
changed slightly in the future by the moderator to reflect inflation and
fluctuations in the price of paper, disk media, and connection charges.
SPECIAL NOTE ON COMPILATION COPYRIGHTS: Articles appearing in
comp.sys.amiga.reviews may be included in distributions over which a
compilation copyright is enforced, under the following two conditions:
1. The distribution must consist of substantially more than
comp.sys.amiga.reviews material. Specifically, the material
from comp.sys.amiga.reviews may comprise AT MOST 5%
(five percent) of the distribution.
2. The distribution may not restrict the redistribution of
any or all of the comp.sys.amiga.reviews material it
contains.
Articles to be included cannot be edited nor modified in any way
except to remove the standard news headers and the MODERATOR's network
signature. The original AUTHOR's signature must not be removed. The
original author is to be credited with authorship. Excerpts may be used
according to the Fair Use Laws of the United States.
If anyone wishes to use a review in any way that would violate the
above conditions, he/she should contact the author of the review. The
moderator of comp.sys.amiga.reviews will not act as arbitrator in this
situation.
If you disagree with any of these conditions, you are welcome to
discuss them by sending mail to amiga-...@math.uh.edu. If you are
not willing to abide by these conditions, then do not submit a review.
---
Dan Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Send reviews to: amiga-review...@math.uh.edu
Request information: amiga-revie...@math.uh.edu
Moderator mail: amiga-...@math.uh.edu
Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Web site: http://math.uh.edu/~barrett/reviews.html