| Q: | Help! Why can't I get these files to work? |
|---|---|
| A: | I dunno, maybe you should call the Psychic Network! Please, when you ask for help, at least provide enough information so someone CAN help you. At a minimum give your operating system (WinXT, Win 3.1, Mac, Etc.), your software (newsreader and image viewer), a description of your problem (Uploading, downloading, viewing), and the specific file you are having trouble with. The more information you give, the better the chances someone can provide you with an answer. |
| Q: | Why is it that some people who ask questions get helped, some get flamed and others are just ignored? |
| A: | Polite questions in the proper groups get responses, unless the answer is already staring them right in the face. In that case, the poster might be ignored or get a little reminder to read the FAQ before posting. |
| Q: | Is it okay to post chat in ABPA*? |
| A: | Yes, if it is related to posting or downloading and of use to the group as a whole. |
| Q: | Hey, dude, can you e-mail me some pictures? |
| A: | No. It's obvious you're only about 15 years old and on WebTV1. If you were an adult with a computer and a credit card, you'd be able to subscribe to a great ISP and news server. Besides, even if your mailbox could accommodate large files, anyone with anything to share would be throwing their time away uploading for just one person. Posting makes the files available to millions of people, world-wide, all at once. Then, many of the people who download them like to "give back" by posting what they have. See how nice that works out? Lots of posts, everyone benefits. |
| Q: | How do I post? |
|---|---|
| A: | You should have an automated posting program, like AutoPost. Write to a poster and we can send or suggest one and help with any questions you may have. It's quite simple to post large batches of pictures with the right software. |
| Q: | Is there any subject matter that is taboo in the newsgroups? |
| A: | Child pornography, kiddie porn, KP. Almost all of us are governed by laws requiring models to be at least 18 years of age. We ask that international participants respect those constraints and our cultural sensibilities. Or else! |
| Q: | Is it okay to repost files I've downloaded from ABPA* ? |
| A: | Yes, absolutely, but PLEASE make sure you are not repeating very recent or tired posts; it's also considered good form to credit the original scanner (and get his/her permission to repost) as well. If you only visit occasionally or if you're very new around here, you're probably not aware of what has been posted recently. Also, if you are not a steady reader, it would be very much appreciated if you stick around for a week or two after posting and answer any questions about your posts. |
| Q: | Is okay to post pictures I've downloaded from web sites? |
| A: | Generally, no. First of all, many such pictures are modified versions of pictures that originally appeared in one of the ABPA* groups. Second, it is a waste of bandwidth - instead of posting the picture, post the URL where the picture can be found...that way anyone who wants it can get it without cluttering up the servers. |
| Q: | I have a bunch of pictures that I'd like to post in one big zip file, OK? |
| A: | Nooooooooooo! Keep them separate, please! Why should anyone be asked to download the whole collection? Most steady readers would probably already have at least some of the pictures. Also, tastes vary. Let everyone pick and choose from individual posts. And many newsreaders will only download pictures posted one-at-a-time. Ideally, post a thumbnail index with your pictures, as well. |
| Q: | I rename all my pictures so I can remember who they are of and keep the files together and organized on my hard drive. Is it okay to post them renamed? |
| A: | NO. You'll be flamed into oblivion by anyone who wastes the
download
time only to find out they already have these pictures. Blanket re-naming
is a mistake often made by newbies, to their later regret. They find
themselves downloading dupes, too, because they can't tell they already
have the file. It's better to keep track of content by sorting image files into
descriptively named folders, such as by Artist, Title, model name or subject.
