Search the FAQ Archives

3 - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M
N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
faqs.org - Internet FAQ Archives

[FAQ] alt.books.david-weber


[ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index | Forum ]
Archive-name: sf/david-weber
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 10 December 2001
Version: 1.5
URL: <http://www.warriorgoddess.org/weberfaq.html>
Copyright: (c) 1999, 2000, 2001 Cynthia Gonsalves/Daniel Bernstein
Maintainer: Cynthia Gonsalves <cynthia1960@attbi.com>

See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
     Going Up in a Ball of Plasma or
     the alt.books.david-weber FAQ

     Last Revision by: Daniel Bernstein (Deputy Mad Archivist)

     Mirrors are available at:
     http://weberfaq.thefifthimperium.com/ courtesy of Joe Buckley.
     http://www.nimitz.net/weberfaq.html courtesy of Randy and Anne
     Kaelber.

     There is a non-US mirror site available with the generous
     assistance of Mike Richards. The URL is:
     http://www.z9m9z.demon.co.uk/weberfaq.htm.

        Hi there and welcome to alt.books.david-weber!

     Table of Contents
     1) Introduction (history, partial cast of characters, general
        guidelines)
     2) Books, series, and other published miscellany
     3) When, oh when, is the next book coming out?
     4) Is David doing book tours?
     5) In what order should I read his books (by series)?
     6) Basic Netiquette or How to Save the Weapons for the Fictional
        Enemy
     7) The Thread that Cannot/Will Not Die: Casting the Honor
        Harrington Movie
     8) Spoiler Protection
     9) Other Authors
     10) Other DW Resources on the Net/Web
     11) Miscellaneous Stuff
     12) The Filks
     13) The Great ABD-W Typo Hunt
     14) Frogs and Buzzards and Tortoises, oh my!
     15) ABDW Acronyms
     16) Thanks/Acknowledgements for FAQ help



     1) Introduction (history, partial cast of characters, general
     guidelines)

        * 1.1) History
             I'm willing to court graser fire, missile pods and other
          flamage and release a FAQ for the new recruits. Please feel
          free to email me with suggestions and corrections at the
          address given at the beginning of this article.

             Through the benevolence of the Usenet Deities, abd-w was
          formed in June of 1997 (June 12th to be exact, and the
          person who initiated the ng creation was David Ball) so that
          Weber fans wouldn't have to wade through the masses of
          postings in rec.arts.sf.written looking for tidbits. Of
          course, that hasn't stopped many of us from lurking and
          posting in rasfw, but now we have a place in cyberspace to
          call our own. It seems that abd-w is actually fairly high
          traffic for a group in the alt.books hierarchy, we are a
          chatty bunch, even when there's no new stuff out. Right now,
          it happens to be one of the busiest groups on my watch list!

             Also, abd-w has been blessed with the presence of the
          Master of Honor's Universe himself (aka Big Wizard Dave,
          Himself, MWW, HWKABSM (see ABDW acronyms), etc.) when he's
          not working on his next anxiously awaited release. Other
          members of Dave's family or friends have been known to post
          as well, and are sometimes privy to and allowed to give out
          tantalizing little news releases (news releases that aren't
          allowed are a form of snerking (see section 14 for a link to
          the ROMANCE web page, which explains the concept)).

          1.2) Other Important People
             Family and friends of David Weber who play in our
          cybersandbox include:

             o Mike Weber-yes, they're related. Mike's four years
               older than David and doesn't let his younger brother
               the author forget it.
             o Sue Phillips-David's sister-in-law.

             New recruits may wonder who Navbuoy was:


                  David Weber delurked briefly just after the release
               of Echoes of Honor to tell us all that his good friend
               Richard Maxwell, who used the screen name Navbuoy and
               was a prolific contributor to abd-w, had been killed in
               a skydiving accident on September 17th, 1998.

                  Richard had recently won an official red shirt when
               his namesake character was killed off in Echoes of
               Honor; David told us that Richard was laughing his butt
               off in the spring when he saw the manuscript. He also
               cheerfully bore the brunt of all the lawyer jokes
               thrown at him for being our resident legal eagle and
               gave us the background on how he earned the nickname of
               the Man Who Dropped the Spanner in real life.

                  Richard also had done some postings on Baen's Bar,
               but abd-w was his major hangout. Navbuoy's posts were
               universally considered worth reading for their wit and
               skill. His contributions to our portion of fandom are
               sorely missed by all of us in the newsgroup as well as
               by the denizens of Aegys' discussion board.

                  To absent friends, Richard! And his Ranger comrades
               remind us that Rangers always lead the way....

        * 1.3) General Guidelines
             Discussion of the Weber books, especially when a book
          comes out, can come at a fast and furious pace and often
          features attention to minutiae. Some of us have found typos
          to nitpick, and as a reward, it has been suggested that the
          nitpickers get the proverbial red shirt (remember the
          anonymous Classic Trek person who inspires the phrase, "He's
          dead, Jim") and become part of the casualty list of the
          inevitable death ride or shootout in the next book (a
          practice also known as Tuckerization in fannish lore).
          There's a section later on in the FAQ that has the most
          egregious typos found to date. Happy hunting, hope you look
          good in red!

        * 1.4) Fanfic
             Note to the newsgroup: A recent inquiry about the
          implications of posting fanfiction and story ideas in the
          group brought up some serious issues that needed to be
          addressed promptly. David Weber himself was kind enough to
          delurk at the behest of some of us and gave me a prompt
          response to the ramifications of fanfiction and story idea
          postings on his work. Since this comes from the author
          himself, I believe that David's wishes ought to be respected
          and that we should not post fanfiction and story ideas to
          abd-w. Failure to abide by these guidelines could make it
          more difficult for David to continue with the stories we all
          enjoy so much and we would no longer have the pleasure of
          his company when his schedule permits. Let it be written,
          let it be so. Ken Nixon suggests that "In case someone
          didn't read the FAQ, and DID post fanfic, I suggest that you
          recommend that EVERYONE IGNORE IT! It will make it much
          easier for DW to ignore it if there aren't 10 million
          complaint posts from others....." Probably a good guideline
          to work from, we haven't had a real problem yet, but it's
          better to be safe.

             David's message follows:


                  For general information (ie, YOU decide what to do
               with the info, Oh Archivist), fanfic poses all sorts of
               problems for an author, and not just of the "how dare
               you publish in MY universe" sort of hurt feelings.

                  As Mike pointed out in his post, it leads to a
               situation in which an author can be accused of "ripping
               off" someone else's idea, which can both impugn his/her
               honesty and even lead to ugly courtroom scenes as some
               non-pro attempts to sue because his or her original
               idea was "stolen" by a pro. (This has actually
               happened.) It would also be possible for a pro actually
               TO rip off an idea, perhaps without even realizing that
               he or she has done so. (I have never seen any actual
               documentation of such an event, but I HAVE seen a
               couple of stories, by authors who shall remain
               nameless, in which I personally suspect that that is
               precisely what happened.)

