Usenet 1994 October/usenetsourcesnewsgroupsinfomagicoctober1994disk1.iso/answers/tv/soaps/faq

Internet Message Format | 1994-09-17 | 41KB

Path: bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
From: [e-mail] (MargAret D Gibbs)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv.soaps,rec.answers,news.answers
Subject: ALL: rec.arts.tv.soaps Monthly FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Supersedes: <tv/soaps/[e-mail]>
Followup-To: rec.arts.tv.soaps
Date: 17 Sep 1994 12:03:51 GMT
Organization: M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory
Lines: 882
Approved: [e-mail]
Distribution: world
Expires: 30 Oct 1994 12:03:01 GMT
Message-ID: <tv/soaps/[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: bloom-picayune.mit.edu
Summary: Frequently Asked Questions list for rec.arts.tv.soaps
Keywords: frequently asked questions faq
X-Last-Updated: 1994/09/16
Originator: [e-mail]
Xref: bloom-beacon.mit.edu rec.arts.tv.soaps:131282 rec.answers:7371 news.answers:25844



Archive-name: tv/soaps/faq

Last changed - 1994/09/15
Changes since last posting - small modification to section 18
                           - added FAWC, FSC, and FYRC to special
                 abbreviation section
                           - added PS to killfile section
                           - added B&B & Y&R to mailing list section
               - changed how to subscribe to MODELS list

                     This FAQ is formatted as a digest.
                Most news readers can skip from one question
                     to the next by pressing control-G.


Following is a list of helpful hints and posting information. All
new readers of rec.arts.tv.soaps are encouraged to read this.  If you
are already familiar with these subjects, just hit "n" to go to the
next article. These instructions will be posted once per month.
They are also available through anonymous ftp from rtfm.mit.edu
under /pub/usenet/news.answers/tv/soaps/faq, or send email to
[e-mail] with "send usenet/news.answers/tv/soaps/faq"
in the body of the message.  Send comments, corrections, additions to me,
questions to the newsgroup (I don't know everything and can't answer
everything). THANKS.


These instructions/questions are broken up into the following sections:
1.  The Subject Line
2.  Special Abbreviations
3.  KILL Files
4.  readnews Information
5.  vn Information
6.  vnews Information
7.  ANU news Information
8.  netnews Information
9.  Cleveland Freenet Information
10. How to post via email
11. Signature files
12. Spoiler protection (Ctrl-L usage)
13. How can you get the text of previous posts into your own post?
14. Retrieving lost articles/replies
15. What does [acronym] stand for?
16. Where's such-and-such an update?
17. Why don't we split up this newsgroup?
18. Do the soap writers/actors read rec.arts.tv.soaps?
19. Is there an ftp archive for rec.arts.tv.soaps from which I can
    retrieve past posts?
20. Soap mailing lists
21. Pointers to more information for new posters (and old!)

First major hint - if you use rn to read your news, type h for help.
Read the instructions. They really do help.

Second major hint - There are a lot of different ways of reading and
responding to news, and tons of different editors.  For operating
details, ask the sys or news admin at your own site for the best
source of accurate information.

Subject: 1.  The Subject Line:
         (this applies to everyone who posts in this group)

Whenever you post about a specific soap, please put the standard
soap abbreviation in the beginning of the subject line.  Be sure that if
you are replying to another post, you check the subject line. If the
original poster has inadvertently omitted the abbreviation - add it!

The complete list of soap abbreviations can be found in Melissa Wauford's
posting *** REC.ARTS.TV.SOAPS POSTING GUIDELINES ***.  If it is no
longer available on your system, you can retrieve it from the archives
by sending mail to [e-mail] with
"send usenet/news.answers/tv/soaps/abbrevs" in the body of the message.

If you have a general comment (not specific to one soap, like the soap
opera awards or the soap opera magazine) you can just indicate the
subject in the subject line (or use "ALL", "ABC", etc. in the subject line).

If you reply to a post which is a general comment, don't change the subject
line for no reason. For example:

some one posts:
Subject: ALL: Soap Opera Digest - comments

...and some one will reply:
Subject: ALL: More Comments on Soap Opera Digest

Don't do this!

The reason for all these rules has to do with the way the KILL file works.
(Sorry! I only know how to do this if you use rn to read your news.)

In the rn news program, you can set up a KILL file to automatically
delete articles of a given Subject. The KILL file is explained in
section 3 below.


Subject: 2.  Special Abbreviations - to be used after the soap
             abbreviation in the Subject line.

AMC: SPOILER
The AMC group has adopted this abbreviation to indicate that the
article contains spoilers that may have been obtained from the soap
magazines or elsewhere. Make sure you use this if you reply to articles
with spoilers, or if you mention spoilers you have heard on the net!

