Charter:
Alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated will be a group 
specifically dedicated to the lustful devotion to any and 
all Star Trek characters, the people who play those characters,
technology, and ideas. More specifically, this group will
be devoted to erotic Star Trek fan fiction ranging from 
mild to NC-17. Moderation will be handled by human moderators
 who will approve all posts except binaries, commercial spam,
 and messages that have been multiply crossposted.


------------------------------------------------------------------------

FAQ for alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated

------------------------------------------------------------------------

ASCEM, A Guide to Infinite Combinations.

Version 3.03

Table of Contents:

I.   An Introduction
  A. An Introduction
  B. Charter
  C. More on that
II.  How things Work
  A. Moderation Process
  B. E-mail and Newsgroup Delivery
  C. Moderation verse Censorship
  D. Technical Process
III. Reading, Posting, Replying
  A. Reading
  B. Posting
  C. Replying
  D. Technical Guidelines
IV.  Discussion of Stories and Ideas
  A. Stories and Ideas
  B. Feedback
  C. Critique and Debate
V.   Writing Stories
  A. Disclaimer
  B. Header
  C. Content
  D. Style
  E. Formatting Suggestions
  F. Codes and Labels Pointer
VI.  Special Posts and Services
  A. Status of Stories
  B. FAQs
  C. The Archive
  D. Golden Orgasms
  E. ASCEM NOONE
VII. Contacts
  A. ASCEM
  B. ASC
  C. ASCA
  D. Archive Team
VIII. Credits

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I.   An Introduction
 -   ---------------
--A. An Introduction

In the beginning there was the word, and the ... opps, wrong FAQ. 

This is the FAQ and purpose of
alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated (ASCEM), a USENET 
newsgroup, the successor to alt.sex.fetish.startrek (ASFS) and 
alt.startrek.creative.erotica (ASCEM)   Please read in its 
entirety. 


--B. Charter

"alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated is a newsgroup for the 
lustful devotion to Star Trek characters, technology, and ideas. 
More specifically, it is for erotic Star Trek fan fiction ranging 
from mild to NC-17."

--C. More on that

ASCEML is how we refer to the mailing list version of ASCEM, 
which gets everything that goes to the newsgroup.  We are a 
moderated group, which means we don't accept spam.  That's our 
only restriction.  The charter you see above is as it appears on 
the new group message sent out in 1997.  I should note that the 
more specifically phrase should probably be worded center of 
group, as the group's reason for being is that, but you will see 
quite a bit of chatter not associated with a particular story.

Our sister groups are alt.startrek.creative (ASC) and 
alt.startrek.creative.all-ages (ASCA)

II.  How things Work
---  ---------------
--A. Moderation Process

ASCEM(L) is moderated through a process known as a white list.  
Accounts subscribed via the yahoogroup (ASCEML) are given 
moderation free posting rights after a few posts are determined 
to not be subscribed for spam purposes.  

Moderation is currently done by the Divine Dina, who goes and 
approves posts that are from accounts not yet white listed or 
posts that arrive via the newsgroup moderation account (ascem 
earthlink.net) She also white lists accounts.
  
--B. E-mail and Newsgroup Delivery

You can receive ASCEM via two methods:

1. Newsgroup Delivery
   This is via your Internet Service Provider's Newsserver,
   Look for the newsgroup alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated

2. E-mail Delivery
   Via the yahoo group ASCEML
   E-mail: asceml-subscribe yahoogroups.com       
   There is also a stories only version via ASCEMS
   E-mail: ascem-s-subscribe egroups.com 



--C. Moderation verse Censorship

Moderation is not Censorship.  The Divine Dina is only allowed to 
reject posts that are defined as spam (advertisements, 
chain-letters, or cross-posted all over the universe).  She can 
not reject posts because she hates you (she most likely doesn't 
know you) or doesn't like the sexual content or pairings.  This 
is an equal opportunity perversion posting newsgroup.

The Current FAQ Maintainer will note that there have been debates 
about content restrictions that have even included his own works. 
We intend to never go down the slippery slope of restricting what 
one can or can not do in a story.
 
--D. Technical Process

A post can enter the newsgroup via one of two ways.  Via the 
newsgroup, or via the mailing list.  The latter of these is the 
quickest to get to the group.

A post to the newsgroup on a properly configured server will 
result in that post being e-mailed to the Divine Dina.  She, on a 
regular basis, goes through these e-mails and forwards them to 
the mailing list.

A post to the mailing list, should the address not be on the 
white list yet (and our Divine Moderator adds people to this 
white list on a regular basis) will also wait for her attention.