                  Even more importantly, the publication (even in
               electronic form) of fiction based on a writer's work,
               without the specific, documented permission of said
               writer (on a case-by-case basis) can void the writer's
               copyright. This has actually happened, and does not
               represent mere paranoid fantasy on my part. Nor am I
               the only writer concerned about it. Misty Lackey, for
               example, has a legal contract form drawn up which
               anyone publishing fanfic in her universe(s) is required
               to sign and return to her before they may use any of
               her material. (I have a copy of it thumbtacked to my
               wall for use as a model if I ever decide to go that
               way.) Anyone who publishes WITHOUT said signed contract
               is in violation of her copyright and she will, if it
               comes to her attention, take legal action against them.
               (Mind, I suspect many authors in such a position might
               take some pains to avoid having the unapproved fanfic
               come to his/her attention if he/she believes the fans'
               intentions were pure, but there is a limit to how many
               times someone can look the other way and still convince
               a judge, at need, that his/her ignorance was genuine.)

                  I deeply regret that this should be the case, as
               fanfic is often at least as imaginative and enjoyable
               as anything the writer who created the
               character/universe/whatever is likely to turn out. It
               is also rather flattering to an author to know that
               other people want to come over and play at his house,
               as it were. Unfortunately, the situation has become
               such that a writer cannot allow the free use of his
               universe without risking the loss of his own rights to
               it, and so I must regretfully ask that no fanfic appear
               on this group. Should that happen, I would have only
               two choices: (a) to take legal action (which I would
               hate to do and would endeavor to make as painless as
               possible for all concerned), or (b) leave the group and
               not return, as the only way I could avoid taking legal
               action NOW and still be in a position to defend my
               copyright down the road at need would be to avoid
               learning that the fiction was being published,
               electronically or otherwise. Since I would like to lurk
               and keep an eye on what's happening whenever projects
               (and things like weddings and house buying expeditions)
               allow me the time, I would very much appreciate it if
               it didn't happen here.

                  Again, my sincere regrets at having to take this
               position. I checked with my attorney when the matter
               first came up for me a couple of years ago, however,
               and he confirms what Baen, Misty, Roger Zelazny, Fred
               Saberhagen, and several other pros had all told me on
               previous occasions. With that much experienced opinion
               on one side of the question, I see no choice but to
               believe they know what they're talking about.

                  Take Care,
                  David

     2) Books, series, and other published miscellany
        David Weber's published books to date (all are available
     through amazon.com or bug your local bookstore). Hardback
     editions are specially flagged, all dates are for US/Canadian
     releases only.

        * 2.1. Book info
             o 2.1.1. Honor Harrington
                  + 2.1.1.1. On Basilisk Station (Baen, 04/1993, ISBN
                    0-671-72163-1, special paperback reprint 10/1998,
                    ISBN 0-671-57772-7(out of print as of 09/1999),
                    hardback release 02/1999, ISBN 0-671-57793-X)
                  + 2.1.1.2. Honor of the Queen (Baen, 06/1993, ISBN
                    0-671-72172-0)
                  + 2.1.1.3. The Short Victorious War (Baen, 04/1994,
                    ISBN 0-671-87596-5)
                  + 2.1.1.4. Field of Dishonor (Baen, 10/1994, ISBN
                    0-671-87624-4, hardback special edition 10/1999,
                    ISBN 0-671-57820-0)
                  + 2.1.1.5. Flag in Exile (Baen, 09/1995, ISBN
                    0-671-87681-3)
                  + 2.1.1.6. Honor Among Enemies (Baen, hardback
                    06/1996, ISBN 0-671-87723-2, paperback 06/1997,
                    ISBN 0-671-87783-6)
                  + 2.1.1.7. In Enemy Hands (Baen, hardback 08/1997,
                    ISBN 0-671-87793-3, paperback 10/1998, ISBN
                    0-671-57770-0)
                  + 2.1.1.8. More Than Honor (anthology with David
                    Drake and S. M. Stirling, Baen, 01/1998, ISBN
                    0-671-87857-3)
                  + 2.1.1.9. Echoes of Honor (Baen, hardback 10/1998,
                    ISBN 0-671-87892-1, paperback 10/1999, ISBN
                    0-671-57833-2)
                  + 2.1.1.10. Worlds of Honor (anthology with Linda
                    Evans, Jane Lindskold, and Roland Green, Baen,
                    hardback 02/1999, ISBN 0-671-57786-7)
                  + 2.1.1.11. Ashes of Victory (Baen, 03/2000
                    hardback, ISBN 0-671-57854-5, 03/2001 paperback,
                    0-671-31977-9)
                  + 2.1.1.12. Changer of Worlds (anthology with Eric
                    Flint, 03/2001 hardback, ISBN 0-671-31975-2,
                    02/2002 paperback, 0-7434-3520-6)
             o 2.1.2. Dahak/Fifth Imperium
                  + 2.1.2.1. Mutineer's Moon (Baen, 10/1994 reissue,
                    ISBN 0-671-72085-6)
                  + 2.1.2.2. The Armageddon Inheritance (Baen,
                    10/1994, ISBN 0-671-72197-6)
                  + 2.1.2.3. Heirs of Empire (Baen, 03/1996, ISBN
                    0-671-87707-0)
             o 2.1.3. The Lay of Bahzell Bloody-Hand
                  + 2.1.3.1. Oath of Swords (Baen, 02/1995, ISBN
                    0-671-87642-2)
                  + 2.1.3.2. The War God's Own (Baen, 05/1998
                    hardback, ISBN 0-671-87873-5, 02/1999 paperback,
                    ISBN 0-671-57792-1)
             o 2.1.4. Path of the Fury (Baen, 12/1992, ISBN
               0-671-72147-X)
             o 2.1.5. Starfire (books written with Steve White)
                  + 2.1.5.1. Crusade (Baen, 03/1992 reprint, ISBN
                    0-671-72111-9)
                  + 2.1.5.2. Insurrection (Baen, 03/1993, ISBN
                    0-671-72024-4)
                  + 2.1.5.3. In Death Ground (Baen, 05/1997, ISBN
                    0-671-87779-8)
                  + 2.1.5.4. The Shiva Option (Baen, 02/2002 hardback,
                    ISBN 0-671-31848-9)
             o 2.1.6. The Apocalypse Troll (Baen, 01/1999 hardback,
               ISBN 0-671-57782-4, 01/2000 paperback, 0-671-57845-6)
             o 2.1.7. The March Series (books written with John Ringo)
                  + 2.1.7.1. March Upcountry (Baen, 05/2001 hardback,
                    ISBN 0-671-31985-X, 05/2002 paperback,
                    0-7434-3538-9)
                  + 2.1.7.2. March to the Sea (Baen, 08/2001 hardback,
                    ISBN 0-671-31826-8, 08/2002 paperback, ISBN not
                    yet known)
             o 2.1.8. The Excalibur Alternative (Baen, 01/2002
               hardback, ISBN 0-671-31860-8)
             o 2.1.9. The Warmasters (anthology with David Drake and
               Eric Flint, Baen, 02/2002 hardback, ISBN 0-7434-3534-6)
             o 2.1.10. Other Short Stories
                  + 2.1.10.1. "Miles to Go" in Bolos anthology #3, The
                    Triumphant (Pocket, 09/1995, ISBN 0-671-87683-X)
                  + 2.1.10.2. "The Traitor" and "A Time to Kill" in
                    Bolos anthology #4, Last Stand (Baen, 03/1997,
                    ISBN 0-671-87760-7)
                  + 2.1.10.3. "The Captain from Kirkbean" in Alternate
                    Generals, (Baen, edited by Martin Greenberg,
                    Roland Green, and Harry Turtledove, 08/1998, ISBN
                    0-671-87886-7)
                  + 2.1.10.4. "A Certain Talent" in The Williamson
                    Effect, (Tor, edited by Roger Zelazny, 1996, ISBN
                    0-312-85748-9, out of print as of 09/1999)
        * 2.2. Subject header tags (got any better suggestions, let me
          know!)
             It's not always convenient to write out the entire title
          when referring to a book. These are the abbreviations that
          have been picked up by the members of the group. It has been
          suggested that both the series number and title abreviation
          be used for easier remembering, although where it's not
          ambiguous, the title alone is usually used.
             o 2.2.1. Honor Harrington
                  + 2.2.1.1. HH1/OBS for On Basilisk Station
                  + 2.2.1.2. HH2/HotQ for Honor of the Queen
                  + 2.2.1.3. HH3/SVW for The Short Victorious War
                  + 2.2.1.4. HH4/FoD for Field of Dishonor
                  + 2.2.1.5. HH5/FiE for Flag in Exile
                  + 2.2.1.6. HH6/HAE for Honor Among Enemies
                  + 2.2.1.7. HH7/IEH for In Enemy Hands
                  + 2.2.1.8. HH/MTH for the anthology More than Honor
                  + 2.2.1.9. HH8/EoH for Echoes of Honor
                  + 2.2.1.10. HH/WoH for the anthology Worlds of Honor
                  + 2.2.1.11. HH9/AoV for Ashes of Victory
                  + 2.2.1.12. HH/Changer or CoW for Changer of
                    Worldsfs
             o 2.2.2. Dahak
                  + 2.2.2.1. D/MM for Mutineer's Moon
                  + 2.2.2.2. D/AI for The Armageddon Inheritance
                  + 2.2.2.3. D/HoE for Heirs of Empire
             o 2.2.3. The Lay of Bahzell Bloody-Hand
                  + 2.2.3.1. O1/OoS for Oath of Swords
                  + 2.2.3.2. O2/WGO for The War God's Own
             o 2.2.4. Path of the Fury
                  + 2.2.4.1. PotF or Fury-it's short, sweet, and to
                    the point
             o 2.2.5. Starfire
                  + 2.2.5.1. S/C for Crusade
                  + 2.2.5.2. S/I for Insurrection
                  + 2.2.5.3. S/IDG for In Death Ground
                  + 2.2.5.4. S/TSO for The Shiva Option
             o 2.2.6. The Apocalypse Troll
                  + 2.2.6.1. AT or Troll for The Apocalypse Troll
             o 2.2.7. The March Series
                  + 2.2.7.1. M/MU for March Upcountry
                  + 2.2.7.2. M/MttS for March to the Sea
             o 2.2.8. The Excalibur Alternative
                  + 2.2.8.1. TEA. Thirsty, anyone?

