URL: http://www.io.com/~hmiller/abpf-faq.txt
Last-Modified: Fri, Jan 24, 1997 4:24:34 AM GMT
Changes: Q and A about image encoding formats
abpf/abpef FAQ
Frequently answered (but rarely asked) questions for
alt.binaries.pictures.furry and alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.furry
These newsgroups have been receiving a flood of off-topic junk since
early 1996. While a FAQ won't stop the junk, it's useful to have one to
refer to so that casual readers won't get the wrong impression of the
newsgroup based on the actions of net-abusers.
Q: What is the purpose of these newsgroups?
A: These newsgroups are for posting binary images of furry characters.
Sexually explicit images of furries should be posted to
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.furry; all other furry images should be
posted to alt.binaries.pictures.furry.
Q: What does "furry" mean?
A: The short answer is "anthropomorphic animals". The term apparently
originated in the context of anthropomorphic comics such as _Albedo_ and
_Wild Life_, but it is also applicable to the kinds of characters seen
in Disney's _Robin Hood_, Don Bluth's _The Secret of NIMH_, Brian
Jacques' _Redwall_ series, and many others. Anyone who talks and has
some non-human animal-like characteristics is probably a furry.
Q: Does "furry" have anything to do with sex?
A: No.
Q: Are any pictures of humans appropriate for posting in these
newsgroups?
A: No, except for images of furries that also happen to have humans in
them.
Q: Are money-making schemes appropriate for posting in these
newsgroups?
A: No.
Q: What are the recommended encoding formats for images?
A: The most widely recognized is uuencode. Others are BinHex and
Base64. MIME is a standard way to identify the encoding format, but
some newsreaders produce duplicate MIME headers that confuse other
newsreaders. MIME with Base64 is becoming more widely accepted, but
it's probably still a good idea to use uuencode in order to reach the
widest audience.
Q: Are there any other guidelines for posting in these newsgroups?
A: Basically, if it isn't a binary file that is "furry", if it isn't a
comment about an on-topic binary posting, or if it isn't a discussion
concerning the group itself, it's off-topic. Note that in times of
heavy spamming, people who intend to post furry art are STRONGLY
encouraged to use the string FUR: at the beginning of the Subject: line.
This label allows people to use the newsgroups as they were intended, by
preselecting anything with FUR: and ignoring the junk. (Some news
readers, such as Agent, can even be configured to delete anything
without a FUR: tag.) Putting at the beginning, rather than anywhere in
the line, makes it easy for readers to find all the FUR articles by
sorting headers by subject. It's also helpful to include a full or
partial description of the image in the Subject: line, or in a separate
text posting if more than one line is needed. For example, "FUR: Two
mice-morphs skating - miceskat.jpg". (It's been suggested that it might
also be helpful to identify the type of encoding used, especially if
you're using something other than UUE, since some newsreaders only
support UUE: "FUR: UUE" / "FUR: MIME" / "FUR: BASE64")
Q: Is it okay to post images drawn by other artists?
A: Not without permission. A number of artists prefer not to allow
others to publicly distribute their art. Finding their art on a
publicly available site doesn't mean that the artists have given
permission to distribute it freely. And all art is copyrighted, even if
it doesn't include a copyright symbol, unless the copyright has expired
or the artist designates it as public domain.
Q: What can you do if you see an inappropriately posted article?
A: Send a polite complaint to the postmaster of the site where the
article was posted from. Since the From: address is often faked, try
the address from the Message ID header instead. [Note: According to
Peter da Silva, "NNTP-Posting-Host is the hardest item to fake. You
have to be root at a Usenet site to do that."] Some providers have
special accounts for handling net-abuse complaints: for example,
Netcom's is "abuse@netcom.com". Be sure to include ALL the header
information. (You may need to change the options in your newsreader in
order to see this.) Other suggestions can be found at
http://www.yahoo.com/News/Usenet/Abuse/ and http://www.vix.com/spam/.
Q: What's the best way to avoid seeing inappropriate postings?
A: Get a newsreader that supports killfiles. The easiest way to get
most of the spam is to killfile articles cross-posted to more than a
certain number (say, somewhere between 5 and 10) of groups. News Xpress
(2.0, Beta #2) is one newsreader that supports that technique. (For
more information on News Xpress, see the FAQ at
http://www.malch.com/nx2faq.html). Since some spammers post in batches
of less than 10 newsgroups, it's also helpful to kill articles
crossposted to any of the other newsgroups that are near a.b.p.(e).f in
alphabetical order. Some newsreaders, such as Agent, can be configured
to delete articles that don't have FUR: in the subject; you risk missing
some genuine articles that way, but almost everyone uses FUR: these
days. Some newsreaders may allow you to killfile articles that are
cross-posted to certain newsgroups, or articles with TOO MANY CAPITAL
LETTERS in the subject, but others are limited to checking the Subject:
or From: headers. For instance, looking for "$$$" or "CASH" in the
Subject: line will cut down on the number of cash schemes you're
confronted with. (Other strings you may want to consider killfiling
include "MONEY", "FREE", "SEX", "BBS", and "011".) Another approach is
to go to a joke group deliberately created to catch spammers, and
killfile anyone who posts original articles there. An example of such a
group is alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.spatch, which contains mainly
spam and other varieties of net-abuse. If your newsreader doesn't
provide killfiles, you may be able to avoid many of the cross-posted
articles by first going to a group you don't normally read that's
alphabetically near a.b.p.(e).f and marking all the articles as read,
but genuine spam requires a killfile. (There's also alt.sex.cancel,
which was specifically created as a test group for cancel software, to
catch articles crossposted to it and cancel them.)
(For Mac users, YA-Newswatcher supports killfiles. If anyone has more
specific information on Mac newsreaders and killfile capabilities,
please followup to this message.)
Addendum (from an article by Quozl, quozl@wcinet.net):
The following needs to be in every FAQ, on every newsgroup and website.
Do Not Alter other people's art. This includes cropping, resizing,
increasing or decreasing color-depth, messing with the contrast and
brightness, erasing or modifying any parts of the image, etc. If an
artist uploads it in a particular manner, that is how it is intended to
be viewed.
Do not distribute other people's art unless it says to freely distribute
it, or unless you get permission directly from the artist - usually in
written form. Permission to distribute is not permission to alter
anything.
Do not make t-shirts or other copies of the art that are to be seen in
public without permission.
I imagine that most artists don't mind if you copy or print something
that you downloaded for your own use only, but some might even mind
that. It is probably good to ask about this too. Never sell anything
that you print though without asking first.
I saw some of this stuff in a FAQ already, but it needs to be known
everywhere on the net. Some people are doing these things out of
ignorance and not from an intent to harm. The end effect is the same
though.
Teamouse Chanezumi-----> ---------------------
hmiller (Herman Miller) "If all Printers were determin'd not to print any
@io.com email password: thing till they were sure it would offend no body,
\ "Subject: teamouse" / there would be very little printed." -Ben Franklin
--
Automatic posting done by -- notice of posting
problems (headers, etc.) should be sent there.
The Furry InfoPage! http://www.tigerden.com/infopage/furry/
Just The FAQs: http://www.tigerden.com/infopage/furry/faqs.html
This FAQ: http://www.io.com/~hmiller/abpf-faq.txt