Once a post gets to the mailing list, it goes out to everyone who 
kept their account set to e-mail them.  It also goes to our mail 
to news interface, created by Randall Raemon, which then sends it 
with the proper headers to the newsgroup.

Occasionally, a new poster will wonder what takes his or her 
posts so long to get out.  That's because the Divine Dina is not, 
nor should she be, on duty 24-7.  We do hope she has a life 
outside of moderation now that she's retired from the Archive 
Team.


III. Reading, Posting, Replying
---- --------------------------
--A. Reading

Thanks to the wonders of moderation, ASCEML consists of stories, 
discussions about stories and related things, and no spam. 
Stories can be quickly identified by their title as found in the 
title line and message header, usually accompanied by a morass of 
codes traditionally referred to as "alphabet soup".   Later in 
this FAQ you'll get an explanation of those, and the Codes FAQ 
(which we share with alt.startrek.creative) will give a full list 
of them.

If you're new to newsgroups or mailing lists, please read quietly 
for a bit so as to get the tone and temper of our group.  This is 
called "lurking", and is an honored tradition on much of USENET. 
Sometimes newsgroup regulars will go to lurker status for a 
while, if they're overwhelmed by real life, tired of some thread, 
or need a break.   Lurkers are just as valued here as anyone 
else, and in fact a majority of folks here *are* lurkers.  So it 
doesn't matter that you don't have much to say.  You're still 
welcome.

--B. Posting

Firstly, don't send advertisements, binaries, or cross-posts.  It 
wastes your time and ours, and they won't get past the spambot or 
the moderator.  Secondly, try  and be courteous.  It's a very 
good idea to send your  messages in fixed-width, plain-text 
format, simply because  that way, everyone can read it.  A line 
width of not more  than 70 characters is *strongly* recommended. 
Most word  processing programs can be set to do this 
automatically.


--C. Replying

If you're replying to someone else's message, please don't quote 
their entire message when you're responding to just one point.  
It wastes space and time.  Use common sense and you'll be doing 
the right thing. Please keep your messages to around 20K in size, 
for technical reasons as well as kindness to people who use slow, 
modems (like the FAQ Maintianer).  In addition, some ISPs, like 
aol, chop off posts that are longer than that, meaning folks 
can't read half of your story.

The nature of UseNet means that topics frequently segue into one 
another and threads can get wildly off-topic. One helpful way to 
avoid confusion is to rename the subject header of the message if 
you feel it doesn't reflect its content any longer.  We do debate 
things over and over, but we're usually a tolerant bunch of 
people. We try not to be a clique; The Vulcan IDIC (Infinite 
Diversity in Infinite Combinations) holds true here.  Now and 
then we all fall from grace, but we'll get up and try again.

--D. Technical Guidelines

For those unsure of how to measure 20k, in most word processing 
programs 20k ends up being about 5 or 6 pages of plain text.  500 
70-character lines also is a good guide here. Don't post in HTML

IV.  Discussion of Stories and Ideas
---  -------------------------------
--A. Stories and Ideas

If it's Star Trek, and it's yours, we have no objection.  If it's 
not yours, have permission before posting.  That's all I'll say 
on the subject, and all I should have to.

--B. Feedback 

The authors of the fan-fiction posted here don't get paid for 
their work, so a compliment is the best they're hoping for and 
the nicest way of giving thanks. If you have something to say 
about a story, please say it. It doesn't matter if you'd prefer 
to send it privately to the author or would rather reply to the 
list (as most of us do).  Many times the author themselves will 
state what sort of feedback, if any, they would like, and whether 
they prefer public or private feedback.

Be sensible; feedback like "This story sucked!" is not real 
helpful.  But if all you can think of is "Wow, I loved it!" -- 
authors need hugs too.  Plain insults are not constructive.  If 
something didn't work for you and you're bothered by it enough to 
write to the author, a comment such as "I had trouble 
understanding why you did X with character Y" is much more 
helpful to them and might be returned with an explanation of why 
they wrote it that way.

--C. Critique and Debate

Public discussion of various stories happens a lot, and more 
often than not the authors themselves are heavily involved. Try 
to exercise courtesy if you want to argue a point, because this 
is the best way to get along well enough to do this. Again, this 
is simple common sense. Critical acclaim and attack are usually 
welcomed on this list, but be prepared to back up your opinions 
and discuss them as the rest of us do. And please respect if an 
author has said they does not want negative feedback.  It's hard 
to put our babies out there on the firing line, and sometimes an 
author just is not ready to deal with bad news.   Many others 
welcome feedback, though
  
Also, some authors are not native English speakers, so keep that 
in mind.  English is tough to learn if you didn't speak it as a 
child.