[Soap-Abbreviation]: TAN
Many of the soap subgroups have adopted the TAN abbreviation (short for
TANgent) to indicate that the article contains personal comments, not
necessarily related to the soap. This way if you are not interested in
hearing about how many cats a person has, etc., you can put this subject
in your kill file (explained below).

[Soap-Abbreviation]: [FAC, FAWC, FOC, FGC, FDOC, FSC, or FYRC]
Several of the soap subgroups have recently adopted the above
abbreviations to denote when they are talking "in character".  For
example, if a poster is "FAC Dixie" (Favorite AMC Character Dixie),
and they want to post as if they really _were_ Dixie, they would use
the abbreviation "AMC: FAC" in the subject line.  FOC = Favorite OLTL
Character; FGC = Favorite General Hospital Character; FDOC = Favorite
DOOL Character; FAWC = Favorite Another World Character; FSC =
Favorite Sisters Character; FYRC = Favorite Young & Restless
Character.  F*C originated from rec.arts.disney's FDC (Future Disney
Cabinet), and was introduced on r.a.t.s. by Ashley Lambert-Maberly.


Subject: 3.  KILL Files: - for rn and trn users

The easiest way to start a KILL file is, whenever you see an article that
you aren't interested in, to type

[Shift] K

The subject will then automatically go into a local KILL file. If the KILL file
doesn't already exist, one will be created. Then any time an article with
that subject comes up, it will automatically be deleted.

Here is a complete KILL file: WARNING!! This will delete all soaps!
You will want to make sure you DON'T include the abbreviations for the
soaps that you want to see articles about.

NOTE - the description in () should NOT be included in the KILL file. It
is only for your reference.


/: *30/:j    (Thirty Something)
/alt.flame/h:j    (in response to a rash of posts that came from alt.flame)
/: *AMC/:j    (All My Children)
/: *ATWT/:j    (As the World Turns)
/: *AW/:j    (Another World)
/: *B&B/:j    (Bold and Beautiful)
/: *BB/:j    (sometimes used for Bold and Beautiful)
/: *B & B/:j    (sometimes used for Bold and Beautiful)
/: *BH/:j    (Beverly Hills 90210)
/: *COR/:j    (Coronation Street)
/: *DAL/:j    (Dallas)
/: *Dark/:j    (Dark Shadows)
/: *DOOL/:j    (Days of Our Lives)
/: *DAYS/:j    (sometimes used for Days of Our Lives)
/: *EE/:j    (East Enders)
/: *GEN/:j    (Generations)
/: *GH/:j    (General Hospital)
/: *GL/:j    (Guiding Light)
/: *HDR/:j    (used for orphan posts which need the proper soap abb. added)
/: *HF/:j    (Home Front)
/: *KL/:j    (Knots Landing)
/: *LA/:j    (LA Law)
/: *LGO/:j    (Life Goes On)
/: *LOV/:j    (Loving)
/: *LUV/:j    (sometimes used for Loving)
/: *MP/:j    (Melrose Place)
/: *OLTL/:j    (One Life to Live)
/: *PF/:j    (Picket Fences)
/: *RW3/:j    (Real World - 3rd iteration)
/: *SANDS/:j    (Shifting Sands - the net.soap.)
/: *SB/:j    (Santa Barbara - now cancelled)
/: *SC/c:j    (Swan's Crossing or Second Chances)
/: *SIS/c:j    (Sisters)
/: *SOAP/:j    (Soap)
/: *Y&R/:j    (Young and Restless)
/: *Y & R/:j    (sometimes used for Young and Restless)

You can edit the KILL file by typing:

[Ctrl] k

while you are in the news.

If the file gets too big it will take too long to go through. You will
want to keep only the first word in the KILL file. For example, if an
article with  the Subject "GH - Tuesday's Update" appears and you are
not interested in General Hospital, type [Shift] K, and:

/: *GH - Tuesday's Update/:j

will be put in the KILL file. Then type [Ctrl] k, and edit the file to say:

/: *GH/:j

Then all the General Hospital articles will be deleted the next time you
read news.

Some people have told me that they need to put a back-slash (\) in
front of characters "&" and "." in their kill files to get them to
work properly.  Your mileage may vary.

To learn more about KILL files, send email to [e-mail]
with "send usenet/news.answers/killfile-faq" in the body of the message.


Subject: 4.  readnews Information

On my particular system, I have both "rn" and "readnews" available. You might
want it see if you have "rn" available. I like "rn" much better; I will
explain why in the following paragraphs.

To find out what is available, look at the man pages.
Type: "man readnews" and "man rn"
This will also give you a lot of interesting information.