     3) When, oh when, is the next book coming out?

        * 3.1 All of the early HH books are being re-released in
          hardback. Rumour (based on the December issue of Locus) has
          it that the next one is The Short Victorious War, due in
          June 2002.
        * 3.2. The next HH book, tentatively titled War of Honor, is
          rumoured to be coming out about July 2002.
        * 3.3. David has said that the next book on his schedule will
          be in Norfressa with Bahzell -- but he hasn't yet started
          writing it, so he may get sidetracked. Let's hope he
          doesn't...

     4) Is David doing book tours?

        * 4.1. The book tours happen when David isn't writing. David's
          doing a lot of that now, so don't expect much.
        * 4.2. David was the Guest of Honor (apt title, yes?) at
          CopperCon in Scottsdale, AZ in September of 1999.

     5) In what order should I read his books (by series)?

        * 5.1. Honor Harrington
             o 5.1.1. Order of publication seems to be the best way to
               do this. This series really does need to be read in
               order, because there are *tons* of references to past
               events in the later books.
             o 5.1.2. The anthology More Than Honor should probably be
               read after In Enemy Hands, the 7th novel. Even though
               there are no stories featuring Honor herself, one of
               the stories (S.M. Stirling's) would be a spoiler for
               parts of In Enemy Hands and the subject of Weber's
               novella was first alluded to in Field of Dishonor.
             o 5.1.3. The second anthology Worlds of Honor is less
               spoilerish for the books, but perhaps waiting until
               after Field of Dishonor would be best.
             o 5.1.4. I wouldn't read the Changer of Worlds anthology
               until after Ashes of Victory. One of the stories David
               wrote there is a story that's skipped over in AoV, and
               gives away significant events in that book.
        * 5.2. Dahak/Fifth Imperium
             o 5.2.1. I suggest reading them in order of publication,
               Mutineer's Moon, The Armageddon Inheritance, then Heirs
               of Empire.
        * 5.3. Path of the Fury
             o 5.3.1. There is just one book to date in this universe.
        * 5.4. The Lay of Bahzell Bloody-Hand
             o 5.4.1. Oath of Swords, then The War God's Own.
        * 5.5. Starfire
             o 5.5.1. Dan Cannata the Offog suggested that following
               the chronology in this universe instead of publication
               order is the way to go....makes sense to me, so here
               goes: Crusade, In Death Ground, The Shiva Option, and
               then Insurrection.
        * 5.6. The March Series
             o 5.6.1. March Upcountry, then March to the Sea.