V.   Writing Stories
--   ---------------
--A. Disclaimer

There is a very good chance that you don't own Star Trek.  So 
acknowledge that fact.  Something like "Star Trek is property of 
Viacom Inc.  I'm not earning one red cent from it.  (Just a few 
green ones.)"  This is a good idea.  It covers you and us.

This raises two points: (a) you can be amusing in the disclaimer, 
if you want to be; (b) you *cannot* sell these stories. Even if 
you have the author's permission -- even if you happen to be the 
author!  It's illegal, and ParaBorg has legions of Ferengi 
lawyers with nothing better to do than go after copyright 
violators.  Fan-fic is recognized as a "fair-use" usage of the 
copyrighted material -- but if you sell it somewhere, they *will* 
hunt you down and beam your atoms into space.  (Making you watch 
bad movies is another fandom)

--B. Header

The Story header and Subject line are very important.  If you 
don't follow them, the Archive Team have hired Morag and Kozek to 
hunt you down.  We'll also put your story at the back of the 
line.

The Subject Line consists of (in this order): Postname, Series, 
Title, Parts, Codes, Rating.

Examples include:

NEW TNG Morag's Dinner Guest 1/1 (viol) [R]
REP DS9 Never on Sunday 1/7 (Qu/Grilka) [NC-17]
REV VOY Wicked 8/31 (J/C, P/T, bdsm) [NC-17]

You'll find a list of what these parts mean in the Codes FAQ,

The Story Header is a little beginning that makes the archive 
team's job just a little easier.  The data you see in it will be 
ported directly into the Archive's Index, and I don't change 
things quickly.  The lines are:

Title: Full Title of your Story
Author: Your name as you wish it to appear in the Index
Contact: how to get a hold of you
Series: Series and Subseries this is written in
Rating: MPAA rating and why
Part: 1/6 or the like
Codes: The pairings and story type of your story
Summary: 3-5 lines telling what your story is about.

Include it.  Your readers will find it easier, and you won't have 
to talk with Morag and Kozek.

--C. Content

ASCEM(L) wants your treksmut! Any erotic, pornographic, smutty, 
sexy, romantic, etc. fic you'd care to share with us is 
appreciated, so long as you base it in one of the Star Trek 
timelines or even an alternate universe for one or more of them.  
Bring 'em on!
  
Your story doesn't need to feature familiar characters, although 
most stories do. It doesn't need to include sexual or adult-only 
situations either, although if you're primarily writing 
non-erotic stories then you ought to think about posting them to 
ASCA or ASC instead. (Incidentally, ASC welcomes *all* Trekfic, 
including erotica.)  You can also post stories without actual sex 
-- we call those UST, for "unresolved sexual tension".  We also 
welcome parodies, humour, filksongs, poems, etc.  If it's got 
Trek and sex, we want it.
  
Equally, authors here don't limit themselves to heterosexual, 
"vanilla" explorations of sex. There's a lot of different 
material here, going all the way from m/f just kissing, to dark, 
disturbing, and seriously kinky. ASCEM(L) is about diversity as 
much as Star Trek and sex itself are about diversity.  Read the 
codes and the warnings, and if something strikes you as eww, way 
gross, just remember: Mr. Delete Key is your friend!

--D. Style

We have content guidelines based on what we've found works best.  
We don't have style guidelines; art is subjective, after all. The 
best style advice is to have some!  What that style might be is 
entirely up to you.
  
However, remember that your work will be read by most people on a 
screen, not a printed page. This means that single-spaced lines 
of text in block paragraphs, separated by a clear line (as in 
this FAQ), are preferred to indented paragraphs.  Netscape tends 
to eat the indents, as do quite a few other programs, and your 
story can end up looking like one huge run-on paragraph -- which 
makes it hard on the reader.  You can still add indents if you 
like -- I do.  But it's best not to rely on them alone.
  
The USENET convention is to use *asterisks* for emphasis (what 
might otherwise be in italics).  ALL CAPS is only used when a 
character is shouting.  Asterisks are also found separating a 
character's inner thoughts from speech, as is the //double 
slash// (however this is also used for telepathic speach).  Try 
to be consistent once you have a preference.  The underscore is 
sometimes used similarly, and also for names given in italics.  
Some of us have used hyphens or <<>>.  Doesn't matter much, just 
pick what you like and stick to it.  Remember that 
word-processing codes like bold and underline and italics will 
not come through in ASCII text.  Likewise, accented letters, 
word-processing hyphens, non-Roman-alphabet characters etc. will 
show up as garbage codes, and many readers will just say "aw, 
screw it" and delete it unread.  Stick to plain old boring ASCII 
text and you won't go wrong.  All word processing programs have 
an export-to-plain-text feature; specifics vary, but you *can* do 
this.  And your readers will be forever grateful.

