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From: [e-mail]
Subject: rec.games.board FAQ and intro
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Followup-To: poster
Summary: useful information for readers of rec.games.board
Originator: [e-mail]
Keywords: faq, intro
Sender: [e-mail] (USENET News System)
Nntp-Posting-Host: bigbang.astro.indiana.edu
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: Indiana University Astrophysics, Bloomington, IN
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 16:07:32 GMT
Approved: [e-mail]
Expires: Fri, 1 Jan 1993 05:00:00 GMT
Lines: 382

Archive-name: games/board-games-faq
Last-modified: 1992/12/17
Version: 1.5

Revisions : v1.5 : Kill file examples changed to a more efficient format,
           Ogre/GEV, MechWar, and EiA PBEM mailing lists added
Revisions : v1.4 : New Archive-name format for news.answers,
           Rec.games.mecha split info added
Revisions : v1.3 : Rec.games.diplomacy split info added,
           posting now every two weeks
Revisions : v1.2 : Rec.games.abstract split info added
Revisions : v1.1 : Changes to comply with news.answers standards

        rec.games.board FAQ and introduction
        ------------------------------------

Welcome to the rec.games.board newsgroup!  This is a group in which
board games of all sorts are discussed (with the exceptions of certain
popular games which have their own groups, see below).  This is a group
with unusually large scope, given the huge number of different board
games.  Games that have popped up in the past seem to come from a few
distinct groups : 1) "Parlor" games like scrabble, monopoly, and risk;
2) Military and Historic simulations of all kinds; and 3) games that
don't fit into any of the above categories, but which are often played
by the same folks as play #2.

There are several games which have their own dedicated discussion
forums.  If you have a question or want to discuss these games, you'll
get a much better response from the specific forum than you will from
rec.games.board.  Also, in general, cross-posting is a waste of
bandwidth - try to avoid it.  Here's a listing of games with their own
home :

Games which have their own newsgroups :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract games        :    rec.games.abstract
Backgammon              :       rec.games.backgammon
Battletech et al    :    rec.games.mecha
Chess                   :       rec.games.chess
Cosmic Encounter    :       rec.games.board.ce
Diplomacy               :     rec.games.diplomacy
General game design     :     rec.games.design
Go                      :       rec.games.go
Play-by-Mail games      :       rec.games.pbm
Role-Playing Games    :       rec.games.frp....
Trivia games            :    rec.games.trivia

Mailing lists (and where to write to be included) :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Advanced Squad Leader   :       [e-mail]
Command Decision        :       [e-mail]
Conflict Simulation    :    [e-mail]    *
Empires in Arms PBEM    :    [e-mail]
Harpoon (naval mins.)   :       [e-mail]
Mechwar            :    [e-mail] **
Ogre/GEV            :    [e-mail]
Pre-gunpowder mins.     :       [e-mail]
Shogi            :    [e-mail] ***
Star Fleet Battles      :    [e-mail]

* To subscribe, send mail with the subject line "sub CONSIM-L
YourAddress" to the listserv server.

** To suscribe, send a message with the subject MechWar-L containing
a body of SUB MechWar <your address>

*** To suscribe, send mail with the following body : SUB SHOGI-L yourname


Due to the fact that there are so many different games to talk about,
and few people are interested in every one of them, please keep a few
items of nettiquite in mind to make reading this group easier for all.

1) Put the name of the game in the "Subject :" line of your post.  This
allows uninterested people to quickly skip over your posting to get to
the ones they want, and the interested parties to easily find your
post.  Included below are quick introductions to kill files and
threaded news readers, the use of which can make your usenet life much
easier.

Here's a list of some common abbreviations for games to use in your
subject lines :

A&A    =    Axis and Allies
A3R    =    Advanced Third Reich
ASL    =    Advanced Squad Leader
BTECH    =    Battle Tech
CE    =     Cosmic Encounter
EiA    =    Empires in Arms
SFB    =    Star Fleet Battles
WH40K    =    Warhammer 40,000
WiF    =    World in Flames

So, for example, a Battle Tech post would have a subject line like
"Subject: BTECH: Large Toddling Robots are good for us?"


2) Make use of the "Distribution: " line with your posts.
Announcements of conventions, games for sale, opponents wanted, or
questions about directions to gaming stores are of only limited use to
people outside of a certain geographical area.  The distribution line
prevents, for instance, an announcement of "CAPCON XIX, a gaming
convention at Ohio State University" from tantalizing those in Sweden
who couldn't possibly attend.  See below for a quick description of how
to use this feature.

3) If you make a dumb mistake in a posting, accidentally cross post it,
or accidentally post two copies, cancel the bad/extraneous ones.  Do
this by hitting "C" while reading your own post (in rn/trn - other news
programs have different commands - read your manuals).


FAQ's :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
There are too many games of really wide variety discussed here to try to
answer FAQ's about specific games in this document.  Some games (notably
SFB and Diplomacy) have their own regularly posted FAQ's.  Just spout
out your questions, and they'll get answered!


