POSTING TO ABIA-F

Example: (afos) mypicture.... -picture.jpg Some (if not all) news readers that Download automatically will not take this picture.

Please read the rest of Posting to ABIA-F, Thank you, I hope I did not piss off any one with this "rule" I know it was not discussed first amoungst the elders.

NOTE: ! Posting pictures whose legal status is at least questionable !
! to ABIA-F will in many countries most likely be regarded as !
! "distributing child pornography", a criminal act! !

How may I test posting?
Before posting for the first time here, it is a good idea to make some trial runs in a test group (alt.test for example). Post some harmless pictures there, and then download them. If everything seems to be OK, you are ready to go.

I dare not participate because my English is horrible.
The author, who wrote most of this FAQ, does not have English as his native language, nor do several of the present FAQ maintenance group members. This has not stopped them from contributing. Remember, this is not grammar class. Even so, do what you can in order to avoid the most blatant mistakes. There are always dumbasses around who will mock you for them. Some newsreaders have built-in spell checkers; if you have one of those, use it.

OK, I am ready to post to ABIA-F. What do I need to keep in mind?
First, a few really important rules (or as close to rules as we'll ever get in a newsgroup that's not moderated). If you break these, you are likely to be flamed, and if that happens you will have richly deserved it.

1. Include the name of the posted file in your article's subject line (some newsreaders will do this automatically for you).
   
2. Post one picture per message. You should not stuff several pictures into one article, because some newsreaders do not support down- loading/decoding of multipart messages. Nor should you post one picture split up into multiple parts. This is because articles frequently get lost or don't propagate with the same speed, and that may make it impossible to download the complete picture.
   
3. Post on topic. Please remember: this is a.f.o.small-tits. You get the idea...
   
4. DO NOT RENAME ANY PICTURES!!!
   
5. Rule 4 has a few exceptions:
   - If you have altered the picture, change the filename slightly (e.g. by adding an "e" for "edited").
   - If the original filename was longer than 8.3 and your system doesn't support long filenames, obviously you *must* change it. If you are in the happy position of being able to post new stuff, please keep to the 8.3 naming convention. - If you got a picture from a foreign source and the filename contains characters, which are unpalatable to your system, you may need to change it. This happens frequently with pictures posted in the Japan..* Newsgroups. In those cases it is often impossible to guess what the file should be properly called. Try first to post a question to the original poster. If he doesn't reply, take a look at all the pictures in the series. Sometimes one of them (usually the first one) will carry text in the Latin alphabet which may give a hint (girl's name etc.). As a last resort only, invent a name yourself.
   The following are more in the way of recommendations:
   
6. DO NOT CROSS POST !!! - Be careful with crossposting (i.e.: posting simultaneously to different groups). It may be useful, especially if you need to reach people who don't have access to ABIA-F. But please consider *carefully* if your posts match *all* groups you post to. There have been some bad cases, for example, of people cross-posting porn to alt.binaries.pictures.children. Such behavior causes much ill will towards ABIA-F and may lead to different kinds of difficulties for all of us here If you feel the urge to reply to a crosspost, look at the 'To:' field and erase all groups you do not want your message to appear in.
   
7. Try to post series (if you can), not just occasional pictures. Include an index ("contact sheet") in every posting (if you can), so that people may judge at a glance if they want to download your pictures. This is especially important if you post a collection of unrelated pictures.
   
8. If your series is not complete (which is quite likely), say so. Tell exactly what pictures you miss. Chances are that someone has got the missing ones, and will post them for you. Do NOT request-missing pictures just by adding, "please post the missing ones" in your subject line. You MUST post a short text article where you explicitly tell which ones you're missing. The reason is that articles sometimes get lost or don't propagate quickly enough, and therefore it's impossible to determine what you miss just by checking what you have posted. Also, the pictures you've posted won't necessarily show up in the correct numerical order on receiving news servers. This, too, makes it hard to see which ones are missing.
   
9. . Do not post hundreds of pictures at once. You do not gain respect by quantity, but by the quality and regularity of your postings.


I am not sure if my posts fit in here. Who shall I ask?
One of the newsgroup's veterans, says: "You post what you want to post, and it's up to the people that reside here to decide whether they approve or not. Post a few and see what kind of response you receive. If it's favorable, then post more. If it's not, then stop, unless you have a thick skin and don't give a shit what others think. It's entirely up to you." But consider that you will be judged only by your postings. If you constantly flame others without good reason, or keep posting off-topic, you will end up in peoples' kill filters.

Does it matter what handle I use in this - or any other - newsgroup?
YES. Make it easier for others to use filtering by following these simple rules:

1. Don't call yourself Me@..., You@..., Hi!@..., Domain@....and similar names. Everyone is "Me" and "You", etc. Use some creativity.
   