If "rn" is not available, or if you like "readnews" better, there is a
function that is similar to the KILL file in "readnews". Instead of KILLing
articles of a given subject, you read only articles with a given subject(s).

For example, on my system, if you read All My Children, One Life to Live, and
Generations, type:

readnews -t OLTL AMC GEN

Rita sent email to me (thanks Rita) indicating that her system works
slightly differently from mine. She would have to type:

readnews -n rec.arts.tv.soaps -t OLTL AMC GEN

This way you would not have to go through all the articles about the other
soaps.

The only problem is, if someone doesn't use the standard soap abbreviation,
or if there is a different subject, like "Soap Opera Digest Awards" then
you would miss the article. That's why I like "rn" better.

In "rn", I KILL all the standard soap abbreviations except for those I read
(AMC and GEN). That way, I get everything except the other soaps, instead of
only my soaps.

Try reading the man page and experimenting. If you figure anything else out,
let me know, and I will share the info with everyone else when I post the
"FAQ" info each month.

[The above section was probably written by Sandra Macika.  If you positively
know who wrote it, please email me:  [e-mail].  Rita Prisco
([e-mail]) also contributed to the above section.]


Subject: 5.  vn Information

Hi, I am Dorothy.  I thought I was the only person who was using VN instead
of RN.  Nothing anybody ever said on the NET about using RN made any sense
to me because VN is -different- -- KILL FILES meant nothing to me, at least
how to get them to work.  So I read through the pitifully inadequate DOC
that came with the VISUAL NEWS READER (2/1/85) to see if I could find
something that would make reading the news easier and more fun and most of
all FASTER.  I found the "marker method" which took a long time to figure
out, but I use it all the time now and it has made VN a pleasure instead
of a pain.  I will try to describe it so will make sense to you.  It isn't
easy putting things like this into words.

Say you are in rec.arts.tv.soaps with your cursor at the beginning article.
If you are like me, you only care about two or three soaps -- mine are AMC,
OLTL, and GH.  I also like to read through the misc. ramblings -- they are
fun, too.  Use the small j to run through the group of articles.  When you
come to one you want to read, hit the small x.  This will put a * beside the
article.  Keep doing this until you have everything you want to read marked
with the *.  Next step is to press [Ctrl] r -- the program will prompt you
with words like string to search?  Type in an * and hit Return.  Your VN
reader will only present you with the articles you have selected, one by one
in order.  If you make a boo-boo and mark the wrong article simply hit small
x again and it will unmark it.  A capital X will unmark all articles.  I
suppose you know this already but if you do a small k, it will move the cursor
backwards to an article you may have missed marking the first time.  You do
*not* have to unmark to update the entire page.  It took me awhile to "get
into the rhythm" of the process, but it is second nature now and gets me
through the reading in a fraction of time it used to take.  I hope this works
for you as well.  I am sure as hell no computer programmer so I didn't
understand KILL files or any of that stuff, but this works just great for me.

Don't hesitate to E-mail me back.  I am sure no expert, but if I can help at
all, I would be glad to hear from you.

                                         Dorothy
                       |```````````````````````````|
                       |       Dorothy (Dot)       |
                       | [e-mail] |
                       `````````````````````````````


Subject: 6.  vnews Information

Hi.  Are you using VNEWS?  If so, this is what you have to do to filter
out soaps in which you aren't interested.  (I find it easiest to do a "d"
first, and get the directory of the whole group.  It makes the rest of it
run faster.)

At the command prompt, type: k/whatever subject you do not want to read.
It must be a lower case k. (Another r.a.t.s.-er has noted that you can
use an upper case K if you want to "KILL" a subject permanently.)

Do this for each soap in which you are not interested.  For me, that means
I do:

k/amc <CR>   (where <CR> means I hit the return key.  NOT THE
ENTER KEY)
k/y&r <CR>
k/oltl, etc., etc.

[e-mail] (E Grace Noonan)


Subject: 7.  ANU news Information

Here's information on the killfile for ANU News on the VAX/VMS system:

To see what subjects/threads are already in your killfile, type SHOW KILL.

To kill a subject thread, type KILL.  It will prompt you for a newsgroup;
hit return.  It will add that subject to your killfile in a manner that
looks like this:  (using "Pure Soap: Did you see it?" as an example)

    TAG: 1
    rec.arts.tv.soaps S:*Pure Soap: Did you see it?