Example: You have three series' of Erté and all three are named img001-050. The conflicting filenames might cause a mess when downloaded, mixing up the three series' with each other. If you re-name them by adding a couple of numbers or letters, but retaining the original numbers at the end, it will help more than hurt. Situations, however, where this sort of re-naming is necessary, are pretty rare. Use common sense and think of your fellow collectors if you embark on re-naming. NOTE: Some re-naming is sometimes helpful. Not for yourself so much as for everyone's benefit, conservative re-naming of some files might be helpful - if you have more than one series of the same artist/painting and the series' have the exact same filenames. Note: Re-naming files creates MORE dupes, NOT less. Every time you re-name a file, you just created another dupe for the group as a whole to have to deal with - another dupe to have to delete after we download it. Dupes are a problem created by collectors who re-name and then post. It is a poster's responsibility to the group, for the good of other collectors, NOT to unnecessarily CREATE new dupes by posting re-named files. Re-naming (except in special case mentioned above) might "clean up" YOUR hard drive (for now), but it clutters up OUR newsgroups with duplicate files. When you re-name a file, you just ended all chances of actually finding FILLS for that series. How can you fill a hole in a series when you have re-named it to where there are no holes? Rather than re-name these sets you should post them, incomplete and with original filenames - and ask for fills. This is the fun challenge of collecting pictures - to find those fills and fill those holes. Re-naming, cropping, and re-sizing of scanner's files is not acceptable in the picture newsgroups. |
| Q: | Uh-oh, so now what can I do about finding out the original filenames for my re-named pictures? |
| A: | Re-download the files next time they are posted. Or request that someone who has the files repost them for you with their original filenames. |
| Q: | Can I name my pictures anything I want? |
| A: | Yes, within reason. A name like "CAT.JPG" is less useful than "eerte-0.jpg". (In the bad old (DOS) days, file names were limited to 8 characters of name, a period ("."), and 3 characters of extension (".JPG"); thus you'd see names like these. Now days, there is less restriction on file names, so you'll see names like "Erté - At the Theatre- Trapeze.jpg", which combine the name of the artist and the artist's title. Don't go overboard on these - some people still have a limit of 32 or 64 characters in the file name, and most CD-ROM burners are unhappy if the name is more than 64 characters long. If you MUST number your pictures, make sure that you use enough digits in the number (and remember to insert the leading 0's) to allow for future expansion of the series - computers like to sort files names, and 'a1, a2, ..., a9, a10, ..., a100 ...' will get sorted as 'a1 a10 a100 a2 ... a9 ...', which most people find annoying. |
| Q: | Can I make the file name as long as I want? |
| A: | You should set some limits...While Windows and the UNIX variants
allow 255 characters in filenames (including the file extension),
the Mac operating system is limited to 32 characters, or
28 characters
plus the file extension. Although Windows is the dominant operating
system in the market today many of our members use Mac computers
and they are forced to rename files with long filenames. In practice
there should be little difficulty in creating a useful filename within
this 31 character limit. When a filename is constructed without consideration of its length we might see something like this: (69 characters) 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 Erté - Chinese Fan Bearer for The Woman and the Devil, 1921.jpg Erté – An Erté Calendar from 1921 01.jpgWhen a Mac user downloads a series of files with filenames like the above these files are saved as: Erté – An Erté Calendar from 19 Erté – An Erté Calendar from ~1 Erté – An Erté Calendar from ~2 Erté – An Erté Calendar from ~3If the Mac user moves these files to a folder and the next day downloads the next group of files in the same series (05 through 08, for example) the files will be saved with the same filenames you see above. The Mac user will have to rename them before moving them to the folder to prevent the new files from overwriting the first group of files. This is completely unnecessary because a useful filename can be constructed like this: (30 characters) 1234567890123456789012345678901 Erté – A Calendar, 1921 01.jpgWhen the Mac user downloads a series of files with filenames like this the files are saved just as they are named: Erté – A Calendar, 1921 01.jpg Erté – A Calendar, 1921 02.jpg Erté – A Calendar, 1921 03.jpg Erté – A Calendar, 1921 04.jpgIf you find it impossible to give your file a name that provides useful information AND is 27 characters long you should take particular care to place its sequence number, within the series, close to the beginning of the filename. Some posters solve this problem by placing the series number at the beginning of the filename. This works but the requirement is only that it appears within the first 23 characters. |
| Q: | What should I put in my subject header? |
| A: | Essential information is:
Name of artist, title, filename AND extension.
Full filename is necessary for many newsreaders to download a
picture file. "(1/1)" Part description is necessary for many
newsreaders to download pictures also. When reposting a scanner's
work it is a good idea to give them credit.
