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META: Keywords List proposal for posting /list-mails

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Alexander Eichener

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May 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/28/96

Dear readers,

many of you do not read rec.guns regularly due to its ever-increasing
traffic load. Steps are being undertaken to get the newsgroup back into
shape again.

One of these small efforts is an old project of mine, which is in fact no
more than a codification of an already-existing and respected practice:
the keywording of postings, in order to facilitate overview and rapid
browsing.

Without further ado:
Please look for yourself. All feedback, improvements, criticism etc.,
for which I would be grateful, should best go to me via private email, as
not to clutter the Firearms mailing list. Thank you for your consideration.

<HTML> <PRE>
A Keyword List for rec.guns - GAMMA Draft
by
Alexander Eichener
(until 31/12/1995: c...@vm.urz.uni-heidelberg.de)

from 1/1/1996: c...@ix.urz.uni-heidelberg.de

15th April 1996
Vers. G/11

I) A mini-introduction and some stuff you should read first -
it won't take you long and might be worth it. (You _do_ read
the instructions manual before firing your newly acquired
gun for the first time, right ? Same procedure here)

1) Keyword conventions on rec.guns: why and how we use them...

The traffic in rec.guns has been growing forever and ever. Well,
this is nothing new, but since 1994, it has really mushroomed.
Presently, almost the same questions are asked in intervals
of 14 days or only a week, and many readers find it hard if not
impossible to keep up with the augmented load, and are tempted
to leave their once-favourite newsgroup altogether or to
wander off to mailing lists, which have already been formed to
serve specific interests (e.g. Lee-Enfield, Curios & Relics,
Thompson-Contender, Black Powder, Fullbore, Glock, apart from
the two "general" firearms mailing lists at cup.hp.com and
utarlvm1.uta.edu).
Keywords enable every reader to browse through the 200 + new
articles daily with some comfort and ease. An unsuccessful CFV for
a group split in June 1995 has shown that while the majority of rec.
guns readers seem to be in favour of keeping the group as manifold
and united as it is presently, they also strongly feel the need
for a better way to keep up with the traffic.

The _solution_ has been known for long, and it is already employed
in a good many other Usenet newsgroups with success; a good
example is comp.infosystems.www.announce (have a look in there
to gain an impression of how helpful sustained keywording can be).

Keywording is fairly easy: it only demands a minimum of self-
control and the general willingness to help the other rec.guns
readers (it also greatly increases _your_ chance of being read
and answered: many seasoned participants here do not care much
anymore for questions with titles like "Help sought with handgun",
and skip them altogether - wouldn't it be a pity if that was
your first posting with an urgent question ?).

2) A list of keywords; not exclusive, but a skeleton of the
usual and most important ones for everyday use.

The following keywords have mostly evolved out of a long and
consistent practice on rec.guns. Many are self-explanatory.
Of course, they may not fit each and every conceivable subject,
but with a little effort, they should be good for 90 % of the
topics. Keep in mind that keywords can and should be combined
when occasion arises (e.g.: COMPETITION/PISTOL).
As of now, the use of keywords is intended as a mere friendly,
proposal, rather than being mandated. The moderator of rec.guns
may, however, upon his discretion decide to make their use obliga-
tory and to enforce this via a simple filter program. This list
employs only capitalized KEYWORDS and no square brackets [] for
a simple reason: keywords ought to be type-able as easily and
naturally as possible, and square brackets are counterproductive
to this goal, often necessitating the employ of an additional key
(the ctrl-key, e.g.).

3) How do I choose a fitting keyword ?

The list is - purposely - not kept overly long. Many of its key-
words are intuitive. Read the others a couple of times; if you
like, keep a printout copy near your terminal (this sure beats
searching for a stored file each time). Do not, repeat NOT, use
other abbreviations than those proposed here. Abbreviations are
much more difficult to grasp in an instant (which is what the
headers are designed for) than simple language and make under-
standing unnecessarily hard for many of our foreign readers.
Often, several keywords can be applied to a given article's
content. Use the one(s) that seem(s) most fitting for the main
emphasis of your question and/or contribution. If you feel that
you must use more than two keywords simultaneously, that's a good
indicator that your posting better be split up into different
articles :-).

