Whenever you have a question about the list, you can use these frequently asked questions to try to answer it. If you don’t find your answer here, you can always contact one of the admins in the Pantheon.

Without further ado, we give you the FAQ, which is lovingly updated by Ben Cordes (ben@uflist.org).

USERFRIENDLY THE MAILING LIST FAQ v1.4.0 (15 May 2001)

Section 1: Basic questions

Section 2: Content

Section 3: Administrivia

Section 4: Definitions

Section 1: Basic Questions

Q1.1 What is Userfriendly?

Userfriendly is a comic strip written by a Canadian named Illiad about Columbia Internet, ‘the friendliest, hardest-working, and more neurotic little Internet Service Provider in the world’.

Q1.2 Where can I find the comics?

Userfriendly’s home page is at http://www.userfriendly.org/. Today’s comic can always be found at The Daily Static, http://www.userfriendly.org/static/. Userfriendly can also be found in print in the Linux Journal (http://www.linuxjournal.com/) and the Canadian Computer Wholesaler (http://www.ccwmag.com/). O’Reilly and Associates has also published two collections of strips; the first is called (appropriately enough) “User Friendly the Comic Strip”; the second collection, “Evil Geniuses in a Nutshell”, was released in April 2000. Try http://www.userfriendly.org/book/ for ordering information.

Q1.3 What’s a UFie? (or: Who are you freaks, anyway?)

A UFie is a fan of the comic strip Userfriendly, and usually is active in the UFie community in one way or another. Many UFies have suffered from the Productivity Virus (see Q4.1), although this is not a required trait. In fact, the only thing that’s required before you call yourself a UFie is that you’ve read and liked the comic strip.

Q1.4 Why a mailing list?

Why not a mailing list?

Q1.4a No, really.

Actually, I was serious. The mailing list exists because a bunch of people decided that they wanted an online community thing, and a mailing list seemed like a good way to do it. Basically, the mailing list is a way for UFies to interact with each other over the ‘net whenever we like, and for any reason that we like.

Q1.5 Are there other UFie communities out there?

Yep, quite a few. Besides this one, there’s another mailing list called the UFies list; there’s a newsgroup, alt.comics.user-friendly; there’s a message board on the web page called ‘Friendly Forum’ (http://www.userfriendly.org/discus/messages/board-topics.html); and there’s a UFie IRC channel on the Undernet called #userfriendly. Not to mention the new comments section attached to each comic, the UFies web page (http://ufies.org), the RC5 team, the BBS, etc., etc…

There’s a page on the web site devoted to keeping track of all the Userfriendly communities; check out the “Community” link in the navbar, or go to http://www.userfriendly.org/community/.

Q1.6 Who subscribes to this list?

Just about anybody who wants to. We get people from all over the globe, although our largest populations seem to be (in no particular order) from the west coast of the U.S., Texas, Canada, and Australia.

Most — but certainly not all! — of us are geeks, nerds, or techies in one way or another. We have a high proportion of IT and/or help-desk workers, though several other fields are represented, including college students (and occasionally younger folks as well).

If you actually want to match names to faces, the Official List Webpages have pictures of some of the UFies on-list. See http://www.uflist.org/who.html.

Q1.7 Why do some people have titles in their .signatures?

Often times, you’ll see something in a poster’s .signature that identifies themselves as the ‘List Something-Or-Other’. These list titles don’t really mean anything official (usually), they’re just a cute little name that was usually given by somebody else on-list.

The exceptions to this rule are people who identify themselves as “List Admin[s]“, a member of the “ListPantheon”, or “List Mistress/Master”. (What, you want us to pick just one?) These actually are official titles, and they identify people who are ‘in charge’ of the list.

Q1.8 How do I get a list title?

Usually, list titles come about because someone else on-list notices a particular trait of yours and decides that you deserve to be the shining example of that trait on-list. To register a title, you should go to the List “Who?” web page (see below), submit a survey, and upload a picture. Our staff of admins will add it to the list in a day or two, and voila! You’ve got a list title!

Q1.9 How do I get my picture on the UFie picture page?

First, crop your image to 200×200 pixels. If you can’t do it, we’ll do it for you. Then go to the “Who?” page, http://uflist.org/who.html. Click the link to upload your picture. Type in the filename of the picture you want to upload, and hit the button. Don’t forget to fill out the survey as well! Your image will be thumbnailed down to 50×50 and linked to a page with the full size photo and your bio. Don’t panic if it takes us a couple of days; remember, we’re all volunteers here.

