Project Galactic Guide FAQ

(HTML version)

Mk II Rel 2.2 From: Aaron Rice (a.rice@ukonline.co.uk)
Mk II Rel 2.1 From: Paul Clegg (cleggp@megadodo.com)
Mk II Rel 2.0 From: Greg Wait (Z0OEY@ix.netcom.com)
Subject: PGG FAQ Mk II, Rel. 2.2
Date: 23 September 1997

Archive-name: galactic-guide/faq
Posting-Frequency: almost weekly      |
Last-Modified: 1997/09/23             |
Version: II.2.2                       |
                                 \    |    /
                                  \   |   /
              _____   _____  _____ \  |  / ______ ___   ____
             |  __ \ / ____|/ ____| \ | / |  ____/ _ \ / __ \
             | |__) | |  __| |  __   \|/  | |__ | |_| | |  | |
            -|  ___/| |-|_ | |-|_ |---*---|  __||  _  | |--| |-
             | |    | |__| | |__| |  /|\  | |   | | | | |__| |
             |_|     \_____|\_____| / | \ |_|   |_| |_|\___\_\
             Project Galactic Guide/Frequently Asked Questions
                                  /   |   \
             FAQ      Mk. II     Release 2.2       23 Sep 1996    
                                /     |     \
                                      |
             New and Improved!        | Fortified with Niacin!
This is the Mostly All-New FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) information file for the Usenet group alt.galactic-guide. This file is intended to provide you with answers to your frequently asked questions and is now over 98% fat-free with no preservatives or artificial flavours. Some assembly required. You must be present to read, and in a measurable state of consciousness.

Contents

Indicates new stuff (revised and/or added) since the last FAQ release.

Disclaimers

The PGGFAQMKII is for external use only. It will not cure baldness, rickets, or halitosis. Do not read the PGGFAQMKII while in the bath or shower. If the PGGFAQMKII changes color, begins to smoke, or emits a high, piercing noise put it down and get away immediately. If the PGGFAQMKII is swallowed, do not attempt to induce vomiting. The PGGFAQMKII may stick to certain types of skin. Any resemblance between the PGGFAQMKI and any of Shakespeare's sonnets, whole or in part, is purely coincidental. Do not taunt the PGGFAQMKII, or place it in certain types of gas cooker.

The effects of long-term exposure to the PGGFAQMKII are not known. User assumes all risks. The PGGFAQMKII has no warranties, expressed or implied. You have been warned.

1.0 What is the alt.galactic-guide newsgroup?

This newsgroup was created for the sole purpose of allowing uninterrupted communication between people involved in Project Galactic Guide. What is this project, you ask?

It all started back in November of 1991 in the alt.fan.douglas-adams newsgroup. For the uninformed, Douglas Adams is the author of a series of humourous s/f books centering on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In these books, the characters write for and frequently consult a sort of electronic encyclopedia which has an entry on just about everything.

Paul said, "Hey, why don't we create a REAL guide to the galaxy?" and everyone else said, "Sounds good, let's do it!" except for Ringo, who was sulking about never getting to do much of the singing. So, with great fervor we started working on the skeletal structure of Project Galactic Guide, although at that time, we often called it "The HitchHiker's Guide to the Known Galaxy."

It was originally supposed to be about REAL things (as opposed to made-up things), but we eventually broke down and decided to incorporate EVERYTHING. So, now we'll take humorous entries about fictitious things (done in a humurous style, of course), and humorous entries about real things (also done in a humurous style, of course).

2.0 Who's in charge around here?

Well, not anyone, really. Actually, I suppose there *are* a couple of froods who tend to have a bit more input about things than others, but really it's mostly chaotic. Well, not actually *chaotic*. Maybe something a bit more like a good recess.