4) "But I can't find a keyword"

This list is a suggestion, not the gospel. It should cover most of
the usual rec.guns posting subjects, I feel. If I still have missed
something of *frequent* occurence, please _do_ do me and the net the
favour of sending me an e-mail.
If your posting doesn't seem to fit one of the list headers, try to
combine two of them or to split up your article (see previous
section). If it still doesn't fit, make up your own keyword.
This should almost always be possible with less than 30 seconds
of thinking :-).

4a) "I am missing MY favourite keyword ! You must include it! Boo-hoo !"

I am _so_ sorry ;-). Actually, I was severely tempted to include such
absolute ne-ces-sa-ry* keywords as "CARCANO" and "MAUSER", and only
my natural reticence (*cough*) restrained me. What you see here is
what can be considered as a workable minimum. That is the reason why
the preceding paragraph spoke of "frequent" occurence. The less evident
and the more specialized a keyword is, the less useful it can be.
Precise and detailed description can and SHOULD (!) go into the
subject header text (please see the following section 6 for some
examples of good and meaningful formulations), but not into the keyword
which only serves as a rough orientation in order to enable the
reader to gain a fast overview over a mass of new postings.

5) Keywords and appropriate follow-up settings

If you have read rec.guns for some time, you will have noticed that
the moderator (or, as we call him here, the Esteemed Moderator)
often directs follow-up postings to more appropriate newsgroups
(he also directs submissions away altogether, but you won't see
that :-). Some keyword exists which will almost invariably trail
their responses into a different groups, such as POLITICS
(talk.politics.guns) or (often, though not always) LEGAL (misc.legal);
and also HUNTING (rec.hunting).
It is regarded as very considerate and helpful if you already set
your own follow-up. Please keep in mind that cross-posting is
practically frowned upon in rec.guns (both for technical and
content-based reasons); don't even try it, since only the moderator
can enable it. On the other hand, cc'ing your mail to an gun-related
mailing list also to rec.guns is often a good and beneficial idea.

6) How to improve your subject headers - some examples.

Many new posters to rec.guns may have wondered why they had
little respond to their first timid yet honest question -
the usual reasons are two:
a) The question was already asked and answered 4 times in the
last 4 weeks, or:
b) The subject header was worded so ambiguously or generally
that people did not bother to read the actual message
content, but rather skipped the post altogether.

If you are seeking ADVICE, please indicate this clearly in the
subject text, e.g. with a question mark or other adequate phrasing.

I shall give a couple of examples (from worst to medium), in order
to show that headers can almost always be improved, thus greatly
augmenting your chance of profitting from the collected wisdom
and helpfulness assembled here in rec.guns.

"Help me pick my next gun"
The author should rather read the FAQ first, instead of
posting here at once :-). It's on the very starting page there.

"Newbie has handgun question" should be:
HANDGUN/DEFENCE: Simple handgun for concealed carry, under 200 $ ?

"Mauser rifle - please help!" could be:
RIFLE/HISTORY: Mod. 98 Mauser with bcd 42 code - rare ?

".22 pistol - what to buy ?" should be:
PISTOL/COMPETITION: .22 pistol for formal competition ?, or:
PISTOL: .22 plinking pistol for backpacking and informal practice ?
Quite different answers can be expected ...

"Found old cartridges in attic - dangerous ?" should be:
AMMO: WW II rifle cartridges, rimmed, violet tips, bullets flake

"NRA question" could be anything; rather:
ORGANIZATION: List of NRA publications on WWW ?

II) A LIST OF PROPOSED KEYWORDS:

META: Discussions about group policies, what pertains to
(GROUP:) rec.guns or not, moderation concepts, traffic,
database access to the archives (like LDBASE on
LISTSERV) etc.
Important notice: please be aware that it has long
been the general policy of the moderator and the group
that such topics be directed to periodically scheduled
"airings out", rather than cluttering the group as a
constant noise. So, use good judgement when considering
a META header.

WWW: Short announcements and lengthy critical reviews of
(WEB:) gun-related webpages.

TEST or Factual and non-partisan review of new firearms,
REVIEW: tools, ammo, gimmicks (books have their own review
keywords). Should be modified with another header,
e.g. TEST/PISTOL: Spanish Star FR Sport .22 lr
(plinking and semi-target). It would be great if
such tests would follow some general guidelines
and could be collected lateron in a database. Some
examples can already be found in the rec.guns FAQ.

