The HTML version can be found at http://www.oocities.org/soho/bistro/6943
There is a mailing list associated with this group. If you would like you join you can sign up right here.
This group was created for the posting of pictures of gothic erotica. It is very similar in nature to
alt.binaries.gothic, except we allow pictures of a much more explicitly sexual nature. You can find the
a.b.g FAQ here.
This is a binary group. Discussions about the faq, spam, and comments on posts are ok. If you want to
discuss the meaning of life or similar things then please take it to alt.gothic, or email.
Tools
Autoposter This is a very good program that automates the posting of mulitple binaries.
Dpic. This program creates indexes of pictures. It's a good idea to post indexes when you're making a lot of posts.
Questions you may have:
1.)What does gothic mean?
In general it refers to things of a dark nature, such as ghosts and cemetaries. Goths are not necessarily
vampires, satanists or witches, but use a lot of the same sort of imagery.
If you want to know more about goths then try the alt.gothic faq located
here.
2.)What is erotica?
Erotica is what we call the stuff that turns us on, porn is what we call the stuff we find disgusting.
Generally erotica is more artistic. Porn is done with bright lights and close up cameras, while erotica
leaves more to the imagination.
For 80 years the U.S. supreme court has wrestled with the difference between art and obscenity. They
haven't been able to come up with a good definition, so how do you expect me to?
3.)What pictures are considered appropriate to the group?
Pictures of goths and things of a gothic nature. Boys or girls, it doesn't matter. Gay lesbian, bi, hetero,
hentai, leather, latex, piercings, dom, sub, bondage, discipline, all are acceptable as long as it's gothic.
4.)What is inappropriate?
Scat, water sports, child pornography, animals and spam. Do not post these things!
5.)What about all this spam? Can we do something to stop it?
Yes we can. Some of us are members of the alt.gothic.special-forces. What we do is read the headers of
the spam and send letters of complaint to the originating ISP. Quite often the spammer loses his/her
internet access. You can find out more from the a.g.s-f faq located :
here.If you want to fight spam, but don't know much about tracking headers go here, Spamcop. It will do all the hard work like parsing headers and finding upline providers for you. It even sends off the letters of complaint. Please include a link to this FAQ for abuse departments.
6.)If I posted an ad for my site would that be considered spam?
That depends. A discreet mention in a .sig file is allowed. If you post a few on topic binaries mentioning
the site, that's ok.
Do not post binaries that are not of goths or that are not gothic in nature in order to get more hits to your
site. This is not allowed.
Crossposting to more than 3 other groups is not allowed. Something posted to that many groups probably
isn't on topic, and it attracts spambots from other groups.
There is a certain 'grey area' to this. Some people from commercial sites also post to this group. Some of them aren't doing it to drive up hits, but sincerely want to share their images with the group. A word of warning to these people;
While you are allowed to put an ad for your site in your .sig,
and even post binaries from commercial sites, if you post something that
the group considers spam you will be told to stop. You may be flamed,
but take it in stride. We are giving you the benefit of the doubt,
rather than immediately reporting you to your ISP. If, however, you do
not stop posting or do not change the spam content of your post you will
be reported to your ISP and your upline provider. This is also a warning
to the netcops. Just because you don't like something and think it's
spam doesn't mean that everyone thinks the same as you do. To all the
regulars; please don't go rogue and report anything you don't like. Ask
the group what they think of it, and if we seem to think as you do, then
feel free to report the spammer. Don't let this slow you down, though. If you have something to post that might be considered spam, then please post an example and ask if it's ok.
We all know the difference between real spam and 'grey' spam, even though it's hard to define. Please use your common sense.
7.)Can I post mp3's?
No. Those should go to alt.binaries.gothic. This group is for pictures only. However, Quicktime, mpeg's and RealVideo files are fine. Sound files are prohibited, but video is fine. Please try to make it compatible on multiple operating systems.
The reason mp3's had been forbidden was that they are sound files usually. I don't think a sound file can possibly be "gothic erotica" unless it's a recording of Robert Smith, Poppy Z. Brite and Siouxsie Sioux having a menage a tois while Black Tape for a Blue Girl plays in the background. And even then I think it would be slightly off topic, even though I'd love to hear it.
