Subject: Welcome to alt.fan.pratchett! (mini-FAQ, please read)

From: [email-masked] (Leo Breebaart)
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 1994 04:01:34 GMT

Archive-name: pratchett-mini-faq
Last-modified: 27 Jan 1994
Version: 1.6

*** Welcome to alt.fan.pratchett! ***

-- What is this group about?
   And who is Terry Pratchett?
   
   Terry Pratchett is an author of humourous fantasy-based novels. In order
   to find out more, read this group's Frequently Asked Questions list
   (FAQ), maintained by Nathan Torkington ([email-masked]).

   The FAQ is posted monthly to news.answers and alt.fan.pratchett, and is 
   available for anonymous ftp from all news.answers archive sites (e.g. 
   rtfm.mit.edu), as well as from the Pratchett Archives (see below).

-- What books has he written?
   What is the (chronological) order of the Discworld novels?
 
   In order to find out, read the Terry Pratchett Bibliography, also
   maintained by Nathan Torkington ([email-masked]), also
   posted monthly, and also available for ftp, just as the FAQ is.

-- Did you notice that in novel X ... ?

   Terry Pratchett's work is chock-full of references, allusions, parodies
   and in-jokes. Readers of this group have collected over 600 of such
   annotations in a huge file called the Annotated Pratchett File (or APF),
   maintained by Leo Breebaart ([email-masked]). This file, too, is
   available from the Pratchett Archives.

   Discussing annotations is a favourite pastime of alt.fan.pratchett
   readers, but if you want to post something along those lines please
   check out the APF first, to make sure you are not wasting bandwidth on
   something we already know.

-- So where are these Pratchett Archives, then?

   The Terry Pratchett Archives (maintained by Leo Breebaart) are an
   anonymous ftp-site located in Delft, the Netherlands, with identical
   mirror sites in the USA and Australia.

   The relevant Internet addresses are: 

   Mother site:  ftp.cp.tn.tudelft.nl, in the directory /pub/pratchett
   In America:   theory.lcs.mit.edu, in the directory /pub/pratchett, or
                 rincewind.mech.virginia.edu, in the directory /pub/pratchett
   In Australia: death.socs.uts.edu.au, in the directory /Mirror/Pratchett

   Besides the FAQ, the Bibliography and the APF, the Pratchett Archives
   also contain many other items of Pratchettian interest, including a
   quotes file with over 300 quotes, the rules to the Cripple Mr Onion card
   game, the alt.fan.pratchett version of the Hedgehog Song, and scanned
   images of all the original covers of the novels.

-- What if I don't have ftp?
   
   If you do not have access to anonymous ftp, you can still access the
   Pratchett Archives through e-mail, gopher, WWW, or telnet. The relevant
   addresses are:

   Mail Servers: 
   	Mother site: [email-masked]
   	In America:  [email-masked]

   	Just send mail to one of these addresses with the message body saying
   	"help" (the subject line doesn't matter).

   Gopher Servers:
	Mother site: gopher.cp.tn.tudelft.nl
	In America:  rincewind.mech.virginia.edu

   WWW Pages:
	In Europe:  http://web.cs.nott.ac.uk/~nlc/pratchett.html
	In America: http://rincewind.mech.virginia.edu/pratchett.html

   Telnet:
   	ftp.cp.tn.tudelft.nl 2000

        That's telnet to port 2000, not user '2000'.

-- Come to think of it: what *is* ftp?

   If you are new to Usenet and are not familiar with the terminology, you
   might want to read the general introductory articles found in the
   newsgroup news.announce.newusers. Doing so will make your life on the
   net much easier, and will probably save you from making silly beginner's
   mistakes.

   If you think that right now you are reading an echo, a conference, or a
   bboard, I'd also strongly suggest a trip over to news.announce.newusers.
   (It is true that some of you may indeed be receiving this group as an
   echo or conference or what have you, but that just means somebody set up
   a gateway. Generally, it will be wise not to forget that most of the
   articles originate (and end up!) on Usenet.)

-- 
Leo Breebaart  ([email-masked])