COMPETITION: Often to be used with an aditional explanatory header,
or TARGET: e.g. "COMPETITION/PISTOL: Groups left with rapid fire
series". This *general* header may be replaced by, or
or added with the following six specialized keywords:

HIPOWER: Specialized keyword for fullbore (centrefire) *rifle*
shooting, often under UIT, CISM, CERA or NRA rules.

SMALLBORE: Rifles only. Specialized keyword for competitive
smallbore (.22 lr) rifle shooting under UIT, NRA or other,
rules, including BR-50, excluding SILHOUETTE (see there).

AIRGUNS: Covers competitive (and, for the Brits, hunting :-)
use of air rifles and air pistols.

CLAYS: Umbrella keyword for trap (also double-trap), skeet
and sporting-clays competitive shooting. See also the
SHOTGUN keyword.

SILHOUETTE: Silhouette target shooting with rifles or handguns.
Should be used in combination, e.g.:
"SILHOUETTE/PISTOL: Is the HW 9 ST a good smallbore
silhouette revolver ?" Answer: Yes, it is, on a par
to the Freedom Arms/Casull 252).

IPSC: Competitive impractical shooting according to IPSC and
related rules. Not to be confused with "pratical" shooting
in real life which goes under the DEFENCE header.

CLEANING/CARE: So many - mostly similar - questions arise in almost
weekly repetition that both a keyword and a FAQ en-
largement may be called for.

GUNSMITHING: Technical questions about gunsmithing kinks and tips.
May include stuff like bedding, crowning, trigger jobs,
stock restoration and repair, etc.

HISTORY: A very broad keyword, which possibly should be specified
or combined with others. E.g.: "HISTORY/PISTOL: WW II
Walther P 38 production codes".

MILITARY: Discussion of today's military small arms and their use in open
conflicts. Example: "MILITARY: M 16 vs. AK 47 ?"
Posts with this header may also be redirected to sci.military
if the moderator deems it appropriate (in the example above,
I would suggest alt.threads.rewarmed als alternative ;-)
The border to the HISTORY keyword is simple: this one deals
with what still *is*, the other with that which *was*.
The keyword is limited to military-only guns, thus three
examples to show the differences:
"MILITARY: Firing rate of modern German MG 3 ?",
"HISTORY: First combat use of Italian Villar Perosa SMG",
"PISTOL/HISTORY: Acceptance stamps on WW II Walther P 38

AMMO: Can be modified with a specifying header, e.g.:
AMMO/HISTORY: Italian manufacturer codes of WW II
AMMO/DEFENCE: Glaser vs. MEN Defence vs. Lapua CEPP
AMMO/PISTOL: Jams with .22 lr Baikal Temp Pistol
For non-factory ammunition, please use RELOADING.

RELOADING: Should be differentiated from the AMMO keyword for ob-
vious reasons. Comprises questions about tool, techniques
and components. Since this field is extremely broad and
highly specialized, it is recommended that one use one of
the following terms in the subjects header (e.g.:
RELOADING: Lubing a 8 x 72 R case):
Lube, Sizing, Forming, Annealing, Cases, Primers, Powders,
Cast bullets, Throats...

BALLISTICS: Interior ballistics, muzzle and flight ballistics.
This keyword would best be reserved to technical posts.
E.g. "BALLISTICS: Twist lengths for various 6.5 cartridges"
Terminal ballistics would often rather fit into DEFENCE,
as the following examples may demonstrate and distinguish:
BALLISTICS: Measuring temporary wound cavities in gelatine
BALLISTICS: The effect of yaw on terminal performance
DEFENCE: Why the MagSafe is a better manstopper than...

DEFENCE: Questions from other fields (like PISTOL, AMMO)
(DEFENSE:) that are mainly related to self-defence and combat
use of firearms. Both the eternal "Is the 9mm Luger
a better man-stopper than the .45 ACP?" sort of
questions and the "Shotgun or handgun for home defence?"
topics belong here. Discussion of terminal ballistics
may fit here or under BALLISTICS. Legal questions should
bear the second keyword /LEGAL or be grouped under the
CCW keyword altogether.