     6) Basic Netiquette or How to Save the Weapons for the Fictional
     Enemy

        * 6.1. Navbuoy was a master at wittily disagreeing with
          people's points without resorting to personal attacks; we
          can do well to honor Richard's memory by emulating his
          style.
        * 6.2. Kate Collins recommends visiting alt.callahans and
          reading their FAQ on flamewars.
        * 6.3. Flame War Prevention aka Do Not Feed The Trolls 101
             o 6.3.1. Basic Definition
                  + 6.3.1.1. Flame wars are nasty, brutish things.
                    They clog up the incoming message spool and
                    distort the meaningful signal to noise ratio
                    beyond recognition. Old friends get frustrated and
                    leave, possible new friends get scared away and
                    never come back.
                  + 6.3.1.2. They are not to be confused with
                    spirited, yet polite, arguments. If we couldn't
                    debate various aspects of the Mad Wizard's works
                    or even have fun with off-topic discussions, what
                    good would the newsgroup be?
             o 6.3.2 What characterizes a flame war?
                  + 6.3.2.1. Most of the time, they are abetted by a
                    troll, who is a person who absolutely delights in
                    escalating responses to real or imagined slights
                    and insists that he or she absolutely, positively,
                    has to get the last word in edgewise.
                  + 6.3.2.2. Often, the use of profanity reaches
                    critical mass, and even people who aren't usually
                    bothered by those words observe that things have
                    gone too far.
                  + 6.3.2.3. In heated arguments, one participant
                    forcefully objects to another participant's
                    arguments and opinions. In flame wars, the insults
                    are directed at a person, rather than at a
                    person's opinions (thanks to the Wombat Woman for
                    this definition).
             o 6.3.3. So, how do you put out a smoldering or worse
               yet, rapidly burning flame war?
                  + 6.3.3.1. Watch your language in your postings.
                    Some groups tolerate a certain level of profanity,
                    but abd-w since its inception has been a newsgroup
                    where George Carlin's seven words and other
                    related invective have not been put in play very
                    often.
                  + 6.3.3.2. Unless you modify the header in your
                    message with something like "X-no-archive = yes",
                    your posting gets archived by DejaNews and/or
                    related search engines. Do you *really* want all
                    of cyberspace who's curious enough to search out
                    read your profile to note you as a person to be
                    avoided because your messages are so filled with
                    nastiness? Should electrons be diverted to
                    enshrine your incoherent screeds?
                  + 6.3.3.3. If you're the recipient of flamage,
                    you've got a much harder job than the troll who is
                    wasting bandwidth in the attack. You've got to
                    *not* respond. Bite your lip. Sit on your hands.
                    Close your newsreader, turn off your computer, and
                    walk away if you have to. Trolls thrive on the
                    quickly dashed off response filled with emotion.
                    They aren't susceptible to elegantly reasoned out
                    appeals to amend their bad behavior.
                       + 6.3.3.3.1. Think of this as a high-tech
                         adaptation of the Amish practice of shunning.
                         You ignore the offender until one of two
                         events occur. Either the troll moves on to
                         more flammable newsgroups, or somewhat less
                         likely (but a ethically superior event),
                         notices that its bad behavior has cost it the
                         companionship of its former comrades. If by
                         some happy chance, the recovered troll goes
                         back to posting interesting and enjoyable
                         messages, welcome it back by responding in a
                         similar fashion. It knows it crossed the
                         line, and it has paid the price.
                  + 6.3.3.4. I've noticed several instances in my time
                    online where newcomers to groups do something that
                    violates the group's norms, get *plonked* by the
                    regulars, but sit back and figure out where they
                    messed up. They amend their styles and become
                    welcome members of the group.
                  + 6.3.3.5. As for the unrepentant trolls, no big
                    loss if they leave. Really. They may or may not
                    get a clue, but you don't have to invest any
                    psychic, spiritual, mental, or electrical energy
                    on them. Only time will tell for them.
                  + 6.3.3.6. Killfiles (if your newsreader supports
                    them) and marking the offending thread "to be
                    ignored" are good things. Use these features. If
                    you don't smell the smoke, you won't get upset and
                    fan the flames higher.
             o 6.3.4. If you find yourself on the sidelines watching,
               you've got to follow the guidelines in 5.3.3 too. If
               you want to support the person or persons attacked, a
               brief email off the group, especially if you respect
               how the person is not making matters worse, will
               probably encourage them and help them persevere.
               Publicly taking sides against the troll ends up feeding
               its sense of "me against a cold cruel world" and things
               get worse.
             o 6.3.5. Don't think that we are advocating mindless
               conformity and sycophancy here, because we're not.
               We've had truly free- wheeling discussions, and people
               have been quite passionate in defense of their views.
               The goal should be always to avoid personal attacks and
               accept the fact that not every person in the group is
               in complete alignment with your world view. We're all
               brought together here because we enjoy the Mad Wizard's
               works, and while we're on this common ground, we're all
               welcome to pitch our tents and stay a while.
        * 6.4. Wombat Flinging
             o 6.4.1. In a past flame war, Wombat Woman flung herself
               into the fray as a warning to the group that things
               were going too far. Her commentary about this series of
               events is as follows:
                  + 6.4.1.1. I admit to a bit of concern about wombat
                    FLINGing. This is something that apparently
                    started in jest while I was off the NG for a
                    couple of weeks. My return and resulting discovery
                    of the thread coincided with the recent flame war,
                    and so the wombat was flung. Now what? While I
                    don't have an objection to playing referee, I'd
                    rather not become a NG nazi--or a self-righteous
                    troll.
                  + 6.4.1.2. In the most recent situation, I did not
                    FLING myself into the fray until two separate and
                    non-flaming NG members suggested it. I limited
                    myself to a single posting in which I attempted to
                    define non-acceptable behaviour. I attempted to
                    inject a little bit of humor in hopes of dampening
                    the flame.
                  + 6.4.1.3. *If* I ever resort to FLINGing again, I
                    will again wait until other NG members suggest it.
                    I will only post once. I will attempt to use humor
                    to defuse the situation. My purpose in posting
                    will be to let the troll(s) know that such
                    behaviour is not accepted on abd-w and to remind
                    other NG members Not To Feed the Trolls.
             o 6.4.2. If someone on the ng mentions flinging the
               wombat, this is where we came up with this tactic.
               Flamewar DEFCON protocols are as follows:
                  + 6.4.2.1. Five is peacetime
                  + 6.4.2.2. Four is be alert
                  + 6.4.2.3. Three is be worried
                  + 6.4.2.4. Two is wombat lock and load
                  + 6.4.2.5. One is Wombat Attack Inbound
             o 6.4.3. Wombat Woman is honorary captain of the
               FLINGers, but any member of the ng should be able to
               take up marsupials in defense of the collective peace.

     7) The Thread that Cannot/Will Not Die: Casting the Honor
     Harrington Movie

        * 7.1. Every newsgroup has its version of the endless thread,
          ours seems to be casting of the Honor movie/miniseries.
        * 7.2. There is a website set up for voting on the casting
          call at http://www.nimitz.net/honor_harrington/. Thanks to
          Randy and Anne Kaelber for putting this all together.
        * 7.3. There's a new runner-up to this category -- the gun
          thread. Several threads seem to degenerate into either
          arguments about carrying guns or comparisons between the
          weight of metal different people carry. This may be part of
          what makes us such an unusually civil newsgroup.

     8) Spoiler Protection

        * 8.1. Not all of us in the newsgroup are able to get (and
          devour) David's latest works promptly (e.g. if you live in
          small towns or outside of the North American book
          distribution system). Others wait until the hardback books
          get released in paperback before they can join in the
          discussions.
        * 8.2. Many of us participate in other newsgroups and mailing
          lists where spoiler protection is invoked. With Baen's
          practice of posting a substantial number of sample chapters
          online well before release of the books, the possibility of
          inflicting spoilage on people who want to devour the book
          all at once upon release or are waiting for paperback
          release has now gotten too high. If you want to share
          spoilerish commentary with the newsgroup, it would be
          appreciated if you to note that clearly in the subject
          header with a [spoiler] tag and include 25 blank lines and a
          control-L before any of your comments or quotes of other
          people's postings.
             o 8.2.1. Someone recently quoted some material found on a
               web site without clearly noting spoilage content and
               many of us were not happy with the result. Con reports
               seem to be especially suspect.
             o 8.2.2. And of course, all the spoiler tags and blank
               lines are useless if your subject heading is a blatant
               spoiler! Discretion is the better part of valor.

