What's New

1. Regarding Demonews
   Demonews is a free server. As with all free servers, you can't expect it to always be online. For the past several years demonews (and every free server for that matter) has gone offline several times both for maintenance and high traffic. No exceptions. For more reliability you can either use a good pay server or rely on another private server.

1. I'm mostly posting at newsgroups, and in addition to playing some games I recently downloaded I don't have as much time to use the boards. However, if you leave a message at Epsilon or any of the other common boards, I should be able to answer within about a day. ;)

2. If demonews.mindspring.com doesn't work for you, news.ausmail.com might. Both servers are getting a lot of traffic, so they might not be available.

3. "Civilization: Call to Power" has been posted to alt.binaries.games ;)

1. Here is a response to a question about SBNews repeatedly connecting/disconnecting by "T".

   SBNews is repeatedly connecting and disconnecting indirectly because of your spam filter. For example, if you told SBNews to ignore posts that don't contain a file (a post in newsgroups can be just plain text without an accompanying file), then SBNews will start to download that message, quickly realize that it contains no files attached, and then disconnect so that it can skip it.

   News protocol is very old, so it's not possible for a news reader to say "stop this download and give me the next file". Instead, SBNews must say "goodbye" and then "hello" in order to skip the current file.

   At the bottom left window it should say why SBNews is skipping the file. I suggest you either
   a) Go into your preferences and adjust your options so that SBNews won't disconnect/reconnect
   b) Use the headers menu and manually reject the author of these messages.

2. Here is a comment to "Z" about complaints concerning a banner he put up at his site.

   People will complain about almost everything, so I wouldn't think too much of it. When people started complaining that I was flooding the newsgroups with "softcore slant eye crap", you didn't see me stop after complaints. ;) Even I like em defended my posts, because he knows well enough that there will always be someone who complains.

1. I've been busy playing games with others and trying to arrange a Starcraft game with Lord Byron, but I'll be soon posting some more for the time being. ;)

1. As mentioned before, the new Epsilon board is at:
   http://www.sitepowerup.com/mb/view.asp?BoardID=100090

1. A quote from "I like em" referring to people complaining in news:

   "...should stop complaining and contribute to the group or shut the Fuck up im tired of whiney bitches that harras every poster cause there not posting what they want when your getting free pics and people are using there good time to share there shouldnt be so much bitching."

1. The new url for RamFAQs will be at:
   http://rivendell.fortunecity.com/gallows/973/ramframe.htm

1. Fortunecity had another down recently, affecting all webpages. ;)

   So if in the future you need RamFAQs and this recurs you can find it at this mirror: http://geocities.datacellar.net/Tokyo/Dojo/4051/ramframe.htm

   If someday that doesn't work either you can always try the FSN mirror too. ;)

2. My posts should still be up in news for about a week.

3. Working on an MP3 FAQ by request...

4. Someone asked me how to post to news. To post to news, you need a newsposter (just like how when you read from news it's best to have a newsreader). Three common newsposters I've used are Newspost, Free Agent, and Autopost. Each one has advantages. Newspost is best for a lot of posts if you want a lot of posting options. Autopost is extremely simple (too simple for my tastes ;) but that of course is also an advantage. Free Agent is if you want to post a huge post and split it into parts efficiently.

5. Someone else also asked how to use html. To learn html, I strongly suggest the Davesite tutorial. ;)

1. Does anyone need a jigsaw puzzle program? You can create a jigsaw puzzle to play out of any image. The one I have is a bit big, so I'm hoping to find a smaller version to put in my links section. A Macintosh should already have this program included. ;)

1. The goddess has arrived. ;)

2. Dr. Who's Cryptology FAQ version 11 is up.

1. A mirror of most of this site with only the .htm pages is available here.

2. Uploaded some more series to newsgroups.

3. news-reader is on temporary maintenance.

