From: tjw+@pitt.edu (TJ Wood)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.info,alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Announcing ALT.FOLKLORE.INFO
Date: 14 Oct 93 19:21:09 GMT

To my Friends (and Friends of a Friend):

Allow me to announce the arrival of Alt.Folklore.Info, a moderated newsgroup
for the reporting of "current" Urban Legends and the "mutation" of ULs.

This group is NOT superseding AFU by any means.  Discussion of the ULs
will still take place in AFU.  I'm just asking that when you see/hear/taste
a "new" Urban Legend, that you drop me a line and I'll report it on AFI.

If Mrs Fields starts charging more than TWO FIFTY for her RED VELVET CAKE,
please let me know at once.  If CRAIG SHERGOLD is seen graduating from Harvard,
and paid for his education by collecting pull top rings, let me know!!!

Chain letters and other folklore (such as reports from NAAPS TELEBRATION '93)
are welcome too.  In other-words, I'm looking for the "Best of AFU" and the
other Folklore groups.

I expect that this group will sometimes be a journal of sorts.  I hope that
it will garner the interest of some real live genuine honest-to-gosh
folklorists and storytellers, but time will tell.

But it will not happen without your help!


So here's the STRAIGHT DOPE on the newgroup message.  It contains a charter
and some other extremely serious stuff.  If you're site doesn't carry the
group yet, ask your news admin to create it.  If he or she refuses, show
them the text at the END of this message.


Thanks for all the support so far.  I hope to have some "Genuine" folklore
to report tomorrow.  (You AFU regulars will, of course, have seen it already,
but you have to start somewhere).

Terry "Send It In" Wood


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Group submission address:   wood@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Moderator contact address:  tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu (Terry J. Wood)

For your newsgroups file:
alt.folklore.info   Current urban legends and other folklore. (Moderated)


How all this happened:

Alt.folklore.info is a moderated newsgroup which has been discussed in
alt.config recently (and not so recently -- I've been making noises about
this for over a year).  I have finally gotten enough time to devote to this
since I've stepped down as chairperson of Calliope: The Pittsburgh Folk
Music Society.  So I figured, let's have some fun!

I've always wanted a group to post the most "recent" circulating urban
legends.  AFU is a fine group, but the traffic can be somewhat overwhelming.
So what I'm hoping to have is a group where the busy computer professional
(turn amateur folklorist) can keep up-to-date on the latest circulating
urban legends.  I'm counting on the assistance of the regular readers of
the folklore groups and, of course, the special assistance of the readers
of AFU.

However in all the discussion in alt.config, I was somewhat disappointed that
I didn't get a single message telling me that "You can't make a moderated
alt group!!!" or even a "I'll not carry this on my machine!!!!".

What is the ALTNET coming to?

I did get a number of suggestions as to what to call the group and the name
"alt.folklore.info" seems to have been the popular favorite.  My thanks to
all who took the time to respond to my query.



Shameless begging:

Oh please, PLEASE *PLEASE* newgroup this or I'll simply die.  I'm holding
my breath!  I'll turn blue if you don't make this newsgroup!!!!  OK, OK,
at least THINK about it.  You've read this far, go ahead and have a look
at the CHARTER:


The Charter:

Alt.folklore.info will be a companion group to alt.folklore.urban (and the
other alt.folklore groups), much in the same way as rec.arts.startrek.info
is a companion to the rec.arts.startrek.* groups.  [This is only fitting
given the way the users of AFU have taunted the "trekkies" over the years].

I expect that AFI will be a journal of folklore, where "recent" urban
legends can be posted.  Discussion of the validity and such will still occur
in AFU.  But AFI can alert the casual reader to what urban legends are
circulating.  Also, I hope to post folklore (storytelling) from NAAPS
events as I attend them.  We'll expand on the focus as time permits.

I also hope to attract "genuine professional" folklorists to the group, but
of course, only time will tell.


Mandatory Urban Legend:

Long long ago, in a place far far away, a lonely news admin didn't honor
this newgroup out of nothing more than sheer spite.  His system had plenty
of free disk blocks and many, many free inodes.  He looked at this newgroup
request and said: "Bah HUMBUG!"  

The next day, his boss informed him that he was being transferred to the
accounting department where he would be forced to administer an IBM 360/148
that ran HASP.  He was to be assigned all the COBOL programming as well --
after he finished flow charting the 10,000 odd applications that were left
over from the 1960s.

As his last official act as a news admin, he newgrouped a.f.i.

The next day, his boss told him it was all a mistake and promoted him to
Chief Software Engineer, where he got to play with all the machines before
his company actually bought them.  He also discovered that he had finally
found someone to break his record in the Guinness Book and so FINALLY he
would not be receiving any more business/post cards.

And CRAIG computed happily ever after.

So please don't delay.  Honor this newgroup TODAY (and copy it and send out
10 other newgroups just like it before midnight tonight). ;-)

Terry "They couldn't post it if it weren't true" Wood
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