     9) Other Authors

        * 9.1. Who is Lois McMaster Bujold, and why are so many folks
          in a newsgroup dedicated to David Weber talking about her?
             o 9.1.1. Lois McMaster Bujold is another of Baen Books'
               top authors and a Hugo and Nebula winner for
               installments of her Miles Vorkosigan saga. There seems
               to be a fairly large overlap between Bujold fandom and
               Weberphiles, so even though Bujold discussions are
               technically off-topic, the newsgroup consensus seems to
               be tolerating them with the addition of a [bujold] tag
               in the subject line to allow folks to filter or
               killfile those discussions. Further Bujold fannish
               information can be found at http://www.dendarii.com.
        * 9.2. Who is John Ringo?
             o 9.2.1. John Ringo is an a.b.d-w/Baen's Bar mustang.
               He's been a regular contributor both in our newsgroup
               and on Baen's Bar for quite a while. Then he published
               his own first book, A Hymn Before Battle, with Baen in
               August 2000. He has, as of this writing, four books
               published, including two co-authored with David, and
               more on the way. John also remains an active
               participant in a.b.d-w. John's novels are considered
               on-topic in abdw. You can find more information about
               John on his web page at http://www.johnringo.com/.

     10) Other DW Resources on the Net/Web

        * 10.1. Scott Deering's Unofficial David Weber Fan Club Page
             http://www.movie-trailers.com/weber/ was one of the very
          first fan sites, but seems to be rather out of date.
        * 10.2. The Baen Books Website has sample chapters and a
          discussion board for addicts of Baen products (large
          Weberphile contingent) and a separate board for virtual
          mercenaries to play in at http://www.baen.com/. They also
          have a free library online of several published books,
          including a number by David Weber at
          http://www.baen.com/library.
        * 10.3. Mike Weber's webpage is chock full of stuff that the
          Family Weber is up to. Go to
          http://weberworld.virtualave.net/ for the website
        * 10.4. Cool Renderings of Ships (Check them out! The artists
          are part of the newsgroup.)
             o 10.4.1. http://www.ibfs.demon.co.uk/nojay/nike/
             o 10.4.2.
               http://www.home.earthlink.net/~captruss/RMN.html
             o 10.4.3. Some drawings of missiles are at:
                  http://www.ameritech.net/users/jmrobert/shipkill.jpg
               and at

               http://www.ameritech.net/users/jmrobert/shipkill2.jpg
        * 10.5. Aegys's Hall of Honor
          (http://www1.jump.net/~fearless/)is another good starting
          point for fans of the Honor Harrington books and contains
          portions of the Royal Manticoran Encyclopaedia. This site is
          a great addition and very helpful to fans of the series.
          There's also a discussion board that is rather busy with
          Weberphiles. The chat board URL is
          http://disc.server.com/Indices/4096.html. Many of these
          folks do online chat on Thursday evenings (6 PM Central US
          time). Aegys also set up the Honor Harrington webring with a
          listing of current sites at:
          http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=honor_h;list.
        * 10.6. Ed Hogg has created a website for the People's
          Republic of Haven that counteracts the propaganda put forth
          by the Manticoran Alliance. For another side to the story,
          see: http://www.equus.demon.co.uk/peeprep/index.html.
        * 10.7. Joe Buckley hosts Dahak's Orbit, which usually carries
          chapters of upcoming books, among other interesting info
          (such as this FAQ), at http://dahak.ne.mediaone.net/.

     11) Miscellaneous Stuff

        * 11.1. Other odd topics of conversation have included: the
          relative merits of the cover art for the Honor books, one
          fun thread that started out wondering what would happen if
          Weber characters crossed over into the Star Trek universe,
          then it cascaded to encompass other universes and inspire a
          filksong, and comments about other books, TV shows, and
          movies that newsgroup members enjoy. Note: spoiler
          protection probably ought to be added to these discussions
          out of courtesy. "Babylon 5" spoilers, especially, are
          liable to result in your introduction to a certain gang of
          bat-wielding Narns. You don't want that to happen, trust me!
        * 11.2. Here's a question that needed an answer: "I see a lot
          of references to E. E. "Doc" Smith and the Lensman universe
          in the newsgroup....what's the connection to David Weber?"
          Mike Richards wrote a very good capsule summary, enjoy!
             o 11.2.1. Who is E.E. "Doc" Smith?
                  + 11.2.1.1. Edward Elmer Smith, Ph. D., was a writer
                    of SF novels from the late twenties until his
                    death in the mid sixties. He was perhaps the first
                    author to write recognisable "Space Opera" novels,
                    with his Skylark and Lensman series
                    ("Triplanetary", "First Lensman", "Galactic
                    Patrol", "Grey Lensman", "Second Stage Lensman",
                    "Children of the Lens" and "Masters of the
                    Vortex"). The latter books in particular featured
                    not-implausible science (based on what was
                    believed at the time it was written), a
                    meticulously detailed plot spread over several
                    self contained stories, characters changing and
                    developing, space battles on a galactic scale and
                    truly awesome weaponry. It was a source of
                    inspiration for the "Green Lantern" comics, and
                    was also one of the first SF series to portray any
                    strong female characters, with Clarissa MacDougal
                    (the "Red Lensman") and her daughters fully the
                    equal of anyone they met.
                  + 11.2.1.2. Now, fifty years on, the books look
                    dated (particularly some of the science), but the
                    stories remain popular. They were among the SF
                    works that David (and Mike) Weber grew up with,
                    and favourable comparisons have been drawn in the
                    newsgroup.
                  + 11.2.1.3. Most of Smith's work went out of print
                    in the early eighties, but the Lensman series has
                    just been reissued ("Ripping" in the UK, "Old
                    Earth Books" of Baltimore, Maryland in the US) and
                    the other books can often be found in second-hand
                    bookstores. The anime version bears little
                    relation to the stories other than some names.
                  + 11.2.1.4. A "Lensman FAQ" is posted occasionally
                    on rec.arts.sf.written by Gharlane of Eddore.

     12) The Filks

        * 12.1. Mike Richards' Ladies Night on Argo can be found at:
             http://www.z9m9z.demon.co.uk/filk/ladies.txt, and all of
          his space-related filks are at
          http://www.z9m9z.demon.co.uk/filk/space.htm.
             There's a filk there about Path of the Fury as well and
          the libretto to his generic do-it-yourself space opera at
             http://www.z9m9z.demon.co.uk/filk/opera.txt.
        * 12.2. The Gilbert and Sullivan filks from the newsgroup
          filking challenge are at
          http://www.warriorgoddess.org/weberfilk.html
        * 12.3. There are also some terrific filks posted on Aegys'
          discussion board, and Jonathan Cresswell has compiled them
          on his own website at
          http://www.netrover.com/~jcresswl/filkpg/filkpage.html. He's
          got the most extensive collection of filks.