4. Other than that, I'm still busy with games. ;)

1. I should have posted this before, but Megumi Matsumoto wishes you a Happy New Year!
   http://www.megu.com/GUEST/OSIRASE/megum.html

   The official fan site is at:
   http://www.megu.com

   As Oberlus pointed out, you can find other Megumi sites at:
   http://www2.bomis.com/rings/megumimatsumoto/

2. Watch in news for more of my upcoming posts. ;)

1. Peloli asks: "Hey Ramses. Caon you give the name of the group for the heroes3. Please, Iam a big fan of the series."

   Here is my reply:
   Peloli, it was posted and reposted to alt.binaries.games within the past week. The download is very big (130 megabytes) and you'll need extra space to unpack the game files. However, the game is a large improvement over Heroes2 in graphics and detail, although the gameplay is mostly the same. If you have a cable modem or faster connection, it shouldn't be a big deal. However, if you're using modem, you'll have to be patient to download it all. ;)

1. Hey, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 isn't too bad. ;) It's still up on newsgroups.

1. Epsilon board will move to a new location, because the host will be upgrading their software. It will now be at:
   http://www.sitepowerup.com/mb/view.asp?Action=Post&BoardID=100090

   Please use it instead of the older Epsilon board to make the transition as quick as possible. ;)

2. This is a response to "101", who had trouble accessing my response at Epsilon.

   I suggest trying Freeboard 3 for posting long lists. There you can make your list as long as you like. If so, you can type everything in plain text, and Freeboard3 will automatically turn all urls starting with http:// into links that can be clicked on.

   As for making webpages, a good tutorial on html is at:
   http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/

   As for design, that's something you would best decide for yourself. ;)

   Freeboard 3 is at:
   http://japan.cgiserver.net/cgi-bin/wwwboard/CrazyWWWBoard.cgi?db=freeboard3

1. Heroes of Might and Magic 3 has been released by warez. You can find it in newsgroups. ;)

2. The Lightbringer has put up his site at a new location, although he hasn't indicated yet that it is completely ready.

3. I put up some Rika and Shiori vids to newsgroups. I'll work on the 8th Shrine once I sort out some of the other tasks I'm at.

4. Jade has disabled all html tags, so you won't have any more java problems there. ;) As said before, FGB has also disabled it, and if you see any spam being posted, just mention it and I or someone else will remove it. The downside to FGB is that now that it's been improved, there are too many visits for it to handle at times. ;)

1. Yuri posted a "Tip of the day" to Jade board:

   Use Netscape Communicator 4.08. In Edit->Preferences have a "clear location bar" button. It will clear the bar that contain the sites that you visited. In the same Edit->Preferences go to advanced and uncheck all the boxes. Check "disable cookies" so none will know where you passed through.

1. These servers worked today on the first try:
   news-reader2.wcg.net
   news-reader.wcg.net
   news.internetcom.com.br

   These two other servers might also work when traffic is low:
   news1.usenetserver.com
   demonews.mindspring.com

   Some other servers that used to work but probably don't anymore:
   news.ausmail.com
   news.hkc.net

   It's important to note that a lot of the above servers won't work at times especially during peak hours.

   I didn't test many servers out at all (only about 10), since I don't use free servers myself. However, if you ever do have a few new servers, mention it to Lord Byron at Iostream board. He set it up some time ago, and one of its potential uses is for news servers. As I don't use free servers myself, it's up to you who do to share them and mutually benefit. ;)

2. If anyone asks how to disable javascript, instructions are listed at Disabling Java.

1. The Lightbringer will be moving his site to a better server, so for the time being you won't be able to access anything on his site. ;)

1. I'm working on adding another gallery to megamisama, and there are a few requests I'll try to fill. One in particular is for the "Kelly" series.

2. If you know how to use a newsreader, you can still get various groups through the Easynews news server. Their news server still carries the groups that they've removed on their web-based server.

3. If you see any post at FGB that you believe to be spam or harmful to the board, just mention it and one of the administrators should remove it. ;)

4. My public PGP key (same as the one I've always had). ;)

   -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
   Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0
   
