Archive-name: erotica-faq
Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 25 July 1995


    INTRODUCTION TO REC.ARTS.EROTICA AND FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
		      [ Last changed: July 25, 1995 ]

CREDITS
Originally by: Evan Leibovich (evan@telly.on.ca)
Later by: Tim Pierce (twpierce@unix.amherst.edu)
Now maintained by: Discord (tina@tezcat.com)


Copyright 1995 by Discord.  Permission is granted to copy and
redistribute this document electronically provided that it remains 
complete and unmodified.  CD publishers take note: this does not
include you.

This FAQ has been substantially rewritten as of 06/10/95, upon my
taking over from Tim Pierce as moderator for the group.  While I feel
that Tim's policies were well thought out and wise, and am keeping many
of them, I felt the FAQ needed a good overhaul, and I will be making
some changes.

For the most up-to-date copy of this FAQ, send mail to 
erotica@unix.amherst.edu with the subject "FAQ".  The FAQ will be
placed on the Web very shortly.  You can also retrieve the most recently
posted version of the FAQ via ftp from MIT or one of its mirrors:
ftp rtfm.mit.edu /pub/usenet/news.answers/erotica.faq
or via the FAQ archive on the Web at:
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/FAQ-List.html

Moderator of rec.arts.erotica: Discord (tina@tezcat.com).
Backup moderator: Michael Handler (grendel@netaxs.com).

Contents-list:

  Q: What's rec.arts.erotica all about, anyhow?
  Q: What will happen if I post to rec.arts.erotica?
  Q: What do you base your reviews on?
  Q: What types of stories will be rejected?
  Q: What are the guidelines for violent posts?
  Q: What should I include in my submission?
  Q: Do you ever edit or modify submissions before approving them?
  Q: What if my submission is rejected?
  Q: Can I post anonymously?
  Q: Can you please cancel my last post?
  Q: There's never anything in this group but this FAQ.  What's wrong?
  Q: How do I subscribe to this group?/How do I get hot stories sent to
     me? (And other such questions.)
  Q: Can I get rec.arts.erotica via e-mail?
  Q: Is there a publicly-accessible site which archives this group?
  Q: Where can I get sexy GIFs?
  Q: What do you do with non-story mail?


------------------------------
Q: What's rec.arts.erotica all about, anyhow?
[kept from last version, unchanged]

  This news group is intended to be a low-volume, noise-free
  environment in which to find erotic literature, and pointers of
  where to find other erotic materials.  It is here for the enjoyment
  of the Usenet community and no other reason.

  Original submissions, and works either released into the public
  domain, or copyrighted but without restriction of distribution, are
  welcome.

  There aren't many rules here, but there are some. I don't think
  they're too outlandish, and I'm always open to change if some policy
  is too restrictive.  But your reasons had better be good...

  If you have suggestions or problems regarding the answers that
  follow, please write me.  Posting to the newsgroup should also work,
  because most news systems automatically mail posts to moderated
  groups (such as rec.arts.erotica) to the moderator's mailbox.

  Do not post or mail requests for stories of names of archive sites.
  Such requests will go ignored.

------------------------------
Q: What will happen if I post to rec.arts.erotica?
[kept from last version, virtually unchanged]

  For information on canceling articles that have already been
  posted, please see below.

  First, your post will be sent to me automatically via e-mail, so
  that I can review it.  Therefore, don't expect your post to show up
  within a few minutes after being composed.  It'll have to wait until
  the next time I log on and have time to review new submissions.  If
  traffic is high, this might be more than a few days (and has taken
  two weeks or more in the past).

  Next, I check it over for acceptability (see below).  If your
  submission meets all of the guidelines required of rec.arts.erotica
  postings, I will "approve" it and have it posted to the newsgroup.
  I will also save a copy of your post in the rec.arts.erotica
  archives.  Please note that by submitting to this newsgroup, you are
  implicitly granting permission for your work to be archived here and
  at any other archive of rec.arts.erotica that someone might be
  maintaining.

  Before approving a submission, however, I will add a Keywords header
  line to your submission containing a list of the topics explored
  therein.  This permits people who are either strongly interested or
  strongly disinterested in particular topics to determine quickly
  whether they will find your post interesting.