2. Avoid female names, since most commercial porno spammers are notorious for using them. If you don't, chances are that you will end up in peoples' kill filters.
   
3. Don't use the name of - or something that can be confused with - another poster. By the time you're ready to post, you've been lurking for a while, and know what names have been taken.
   
4. Be original. Be creative.


I want to post a large series. Is there a way to simplify that?
If you use Windows, get Autopost (see IX.3). This program lets you post multiple files with just a few simple actions (it posts all the files in a folder you name in the setup). Autopost is available for all flavors of Windows. As far as the FAQ maintainers know, there is no similar program for other platforms.

I have posted some pictures, but they appear in multiple parts (1/5, 2/5 etc). What is this?
Many newsreaders have the ability to split posts if they exceed a certain size. That is because some news servers only allow a maximum number of bytes per message. Since this is rather annoying (chances are that parts get lost), look for this feature and turn it off. Do some posting again. If everything is OK... fine. If not, try to find out what maximum size is accepted. Better yet, get a news provider who doesn't impose a limit.

This is a binaries group, yet there are lots of text messages here. What's the score on this?
A regular and traditional feature of this newsgroup is as a place of discussion and commentary. Some have suggested this should be discouraged, since text posts rarely meet any of the rules for being on-topic. Nevertheless, these discussions are clearly part of the attraction of this newsgroup, and considering how much time is devoted to posting text by many of the staff (see XI.7), they are unlikely to stop.
Regardless of the quantity or quality of text posts, they take up very little space on a server. The average text post is 1 - 2 percent of the size of the average binary, and if you don't want to read them, they are easy enough to skip over with any decent newsreader. So, if you are thinking about complaining about all the chatter in here, don't bother.

Posting using AOL {America On Line. (my opinion is why use AOL? )
One option is XferPRO 1.1.1 (Keyword: File Search) as: xferp111.zip Posting with Xferpro 1.1.1 is a THREE step process. First you need to properly ENCODE your files to UUE format. Second, post any MULTI-part files properly. Follow this series of *Mouse-Clicks* to get correctly set up the first time & your "configuration" will always be OK:
Step ONE [Configuring XferPRO 1.1.1 for AOL posting]:
Start up XferPRO->
Configure->
General->
"Use default File Names"->
Save->
Configure->
Encode->
[Wincode v2.3] as (File Encode Format)->
[End of Line String: (DOS/Windows/Mac)]
UU (Encoding Method)->
[28000] "Max Encoded File Size"->
"X" box that says: "Generate Checksums On Encoded Output"->
SAVE ->
Close XferPRO.
If followed to the LETTER above, you now are correctly configured for encoding files for posting to USENET newsgroups via AOL & you will NOT have to ever make further adjustments to same.
Step TWO: [Posting Single or MULTI-part BINARY files]: If posting a SINGLE part binary file, do so as follows for Subject line: [Description]: - [File_Name.JPG(or GIF) (or ZIP, etc.)] (01/01) *NOTE*: Do not actually put the [brackets] on the subject line.
You can do an IDENTICALLY labeled (00/01) line & in the body of this posting describe the file in fuller detail, mention a URL (web address) where the remainder [if part of a series] can be found, etc... This is an acceptable TEXT post to a BINARY newsgroup & is considered good "netiquette" to do so, especially in the case of several files in a series, where you can label a (00/00) line describing same.
Step THREE: [Posting your single-part BINARY]: After filling in the Subject line as outlined above: [Description]: - [File_Name.JPG] (01/01) Hit FILE-> OPEN (top of AOL) [direct the file folders to the directory in which the original image is stored], highlight the [file_name.UUE] file that is listed & hit "OK"-> Edit-> "Select All"-> Edit-> "Copy"-> CLOSE the *.UUE file. Put your blinking cursor in the BODY of the posting window for the newsgroup you are posting to & hit either Edit-> "Paste" or [Ctrl+V] keys simultaneously. The encoded file is now displayed .Hit SEND. Congratulations! You just posted your first file!
Only "cosmetic" differences apply to MULTI-part posts, but are extremely IMPORTANT if you want other AOLers to be able to get your files using the File Grabber feature. The subject line *MUST* be exactly identical in EVERY way (case sensitive & all spacing must line up exactly the same on each MULTI-part posting). The ONLY variance allowed is in the actual PART #'s of the file. For example: Suppose you wanted to post a file that had encoded out to 3 parts total, then each multi-part Subject line must read as follows:
[Description]: - [File_Name.JPG] (01/03)
[Description]: - [File_Name.JPG] (02/03)
[Description]: - [File_Name.JPG] (03/03)
On each partial post, make certain you are opening & copy/pasting the correctly # section of the file. Other than that, there is nothing else you need know about single or MULTI-part binary posting via AOL News Reader. Feel free to copy this INFO as a TXT file for later referral or pass onto friends who ask how you posted from AOL.