   mQGiBDR/QtkRBAD0Bu2trZoM4wUc5BAjq5AP+uT5jWfqagJeB6mGsx8zzPqPwakc
   XxHnVR7B392R6ccmIsKhBcjpE7Il4vK3UxW9JSxVeQzlSw8mocITBmo39Y2LsG66
   7iM0m5FMI7nPxwglb4qfKhX7M3VOCXCWNP+PDmcqyM7DFSMH0q8EhnXKlQCg/1Xn
   urYJ+SNMbNUdCeOrnUOdGKsD/j+YbZE+5X3ESaRmG1VW8IuYZmShOwEG1i8JoNlU
   Wa7V5p7nMuhlytdkGmdqSBrLVRi8yOgY27LU5vA9Y35C9nAFBgH300cDI+VmTSso
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   wqxKBACcDiDt/CFqYVyswO5r1ePD8FItVq+QkwlcAljAF8qqHnXZjWrqcIc6Yh+J
   724bzdQ6Qh3M+7PsYIuCv3/X5jtgyoZJjb2gdai82kKpBBx8P9bAaDi6t/QJygyK
   aXWHChECiYtaolxk69ew0XbFuH9BCqNi7HlXqyBToYi7oUaYyLQdUmFtc2VzIDxy
   YW1zZXM0MEBob3RtYWlsLmNvbT6JAEsEEBECAAsFAjR/QtkECwMBAgAKCRDKeSlg
   MOQQaF8MAJ4y46dhIDojcUrgAUm72fwCONDdDACfQlcLyvxBNKfNzBENw/VaheRo
   VWm5AY0ENH9C2hAGAPj1WV/cdlJPPT2N286Z4VeSWc39uK50T8X8dryDxUcwYc58
   yWb/Ffm7/ZFexwGq01uejaClcjrUGvC/RgBYK+X0iP1YTknbzSC0neSRBzZrM2w4
   DUUdD3yIsxx8Wy2O9vPJI8BD8KVbGI2Ou1WMuF040zT9fBdXQ6MdGGzeMyEstSr/
   POGxKUAYEY18hKcKctaGxAMZyAcpesqVDNmWn6vQClCbAkbTCD1mpF1Bn5x8vYlL
   IhkmuquiXsNV6Vh8RwACAgX/Xg/Jpv/Z0EJiSeJlDph/ojRtvKhJFidsrgsgGivI
   tKq9jvA4CH0H1yVyYWE2sY2S6U/6VYr3OGYuNvjxlK5VoUge995xWWvjnOiSw0HX
   EdhTSK0i+Re5QPfdfywlRJhFiJuua6uDUxIfVZg/3is1vT653yvR35FKrfHd6opf
   8k9m/Sz/DsRIher4xj5SPCgUOQf9GChIvbok8jQiOfrb4+E1An/dkrWAWHNX8c+S
   ZTLQekIThdj+7GgRTyoN7eVqiQA/AwUYNH9C2sp5KWAw5BBoEQKsIACg9RnD0KwQ
   Irg/c6lO84Tizy+ob6kAoPsqxrSqLsd3b/RWUqhu+Ao5AD63
   =mccJ
   -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
   

1. I've put up another Sara Shimada gallery.

2. Fortunecity had another problem with their sites lately (once again affecting all of their thousands of sites), so as always, I have mirrors of RamFAQs at:
   http://ramfaqs.fsn.net/ramframe.htm
   http://geocities.datacellar.net/Tokyo/Dojo/4051/ramframe.htm

3. For Mac users: I have verified that if you set back your system date, Mozkiller will still work, although for some this may be a hassle. If anyone knows of an unmasker for the Mac, please mention it so that others can know. ;)

4. Someone mentioned to me that Easynews no longer carries serveral groups. If this is true, please verify this at Epsilon or Gamma board so that I can inform others. ;)

5. We had a guest visit from Dr. Who recently at Epsilon board. ;)

6. One of the regulars took care of a number of the spammers, so hopefully people won't complain as much. ;) Meanwhile, I suggest you do not visit or send money to any such site, for various reasons. If a spammer or troll tries to post javascript, you can also turn java off, as described in Turning off Java.

7. As before, SPBBS is now back up, although it is still having traffic problems (which are apparently also causing cgi problems that cut off parts of the board).

1. Regarding SPBBS, the site has been removed several times before because there were too many visitors, but so far each time the site was restored after the host's traffic problems died down. In any case, if you have any technical questions, you can always ask at Epsilon, and if you have any on-topic questions, you could try the newsgroups. ;)

2. A few people asked about why this site was down for a few hours. Apparently Fortunecity had a blackout earlier (affecting every one of their thousands of sites).

3. An excerpt from my response to a about spam: "...In any case, people are also annoyed at spam in newsgroups, and the situation there looks far worse. However, with the right knowledge, it's not hard to avoid it. I can let my newsbot run while I'm away and spam rarely passes through the filters. What spam does I can easily ignore."