8.)I'm on aol. How do I post binaries?
You need an encoder, because you're aol software doesn't have one. (Wasn't that considerate of them?)
This is a program that takes a binary file (such as a picture, video, or sound) and converts it into a text
format called uuencode or mime. This is necessary because only text can be posted to newsgroups. You
can get one called XferPRO, which should be available at Sabasoft
Sometimes you will get a message when downloading binaries from aol that says "Download article?" And when you download the article it's a bunch of gibberish. This gibberish is raw uuencode, which is how pictures are converted to ascii text. Basically what has happened is that aol's news server mangled the post. You won't be able to fix it, other than getting a new ISP.
9.)I'm using FreeAgent and most of the posts come through ok, but some don't. Why is that?
FreeAgent is freeware and therefore has some features disabled. You should buy the full version of Agent,
or use another newsreader.
10.) Sometimes I get postst that say 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, etc. When I try to download them I onlyget he first part and the rest doesn't work. What's up with that?
That's because a really large file was posted, such as an mpeg, zip file, or an .avi and it was proken up into smaller parts that newservers can handle [most servers can handle 7956 lines]. You will have to combine the attachements into one file. Agent does this automatically. Outlook Express has a "combine and decode" command under the "Edit" menu, if I remember correctly. Read the help files if you need more instructions.
11.)Can I post in mime?
We would prefer that you posted Uuencode. You want everyone to see your posts, right? So why not
post it in the universally accepted format? Also you will get fewer people whining because they couldn't
see the post. The same thing goes for BinHex.
12.)Can I post my personals ad here?
I'm lonley and looking for my true love.
No. Try alt.personals.gothic.
13.)Can I use the pictures I find here on my website?
That's a touchy subject. You should ask permission first. If you do use one attribute it to the owner. If
you don't know who owns the the picture then make a disclaimer saying that you will take it down or
attribute it if the owner desires.
14.)I took an image I found here and did some things to it with photoshop. So now it's mine.
No, it's not. The copyright is still maintained by the original artist, unless he/she gave you permission to
use it.
15.)Will I get in trouble for posting images that I don't own the copyright to?
Probably not. You can legally exchange and copy electronic images as long as you don't try to make a
profit from the image or claim that it is yours.
For more info on copyright law go to the Library of Congress website at: http://www.loc.gov.
Legal statment from Jim Dugan (an actual real live lawyer)
"Most images posted to ABPEG have been widely and publicly distributed and it is presumed that this is
in accordance with the wishes of any copyright holders. ABPEG respects the rights and efforts of the
artists who created the work that we enjoy. It is recommended that whenever possible(ie: images that are
copied from personal websites) posters should secure permisson from copyright holders before posting.
As in many cases this is not possible, posters are urged to use their best discretion and in the event that
there is an objection from a legitimate copyright holder that the images in question not be posted and
existing posts cancelled if practical. Behaving in this manner rewards and protects those whose creativity
and effort allow this group to exist and further, treating those who create this work with courtesy and
respect is the quickest and easiest way to obtain permission to distribute images and also encourage their
creators to make more." For more info, contact radovic@earthlink.net.
16.)I missed a picture that I wanted to see. Will you repost it?
Yes, but not right away. Everything gets reposted eventually. Generally reposts should wait at least one
week until the original post expires off everyone's server. Remind us then. You could always ask someone
to send it to you in email.
17.) What are these abbreviations that I see, like ABPEG? Why are they here?
ABPEG is short for alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.gothic; this group's name. We put it in the subject line so that people can tell a legitimate post from spam without downloading the whole message. Also a lot of us have newsreaders with filters and some people killfile anything without ABPEG in the subject. I encourage anyone who posts to put the ABPEG tag in the subject line.
AGSF is short for alt.gothic.special-forces, an anti-spam organization that watches this newsgroup. Put this in the subject line of spam related posts.
ABG is alt.binaries.gothic, a sister group to this one.
