Manifesto Mini-FAQ version 1.1

From: estephen@emf.net (E. Stephen Mack)
Date: 6 Jul 1995 02:24:36 GMT
Summary: Frequently asked questions about alt.usenet.manifestoes

                    =============================
                    A Manifesto Mini-FAQ (7/5/95)


11. "What is this group all about?"

    The purpose of alt.usenet.manifestoes is for the presentation and
    discussion of manifestoes on USENET.  Manifestoes can be for
    individuals, organizations, groups, companies, governments, nations
    or political parties.  Often they are from individuals, especially
    those who are frequent posters on USENET.


15. "Why?"

    Because it is interesting.  It can be amusing.  It appears to be
    worthwhile.  Posterity matters.  Some have found it useful.  Why
    not?

    Manifestoes are an important part of any undertaking.  A manifesto
    answers the question, "Why?"  Every group, individual, company,
    organization, project or government should have a mission
    statement; without stated goals, success can be elusive.

    In the tragic extreme, consider that the Unabomber believes his
    manifesto to be so important that he murders in order to ensure its
    publication.


19. "What is a manifesto?"

    1. man.i. fes.to \. man-*-' fes-(.)to-\ n
       manifestos or manifestoes
       [It, denunciation, manifest, fr. manifestare to manifest, fr. L]
       a public declaration of intentions, motives, or views

    A manifesto is your mission statement, your purpose: Why you do
    what you do, exactly what it is that you believe and intend to
    accomplish.

    Some well-known manifestoes include the Communist Manifesto,
    Richard Stallman's GNU Manifesto, and Kibo's HappyNet Manifesto
    (all of which have been posted and are available from the
    archive).


02. "Where do these manifestoes come from?"

    People and organizations write them and make them available,
    sometimes in other newsgroups, random WWW pages or FTP archives.
    Mostly they are submitted here for approval (see below).  Sometimes
    the moderation team stumbles across them and posts them here (we
    always try to get permission first).

    All readers are welcome to submit a manifesto for themselves, or
    for an organization.


06. "How can I submit a manifesto?"

    For most newsreaders, you can just post to alt.usenet.manifestoes
    normally, and your news software will forward your article to the
    proper place for approval.

    If that method doesn't work, simply send e-mail to
    manifesto@emf.net instead.

    You will receive a reply to indicate that your manifesto was
    received.  You'll be notified of its approval within 48 hours.
    Currently the moderation is not automated, so please be patient
    before resubmitting your articles; all submissions will receive a
    reply eventually.


10. "What gets approved?"

    Everything that is on charter, not commercial, not cross-posted,
    and not full of obscure acronyms.  Discussion of previous
    manifestoes is welcome.  The newsgroup is not limited to serious
    manifestoes.  Anonymous contributions are also welcome.


14. "Why is it moderated?"

    To keep it on charter.  To keep the posts coming regularly.  The
    intention is to keep a.u.m. high-interest, low-traffic and
    high-quality.


18. "Do you edit the manifestoes?"

    I'm often very tempted.


01. "But you don't edit them really, right?"

    No, I don't.

    Okay, that's not true; the moderator has in the past reformatted
    e-text, such as the Communist Manifesto, to fit within 70 columns.
    No contributed manifestoes are altered.


05. "Do you write the manifestoes yourself?"

    I do not write the manifestoes that appear.  Look at the "From:"
    line or the signature to find out who the author is.


09. "So why does your name appear on each post?"

    Because I'm the moderator, my name automatically appears under the
    "Originator:" and "Approved:" header lines.  But that doesn't mean
    that I have anything to do with the manifesto.  In fact, I disclaim
    all opinions expressed by the authors of the manifestoes.


13. "Do you turn down manifestoes that you don't agree with?"

    Even though I personally do not agree with the politics or opinions
    expressed in many of the manifestoes, I do not turn away any
    manifesto that meets the charter, no matter how offensive, puerile,
    self-serving, indecent, unintelligible or idiotic the manifesto may
    be.  Nor do I take credit for the reasonable, intelligent,
    interesting and insightful manifestoes.  I am simply an editor or
    common carrier.

    I have, however, rejected many duplicate postings, MAKE.MONEY.FAST
    articles, and advertisements for phone sex numbers.


17. "Isn't that censorship?"

    No more than any moderation is censorship.  All newspaper and
    magazine editors practice one form of censorship: they reject
    inappropriate articles.  Since the only thing this newsgroup is
    about is manifestoes, the only things that appear here are
    manifestoes.

    I abhor censorship of ideas, yet my duty as moderator is to
    eliminate off-topic postings.  If your article is rejected, it is
    because it is off-charter (perhaps because it is commercial).

    Even so, rejectees may still have a voice by posting to one of the
    other 34,000 newsgroups on USENET.  I wish them luck with their
    illegal pyramid schemes.


21. "Is there an archive?"

    Yes -- if you have access to the World Wide Web, point your browser
    to
       http://www.emf.net/~estephen/manifesto.html
    and enjoy.

[Read The Archive]

    There is currently no ftp archive, but please let me know if you
    want one.  With sufficient demand, I can mirror the WWW archive at
    emf's FTP site.


