New archive attempt
Kipler
Shall we all bow down and worship at the woman who offers to start us a
new archive!?!
Bowing and scraping...
--Kipler
Gil Trevizo
Stef wrote on the alt.tv.x-files.creative newsgroup:
> Okay, as one of no doubt many attempts by various people,
I don't like this -- Gossamer is the heart and soul of X-Files fanfic.
The lists and the newsgroup are one thing, but if we're gonna do this,
let's do it as a team -- a single united effort.
We should create a mirror site in the US, only because I've been told
that UK-US lines are rather slow. But regardless, I'd like to see the
format of the archive(s) standardized (only talking about the complete
archives now, the genre archives should be free to go about however they
want).
> I'm going to
> give it a go - attempt to create an archive to fill the void that'll be
> left by Vincent's archive closing in October.
>
> I am going to try to have all the stories in Vincent's Temp directory up
> and running on a web-page by the weekend. After that will come the
> gigantic job of xferring, .htmling and loading up all the stories already
> in the archive. Any help in that area will be gratefully received: e-mail
> me at this address for details.
>
> At the weekend I'll post the URL of the new archive....and we'll see jow
> it goes :-)
Okay okay, hold on a second.... just how are you gonna go about doing
this? A lot of ideas have been passed back-and-forth here and many
offers for help have been given, so before you commit to anything why
don't we get this sucker organized.
I assume you've contacted your server and told them about the 170 megs
that Gossamer currently takes up, and they've told you that was not a
problem. So the server space problem has been overcome -- I suppose we'll
just have to cross the web hits problem if it develops.
So I see the following tasks as needed:
1) Uploading all the fanfics on Gossamer into your server space
2) Creating the html for those fanfics
3) Devising a system to get the fanfics and their html to you from now
and in the future
From here on out, this is just my humble opinion, so take for what it's
worth...
Stef, I think you should concentrate on uploading the fanfics -- it can
only be done from your end and it is a huge job. What i mean by uploading
is just putting those fanfics in an directory open to the web. You can
leave the HTML to the other volunteers.
There are number of people who have made themselves available to write
the HTML. Some are proficient in writing HTML, others may not be, but
that won't be important if we can devise a standard HTML format for each
fanfic, something like this
<a href="filename.txt">Title</a> by author <a href="mailto:email>email</a>
<br>
summary, spoiler warnings, nc-17 warnings
<p>
Using something like that, the volunteers can just plug in the
information and send it out as a text file to Stef. Then all she has to
do is cut-and-paste that HTML into the actual HTML file.
To further cut down on Stef's workload (and her server space), somebody else
could take over the web pages and we'd just store the fanfics on Stef's
server, but that's up to Stef and who'd ever want the job of running the web
pages.
Now this should take care of the job of replacing Gossamer as it is --
now we have to figure out how to replace the purpose of Gossamer, that is
archiving fanfic coming thru the pipe now and in the future. Again, more
humble opinion here....
1) Getting fanfics to the archives -- from the x-files-fanfic list, no
problem - Stef has already subscribed her archive address to the list (so
that's what you were up to, had me worried there for a sec :) ). From the
newsgroup, it's a problem. As I understood it, Vincent had some kind of
divine access that got 95% of the posts. If Stef can find a way to get
the same kind of access, then she can pull the fanfics straight into her
directory. If Stef cannot get that kind of access, then I dunno.... the
fanfic authors are gonna have to get used to the idea of submitting a
copy of their work to the archive as well as the newsgroup. Of course if
they'd just send it to the list, it also goes out to the newsgroup and
Stef (plug plug plug).
2) Writing the HTML for the fanfic -- once in her directory, Stef can
send a copy to a specific volunteer to write the HTML for it. The
volunteer writes it out, sends it to Stef (or the web page maintainer,
whoever that may be), cut-and-paste the HTML into the HTML document, and
wallah! the fanfic is archived.
If you folks agree with this, here's what we need to do....
1) Write up a list of HTML-writing volunteers and send it to Stef -- the
people who volunteer have to be dedicated, willing to put in as much as
an hour a day to do this(probably not that nearly much), be willing to
check their email daily (most definitely that much), and get that HTML
done as soon as they find the copy in their email box.
2) Decide if Stef or someone else will maintain the web pages -- Stef, is
this okay with you? any volunteers? (probably not a good idea to
volunteer if you can do the next thing)
3) Get to work on creating a US mirror site (and mirror sites for other
regions as well, don't want to be nationalistic here). You folks on the
fictalk list know what you need to do this -- if you folks on the
newsgroup still haven't heard, ask me and I'll forward Vincent's specs on
the issue.
4) Start working up ways to make this archive better than Gossamer --
cross-archive by subject as well as by author, for instance.
5) All you authors that have not written summaries for stories already
archived at Gossamer, please go about doing so, and get in the habit of
doing so. Gossamer is already too huge for the newbie to just go in and
find what they're looking for -- this is important to the future of XF
fanfic.
If you folks don't agree on this, then speak up and let's change the plan
to something that works. All I ask is that we make a plan first. So
before anyone starts actually doing ANYTHING, let's decide on what we're
gonna do first.
BTW I know I sound bossy, I know I am probably overstepping my bounds --
tough. Somebody better do so or we'll have a bunch of people going off
duplicating work that would be better if they got together and worked as
a team. I think you can agree with that -- if not, I'd love to hear your
argument.
Gil Trevizo The X-Files-Fanfic Mailing List Home Page
tre...@utep.edu http://mail.utep.edu/~trevizo/x-files
Lisanne Glavin
I will join in the bowing and scraping!
Including in Vincent's direction for keeping the archive going for so long.
Lisanne G.
Jane-Yi
Why don't you just take over Gossamer?
Robert Pickel
If possible would it also be possible to keep ftp access to the archive? I'm a
bit of a maniac. When Vincent's archive was updated I logged on each day and
downloaded all of the new files out of the "stories" directory. The web's not
bad for downloading 3-5 stories a day but when you want all of them it's
not real easy.
Also if anybody in the future needs it I'm keeping a complete copy of the
"stories" and Unprocessed Stories or "tmp" directory. The only files missing
are the file parts where a complete story exists. Example: I have Runaway. I
don't have Runaway.01, Runaway.02, etc.
Lafe
In article <3200D4...@dial.oleane.com>, Lisanne Glavin
Sheryl...@tvo.org
Gil Trevizo,tre...@utep.edu,Internet writes:
Stef wrote on the alt.tv.x-files.creative newsgroup:
> Okay, as one of no doubt many attempts by various people,
I don't like this -- Gossamer is the heart and soul of X-Files fanfic.
The lists and the newsgroup are one thing, but if we're gonna do this,
let's do it as a team -- a single united effort.
We should create a mirror site in the US, only because I've been told
that UK-US lines are rather slow. But regardless, I'd like to see the
format of the archive(s) standardized (only talking about the complete
archives now, the genre archives should be free to go about however they
want).
definitely got my vote there... we should try perhaps to spread them out so
that when one site does crash, it doesn't cause as much of a crisis as it
does at the present time...
and we have to communicate - everyone keep the lines open so that we're not
duplicating efforts and wasting time...
<<<snip, snip....>>>
1) Getting fanfics to the archives -- from the x-files-fanfic list, no
problem - Stef has already subscribed her archive address to the list (so
that's what you were up to, had me worried there for a sec :) ). From the
newsgroup, it's a problem. As I understood it, Vincent had some kind of
divine access that got 95% of the posts. If Stef can find a way to get
the same kind of access, then she can pull the fanfics straight into her
directory. If Stef cannot get that kind of access, then I dunno.... the
fanfic authors are gonna have to get used to the idea of submitting a
copy of their work to the archive as well as the newsgroup. Of course if
they'd just send it to the list, it also goes out to the newsgroup and
Stef (plug plug plug).
I think this is a good idea - let's leave it up to the authors to send the
stuff to the archive - if you don't want it archived; then don't send it -
save a lot of time and trouble on the other end if you specify where you
don't want it to go...
<<<<snip, snip...>>>
4) Start working up ways to make this archive better than Gossamer --
cross-archive by subject as well as by author, for instance.
