6. What are the current charters for the groups under rec.arts.sf.?
Description
This article is from the Rec.arts.sf Groups Introduction FAQ, by Leanne Phillips with numerous contributions by others.
6. What are the current charters for the groups under rec.arts.sf.?
Here's a list, in the same order as the groups appear in the list in question
2. I use the word 'current' because, while most of these haven't changed
since the dawn of creation, the rec.arts.sf.reviews one has changed to
include a new submission address.
rec.arts.sf.misc
Charter: Group rec.arts.sf.misc will be the general-purpose
and spillover group for science fiction and fantasy
discussions that do not find a more specific subgroup
under rec.arts.sf.*, or that would otherwise require
wide crossposting among the other subgroups.
rec.arts.sf.announce (moderated, <sf-announce-request@zorch.sf-bay.org>)
Charter: (moderated) Announcements of happenings in the
SF world, such as cons, including calls for con
participation, readings, deaths, honors, new SF
mailing lists, periodic postings of rec.arts.sf
subgroup charters and other administrivia,
signings, TV specials, meetings, shop openings and
closings, etc. Not for personal or commercial ads.
Send submissions to: sf-announce@zorch.sf-bay.org; questions to
the moderator address above.
rec.arts.sf.composition
Charter: Before discussing the newsgroup, one must define 'sf', for
which I refer to the original CFV for the group that created
the rec.arts.sf.* hierarchy: "Both science fiction and
fantasy, as well as that vast blurred mass of material in
between." This charter mirrors the position of the HWA:
Horror is an emotion, not a genre. If the Horror takes place
in a speculative fiction book, it can be discussed in an sf
newsgroup.
The rec.arts.sf.composition newsgroup would include, but not be
limited to the following types of discussion:
General writing questions, to be answered from the sf
perspective. This includes market research, submission
format and discussions on the process of writing itself,
as it connects with the writing of sf.
Discussion of the process of writing speculative fiction
between professionals, aspiring writers or the merely interested.
Discussion of the methods and processes of worldbuilding,
the creation of new, alternate or historically-based worlds
in which speculative fiction is often set.
This newsgroup is not meant to replace or significantly
overlap other groups. As such, topics that are on-topic
and useful in other groups should be kept to those groups.
That would include, but not be limited to the following
exclusions:
Discussion connected to writing, but not specifically
to sf, nor with an important sf slant should be posted
in misc.writing.
Discussion about the science used in speculative fiction
should be posted to rec.arts.sf.science.
Discussion of existing written work should be left to
rec.arts.sf.written.
As well, the charter specifically excludes the posting of work
unless that posting is specifically related to a topic that is
being discussed, and is used in that context, and quoted briefly.
Posting of work to be read and/or critiqued is excluded from the
charter of this newsgroup, for a number of reasons. For
those who wish to avail themselves of the group's resources, a
specially marked header, "CRIT: " will be used to post short
requests for critiquing or reading, with all followups directed
to email, the poster's web page, rec.arts.prose, or any other
valid forum, rather than the newsgroup.
As for advertising, overt advertising is excluded from the
group, particularly off-topic overt advertising (the kind that
doesn't care what this charter says anyway). Tactful, brief,
infrequently posted references to information that can be
found elsewhere will be tolerated, but advertisers must tread
that fine line carefully if they wish to avoid flamage from
ad-hating regulars.
rec.arts.sf.fandom
Charter: Discussions of fannish activities; meant to provide
a new home for the SF-related part of the traffic
currently posted to alt.fandom.* and similar
postings current in rec.arts.sf-lovers.
rec.arts.sf.marketplace
Charter: A place for personal wanted-to-buy and for-sale ads
for SF related materials. Personal ads only;
commercial ads belong in comp.newprod or commercial
advertising channels, not elsewhere on USENet. Do
NOT crosspost ads; those looking to buy or sell SF
stuff will be reading this group and just annoyed
by ads mixed in elsewhere.
rec.arts.sf.movies
Charter: Discussions of all aspects of SF related movies not
otherwise covered in more specific groups (such as
the Star Trek group). Specifically includes
screenplays looking for producers, and discussions
of novelizations as compared to the movie base;
discussion of novelizations independent of the
related movie belong in .written.
rec.arts.sf.reviews (moderated)
Charter: Reviews and critical discussion of SF/fantasy/horror
works. Works include novels, short fiction, movies,
music, periodicals, art, etc., that are of interest to
the SF community. Reviews are expected to conform to
the guidelines in the FAQ "Welcome to rec.arts.sf.reviews"
posted to the group periodically and available by
anonymous FTP on the host net.bio.net [134.172.2.69]
(file: sf-reviews/welcome). Archives of the group are also
available on net.bio.net in the directory misc/sf-reviews.
