*** ANSWERMAN INTERNET EXTRA *** For the week of December 16, 1996 This is the weekly newsletter for the community of Internet users on America Online. Come see what's new at keyword ANSWERMAN. To unsubscribe from this newsletter, scroll down to the end of this message for instructions. *This week, AnswerMan's Focus is the FAQ--Frequently Asked Question and Answer List* =*=*= IN THIS ISSUE =*=*= AnswerMan's Update -- Get the Facts about FAQs Upcoming Weekly Focus & Chats -- Stuff to look forward to... The End -- How to contact us or unsubscribe =*=*= WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK WITH ANSWERMAN =*=*= Go to keyword: For: AM FOCUS Links to copious FAQ sites ANSWERMAN Internet message board, daily tips, more good stuff AM CHAT Read transcripts of Internet chats that you missed AM GLOSSARY RTFM to decrypt that Internet jargon NET HELP Get quick help for your Internet questions Here are direct links for AOL 3.0 users: Go to keyword AnswerMan AnswerMan Focus =*=*= ANSWERMAN'S UPDATE -- The Facts about FAQs =*=*= by Kevin Savetz (AnswerMan) Greetings once again. I'm writing this newsletter while once again safely on the ground. The Internet World conference in New York was fun, but it's good to be back to my Northern California abode and the kitties therein. This week's AnswerMan Focus is the venerable FAQ, or Frequently Asked Question and Answer List. FAQs are some of the most organic, useful sources of information on the Internet. FAQs are simply text files or Web pages that contain answers to common questions on a particular subject. And that subject might be on any conceivable topic. Spend an afternoon sifting through the hundreds of FAQs available on the Net, and you'll see that these documents span the entire spectrum of human experience. You can find FAQs about Zen Buddhism, Gilligan's Island, social security, and hundreds of other topics. Many FAQs grow as an offshoot from Usenet newsgroups. For instance, the newsgroup soc.couples.wedding has its own FAQ on weddings, and alt.bigfoot offers a FAQ about, well, Bigfoot. The group rec.pets.dogs has several FAQs, each focusing on a different breed of canine. With so many people coming and going on Usenet, certain basic questions come up again and again. Regular readers of a newsgroup may tire of reading the same "newbie" questions over and over again, so someone "in the know" creates a FAQ list for that newsgroup and posts it every so often, in the hopes that newbies will more easily find the answers to their basic questions. You can read FAQs in newsgroups -- if a newsgroup has a FAQ, it's probably posted to that group once or twice a month. You can also find FAQs in the newsgroup news.answers -- this newsgroup serves as a clearinghouse for FAQ documents. But you may find it easier to read FAQs on the Web: go to http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/FAQ-List.html and you'll find an easy-to-browse interface to all the FAQs that are posted to Usenet. A quick way to find a FAQ on a particular topic is to go to http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/htbin/search-usenet-faqs/form -- then enter a word of two describing what you're searching for. For instance, entering "LEGO" will reveal the LEGO FAQ, where you can learn the answers to your pressing questions about those colorful building blocks. Or enter "house" to reveal a selection of FAQs for home-owners, including the Electrical Wiring FAQ, Crib and Cradle Safety Regulations, and the misc.consumers.house FAQ. Maybe its because I have no life, but I love to just peruse the information in FAQs without looking for anything in particular. Its sort of like thumbing though a living encyclopedia that is created every day by folks like you and me. There are currently about 3,000 FAQ lists. Here are the titles of just a few: alt.beer FAQ alt.magic FAQ alt.pave.the.earth FAQ alt.religion.scientology FAQ comp.windows.x Frequently Asked Questions Cryonics FAQ FAQ: Typing Injuries Gilligan's Island FAQ: Episode Guide Hungarian electronic resources FAQ Mensa FAQ Modula-3 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) MPEG-FAQ: multimedia compression rec.arts.bonsai Frequently Asked Questions rec.guns FAQ rec.juggling Frequently Asked Questions rec.models.scale Ship Modeling FAQ rec.music.reggae Frequently Asked Questions rec.pets.dogs: Shetland Sheepdogs Breed-FAQ rec.scouting FAQ rec.skydiving FAQ Rolling Stones FAQ soc.culture.indian Frequently Asked Questions soc.religion.shamanism-Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) soc.singles Frequently Asked Questions FAQs are the perfect example of how the Internet is the ultimate give-and-take community. If you need information, you can have it. If you have some, you are invited to share it. If a FAQ doesn't exist on a topic that you're interested in, consider creating one. It doesn't take special talent or expensive equipment to create a FAQ list. All you need is some information that you are willing to share. You don't need to be an expert to write a FAQ; you just need to know a little more than some other folks do. (However, once you've been publishing your FAQ for a while, people will start to assume you're an expert. And after you've been doing it for a few months, you probably will be one.) Here are direct links for AOL 3.0 users: AnswerMan AnswerMan Focus: more FAQ sites =*=*= THE WEEKLY FOCUS & CHAT =*=*= Every week, AnswerMan focuses on a particular facet of using the Internet. Here's what's going on this week. Live chat on Sunday, December 22, 6PM ET -- Facts about Internet FAQs FAQs -- frequently asked questions and answers lists -- are a mainstay of free, easy-to-locate information on hundreds of diverse subjects. This hour, AnswerMan will tell your the facts about FAQs: why they exist, where to find them, and even how to start your own FAQ list to benefit the Internet community. And, here are the Weekly Focus topics we'll be covering in the near future: Dec 23 - Dec 29: Internet Agents Dec 30 - Jan 5: Mailing Lists Here are direct links for AOL 3.0 users: Go to the AnswerMan Chat. =*=*= THE END =*=*= That's all for this week. Got comments about this newsletter? We want to hear them! Send 'em to AnswerMan. The e-mail address is "AnswerMan@aol.com". There are two easy ways to unsubscribe yourself from the AnswerMan mailing list. You can use either. #1: send an e-mail message -- To: LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: UNSUBSCRIBE Body: UNSUBSCRIBE ANSWERMAN #2: For AOL 3.0 users only: Click here then press "Unsubscribe". Copyright 1996 by America Online. All rights reserved. This newsletter is made from 100% recycled brain cells.