Section 2: Content

Q2.1 What’s considered ‘on-topic’ for this mailing list?

Just about anything. We’ve had discussions of deep philosophical issues, abortion rights, gun control, the education system in the U.S., and the Columbine tragedy. On the other hand, we also get a lot of gratuitous flirting and silly jokes :) Due to the high proportion of tech workers, we also often have technical discussions about things like sound cards, monitors, Linux vs. Windows (no flame wars!), the merits of different Linux distributions (no flame wars!), open-source software, and other things geeky. Really, anything goes here, whether or not it’s related to the actual comic strip.

Q2.2 How heavy is the traffic?

As with any mailing list, the traffic varies from one week to the next. On the average, you can expect something on the order of 100 posts or so, scattered across 24 hours — we have people in about half of the time zones on this planet, which means that at any given point in time there’s likely to be at least one person who reads the list who’s awake.

Q2.3 How is this list rated, content-wise?

This is kind of a sticky issue. Since, as mentioned above, anything goes on the list, you will most likely at one point or another read something you didn’t really want to know. Sex is frequently mentioned, as are other topics that would likely get us at least an ‘R’ rating from the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America, the U.S.A. movie rating board).

All that we ask is that you keep a strong sense of maturity about you when you read (and post to) the list.

Q2.4 I don’t like what {user} is talking about. What should I do?

If someone says something that offends you, take a deep breath. Think twice, and read the post again, before you go flaming someone for being offensive. Chances are pretty good that they didn’t intend to offend you.

If you have a problem with what someone is saying on-list, take it off-list. Send them a private email and explain why you don’t like what they’re saying. Keep in mind that this is an open-ended discussion list with a fairly large subscriber pool; eventually, two people are going to disagree on something. Mature, on-list discussion is fine (and in fact, often the point); on-list flame wars are not.

Also remember that most modern mail readers contain some sort of filtering mechanism that will allow you to ignore one particular sender. You may wish to consult your mail client’s documentation.

If you still haven’t adequately resolved your problem, send private email to the list admins, and explain your problem to them. Don’t be shy; this is part of their job.

Q2.5 When should I change the subject line of a thread?

Many people use mail clients which sort threads based on the subject line; if the subject line changes frequently, these mechanisms are useless. Having said that though, it’s a good idea to change the subject line if the thread gets seriously off-track — which happens quite a bit around here! Alternately, if one thread sparks two different sub-discussions, a subject change is usually in order.

Appending “was: <old topic>” is optional. In any case, make sure there aren’t two of them; in other words, don’t do this: Subject: Bondage (was: Ferrets (was: Emacs help?))

Q2.6 What format should my posts be in?

Plain ASCII, preferably using the iso-8891-1 charset. Specifically, please don’t use HTML mail and don’t post MIME attachments. Not everyone uses mail clients which properly handle them. Also note that the standard language on this list is English; while many subscribers speak more than one language, anything more than a snippet or two of another language is strongly discouraged.

When quoting someone else’s post, clearly indicate the sender’s name and differentiate the quoted text from your reply. ‘> ‘ is pretty much the standard for quoting text, but any character will do — but not whitespace, please (ala Microsoft Exchange’s default)! Most mail clients provide this sort of functionality automatically, but some may not.

Please place the text of your reply underneath the quoted text that you’re replying to. Don’t post a short reply, then copy the entire body of the old message underneath it. Also remember to trim down the quoting to the relevant parts that you’re actually replying to. These rules help out the people who subscribe to the list in digest mode.

And last but not least, try to keep your .signature to four (4) lines or less. This is a pretty well-accepted but not often-followed rule of Netiquette. Lots of people on this list have random quote generators in their .signature, and some of these quotes are longer than four lines. This is okay, so long as you don’t keep the same quote for a long time and so long as not all of the quotes are that long.

If you’re having problems configuring your mail client, ask for help! Most of us are techies/geeks/nerds in one way or another, and chances are pretty good that someone else uses the same mail client as you.

Section 3: Administrivia

Q3.1 Who is in charge of the list?

Caramia <caramia@uflist.org>, Cian <cian@uflist.org>, Godmoma <godmoma@uflist.org>, Strongbow <strongbow@uflist.org>, and Vulpine are the ListPantheon, responsible for the administration of the list, and can be reached at pantheon@uflist.org or at admin@uflist.org. Use whichever address is easier for you to remember. Illiad <illiad@userfriendly.org> is the ListOwner, and the ultimate authority on the list, although he usually doesn’t need to lend a hand.

