Archive-name: tv/british-comedy/general-faq/part2 URL: http://cathouse.org/BritishComedy/Info/a.c.b_FAQ/Part2.html Posting-Frequency: every 14 days Last-modified: 23 May 1995 Version: 2.01 alt.comedy.british FAQ ====================== Part 2: British Comedy on the Net --------------------------------- Version 2.01 Compiled by James Kew, j.kew@ic.ac.uk. Copyright 1994, 1995 James Kew. Reproduction in unaltered form for non-profit use is encouraged. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission. Vendor details are for information only. I have no connection with any companies listed in this FAQ. Do not bend, fold, spindle or mutilate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents -------- 1. Netiquette? What's that? 2. What do all the abbreviations mean? 3. What's alt.comedy.british for? 4. What other newsgroups discuss British comedy? 5. Where can I find FAQs/scripts/episode guides? 6. Is any of this stuff available on the WWW? 7. What's FTP? What's WWW? What's a URL? 8. Could somebody mail me...? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Netiquette? What's that? --------------------------- If you're new to Usenet, may I humbly suggest you read the articles on Netiquette in news.announce.newusers, which are also available by FTP from: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.announce.newusers/ This group has a global readership of (very) approximately 40,000 people. Your boss may be reading... or your next boss. + Proof-read your articles before posting. A neat, well-thought-out, typo-free article is much more likely to attract a positive response. + Your article will be distributed world-wide. Consider your audience; avoid being too parochial. + Don't be aggressive; this group is fairly gentle and flamewars are frowned upon. Particularly the eternal "UK-vs-US" argument... + Tastes in comedy vary greatly; respect the opinions of others. If you disagree with someone, explain why; "AYBS is crap!" isn't much of a contribution. + Keep your signature small; 4 lines is sufficient. + Make sure your articles are properly broken into lines. About 76 characters on each line is a good maximum to stick to. Some text editors can give you the impression that your paragraphs are broken into lines when in fact they are not; check to make sure this is not the case. + If you need to post a test message, please post it to a test newsgroup; there's probably one in your local hierarchy (for example, I'd post to ic.test). Postings to misc.test will generate automatic responses from some sites. A few notes on follow-ups: + Ask yourself whether a posted follow-up is needed: do you have something new to add to the discussion? + Limit the amount of quoted text to only that which is necessary. There's no need to quote an entire article just to add a brief comment. + Consider changing the subject line if the thread is wandering away from its original subject. + Reply by e-mail if appropriate or requested by the poster. 2. What do all the abbreviations mean? -------------------------------------- A number of abbreviations have been absorbed into Usenet culture; here's a few that are used in alt.comedy.british. Some people feel that overuse of abbreviations can make a group seem unnecessarily cliquish and forbidding to a newcomer; nevertheless, they're useful to know: :-) "Smiley" or "emoticon"; commonly used to convey emotion or signal sarcasm. Many variations -- :D :) :-O :-( etc. AFAIK As Far As I Know BTW By The Way FAQ Frequently Asked Question; can refer either to an individual question or to a list of questions and answers such as this one. FYI For Your Information IMHO In My Humble (or Honest) Opinion ISTR I Seem To Remember OTOH On The Other Hand ROTFL Rolling On The Floor Laughing YMMV Your Mileage May Vary; literally, "your experience may differ". Some common abbreviations for British shows: AbFab Absolutely Fabulous AYBS? Are You Being Served? BA Blackadder HIGNFY Have I Got News For You ISIRTA I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again KMKY Knowing Me, Knowing You MP Monty Python OFITG One Foot In The Grave RD Red Dwarf TYO The Young Ones WLIIA Whose Line Is It Anyway 3. What's alt.comedy.british for? --------------------------------- The newsgroup was created in early 1992 as a place for discussion of British comedy in all its forms: television, radio, written, live... alt.comedy.british is not the place for binary postings -- gifs, jpegs, wavs and the like. You should instead post them to the relevant alt.binaries.* group and post a pointer here. This FAQ concentrates mostly on TV comedy, because that's the largest source of discussion and questions; you're welcome to suggest other topics. 