RAIF FAQ
> About the newsgroup
> 2.3: ...and what topics are not appropriate?
Please don't post questions about specific adventure game puzzles to
this newsgroup, as it was set up for discussion of interactive fiction
from the point of view of the *author*, not the *player*. Please post
these queries to the newsgroup rec.games.int-fiction, not here. Also,
it is usually considered impolite to post bug reports for games or other
software (including authoring systems) to either newsgroup. The
software's author/maintainer would no doubt welcome a private e-mail
though (and you usually get your name in the credits of the next
release). Bugs may be reported on the newsgroup(s) if it is a bug which
can reasonably be assumed to detrimentally affect other users of the
software and/or can be easily avoided or remedied. (Bugs in the old
Infocom games are commonly reported on rgif, especially when they
are humorous.)
When discussing specific games, please be careful not to spoil them
for readers who may not have played them. You have a few choices:
- Simply do not post the "spoilers".
- Encode them using rot13, a simple "encryption" scheme found on any decent
newsreader. (Some silly programs call it Unscramble. Sheesh).
If you can't find a rot13 descrambler, all you have to do is turn each
a into an m, each b into an n, and so on.
- put a "spoiler character" in your post right before the spoilers, with
a warning like "SPOILERS FOR BAD GUYS AHEAD". A spoiler character is
a control-L character (formfeed), and any good newsreader has a set
of keys to push or a menu item to insert the character. When somebody
reads the message, the newsreader should pause at the character to
allow the rest of the message to be skipped if the reader does
not want to read the spoiler. Unfortunately, not all newsreaders
support the spoiler character; the author of this document believes
that if everybody uses the spoiler character instead of ugly
solutions like blank lines, those newsreaders that do not
support the spoiler character will decide to do so.
- Put a lot of blank lines in front of your spoiler.
This is not a newsgroup for the discussion of traditional "static" or
"passive" fiction. Literary magazine ads, advertisements for writers, and
other general fiction topics should be posted to the appropriate
newsgroup (alt.prose, misc.writing, rec.arts.books, rec.arts.poems,
rec.arts.prose, etc.). However, this confusion has come up in the
past (newcomers believing the group name means "International Fiction",
for example), and a polite pointer is better than a "get this junk
off the newsgroup" flame.
Discussions of MUDs (multi-user dungeons) belong on rec.games.mud.*,
although discussion of multi-player IF theory is certainly appropriate
here. Information on LARPs (live-action role playing games) and FRPs
(fantasy role playing games) can be found in rec.games.frp.misc.
Questions about the various "roguelike" games, such as "NetHack,"
"Angband," etc. should be posted to rec.games.roguelike.*.
Though posters may certainly post to raif in non-English languages, speakers
of Italian may be pleased to learn that there is a newsgroup for
Italian IF called it.comp.giochi.avventure.testuali.
You should of course follow basic netiquette conventions such as:
- Use a meaningful Subject line relevant to the content of your message
- Don't spam.
- Include a quote from any previous message you're replying to
- Don't spam.
- but don't quote screes of previous discussion to append one little comment
- Don't spam.
- DO NOT USE ALL CAPS
- Don't spam.
- you also should avoid putting everything in lower-case
- Don't spam.
- Don't flame others, you bastard!
- Don't spam.
- Well speling and gramer is good.
- Don't spam.
- Don't flame people because their spelling or grammar sucks.
- Don't spam.
RAIF FAQ
> About the newsgroup
> 2.3: ...and what topics are not appropriate?