The * means that any post with those words and ANYTHING before it will be
killed; that is how it gets rid of all of the RE: reply posts.  To make
it so you can kill ALL "Pure Soap" articles, you would type MODIFY KILL 1
(or if the TAG is number 6, you would use MODIFY KILL 6).  It then prompts
you to edit the kill:

    newsgroup: rec.arts.tv.soaps (hit return)
    Subject: *Pure Soap: Did you see it? (you edit this part)

What you do here is use delete or backspace to erase the line until it just
lists Pure Soap, then you add another * at the end, to kill ANY post relating
to Pure Soap: (To kill the subject header for all messages for one soap,
the kill filter will have to be edited down to *soapabbreviation*.)

    Subject: *Pure Soap* (now when it looks like that you hit return)

It will also prompt for Header and From, but you won't really need those...

To effectively kill all of the articles tagged, you then type
READ/NEW/FOLLOWUP (or READ/NEW - tho sometimes this won't work for
filtering - I don't know why) when you want to read your messages.  You
still will have the messages available on your account, but using
READ/NEW/FOLLOWUP will skip them and list them as having been read.
Try NumKey "0" for READ/NEW and NumKey "." for READ/NEW/FOLLOWUP
Got it?  :)

If you decide you want to read the Pure Soap articles again, just type CLEAR
KILL 1 (or 6 or 37 or whatever) and when you READ/NEW/FOLLOWUP it will once
again read those articles for you.  A separate kill tag must be set up for
each soap/subject that you want to kill.

For information on how to quote text, see section 13 in this FAQ.

Good luck!
Send help inquiries to Kate at [e-mail]


Subject: 8.  netnews Information

Hello!  I've been a lurker and occasional poster on RATS for a few
months now.  I've read the FAQ's and found some of the info quite
helpful (I now know what A&Dw/SOM means!)  However, I use netnews
to read RATS and, as far as I know, I can't use a Kill file.  I
can create something called an ignore file, but this just excludes
posts from certain people, not posts about certain subjects.  What
does help is a function key called "SortSubj".  (It's F14 on my
keyboard.)  This sorts all the articles by subject and makes
it a lot easier to find the articles I want to read (mostly AMC, and
the ALL, ABC, etc. articles.)

Also on netnews I can search for articles I want to read by typing
a slash followed by a word that might appear in the subject heading
of articles that I would want to read, for example: /AMC.

I'm not sure if everyone using netnews is offered these features.  I
would suggest checking the help screens to find out if you do have
the "SortSubj." function.  I'm no expert, but if anyone has any
questions, I'd gladly help out.

[e-mail] (Diana Kiel)


Subject: 9.  Cleveland Freenet information

This is information gathered from some of the Cleveland Freenet users,
who do not have killfiles.  If you're on a different Freenet, these
hints may or may not work for you. For information on how to quote text,
see section 13 in this FAQ.

There is a "File Kill" area at the top of Usenet News (where you
chose Usenet News (read)), but that only kills messages from a
person's ID that you don't wish to read, not a subject.  However,
after reading a post, at the prompt you can type "k" and it will
put "R" in front of all older posts that you're not interested in,
marking them as read.  You can pull up headers and choose what you
want to read.  "-" goes to the previous screen, and "+" pulls up
the next screen.

Here's an example of how to read the posts for one soap (GH):
Find the first GH post, type in the number, and read it.  Then you
can either answer it or hit "s" (search) to read all articles in
the same thread. When you're told that there aren't any related
posts left, hit "k" to kill all the GH posts you read plus all
posts older than that.  No other KILL works. Then you must hit
either the next number or "+" to go to the next page.

If you have been reading all of the posts in a thread, and are
tired of reading that thread and don't want to read any more
postings for the same thread, press "z" (for "zap#.)  This will
mark all of the rest of the postings in this thread as having
been read, and will return you to the first posting of the thread.
(Word of warning!!!  this can cause the access to usenet to abort
in Youngstown Freenet, but it works fine in Cleveland Freenet)

Here's another method someone on the Cleveland Freenet uses:
If you type in a slash key, that is the command for search.  You
will be prompted for a search string, and then you will be able to
read a post matching that string.  From then on in, you type
<slash> <return>, then <return> again (the search string you put
in before stays as current search string).  SO if you want to read
AMC posts, you would type "/ <CR>"  then "AMC <CR>".  Then read
the post, or type "/ <CR> <CR>" to go to the next one.  Then when
you are done you can type z to zap up to the current post as read.

(Thanks to Dan Galvin, Beverly Harris, Rick Kitchen, and Brenda
Matlin)


Subject: 10.  How to post via email:

Usenet News MailServers exist at cs.utexas.edu and decwrl.dec.com.
These servers allow you to post to a Usenet newsgroup via email, and
can be useful if you have read-only access to Usenet news. To use
them, mail your post to [e-mail];
or to [e-mail].

Please do not use these services if you have other posting access to
the Usenet, and please remember to put the Soap Abbreviation in your
subject line.