5) All you authors that have not written summaries for stories already
archived at Gossamer, please go about doing so, and get in the habit of
doing so. Gossamer is already too huge for the newbie to just go in and
find what they're looking for -- this is important to the future of XF
fanfic.
Amen... I know that my story index helps a lot - why don't all of the authors
set up indexes and then just send updates to the archives and post them to
the newsgroup as well... save a lot of trouble for everyone...
If you folks don't agree on this, then speak up and let's change the plan
to something that works. All I ask is that we make a plan first. So
before anyone starts actually doing ANYTHING, let's decide on what we're
gonna do first.
BTW I know I sound bossy, I know I am probably overstepping my bounds --
tough. Somebody better do so or we'll have a bunch of people going off
duplicating work that would be better if they got together and worked as
a team. I think you can agree with that -- if not, I'd love to hear your
argument.
Gil Trevizo The X-Files-Fanfic Mailing List Home Page
tre...@utep.edu http://mail.utep.edu/~trevizo/x-files
hey, we need someone to organize things, Gil... and thanks for
volunteering...
or was that everyone just taking a giant step back and leaving you out in the
breeze???
chuckle...
let's go folks...
'Nuff said...
"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it
true. You may have to work for it, however."
Richard Bach -- "Illusions"
XFarchive
Gil T wrote of my ateempt tp create a new archive:-
>I don't like this -- Gossamer is the heart and soul of X-Files fanfic.
>The lists and the newsgroup are one thing, but if we're gonna do this,
>let's do it as a team -- a single united effort.
Gossamer is indeed the soul of xf fanfic, but unfortunately it's going to
be history. I can't really see that an attempt to create a new archive can
actually *harm* te xf fanfix world, or make the situation worse.
After all, if it fails, the only one who's lost anything will be me, for
the time and money I've expended. There's nothing to stop Gil or
anyone/group else doing something they think'll be better.
Gil Trevizo
Stef wrote on the alt.tv.x-files.creative newsgroup:
> Okay, as one of no doubt many attempts by various people,
I don't like this -- Gossamer is the heart and soul of X-Files fanfic.
The lists and the newsgroup are one thing, but if we're gonna do this,
let's do it as a team -- a single united effort.
We should create a mirror site in the US, only because I've been told
that UK-US lines are rather slow. But regardless, I'd like to see the
format of the archive(s) standardized (only talking about the complete
archives now, the genre archives should be free to go about however they
want).
> I'm going to
1) Getting fanfics to the archives -- from the x-files-fanfic list, no
problem - Stef has already subscribed her archive address to the list (so
that's what you were up to, had me worried there for a sec :) ). From the
newsgroup, it's a problem. As I understood it, Vincent had some kind of
divine access that got 95% of the posts. If Stef can find a way to get
the same kind of access, then she can pull the fanfics straight into her
directory. If Stef cannot get that kind of access, then I dunno.... the
fanfic authors are gonna have to get used to the idea of submitting a
copy of their work to the archive as well as the newsgroup. Of course if
they'd just send it to the list, it also goes out to the newsgroup and
Stef (plug plug plug).
2) Writing the HTML for the fanfic -- once in her directory, Stef can
send a copy to a specific volunteer to write the HTML for it. The
volunteer writes it out, sends it to Stef (or the web page maintainer,
whoever that may be), cut-and-paste the HTML into the HTML document, and
wallah! the fanfic is archived.
If you folks agree with this, here's what we need to do....
1) Write up a list of HTML-writing volunteers and send it to Stef -- the
people who volunteer have to be dedicated, willing to put in as much as
an hour a day to do this(probably not that nearly much), be willing to
check their email daily (most definitely that much), and get that HTML
done as soon as they find the copy in their email box.
2) Decide if Stef or someone else will maintain the web pages -- Stef, is
this okay with you? any volunteers? (probably not a good idea to
volunteer if you can do the next thing)
3) Get to work on creating a US mirror site (and mirror sites for other
regions as well, don't want to be nationalistic here). You folks on the
fictalk list know what you need to do this -- if you folks on the
newsgroup still haven't heard, ask me and I'll forward Vincent's specs on
the issue.
4) Start working up ways to make this archive better than Gossamer --
cross-archive by subject as well as by author, for instance.
5) All you authors that have not written summaries for stories already
archived at Gossamer, please go about doing so, and get in the habit of
doing so. Gossamer is already too huge for the newbie to just go in and
find what they're looking for -- this is important to the future of XF
fanfic.
If you folks don't agree on this, then speak up and let's change the plan
Lisa DaFoe
XFarchive wrote:
>
> Okay, as one of no doubt many attempts by various people, I'm going to
> give it a go - attempt to create an archive to fill the void that'll be
--
***Lisa***
Ethereal Order of Saint Spooky the Believer***David Duchovny Defense
League***XAngst Anonymous***DFW International***A.B.A.R.--Where the
women are women and the men are horny vampires***Another Bleepin'
X-Phile
Paul Wartenberg
Stef! Thank you!...
I would like to say...<sniff>...I love you, man!...
--
Paul Wartenberg-------------------- | -----All Done.--------
z004...@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us | -----Bye-Bye.---------
-----Somewhere in Florida---------- | -----X-FILES----------
-----I thank you God for most this amazing day, -----
-----for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and -----
-----a blue true dream of sky, and for everything -----
-----which is natural which is infinite which is yes...-----
-----XAIPE no.65, e.e. cummings (1950)----------------------
Kirylyn Dreamer
I checked with my provider. All 10Megs of my personal web page space is
out your disposal.
What would entail setting up a mirror site?? I've got the hard disk
space, a fast modem and a dedicated line (there's no phone on it) and my
computer stays on all the time (well, except during really close
lightening shows :)
I'll help with the lists, maintaining links, updating the updates :)
whatever it takes.
<snicker> I bet the archive is going to be majorily busy in the next few
weeks as everyone tries to pull everything off of it.
Worst case, if someone can't get access, maybe we could set up a
'mailing list' (sorta - may not be using the right terms here). Person
sends request for story to list, volunteer of the week/day picks up said
email and sends story out.
Gil, tell me what you need me to do and I'll be there, keys flying.
Kiry
dith
I like Lisa's suggestion about posting formatting guidelines to the ng
every so often -- that's bound to help.
And as an author, I can say that it wouldn't hurt the author a bit to
format her own story to appropriate guidelines and email or upload it to
an appropriate place.
I'd like to weigh in on the side of keeping Gossamer going, rather than
starting up a whole new site -- not only is the name "Gossamer" precious
to the X-Files community, it's a central location already well known and I
for one think Vincent did a bang-up job in designing a site that is useful
and clean and organized.
Judith Tabron
also known as dith
on vacation for 2 weeks, but throw my name into the hat as someone willing
to host a mirror site, and to code html.
--
--dith
(check out my review/preview of the latest and the upcoming X-Files episode: http://staff.feldberg.brandeis.edu/~tabron/xreview.html)
ImAStinker
I don't know if this will be of any assistance but I have most of the
fanfic written since 1994 on disc -- guess I'm a internet pack rat. If
you think you might be missing something, let me know and I'll try and
find it. Unfortunately, I don't really have a filing system I just
downloaded as they were posted. I might not have the most recent stories
(complete) however cause my other demon half tried to 'fix' my puter and
erased my files ... again. Dope.
Stinker
William Lim
ImAStinker (imast...@aol.com) put forth:
: I don't know if this will be of any assistance but I have most of the
I guess I'm another "internet pack rat" ;-) My disks contain 99% of
what gossamer holds (minus html stuff).
I hope that ftp access will not be removed 'cos that's the way I search
for new stuff: ftp in, do a "ls -ltr" to scan for new updates, and
download those. Vincent has a _great_ system for updating stories and that
should be maintained.
--
William Lim eng3...@leonis.nus.sg
`The fulcrum may fancy itself supreme, but without the lever, it is nothing.'
The SUe
Gil Trevizo <tre...@utep.edu> wrote:
>Stef wrote on the alt.tv.x-files.creative newsgroup:
>> Okay, as one of no doubt many attempts by various people,
>
>I don't like this -- Gossamer is the heart and soul of X-Files fanfic.
>The lists and the newsgroup are one thing, but if we're gonna do this,
>let's do it as a team -- a single united effort.
