About alt.tv.red-dwarf

The alt.tv.red-dwarf newsgroup is, as one might surmise, about the British TV space-set sit-com, Red Dwarf. Generally, we chit-chat about things dwarfy, and have a bit of a laugh. There aren't too many things that we generally frown upon, but your stay in alt.tv.red-dwarf will be all the more pleasant if you refrain from...

Asking frequently asked questions.
These are questions that have come up with such regularity or frequency that they have become exceedingly tiresome. All such questions are listed in the Red Dwarf FAQ, maintained by Pat Berry. If you have a question, please look in the FAQ first, because it may have already been answered.
Answering frequently asked questions.
This is something of a grey area, insofar as posters disagree on whether the asking of a FAQ should be rewarded with the answer, or punished with a telling-off. My own view is that such questions should not be rewarded, but that the questioner should be told to do their own leg-work and seek the answer in the FAQ, because rewarded the question reinforces the impression that it's OK to ask FAQs on the newsgroup. Other people prefer to answer the question. However, while you may give the answer sought, your action will be ill-regarded by some members of the newsgroup.
Posting encoded binaries to the newsgroup.
These are pictures, sounds etc. that have been encoded in such a way that they can be posted to newsgroups. Such posts are often large, or in mutiple parts, and are not received with gratitude by the majority of readers of discussion newsgroups. "Binaries" should only be posted to newsgroups which explicitly allow them. If a newsgroup is not obviously meant for binaries, it is best not to send them. Because newsgroups containing binaries can take up a lot of storage space, many news administrators refuse to carry those newsgroups. If you post binaries to alt.tv.red-dwarf, its propogation could suffer. Note that your ISP may well have an Acceptable Use Policy which forbids you from posting binaries to non-binary newsgroups. Demon Internet, for example, has such an AUP.
Requesting binaries to be sent to the newsgroup.
Please don't request that people post binaries to alt.tv.red-dwarf. Request that they are sent to you by email, by all means.
Posting mulipart MIME or HTML articles.
Many people use newsreaders which do not recognise multipart MIME, or HTML articles. Indeed, there is no requirement for them to do so, as MIME is intended for email, and Usenet is not the WWW. By all means include small amounts of HTML if you want to "activate" a URL for those that can use it, but please don't attach an entire HTML duplicate of your article.
Posting off-topic.
Again an area which causes disagreements, the definition of "off-topic" may differ depending on which member of the newsgroup you ask. The following are the recognised degrees of what is considered off-topic:
- Starting a new thread about a subject unrelated to Red Dwarf or the newsgroup in any way.
- Starting a new thread about a subject which is not really about Red Dwarf itself, but might be justified by some common ground, such as an actor who appears in Red Dwarf and some other show.
- Threads which start off being about Red Dwarf but drift onto other subjects.
While views differ regarding the degree of offence caused by the latter two items, the first offence -- that of starting a new thread which has nothing to do with Red Dwarf or the newsgroup -- is regarded as constituting an unwanted, off-topic article.
Over quoting.
When replying to an article, you should endeavour to include on as much quoted text as is required to set the context of your own reply. This mean, for example, that you do NOT quote a 50 line article, and add "me too" to the bottom.
Posting poorly-presented articles.
Remember that people will read your article on all sorts of machines, many of them bearing little resemblance to your own. While you may be using a 1024x728 pixel graphical display on a 17" monitor with a proportional font, people will be trying to read your article on a 80x24 character-based monitor with a mono-spaced font. For this reason, you should try not to let the number of characters on your lines exceed about 72. This allows scope for quoting. If you feel you have something worthwhile to say, you should try not to make it difficult for others to read your articles. Another presentation point that help keep your articles readable is that of including a blank line between quoted text and your own. It's just a case of pressing [Enter] before you start typing. Remember, not everyone has the benefit of colour-higlighting to assist in determining the new text from the quoted.
Posting with an large signature.
Please limit the number of lines in your .sig to around four or so. Some regulars of alt.tv.red-dwarf will pull you up if your .sig is considered to be an eyesore.
Posting tests.
alt.tv.red-dwarf is not a test group. There are a number of newsgroups which exist specifically for testing. alt.test, misc.test, demon.test are examples. Please don't post tests to alt.tv.red-dwarf. If you believe that you have a problem with this newsgroup specifically, post a follow-up to an existing article, or make an on-topic post, and see if that appears.
Asking if anyone wants any toast.
We absolutely do NOT want any smeggin' toast, and anyone asking if we do will the thouroughly beaten about the noggin with a lump hammer. Got that?