Subject: 11.  Signature files

How do I get the news software to include a signature with my postings?
[from Gene Spafford's postings in news.announce.newusers with info on
Waffle systems from Steve Harding]

This is a question that is best answered by examining the documentation
for the software you're using, as the answer varies depending on the software.

However, if you're reading news on a Unix machine, then you can probably
get a signature to appear on your outgoing messages by creating a file
called ".signature" in your home directory.  Two important things to
remember are:

     a. Many article-posting programs will restrict the length of the
        signature.  For example, the "inews" program will often only
        include the first four lines.  This is not something you
        should be trying to find a way to defeat; it is there for
        a reason.  If your signature is too long, according to the
        software, then shorten it.

     b. Under some news configurations, your .signature file must be
        world-readable, and your home directory world-executable, for
        your signature to be included correctly in your articles.  If
        your .signature does not get included, try running these
        commands:
           chmod a+x $HOME
           chmod a+r $HOME/.signature

If you are posting from a MS-DOS machine running Waffle, create a file
called "newssig" in your home directory.  Leave FEEDBACK to your sysop
if you have problems.

Signatures are nice, but don't overdo it.  Signatures can tell the world
something about you, but keep them short.  A signature that is longer
than the message itself is considered to be in bad taste.  The main
purpose of a signature is to help people locate you, not to tell your
life story.  Every signature should include at least your return
address relative to a major, known site on the network and a proper
domain-format address.   Your system administrator can give this
information to you.


Subject: 12.  Spoiler protection:  How to use a Ctrl-L

Sometimes people get advance notice of what's going to happen on a soap.
Some people like reading these spoilers; others would rather be surprised.
If you're going to post a spoiler, it's a good idea to protect the
information with a Ctrl-L, as well as by putting "spoiler" in the
subject line.  The Ctrl-L will allow some newsreaders to stop displaying
text in the post, until the reader intervenes.

Be sure to use the Ctrl-L as the FIRST character on a line, otherwise
it can't do its job.  Likewise, if you're following up to a post with a
Ctrl-L, remember to REMOVE any previous characters on the line which your
news software inserts.

If your editor is emacs or uemacs, you type first Ctrl-Q and then the
control character you want to appear. (So for Ctrl-L the entire sequence
would be Ctrl-Q Ctrl-L). (By Ctrl-Q I mean hold down the control key and
press q at the same time, then release both)

If you use vi, you have to be in insert mode (where you can type directly
into the file rather than move around) and then you can just press Ctrl-L.
Some users of vi have noted that they have to type Ctrl-V before they
type Ctrl-L.
(thanks to Ellen Sasse: [e-mail])


Subject: 13. How can you get the text of previous posts into your own post?

All newsreaders are different, but if you use "rn" or "trn",
type a capital "F" to follow-up to a post with quoting turned on.
Then edit the file to add your responses.  (Anyone know if other
newsreaders handle follow-ups this way?)  Tin uses a small "f" for
follow-ups; this also duplicates the text of the post being
followed-up.

If you're using ANU news, answer/extract/edit is the command to use
(or reply/extract/edit if you want to just reply to the poster rather
than posting yourself).

On the Youngstown & Cleveland Freenet, choose an editor, like Chet's
editor or vi, before you go into Usenet News.  You choose an editor
by simply typing "go edit", which gives you a menu of the editors
available.  Then, when reading a post, if you want to followup,
type "q" to quit the post, then "f" to followup.  This automatically
throws you into vi (for example), with all of the old post set with
">"s on the leftmost margin.  You then have to edit out those
portions you don't want to reply to, and use the vi commands to
insert text at the points where you do want to reply.

When quoting from previous posts, please remember to edit out
everything from the quoted article - including the quoted person's
signature - except the points you're replying to.  It's nice to
see a *little* of a previous article for a reminder, but many of
us have already read the whole thing before, and don't need to read
it all over again.  It can be extremely annoying to see a page or
more of quoted text, and then only two original lines at the end
of the article.  If you don't know how to use your editor, ask
someone at your site.

(Thanks to Bonniev Sculler, Rick Kitchen, Lynelle Foulk, and
Paul Halley)


Subject: 14. Retrieving lost articles/replies

Have you ever typed a long summary or reply and somehow blew it (hit the
wrong key, system went down, aborted accidentally, etc)?  There is a way
to retrieve your file!  Look in any one of the following files - located
in your home directory (if you are on a Unix machine):

dead.letter
dead.article
.article
.letter

Note that the latter two files will not be seen if you do a regular "ls".
To see files the begin with a ".", you must type "ls -a".