>
>We should create a mirror site in the US, only because I've been told
>that UK-US lines are rather slow. But regardless, I'd like to see the
>format of the archive(s) standardized (only talking about the complete
>archives now, the genre archives should be free to go about however they
>want).
Gil, you have some valid points here, but personally I don't care
=how= this gets done, as long as it does. We can't just =lose=
everything! If Stef wants to take a shot at it, more power to her!
But you do have a point about organizing. Even if Stef does this
and is successful, who's to say we can't have =another= Archive? This
would be great, especially if one has server problems or something.
>> I'm going to
>> give it a go - attempt to create an archive to fill the void that'll be
>> left by Vincent's archive closing in October.
>>
>> I am going to try to have all the stories in Vincent's Temp directory up
>> and running on a web-page by the weekend. After that will come the
>> gigantic job of xferring, .htmling and loading up all the stories already
>> in the archive. Any help in that area will be gratefully received: e-mail
>> me at this address for details.
>>
>> At the weekend I'll post the URL of the new archive....and we'll see jow
>> it goes :-)
>
>Okay okay, hold on a second.... just how are you gonna go about doing
>this? A lot of ideas have been passed back-and-forth here and many
>offers for help have been given, so before you commit to anything why
>don't we get this sucker organized.
>
>I assume you've contacted your server and told them about the 170 megs
>that Gossamer currently takes up, and they've told you that was not a
>problem. So the server space problem has been overcome -- I suppose we'll
>just have to cross the web hits problem if it develops.
>
>So I see the following tasks as needed:
>
>1) Uploading all the fanfics on Gossamer into your server space
>
>2) Creating the html for those fanfics
Couldn't she use the ones already created by Vincent? With his
permission, of course. (Vincent?)
>3) Devising a system to get the fanfics and their html to you from now
>and in the future
This is where I think the idea of a group undertaking is a good one,
whether or not Stef does it on her own. We'd have to divide the
alphabet up for both author and title, I would guess, and break it
down to digestable pieces, so to speak. We could either have one
volunteer with really great Usenet access to forward the stories
posted to their appropriate volunteers, or have each volunteer do this
on thier own, whatever works.
>From here on out, this is just my humble opinion, so take for what it's
>worth...
>
>Stef, I think you should concentrate on uploading the fanfics -- it can
>only be done from your end and it is a huge job. What i mean by uploading
>is just putting those fanfics in an directory open to the web. You can
>leave the HTML to the other volunteers.
As long as they get someplace where they're not going to be deleted.
>There are number of people who have made themselves available to write
>the HTML. Some are proficient in writing HTML, others may not be, but
>that won't be important if we can devise a standard HTML format for each
>fanfic, something like this
>
><a href="filename.txt">Title</a> by author <a href="mailto:email>email</a>
><br> summary, spoiler warnings, nc-17 warnings <p>
>
>Using something like that, the volunteers can just plug in the
>information and send it out as a text file to Stef. Then all she has to
>do is cut-and-paste that HTML into the actual HTML file.
Again, can't Vincent's listings be used and added to? Again, with
his permission, natch.
>To further cut down on Stef's workload (and her server space), somebody else
>could take over the web pages and we'd just store the fanfics on Stef's
>server, but that's up to Stef and who'd ever want the job of running the web
>pages.
Well, since the FAQ is on my page, I =could= conceivably, put up a
page full of Archive links: Click here to go to Alpha-by-Author A-F,
here for Alpha-by-Author G-L, etc., or whatever. I could also include
links to the themed pages. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to
devote to maintaining an archive like that, but since I do the FAQ,
that would be one logical place to put the main Archive page.
>Now this should take care of the job of replacing Gossamer as it is --
>now we have to figure out how to replace the purpose of Gossamer, that is
>archiving fanfic coming thru the pipe now and in the future. Again, more
>humble opinion here....
Again, if each volunteer had a small chunk to be responsible for,
it'd be more manageable.
>If you folks don't agree on this, then speak up and let's change the plan
>to something that works. All I ask is that we make a plan first. So
>before anyone starts actually doing ANYTHING, let's decide on what we're
>gonna do first.
>
>BTW I know I sound bossy, I know I am probably overstepping my bounds --
>tough. Somebody better do so or we'll have a bunch of people going off
>duplicating work that would be better if they got together and worked as
>a team. I think you can agree with that -- if not, I'd love to hear your
>argument.
No, you don't sound =too= bossy, Gil. <G> You are very right that we
need to be organized, but in the meantime, if Stef wants to transfer
all that stuff so it'll be safely stored =somewhere=, she should. The
point is not to lose anything. As long as we know it's safe, we can
continue to kick these ideas around until we get a workable plan.
At any rate, whoever--be it Stef or a group of people or both--gets
an Archive up and running, PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE let me know so that I
can make appropriate changes in the FAQ, and I'll be glad to post this
info elsewhere on my pages, and wherever else I can that people will
see it. Oh, btw, when is the Gossamer site closing? I haven't been
there since that notice went up (I had technical difficulties and
couldn't log on for a week; my page and mail were fine, I just had a
corrupted dialer file).
SUe
*********************************************
The SUe
s...@snip.net
http://www.snip.net/users/sue/home.htm
*********************************************
Visit my home page for info on
Phile Cabinet & Eclecticon!
*********************************************
Gil Trevizo
s...@snip.net (The SUe) wrote:
> Gil Trevizo <tre...@utep.edu> wrote:
>
> >Stef wrote on the alt.tv.x-files.creative newsgroup:
> >> Okay, as one of no doubt many attempts by various people,
> >
> >I don't like this -- Gossamer is the heart and soul of X-Files fanfic.
> >The lists and the newsgroup are one thing, but if we're gonna do this,
> >let's do it as a team -- a single united effort.
> >
> >We should create a mirror site in the US, only because I've been told
> >that UK-US lines are rather slow. But regardless, I'd like to see the
> >format of the archive(s) standardized (only talking about the complete
> >archives now, the genre archives should be free to go about however they
> >want).
>
> Gil, you have some valid points here, but personally I don't care
> =how= this gets done, as long as it does. We can't just =lose=
> everything! If Stef wants to take a shot at it, more power to her!
I think I've been very misunderstood here. When I said "I don't like
this" I was NOT speaking of Stef's archive. I was talking about what Stef
said about her effort being one of many. At this early stage, I think the
most important thing is to get one archive up-and-running, and after that
we can all go about creating other archives. Until then, we're going to
be in an increasingly desperate situation as October rolls around.
Therefore, when I say "I don't like this", I am saying that I don't like
there to be a bunch of other efforts going on before Stef is successful
with her's. What I am saying is that we should support Stef as much as
possible.
Now I see the criticism coming -- who cares if other people go off on
their own? That's fine with me too, if they are going off on their own in
a serious endeavor. And I have yet to see a single idea put forward that
makes better sense than a single-server archive like Stef's. And I have
yet to see anyone come forward and offer to create a single-server
archive like Stef's. That is why I believe it would be best to support
Stef at this time.
You see, I do care about how this gets done because I know that will be very
important in making sure it does get done. I don't want control over that
process -- I'm just asking that whoever controls the process does so
logically.
> But you do have a point about organizing. Even if Stef does this
> and is successful, who's to say we can't have =another= Archive? This
> would be great, especially if one has server problems or something.
In fact, we need another archive, at least according to the info I got.
Supposedly US-UK lines are very slow, so we need a US mirror site. But at
this point in time, I think it's more important that we make sure there
is a replacement for Gossamer, no matter where that is.
> >Okay okay, hold on a second.... just how are you gonna go about doing
> >this? A lot of ideas have been passed back-and-forth here and many
> >offers for help have been given, so before you commit to anything why
> >don't we get this sucker organized.
> >
> >I assume you've contacted your server and told them about the 170 megs
> >that Gossamer currently takes up, and they've told you that was not a
> >problem. So the server space problem has been overcome -- I suppose we'll
> >just have to cross the web hits problem if it develops.
> >
> >So I see the following tasks as needed:
> >
> >1) Uploading all the fanfics on Gossamer into your server space
> >
> >2) Creating the html for those fanfics
>
> Couldn't she use the ones already created by Vincent? With his
> permission, of course. (Vincent?)