EXAMPLE HEADER: <r> Erté - for Joe (Thanks, Itieu) - c-ert001.jpg (1/1)Additional information, such as the dates of the artist or of the painting, or the place where the painting resides, are also welcome, either in the subject or body of the message. Try to insure that when you post an image you use a unique file name. Files with similar content may sometimes be given the same name ie. dog.gif. This can cause your filename to be overwritten on other peoples systems and often forces them to rename them. We want to avoid this in order to give credit where credit is due. A good method for keeping track of who posted an image for your filing system is to add an initial if not already there, ie. initial_picture.jpg, picture_initial.jpg, etc. The underscore can help you keep track of your edits to the original file name. An underscore-hyphen-underscore _-_ separates your additions even better. All this effort would be wasted without the scanners who post the pictures in the first place. Most scanners use some sort of ID code (either at the beginning or end of the file name) to identify their work. Here's a list of the IDs already in use - check these out and make sure you don't use one that someone else is alteady using! If you're reposting pictures you've posted before, it's considered common curtesy to identify the reposts so anyone who downloaded the picture the last time at least can verify that they've already got a copy. The common way to identify this is to preface the Subject-line with either "<R>" or "<RBR>" (Repost or RepostByRequest). Do not put message count in your headers, in any form [example: (1/25) or 1 of 25] News servers use high numbers in this sort of header to blacklist and block you as a spammer. Also, it will confuse some newsreaders (FreeAgent) into thinking that your picture is a part of a multi-part post and won't download it. |
| Q: | Is it okay to download and upload at the same time? |
| A: | Yes, it sure is, but expect one or the other - maybe both - to progress much slower, which increases the risk of timing out. |
| Q: | I made a BIG mistake. How do I cancel the post? |
| A: | You can do that with your newsreader. Stop the upload if it's still in progress. Retrieve headers, and find the post you want to cancel. Check your newsreader's command menus for "Cancel Usenet Post." Newsguy users go to their Web site to cancel your posts there. Or send an e-mail to your news server requesting they cancel your messages with a certain header. |
| Q: | How much can I post in one day? |
| A: | Limiting yourself to no more than 25 pictures (or 5 MB) a day is best. This gives people time to download what they want (not just your posts) and keep current. If you regularly exceed that benchmark, you'll find yourself flooded with repost requests anyway. Keep an eye on the newsgroup and judge by what you see. When there's a lot of activity, slow up a bit. During a lull, you can post a little more. Be courteous to other downloaders who may not have as fast a connection as you or the free time to spend all day every day downloading and sorting your pictures. |
| Q: | Should I cross-post ? |
| A: | Generally, NO! Be aware that cross-posting is one of the criteria
used in by news servers to determine whether a post is legitimate or spam.
As a general rule, DO NOT cross-post to more than four newsgroups at
one time. Make sure, also, that your posts are relevant to all newsgroups
to which they are cross-posted. Off-topic posts will be dubbed spam and
deleted by news servers. Best policy - do not cross-post at all ever.
Please do not cross-post to ABPA*. It does cause problems as far as the
serious collectors in this group and others. They tend to have regular
groups they subscribe to. So please don't contribute to the problem.
A much better solution is to post to a single group, and then post a simple
message to the other groups telling anyone interested there where to find
your posting. (If you preface the name of the group with "news:",
it makes the reference clickable and convenient for all users. Example:
I've just posted a series on Erté on news:alt.binaries.pictures.artpics.A note: Many news servers do not retain newsgroups that are only CROSS posted to. They look to see if a group has posts aimed directly at it and keep only those. Warning: Excessive cross-posting (spamming) could result in the termination of your ISP account or suspension of posting privileges. |
| Q: | Why limit how much I can post? |
| A: | Each newsgroup serves a community of users. While some have large bandwidth available, others are still limited to dialup. A dialup modem user would need about 15 minutes to download 5 megabytes of files. Since a typical downloader is likely to subscribe to several groups, each served by multiple posters, download time (and therefore download size) is an important consideration. |
| Q: | I've noticed that someone is asking for a certain series to be reposted and it looks like the original poster didn't see the request. Is it okay if I repost it? |
| A: | Sure... UNLESS the request was has already been posted a couple of times recently. In this case, you can probably figure out why the request is being ignored by the original poster. |
| Q: | "Your picture did not upload correctly - you forgot some pictures. Please repost it." |
| A: | NOOOOOO. The regular posters in this group do know how to post correctly. It is simply not their fault if you can't download their pictures. If you are having trouble downloading, decoding, or viewing files posted to this group, first look at yourself. What might be your problem that is causing the trouble? Most likely it is your news server or your newsreading software. Reposts are a waste of time and bandwidth. If the files are not on your server, you either need to get a better news server or be satisfied with missing files. We have seen several problems lately with newsreaders (your software). We know that FreeAgent cannot decode all picture binaries and cannot handle certain headers. So don't use these to download pictures. We know now that Netscape's Newsreader cannot handle all file types. So don't use Netscape to download pictures. Also, no matter what newsreader you are using, if it is not the most current version, it is out of date may have problems - upgrade it. Otherwise, you may not be able to handle all picture filetypes |
| Q. | Should I encode my postings with yEnc? |
| A. | A. That's up to you, but consider the following:
Pro: yEnc files are smaller; thus they can up- and down-load faster. Being smaller, they take up less space on the servers, and thus are likely to be retained longer. For people who pay for connections by the minute or by the volume of data transferred, these are important considerations. For these reasons, yEnc is popular in Europe.Thus, if you use yEnc, your audience will be smaller than if you use one of the standard Usenet mechanisms, such as UUEncode. |
Zip or other compression formats are discouraged. Subscribers cannot see what images they want.