rec.games.mecha

######################################################################### ### newsgroups ########################################################## ######################################################################### # Newsgroup whitelist. Note, followups are done separately. rec.games.mecha

######################################################################### ### followups ########################################################### ######################################################################### # Followups whitelist. Note, newsgroups are done separately. rec.games.mecha

rec.games.mecha is a moderated newsgroup which passed its vote for creation by 130:19 as reported in news.announce.newgroups on 10 Sep 1997, and subsequently adjusted to 129:19 as reported in news.announce.newgroups on 14 Oct 1997. Group submission address: rgm@eyrie.org Moderator contact address: rgm-request@eyrie.org (Christopher E. Meadows, Jon Selbo, David C. Mescher, Linwood J. Foster, Jeffrey Smith, Peter La Casse, Steve Pettit, Keith E. Peyton, Tim Skirvin, William E. Ward) For your newsgroups file: rec.games.mecha Giant robot games. (Moderated) The charter, culled from the vote result announcement: Rec.games.mecha is dedicated to discussion of the wide variety of games oriented towards combat of large humanoid robotic or piloted war machines, i.e. "Mecha." This is a cross-genre group, encompassing a variety of game mechanics (board game, fantasy role play, computer, etc.) as well as containing discussion of the spinoff subjects from each game as they relate to the game play, such as books, magazines, television, movies, webpages, archives, chat areas, etc. Each posting to rec.games.mecha should include a keyword on the subject line either designating which which game system the posting refers to ([BTECH], [Mekton], [Robotech], etc.) or marking the general subject of the post ([ADMIN], etc.). If a submitted post does not have a keyword, the moderator may add an appropriate keyword, but posters are encouraged to add keywords themselves to save moderation work. An expanded list of suggested keywords will be posted in a separate FAQ. Contributions are welcome from all who wish to engage in discussion of Mecha Games, related subjects, and outside sites pertaining thereunto--this includes mass media (books, magazines, movies, etc.), webpages, IRC channels, WebChat rooms, MUDs/MUSEs/MUSHes/etc, computer games. Also welcome are solicitations for players. Discussion on rec.games.mecha may consist of such things as: * Posts asking for information about where to buy mecha-gaming materials. * Announcements of conventions, fandom resources, auctions of mecha-gaming materials, new mailing lists, webpages, or other groups pertaining to mecha-gaming. * Replies to requests for information. * Rules and game-history questions, and replies to same. * Minor role-playing posts, generally denoted with [IC] tags in the subject line. rec.games.mecha is not to be used for the following: * Advertising of non-mecha related things. * Posting of binaries (with the exception of PGP signatures and clear-signatures, which are allowed), HTML-formatted messages, or MIME attachments. However, notices of archives, webpages, or FTP sites dedicated to mecha-related binaries are welcome, and should be used as alternatives to posting binary material. * Blatant trolls or other abusive material. * Posting of off-topic or excessively-crossposted material. "Off-topic" refers to anything not pertaining to mecha or mecha-related gaming. However, "on-topic" will be interpreted very broadly; almost anything that is not directly objectionable (by the criteria for disallowed posts given above) will be let through. Postings considered by the Usenet community to be 'spam' or similar forms of net-abuse are not permitted. This also includes blatant trolls (posts with primarily emotive content along the lines of "ROBOTECH SUCKS!!!" or "YOUR ALL FAGS GIT A LIFE" for example). The discussion in rec.games.mecha is moderated. The moderation is not to censor or suppress discussion or controversy on any topic relevant to the group, but rather to filter out abuse, spam, and posts sent to rec.games.mecha by mistake. Save where MIME-encoding, HTML marked-up posts, or >80 character margins are concerned, content or style will NEVER be altered by the moderators, whose sole purpose is to forward all appropriate postings to the group. Moderation Policy: The moderators will try to ensure that the postings are free from gratuitous verbal abuse and personal attacks. Authorship is NOT a criterion for judgment; article content is the sole criterion. That said, it is not the business of the moderators to search out or remove illegal material, and the moderators cannot be held responsible for any postings to the group written by other persons. Articles for rec.games.mecha must be relevant to the newsgroup charter. Articles should have a maximum line width of 80 characters, though a line width of 64-72 characters is suggested for new articles, as this allows the material to be easily quoted in follow-ups without reformatting line breaks. Articles should not be formatted to a large extent in HTML code (as certain versions of Netscape and Microsoft Internet News are known to post), nor should they be use MIME attachment, nor should they be in multipart format (ie part 1/4, 2/4, etc.). HTML-style emoticons, such as , are all right, however. The moderators are authorized to reject articles that do not meet the topical criteria given above or, if they so choose, may correct issues of margin, HTML, or MIME encoding and post a corrected version of the article. Moderators may also reject posts, particularly long ones, that consist overwhelmingly of quoted material. Posts that add nothing substantial, and add new content only to the effect of 'me too', 'no', and the like, may also be rejected if they fail to serve the purpose of furthering discussion. Anyone whose article is rejected will usually be mailed a brief note, consisting of a personally written note and/or a section of the charter or FAQ, to inform him why his posting was rejected and what kind of adjustments he should consider making if they wish to resubmit the article. (Though in the case of spam, the moderator should feel free to ignore it entirely.) If desired by the poster, further assistance or advice will be given by the moderators. Conversation, chat, and the mutual fun of the participants are all important. Off-topic threads that began as on-topic threads will not be rejected as long as they retain some periodic relevance to mecha. Moderators may insert subject line keywords to reflect topic drift, but will reject chat-type posts only when they become completely irrelevant. Messages will _not_ be edited for content (though some approved messages may have a clearly delineated moderator's note appended to the end); they will be either accepted or rejected--it is up to the poster to decide to make any changes himself before resubmitting. The subject lines will also not be altered by the moderators (save for the addition of [keyword] tags where necessary), though the moderators may suggest that the posters change the subject line themselves if the thread topic starts to drift. The moderators will _not_ alter articles' Newsgroups lines. Any article rejected for excessive and/or off-topic crossposting will be returned to the poster so that he can make any necessary adjustments himself before resubmitting it. If new moderators are required, they are selected from among those responding to a request for volunteers posted in the newsgroup by a 2/3 majority of the currently active moderators. Grounds for removal of an existing moderator are demonstrated repeated willful violations of the charter, followed by a 2/3 majority vote of the other moderators. Commercial postings are prohibited, with exception of periodic announcements of private auctions or new releases by mecha-game publishers. The moderators are authorized to reject postings which are commercial in nature and do not fit the criteria mentioned here and earlier in this document, and may forward a copy of the FAQ or charter to the poster with the relevant sections highlighted. The moderators may issue cancels for posts that managed to bypass moderation through approval-forgery or identity-forgery. NO specific individuals or groups are excluded from rec.games.mecha (except on a post-by-post basis, the same as everyone else) nor will any specific individuals or groups be shown favoritism. To provide for the necessity of future changes, this charter may be amended or altered by a 2/3 vote of the currently active moderators. Any major changes will first be discussed in rec.games.mecha to gauge the opinions of those people who they would affect.