Following are instructions on how to use some usenet tools to make
reading this group easier.  They are moderately long, but are separated
by "------" 's, so use the "g------" command to skip to the next section
if you like.  The topics are :

The "Distribution: " line
Threaded News Readers
Killfiles


How to use the "Distribution :" feature
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [e-mail] (Gene Spafford)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers,news.answers
Subject: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

16.  How do I use the "Distribution" feature?

     When your posting software (e.g., Pnews or postnews) prompts you
     for a distribution, it's asking how widely distributed you want
     your article.  The set of possible replies is different,
     depending on where you are, but at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New
     Jersey, possibilities include (for example):
    local    local to this machine
    mh    Bell Labs, Murray Hill Branch
    nj    all sites in New Jersey
    btl    All Bell Labs machines
    att    All AT&T machines
    usa    Everywhere in the USA
    na    Everywhere in North America
    world    Everywhere on USENET in the world
     Many of the posting programs will provide a list of
     distributions, if your site admin has kept the files up-to-date.

     If you hit return, you'll get the default, which is usually
     "world.".  This default is often not appropriate -- PLEASE take a
     moment to think about how far away people are likely to be
     interested in what you have to say.  Used car ads, housing wanted
     ads, and things for sale other than specialized equipment like
     computers certainly shouldn't be distributed to Europe and Korea,
     or even to the next state.

     It is generally not possible to post an article to a distribution
     that your own machine does not receive.  For instance, if you
     live in Indiana, you can't post an article for distribution only
     in New Jersey or Germany unless your site happens to exchange
     those particular distributions with another site.  Try mailing
     the article to someone in the appropriate area and asking them to
     post it for you.

     If you cannot determine what distributions are valid for your
     site, ask someone locally rather than posting a query to the
     whole network!


Threaded News Readers
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Threaded news readers are news readers which track down all articles
that are part of the same discussion, making it easier to a) follow the
logical flow of conversation; and b) kill a whole topic ("thread") which
does not interest you.  Try to use and understand one, it makes life
much easier!  An example of this kind of software is "trn" - see your
man pages for more info.  Anyone who wants to write a blurb for this
space describing these suckers please do so - I (the FAQ maintainer)
don't have time at the moment.


How to use a Killfile
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [e-mail] (Leanne Phillips)
Subject: rn KILL file FAQ

Rn and trn, and other varieties of rn, have a very useful feature called
the KILL file, which allows you to kill (skip over) articles that you
don't want to see.  There is some support for killfiles in xrn, but the
support is limited; nothing in here is guaranteed to work for xrn.  See
the xrn man page.

  KILL files come in two forms:
    Global: In your News directory, you will have the file KILL.
    Local: In your News directory, the killfile for group foo.bar
        will be foo/bar/KILL.
The difference between the two is that there can be one killfile for
each group (the local killfile), and that killfile affects only the
particular newsgroup (foo/bar/KILL affects only foo.bar; baz/quex/KILL
affects only baz.quex, etc).  The global killfile affects all
newsgroups. (There's a way to change the default names of the killfiles,
but it's more complicated than I want to get into here.  See the rn(1)
man page.)

Killfiles allow you to kill articles based on a number of criteria: a
subject line, a general subject, articles from one poster, articles from
one site, articles cross-posted from any other group, or from one other
group in particular, and articles that are follow-ups to anything at all
(that is, anything with the Re: in the subject line).  You can also kill
articles with a particular string anywhere in the article.

  This article assumes you know how to use an editor and that you have
created the directories for any local killfiles you may need.  Remember
that the name of the file is KILL, not kill or Kill; caps are important.

  The general style for building a kill line is:

        /pattern/modifiers:command

Now, that is obviously not useful to know without understanding it.  The
modifiers and commands are all explained in the rn man page, but here are
some useful ones:
    Modifiers:
       a: all, look through the entire article for the pattern
       h: look through the header of the article for the pattern
    Commands:
       m   mark as unread
       j   mark as read
       =   show subject line
If no modifier appears before the colon, only the subject line of the
article is searched.  More than one command can be performed by using
the style:

        /pattern/modifier:command:command
Thus, for instance, you can use j and = together to see the exact subject
lines being killed.
  It doesn't matter if you use uppercase or lowercase in the pattern; the
program will assume they're the same thing.  That is, "Test" and "test"
used in the pattern mean exactly the same thing; only one is necessary.
If you want case to matter, see the rn(1) man page, the 'c' modifier.

The easiest way to kill a subject line is to kill it from within the
newsgroup.  When the subject line comes up that you want to kill,
instead of using 'n' to skip that article or 'k' to kill the subject for
that  session, type 'K'.  The subject line will then be entered into
your KILL file for that group.  If you want to put that line into your
global KILL file, you'll have to do that yourself.  (If you don't need
it in your global file, it's best not to put it there - global kill
files slow down your news reading a lot.  So does using the 'a'
modifier; use it sparingly.)
(I should mention here the easiest way to start editing your kill files.
Typing control-k when you're being asked to pick a newsgroup to read
will start you editing the global killfile; typing the same thing when
you're reading a newsgroup will start up the editing with the kill file
for that group.  If it doesn't exist, it will create it - including the
directories necessary.  This method is particularly recommended for
people creating their first kill file.)

