--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unofficial micro FAQ for alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.repost (abmar) Revision 0.3 (2001-07-09) by Tobias Rieper (added a link for fixing rars) Revision 0.2 (2001-06-23) by Tobias Rieper (changes due to the charter and control message) Revision 0.1 (2001-06-16) by Tobias Rieper Q: What is this group for and what can be posted here? A: Abmar was created as a rouge Newsgroup. The creator and the original intention are unknown. It was unused for a long time, but now it is about to be established. The main purpose of this group is to relieve alt.binaries.anime (aba) and alt.binaries.multimedia.anime (abma) of some traffic caused by reposts. There are two definitions for "reposts" 1. Fills and full reposts of some stuff posted in aba or abma recently. This means the original archives - no repacks. So, if someone misses just one archive of a post in aba or abma, he can get it from the post in abmar and it will fit in. Full reposts are preferred. Although fills are better to be posted to the original groups, they are welcome here too. 2. A new made post (Repack) of something, which was posted in aba or abma some time ago. This is the big issue. There are many popular series or movies, which were posted in aba or abma several times already. But due to newbies, people who skipped the original posts (e.g. because of a slow connection) or people who just deleted/lost their copy, there is a constant demand for reposts of this stuff. Aba and abma already have a high traffic caused by the posting of new stuff. So big reposts of old stuff are not always welcome there. This group can absorb these posts and ease the problems in aba and abma. Currently, sometimes such posts are made in alt.binaries.multimedia.repost (abmr), but due to the high traffic from other multimedia groups, the anime posts are "lost" under the other posts. So it is better, to give the anime reposts a separate place. what to post: - fills and full reposts of some stuff posted in aba or abma recently - repacks of something, which was posted in aba or abma some time ago - the type of the material is determined in the charter of abma: "This group is for posting any multimedia file (any format) that is anime related. The file may be a commercial, trailer, music video, opening movie, ending movie, special, or entire episode or movie of anything specifically anime related, including free fansubs which are widely unavailable to most people (check legal issues in your area, it is beyond the scope of this proposal to cover the vastness of fansubs.)" what not to post: -spam (of course) -pictures -music, sounds, songs etc. -any adult, ecchi, hentai-related material -non-japanese animation (e.g. powerpuff girls) -manga scans (But before you are posting them again to abmr, you can post them here. Here they are at least a bit on topic. How about using alt.binaries.pictures.manga?) -anything, which was never been posted in aba or abma before This includes new versions of something. For example, if a movie was posted in aba already as a dubbed Real-Media-version and you got a subbed SVCD, you should post it there. In case of doubt, just ask them. Of course, if it's not welcome there, you can post it here. Addendum: Only aba and abma are mentioned here as original multimedia anime groups. But what is stated here, is also valid for other anime groups like alt.binaries.anime.tenchi. So they can use abmar too, as long, as they comply with the guidelines (no hentai, no pictures, etc.). Q: is there a official charter? A: Yes. Thanks to Keikai, there is now a official charter and control message. ftp://ftp.isc.org/usenet/control/alt/alt.binaries.multimedia.anime.repost.Z Web version: http://riepersnest.tripod.com/anime/abmarch.htm Q: How do i join the files? And where can i get a rar-player? A: These are packed volume files of a archiver called rar. Download it at http://www.rarsoft.com/. To decompress, you need all volume files, started with rar, then r00, r01 usw. in the same directory. Open the .rar file with Winrar and decompress it. If there is a volume missing, the program will ask for it. Q: And those .ace and .c00 - .cXX files? A: The same as with the .rar files, but this program is called winace. In the most cases you can still use Winrar for decompressing. Only with the new versions you need Winace. http://www.winace.com/ Q: ...and those .sfv? A: These are checksum files. With them you can check the downloaded files. A nice program for checking is QuickSFV. http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Mouse/4668/index.html Q: The SFV and Winrar are saying, that one of my rar volumes is broken... A: Try to repair it. A manual for the most cases is here: http://riepersnest.tripod.com/rar/index.htm Q: I'm missing some files of a post. What should i do? A: WAIT!!! Usenet is not E-Mail. It can take hours to sometimes several days for a post to propagate around the world. If a post comes in and something is missing, wait at least 12 hours. (You think, this is long? Then go to a.b.w.ibm-pc. The FAQ there recommends to wait a whole week!) If it is a post over several days, it is a good idea to wait until the following days posts are complete. Sometimes the poster recognizes himself the missing parts and post them with the following day. Q: It is still not there. How do i request a fill? A: First, look if the poster says something about requesting in the .nfo or 00-section. This is here even more important, because it can be, that the poster wants the fill requests to be posted into another group. If there is a guideline for fill requests, follow it. If there is nothing, use this : ATTN: (name of poster) Please repost (missing files). Or REQ: (Anime title) (missing files) TIA. Never do vertical spamming (a repetition of the message for several times). If they see this, it would annoy the heck out of them and you maybe never get your fill. Nor do nym-shifting (posting the request repeatedly under different names). One request per file is enough for us... Then wait. We are busy people. Sometimes it can take some days until the poster gets the time to dig through the requests and do the fills. If three days are over or he posted some fills but not yours, then you may ask polite again. (Maybe he overlook your first request.) The most posters send an extra warning message to the group if they intend to delete the files. When this happens and you're still missing something, you have to reply to this message as quickly as possible. Q: I'm missing a single section. Do you make section fills too? A: Although it will save bandwidth, it is uncommon in the anime groups. But no one will kill you for a request like: ATTN: John Doe Please repost foobar.r03 (missing section 4/23) Maybe you get the full file reposted, maybe just the section... What we don't want to see here, is something like: REQ:(foobar) (r00 section 2, 4, 9, 14, 17, 19, 22, 24, 27 of 32) REQ:(foobar) (r01 section 5, 8, 10, 11, 14-19, 31 of 32) REQ:(foobar) (r02 all but section 4, 8, 15, 30 of 32) etc. This is a multimedia binary group. If you get less than 75% of the posts here complete, you should consider using another server... Q: There is a request for a fill. Hey, i have this file! Can i do the repost? A: Many posters would be happy, if someone will do the fills for them. But you have to take care of some points: 1. Ask the poster about this. Wild reposts will lead to chaos... ( if you want to know, what i mean, take a look into alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica.asian) 2. Learn to post. Sometimes there is some overwhelmed newbie, who hops in for some fills and mess them totally up. We do not hate them for this (they only wanted to help after all), but it is a bit annoying... Read the FAQ of A.B.M.A for further information about posting. Q: Strange, it seems, that some volumes posted here will never make a complete set... Where is the rest? A: Maybe they are just fills for a post in aba, abma or some other anime group. You should look there. For further information about video files, players, newsreaders, decoding and many other things read the FAQ for aba and abma. http://www.geocities.com/alt_binaries_anime/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- web-version: http://riepersnest.tripod.com/anime/abmarfaq.htm My proposal... Any comments, complaints, additions or suggestions?