4. An excerpt from my response to fiddler about spam: "Some people are a lot more annoyed at spam than others (a few surveys point out a big difference, mostly based on age). Many people don't turn java or images off, so this often increases the effect. ;) So, it all depends on who you ask. ;)"

5. Casahobo pointed out a news server search engine with this link:
   http://bmccane.maxbaud.net/news/newssrch.php3?group=bc-series&.submit=Submit+Query

1. If you need to know how to turn off Java, try this link for Instructions

1. Megamisama.fsn.net is under construction now. It currently contains the Megumi Matsumoto series that was heavily requested.

2. Random pages that list free servers
   http://www.jammed.com/~newzbot/>Jammed
   http://www.muenz.com/
   http://home1.gte.net/docthomp/servers.htm
   http://www.reed.edu/~greaber/url-servers.html
   http://members.tripod.com/~Robserver/servers.htm
   http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=nntp;list
   http://bmccane.maxbaud.net/news/newspage.php3

3. Long list of Search Engines.

1. I put up a small Anime sampling gallery at:
   Vote Page

2. Someone mentioned this web-based news service:
   http://www.easyusenet.com/

3. I'm almost done with the third part of the 8th shrine. I'll post the url when it's finished. ;)

4. Brooke Shields series has been posted to news. ;)

1. Some news servers seem to be carrying the Japanese groups much better now:
   news-reader2.wcg.net
   news-reader.wcg.net
   news1.usenetserver.com
   demonews.mindspring.com

   Some other decent servers in general:
   news.ausmail.com
   news.hkc.net

   It's important to note that a lot of the above servers won't work at times especially during peak hours.

   A few other servers that might work
   news.fibertel.com.ar
   news.lds.co.uk
   news.internetcom.com.br
   julius.annco.net
   earth.gaianet.net
   news.ht.net.tw
   news.au.ac.th

2. ACDSee version 2.4 is out. Here is the ACDSee Website.

   You can find it listed in FAQ 6B

3. Someone asked about tracing an IP to a person using high-level technology or hacking. This was basically my response:

   If some authority wanted to trace phone calls they would go to a judge and get a court order. It would be pointless in most countries to hack into the phone systems and retrieve the information illegally, because in most countries any evidence obtained would be thrown out of court immediately. It isn't different with the internet."

1. I put up several assorted zips from abp.bluebird to one of the 8th Shrine sites.

2. I'm still waiting for some adjustments before I can put up the third part of the 8th shrine. ;)

3. The full Vanity Angels series is being posted to abpe.anime

1. Plenty of new anime and manga posted to the abpe.anime newsgroup. ;)

2. Just a random article on how domain names are typically registered in various countries
   http://www.mpt.go.jp/policyreports/english/group/telecommunications/domainnames/domainnames_3.1_e.html

3. Two random propaganda stories I mentioned before in response to someone else's comment:
   http://www.calvin.edu/cas/gpa/story9.htm
   http://www.calvin.edu/cas/gpa/story10.htm

   PS. The man who wrote these two stories (and others) was executed in 1946 for related war crimes.

1. Just an ironic story...
   

   TOKYO--An Internet suicide service has led to at least one death and seven deliveries of lethal potassium cyanide capsules, Japanese police said. At least one customer had killed herself using the capsules, police said. The man who ran the service also appeared to have committed suicide, as had a second customer, although the second customer had not used the capsules she ordered through the service.

No refunds? ;)

1. I have to make some adjustments to prepare the new site, so I will have to delay opening the third installment to the 8th Shrine until the adjustments are finished.

1. I'm checking as many links on my site as I can. If you know of any broken links please mention it at Epsilon board with a short note on the link and I will make the correction. Thanks. ;)

1. Dr. Who's Cryptology FAQ Version 10
   Just came in. ;)

2. Tech news
   Mentioned by peeper. ;)

3. I added several pay servers to FAQ 2I and updated some broken links in various FAQs.

4. I also added a variety of new links.

5. I'll be coming out with the sequel to http://ranma.fsn.net soon. Any requests can be posted to Epsilon board. ;)

1. Links to Privacy Issues

2. PC Magazine Free Downloads

1. Gamma board has been opened due to the large number of posts on Ranchi board.

2. http://www.newsfeeds.com is also said to have a decent newsfeed. I have mentioned a few other servers at Gamma board.