--E. Formatting Suggestions

Please post in fixed-width, plain-text format. Anything that 
isn't ASCII text will be zapped, either by the spambots, or by 
our moderator. 
  
Also, if you find you're posting a long story and it's totaling 
more than 20K or so, please try to find a suitable point to break 
it into two or more posts.  Longer posts may not be seen in full 
or, at best, will annoy the "slow, flaky modem" contingent. With 
this in mind, please make it obvious which post is which story 
segment.  The best thing to do is include a part number in the 
title line, like "1/3," and to repeat that part number at the end 
of each post, like "End of part one of three."  This way, folks 
know they've got the whole post and none of it got chopped off.

--F. Codes and Labels Pointer

The Codes FAQ can be found at:
http://www.trekiverse.org/FAQs/Codes.txt

It is also posted along with this FAQ and to ASC weekly.

VI.  Special Posts and Services
---  --------------------------
--A. Status of Stories

Special post  you'll find is the "Status of Stories" posts; the 
SOS is a monthly listing of stories posted to the group, a bit 
like an index. These are compiled by the SOS maintainers, who are 
more lovely volunteer folks who work hard so all of us can enjoy. 

SOS is the place to check and  see if your story made it into the 
archive intake queue or  not. 

--B. FAQs

This is the primary FAQ for ASCEM, but you'll also wish to check 
out these other FAQs for this and our sister newsgroups:

Codes ...
The FAQ that tells exactly what all those letters mean in the 
header.  Posted along with this FAQ and weekly on ASC

Introduction ...
Primary FAQ for alt.startrek.creative Posted weekly on ASC

Reader's Guide ...
A Reader's Guide to ASC, known for it's different format.

Advice for Authors ...
Detailed guide to ASC* from the Author's perspective.

Mannerly Art of Crit ...
By Peg Robinson.  Posted Monthly on ASC and as needed on ASCEM.  
A guide to how to criticize a story.

Mannerly Art of Disagreement ...
By Macedon.  Posted Monthly on ASC and as needed on ASCEM.  How 
to keep your temper when the group gets hot.

--C. The Archive

The group's archive is know as Trekiverse, and can be reached at:
http://www.trekiverse.org

By default, all posts to ASCEML are archived.  You have to tell 
us not to.

The Archive Team currently consists of many volunteers and is led 
by Constable Katie, and the Insufficiently Reluctant Guy whose 
writing this FAQ.  

--D. Golden Orgasms

The Golden Os are the annual Awards for this newsgroup, and are 
held in February.  More details on those awards will be provided 
at the Golden Os Website and in this spot on a later revision.

--E. ASCEM NOONE

ASCEM Noone - A service provided by Robin (robinl bigpond.net.au) 
to post stories anonymously that would not be posted otherwise 
due to some concern of the author.  The name means "Ask No One"  
Just e-mail your story to her  and she'll strip it of all the 
identifying headers.

VII. Contacts
---- --------
--A. ASCEM

FAQ Maintainer
  Stephen Ratliff
  stephen trekiverse.org
Moderator
  Dina
Status of Stories FAQ
  J Juls
Golden Os Coordinator
  Mary Ellen

--B. ASC

FAQ Maintainer
  Stephen Ratliff
  stephen trekiverse.org

--C. ASCA

FAQ Maintainer
  Stephen Ratliff
  stephen trekiverse.org
Senior Moderator
  Stephen Ratliff
  stephen trekiverse.org
Moderators
  Kattz
  Jemima Pereira

--D. Archive Team

Archivist
  Constable Katie
Index Maintainer                   
  Stephen Ratliff
  stephen trekiverse.org

VIII. Credits
----- -------

This FAQ was prepared mainly from the text of Greywolf, my 
predecessor in this job, after the fully rewritten version got 
swallowed by a hard drive crash.  Revision assistance: DataLaur,
J.Juls

Previously this FAQ was written by Ned Fox and substantially
revised by Greywolf the Wanderer; Thanks to Ruth Gifford (author 
of the original FAQ), and to many other contributors.

Thanks also to those other hard workers in the newsgroup (I can't 
do everything, and how would you like to take on ...) The writers 
and readers.

Stephen Ratliff
ASC* FAQ Maintainer
