Ok, a few things I don't understand about this archive...

[Infested Londo]

How does this archive work?
Every once in a while there's an update, with links to "Re:OneSubjectOrAnother".

Some of these subjects are really hard to understand...
Like this one from December 3rd - "Re:EEP"

"Since this discussion has turned into a tech discussion..."

What discussion?
What's he talking about?
It seems like it's taken as a reply from someplace else, but there's no reference or link to it...

Where are all these posts coming from?
How can I send my own questions to JMS?

I really could use an (some) answer(s)...



Thanks in advance,
Evyatar.

[Jan]

What discussion?
What's he talking about?
It seems like it's taken as a reply from someplace else, but there's no reference or link to it...

Most of JMS' posts are from the newsgroup Rec.Arts.SF.TV.Babylon5.Moderated though he occasionally posts to other groups or forums (not this one so far)

The reason is because in the past, there were netnuts dedicated to flaming and stalking and making his life miserable. The Moderated newsgroup was created to prevent that sort of thing (and story ideas) but not to moderate out criticism.

That's the place to go if you want to ask JMS questions of your own. You may want to search this site to see if it's been asked many times before. If it's a question, some of the one's who've been there for a long time may answer on the assumption that it's an answer you want, not just one from JMS.

Nice people there, feel free to join us.

Jan

[JackBauer]

can you post the URL to the newsgroup?

[Lyta]

There isn't a URL for the news group. It is a news group and thus need a news reader and access to a news server to read it. However, there are places where you can read news so check with your internet provider to see what those might be.

For instance, I have internet access through Comcast so I just needed to apply for a free account.

In the meantime, you can always access the archives of rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated at http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...lon5.moderated

[iamsheridan]

Originally posted by JackBauer
can you post the URL to the newsgroup?

Ahem... http://www.jmsnews.com/

[Jan]

That's not a newsgroup, just an archive of one person's posts. That's this forum which only has JMS' posts and to which you can't post a question to JMS (with any hope of an answer that is).

But you knew that, right?

Jan

[Bluelady]

Who knows-one day JMS might decide to check us out! We can hope! AFter all, we hoped for more B5, and it looks like we will get it!

[DougO]

>How does this archive work?

Like others have mentioned, the jmsnews.com site archives messages posted to the usenet newsgroups rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated and rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe.

Most of JMS's posts are in response to a question, however the site does not archive the entire thread but just the messages posted by JMS. This ocassionally makes it difficult to know the context of the original question or discussion. I'm working on an update to the site and am thinking about possible solutions to this problem.

-DougO

[Bluelady]

Great idea! D ougO, that would be appreciated

Thanks

[Capt.Montoya]

Usenet

Before there were bulletin boards, before there were email lists (or at the same time?), when the internet was young and mostly academic and government oriented, and not the commercially oriented World Wide Web there is now, there was Usenet... and it still exists. The function they have is better served for many of us by web based bulletin boards/discussion forums, still many people keep using those newsgroups.

I never got much into it, and never beyond occasional reading of news or curious browsing, there is a "news" server in my University (where I usually access the internet) which I rarely checked... and didn't carry the rec.arts... newsgroups.

The more (in)famous newsgroups are those in the alt. category I think.
As with everything in the internet most newsgroups are now easily subject to spamming... Another thing that never attracted me is that flaming can be very common in usenet, which I guess is less of a problem in moderated groups.

The way I used to access that was through Netscape Communicator's email reader, which had also the option of checking usenet groups. I think that the Mozilla browsers kept this capability. I never posted so I have no idea how easy it is. Now that Google archives the newsgroups that's how I get to them... very infrequently though.

One reason why replies are devoid of context sometimes is that most newsreaders can present the discussion in a true threaded fashion (i.e. with different indentation levels, so that an original topic sometimes diverges into two different lines, some bulletin boards also do that) not all in line like here. Actually quoting too much (or, gasp! all) of a previous reply in newsgroups is bad "nettiquete" since, just like here, usually the previous replies are right above yours.

I found a webpage with a description of what Usenet is and isn't:

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/what-is/part1/

Since we're in an SF context when I read Ender's Game (and the Bean sequels) I think that Orson Scott Card was/is a usenet user. The context of how Ender's siblings (as Locke and Demostenes) participated in electronic discussions sounds to me like usenet.

[Bluelady]

Glad to find a fellow "Ender" fan. I've read the first three bks, and waiting on "Childrens-" to arrive.