3. If I haven't already mentioned, there's a What's New at the 8th Shrine section dedicated to the http://shampoo.fsn.net and http://ranma.fsn.net pages.

1. I guess I should mention here for those that asked that Airnews seems to have a decent newsfeed last time I heard. If anyone can offer further confirmation, I will post it here.

2. I have also been working on fixing any broken links I may have. If you can find any, please mention it at Epsilon board

3. For those that asked, de Vacco lost his re-election. ;)

1. I added some links to Rar in FAQ 6B, for those who asked about it.

2. For those in the USA that have been asking about the CDAII, you may be interested in visiting the ACLU's website. They were one of the major forces that struck down the first CDA, and they have begun legal action against the CDA II. The plaintifs in ACLU vs. Reno II is listed here: http://www.aclu.org/court/acluvrenoII_plaintiffs.html The main page is at: http://www.aclu.org One page about the CDA II can be found at: http://www.aclu.org/congress/congress.html The linked page urges you to send a message to the law-makers...here is an excerpt: "As your department itself recognized in its October letter to Congress, provisions of the Act claim to protect minors from "harmful" materials, but in reality limit all adults to reading only that material which is appropriate for children. Because it suffers from the same problems identified in Reno v. ACLU, and for the reasons stated in the Justice Department's letter, I urge you not to enforce the Act." The Justice Department of the USA has already stated that the CDAII has "serious constitutional problems" in this 7-page analysis: http://www.aclu.org/court/acluvrenoII_doj_letter.html

1. I added some questions to FAQ 7Z.

2. I also made minor changes to other FAQs (including updating a few links).

3. I'm working on a new FAQ as well as the game FAQ, so hopefully they'll be done in the near future.

4. I'm also working on a new gallery similar to the Shampoo galleries (http://shampoo.fsn.net), though that may take a while since I'll have to fit that in between playing games. ;)

1. If you have any useful programs or find any broken links at this site, please post a note at Epsilon board and I shall update my pages as soon as possible. Thanks. ;)

2. Viper has opened a new page here. It includes several message boards as well as hentai cartoon galleries.

3. Dr. Who has finished version 9 of his encryption FAQ. It includes an elaboration on secure e-mail. I will upload it next time I update. ;)

1. On behalf of Dr. Who, I have updated Dr. Who's Encryption FAQ to version 8.1 If you want to download the original .txt version, you can get it here. Have fun. ;)

2. With his permission, I have put up Dr. Who's Encryption FAQ. He is very knowledgeable about encryption.

3. I've put up a few pranks that you might sometimes see posted.

4. I've zipped up the pages on my site so you can download it and read it off your own computer. For those concerned, there is nothing questionable on my site or in this zip. Download my site here (about 1 megabyte).

5. For those of you only interested in the information and not the illustrations, I've placed a compact version of my site here (370 kb).

6. I've put up a miscellaneous tips page

7. A Swedish version of RamFAQs is partially complete.

8. If you want a redirection to this page, you can use either http://welcome.to/ramfaqs or http://ramfaqs.home.ml.org

9. I just added a LinkExchange Fastcounter. The reason is that my other counter is often not loading, so a lot of hits are missed.

10. Thanks to Lord Greystroke, I've put up a Ranma 1/2 BBS.

11. Someone asked me about this...here is a silly way to direct your browser to your own hard drive. ;)

12. I haven't been updating as often because of increased outside work, as well as the fact that I'm often busy playing computer games. Right now, I'm working on a new page, but once it's complete, I'll work on some more FAQs.

13. RamFAQs are now in Français, Español, Deutsch, Italiano, Portugese, and Swedish.

    Thanks to Bigheart for doing the German translations.
    Also thanks to Aaron et Noora for the Swedish translations.

14. Also, someone mentioned about using the Alta Vista translator. That was what was used to translate the French, Spanish, Portugese, and Italian FAQs (which is why you might see it say some silly things). You can find the translator here: http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate? Of course, we try to get proofreaders too. ;)

15. I'm trying to find out information on the Mac equivalents to the programs listed. I don't use a Mac regularly, so can anyone help out?

16. E-mail me if you have corrections, suggestions, requests, questions, or things to add. You can always use an anonymous re-mailer to send your comments: http://www.gilc.org/speech/anonymous/remailer.html. If you wish, send within your message an indication to which address I should respond. If you provide none, I shall post my response here instead.