The aforementioned Paul Clegg is one of PGG's Founding Fathers. Paul had retired from active PGG work, but was forcibly recalled to active duty to fill the void left by the sudden departure of Steve (see below). His action figure should be available for the holiday season (along with the PGG Mothership playset), and he seems to be available via email at: cleggp@megadodo.com

Steve Baker helped get the project rolling with his "The Guide!" software for IBM/MS-DOS machines in the spring of 1992. He was extremely active as an Editor, the Librarian, the Mothership Captain, and PGG Spam Minister. He has since retired to his thoughts and his dreams, but has been known to lurk about the newsgroup at all hours. Write to him at: swbaker@oakland.edu

Alexander Lachlan McLintock is, if not the newest, certainly the busiest PGG Editor. Alex has been involved with PGG for a long time as a field researcher, and is also featured in the 1996 PGG Swimsuit Calendar. His articles are numerous (and often times humourous), his insights are luminous, and his email box is voluminous. Please send articles and other words that rhyme with "numerous" to: Alex.McLintock@chadwyck.co.uk

Roel van der Meulen joined the project in the fall of 1993. He recently assumed the duties of PGG Librarian, and has purchased the requisite bi-focals. Prior to taking on his new role, Roel was an active PGG Field Researcher Recruiter (finding new articles and authors for PGG), and will continue this crusade in addition to his Librarian duties and writing the odd article here and there (Roel writes most of his articles there). He also maintains the PGG archives contents file and one of the fine WWW sites. Roel's Internet email address is: vdmeulen@strw.leidenuniv.nl

Jeff Kramer is currently being held in a state of hibernation until such time as the galactic economy rebounds sufficiently so that the average frood can once again afford his smashingly successful "PGG Report," a regular newsletter whose first three issues it took the equivalent of several large deciduous forests to print. Jeff is awakened periodically to shout randomly at the newsgroup, or contribute an article about how very cold the world seems. He also admin's one of the PGG WWW sites. E-mail will reach Jeff (when awake) at: jeff@itouch.net

Greg Wait has just been tapped as the next editor for PGG in the dual hopes of lessening Alex's burden and keeping Greg off the streets. Greg enjoys hunting and gathering, and hopes one day to walk erect. Most of the time he says he feels misunderstood, but nobody knows what he means. He can be reached by sub-etha radio at: z0oey@ix.netcom.com [NOTE: Greg Wait is temporarily not an editor; his real life schedule has prevented him from spending anywhere near enough time on the Project. We wish Greg the best because we really want him to come back soon!]

There are many more out there who have contributed t-shirt designs, press card information, great ASCII text art, articles, ideas, stool samples, suggestions, comments, et al... but to avoid this becoming one of those "Hi folks"-type things, we'll just leave it at that.

2.1 So who do I send articles to?

To answer in a less round-about, more direct, that is to say straight-out, shoot from the hip kind of manner. To get right to the question, and more importantly, the answer, let's just say that you should send your articles to PGG Article Submissions at submit@megadodo.com.

Alternatively, Alex (Alex.McLintock@chadwyck.co.uk) has recently put up a web page to accept articles. The URL is http://www.arcfan.demon.co.uk/pgg/submit.htm.

We also have another editor, Michael Bravo, who handles articles written in the Russian language. If you have written an article in Russian, please send them to Michael (mbravo@ethereal.ru).

As to the status of the editors, Greg has now officially retired, and Alex is on an extended lunch break. This leaves us staffed with two senior editors (Roel and Aaron), and several trainees. If you are interested in doing any editing, yourself, please contact Roel (vdmeulen@strw.leidenuniv.nl) and/or Alex (Alex.McLintock@chadwyck.co.uk).

Aspiring writers or editors could do worse than refer to the "format.new" file, which details the current article format.

3.0 Format of the articles

The articles that have been accepted are organized by category and compiled in article "archives." Each archive file contains 25 accepted Guide entries. These archives are stored and available for download from the PGG Mothership.