4. What other newsgroups discuss British comedy? ------------------------------------------------ A few newsgroups that may be of interest to alt.comedy.british readers: alt.comedy.british.blackadder Discussion of the four Blackadder series. alt.comedy.standup Standup comedy; mostly with a US slant. alt.fan.ben-elton Ben Elton, scriptwriter, novelist, playwright and stand-up comic... alt.fan.douglas-adams Douglas Adams, writer of the Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy etc. alt.fan.goons The cult 50s/60s radio programme. alt.fan.monty-python Python-inspired silliness. alt.fan.pratchett The books of Terry Pratchett; unusual among such groups in that Pratchett himself is a frequent poster. alt.fan.rumpole John Mortimer's "Rumpole of the Bailey" books and TV series. alt.fan.wodehouse The books of P. G. Wodehouse and their adaptations. alt.tv.ab-fab, Absolutely Fabulous. alt.tv.red-dwarf Red Dwarf. rec.arts.tv.uk UK television; some overlap with alt.comedy.british. 5. Where can I find FAQs/scripts/episode guides? ------------------------------------------------ In general, look first on these two archives: Cathouse ftp://cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/ The cathouse.org archives. Lots of stuff on TV and comedy; look in the "television" and "humor" directories. Maintained by Jason R. Heimbaugh, jrh@cathouse.org. Tardis ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/media/tv/collections/tardis/ Often referred to as "Tardis", after its previous home. All the TV stuff you'd ever want is here. Files at this site are stored compressed in gzip (.gz) format; they can be automatically decompressed, check the README.ftp file for details. Maintained by Dave Chapman, dave@cheers.demon.co.uk. There are also a handful of archives devoted to specific subjects: Douglas Adams ftp://ftp.umd.umich.edu/people/nhughes/ Maintained by Nathan Hughes, nhughes@umich.edu. The Goons ftp://rahul.net/pub/davidj/goons/ Maintained by David Josephson, davidj@rahul.net. Terry Pratchett ftp://ftp.pavilion.co.uk/pub/pratchett/ Also at mirrors: Europe: ftp://ftp.britain.eu.net/pub/misc/pratchett/ USA: ftp://theory.lcs.mit.edu/pub/pratchett/ Australia: ftp://death.socs.uts.edu.au/Mirror/Pratchett/ Maintained by Leo Breebart, leo@cp.tn.tudelft.nl. Red Dwarf ftp://toaster.ee.ubc.ca/pub/red-dwarf/ Maintained by Dave Gagne, daveg@ee.ubc.ca. Detailed FAQs are produced for these subjects: Absolutely Fabulous Maintained by Ridge, afn03923@freenet.ufl.edu. ftp://cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/british.humour/absolutely.fabulous/FAQ Douglas Adams Maintained by Nathan Hughes; FAQ-related correspondence to douglas-adams-faq@tiamat.umd.umich.edu. Posted twice monthly to alt.fan.douglas-adams, alt.answers and news.answers. ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.fan.douglas-adams/ Blackadder Maintained by Gwen Brophy, gbrophy@telerama.lm.com Posted monthly to alt.comedy.british.blackadder. ftp://cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/television/blackadder/FAQ Bottom Maintained by Melinda Casino, melinda@cathouse.org. Posted monthly to alt.comedy.british, rec.arts.tv.uk, alt.answers and news.answers. ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.comedy.british/ Carry On Films Maintained by Andy Raffle, missus@raffle.demon.co.uk. Posted monthly to alt.comedy.british and rec.arts.movies. ftp://cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/british.humour/carry.on.films.faq Adrian Edmondson Maintained by Andrew Wong, achwong@bradford.ac.uk. Posted occasionally to alt.comedy.british and rec.arts.tv.uk. ftp://cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/british.humour/bio/adrian.edmondson.faq ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/media/tv/collections/tardis/people/AdrianEdmondson Ben Elton Maintained by Andrew Wong, achwong@bradford.ac.uk. Posted occasionally to alt.fan.ben-elton, alt.comedy.british, alt.comedy.british.blackadder and rec.arts.tv.uk. ftp://cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/british.humour/bio/ben.elton.faq ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/media/tv/collections/tardis/people/BenElton The Goons YAQ ("Ying Tong Iddle I Po" Asked Questions) maintained by Russell Street, r.street@auckland.ac.nz. Posted occasionally to alt.fan.goons. Available by FTP from the Goons archive. Rik Mayall Maintained by Andrew Wong, achwong@bradford.ac.uk. Posted occasionally to alt.comedy.british and rec.arts.tv.uk. ftp://cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/british.humour/bio/rik.mayall.faq ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/media/tv/collections/tardis/people/RikMayall Terry Pratchett Maintained by Nathan Torkington; FAQ-related correspondence to pratchett-faq@vuw.ac.nz. Posted twice monthly to alt.fan.pratchett, alt.answers and news.answers. ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.fan.pratchett/ Monty Python A number of FAQs and informational postings, posted occasionally to alt.fan.monty-python: the Monty Python FAQ; the Monty Python FTP List, a comprehensive list of FTP sites with Python material; the Pythonography, a list of the Python crew's work; and the List of Monty Python Fanclubs and Fanzines. "Sir Darkwolf", drkwlf@wam.umd.edu, maintains an FAQ for alt.fan.monty-python, and will mail out copies of the other files on request. ftp://cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/humor/monty.python/ Red Dwarf Maintained by Pat Berry, pat@berry.Cary.NC.US. Posted twice monthly to alt.tv.red-dwarf, alt.answers and news.answers. ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.tv.red-dwarf/ Rumpole of the Bailey Maintained by Brenda J. Sharpe, aj471@freenet.carleton.ca. Posted monthly to alt.fan.rumpole. ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/media/tv/collections/tardis/uk/comedy/RumpoleOfTheBailey/ Standup Comedy Maintained by Steve Silberberg, stevebo@onramp.net. Posted to alt.comedy.standup. P.G. Wodehouse The Junior Ganymede Club Book, maintained by Susan Collicott, susan@pmel.noaa.gov. Posted to alt.fan.wodehouse. ftp://ickenham.isu.edu/pub/PGW-FAQ The Young Ones Maintained by Andrew Wong, achwong@bradford.ac.uk. Posted occasionally to alt.comedy.british and rec.arts.tv.uk. ftp://cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/television/young.ones/ ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/media/tv/collections/tardis/uk/comedy/YoungOnes/ Dave Budd, D.Budd@mcc.ac.uk, maintains "The Definitive UK Sitcom List", listing the titles, writers, principal cast and year of transmission of virtually every UK sitcom. Posted monthly to alt.comedy.british and rec.arts.tv.uk. ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/media/tv/collections/tardis/uk/comedy/SitcomList/ Melinda Casino, melinda@cathouse.org, maintains "Books for the Avid Britcomedy Fan", a comprehensive list of books covering all aspects of British Comedy. Posted monthly to alt.comedy.british, alt.answers and news.answers. ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/tv/british-comedy/books/ Melinda also publishes Britcomedy Digest, a monthly electronic newsletter on British comedies. Posted monthly to alt.comedy.british and rec.arts.tv.uk, or contact her directly to join the subscription list. ftp://cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/british.humour/britcomedy.digest/ Finally, if you can't find what you're looking for: consider producing it yourself! Feel free to contact me if you need any advice or help. 6. Is any of this stuff available on the WWW? --------------------------------------------- Yes, some of it. The cathouse.org British Comedy Pages, maintained by yours truly, are a good place to start: http://cathouse.org/BritishComedy/ The Tardis TV Archives are also available via a more friendly WWW front-end: http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/media/tv/collections/tardis/ Dave has also recently opened the Tardis TV Database, a collection of interlinked episode guides searchable by actor: http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~dave/guides/ 7. What's FTP? What's WWW? What's a URL? ---------------------------------------- FTP stands for "File Transfer Protocol", a method of transferring files between computers over the Internet. It usually refers to "anonymous FTP", where access is granted to anyone who gives a username of "anonymous". For more information see the Anonymous FTP FAQ, posted regularly to news.newusers.questions, news.announce.newusers and news.answers, amongst other groups. The latest version is archived at: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq It can also be retrieved by email by sending a message to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with a body of: send usenet/news.answers/ftp-list/faq WWW stands for "World Wide Web". WWW is a distributed hypermedia system, in which documents residing on servers all over the world may be linked together so you can move effortlessly from one document to another. For more information see the WWW FAQ, posted frequently to, amogst others, comp.infosystems.www.users and news.answers, and other groups, or fetch it from: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/usenet/news.answers/www/faq/ A URL is a Universal Resource Locator -- an electronic street address that describes exactly where a resource is and how to access it. URLs follow the general form: protocol://host.name/path/to/directory/or/file 8. Could somebody mail me...? ----------------------------- If you want a file available by FTP, gopher or WWW, and you don't have access to those particular services, please don't ask the group to fetch it for you. There are a number of mail-based servers which can fetch files and mail them back to you. Check out the document "Accessing The Internet By E-Mail", by Bob Rankin, BobRankin@Delphi.com; it's posted monthly to alt.internet.services, alt.online-service, alt.bbs.internet, alt.answers and news.answers, and you can retrieve a copy by sending email to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu, with this text in the body of the note: send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email ------------------------------------------------------------------------ James Kew, j.kew@ic.ac.uk, May 1995