     13) The Great ABD-W Typo Hunt

        * 13.0. Note from the Deputy Mad Archivist: This section has
          not been updated with this version of the FAQ. We've had
          several new books published, and plenty of new typos found,
          since the last version of this FAQ was created. However, all
          of these are stored away somewhere in the secret depths of
          the Mad Archivist's computer, which is currently
          inaccessible since Cap'n Cynthia's ISP has just gone under
          at this point.
        * 13.1. Joe Buckley calls them Weberisms in his recent
          compilation of the spoils of the Typo Hunt [Archivist's
          Note: This is not to be considered a blanket indictment of
          the quality of work the proofreaders are doing (Kate
          Verleger gave a most impassioned defense of that most
          thankless job) but when a writer like TOWiDW creates such
          detailed universes, Deity alone knows that there are plenty
          of opportunities for gremlins to do their will and have
          discrepancies show up in the final product.] The top
          offenders so far are:
             o 13.1.1. Honor Harrington Series
                  + 13.1.1.1. When Honor is knighted at the end of
                    Honor of the Queen, Sir Anthony Langtry says his
                    authority to do so is as Her Majesty's Ambassador
                    to Haven, not Grayson. Whoops! (attribution is
                    unclear, John Moreno and Splifford had this
                    discussion on both abd-w and rasfw recently, but
                    this could also have been brought up in the
                    infancy of the newsgroup)
                  + 13.1.1.2. Sir Lucien Cortez, head of the RMN
                    BuPers, gets called Lucius several times. (Jeanne
                    Hedge posted about this one)
                  + 13.1.1.3. Another contribution by Jeanne Hedge...
                    In HAE, at the Steilman-Wanderman Captain's Masts
                    (pgs 442-446 of the US hardcover edition):
                    Steilman's charges include violation of Article 35
                    (assaulting a fellow crewman). Wanderman is
                    charged with violating Article 36 (fighting with a
                    fellow crewman, with aggravated circumstances).
                    Yet when Captain Harrington passes punishment on
                    Wanderman, she says it is for violation of Article
                    35, with aggravated circumstances.
                  + 13.1.1.4. The first paperback printing of Flag in
                    Exile gives the Gregorian equivalent date of 3919,
                    the second printing is corrected to 4019 and is
                    consistent with the time line in More than Honor.
                    (I caught that one in late 1997)
                  + 13.1.1.5. Joe Buckley recently found this in his
                    re-reading of the saga: "One I spotted the other
                    day was during the scene when McKeon, Harrington,
                    and her Guard are in _Prince Adrian's_ lift after
                    Honor's arrival aboard and McKeon was discussing
                    the 'burn-before-reading' secret multi-stage
                    missiles and mentions that he worked on the first
                    field trials of the FTL coms when he was with
                    _Madrigal_. Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but
                    he's only had _Troubadour_ and _Prince Adrian_. He
                    may well have worked *with* _Madrigal_ before he
                    showed up in Yeltsin in the same short squadron as
                    her, but it was when he was CO of _Troubadour_.
                    (In Enemy Hands)
                  + 13.1.1.6. In Enemy Hands also provided additional
                    fuel for Joe's musings: "Then we have a section
                    that several rereadings has failed to illuminate:
                    About the time when _Prince Adrian_ is about to
                    translate out of hyper, we get a discourse on the
                    relative lack of sophistication of the _Prince
                    Consort_ class ships' accomodations. I have yet to
                    sort out what he means when he jumps from
                    discussing _Prince Consorts_ to _Crown Princes_ to
                    _Star Knights_. The _Prince Consorts_ and the
                    _Star Knights_ are easy enough to see, but where
                    do the _Crown Princes_ fit into that discourse?
                    Unless the _Crown Princes_ were supposed to have
                    had the squadron flag accomodations before the
                    _Star Knights_ rolled out.
                  + 13.1.1.7. And Joe found the following in the
                    prologue to Echoes of Honor: Something that stuck
                    out at me when I first read the prologue to
                    _Echoes of Honor_ was during Boardman's mention
                    the _Sirius_. Well, correct me if I'm wrong (and
                    I'm sure *someone* will!), but in _On Basilisk
                    Station_, she was designated PMSS _Sirius_." Joe
                    suggests "If you want some more fun with _tHotQ_,
                    reread the section where the Grayson/Manticore
                    task force gets spanked. Particularly where it
                    discusses the engagement envelope for _MSN
                    Principality_/_PNS Breslau_. ( Re: closest
                    approach of Graysons to _Breslau_ being one
                    hundred million kilometers.)
                  + 13.1.1.8. Jack Tingle found a rather serious
                    timeline problem: "As an exercise, I put together
                    a simple timeline from the HH books. Frankly, it
                    doesn't hold water. There's a 0.52% error in the
                    long term time line, and all of the events in
                    "TSVW" had to have taken no more than 2 days.
                    That's the time between HH assuming command of the
                    Nike and the final battle as reported in Lord
                    Young's court martial. (RE: Honor assumed command
                    of _Nike_ on 6/21/282 and White Haven stated at
                    the courts' opening that the events in question
                    took place on or about 6/23/282.)
                  + 13.1.1.9. Navbuoy noticed the following
                    discrepancy: Honor got an elevation in rank from
                    Knight Companion to Knight Commander between THotQ
                    and tSVW.
                  + 13.1.1.10. Brom O'Berin has the following inquiry
                    about the Manticore wormhole termini... OBS
                    paperback version pg 52 describes the Manticore
                    wormhole as having 'no less than six additional
                    termini' ... plus 'the survey readings suggested
                    there should be at least one more undiscovered
                    terminus' ... and the diagram at the front of OBS
                    shows and names six (Basilisk, Republic of Haven,
                    Phoenix, Solarian League, Mazapan and Anderman
                    Empire) termini ...However the MTH appendix
                    (Universe of HH) ... in (4)(B) on the Manticore
                    Junction - pg 350 - has the junction connected to
                    _five_ additional termini (names all but Mazapan)
                    plus possibility of one, maybe more undiscovered
                    termini ...Which one is canon ... or blooper, etc.
                       + 13.1.1.10.1. Joe Buckley replies: "I'd
                         imagine that _MTH_ was in error, since Book 1
                         (_OBS_) mentioned the six and named them, as
                         well as all of the subsequent Junction Maps
                         showed all six. (Unless, of course, this is a
                         further example of letting the treecat out of
                         the bag early like his FTL-comm pulse rate
                         fiasco.) Just my two bits.
                  + 13.1.1.11. Brom O'Berin also had the following
                    question about the number of Honor's hyper-capable
                    commands: "How about where Honor in uniform is