We've decided upon a simple ASCII text format for the article entries. The most up-to-date specs on the format are contained in the "format.new" file. It's really pretty simple, with just a few header token-type things that define useful stuff. Please note that some information in the old "article.new" file is out of date.

The fine folks at PGG spent about a year discussing, debating, formulating, postulating, configuring, finalizing, and neglecting a nifty but complex text format. It was complete with crazy text formatting things and lots of other fun and wonderful features, but it never really caught on. Oh well.

We're currently investigating the possibilities of porting the article archives into HTML (HyperText Markup Language) for use with html and WWW viewers. For now, however, standard ASCII files are just fine!

3.1 Article text do's and don'ts

Here are some of the guidelines we've established for the contents of PGG articles. Please observe these and your friendly neighbourhood editors will thank you!

  1. Please do NOT use TABS! They are very troublesome on different computer platforms. When writing, use spaces with a non-proportional font like Courier or System.

  2. Please put TWO spaces after each sentence stop (period, exclamation mark, etc.) That's an old standard which we've adopted.

  3. Please check your spelling if possible; authors from around the world have new and different words and slang which we may not be aware of. If we can't figure out the word, based on its context we'll figure it's a new or foreign word... and that's how typo's slip through the cracks!

  4. Please read some existing articles before writing your own. You can learn a lot about the format and style of the articles by observation! The article you are writing may be included in *our* guide, and we'd like it to be the best guide in the galaxy, so be sure to write as best you can.

3.2 Article content and legal stuff

You are welcome to write about anything. Yes, no matter how bizarre or crazy, please write about it. Really. Anything.

Er, except, we don't want you to regurgitate Adams' material. Not only is this very unoriginal, it's also known as plagiarism. (Unless DNA himself decides to write it for us!)

In general, please do NOT copy other people's work or ideas. We don't want the project stopped because we violated some silly copyright law!

Official Copyright Stance For Project Galactic Guide:

"By submission of an article to Project Galactic Guide, the author agrees to release the right to reproduce and distribute their article to Project Galactic Guide. The author retains all other intellectual property rights as according to the international copyright laws. Project Galactic Guide further reserves the right to cease distribution and reproduction of the article in the future, at which point all rights revert back to the author."

Note that this little disclaimer wasn't written by a court-appointed attorney, a hotshot copyright lawyer, or anyone with more credentials than a guy who's read the little disclaimer inside the covers of a few novels, who's watched a few "People's Court" episodes, and who just about passes for acceptable in a grey wig.

3.3 So where can I get article ideas then?

We have a PGG Idea Bank, chock full of great ideas that beg for exploring. They're frequently posted to the alt.galactic-guide newsgroup, and all are available on-line at the Mothership.

When posting an original idea, be sure to include your name and email address for proper credit down the road. Conversely, when using an idea from someone else, write the article, being sure to credit the idea's originator in the header information.

3.4 The article lifecycle

This describes what your Friendly Neighbourhood PGG Editor does and presents "a day in the life of an article" so to speak. Erm, actually, the articles themselves don't really speak much; that's just an expression, so let's carry on.

  1. A young, up-and-coming comedian/researcher/student/author/human(oid)/whatever stumbles across, gets hit with, becomes infected by, is arrested in, has a good time from, purchases large quantities of, or otherwise comes up with a great idea for an article (or consults the Ideabank, which is sometimes less painful and/or costly).

    She/he/it/they then write an article about the person/place/thing and send the article to an editor via email. (Please see Section 2.1, above, for info on who the editors are and where to send stuff.)

  2. The editor send a message back to the author, stating something like: "Blah blah, thanks for the article, blah blah blah, I'll edit it for format and stuff, blah blah, you'll get it back pretty soon for author confirmation, blah blah, give me all your money, etc. etc."

    This message is the author's "receipt" that the editor received the article submission. If you don't get one of these, then the editor hasn't received your article yet!

