This is the official document intended as a FAQ for
uk.local.yorkshire.

Last Updated: 2007-Oct-20

Posting Frequency: Weekly, or as necessary.

Contents:

1. The Charter.
2. The uk.local.yorkshire.noticeboard subgroup.
3. What's a *POTY* ?
4. What's a CON ?
5. When's the next Con?
6. The ULY Geek Code.
7. ICQ.
8. Netiquette for uly.

1.. The Charter.

Charter of Uk.Local.Yorkshire

(Not Moderated)

Uk.local.yorkshire is a general interest newsgroup intended for
discussions of an international nature from a local perspective.
Subjects may include sport, history, culture, towns and cities, curry,
beer, club scenes and international/national media topics,
homosexuality, how to pull an ugly Yorkshire bird with two kids, plus
anything else of interest to people in Yorkshire. Although the
newsgroup will (sometimes) be of interest to people from or living in
Yorkshire, we will welcome queries regarding the region and its
culture.

Advertising is not always allowed.

Messages posted to this newsgroup must not be cross-posted to more
than a TOTAL of eight newsgroups; these may be connected by the
subject of the post (e.g. "the school system in the US compared to the
UK").

Binaries are not allowed.

Newsgroups line

uk.local.yorkshire Discussion of world events from a local
perspective.

------------------------------------------
2.. The uk.local.yorkshire.noticeboard subgroup.

The Charter for uly can be found at:
<http://uklocal.topcities.com/FAQ/yorkshire.htm (Who's computer is this?) >

Newsgroups line: "Announcements and Adverts of Yorkshire relevance"


------------------------------------------
3.. What is a *POTY* ?

There used to be a competition for Post Of The Year, and posters would
nominate posts for this by typing *POTY*, and quoting the entire post
underneath. If you see one now, it just means that the poster *really
liked* the post.

We no longer do this as it was seen to be pretentious, pathetic and
was often used as a means of brown-nosing.

**However** A new convention has recently emerged where "*POTY*" is
now becoming recognised as meaning "Pillock Of The Year". Posters to
this newsgroup are now encouraged to use *POTY* in posts they see as
coming from tedious idiots.

Expect to see *POTY* used a LOT in the future.

------------------------------------------
4.. What's a CON ?

A con is a meeting of posters to ULY. Other newsgroups have cons too.
Sometimes they are called something else like a: Meet; Boink; Bash,
Orgy, Toga Party, Throw your car-keys in the pot, etc.

Whatever an individual group calls them they generally involve a group
of simple-minded people getting together to drink, talk, drink, eat
and er ...other things ;-)

uk.local.yorkshire cons are no exception to the general rule. From
time to time somebody will propose a con on the newsgroup and after
some general discussion the con magically comes together and a bunch
of weirdos and registered sex offenders turn up in some Yorkshire
hostelry ... each wondering if all the others are going to be
"different" and if they maybe, just maybe, won't fit in. New con
attendees also tend to think that everybody else has already met. Well
some have met before and call each other "phag". (Other terms may be
used in place of "phag"). Many will have met some, but not all,
present. Still others are as new at this social whirl as you may be
yourself. In short .... c'mon in -- the water's fine for fishin' ;-)

Con Reports:

***WARNING***: Many of these pictures are unsuitable for children,
those of a nervous disposition or whilst consuming food.

MentorCon: <http://www.burkesworks.co.uk/cons.html (Who's computer is this?) >
HongKongCon <http://uly.steve-fleischer.net/hkcon.htm (Who's computer is this?) >
XmasCon00: <http://www.jeamland.org/~mtw/Xmas00/ (Who's computer is this?) >
PaddingtonCon: <http://uly.steve-fleischer.net/paddcon.htm (Who's computer is this?) >
GlobalCon II: <http://uly.steve-fleischer.net/tongues.htm (Who's computer is this?) >
<http://uly.steve-fleischer.net/gc2.htm (Who's computer is this?) >
<http://web.ukonline.co.uk/beavis.db/072000.html (Who's computer is this?) >
PoolCon 2000: <http://www.handee.demon.co.uk/poolc.html (Who's computer is this?) >
<http://web.ukonline.co.uk/beavis.db/042000.html (Who's computer is this?) >
HarrogateCon: <http://uly.steve-fleischer.net/harrocon.htm (Who's computer is this?) >
ChristmasCon99: <http://www.jeamland.org/~mtw/Xmas99/ (Who's computer is this?) >
GlobalCon: <http://uly.steve-fleischer.net/gc.htm (Who's computer is this?) >
<http://www.eeyup.freeserve.co.uk/globalcon.html (Who's computer is this?) >
PoolCon99: <http://www.thegeegees.freeserve.co.uk/pagethree.html (Who's computer is this?) >
Pen-Y-GhentCon:
<http://www.thegeegees.freeserve.co.uk/mountaineering.html (Who's computer is this?) >
BirstallConII: <http://www.handee.demon.co.uk/bb2.html (Who's computer is this?) >
LeedsCon: <http://www.handee.demon.co.uk/boink.html (Who's computer is this?) >
BirstallCon: <http://homepage.ntlworld.com/beavis.db/birstall.html (Who's computer is this?) >
YorkCon98:
<http://homepage.ntlworld.com/beavis.db/yorkcon98.html (Who's computer is this?) >


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5.. When's the next Con?