04. "What articles have appeared so far?"

    Here's a list:

    Article 1: (05/16/95) Welcome to Alt Usenet Manifestoes
    Article 2: (05/17/95) The Origin Story
    Article 3: (05/19/95) Kibo's HappyNet Manifesto
    Article 4: (05/31/95) The Manifesto of David Guntner
    Article 5: (05/31/95) [Manifesto of Ellis L. Keyes] Life is a Party
    Article 6: (05/31/95) Electronic Rights & Responsibilities V0.13
    Article 7: (05/31/95) cyberfeminist manifesto
    Article 8: (05/31/95) the PERKYGOTH manifesto
    Article 9: (05/31/95) Manifesto of Negativity
    Article 10: (06/02/95) self-explanatory (rone@netcom.com)
    Article 11: (06/02/95) Manifesto Mini-FAQ
    Article 12: (06/06/95) The LAMA M A N I F E S T O
    Article 13: (06/06/95) A word from the moderator
    Article 14: (06/06/95) Manifesto of the Communist Party
    Article 15: (06/06/95) The PC Manifesto
    Article 16: (06/07/95) The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto - Timothy May
    Article 17: (06/07/95) Carbonist Manifesto
    Article 18: does not exist.
    Article 19: (06/09/95) The BOB(c)MANIFESTO
    Article 20: (06/09/95) A Psychopunk's Manifesto - T.C.Hughes
    Article 21: (06/13/95) NZMRA Manifesto - Peter Zohrab
    Article 22: (06/13/95) The Cancer of $cientology
    Article 23: (06/14/95) The GNU Manifesto
    Article 24: (06/14/95) TRAV: The FAQ
    Article 25: (06/15/95) A Manifesto for Cyberspace
    Article 26: (06/16/95) Tele-Manifesto du jour
    Article 27: (06/21/95) Re: Tele-Manifesto du jour
    Article 28: (06/21/95) The ParaMetaExistentialist Manifesto
    Article 29: (06/26/95) --GAIA: THE QUIET REVOLUTION--
    Article 30: (06/27/95) Re: The ParaMetaExistentialist Manifesto
    Article 31: (06/28/95) Manifesto of Sexual Freedom
    Article 32: (06/28/95) Commentary on the Manifesto of Sexual Freedom
    Article 33: (06/28/95) the cyber-existentialist manifesto
    Article 34: (06/29/95) Re: the cyber-existentialist manifesto
    Article 35: (06/30/95) Party
    Article 36: (07/02/95) Panarchy: everyone voting on everything
    Article 37: (07/05/95) The Neo-Nihilist Manifesto
    Article 38: (07/05/95) The Cafe BOB(c) Manifesto
    

08. "Can I subscribe by e-mail?"

    No.  Sorry.  Just read it as a newsgroup, or stop by the
    Manifesto Archive Home Page.

    There may be a Usenet-to-mail gateway at your site which can
    automatically send you new articles from alt.usenet.manifestoes as
    they appear.  Please ask your local support people.


12. "How come propagation is so low?"

    Almost every new alt group has bad propagation.  This one is no
    exception.

    But it's getting better.  For the first month (April 1995), it was
    so bad that I didn't even receive the newsgroup at my own site.
    Thanks to diligent newgrouping (from David Guntner, Andrew Stephen
    Damick, Partha S. Banerjee, and Alistair James Robert Young), it's
    now carried at most major sites, including Netcom, uunet, Prodigy
    and AOL.  If you can't receive it at your site, please ask your
    news administrator.

    If your news administrator cannot carry alt.usenet.manifestoes,
    you'll have to use an alternate NNTP server or use the archive instead.


16. "Why is the plural of manifesto 'manifestoes' and not 'manifestos'?
    Why is the name of this newsgroup plural, anyway?"

    Dictionaries in the U.S. say either is acceptable.  The moderator
    happens to prefer 'manifestoes.'

    In the debate on alt.config (the place where new alt groups are
    discussed), Melissa Anne Algeo recommended that the name be plural
    so that people don't think the purpose of this newsgroup is to come
    up with some unifying manifesto for all of USENET (which although a
    worthwhile project, is not the sole goal of this newsgroup).


20. "Who is on the moderation team?

    Many people have pointed me to existing manifestoes for
    publication.  I'd like to specially thank Thomas Dell
    (dell@goonsquad.spies.com), John Restrick, the Stanford NetNews
    Service (SIFT), the authors of "grep," and everyone who has
    contributed so far.


03. "Who is the moderator?"

    Absolutely No One Important.  I've been here on USENET for a long
    time and try to contribute in my own little way.  My only hope is
    that you find this newsgroup an interesting place.


07. "What e-mail addresses are relevant?"

    Contributions: manifesto@emf.net
    Requests: manifesto-request@emf.net
    Human: estephen@emf.net

__________________________________________________________________________
-- Zeigen (E. Stephen Mack)                               estephen@emf.net
        Zeigen's Dilemma Home Page: http://www.emf.net/~estephen/
          "I've never seen such effective camouflage, general."