  The following keywords are used to describe a post's content:

    admin:     administrative announcements, indexes of stories, etc.
    anal:      anal penetration/fisting
    animal:    bestiality and animals
    annc:      announcements other than administrative: freeware, etc.
    bond:      bondage (physical restraint)
    fdom:      domination by females
    f-solo:    female masturbation and other solitary activities
    ff:        female-female contact
    furry:     sentient non-human characters (e.g. "Journal Entries")
    gothic:    vampires and other Gothic subjects (e.g. "Night Music")
    group:     group sex and threesomes
    heavy:     "heavy" forms of bdsm
    hist:      historical/medieval pieces that do -not- necessarily fall into
               the genre of "speculative fiction"
    humor:     joke posts or amusing stories (e.g. "Barbeque of Doom")
    incest:    incestuous relationships
    m-solo:    male masturbation and other solitary activities
    mc:        mind control
    mdom:      domination by males
    mf:        male-female contact
    mild:      "mild" forms of bdsm
    mm:        male-male contact
    mutual:    mutual masturbation or other non-solo masturbatory depictions
    nc:        non-consensual situations
    oral:      mouth-to-genital contact
    pedo:      pedophilia (pre-pubescent) (e.g. "Misty")
    poem:      poetry
    rape:      rape scenes and other violent non-consensual sexuality
    romance:   heavily romantic pieces
    rough:     rough sex that is consensual but not precisely S&M
    scat:      scatology and coprophilia
    series:    long stories split into sections (e.g. "Marie")
    sexless:   no overt sexual depiction
    sf:        speculative fiction: sci-fi, heavy fantasy, and the like
    sm:        sadism and masochism
    teen:      consensual sex involving teenagers and postpubescents
    tg:        transgendered (all stages)
    tv:        cross-dressing, feminization
    violence:  violent, not (necessarily) sexual/sadistic
    water:     watersports and urophilia

  Before posting an article to rec.arts.erotica, I also add a header
  line entitled "X-Moderator-Review."  This line contains a numeric
  rating which may fall between 1 and 10, and a one-line summary of my
  opinion of the post.  This entire header is purely subjective, and
  may freely be ignored if you do not find it useful.

------------------------------
Q: What do you base your reviews on?

  My opinion, and my opinion only.  Obviously, this isn't necessarily
  going to be your opinion or even -anyone- else's.  However, once you
  read for a while, my reviews and ratings will probably give you a
  rule of thumb to help you scan through the stories, and that is the
  purpose of such a review.

  Some things I particularly look at in a story include:
    * Grammar, spelling, and the like.  If there are minor errors or
      occasional run-on sentences, I'm not going to mind, but major
      flaws ruin a story for me.  [Really poor grammar or spelling
      may get a post rejected.]
    * Dialogue.  Poorly executed dialogue really bugs me.  I'm not
      looking for perfection here, but things like "oh baby, do me
      hard with your throbbing man meat" are going to turn me off,
      turn my stomach, and lower my rating.
    * Continuity.  This one is harder to explain, but I'm basically
      looking for a certain flow to a story.  If it jumps around
      or is somehow choppy, it isn't likely to hold my interest, or
      that of other readers.
    * Realism.  I don't mean "realistic" in the sense that I think
      everything in the story should be real-world possible, I mean
      believable plot lines and situations, and internally consistent
      ones as well.
    * Originality.  This one is very important.  There are only so
      many stories in the world, but it is possible to tell the
      with a fresh outlook.  The fresher the outlook, the more likely
      I am to like the story.  Stories that basically boil down to
      "boy meets girl, boy fucks girl, boy goes home" really aren't
      what I consider original, but if there's good detail involved,
      things that fill in the spaces well, I will think more highly
      of the story.

------------------------------
Q: What types of stories will be rejected?

Stories with formatting, grammar, or spelling that is sufficiently poor
as to make the story difficult to read.  The following things will
probably get your post rejected (taken [mostly] verbatim from the old
version of the FAQ):
 
  * Screen lines of more than 75 characters.
  * Right-justified margins.  They are good in theory but, when using
    a fixed-width printing medium, make text nearly illegible.
  * Inconsistent (or, worse, consistent) misspellings.  I don't mean
    an occasional misspelling; I'm talking about a great quantity.
  * An embarrassment of ellipses. 
  * Paragraphs that continue for more than a screen's worth of text
    (24 lines in most cases).
  * Accidental changes of tense in the middle of a story.
  * Any common grammar mistake that hasn't already been mentioned.

