Frequently Asked Questions

Why isn't anything happening with this site?

Quite frankly, I haven't had enough time for quite some time now, and I have had a need to spend some of my spare time away from computers. I still archive anything that appears in rec.arts.sf.reviews, so the review sections keeps growing, and more and more I feel the urge to update and do something about these pages, so please stay tuned.

Remeber, this is a pure hobby site. This is not how I earn my daily bread.

I mailed you quite some time ago. Why haven't you replied?

See above. At this moment I have a mailbox containing about 1500 unread letters regarding this site. Most of it is the spam you unfortunately attract when you put your name on a web page, obscuring the real letters.

This is what makes me most ashamed about this site. I consider it very rude not to reply to e-mail, and not having time to do that grieves me.

If I haven't replied to something you feel is important, please don't hesitate. Mail me again!

I sent you some art some time ago. What happened to it?

I made a too complex automatic reception system to handle this stuff. It broke down when too many things changed on the computer this web site runs on. Trying to fix that just added to the growing backlog of other stuff needed to be done, so unfortunately I cannot accept any more images from external artists.

There is a site for amateur SF and fantasy artists over at Elfwood you might have a look at instead.

Hey, I've got this faboulous web site. Why don't you add a link to it?

Speaking frankly again, I simply don't have the time to administrate and keep track of a large number of external links. I have been, and still am, experimenting with automating that process, but I don't have anything that works in a satisfactory manner.

I am mirroring the Science Fiction Resource Guide, which is the right place to submit link requests to.

So how do I get anything included in this place?

Post a review on rec.arts.sf.reviews. There is a FAQ posted regularly in that newsgroup explaining what a review should contain and how it should look. There should be a serious disaster involved to hinder me from archiving anything appearing there.

Or you could mail me directly. However, be prepared that you may have to badger me a bit if my time is otherwise occupied.

Why should I send anything out? I've got my own website!

That depends on what you want from your reviews.

If you want to reach as many readers as possible, then remember that USENET newsgroups have subscriber rates counted in millions all over the world. This is one of the fastest and easiest way to reach as many interested persons as possible.

If you want to draw people to your website, then you might want to consider sending out your reviews as a form of advertising. Just include your URL with the review, and if people like your reviews then they are sure to follow the link to your site to look for more. I do not strip out URL:s from the messages archived here.

If, on the other hand, you are out for total control of anything you write and absolutely want those advertisment banner cents to keep ticking in everytime anyone reads your writing, then I urge you to reconsider. I think you are in for a rough time on the Internet with that kind of an attitude.

What right do you have to take these reviews anyway?

I archive stuff sent out publicly in order to reach as many as possible, material that is available from thousends of newsservers all over the world. I simply makes it available longer and (hopefully) easier to find, just in the same manner as Dejanews does. This archive is mentioned in the FAQ posted for rec.arts.sf.reviews. so anyone posting in that newsgroup should be aware that reviews will be archived here.

I will of course remove material from this site upon request from the author, no question asked. Just please consider the points I raise under "Why should I..." above.

What is Usenet News?

Well, the simplest way to describe it is as "broadcast" email. It is "letters" (called "articles" in News) that does not have a specific user or group of users as target, but instead is sent out in the world, to be read by anyone "tuning in". These articles are grouped into hundreds of "newsgroups" each one concerning a specific subject. Science fiction and fantasy reviews are sent out into the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.reviews, as you might have surmised from above. If you continue the broadcast analogy, then newsgroups are like special-interest cable channels where anyone can broadcast.