  To kill a general subject, ie any 'test' messages, put in the pattern:
            /test/:j
This will kill anything with the word 'test' in the subject line.

  To kill anything that is a followup to any article, use this patter:
            /Subject: *Re:/:j
This kills anything beginning with Re:.

  To kill cross-posts from one particular group, say foo.bar, try this:

        /Newsgroups:.*[ ,]foo\.bar/h:j

This searches the header (the 'h' modifier) for any line containing the
string 'Newsgroups:' (which all articles do), as well as the string
'foo.bar'.  The other elements of this line are part of the regular
expression meta-language; see the ed(1) man page for more details. (Note
that all of them are necessary, particularly the '\' before the '.' in
foo\.bar.)

  To kill all cross-posts, from any group at all:

        /Newsgroups:.*,/h:j

If the Newsgroups: line has a ',' in it, it's a cross-post, and therefore
this will find it.
  Note that the above line searches the entire header, included the
Subject: line, for that pattern.  So a Subject line like:
        Subject: I hate the Newsgroups: line, don't you?
would get killed by that pattern, because it has a 'Newsgroups:' part,
and a ','.  To make it work properly, use the 'start of line' character,
^. The ^ isn't actually there when you look at the header yourself; it
just means to look for the beginning of the line.  So, to kill
cross-posts:

        /^Newsgroups:.*,/h:j

should be used instead.  (Use of the ^ is recommended if you know the
pattern you want to catch will be at the beginning of the line; it makes
searching a lot faster.)

  To kill articles from a single poster, you need to know the userid and
nodename of the poster; for this example we'll use [e-mail].

        /From: *noone@anywhere\.all/h:j

  For articles from any site, just remove the 'noone' from the previous
line, and articles from the machine 'anywhere.all' will be killed.
(Note again that the \ is important.)

Now, after all that, you might suddenly find out that you killed
articles from someone whose posts you want to read even if they write
about subjects you don't want to read.  For that, you need to 'unkill'
the articles by them:
       /From: *name of person you want to read/h:m
So, if you suddenly decided you wanted to read [e-mail]'s
postings, after having deleted them above, you would add this line:

        /From: *noone@anywhere\.all/h:m

The 'm' becomes useful suddenly.  You can substitute m for j any time
you need to, up above.  In fact, you can kill everything in a newsgroup
and only read what you want to read by using the 'm' feature, and
putting this line at the top of your KILL file:

                /^/:j
This method has a problem, though.  Specifically, it marks even those
you've already read (really read, not just marked as read) as unread.
So, there's another way to do it:
            /pattern/:=:M
(check the rn(1) man page for the M command).  This lists all the
subjects of the new articles, and then gives those articles to the M
command.  (You then have to type 'Y' after the M command has finished.)
(For more complete information, please write me, and I'll forward on to
you an example that was posted by David Tamkin.)

Finally, you can kill (or mark, of course) a particular pattern
appearing anywhere in the article, as opposed to just the Subject: line
or the header:

            /pattern/a:j
               and
            /pattern/a:m

This is useful for, for instance, killing all articles by a certain user,
followups to said user's articles, and even mention of the user by userid
and node, or, conversely, by marking all of those conversations as unread
so you can read them if they've been killed accidentally by your other
entries.

Further information is available in the rn man page, particularly on
other available commands and modifiers.  Regular expression syntax is in
the ed(1) man page; the xrn man page gives information about the quirks
of xrn in relation to killfiles.

I'd like to thank Jonathan Kamens and Rich Salz in particular for their
help, and everyone else who's sent in comments, criticisms, and
suggestions; keep them coming, folks!

Minor administrative note to the suggestors: Several people have suggested
that, in junking all of the articles and then marking only the desirable
ones to read, you need to use the 'r' modifier (search read articles as
well as unread).  According to the man page I read, you don't need that;
if 'm' is the first command, the 'r' is assumed.  If anyone wants to test
this and tell me it's wrong, please do.  But please only tell me if it's
wrong; I'll assume it's right until someone tells me otherwise. :-)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some example Rec.Games.Board killfile entries and what they kill :
/1830/:=:j        /* 1830 railroad game */
/btech/:=:j        /* Battletech */
/a3r/:=:j        /* Advanced 3rd Reich */
/civ/:=:j        /* Civilization */
/diplomacy/:=:j        /* Diplomacy */
/rec.games.strategic/:=:j/* the group split argument */
/space/:=:j        /* anything with "space" */
/wif/:=:j        /* World in Flames */

See where those handy-dandy standard game subject abbreviations listed
above come in handy?