Submissions should be sent to sf-reviews@postmodern.com;
comments to the moderators should be sent to
rasfr-comments@postmodern.com.
rec.arts.sf.science
Charter: A home for the spinoff discussion of real and
speculative science and sometimes about how the
laws of science could be used in creating new SF
universes.
rec.arts.sf.tv
Charter: A group for discussing general television SF, both
live acted and cartoons. Note that some tv shows,
(such as Dr. Who and Star Trek) have their own
specialized newsgroups as well.
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5
Charter: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5 is to be an unmoderated newgroup
dedicated to the following topics:
* The plots and characters of "Babylon 5" episodes.
* The possible ties between episodes in the 5-year story arc
* The special-effects techniques and technology
* Musings and speculations about where the show is going.
* AND NOT, NOT, NOT, NOT story ideas and/or fan-fiction.
J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5's creator, (hereafter: JMS)
has stated flatly that for legal reasons that if any story
ideas appear on a "B5" newsgroup he will be forced to leave the
electronic forum. This would be, to our reckoning, a
net.tragedy, and is to be avoided at all costs.
Solutions such as forfeiture of copyrights to JMS with all
postings, etc, have been considered, but ultimately rejected.
This forum can only survive through the good will of its users,
PLEASE do not destroy it for the rest of us.
In the event of legal action in the future resulting from
someone's disregard of this rule, I offer myself, Brian Badger,
to be subpoenaed to testify as to the nature of this charter,
and its prohibition. It's an ugly job...
rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info
Charter: The purpose of this group is to provide an uncluttered
resource of information and news pertaining to the television
program _Babylon 5_. rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.info is a
moderated newsgroup, which means that all articles must be
submitted to the moderator for approval before they will be
posted. Articles appearing in this newsgroup should generally
fall into one of the following categories:
1) Official press releases and notices pointing to coverage
of _Babylon 5_ in the media (but copies of copyrighted
material *only* with expressed permission), and announcements
of B5-related events such as conventions and star appearances.
2) Episode schedules, guides and summaries, and announcements
of airing time changes.
3) Announcements, commentary and background material on
_Babylon 5_ from J. Michael Straczynski, the show's
executive producer. This will include compilations of
his writings from online services such as GEnie and
CompuServe and very selective repostings of substantial
commentary from rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5. The latter
category will specifically *not* include his short answers
about details of past episodes.
4) Other material believed by the moderators to be of interest
to a broad base of B5 fans.
Volume should not exceed a few messages a day.
Submit proposed articles to:
b5-info@callisto.pas.rochester.edu
rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap
Charter: rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap will be designed to create a specific
forum for discussing the many aspects of the Quantum Leap
television series, which is now in syndication on two cable
networks. The aspects that can be talked about are (but are
not limited to) the television program, the comic book, QL
conventions, the video releases, and whatever else can be found
to talk about between the "Leapers." Now, the group will be
unmoderated to allow more freedom on what can be talked about.
There has, as of late, been a considerable amount of QL traffic on
rec.arts.sf.tv. Perhaps the new newsgroup would allow more
space for other discussion on rec.arts.sf.tv, and
rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap would be an exclusive place for
Leapers to talk. Also, many Usenet sites do not have Alt.ql
creative as a group choice and, therefore, do not know of the
existance of QL discussion.
rec.arts.sf.written
Charter: A group for discussing the general SF which is seen
by its audience in written form, whether printed or
online. Note that many more specific groups in
rec.arts.sf.* exist to pull some traffic from this
group, but in general, this is where new releases
are discussed, informal reviews given, continuity
topics discussed, authors compared, and is the
starting point for many threads which should
eventually be moved to more appropriate groups.
(Please cooperate when the call is put forward to
move a discussion to a more specific group.)
rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan
Charter: This newsgroup, rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan, was
created in July 1994 for the discussion of books written
by contemporary author Robert Jordan. In particular, this
newsgroup is concerned with his ongoing "Wheel of Time"
series, but also covers past and future works by him.
Fandom is specifically included within the purview of this
charter. The group is unmoderated.
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