She's been trying and she's been having trouble with it. If Stef can use
Vincent's html code then certainly that would be the best thing... but,
over on fictalk we've been discussing ways to make the new archive(s)
better than Gossamer, and one of the ideas is to include summaries in the
listings. Perhaps we can simply modify Vincent's code to do that, but
maybe not.
> >3) Devising a system to get the fanfics and their html to you from now
> >and in the future
>
> This is where I think the idea of a group undertaking is a good one,
> whether or not Stef does it on her own. We'd have to divide the
> alphabet up for both author and title, I would guess, and break it
> down to digestable pieces, so to speak. We could either have one
> volunteer with really great Usenet access to forward the stories
> posted to their appropriate volunteers, or have each volunteer do this
> on thier own, whatever works.
Vincent may be able to keep the temp directory of Unprocessed Stories up
indefinitely, in which case the archivist(s) could use his newsfeed. Of
course, like I said before, all this could be solved if every author here
would post to the x-files-fanfic list, as the post would then go directly
to Stef and to the newsgroup as well.
> >From here on out, this is just my humble opinion, so take for what it's
> >worth...
> >
> >Stef, I think you should concentrate on uploading the fanfics -- it can
> >only be done from your end and it is a huge job. What i mean by uploading
> >is just putting those fanfics in an directory open to the web. You can
> >leave the HTML to the other volunteers.
>
> As long as they get someplace where they're not going to be deleted.
Well, that's a given.
> >There are number of people who have made themselves available to write
> >the HTML. Some are proficient in writing HTML, others may not be, but
> >that won't be important if we can devise a standard HTML format for each
> >fanfic, something like this
> >
> ><a href="filename.txt">Title</a> by author <a href="mailto:email>email</a>
> ><br> summary, spoiler warnings, nc-17 warnings <p>
> >
> >Using something like that, the volunteers can just plug in the
> >information and send it out as a text file to Stef. Then all she has to
> >do is cut-and-paste that HTML into the actual HTML file.
>
> Again, can't Vincent's listings be used and added to? Again, with
> his permission, natch.
Already covered this. With the archive(s) getting larger and larger, it's
hard for a newbie to simply come in and wade thru all that fanfic. If
they can start with the kind of fanfic they want to read, and then go off
to the authors they've liked, they'll have a base from which to develop
an interest in the fanfic. So if we want the XF fanfic community to grow
and prosper, we need to provide some kind of structure for that.
Summaries would fufill that role nicely.
> >To further cut down on Stef's workload (and her server space), somebody else
> >could take over the web pages and we'd just store the fanfics on Stef's
> >server, but that's up to Stef and who'd ever want the job of running the web
> >pages.
>
> Well, since the FAQ is on my page, I =could= conceivably, put up a
> page full of Archive links: Click here to go to Alpha-by-Author A-F,
> here for Alpha-by-Author G-L, etc., or whatever. I could also include
> links to the themed pages. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to
> devote to maintaining an archive like that, but since I do the FAQ,
> that would be one logical place to put the main Archive page.
If you don't have the time to do that, then it's probably not a good
idea. What's needed for something like that is someone (or someones -
even the archive pages could be split) with enough time for it.
> >Now this should take care of the job of replacing Gossamer as it is --
> >now we have to figure out how to replace the purpose of Gossamer, that is
> >archiving fanfic coming thru the pipe now and in the future. Again, more
> >humble opinion here....
>
> Again, if each volunteer had a small chunk to be responsible for,
> it'd be more manageable.
Like I said in my previous post, I really do not think so. First off, we
need to find enough people with the server space to hold it. Gossamer is
170 megs. If we even it out to 200 megs to cover future growth (and that
is only very near future), we'd need 40 people with 5 megs of space. 40
people is a huge amount of people to organize in such an effort.
> >If you folks don't agree on this, then speak up and let's change the plan
> >to something that works. All I ask is that we make a plan first. So
> >before anyone starts actually doing ANYTHING, let's decide on what we're
> >gonna do first.
> >
> >BTW I know I sound bossy, I know I am probably overstepping my bounds --
> >tough. Somebody better do so or we'll have a bunch of people going off
> >duplicating work that would be better if they got together and worked as
> >a team. I think you can agree with that -- if not, I'd love to hear your
> >argument.
>
> No, you don't sound =too= bossy, Gil. <G> You are very right that we
> need to be organized, but in the meantime, if Stef wants to transfer
> all that stuff so it'll be safely stored =somewhere=, she should. The
> point is not to lose anything. As long as we know it's safe, we can
> continue to kick these ideas around until we get a workable plan.
We're not going to lose anything. As we speak people on fictalk are
working to download the zipped file of the archive Vincent has made
available, and I know a number of others that have been downloading for
awhile and have the archive already stored away someplace. So it is safe.
What we need now is way to put it up on the web(and/or ftp), and we've got
till October to do that.
Kathleen Lietz prioritzed the archive plans this way on the fictalk list...
>Plan A : Find a server which can accomodate the Archives "as is" but without
>cost.
We've already got this in Stef and now just need a US mirror site.
>Plan B : Break up the archive onto free space on different servers (as
>offered by several people) with one front end page to drive it. This is
>another no-cost idea.
Possible but problematic, and basically unnecessary if we can get Stef's
archive and the mirror site to work.
>Plan C : Organize some method to pay for space. Risky considering potential
>problems. Use this as a last resort.
If it comes down to this, I've already made myself will to front the
money for the space to hold a compressed version of the archive. So
there's gonna be no need for donations, or setting up non-profit
corporations, or getting lawyers, or dealing with any of those complications.
At this point, I think it'd be best if we concentrated on making Plan A a
reality. We have till October to get Plan B organized -- why don't we
give it till the beginning of September?
SpookyFoxx
Just wanted to ask a question: Will there be an ftp site as well as a web
page if we all end up going with just one archive like Gossamer? I
certainly hope so because I for one have unreliable access to the WWW and
always use the ftp site for Gossamer.
Thanks,
SpookyFoxx
Kirylyn Dreamer
The SUe
Gil Trevizo <tre...@utep.edu> wrote:
>s...@snip.net (The SUe) wrote:
>> Gil Trevizo <tre...@utep.edu> wrote:
>>
>> >Stef wrote on the alt.tv.x-files.creative newsgroup:
>> >> Okay, as one of no doubt many attempts by various people,
>> >
>> >I don't like this -- Gossamer is the heart and soul of X-Files fanfic.
>> >The lists and the newsgroup are one thing, but if we're gonna do this,
>> >let's do it as a team -- a single united effort.
>> >
>> >We should create a mirror site in the US, only because I've been told
>> >that UK-US lines are rather slow. But regardless, I'd like to see the
>> >format of the archive(s) standardized (only talking about the complete
>> >archives now, the genre archives should be free to go about however they
>> >want).
>>
>> Gil, you have some valid points here, but personally I don't care
>> =how= this gets done, as long as it does. We can't just =lose=
>> everything! If Stef wants to take a shot at it, more power to her!
>
>I think I've been very misunderstood here. When I said "I don't like
>this" I was NOT speaking of Stef's archive. I was talking about what Stef
>said about her effort being one of many. At this early stage, I think the
>most important thing is to get one archive up-and-running, and after that
>we can all go about creating other archives. Until then, we're going to
>be in an increasingly desperate situation as October rolls around.
Sorry, Gil, but as you can see, I'm not the only one who didn't get
this as you meant it.
>Therefore, when I say "I don't like this", I am saying that I don't like
>there to be a bunch of other efforts going on before Stef is successful
>with her's. What I am saying is that we should support Stef as much as
>possible.
Well of =course= we should support Stef as much as possible! Anyone
willing to undertake such a task deserves all the support she can get!
>Now I see the criticism coming -- who cares if other people go off on
>their own? That's fine with me too, if they are going off on their own in
>a serious endeavor. And I have yet to see a single idea put forward that
>makes better sense than a single-server archive like Stef's. And I have
>yet to see anyone come forward and offer to create a single-server
>archive like Stef's. That is why I believe it would be best to support
>Stef at this time.