                    described as having _six_ gold stars ...
                    representing 6 hyper-capable commands. Unless I
                    have Alzheimer's, shouldn't that be five ... for
                    'Hawkwing' (DD), 'Fearless' (CL), 'Fearless' (CA),
                    'Nike' (BC), and 'Wayfarer' (AMC)?
                  + 13.1.1.12. An unknown contributor found the
                    following discrepancy between On Basilisk Station
                    and the technical appendix in More than Honor
                    (thanks to Joe Buckley for finding it for me):
                    "Well, IIRC, the Honorverse forts are *not*
                    driveless. They can maneuver slightly. I seem to
                    recall a mention of their being able to pull about
                    100g's (perhaps in OBS?), but that was negated by
                    the acceleration tables supplied in MtH."
                  + 13.1.1.13. Scott Powers caught the following, and
                    Navbuoy confirmed that this is a major typo in the
                    series: In "On Basilisk Station" the forts are
                    described this way: "The smallest fortress out
                    there massed close to sixteen million tons, twice
                    as a superdreadnaught" (Chap. 5, pg. 55). Later in
                    that same chapter, is this: "the 'forts' in the
                    outer ring had to be able to move to fill in the
                    gaps and mass upon an attacker. Their maximum
                    acceleration rates were low, well under a hundred
                    gravities, but their initial position had been
                    very carefully planned. Their acceleration would
                    be enough to intercept attacking forces headed
                    in-system, and their engines were sufficiently
                    powerful to generate impeller wedges and sidewalls
                    to protect them." (pg. 57) In "More Than Honor",
                    at the back of the book, in the section titled
                    "The Universe of Honor Harrington" 8,500,000 tons
                    is the limit of a warships size, with maximum
                    acceleration dropping rapidly. An SD has an
                    acceleration of 420 gees, a ship of 9,547,500 tons
                    would have an acceleration of 1 g. (Pg.309-310) By
                    this, we can assumethat the 16,000,000 ton forts
                    would have an acceleration of effectively ZERO
                    gees. Either I missed something, or DW did.
                  + 13.1.1.14. Casey Lazo says, "My favorite is in
                    Honor Among Enemies (I think): the one with the
                    reference to the *Sky* Kingdom (of Manticore).
                    IIRC, it appeared in both the hardcover and
                    paperback releases.
                  + 13.1.1.15. Casey also found the following in the
                    online version of Chapter 14 of Echoes of Honor:
                    "[Honor] stepped closer, moving slightly to one
                    side to get the sunset out ofher *eyes*..." ?!?
                    Unless she's developed a third eye, that ought to
                    have been in the singular, ne?
                  + 13.1.1.16. On page 6 of Field of Dishonor, TZ
                    found: "The heaviest Manticoran units were 6
                    battlecruisers, 3 of them already circled by the
                    flashing yellow bands of combat damage, and 6
                    superdreadnoughts led the Peeps charging up their
                    wakes." However, Admiral Chin's heaviest unit was
                    a dreadnought and not a superdreadnought.
                  + 13.1.1.17. Thomas Ambuehler points out a German
                    typo in Honor Among Enemies: "When the Andermani
                    Admiral Rabenstrange challenges the Q-ship, he
                    firstly uses German, and he says "Gutten Morgen,
                    Kapitain!" This really struck me like a bolt. It
                    should be "Guten Morgen, Kapit”n!" But that is
                    only because he used my mother tongue." That just
                    goes to show that typo hunting is an international
                    and multilingual pastime!
                  + 13.1.1.18. Here's a typo that Miguel Velez had to
                    remind me about after an eleven-month lapse (my
                    bad): In IEH, there's a line about Haven being
                    over 1800 light-years from Earth which justifies
                    not recalling the Foreign Secretary and making him
                    take a six month trip back home. However, Miguel
                    noted that the appendix of MTH states that Haven
                    is 667 LY from Earth (155 LY more than Manticore).
                    David confirmed that it is a typo, but that the
                    six month transit time is about right. DW
                    elaborated further: "Assume the distance is 620
                    LY; to make the trip in 6 months, you'd have to
                    average around 1,240 times the speed of light
                    which is just about right for a "fast" merchant
                    ship. Given that merchies don't go above the Delta
                    bands, where the maximum attainable effective
                    velocity is about 1,100 cee (don't have the tech
                    manual in front of me), even at 6 months, you'd
                    have to assume a merchie in the Epsilon bands (max
                    effective V = about 1,400 cee) to get a 6 months
                    turn around. Now, if they put him on a courier
                    boat and ran him home clear up in the Zeta bands
                    (which they wouldn't normally do with an important
                    diplomat), they could cover 620 LY in about 3.5
                    months, which is still a pretty long time.
                    Assuming your 667 LY figure is right (and it
                    probably is) a merchant ship in the Epsilon bands
                    should take about 5.6 months--still close to the 6
                    month transit figure. A courier boat would take
                    about 3.7 months for the same trip. Yes, I suppose
                    you can go ahead and post it with Cynthia. As I
                    said, I'm not sure how it got in there in the
                    first place. Sigh."
             o 13.1.2. Dahak/Fifth Imperium
                  + 13.1.2.1. Just to show you that we're not just
                    picking on the Honorverse for typos, Jason found
                    the following in Mutineer's Moon: "In the October
                    '94 edition, p156, when Colin is getting ready for
                    the fighter strike. Sentence reads "He hung his
                    gray gun on his suit webbing" As that's the only
                    mention of gun color that I've come across, I
                    presume it's supposed to read "grav gun"."
                  + 13.1.2.2. Joe Buckley found this as well: "Another
                    little glitch that I always trip over is in "Heirs
                    of Empire", just after _Isreal_ (spelling?) is
                    unceremoniously ejected from _Imperial Terra_ and
                    the kids are doing their systems checks: Harriet
                    refers to her brother Sean during her part of the
                    brief as *Colin*.
                  + 13.1.2.3. And another goodie caught by Joe's eagle
                    eyes: "When Gen. Hatcher is discussing recent
                    developments of the Siege with (I believe) Horus
                    and the Achuultani use of Iapetus as a bludgeon,
                    he mentions that the current orbital position of
                    Saturn puts it 1.5 *trillion* kilometers from
                    Earth."
             o 13.1.3. The Lay of Bahzell Bloody-Hand
                  + 13.1.3.1. Daniel Bernstein found this in Oath of
                    Swords: On page 192, when Bahzell and Brandark are
                    counting their money, it says "...and Bahzell sat
                    back to let Brandark count it." At the bottom of
                    the same page, though, we have "Bahzell finished
                    counting..."

