These pages are terribly outdated and many of the links defunct. I'm in the process of recreating them, but no ETA when ShepWeb will be reborn.

Usenet, FAQs, Mailing Lists

Caution: Usage of Usenet news may result in unexpected flaming and complete loss of free time. You have been warned!

There are many ways of accessing Usenet. The one I highly recommend is NewsWatcher on the Macintosh. However, since you are reading this on the Web, you probably want to access Usenet from a Web Browser. My recommendation for this is Netscape.

Usenet newsgroups are available through SAIC. Set in the preferences your News (NNTP) Server to be news.itl.saic.com. If you are in the TRG (and associated) group use news.trg.saic.com. To get a list of all available newsgroups, open URL <news:*>. This connection may take some time. For some introductory information about Usenet newsgroups open URL <news:news.announce.newusers>.

INDEX of Named Anchors in this Document:

FAQs | My Favorite FAQs | Reference | Mailing Lists

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

• Hypertext Lists
  • Ohio State Usenet FAQs by [ Topic | Newsgroup | Search ]
• FTP site rtfm.mit.edu
  • usenet-by-hierarchy
  • usenet-by-group
  • news.answers
• Home Page for news.groups.reviews
• Accessing the Internet by E-Mail FAQ

My Favorite FAQs

angst-faq [alt.angst]

We all embrace angst here. It is what defines our existence. After all, what use would life be if everything was easy and there was nothing to worry about? Angst is a necessary element in the growth and development of any human being. It is what builds character; it provides contrast and depth to the human experience. Angst, at its simplest, is that which makes us human.

ascii-art-faq [alt.ascii-art]

ASCII graphics—You'll be amazed!!

alt-buddha-short-fat-guy [alt.buddha.short.fat.guy]

Yes it is.

alt.fan.lemurs [alt.fan.lemurs]

The Frinkquently Asked Questions about Lemurs including: What kinds of sounds do Lemurs make? What is "Lemur-B-Gon"? as well as the notorious connection between Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and lemurs.

alt-locksmithing [alt.locksmithing]

All you want to know about breaking in somewhere

alt.folklore.*

The alt.folklore.urban FAQ is the king, but the others are good, too. A fine repository of items discussed is at the Cathouse

alt.quotations [alt.quotations]

Interesting discussions, quotation requests, and (of course) lots of quotations.

alt.tasteless [alt.tasteless]

"A newsgroup devoted to tasteless phenomena in all its forms. A place for people with a twisted and sick sense of humour. In alt.tasteless we like to get into the details ... we want the feel of it, the smell of it, the stench of it, every little rotten and puss-oozing detail." Don't forget to visit the alt.tasteless page as well.

BOB(c)FAQ

What do BOB(c), Damick, Wednesday, Oif, Spiffo, and the Inner Cactus have to do with anything? Read the FAQ

caffeine-faq

Coffee and Caffeine's Frequently Asked Questions

csh-coke-machine-info

The Computer Science House Coke Machine Information - The Coke machine on the Net

devilbunnies-faq [alt.devilbunnies]

Join the fight to stop a quiet and hostile takeover of the Earth by the incredibly powerful, unimaginable evil, disgustingly cute DevilBunnies.

LEGO-faq

Lots of LEGO lore.

mentos.faq

Mentos - The Freshmaker!

net-legends-faq

Gathered here are some descriptions of those net.phenomena that one hears about in passing, and wishes one had more information about. A must read for anyone who delves into Usenet News with any consistency

sf/robert-jordan-faq [rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan]

There is a literary phenomenon equivalent to Star Trek. It is called the Wheel of Time and it is written by Robert Jordan. Two really nice Web pages are the Wheel of Time Archive Home Page and the Jordan FAQ

roller-coaster-faq [rec.roller-coaster]

Everything you need to know to be a coaster fanatic!

The Spot FAQ

Fact or Fiction? Find out if the folks at The Spot are real or not.

Mini-FAQ: Stardates

Hasn't everyone wondered exactly how those stardates work? Here, finally, is the definative answer! Don't let the term 'Mini-FAQ' fool you, though. This only furthurs the point that Trekkies really have too much time on their hands.

verb-verb-verb

ALT.FREQUENT.QUESTIONS.ASK.ASK.ASK

Reference

Here are some FAQs I like to have handy for reference (as opposed to amusement)

• CGI FAQ - Information on Common Gateway Interface (CGI) Programming
• Majordomo FAQ - The Majordomo mailing list management package
• Mac FAQs: [ General | System | Miscellaneous | Applications | Wanted | Hardware | More ]
• PGP FAQ - Pretty Good Privacy

Mailing Lists

Here are a few mailing lists I administrate:

• The Serial Quotations Mailing List - A short list of quality quotations distributed on a daily basis.
• The TheatreSports Mailing List - Announcements regarding the San Diego TheatreSports troupe and other TheatreSports discussion.

And here are some other Mailing List resources:

• Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists (PAML)
• Search for Mailing Lists
• America Online's Mailing List Database
• Yahoo: Mailing Lists
• tile.net/listserv - Reference to all the LISTSERV discussion groups on the Internet.. A ranking list by subscribers of the top mailing lists managed by the LISTSERV mailing list software.