Unlike the old moderator, I am unwilling to correct minor errors in the
spelling or grammar of a story; if they are truly minor, then they go
out the way they came in.  If they are in great quantity, then back the
story goes to the submitter, with a note asking them to please make the
corrections (or send the story elsewhere, if they prefer). 

Other types of posts I will reject include:

   * Anything that I do not classify as erotica.  Note that
     "erotica" and "sex" are -not- equivalent terms.
   * Ads, personals, discussion/comments, or other non-story 
     postings.  Discussion should be done in alt.sex.stories.d 
     (and all stories will have the followup set that that group).
   * Copyrighted work that is not electronically redistributable.
     These stories -are- being archived.
   * Stories about copyrighted or trade-marked characters.
   * Anything submitted from a remailer that does not allow for
     return mail.  [See below for more detail.]
   * Extremely violent stories.  [See below for more detail.]
   * Binaries of any type.
   * Anything that has previously been posted on rec.arts.erotica.
   * Stories containing full names.  If you want to use "Mr. Smith",
     that's fine.  If you want to use "Jean", that's fine.  Using
     "Gertrude Hepstein" is not; it may be fictional, but it may
     not be, and I'm not willing to take that risk.

------------------------------
Q:  What are the guidelines for violent posts?

  Posts in which the violence is either in the form of, for the
  lack of a better phrase, tastefully done rapes is fine.  BDSM
  related stories are also fine; I know those can get fairly
  extreme, and I will post them if there seems to be a -reason-
  for the violence within them.

  However, posts in which there is what I feel to be gratuitous
  violence or non-consensual acts will probably be rejected.

  I realize there is a fine line between these two categories, and
  I may reject something that someone else would find to be perfectly
  valid.  However, I do not wish to argue about rejections made on
  this basis.  If you have a story rejected on these grounds but
  feel it deserves to be posted, you have the option of posting to
  alt.sex.stories, which is unmoderated.
 
  Some of you may recall that I myself have written BDSM stories
  with, if not extreme by some people's standards, at least fairly
  heavy S&M content.  I think that I can judge what is within the
  bounds of a reasonable part of a story and what is done merely for 
  shock value; I don't feel this group needs the latter.

  Also in the category of violent posts are snuff stories.  I realize
  that many people find these to be valid, but I myself do -not-
  consider them to be erotica.  I will not make a prohibition against
  such stories, and I will take them on a case-by-case basis, but
  do not be surprised if you submit a snuff story and I reject it
  based on this guideline.

------------------------------
Q: What should I include in my submission?
[kept nearly unchanged from the previous version]

  Approved postings now carry an "Archive-name" header which is
  parsable by "rkive" and other archive-maintenance software.

  Because of this, it would make my life slightly easier if you
  include *both*:

     * a descriptive Subject line.  Note that "story" and "submission"
       are not what I consider descriptive.

     * a suggestion for a one-word archive name.  The archive name
       should be no longer than 14 characters if possible, and should
       consist only of alphanumeric characters and hyphens.  If you do
       not include an archive name, one will be chosen for you.


------------------------------
Q: Do you ever edit or modify submissions before approving them?

  Aside from adding the review header and keywords, I will not
  be editing posts in any way.

  This is a change from the way Tim Pierce handled the group.

  As I mentioned above regarding grammar and spelling, if there are
  only a few errors, the post will go out the way it is.  I do not
  have any inclination to be a proofreader (at least not for free).
  Adding that to my duties would, I feel, distract me from the main
  purpose of this group, which is to get (reasonably) well-written
  erotica out on the 'net for people to read.

  I -may- make an exception in the case of excessive line length, if
  that is the sole problem with the post.
  
------------------------------
Q: What if my submission is rejected?
[kept unchanged from previous version]

  An unmoderated newsgroup for erotica, alt.sex.stories, was created
  some time ago.  There are also other newsgroups for posting general
  fiction and verse, such as rec.arts.prose and rec.arts.poems.  If
  your post is rejected from rec.arts.erotica, you may either edit it
  so that it falls within the guidelines for submission and then
  resubmit it, or you may post it directly to one of the above-named
  unmoderated newsgroups.

------------------------------
Q: Can I post anonymously?

  Old readers and posters take note!  This represents a definite
  change from the old policy on this group.

  Any post to rec.arts.erotica must be submitted by someone with
  a valid e-mail address.  This means, I must be able to send a
  piece of mail to the address that is on the post.

