Well, technically
that's two questions, but let me see if I can shed some light on the cocktail
party/playground that is ATF. Hmmmm, nope - the experience of the
newsgroup defies words. *grin* Some general tips & hints
though (with thanks to jayembee for a couple additions/corrections) -
* LURK FIRST, POST QUESTIONS LATER! Lurk for a week or so, get a feel for the zaniness, then jump on in - the water's fine, once you get used to it.
* Before asking "When are new episodes starting again?" or "I tuned in Friday night to watch FARSCAPE, and it wasn't on. What happened?" make sure you've checked out -
Sci-Fi Channel's
Schedulebot (http://www.scifi.com/schedulebot/help.html)
and/or FARSCAPE
pages (http://www.scifi.com/farscape/).
* Please don't top post. This means that when you reply to a post, you put your text _after_ the text you're replying to. Also, the delete button can be your friend - use it to snip unneccesary text, especially if you're just adding one comment to a lengthy post. This will make your post flow better, and you won't attract unwanted attention from our resident guard dogs.
* Before you post and ask about episodes of Farscape we've discussed that don't show up on the SciFi schedulebot, let me give you a hint - we had a long, dry stretch between new episodes, and we needed something to tide us over. This has resulted in "phantom" episodes being discussed. Someone (usually Penni/Broughps) posted intial comments, and others chimed in with their takes on an ep we all pretended we've seen. It will probably happen again - stay tuned.
* Please don't post spoilers in the subject line. If you're not sure what a spoiler is, please check
http://www.tracicart.com/spoilers.htm
for details and the newsgroup spoiler guidelines.
* Remember, you attract flies with honey, not vinegar. Okay, it's a lame analogy, but the idea is that if you come into the group, yelling about how stupid we are for whatever reason (not enough Farscape discussion/too much discussion about minor details/insert random topic here <g>), you'll either be ignored or chewed up & discarded. Your choice.
* There are tons of lists out there on Usenet abbreviations / acronyms, but some that appear in ATF on a regular basis are -
AFK - Away From Keyboard
<g> - Grin -
also eg (evil grin), bg (big grin) - you get the idea
HTH - Hope This
Helps
IAUBH - Insert Annoying
Usenet Booger Here. Some people (James) despise
emoticons (like :) etc.), and refer to them as "usenet boogers".
In deference
to their sensibilities, some people (Thinkum, who coined the acronym) try
to
substitute [IAUBH].
IIRC - If I Recall
Correctly.
IYKWIM - If You
Know What I Mean
NG - Newsgroup
NTTAWWT - Not That
There's Anything Wrong With That (Mark Morrison got this one started)
OTOH - On The Other
Hand
ROTFL - Rolling
(or Right) On The Floor Laughing
ROTFLMAO - the same
with the addition of My Ass Off
TIA - Thanks In
Advance
TMI - Too Much Information
WOCAB - Who Of Course
Are Bastards. Used in jest (I think) by the Brits about the French
WROCS - Joan/QuietI's
Weekly Roundup of Cool Stuff (aka her episode review)
YKYBWTMFW - You
Know You've Been Watching Too Much Farscape When ...
YMMV - Your Milage
May Vary. It means this is my opinion, and I concede yours may be
different.
Click for Episode Name abbreviations commonly used -
* Oh, and yes - Farscape
has NOT been cancelled - shooting began for Season Three in November, 2000,
and to the best of my knowledge is not going away any time soon.
This has become a sort of running joke in the newsgroup - don't ask why,
just laugh/growl/ignore and chalk it up to the unique humor of a.t.f..
CHARTER:
alt.tv.farscape is a forum for the discussion of the television show,"Farscape", its characters, and related topics. Binary files, fan fiction, and spam are expressly prohibited. Advertising will be allowed if it is on-topic, and is posted no more than once a week. Participants are asked to use their judgment to help keep crossposting to a minimum.
If
you are new to Usenet, please check out http://www.darkmountain.com/netiquette/index.shtml
or
the newsgroups news.announce.newusers
/ news.newusers.questions
for
more information on newsgroups and netiquette in general.