Well of course a single-server archive is best, but to be realistic,
we have to look at other options. What if we can't find a "mirror
site" in the US? (Actually, I'd like to clarify this term, both for
myself to see if it means what I =think= it means, as well as for
others who may not know what we're talking about. From what I gather,
this is an exact replica of a site located on another server, yes? no?
am I close?)
>You see, I do care about how this gets done because I know that will be very
>important in making sure it does get done. I don't want control over that
>process -- I'm just asking that whoever controls the process does so
>logically.
Well now it's =my= turn to be misunderstood. <G> I =meant= that it
doesn't make any difference which plan we decide upon, as long as we
find one that is workable and have enough people/resources to do it.
Whatever we all decide upon, or whoever (apparently Stef) volunteers
to do this, I will support in any way I can.
>> But you do have a point about organizing. Even if Stef does this
>> and is successful, who's to say we can't have =another= Archive? This
>> would be great, especially if one has server problems or something.
>
>In fact, we need another archive, at least according to the info I got.
>Supposedly US-UK lines are very slow, so we need a US mirror site. But at
>this point in time, I think it's more important that we make sure there
>is a replacement for Gossamer, no matter where that is.
Which is exactly what I meant above. :)
[snip]
>> >So I see the following tasks as needed:
>> >
>> >1) Uploading all the fanfics on Gossamer into your server space
>> >
>> >2) Creating the html for those fanfics
>>
>> Couldn't she use the ones already created by Vincent? With his
>> permission, of course. (Vincent?)
>
>She's been trying and she's been having trouble with it. If Stef can use
>Vincent's html code then certainly that would be the best thing... but,
>over on fictalk we've been discussing ways to make the new archive(s)
>better than Gossamer, and one of the ideas is to include summaries in the
>listings. Perhaps we can simply modify Vincent's code to do that, but
>maybe not.
Going back to the above, first let's get the thing up and running,
THEN we can worry about improving it. Sound reasonable?
As for summaries, yeah, sure, it =could= work, but this will take a
lot of effort on the author's part, or, if they don't feel they can do
a summary, someone else's part (how much you wanna bet this will fall
to the Archivist?). I mean, it's a great idea and would certainly be
helpful, but at this point if we could even get the authors to pick
the genre that best describes their story (i.e. romance, straight
X-File, character study, vignette, slash, whatever they choose to
describe it as), I think that'd be an accomplishment.
>> >3) Devising a system to get the fanfics and their html to you from now
>> >and in the future
>>
>> This is where I think the idea of a group undertaking is a good one,
>> whether or not Stef does it on her own. We'd have to divide the
>> alphabet up for both author and title, I would guess, and break it
>> down to digestable pieces, so to speak. We could either have one
>> volunteer with really great Usenet access to forward the stories
>> posted to their appropriate volunteers, or have each volunteer do this
>> on thier own, whatever works.
>
>Vincent may be able to keep the temp directory of Unprocessed Stories up
>indefinitely, in which case the archivist(s) could use his newsfeed. Of
>course, like I said before, all this could be solved if every author here
>would post to the x-files-fanfic list, as the post would then go directly
>to Stef and to the newsgroup as well.
Hmm, well, if we all (i.e. those of us actively participating in
this discussion and the authors) decide that the way to go here is to
have people submit to the x-files-fanfic list, I'll just put that in
the FAQ. I don't know if that will do it, but it can't hurt.
>> Again, can't Vincent's listings be used and added to? Again, with
>> his permission, natch.
>
>Already covered this. With the archive(s) getting larger and larger, it's
>hard for a newbie to simply come in and wade thru all that fanfic. If
>they can start with the kind of fanfic they want to read, and then go off
>to the authors they've liked, they'll have a base from which to develop
>an interest in the fanfic. So if we want the XF fanfic community to grow
>and prosper, we need to provide some kind of structure for that.
>Summaries would fufill that role nicely.
Well as I said above, first let's get it up and running. I think
any extras can be added later on, especially if the HTML coding that
Vincent has already done can be used as-is for now. All those
summaries and dividing the stories by genre is going to take time.
Newbies can always just ask us in the meantime. We've never had a
problem with people coming up with recommendations!
>> >To further cut down on Stef's workload (and her server space), somebody else
>> >could take over the web pages and we'd just store the fanfics on Stef's
>> >server, but that's up to Stef and who'd ever want the job of running the web
>> >pages.
>
>If you don't have the time to do that, then it's probably not a good
>idea. What's needed for something like that is someone (or someones -
>even the archive pages could be split) with enough time for it.
Uh, no, again, I suppose I didn't phrase this very well. (Bear with
me, I'm on heavy painkillers. <G>) What I mean is that, assuming we
are going to have at least a few archives, Stef's plus whoever all
else does them, including the genre pages, it'd be a good idea to have
one or more pages (in various locations) with links to as many as
possible. Mine would be only =one= of several. (I'm a great fan of
multiple redundancy. Yes, I have backups of backups of Really
Important Stuff. <G>) At any rate, one logical place to put such a
page would be where the FAQ is. It would also be logical to have
links to the FAQ pages (there are two, actually) from any or all of
the archives. (Links are wonderful things.:)
>> >Now this should take care of the job of replacing Gossamer as it is --
>> >now we have to figure out how to replace the purpose of Gossamer, that is
>> >archiving fanfic coming thru the pipe now and in the future. Again, more
>> >humble opinion here....
>>
>> Again, if each volunteer had a small chunk to be responsible for,
>> it'd be more manageable.
>
>Like I said in my previous post, I really do not think so. First off, we
>need to find enough people with the server space to hold it. Gossamer is
>170 megs. If we even it out to 200 megs to cover future growth (and that
>is only very near future), we'd need 40 people with 5 megs of space. 40
>people is a huge amount of people to organize in such an effort.
Doesn't necessarily have to be 40, Gil. And really, this is such a
large undertaking, =especially= if you want to =improve= it with
summaries or genre listings or whatever, that having several people
work on it might just be a good idea. And it =is= just that, btw, an
idea, to be kicked around and considered and discussed.
>We're not going to lose anything. As we speak people on fictalk are
>working to download the zipped file of the archive Vincent has made
>available, and I know a number of others that have been downloading for
>awhile and have the archive already stored away someplace. So it is safe.
>What we need now is way to put it up on the web(and/or ftp), and we've got
>till October to do that.
Okay, I was unaware of this. So the immediate worry of losing
anything is no longer a worry. One down!
>Kathleen Lietz prioritzed the archive plans this way on the fictalk list...
>
>>Plan A : Find a server which can accomodate the Archives "as is" but without
>>cost.
>
>We've already got this in Stef and now just need a US mirror site.
Yes, but we =do= need a Plan B.
>>Plan B : Break up the archive onto free space on different servers (as
>>offered by several people) with one front end page to drive it. This is
>>another no-cost idea.
>
>Possible but problematic, and basically unnecessary if we can get Stef's
>archive and the mirror site to work.
This is basically what I was saying above. Definitely something to
be used as a backup plan.
>>Plan C : Organize some method to pay for space. Risky considering potential
>>problems. Use this as a last resort.
>
>If it comes down to this, I've already made myself will to front the
>money for the space to hold a compressed version of the archive. So
>there's gonna be no need for donations, or setting up non-profit
>corporations, or getting lawyers, or dealing with any of those complications.
This is good, and I thank you for volunteering should this become
necessary. Which I hope it won't. (But as I said, if it does, I'm
sure a lot of folks here would be happy to kick in a few bucks to help
offset =your= costs; unless, of course, you're independently wealthy
or something. <G>)
>At this point, I think it'd be best if we concentrated on making Plan A a
>reality. We have till October to get Plan B organized -- why don't we
>give it till the beginning of September?
Well, Plan A is basically up to Stef and how she wants to go about
it, so Stef, what timeframe are you looking at and what do you need?
Have we had anyone volunteer a mirror site yet?
SUe
*********************************************
The SUe
s...@snip.net
http://www.snip.net/users/sue/home.htm
*********************************************
See my home page for the a.t.x.c FAQ!