  I -will- be allowing submissions from Penet accounts, as well
  as from what I recognize as established sites that allow
  anonymous accounts.  Currently, this means Nyx and the freenets.
  There must be some sort of name connected with the signon, but
  it doesn't have to be a "real" name (i.e., it can be a "handle").

  The remailers where return mail cannot be sent to the poster are
  specifically excluded, in other words.  There needs to be some
  way for return mail to get to you.

  The reason I require these limitations is that, if something in
  in the story is offensive (or worse) to someone, I don't want
  to deal with the flak; all author's are responsible for the
  content of their own stories.  (Critics take note.)

  I will continue to not accept submissions from "root", "guest",
  "news", "postmaster", and the like.

------------------------------
Q: Can you please cancel my last post?
[kept unchanged from previous version]

  I reserve the right to cancel posts which have already been approved
  to rec.arts.erotica, for any reason.  This includes, but is not
  limited to, submissions which violate someone's copyright, which are
  subsequently shown to be reposts of old rec.arts.erotica material,
  or which prove to be intended primarily to harass or humiliate
  another Usenet participant.

  I also reserve the right to refuse to cancel any post which was sent
  somehow in error.  It is your responsibility to check and proofread
  messages before they are sent, to know your local site's policy on
  postings to Usenet, and to understand what it means to have your
  name appear in the header of a post to rec.arts.erotica.  I cannot
  be responsible for such mistakes, and I don't think it's appropriate
  to unnecessarily inconvenience readers of this newsgroup by
  canceling posts that were submitted carelessly.

------------------------------
Q: There's never anything in this group but this FAQ.  What's wrong?
[kept unchanged from previous version]

  The most likely problem is that although the newsgroup appears on
  your system locally, for some reason some site upstream from you is
  not passing it along.  As a result, you will only receive
  rec.arts.erotica articles which have been cross-posted to newsgroups
  that *are* sent to you.  This FAQ is one such article; it is
  cross-posted to news.answers and rec.answers, among others.

  To solve this problem you will need to speak with your system
  administrator, or with the administrator of a site that feeds you
  news.  I am afraid that I cannot help you further in this.

------------------------------
Q: How do I subscribe to this group?/How do I get hot stories sent to
   me?  (And other such questions.)

  My consultant rates for Unix-related questions are $80/hr, one
  quarter hour minimum, payable in advance for e-mail questions.
  Alternately, you can ask tech support on your local system to
  show you how to subscribe to a newsgroup.

------------------------------
Q: Is there a publicly-accessible site which archives this group?
[kept unchanged from previous version]

     * NOTE: I do not have the time to send individual posts in *
     * the rec.arts.erotica archive to people, nor do I have    *
     * the resources to make the archive available via FTP or   *
     * mail server.  Any requests I receive for reposts, old    *
     * old submissions, or to be subscribed or unsubscribed     *
     * from mailing lists, are likely to be dropped in the bit- *
     * bucket without comment or acknowledgment.               *

  Such archive sites almost certainly do exist, but many do not wish to
  make their existence publicly known because of the crush of archive
  requests which invariably results from such an announcement.  Please
  do not jeopardize the existence of erotica archive sites by posting
  their names.  I will include the name of such a site here only if the
  administrator of the service has given me permission.

  If you manage such an archive site and are willing to announce it
  publicly, please notify me and I will include it in this posting,
  which I hope will be updated from time to time with new information
  of this kind.  If you are willing to *publicly* archive
  rec.arts.erotica but do not have copies of the archives, I will be
  happy to supply you with copies of past submissions.

  NOTE: I am presently attempting to resolve some difficult copyright
  issues with respect to the rec.arts.erotica archives.  Until I have
  finished, I will be unable to send even archivists copies of this
  material.  Please have patience.

  The following archives of rec.arts.erotica have been made known to
  me:

     FTP sites:
       None.  If you manage such a site, please let me know
       so I can include the information in this FAQ.

     Mail Servers:

       * server@hermes.acm.rpi.edu

         Send mail to server@hermes.acm.rpi.edu with the word "help"
         in the body of the message.  Note that this archive contains
         a variety of erotic texts, but does not presently archive all
         posts to rec.arts.erotica.

