::: Area #48 (Science Fiction.. [General])
Message: #13496 (Read 9 times, has 0 replies, 5384 bytes)
Date   : Thu Oct  2 21:08:43 1997
From   : Graham Marsden of fidonet#2:251/21
To     : All
Subject: Rules, ok!

             RULES FOR THE FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION ECHO
             ==============================================

The F&SF.UK echo is dedicated to the discussion of Fantasy and Science
Fiction. This is a very broad topic area which can cover books, films,
television, comics and radio series. All of these are acceptable for
discussion in here (however see rule 6).

Discussion of Horror is also On Topic, however it is recommended that is
has some reasonable connection to the Science Fiction or Fantasy genres.

These rules are intended as guidelines for acceptable behaviour in this
echo. Please be courteous and considerate to other echo users by adhering
to them as far as possible. Leeway will generally be granted in the case
of small infringements, however please do not abuse this latitude
otherwise I will be obliged to step in.

The Rules
=========

1. Normal Fidonet policy rules apply to messages posted in here, ie no
flaming or insults, no SHOUTING, no ads for bulletin boards or commercial
advertisements (but see rule 10) no swearing (this includes "concealed"
swear words eg cr@p) and no High Ascii characters (they can cause problems
with other peoples' software).

2. Please don't have long message intros which are used repeatedly eg "It
was a dark and stormy Wednesday 8th of September when Investigator John
Smith talked to his faithful sidekick Joe Bloggs about Message Intros".
All this information is in the message header and after reading one of
these half a dozen times it ceases to be amusing. If you wish to use
these, please change them regularly.

2.1 Any "generic" intros *must* correctly identify the sex of the
participants named!

3. Please try to avoid the use of constructed signatures or pictures. As
with long intros they simply increase the ratio of "noise" to "signal"
without contributing to the message content. Also please don't include
massive lists of "Othernet" addresses. Sign offs should be limited to
three or four lines at most as a courtesy to other users (and their phone
bills!)

4. Please don't include excessively long "quoted" taglines. Seeing the
same six lines of quote from the X-Files or TNG or Red Dwarf over and over
again gets tiresome, especially when they are appended to a one line
reply.

5. Please try to keep quoting down to a reasonable level. Don't repost an
entire message simply to add "agreed" at the bottom. If you reply to a
message, try to trim the quoted material down to the relevant parts which
you wish to comment on. Excessive quoting drives up phone bills and may
cause readers to simply skip the message entirely.

6. Discussions of programmes such as Babylon 5, The X-Files, Star Trek etc
are acceptable in *general* terms, for instance comments about the
changing style of SF series. If you wish to discuss specific programme
*content* then please take these discussions to the echoes dedicated to
these (and any other such) series as a courtesy to those who have set up
these echoes.

7. Reviews of material that is on topic may be posted as long as they are
reasonably short. Also, as a courtesy to other echo users, please ensure
that any "spoilers", ie information that would spoil the plot, are clearly
marked (preferably by leaving a blank page with a warning at the top)

8. Original short stories may be posted as long as they are of a
reasonable length and comply with the echo rules. Remember that some
mailing systems will truncate excessively long messages, so it may be
advisable to split a story into sections.

8.1 Any fiction or similar works posted in the echo remain the copyright
of the author and may not be duplicated, re-published or otherwise
distributed without permission of the copyright holder.

8.2 No copyright material may be posted in the echo without the permission
of the copyright holder.

9. Please leave Moderating to the Moderator. Any serious Moderation will
be done via Netmail where possible. (This doesn't include small "in echo"
pointers of slight infringements of the rules). If abuse of the rules
persists the perpetrator will be publicly warned and if they do not desist
they will receive a final warning and then will be banned from posting in
the echo.

If you have a complaint about the style or content of any participant in
the echo I would be grateful if you would netmail *me* about it, rather
than take it upon yourself to do my job for me. As mentioned, I am willing
to allow a fair bit of leeway, however I will *listen* to any comments
from echo users and act if it seems necessary.

10. Personal advertisements are permitted provided that a) they are for
Fantasy or SF related material which is On Topic for this echo (ie no RPGs
or Magic Cards) and b) all replies and deals are done by Netmail.

11. This echo is not to be gated to any other system without the
permission of the Moderator.

12. Rules will be posted in the first week of every month (unless I
forget!)

Cheers,
Graham Marsden.

graham.marsden@metricom.seuk.co.uk
Updated March 1997

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