There was a tradition that if you ask when the next Con is, you'd get
to organise it (unless there is a con already being arranged) but
that's old hat, and cons are now looked upon as meetings for the sad
and lonely who can't get a life outside Usenet.
If you are organising a Con, could you please email <ulygans at eeyup
dot freeserve dot co dot uk> so that Beth can add the details of the
freak proposing it to the cons page of the Yorkshire Peculiar website.
<http://www.eeyup.freeserve.co.uk/cons.html (Who's computer is this?) >


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6.. The ULY Geek Code.

Q. What's a ULY geek code?

If you are new to ULY you may have noticed strange looking lists of
characters in some of the sadder posters' sigs, for instance my sig
contains something like this,

'61 M Y* L- U- B(-) KQ+ C c P98F p+ ?Sh R(OX2) N(HD3) Prat3

This is a ULY geek code.

Q. What does all that rubbish mean then?

Well, this is a ULY geek code. Geek code as such was created to allow
geeks to show off their 'CVs' in one line. ULY has shamelessly stolen
this idea as a means for ulygans to give a one line biography in their
sigs.

Q. But, what does it mean?

Okay, okay. The code above tells you the following about me, just read
the 'words' from left to right.

I was born in 1961.
I am male.
I am Yorkshire born and bred as were all my antecedents.
I do not live in Yorkshire but I did up until less than 2 years ago.
I went to university on the other side of the hills.
My beer consumption varies from the odd drink after work to getting
drunk down my local.
I always report charter transgressors to their ISP.
I will attend a Con if I can get there easily, and my parole officer
allows me.
I know my curries but I'm not obsessed.
I was the (losing) ULY Pool Finalist in 1998.
I eat a range of bread products including pikelets.
I have no particular knowledge of sheep.
I live in Oxford 2.
I was born in Huddersfield 3.
My highest Prat rating is 3rd.

See, the geek code is a little more compact than me putting a full
blown biography in every sig, especially as sigs should be short.

Q. Yeah, but how does it tell me that?

Without going into too much detail here, most of the 'words' are made
up of a code and a number modifiers. So, Y* breaks doen into Y, which
is the code that descibes my Yorkshireness and * which quantifies that
Yorkshireness absolute. I won't describe all the codes here but they
are all described on this page,

<http://www.cogneuro.ox.ac.uk/~cgb/geek.html (Who's computer is this?) >

Q. Right, I've read that but I can't be bothered typing it in, what
can I do?

If you're really that sad, you could try Hannah's geek code generator,
this is at,

<http://www.handee.demon.co.uk/ulygk.html (Who's computer is this?) >

Hannah's page contains a form, just check the various boxes, type in a
few details, hit the button and hey presto! you have a geek code.
Hannah's page doesn't cater for all possibilities so you might have to
tweak your code a little but it does help enormously.

Q. Who decides which codes are which?

The clique and the clique only. If you think there is a need for a new
code or a new modifier then just post a message to ULY, we'll all have
a look at it, post a few sarky comments, argue about something
completely different, and at the end of all that it will probably not
find its way into the geek code.

Q. Is there anything else I need to know?

You did know that netnews sigs should be short, preferably 20 lines or
less, didn't you? Well, with this in mind you probably want to keep
your geek code to 20, or at a stretch, 25 lines.

If you don't know your highest prat rating then you can find it by
using the page at:

<http://www.cogneuro.ox.ac.uk/cgb/uly/prat.html (Who's computer is this?) >

Q. Is that everything?

Probably not, but it'll have to do for now.

------------------------------------------
7.. ICQ.

7.1 What is ICQ?

This is a program where freaks, those without lives, and paedophiles
looking for victims can post messages and conduct a proper
conversation in real-time, i.e. without delay. You type in your
message and then the kids, sorry! person or persons you are chatting
to can respond instantly.
All you need is a copy of the program from <http://www.mirabilis.com (Who's computer is this?) >
and someone else who has it. You just have to choose a nickname and
then the sky's the limit! When you have registered your nickname, you
will be assigned a User Identification Number (UIN) and this is vital.
People will then be able to find you just from your number.

7.2 Chat Rooms

In additions, chat-rooms (another haunt of pedos) have been set up for
small groups to chat. There is one known ULY chat room at UIN
40175285.
This tends to open at irregular intervals but most of the time a
message will be posted on ULY for the important times.