       * louvre@dido.fa.indiana.edu

         Send mail to louvre@dido.fa.indiana.edu with the Subject
         header "LIST" to get an alphabetical list of available files
         and retrieval instructions.  "LIST-NEW" will return a list of
         files ordered from newest to oldest.  Appending "-SIZE" to
         either of these commands tells the server to include the size
         of each available file as well as its name.

         Follow these instructions *exactly* or it will not work.  If
         you experience problems or confusion, send mail to
         dhuberma@indiana.edu and ask for assistance.  Like the hermes
         server above, this one does not presently include everything
         posted to rec.arts.erotica.

         (Note that the name of this machine is "dido," not "dildo."
         For the literary-minded among you, "Dido" was Aeneas's lover.
         Do not send mail to "dildo.fa.indiana.edu" or you will look
         very silly.)
 
     WWW Servers:
 
       * http://zeus.genie.uottawa.ca:8000/~lavoie/Stories/erotica/ 
 
 	 This site maintains a partial archive of rec.arts.erotica and
 	 alt.sex.stories. It indexes the stories by archive name and
 	 includes an extremely powerful search engine for easy
 	 retrieval of posts which match particular criteria. For
 	 questions or problems relating to this service, send mail to
 	 Philippe Lavoie (lavoie@zeus.genie.uottowa.ca).

     PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME MAIL IF YOU EXPERIENCE PROBLEMS WITH THESE
     SERVICES.  I WILL BE UNABLE TO HELP YOU.

  If you are willing to offer your resources to augment any of these
  services, *please* let me know.  I would like to distribute the load
  of archive requests and mailing list subscriptions over as wide a
  base as possible, in order to prevent any single site from becoming
  overwhelmed.

------------------------------
Q: Can I get rec.arts.erotica via e-mail?
[kept unchanged from previous version]

  I do not know of any mailing list reflector of rec.arts.erotica
  currently in operation.  If you administer such a mailing list and
  would like it advertised here, please let me know.
 
------------------------------
Q: Where can I get sexy GIFs?
[kept unchanged from previous version]

  I haven't a clue.  Nor do I wish to get one, on this subject.

------------------------------
Q: What do you do with non-story mail?

  It depends.  There are several classes non-story mail falls under, 
  although I deal with many of them by simply deleting them.

    Anything that is covered elsewhere in this FAQ (such as "how do I
    subscribe" messages): delete unanswered: I will send someone a copy
    of the FAQ if they tell me that they don't have access to the group
    and that's why they are asking; ditto if it's been a while since
    the last time the FAQ has been posted. 

    Spammage: ("Make Money Fast" and things I -know- to be posted in
    multiple groups of this nature): delete unanswered, unless it happens
    multiple times, at which point I send a note to them, CC'd to the
    postmaster at their site.

    "I want to get laid" and other similar notes: delete unanswered.

    Ads: I may or may not post an ad.  The decision is based on the topic
    of the ad and just how commercial it comes across.  I'm currently
    debating whether or not to post ads for BBSs.  I may post ads for
    people looking for story submissions to webzines and other, similar
    things.  I do not post ads selling sex; those are dealt with by a
    note to the postmaster of the originating system.

    Discussion-oriented notes: generally, I delete these unanswered when
    it is obvious there was a crosspost to rec.arts.erotica.
    "Discussion" of the "write me for hot chat" type I delete
    unanswered.  Other types of discussion I will respond to with an 
    explanation that rec.arts.erotica is not a discussion group.

    GIFs and other images: delete unanswered.

    Questions not covered by the FAQ, or people asking for clarification
    of things in the FAQ: answer as soon as I can.  Sometimes this may
    be a while.  It's likely to take less time if these are directed
    to tina@tezcat.com.

    Praise or insults: Usually I save the praise and delete the insults,
    and answer neither.  Originally I was going to answer all the
    praise and supportive notes I've gotten, but they numbered, um,
    LOTS.  So, A Generic Thank-You (but nonethless a heartfelt one)
    applies to all those.

  The "delete unanswered" method may seem harsh, but if I took the time
  to answer every single piece of mail asking me a question covered by
  the FAQ, it would defeat the purpose of the FAQ.  The autoreply that
  -every- note gets contains instructions on how to get the FAQ.
-- 
Moderator, rec.arts.erotica.  Submissions to erotica@unix.amherst.edu.
Administrative mail to tina@tezcat.com.  Please, no reposts, first drafts, 
or requests for "subscriptions," stories, GIFs, or archive sites.