  3. The editor edits the article and performs routine grammar and spell- checker things on the article. Note: if the editor thinks that the article (1) violates a copyright law, (2) is a copy of other work, or (3) is hopelessly lame, the editor may nix the article for good.

  4. Assuming that everything is fine with the article, the editor then sends it back to the author for "author confirmation." (This is often times abbreviated as A/C. Humm, if the author and the editor had a Direct Connection, would this be AC/DC? My, it must be getting late...)

  5. The author reviews the modified article, and then lets the editor know that things are alright. If the author has additional changes with the article, they go back to step one and start over.

  6. Once the article is editor-approved, the editor will post the article to the Review Coordinator (mailto:review@megadodo.com) who will regularly post articles for review to to the newsgroup, alt.galactic-guide, for the Quality Committee to review. Members of the Quality Committee post quality reviews to the newsgroup, with copies sent by e-mail to the original author, for a week after the initial posting.

  7. At the end of the review week, a final decision is made by the Quality Coordinator as to whether or not the article is fit to be finally added to the archives. An article can be rejected for any number of reasons, but hopefully the committee need only be concerned with the intellectual quality of the article -- whether it's funny enough (or useful enough), well written, and so on. If an article has a few obvious typos in it, it may still be passed on for addition, once those typos are corrected (these typos may be corrected by the Librarian).

    An article CAN be rejected by the Quality Committee simply because it contains too many typographical/grammatical problems.

  8. If the article is accepted, it is passed on to the Librarian, who slaps a unique article ID number on it, and adds it to the archives as accepted.

    If the article is rejected, it may be re-submitted (hopefully with the changes suggested by the review committee), and we begin all over again with step one.

3.5 What do you get if you multiply six by nine?

Fifty-four.

4.0 The PGG Mothership

The Mothership is an Anonymous FTP site where you can download PGG info, articles, programs, t-shirt images, reports, and other great stuff. To get to the PGG Mothership, FTP to the following site:

Lexical: vela.acs.oakland.edu
Numeric: 141.210.10.2
URL: ftp://vela.acs.oakland.edu/pub/galactic-guide

When you connect, use the "anonymous" user ID and specify your full Internet email address as the password.

The Mothership is "pub/galactic-guide", which is actually just a link to "pub/swbaker". Thus, if you're using an FTP server which doesn't show the logical links, go into the "swbaker" directory.

NOTE: When downloading files from the Mothership, be sure you are in BINARY mode. A lot of folks have been sending me email complaining of corrupt .ZIP files, etc... it's because they are trying to get the binary file in ASCII mode (which is the default, unfortunately).

You only need to type 'binary' once, but unless you're using a web browser like Mosaic, you MUST type this EVERY TIME you connect.

4.1 Mothership directories

The corridors of the Mothership contain many interesting rooms, including:

4.2 Mothership mirror sites

If having all of the PGG archives, programs, gif files, and other goodies at one centralized location isn't good enough for you, you may be pleased to know that it isn't! That is to say, the stuff is available from more than one Anonymous FTP site.

The PGG Mothership is mirrored at:

Lexical: ftp.cs.city.ac.uk
Numeric: 138.40.91.9
URL: ftp://ftp.cs.city.ac.uk/pub/galactic-guide

[**] 4.3 Other ways to get PGG materials

There's a lot of BBS systems that carry Project Galactic Guide stuff. Honestly -- I'm positive there's a lot of them... although the FAQ file doesn't really reflect this. Yet. Just give us some time and soon this list will have a lot of numbers. Really.

     Area/Region       BBS Name                          Number
     ---------------   ------------------------------    ----------------
     Mass., USA        Sea of Noise                      +1 203 886 1441

In addition, you may contact one of the following hoopy froods who have volunteered to distribute PGG materials in their local countries. Please email them first, since snail mail addresses have been known to change!