LEGAL: Legal questions excluding CCW's (since this large
area either warrants an own keyword or should be
directed to the FAQ); *factual* and non-partisan
info about proposed, forthcoming and new legislation.

CCW: The large group of questions regarding state and federal
*law* regulating the concealed carrying of weapons.
Practical aspects go under the DEFENCE header:
"DEFENCE: Women carrying with long dresses - how?"

POLITICS: See the relevant paragraph in the Group Charter.
Strictly informative, factual postings with "political"
content are let through (e.g.: New Bill 666 to outlaw
all private handgun ownership), but not discussion.
Political discussion is re-directed via follow-up
headers to talk.politics.guns or alt.flame. As of
lately, misc.activism.militia and alt.politics.org.batf
are further outlets, as well as alt.conspiracy.jfk
(for flames) and alt.conspiracy.jfk.moderated (for
serious discussion and research).

ORGANIZATION: About organizations (new and old) devoted to shooting,
hunting and related topics. Factual and non-propagan-
distic discussion is allowed ("ORGANIZATION: The NRA's
insufficient support of competitive shooting and the NSSFA").

BOOK: May include books reviews (indicated with a more
specific additional keyword), hints to little-known
publishing houses, mail-order bookshops, info about
special discount offers, pointers to libraries with
larger gun-related holdings.

PERIODICAL: Reviews of and discussion on periodicals dealing
with the subjects of rec.guns. The existing FAQ
entry should be enlarged with further info and reviews.

Question: Should both kinds of "LITERATURE", namely the publication
forms of BOOK and PERIODIAL, be grouped together under one header, or
maybe as "PUBLICATIONS" ?
I think a separation is better, but a generic header may have its
use in special circumstances, e.g.: "LITERATURE/RIFLE: All printed info
about Carcanos sought".

FICTION: All those postings about James Bond's sidearm, the latest
Hollywood movie mistake, Arnold Schwarzenegger's shotgun
and the like.

SOURCES: or Questions and answers about dealers and companies;
MAIL-ORDER: addresses of mail-ordering outlets, indication of
special sources for hard-to-get items; relations of
personal experiences; praise and peeves :-).

FOR SALE: or *Individual* offers and requests from rec.guns
WANTED: readers on a casual basis.

COMMERCIAL: Non-private advertisements: Dealers and others
(ADVERTISEMENT:) doing this for a living will go into the weekly
header in a digest format (details are still to
be determined by the moderator).

ACCESSORIES: Shooting jackets, slings, ear muffs, glasses, beverage
coolers... in short, everything the gun world needs (or not?).

OPTICS: Binoculars, spotting scopes, gun scopes, rangefinders.
Postings might often fit into rec.hunting rather (or as
well as) into rec.guns.

My first version suffered from archival loss. The last one I could
retrieve was B/05 from July 21st 1995, although I had progressed
until B/15 or so... sigh. If one of you has a more recent old Beta
draft, please be as kind as to send me one.
This one is a preliminary gamma version and not yet open to wider distri-
bution and public access. Please add your feedback, additions and
criticism.

Acknowledgements and thanks for incorporated helpful feedback presently
go to:
Norman F. Johnson, Jay Maynard, Jan Hamier, Paul Anton, Tom Caceci, Henry
Schaffer, Russell R. Neuswanger, Ed Rudnicki; and a couple of other friendly
readers of this list's previous incarnation whose names have been lost
with the versions after B/05. Give me feedback about this draft and
you'll be included :-)

When you come to Heidelberg, give me a phone or e-mail call and
visit me :-). I live in an old house just below the castle (one of
the last architectural remnants of the dissolved Franciscan monastery).

Alexander Eichener
Kisselgasse 2
D-69117 Heidelberg
GERMANY

c...@ix.urz.uni-heidelberg.de (preferred address for gun- and hunting-
related correspondence)

This is (yet) a secluded and uncrowded place; so, you are just the

person to have a look at this page, my own visits being included in the
count (of which they make up roughly 75 %, presently...).

</PRE>
</HTML>

--
Alexander Eichener
c...@ix.urz.uni-heidelberg.de
Do not use aeic...@ix.urz.uni-heidelberg.de anymore (mail is forwarded).
The old VM address (c...@vm.urz.uni-heidelberg.de) is no longer valid !

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