Subject: 15. Acronyms commonly used by posters:

A&DwSOM:  Armed and Dangerous with Soap Opera Magazine
A,bnd,w/SOM:  Armed, but not Dangerous, with Soap Opera Magazine
BH: Butt-Head or Better Half
BTW: By The Way
CUL:  See You Later
FAQ:  Frequently Asked Question
FF: Fast Forward
FWIW:  For What It's Worth
FYI:  For Your Information
IDTS:  I Don't Think So
IMHO:  In My Humble (or Honest) Opinion
IMNSHO:  In My Not So Humble Opinion
IOAS: It's Only A Soap...
IOASOG: It's Only A Soap Opera Group
JTYLTK: Just thought you'd like to know
JTYMLTK: Just thought you might like to know
OTF:  On The Floor
OTFL:  On The Floor Laughing
RATS:  Rec.Arts.TV.Soaps
ROTFL:  Rolling On The Floor Laughing
RSN:  Real Soon Now
SO: Significant Other
SOD:  Soap Opera (Digest or Disease)
SORAS: Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome
TIIC:  The Idiots in Charge
TPTB:  The Powers That Be
TTFN:  Ta-Ta For Now
TTYL: Talk To You Later


Subject: 16. Where's such-and-such an update?
             (For soaps which have regular updaters, ie AMC)

Remember that the updaters are real people with real jobs and real school
work just like you.  Let's put it this way -- if someone works 8-5 and
watches a soap opera episode after work, it might be difficult for
them to have the update done by early the next morning.  Also, there
is often a bit of lag time between the time an article is posted
and when the article reaches your news site.  So *please* don't post
an article on Tuesday asking where Monday's update is... you might
upset the Monday updater enough that he or she will stop doing the
updates altogether!


Subject: 17. Why don't we split up this newsgroup?

Every couple of months (sometimes more often), someone brings up the idea
of splitting the rec.arts.tv.soaps (RATS) newsgroup into several smaller,
easier to read newsgroups -- you can be assured that the idea will be
brought up at the beginning of each and every school semester as new
people get access to RATS.  While this may seem like a very good idea, it
is quite impractical for a variety of reasons, including (but not limited
to) the following:

 a. Creating new newsgroups is very difficult and is a very long and drawn
    out process.  In order to create a new group, the proposal has to be
    discussed on news.groups and voted on and approved by the net-world
    at large -- that means everybody, not just us RATSers.  For a new
    group to be created it must receive at least 100 more "yes" votes than
    "no" votes *and* at least 2/3 of the votes must be "yes".  Please see
    the posts "How to Create a New Usenet Newsgroup" and "Usenet
    Newsgroup Creation Companion" on news.groups, news.announce.newusers,
    news.admin.misc, news.announce.newgroups or news.answers for a
    detailed discussion of the newsgroup creation process.  If the
    articles listed above do not appear in the above newsgroups at
    your site, you can get copies of them using email.  Simply send an
    email message to [e-mail] containing any or all of:

    send usenet/news.answers/creating-newsgroups/part1
    send usenet/news.answers/creating-newsgroups/helper


    "But what about all those mindless alt groups that show up every day?
    It can't possibly be that hard to create new groups."  We're not
    talking about creating alt groups.  Lots of sites don't carry the alt
    groups.  In order to make sure everyone on RATS continues to have
    access to their favorite newsgroup, the new groups *have* to be kept in
    the rec.arts.tv.soaps hierarchy.

 b. How to split the group?  People in RATS are quite divided on this
    issue.  Do we split by each soap?  Obviously there aren't enough people
    discussing some soaps for them to warrant their own group.  Do we split
    by network?  Some people watch soaps from more than one network so they
    don't want a split -- and what about posts that are meant for everyone?
    Where would they get posted?  Do we split by volume?  Different soaps
    generate varying amounts of conversation depending on what's happening
    in the show -- it's hard to anticipate where to make such a split.
    While we might come to some sort of agreement on the split, there will
    be several RATSers who are against that particular split so they'd vote
    "no" -- add those "no" votes to the votes of the people against the
    creation of any new groups and the people who don't think a discussion
    of soaps is warranted on USENET and the split just won't pass.

This issue has been discussed over and over and over and (you get the idea)
in RATS and the consensus is to just leave things the way they are.  If you
*really* think it's a good idea to split the group, please feel free to
try.  But please, don't just say, "hey, let's split RATS" and expect it to
magically happen.  Things simply don't work that way.  So, if you think you
might be up to the task of supervising a RATS split, we recommend that you
read news.groups for at least two weeks (and we mean read *every* article)
and then, if you decide you really want to go to the effort, go back and
read for two more weeks!  Note that in the "official" guidelines for new
group creation, it is recommended that you read news.groups for six
*months* before proposing a new group but we think two to four weeks ought
to be enough to convince most people that newsgroup creation is not for the
faint of heart.  In addition to the "every day" difficulties involved in
getting a new group created, we'd have the added "burden" of trying to
convince the net-world at large that soap operas are important enough to
even warrant the existence of RATS -- let alone the creation of several new
newsgroups.  Simply announcing the idea in news.groups would create an
incredible amount of "nasty" anti-soap talk which would be very unpleasant.