     Country           Contact
     ---------------   ------------------------------
     Denmark           Christian Moensted
                       Sneppevej 16 2. tv.
                       Dk- 2400 Kobenhavn NV
                       DENMARK
                       (email: moensted@net.dialog.dk)

     United Kingdom    Alex McLintock
                       14 Lynton Avenue
                       St Albans
                       Herts
                       AL1 5PD
                       (email: Alex.McLintock@chadwyck.co.uk)

                       "UK people can contact me for a copy of the guide
                       for DOS or a copy of the guide in HTML format.
                       Simply send a formatted HD disk, return SAE, and a
                       nice letter.  The 'cost' for this service is that
                       you write an article!"

     United States     PGG Batch Mail Center, Midwest Division
                       c/o Ryan Tucker
                       5055 NE 38th Ave
                       Des Moines, Iowa  50317-8035
                       (email: rtucker@worf.infonet.net)

                       "I can take anything HD, please supply return
                       postage or your disk will be assimilated, and please
                       try an FTP-Mail server first.  :-)"

4.4 Supported computer platforms

While having the articles themselves is pretty fun, actually being able to do something with them is even better. The following computer platforms are supported with PGG article reader systems:

 Each of the programs is available in its own subdirectory on the Mothership. Questions about a particular program's use or functionality should be directed to the program's author or posted to alt.galactic-guide.

4.5 A bug in the TG! software

Yes, it's an imperfect world. Sorry. To add to the chaos, there's an ever-so-slight little glitch in the TG! software for IBM/MS-DOS. Yes, it's true. The program chokes with a Runtime Error when processing a very small minority of articles (in fact, only two articles reveal this problem).

The glitch is in Steve's handling of the huffman encoding decryption routine in the TG! reader program, Guide.EXE. The two articles are _Lecture Games_ and _Mating Habits of the McBain Initial_. These fantastic articles have numerous long ASCII lines and drawings that are throwing off the algorithm a bit. Steve plans to fix this problem and add some long overdue enhancements to the system.

"We apologize for the inconvenience."

5.0 World-Wide Web (WWW) sites

For those who can view HTML documents (including users of Netscape, MSIE, Mosaic, Cello, and WinWeb), there are a number of froody WWW sites:

URL: http://megadodo.com/
Operator: Paul Clegg
Notes: The Official Project Galactic Guide Homepage

URL: http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~vdmeulen/index.html
Operator: Roel van der Meulen

URL: http://www.arcfan.demon.co.uk/pgg/
Operator: Alex McLintock

URL: http://aurora.etsiig.uniovi.es:3080/~~pippin/
Operator: Charles Briscoe-Smith

URL: http://web.cs.city.ac.uk/pgg/guide.html
Operator: Nick Williams

URL: http://www.realtime.net/~lthumper/
Operator: Jeff Kramer

URL: http://www.willamette.edu/pgg/
Operator: James Tilton (currently experiencing difficulties)

URL: http://anubis.science.unitn.it/services/sf/DA/adams.html
Operator: Valter Cavecchia

URL: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/Members/a.rice/pgg/index.html
Operator: Aaron Rice

Please note that the "Montreal Relay Point" is temporarily homeless while Stephane (lussis00@libertel.montreal.qc.ca) finds it a new address.

These all have links to the Article Archives, the PGG Mothership, format and article information, and many have on-line archive search and article retrieval capabilities.

5.1 Other Internet sites

URL: telnet://megadodo.com:4242
Description: The Megadodo MUSH
Operator: Paul Clegg

6.0 Publicity

The Guide's current press officer is Mark Seaborn. He is contactable at press@megadodo.com, and responsible for the publicity of the Guide, including such areas as press cards, and advertising.

6.1 Fully Spammable Marketing Pitch

Please be on the lookout for the following officially-endorsed PGG Spam:

From: swbaker@saturn.acs.oakland.edu (A Tribal Smile)
Subject: PGG General Information and Marketing Pitch
Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 08:45:24 UFO
Summary: MAKE SPAM FAST

Greetings from the Mothership!

