This article is from the soc.history.what-if FAQ, by Anthony Mayer anthonyemayer@yahoo.co.uk with numerous contributions by others.
soc.history.what-if is a newsgroup for the discussion of history divergent
from that of our own. A very common example would be "What if the South
won the U.S. Civil War?"
The newsgroup was created in late May 1995, after the usual Usenet
discussion (RFD) and voting (CFV) periods. It assumes the role previously
filled by the newsgroup alt.history.what-if. The older newsgroup was not
correspondingly scheduled for removal, and still sees some traffic,
although it is now considerably less active than soc.history.what-if.
Please post *only* to soc.history.what-if in order to reach the widest
possible audience while eliminating the confusion which usually results
from cross-posting.
The soc.history.what-if charter, as written by its proponent (Richard
Gadsden, now at richard@gadsden.name) after the discussion period ended,
is:
The soc.history.what-if newsgroup will be open to discussion of
alternate history. This is "what-ifs" regarding specific historical
events.
Specifically, but not exclusively:
+ Historical events - what could have happened if they had been
different?
+ How could this have happened differently (i.e. discussion of how the
divergence could have occurred, not of what its consequences would
be.)
Note: the following topics are not to be discussed:
+ Revisionism regarding the Holocaust or Turkish/Armenian massacres
(post to alt.revisionism). "What if the Holocaust had not happened?"
is a legitimate question.
+ Future history - "What if the President were assassinated tomorrow?"
+ Alternate history in fictional worlds - "What if Luke had failed to
destroy the Death Star?"
Many Usenet FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions answer lists) usually begin
with several paragraphs on netiquette, i.e., proper behaviour on posting
to newsgroups. Rather than do that here, I will just recommend that if you
have not already done so, you should *immediately* go to the newsgroup
news.announce.newusers and read the posting entitled "A Primer on How to
Work With the Usenet Community". After that, please read it again.
 
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