7.3 ULY ICQ Who's Who

here's a list of most of the ICQ chatters to avoid:

Rob Overfield 65363762
Alex 10747070
Allen 974555
Michael Swift 20398610
Dave 42870925
Beavis 3416097
Phil 42881812
Roz 26176857
March 14675379
Simon 2366475
Mike Clayton 36129750
Penny 23922069
Marcus 29654055
Sandy 18004806
Alison 9717183
Heather 27964689
Patrick 20535161
Stephen Southgate 19489309
Terri 2661406
Mike Roebuck 7018252
Steve Fleischer 34073785
Beth Withheld - request from user
Nev Young Withheld - request from user
Mart 12446807
King Queen 64070804
Mark Tyndall 73937132
Dean Lambert 25346521
Mark Trudgill 40531675
Ben Spencer 9772636
&yorkshire (chat room) 40175285

------------------------------------------
8. Netiquette for uly.

Usenet and newsgroups have been around for quite a while and so
conventions have developed about how to post. These are generally
regarded as guidelines and good manners.

a) Usenet originally developed as a plain text medium, but;

HTML is great, feel free to post using it. And set your line length
for about 80 characters. This stops your posts having lines longer
than some newsreaders can read, or having a long line, a line with one
word, a long line etc. It also allows for other people quoting you.

b) Don't shout throughout the message.

Writing in all capitals is regarded as shouting, and seen as fairly
rude if the entire message is composed of shouting; we'll also report
you to your ISP if you do. On top of which, it is actually harder to
read text that is all upper case.

c) Don't trim your posts.

It is important to quote *ALL* the lines from the previous post(s).
Things can get very jumbled up on usenet, so it is important to
clearly state what you are referring to.
Also, not all software threads messages the same way. Some thread by
time, some alphabetically, some in ways mysterious to man (and woman).
Without giving some context, other readers can get lost.

Don't trim the sig of the person whose post you are quoting. Their sig
may be very witty, and my be of amusement to others.

Most people with any sense have unmetered net access now, so
downloading messages which consist of 200+ lines of quoted text isn't
the problem that it used to be. Some software won't let you post
unless the new text is greater than the quoted text; if this is the
case, change to another program.

d) Post at the bottom or the top of the message.

Unlike some of the more 'backward' newsgroups, it is perfectly
acceptable to post replies at either the top, bottom or middle of the
quoted message in u.l.y. For that matter, you may also post throughout
the message, addressing each point in turn.

If anyone should attempt to chastise you for 'top posting', ignore
them. It is best not to enter a flame war with one of our regular
trolls (see below).

e) Don't advertise too often.

Now, we're well aware that people may want to sell or buy items within
the Yorkshire area, or let us all know about an event. For this reason
we went through a long process to create
uk.local.yorkshire.noticeboard and would like to see Yorkshire-related
notices, advertisements, wanted adverts and so on over there. It's a
good newsgroup, let's use it!
<http://www.usenet.org.uk/uk.local.yorkshire.noticeboard.html (Who's computer is this?) > will
give you more information about the noticeboard.

f) Sigs.

Sigs can be used to give a witty quote, your uly geek code, your real
email address, your web-site. A sig should commence with a sig
separator. A sig separator is four dashes followed by a space: ---- .
Some newsreading software can automatically strip sigs from posts when
following up so trying to set up your sig correctly can be a big help.
Sigs should be no longer than 20 lines (the separator does not count)
and may contain just about anything you want to put in. Lots of people
include their email address, their URL, a quote, their uly geek code,
or some cool ASCII art.

g) General manners.

Swearing and abusive language is NOT acceptable in u.l.y. It is not an
adults only group, therefore there may be children reading. In
addition, there are many female posters who might be offended by crude
language.

Unfortunately, u.l.y has a history of being disrupted by trolls (also
known as the 'Clique'). Fortunately, these individuals can easily be
spotted by their usernames.
Please don't enter into a flame war with one of our regular trolls, it
is far better to ignore them altogether. Killfiltering is a useful
feature for this purpose. They sometimes change their usernames to
avoid detection, but for the most part post under the following
identities:

Chimera
Dave Fawthrop
Dr Drew
fred
Hannah d
Amethyst Deceiver
King Queen
Les Hellawell
Linz
Mark Tyndall
martinp
Mentor
Micahangelo
Mike Roebuck
Mike Swift
Mike Clayton
nick odell
Ophelia
Rob Overfield
Sean Emmott
Tez Burke
The Big Man (Alex)
Plus a few others

Some of them have the letters 'KQ' in their signature, this means that
they will abuse and harass anyone who violates their own set of
posting rules. They sometimes refer to their own FAQ which is posted
weekly as a sort of justification for their unpleasantness.

h) And finally...

Remember that u.l.y is both international and local. Don't assume that
everyone reading your post is from the same cultural background as
you; and don't assume that no-one knows who you are. Only say things
about yourself (or people you know) that you don't mind the whole
world knowing and won't embarrass you if they turn up in an unexpected
context. Posts are archived on the Web and anyone can read them,
including your parents, your children, your partner and your employer.