Project Galactic Guide is dedicated to bringing the highest-quality articles
and information to the intergalactic hitchhiker.  Well, we're dedicated to
bringing fine articles to the Earth-bound hitchhiker.  Er, actually, we're
dedicated to mostly harmless stuff for those who bother to read it.  Um, now
that I think about it, we're dedicated to, well, sometimes producing a few
articles, but mostly we bicker about new PGG article formats.

Anyway, YOU too can participate!  Yes, you can be a part of the project
mentioned in Wired magazine!  Be the envy of your friends and family!  Secure
riches and fortunes for generations to come!  Actually have something to do
on Friday nights!

Here's a testimonial from one of our rabid PGG supporters (you may have seen
his frequent posts to numerous Usenet newsgroups):

-----
Hello, my name is David Rhodes.

In the spring of 1988, I was homeless, the repo man just had taken my 1972
Vega, and I was a destitute bum.  Now I roll in riches and can buy anything
I want.  Now that I'm involved with PGG my life has turned around!

My friends and family adore me and I shower them in gifts.  I now dine with
legends like Tom Vu (the intergalactic no-money-down real estate genius) and
Dionne Warwick (spokesmodel for the Psychic Friends Network).  I always have
front-row tickets to Wayne Newton and the annual "Elvis-o-rama."

You too can share in this fabulous life of luxury and pleasure!  Just write
*one* PGG article and forward it on to *five* friends.  Have each friend
write one PGG article and forward them on to five of *their* friends.  Soon
you will have 50,000 PGG articles!!
-----

Well, there you have it!  PGG can give you the pleasure and joy you've
always dreamed of!  Start writing articles, and the rest, as they say, is
history!!

The PGG Mothership is an Anonymous FTP site where Project Galactic Guide
materials are stored.  Programs for IBM, Mac, Amiga, Unix, Acorn, Atari,
and others are *free*!  Be sure you're in Binary mode and connect to:

        ftp://vela.acs.oakland.edu/pub/galactic-guide

All of the PGG articles, t-shirt images, reports, and Douglas Adams-related
fan materials are free for your profuse enjoyment!  Share and Enjoy!!

Your sincere and humble friend,
Steve (the Ghost of PGG past)

"Not only am I the Editor, I'm also a client."

7.0 Miscellaneous questions

The following questions are answered in this section: Q: What's with 42, who is Douglas Adams, and why should I carry a towel?
A: Please see the alt.fan.douglas-adams Usenet group; the a.f.d-a FAQ has answers to all of these questions and more!

Q: What's Douglas Adams' take on the whole project?
A: Repeated e-mails, and even some snail mail have been sent to the great exalted DNA over the years. Nary a response. Paul actually had an e-mail conversation with DNA about the existence of a Hitchhiker's Movie, but when Paul took the opportunity to ask him about his viewpoint on the Project, Adams went silent once more. As a result, we've decided our best recourse is to look at any material we get from a copyright standpoint, and therefore must reject anything that too closely resembles text from Adams' books.

Q: So, what do you reckon he thinks, then?
A: It's hard to say, but he doesn't appear to have any obvious objections. His lack of response suggests that he either doesn't feel a response is worthy of his time, or he feels that he has no reason to openly endorse or condemn the project.

Q: How can I get a PGG Press Card?
A: As soon as they're finished, you'll be able to get an Official PGG Press Card from Jason Kohles (jason.kohles@m.cc.utah.edu).

Q: What good are the PGG Press Cards?
A: They may actually get you in some places, and besides they look cool. There's an article on what to do with your Press Card; check it out! Also, you can contact the PGG Press Officer at press@megadodo.com.

Q: What's up with the PGG t-shirts?
A: Among others, Stephane Lussier (lussis00@libertel.montreal.qc.ca) has come up with some great graphics and motif ideas for the Official PGG t-shirt. They're available for review on the Mothership. As soon as we decide on how the shirts will look, and as soon as someone makes the shirts, then you'll be able to order them! For more information, just follow the t-shirt threads on alt.galactic-guide.