(Also available by email request)
*********************************************
Gil Trevizo
> Well of course a single-server archive is best, but to be realistic,
> we have to look at other options. What if we can't find a "mirror
> site" in the US? (Actually, I'd like to clarify this term, both for
> myself to see if it means what I =think= it means, as well as for
> others who may not know what we're talking about. From what I gather,
> this is an exact replica of a site located on another server, yes? no?
> am I close?)
Yes, and it looks like we may have found a candidate for the US mirror
site. If that pans out, a multi-server archive would be unnecessary.
Should more know about this later in the day.
> Going back to the above, first let's get the thing up and running,
> THEN we can worry about improving it. Sound reasonable?
There are already people working at making it better. Once we get it
up-and-running, the system will become entrenched and that much harder to
change. It would be easier to make those changes now in the formative stage.
> As for summaries, yeah, sure, it =could= work, but this will take a
> lot of effort on the author's part
One or two sentences describing the plot of a fanfic is not what I would
describe as a lot of effort.
>, or, if they don't feel they can do
> a summary, someone else's part (how much you wanna bet this will fall
> to the Archivist?).
Not at all -- the summary section would just be left blank or with
something like "no summary provided".
>I mean, it's a great idea and would certainly be
> helpful, but at this point if we could even get the authors to pick
> the genre that best describes their story (i.e. romance, straight
> X-File, character study, vignette, slash, whatever they choose to
> describe it as), I think that'd be an accomplishment.
We won't have to narrow it down like that. Kelsy has already done a lot
of the work with this, and from what's been said the fanfics could be
cross-referenced in many places. For example, an NC-17 M&S romance
crossover would not just be referenced as one of those things, but all of
those things. This is more than doable, Kelsy is already doing it.
> Well as I said above, first let's get it up and running. I think
> any extras can be added later on, especially if the HTML coding that
> Vincent has already done can be used as-is for now. All those
> summaries and dividing the stories by genre is going to take time.
> Newbies can always just ask us in the meantime. We've never had a
> problem with people coming up with recommendations!
Unfortunately that's not true. How many times has someone come in asking
to find something controversial, like a non-M&S romance, and
inadvertently started a flamewar?
Like I said, this thing is doable and is being done as we speak. In fact,
if Kelsy can do it the way that it's being described, Stef may not even
need to do any HTML work - we could simply make Kelsy's subject listings
the front-end for the archive by adding sections for reference by title
and author. But that's between Kelsy and Stef.
> >>Plan C : Organize some method to pay for space. Risky considering potential
> >>problems. Use this as a last resort.
> >
> >If it comes down to this, I've already made myself will to front the
> >money for the space to hold a compressed version of the archive. So
> >there's gonna be no need for donations, or setting up non-profit
> >corporations, or getting lawyers, or dealing with any of those complications.
>
> This is good, and I thank you for volunteering should this become
> necessary. Which I hope it won't. (But as I said, if it does, I'm
> sure a lot of folks here would be happy to kick in a few bucks to help
> offset =your= costs; unless, of course, you're independently wealthy
> or something. <G>)
I'm not independently wealthy but I had already set aside some of my future
income to create a mailing list for Millenium fan fiction come October.
I'd simply use that income to get the necessary server space. But if it
comes to that (which I really don't think it will) I would not accept
donations -- my whole point of doing it in the first place was so that
donations would not become a part of X-Files fan fiction.
> Well, Plan A is basically up to Stef and how she wants to go about
> it, so Stef, what timeframe are you looking at and what do you need?
>
> Have we had anyone volunteer a mirror site yet?
Yes, on the fictalk list, someone has spoken of a gig and a half worth of
space that may be open to us. The guy owning the space has seen the specs
Vincent has provided as necessary for the archive and given his okay. The
only question at this point is how we would add new fanfic to that
space -- should have more info on that later today.
ke...@ro.com
s...@snip.net (The SUe) wrote:
> And really, this is such a
> large undertaking, =especially= if you want to =improve= it with
> summaries or genre listings or whatever, that having several people
> work on it might just be a good idea. And it =is= just that, btw, an
> idea, to be kicked around and considered and discussed.
Sue,
I agree with you completely. What I am trying to do with the
summaries is, first, translate the information from Vincent's html
pages into a spreadsheet (finished, except for proofreading) then add
the summaries that already exist (Gil's summary page, Kathleen Fritz
summary FAQ, author's story summaries on the archive). After that,
volunteers could look through the rest of the stories for summaries
the author placed at the front of the story itself. I think that the
story summaries need to be written by the authors themselves. I'm not
delusional enough to think that we will ever have summaries for all
the stories or even that all the authors will wish to have their work
catagorized, but it seems presumptuous (and possibly controversial) to
write our own.
It is a massive undertaking, but the data only has to be entered once
by cutting a pasting and merging files (not typing!) and it will be
easy to make changes and generate new html pages for myself and anyone
else who is interested in using the information on their own pages. I
can insert the information into one line of code and it will generate
all the links automatically. That will also make it easy to change
the links when the archive is moved.
Right now, we need to decide on a hand full of very broad genre
categories. Keeping in mind that the data is in a spreadsheet, I
could sort the data by one or more of these listings and generate the
topic pages. I'd like to keep the categories as broad as possible and
a story could fit into one, several, or none of them. The romance
stories could all be generated into one page and inside that page
stories could be identified as Mulder/Scully, Scully/Skinner,
Skinner/other in the author's summary. Since the ratings are also a
category, there could be not-rated (that would be everything but
NC-17) romance stories and NC-17 romance stories... ;-)
So far, these are the categories that have been suggested:
romance
case file
humor
poem/song
angst
vignettes
crossover
action/adventure
misc - for stories without summaries or genre listings and stories
that the author does not wish to categorize.
I read a neat story recently titled 'Abner'. It could be classified
under; XF/Bewitched crossover, case-file, and humor. It was not
rated, so that would distinguish it from 'Colors', which was NC-17
humor. Depending on how the stories are sorted, both would show up on
a 'humor' list, but not an 'unrated humor' or 'NC-17 humor' list.
*Most importantly* the authors have final say on the classifications,
the summaries, and whether or not their work will be included in this
project.
I will try and put a web page up very shortly so that folks can see
what is possible and give feedback on the organization before we start
working on the whole story list at Gossamer. BTW, how do you guys
feel about naming this endeavor 'The Gossamer Story Summary Project'
in honor of Vincent and all the work he has done?
Kelsy
Please don't send any story summaries just yet. ;-)
ke...@ro.com
Gil Trevizo
Harri Nyman <hny...@kymi.iwn.fi>
> On 5 Aug 1996, Gil Trevizo wrote:
>
> > makes better sense than a single-server archive like Stef's. And I have
> > yet to see anyone come forward and offer to create a single-server
> > archive like Stef's. That is why I believe it would be best to support
> > Stef at this time.
> >
> space to spare. All I need is someone to maintain HTML pages, because of
> my schedule I don't have time for writing/maintaining HTML stuff (..and I'
> not that good in drawing either ;)
Harri, I've tried daily to get into your archive since you posted its
existence last week, and all attempts have been unsuccessful. I've tried
thru Lynx, I've tried FTP, and it always fails. This is the only reason I
haven't mentioned your archive thru this whole thing.
Also, I'm not sure but is your archive in the US? What's needed is a US
mirror site. And you've said that your archive has the files gzipped --
actually, based on what's been said I think that's Plan C - a
single-server archive of plain text files, or multi-server archive of the
same would be preferable to having a compressed archive. In fact, there
already is a mirror site of Gossamer in Germany, but it too is made up of
gzipped files.
Please don't take this as a knock against your archive, which I'm sure is
quite excellent. If I could just connect into it, I'd announce it's
existence to the mailing lists, and include a link on the list homepage.
And if it is isn't in the US, it could well serve those who aren't in
Europe or the US.
Harri Nyman
On 5 Aug 1996, Gil Trevizo wrote:
> makes better sense than a single-server archive like Stef's. And I have
> yet to see anyone come forward and offer to create a single-server
> archive like Stef's. That is why I believe it would be best to support
> Stef at this time.