One last thing, check out the part of rec.arts.tv.soaps FAQ which explains
the use of kill files or other methods to weed out articles you are not
interested in.  We realize everyone doesn't have access to a kill file but
there's nothing we can do about that.  If you are such a person, you might
consider speaking with your system administrator about upgrading your news
reading software.

[Thanks to Joanna Castillo ([e-mail]) and
 Cindy Camp ([e-mail])]


Subject: 18. Do the soap writers/actors read rec.arts.tv.soaps?

Many readers of this newsgroup have wondered if the writers of their
soap opera(s) read r.a.t.s.  James Kiberd [Trevor Dillon] told an AMC
fan that the writers read both the UNIX and Prodigy newsgroups.  Robyn
Griggs (Maggie on AW), has access and has posted to r.a.t.s.

Bryce Jasmer, actor Brent Jasmer's (of B&B) brother, reads r.a.t.s
and has given Brent some of our comments.  Jim Acker (rats-er), wrote
to the writers and producers of B&B, explaining the internet and
r.a.t.s.  In return, he received a hand-written letter from Bradley
Bell, head writer of B&B and son of the legendary Bill Bell.  So he
knows we're out here, whether they read or not!

Jodi Bloodgood (an ex-r.a.t.s.-er)'s husband Jim is in Wally Kurth's band
(Ned, GH).  Another rats-er continues to print out posts & forward
them to Jodi & Jim to read or, if there is something interesting
written or comments made regarding the show (i,e, suggestions, praises,
complaints, etc.), sends them to Wally and/or Christian Taylor, Wally's
musical partner (Gene on GH) so they know the feelings of their audience.
The band is now on the show (including Jodi's husband, too, as the
character "Nick").  Neither Wally, nor the band has access to netnews,
but they are truly interested in everyone's feelings and opinions.
While they may not be active readers, they do get the message.

Jamie Howarth, who does music for OLTL, is a regular reader of r.a.t.s.
He told this to the OLTL followers in early January 1994 in a r.a.t.s.
post where he asked if anyone had any comments about the New Year's Eve
show because "we" worked hard on it.  This of course led ratsers to ask
if he was connected to the show, and he reluctantly revealed himself, as
he believes the r.a.t.s section is for the enjoyment of viewers, not
insiders.

If anyone else has proof that the writers (or actors!) of their soap
reads r.a.t.s., please email me ([e-mail]).


Subject: 19. Is there an ftp archive for rec.arts.tv.soaps from which
             I can retrieve past posts?

Not that I'm aware of.  Most news sites expire articles after a week or
two, and some even more quickly.  The only two posts which I *know*
are archived are the soaps-faq and the soaps-abbrevs, as mentioned
elsewhere in this FAQ.

However, since January 1992, the entire Usenet newsfeed has been made
available on CD-ROM, so you may be able to find what you want that way.
You can get more information on "NetNews on CD's" from CD Publishing
Corporation, 4824 Fraser Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada   V5V 4H4,
phone numbers: 604-874-1430, 800-333-7565 (USA), 604-874-1431 (FAX),
or email: [e-mail].  In the near future, their product
information will also be available via Gopher at
gopher.CDPublishing.com(TCP/70).  I contacted them in October of 1993,
and they said that for those who would like just a rec.arts.tv.soaps
archive CD, they could make custom one-off for them.

DISCLAIMER:  I have no association with CD Publishing Corporation, and
don't even have a CD-ROM player.


Subject: 20. Soap mailing lists

Is there a mailing list for my soap?

Some kind folks in r.a.t.s. keep mailing lists for people with flakey
or non-existent newsfeeds.  Many of these mailing lists do *not* have
anything in them which is not *also* on r.a.t.s., so if you have no
trouble getting r.a.t.s. posts, _please_ don't overburden the volunteer
mailing-list keepers.  Also be aware that some of these mailing lists
are very high-volume, so if you have little disk space, they could
easily overwhelm you.  Here are the mailing lists I know about, what
they include, and who to contact to get on the lists:

for AMC:  r.a.t.s. posts about AMC - 3 lists: a) all AMC posts;
    b) AMC updates only; c) all AMC posts *except* TANgentials;
    Margaret Gibbs <[e-mail]>
for ATWT:  r.a.t.s. posts about ATWT; Jeep Meranda <[e-mail]>
for AW:  r.a.t.s. posts about AW; Lisa Klobucar <[e-mail]>
for B&B: B&B updates posted in r.a.t.s.; Jim Acker
    <[e-mail]>
for B&B and Y&R: non-r.a.t.s. discussion;
        Contact: Don'[e-mail] (to subscribe,
        email's subject should be "SUBSCRIBE" (no quotes), and the
        body of the message should be "Subscribe <your email address>"
        (again, no quotes).  If you have trouble subscribing, contact
        the mailing list maintainer directly (Sherri Slotman -
        <[e-mail]>).
for BH:  non-r.a.t.s. discussion about "Beverly Hills, 90210";
        Contact: [e-mail] (Jim Lick)
for DOOL:  r.a.t.s. posts about DOOL; Liz Fox <[e-mail]>
for DS: non-r.a.t.s. discussion about Dark Shadows;
        Contact: [e-mail] (Bernie Roehl)
        Also: regular synopses of episodes currently on the Sci-Fi cable
    channel; Contact: [e-mail]
for GH: GH updates posted in r.a.t.s.; Nancy Spera <[e-mail]>
for GL: GL updates posted in r.a.t.s.; Cari D. Burstein
    <[e-mail]>
    (to submit updates, email [e-mail])
for GL: non-r.a.t.s. GL discussion: Cari D. Burstein
    <[e-mail]>
    (to submit articles, email [e-mail])
for LOV: LOV updates posted in r.a.t.s.; Cari D. Burstein
    <[e-mail]>
    (to submit updates, email [e-mail])
for MODEL:  non-r.a.t.s. weekly updates & newsletters about Models, Inc.
        Email [e-mail] with no subject line, and
        put in the body of the message (with nothing else)
                SUBSCRIBE models-inc
for MP:  non-r.a.t.s. discussion about Melrose Place
        Contact: [e-mail] (Jim Lick)
for Y&R:  non-r.a.t.s. Monday spoilers (her station shows Y&R a day
    ahead of most places); E. Michelle Dean <[e-mail]>
    (this mailing list is currently full - please don't send any
    more requests)
for Y&R and B&B: non-r.a.t.s. discussion;
        Contact: Don'[e-mail] (to subscribe,
        email's subject should be "SUBSCRIBE" (no quotes), and the
        body of the message should be "Subscribe <your email address>"
        (again, no quotes).  The mailing list maintainer is
        Sherri Slotman ([e-mail]).
for all soap opera summaries daily (it's all or nothing - you cannot
        get summaries for just one or two soaps!): contact Vince
        <[e-mail]>.  He requests that you don't use this
        service unless you have no other access for obtaining soap opera
        summaries online, and that if someone moves or cancels their
        accounts it would be a simple courtesy to ask to be dropped
        from the list.


Subject: 21. Pointers to more information for new posters (and old!)

There is a lot more useful information available on the usenet network
which is not contained in the scope of this FAQ.

The news.announce.newusers newsgroup contains explanatory postings for
new users.  Its purpose is to provide a base set of information with
which all participants in the USENET should be familiar in order to make
the USENET (and r.a.t.s.!) a better place for all of us.

If you have not already done so, you are strongly encouraged to read
these postings before posting any messages.  In particular, the following
postings in news.announce.newusers are especially useful for new users:
        A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
        Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
        Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
        Hints on writing style for Usenet
        Rules for posting to Usenet
        What is Usenet?

The articles in news.announce.newusers are posted in such a way that
each version should stay around at each site until the new version is
posted.  However, some sites are configured incorrectly so that this
does not occur.  If the articles listed above do not appear in the
news.announce.newusers newsgroup at your site, you can get copies of
them using email.  Simply send an email message to
[e-mail] containing any or all of:
send usenet/news.answers/usenet-primer/part1
send usenet/news.answers/usenet-faq/part1
send usenet/news.answers/emily-postnews/part1
send usenet/news.answers/usenet-writing-style/part1
send usenet/news.answers/posting-rules/part1
send usenet/news.answers/what-is-usenet/part1

Other good sources of information on the USENET network are the
newsgroups news.newusers.questions (be sure to read its weekly FAQ
before posting a question yourself), and news.software.readers
(for newsreader-specific questions).  Also, news.answers contains
most of the FAQ's posted to each newsgroup, including the soaps-faq
and soaps-abbrevs postings.  Happy hunting!

====
compilation copyright 1994, Margaret D. Gibbs.  Use and copying
of this information are permitted as long as (1) no fees or
compensation are charged for use, copies or access to this
information, and (2) this copyright notice is included intact.
====

--
Margaret D. Gibbs        "Practice random kindness and
Assistant Staff             senseless acts of beauty"
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
[e-mail]