Q: Do you need more editors?
A: Yes! We need good editors -- people with a really good grasp of all the things you ignored during high school English class. If you can spell really well, have a good eye for proper grammar, and know where and when to put the various punctuation marks, you may be all set to join the ranks of the editors! Put up a post on the newsgroup saying you're interested in becoming an editor, and we'll set you up. Please remember that being an editor may suck down a LOT of your spare time -- don't volunteer unless you're prepared to put some time into this.

Q: Do you need more Quality Committee Members?
A: Yes! We need a few devoted newsgroup readers to be sure to read new articles posted for review. Quality Committee Members should be able to either read the newsgroup regularly, or be able to read their e-mail regularly and check the Review Status page on the web, at http://megadodo.com/review/ which lists all articles currently under review. We'd like to be able to have at least five different reviews of an article (from five different members) done and posted within a week of the article's posting, so a decision can be made whether or not to accept or reject an article.

Q: Do you have to be a "Quality Committee" Member to review articles?
A: No. All comments received are looked at carefully, and everyone can have a say, but only Members will receive notification by e-mail when new articles are up for review.

Q: Is there a Macintosh Guide Reader?
A: YES! Please see Section 4.4, above. Also, a new MGG (Mac Galactic Guide) is being written by Will Schenk (chilly@psu.edu), which is currently in development, and includes a speech facility.

Q: Is there a Microsoft Windows-based Guide Reader?
A: Yes indeedy! Aaron Rice (a.rice@ukonline.co.uk) has written a nice Windows-based program to display articles, allow searches, and it even allows you to write your own articles, which it will save in the correct format. Updates to the database can be performed from within the program. Version 1.1 is available as a 16 or 32-bit program, but version 1.5 (which is currently in Beta), is only currently available as a 32-bit version. This replaces the Windows Help file system, which was converted by David Kraics (krader@ix.netcom.com), which is still available if you prefer it that way.

Q: Wouldn't it be neat if there was a Guide program on a handheld computer?
A: Yes it would, but so far none have been developed for that purpose. If you would like to have a go, please feel free!

Q: Can I submit PGG articles from a web page?
A: Yes, this is now possible! Alex (Alex.McLintock@chadwyck.co.uk) has recently put up a page at http://www.arcfan.demon.co.uk/pgg/submit.htm to accept article submissions using a CGI script.

Q: How can I find out where my article is in the PGG pipeline?
A: Once you have submitted an article, it should be listed on the "Article Submissions" page at http://megadodo.com/submitted/.

Q: Can I submit an article in HTML format?
A: No, not yet. But we are thinking about it. Contact (Alex.McLintock@chadwyck.co.uk) if you think you have a need for HTML. But for now use the same format as in the posted approved articles.

Q: Can I get the whole guide in HTML format?
A: Well now you can! Martin Vorlander took some of Alex's code and improved it greatly. The aim is to provide programs which take the current PGG format and re-write as lots of HTML files - fully indexed and cross-referenced. This does not need a net link but it does need some kind of HTML browser on your machine. Please email Martin (martin@radiogaga.harz.de) for more info.

Q: There aren't many pictures in the Guide, are there?
A: No, but this is mainly due to the problem of making them portable. If you have some pictures which you think are suitable then contact one of the editors with details. We can discuss formats and so on later. As a rough guide, we currently seem to be accepting gif files.

Q: Where is the FAQ?
A: Here! The latest version should be available on the alt.galactic-guide newsgroup, possibly on the Mothership at ftp://vela.acs.oakland.edu/pub/galactic-guide/, and at http://megadodo.com/.

Q: Is this the end of the PGG FAQ?
A: Yes.

Q: Really?
A: I mean it this time.

8.0 Credits

Questions? Comments? E-mail faq@megadodo.com