>
Actually, I have, and no-one gave any comments about it. I have enough
space to spare. All I need is someone to maintain HTML pages, because of
my schedule I don't have time for writing/maintaining HTML stuff (..and I'
not that good in drawing either ;)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harri Nyman | e-mail hny...@kymi.iwn.fi
System Administrator | Phone +358 40 558 7434 (GSM mobile)
Avalon Systems Kymi Oy Ltd | Image World - Shortcut to Information Highway
-----------------PGP-key-available-on-request--------------------------------
The Phantom
Kipler (kip...@aol.com) wrote:
: Shall we all bow down and worship at the woman who offers to start us a
: new archive!?!
gets my vote
87)
--
!!!!!
(/O-O\)
.ooo ( U ) ooo.
=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\
- From 'The Phantom' a.k.a 'Pete' -
- E-MAIL : Pha...@Spods.Dcs.Kcl.Ac.Uk -
=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/
_(_) (_)_
(___) (___)
-< Quote of the month >-
If i can hurt you with just a couple of words...
just think what i could do with a dictionary!
Robert A. DeLisle
FL> BTW, how do you guys
FL> feel about naming this endeavor 'The Gossamer Story Summary
FL> Project' in honor of Vincent and all the work he has done?
I vote in favor.
FL> *Most importantly* the authors have final say on the
FL> classifications, the summaries, and whether or not their work
FL> will be included in this
Inclusion--yes! Classification--yes. Summaries--maybe.
I think 'summary' may be too big a word. This should just be a
suggestion of the content, not a digest of the story.
eg The Red Suit Files -- Humorous cross-over with Greatest Amer.Hero
Rating: I am put off by (NC17) and may miss a good story that just
uses a few 'bad' words or has violence. A bit or lot of blood does
not put me off nor do a few 'bad' words. So perhaps the rating
could be modified to (NC17-X) for explicit sex, V or L for violence
and/or language or any combination. (NC17-A) could mean all three.
The suggested categories are fine. I am not sure what 'angst' means.
One should be for 'character study'.
Now will one of you explain just how much html amending is needed?
How many pages and how complex? There are editors to write it.
Are these pages for graphic viewing or ascii?
AAD
ke...@ro.com
r...@crl.com (Robert A. DeLisle) wrote:
> FL> BTW, how do you guys
> FL> feel about naming this endeavor 'The Gossamer Story Summary
> FL> Project' in honor of Vincent and all the work he has done?
>
> I vote in favor.
>
> FL> *Most importantly* the authors have final say on the
> FL> classifications, the summaries, and whether or not their work
> FL> will be included in this
>
> Inclusion--yes! Classification--yes. Summaries--maybe.
> I think 'summary' may be too big a word. This should just be a
> suggestion of the content, not a digest of the story.
>
> eg The Red Suit Files -- Humorous cross-over with Greatest Amer.Hero
<Grin> Most of the summaries I've got so far are just one sentence,
sometimes two. The only practical limit is the amount of text that a
Quattro Pro spreadsheet cell can hold. The web pages that are up now
are just a rough example of what we can do. As soon as I get the web
page generation more automated, there can lots of smaller alphabetical
pages like Vincent has.
> Rating: I am put off by (NC17) and may miss a good story that just
> uses a few 'bad' words or has violence. A bit or lot of blood does
> not put me off nor do a few 'bad' words. So perhaps the rating
> could be modified to (NC17-X) for explicit sex, V or L for violence
> and/or language or any combination. (NC17-A) could mean all three.
An interesting suggestion. Right now, working with all the stories on
Gossamer, I don't know how easy it would be to go back and do that,
but I would encourage the authors to mention in their summary why they
rated the story like they did. It would be great if they mentioned
who was having sex, too--Mulder/Scully, Mulder/other,
Skinner/other...though I have no plans to separate those categories,
it would be nice for folks who only read one type story or another.
> The suggested categories are fine. I am not sure what 'angst' means.
> One should be for 'character study'.
Angst means deep and dark, usually one of the characters having a
personal crisis. I have had several requests to add that category, so
it looks like that idea may be a keeper. The character studies would
fall under vignette in the present system. Please keep in mind that
they are in rough draft form, but I do have some test pages up and
running at
http://sh1.ro.com/~kelsy/index.htm
> Now will one of you explain just how much html amending is needed?
> How many pages and how complex? There are editors to write it.
> Are these pages for graphic viewing or ascii?
I will keep them plain and simple. There isn't even a graphic on the
front page right now. Obviously, they pages are text intensive, so
having a plain white background with text works better for me. (I
don't know how to do that other stuff anyhow...<VBG> No html amending
is necessary, if I understand your question correctly. I can generate
the code by importing the data into one line of code. The trick is
going to be automating the process the go through the spreadsheet and
pull out the data and generate each page. I am working on that now.
This means that changing the links when the archive moves will not be
a problem, so all of this summarizing and categorizing is a one time
job, abet a *big* one.
> AAD
Vera Heinau
Gil Trevizo <tre...@utep.edu> writes:
[...]
>actually, based on what's been said I think that's Plan C - a
>single-server archive of plain text files, or multi-server archive of the
>same would be preferable to having a compressed archive. In fact, there
>already is a mirror site of Gossamer in Germany, but it too is made up of
>gzipped files.
That's true. But our server does "unzipping on the fly" - that means
if you write (in your ftp program): 'get File' instead of 'get File.gz'
the server will do the uncompressing for you and then send the
uncompressed file. Therefor you don't need to have any uncompress
program at your own computer. We thought that this would satisfy
the needs of both sides: Saving a lot of disk space at our server but
still convenient and easy for you to use.
If it is the wish of the a.t.x.c community that the files at our site
should be uncompressed (like those at Gossamer) I'll change the
behaviour of our mirror process to an 1:1 mirror without additional
compressing.
To the process of establishing a new archive (or some linked archive
sites):
Someone wrote that he'd like to have a ftp archive in the future, too.
I support this wish emphaticly - it is much more convenient to
download several files from a ftp server than from a www server. (Of
course, for browsing and looking around a good www server is much more
useful.)
I'll be happy to offer a ftp-mirror for X-Phile related stuff to
reduce the load of the original site(s) but unfortunately neither I have
enough time to set up an archive of mine own nor the machine to
install a www-mirror. Therefore a ftp mirror is all I can offer. :-{
The URL of our Gossamer-Mirror:
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/misc/sf/x-files/creative/stories or
ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/misc/sf/x-files/creative/stories-indexes
For any questions about X-File related stuff at this server write to
"x-f...@fu-berlin.de" (instead of the admin adress "ftp...@fu-berlin.de").
[Reply-To: is set]
Vera
Stephen Ratliff
As FAQ Maintainer on alt.startrek.creative, which is still going through
a simular problem a year after the closure of our old archive at ksu, I
believe I have somethings to contribute.
Gil Trevizo (tre...@utep.edu) wrote:
: s...@snip.net (The SUe) wrote:
: > Gil Trevizo <tre...@utep.edu> wrote:
: >
: > >Stef wrote on the alt.tv.x-files.creative newsgroup:
: > >> Okay, as one of no doubt many attempts by various people,
: > >We should create a mirror site in the US, only because I've been told
: > >that UK-US lines are rather slow. But regardless, I'd like to see the
: > >format of the archive(s) standardized (only talking about the complete
: > >archives now, the genre archives should be free to go about however they
: > >want).
just lost token.net, (alt.startrek.creative (ASC)'s site) due to
bandwith hogging. The more mirror sites the better, in my opinion. Of
coarse a good main archive with a dedicated archivist is your first
step, and from what I've seen so far, Stef seems to be one. One note
however, have a backup archivist. This way if something happens to
Stefr (God forbid) you have a seemless take over. Last year when Joe
Young retired as ASC Archivist and FAQ Maintainer we spent 4 months
looking for a new archivist and site, and 6 for a FAQ Maintainer (I
volenteered after our off-topic rate hit 80%) And thank Vincent for
giving you so much notice.
:
: You see, I do care about how this gets done because I know that will be very
Summeries for each story is a good idea, however thier are some
problems. On ASC, Matt Steenberg began such a project last December.
However the Archive had a 5 year head start, and some authors are rather
prolific. With several volenteers he began indexing them all. As of
March he had 25 percent. I'm told that he now has about 80%, but
unfortunately his company just sent him home from Belguim and we haven't
heard from him since June.