If you have administrative problems with the list (double posts, problems subscribing or unsubscribing) these are the people to send email to.

Q3.2 How do I [un]subscribe?

Easy! We are using Mailman to manage the list. You can Subscribe or unsubscribe here. Come join us!

If you are really desperate you can ask the Pantheon to help you, but, really, you subscribed yourself, didn’t you? I’;m sure you can figure out how to unsubscribe yourself!

Q3.3 Is a digest form available?

Yes. Again, the settings are in the Mailman interface. Log in here: .

Q3.4 Are there archives I can look at?

This answer will sound familiar - private archives are online at: the Mailman interface

The list dates back to1997 but older archives are not, unfortunately, online.

Q3.5 Who’s responsible for this FAQ?

Ben Cordes <ben@uflist.org> is the current maintainer. If you have suggestions for additions to this FAQ, remarks about misspellings (no ‘color’/'colour’ comments, please :), or anything else, feel free to send him mail.

The latest version of this FAQ can always be retreived on the list web pages, at http://www.uflist.org/why/.

Q3.6 How can I find out more information about the list?

The list Pantheon maintains a set of web pages which will tell you more than you ever wanted or needed to know about the Userfriendly Fan Mailing List. The latest copy of this FAQ is always there, along with the list charter, a page of pictures, and other miscellaneous stuff. See http://www.uflist.org/.

Section 4: Definitions

Q4.1 What’s the Productivity Virus?

(Borrowed from the Userfriendly FAQ: http://www.userfriendly.org/faq/index.html)

If you have to ask, you haven’t experienced it. It is an addiction, pure and simple. If you become a victim of the Virus, your productivity will be severely limited for a number of days as a result.

The Virus is recognizable by its symptoms:

  • Reading the Strip from day 1
  • Brewing strong quad-damage coffee
  • Quoting Dust Puppy at the office

If you notice any of these signs, you are coming down with the virus. Make sure that you put all projects on hold and do not operate heavy machinery while under its influence.

Note: There is no known cure for the virus. When it hits, you have to let it run its course.

Q4.2 What’s a Tim Tam?

A Tim Tam is a small chocolate cookie (biscuit for you Aussies) which is vaguely something like a rectangular Oreo. It is made of two rectangular cookie wafers with some sort of filling, with the whole thing dipped in chocolate. Depending on which ‘flavor’ you get, the coating and the filling can be different flavors: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, double-thick chocolate, or caramel.

There are almost as many ways to eat a Tim Tam as there are to eat an Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, but one of the most popular is called ’shotgunning’: bite both ends off a Tim Tam, dunk one end in your favorite beverage (milk or coffee are suggested, or port if you prefer something stronger; carbonated beverages don’t work as well) and suck on the other end until you taste the beverage. Then pop the whole Tim Tam into your mouth at once and chew.

Tim Tams are also a wonderful way to bribe the administrators in the Pantheon :)

Q4.2a So where can I get some Tim Tams?

Well, you pretty much have three options, listed from most difficult to least:

  1. Visit Australia or New Zealand and get ‘em yourself.
  2. Get on the good graces of one of the Australian/NZ UFies, and bribe… er, convince them to send you some.
  3. Visit one of several places on the web that sell them:
    1. http://www.outbackunltd.com/
    2. http://www.aussieproducts.com/
    3. http://www.australia-online.com/catalog.html
Q4.3 What’s a BOFH?

Bastard Operator From Hell. Often used to describe a particularly evil sysadmin. See also http://bofh.ntk.net/, or http://www.nsa.net.au/bofh/index.html, and for the BRAND NEW BOFH 2000, see http://www.theregister.co.uk/000119-000024.html

Q4.4 What’s a PFY?

Pimply-Faced Youth, the BOFH’s sidekick. Sometimes used to describe a BOFH-in-training, or a junior sysadmin.

Q4.5 What’s a HNG?

Horny Net Geek. Fairly self-explanatory :)

Q4.6 What does ‘C|N>K’ mean?

Snarfing, or the act of spitting your favorite beverage through your nose. Specifically, the acronym expands to “C{oke,offee} piped through Nose onto Keyboard.”

Q4.7 What does ‘g,d&r’ (or anything similar) mean?

‘g,d&r’ has a number of different interpretations, but in general these abbreviations are used much like a smiley — indicating that a potentially insulting joke is just a joke and not an insult. Common forms include:

  • g,d&r (grin, drop, and roll)
  • g,d&ra (grin, duck, and run away)
  • g,d&ravf (grin, duck, and run away very fast)