In any case, we do have a ready format for you:
<font size=3>
<i> Title </i> by Author (aut...@server.name) <br>
[Rating] Romance Codes <br>
Summery 2-4 lines <br>
<br>
:>>To further cut down on Stef's workload (and her server space), somebody else
:>>could take over the web pages and we'd just store the fanfics on Stef's
:>>server, but that's up to Stef and who'd ever want the job of running the web
:>>pages.
This has been tryed on ASC, but due to the aforemention company
movement, it didn't work out the best.
: >
: > Well, since the FAQ is on my page, I =could= conceivably, put up a
: > page full of Archive links: Click here to go to Alpha-by-Author A-F,
: > here for Alpha-by-Author G-L, etc., or whatever. I could also include
: > links to the themed pages. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to
: > devote to maintaining an archive like that, but since I do the FAQ,
: > that would be one logical place to put the main Archive page.
Links are Good, and easy to maintain. If someone moves, someone will
let you know. I do this myself (to each series in the archive)
:
: > >Now this should take care of the job of replacing Gossamer as it is --
: > >now we have to figure out how to replace the purpose of Gossamer, that is
: > >archiving fanfic coming thru the pipe now and in the future. Again, more
: > >humble opinion here....
: >
: > Again, if each volunteer had a small chunk to be responsible for,
: > it'd be more manageable.
:
: Like I said in my previous post, I really do not think so. First off, we
: need to find enough people with the server space to hold it. Gossamer is
: 170 megs. If we even it out to 200 megs to cover future growth (and that
: is only very near future), we'd need 40 people with 5 megs of space. 40
: people is a huge amount of people to organize in such an effort.
Well, it is less than having every author maintain a page.
:
: > >If you folks don't agree on this, then speak up and let's change the plan
: > >to something that works. All I ask is that we make a plan first. So
: > >before anyone starts actually doing ANYTHING, let's decide on what we're
: > >gonna do first.
: > >
: > >BTW I know I sound bossy, I know I am probably overstepping my bounds --
: > >tough. Somebody better do so or we'll have a bunch of people going off
: > >duplicating work that would be better if they got together and worked as
: > >a team. I think you can agree with that -- if not, I'd love to hear your
: > >argument.
: >
: > No, you don't sound =too= bossy, Gil. <G> You are very right that we
: > need to be organized, but in the meantime, if Stef wants to transfer
: > all that stuff so it'll be safely stored =somewhere=, she should. The
: > point is not to lose anything. As long as we know it's safe, we can
: > continue to kick these ideas around until we get a workable plan.
:
: We're not going to lose anything. As we speak people on fictalk are
: working to download the zipped file of the archive Vincent has made
: available, and I know a number of others that have been downloading for
: awhile and have the archive already stored away someplace. So it is safe.
: What we need now is way to put it up on the web(and/or ftp), and we've got
: till October to do that.
Better hurry ... Alara is still missing some stuff from ksu (of coarse
she could have lost it when we moved from healer to gdw to token ...
Maintainers on ASC get little rest)
:
: Kathleen Lietz prioritzed the archive plans this way on the fictalk list...
:
Excellent list ... I may need to send Alara this.
:>Plan A : Find a server which can accomodate the Archives "as is" but without
:>cost.
:
: We've already got this in Stef and now just need a US mirror site.
:
:>Plan B : Break up the archive onto free space on different servers (as
:>offered by several people) with one front end page to drive it. This is
:>another no-cost idea.
:
: Possible but problematic, and basically unnecessary if we can get Stef's
: archive and the mirror site to work.
:
:>Plan C : Organize some method to pay for space. Risky considering potential
:>problems. Use this as a last resort.
:
Stephen Ratliff, ASC FAQ Maintainer who's been though this before.
Moral support provided, free of charge.
--
Stephen Ratliff CS Major, Radford University.
srat...@runet.edu Marrissa Stories Author
homepage: http://www.cs.runet.edu/~sratliff/
Maintainer for the FAQs on alt.startrek.creative
"Wait until you have four pips on that collar, you'll wish you'd gone
into botany"
- Captain Benjiman Sisko, DS9 "Rules of Engagement"
The SUe
>Inclusion--yes! Classification--yes. Summaries--maybe.
>I think 'summary' may be too big a word. This should just be a
>suggestion of the content, not a digest of the story.
Hey, Audrey, how about "TV GUIDE-like blurb?" :)
SUe
*********************************************
The SUe
s...@snip.net
http://www.snip.net/users/sue/home.htm
*********************************************
See my home page for the a.t.x.c FAQ!
(Also available by email request; put
"a.t.x.c FAQ Request" in the subject header)
*********************************************
Robert A. DeLisle
The SUe (s...@snip.net) wrote:
: >Inclusion--yes! Classification--yes. Summaries--maybe.
: >I think 'summary' may be too big a word. This should just be a
: >suggestion of the content, not a digest of the story.
: Hey, Audrey, how about "TV GUIDE-like blurb?" :)
Right on! Well, like the little ones, not the special inserts.
Maybe we should suggest a template like how to write an episode?
Stephen Ratliff
The SUe (s...@snip.net) wrote:
: >Inclusion--yes! Classification--yes. Summaries--maybe.
: >I think 'summary' may be too big a word. This should just be a
: >suggestion of the content, not a digest of the story.
:
: Hey, Audrey, how about "TV GUIDE-like blurb?" :)
: SUe
:
Excellent phrasing, can I barrow it for the ASC FAQ?
One warning about summaries ... they take time. Your archieve is 78 MBs
bigger than ASC's. After 8 months we still haven't finished them all.
(Of course that could be because our Index Maintainer has been out of
touch since June.)
Stephen Ratliff, alt.startrek.creative FAQ Maintainer.
--
Stephen Ratliff CS Major, Radford University.
srat...@runet.edu Marrissa Stories Author
homepage: http://www.cs.runet.edu/~sratliff/
Maintainer for the FAQs on alt.startrek.creative
"... You know, low risk watch, not much chance of trouble."
"You mean the kind of watch that Kid's Crew Captains turn into great
adventures."
- LCD Marrissa Picard and Lt. Jay Gordon
"Premier Marqui" by Stephen Ratliff
ke...@ro.com
srat...@runet.edu (Stephen Ratliff) wrote:
That is a good point, and very true. We are not writing summaries for
the authors, though. Volunteers are working to classify and make sure
that each story has a G, PG, R, NC-17 rating, but that is all that we
are doing. Summaries would have to come from the authors themselves.
Pamela and I set up the catagories to be very broad and require as
little personal opinion as possible. We tested them with several
volunteers to make sure that we would get similar results from
different readers for the same story.
I think our goal is realistic, though i admit that it will take time!
;-)
>
> One warning about summaries ... they take time. Your archieve is 78 MBs
> bigger than ASC's. After 8 months we still haven't finished them all.
> (Of course that could be because our Index Maintainer has been out of
> touch since June.)
>
> Stephen Ratliff, alt.startrek.creative FAQ Maintainer.
>
> --
> Stephen Ratliff CS Major, Radford University.
> srat...@runet.edu Marrissa Stories Author
> homepage: http://www.cs.runet.edu/~sratliff/
> Maintainer for the FAQs on alt.startrek.creative
>
> "... You know, low risk watch, not much chance of trouble."
> "You mean the kind of watch that Kid's Crew Captains turn into great
> adventures."
> - LCD Marrissa Picard and Lt. Jay Gordon
> "Premier Marqui" by Stephen Ratliff
Kelsy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Gossamer Project
X-Files Fanfiction Summaries
http://sh1.ro.com/~kelsy/index.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nina & Akiva Smith
In <4vdjr4$e...@newslink.runet.edu> srat...@runet.edu (Stephen Ratliff)
writes:
>The SUe (s...@snip.net) wrote:
>: >Inclusion--yes! Classification--yes. Summaries--maybe.
>: >I think 'summary' may be too big a word. This should just be a
>: >suggestion of the content, not a digest of the story.
>:
>: Hey, Audrey, how about "TV GUIDE-like blurb?" :)
>:
>: SUe
>:
>Excellent phrasing, can I barrow it for the ASC FAQ?
>
instead of using the term "summaries," we call them "teasers."
nina