     14) Frogs and Buzzards and Tortoises, oh my!

        * 14.1. Kate Verleger, our Judge Advocate General, and
          resident chief of amphibian artillery has described the
          tradition of lobbing frogs at punsters. Other abd-w denizens
          have adapted this tradition recently to include other
          members of the animal kingdom such as buzzards and
          tortoises. Look out Below! We've got a whole group of folks
          (ROMANCE) who are the chief flingers of animalia and their
          preferred target are snerkers who publicly gloat about
          privileged information online. Check out
          http://members.aol.com/gwynedd/beatrice/index.html#top for
          the history, including a contribution by the Mad Wizard
          Weber himself.
             o 14.1.1. As requested, here is a short history of the
               role of Frogs in mechanized warfare. (edit it as you
               see fit: I decided I'd better err on the side of
               caution and be as complete as possible).
             o 14.1.2. The tradition of Frogs in Warfare is a long and
               honorable one, whose origins date back approximately
               twenty years to Bryn Mawr College, outside of
               Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania.
             o 14.1.3. At this college is a dormitory called Denbigh
               Hall, and in this dorm is a common room called a back
               smoker. The point of back smokers, originally, was to
               provide students a place in the back of the dorm where
               they could smoke in peace and not disturb anyone, and,
               not so coincidentally, burn down the building (again).
             o 14.1.4. As time progressed, a particular sort of people
               tended to collect in the back smoker: among the more
               illustrious Denbigh Back Smoker (DBS) alumnae is the
               author Caroline Stevermer (Bryn Mawr '77), and to whose
               denizens her novel, _A College of Magics_, is
               dedicated. As the people collected in the DBS, so did
               the books they tended to read[0]
             o 14.1.5. The inhabitants of the DBS developed two means
               of communicating with one another: face to face
               conversation, and a sort of bound bulletin board,
               called the DBS Diary. In the Diary, the Mawrtyrs would
               write anonymously, under pseudonyms, or under their own
               names, messages to one another or the group at large.
                  + 14.1.5.1. For example, "May 5, 1995: Calamity is
                    happy to announce the birth of a Senior Thesis (52
                    pages text, 6 pages endnotes, 5 pages
                    bibliography), at approximately 3 am this morning,
                    "A Spectrum of Characters: Religion, Love and
                    Responsibility in _The Brothers Karamazov_".
                    Viewing upon request, IBM WP 5.1 or paper only."
                  + 14.1.5.2. Alternatively, "Cheat session for Spring
                    Ball Erd Liv Rm 12 pm Sat. --Amy L."[1]
             o 14.1.6. In approximately 1980, someone left to the DBS
               as a May Day Gift (gifts are traditionally given by
               upperclasswomen to younger students on the morning of
               the College's celebration of May Day), a stuffed green
               frog. The frog was of convenient size, approximately
               8x8x8, slightly understuffed, and was a fading green.
                  + 14.1.6.1. No one knows the first time that it was
                    thrown in outrage at a particularly bad pun,
                    however the idea quickly caught on and spread to
                    the other major backsmoker on campus in Erdman
                    Hall. Further, when one was with one's fellow
                    denizens but away from the DBS (thus without the
                    frog), and a particularly bad pun was uttered, one
                    could say to the offender "Frog!" and the frog
                    would have been considered thrown.
                  + 14.1.6.2. This extended to the diary: when a pun
                    was posted to the diary, the first responder to
                    the pun would be likely to write as his/her post
                    "frog," "thwap" (the sound the frog makes when
                    impacting a target), or draw a frog into the
                    diary, and the frog would be considered duly
                    thrown. Bad jokes were equally considered worthy
                    of frogging.
                  + 14.1.6.3. I adapted this practice to the 'net to
                    express my responses to the epidemic of viral
                    punning online.
             o 14.1.7. Frogging 101
                  + 14.1.7.1. Definition
                  + 14.1.7.2. Frog: noun. 1. any of numerous tailless,
                    chiefly aquatic amphibians of the order Salienta,
                    and especially of the family Ranidae, having a
                    smooth, moist skin, webbed feet, and long hind
                    legs adapted for jumping. 2. A projectile punning
                    mechanism, with a selector switch for automatic /
                    semiautomatic. [2]Users are advised to chamber the
                    frog before firing. (The projectile gives a
                    satisfactory "thwap" sound as described by
                    manufacturer's spec that way). Available in a
                    variety of projectile sizes, from amazonian tree,
                    through green Clemens, up to and including Denbigh
                    Stuffed (recommended only for
                    targets at least 6 feet from user).
                  + 14.1.7.3. No incantation required prior to
                    depressing trigger (see "sending messages"),
                    though specifying size of projectile would be an
                    amusing read.
             o 14.1.8. PLEASE! Practice good research habits! If
               you're going to start frogging on an ng without an
               active Bryn Mawr Alum on it (who ought to be able to
               explain the tradition), CITE YOUR SOURCE for the
               tradition.
             o 14.1.9. The appropriate citation if you're relaying the
               tradition on to someone else--in person or on the
               net--is: Denbigh Back Smoker, Denbigh Hall, Bryn Mawr
               College, Bryn Mawr, PA,c. 1980.
             o 14.1.10. That's really all there is to it, with one
               caveat: Remember to tell your frogs to look before they
               leap--they've got better odds of hitting their targets
               that way.
             o 14.1.11. May the Frogs be with you, Kate Verleger,
               Igor--sorry, that's Graduate Assistant, Department of
               Economics, Indiana University; Ars Bacheloris, Russian,
               Bryn Mawr College, 1995; Fearless Leader, Doublestar
               Science Fiction and Fantasy Club, Bryn Mawr and
               Haverford Colleges, 1993-1995.
                  + 14.1.11.1. Notes:
                       + 14.1.11.1.1. [0] This is how Homer got
                         shelved next to McCaffrey.
                       + 14.1.11.1.2. [1] It is interesting to note
                         that the DBS Diary, likewise the Erdman Back
                         Smoker Diary (also of Bryn Mawr), both behave
                         in a -very- similar fashion to a ng today.
                         Even anonymously, flaming other writers was
                         severely sanctioned, threads of conversation
                         developed and were quickly lost as you had to
                         flip through page upon page of "posts" to
                         find out what "happened" since the last time
                         you wrote, and the more stressed out the
                         posters were (such as during finals or
                         midterm exams), the more they wrote.
                       + 14.1.11.1.3. [2] Period methods of lobbing
                         frogs are available: by hand, long bow,
                         recurve, javelin, and crossbow, for period
                         use.
        * 14.2. Jack Tingle also notes another use of the FROG acronym
          that would be of interest to a fair number of the group (the
          technology and tactics mavens) which is not related to
          Kate's tradition: "WRT FROG, note also NATO designation for
          light Soviet-made, land-based, ballistic artillery rocket;
          "Free Rocket Over Ground", which the US semi-copied as the
          MLRS.
             o 14.2.1. This weapon class dates back to the Congreve
               rockets used by the British in the Napoleonic wars.
               They were eventually superseded by large guns in
               European warfare, but Russian and later Soviet doctrine
               never gave up on them. Naval equivalents were also
               never abandoned, since rocket bombardment of land
               emplacements from barges were often useful during the
               ramp-up to amphibious assults (or even amphibian
               assaults).
             o 14.2.2. One of the more famous Soviet relatives of the
               FROG was the light, infantry-carried Katyushka
               bombardment rocket, used by the Viet Cong in the war in
               Indochina."
        * 14.3. The members of ROMANCE have expanded this to include a
          wide variety of amphibians, even going so far as to borrow a
          concept from Terry Pratchett and use eagle-launched
          TORTOISEs (see _Small Gods_ by Terry Pratchett).

     15) ABDW Acronyms (send me ones I've missed!)

        * 15.1. TOWiDW = The One Who is David Weber
        * 15.2. HWKABSM = He Who Knows All But Suggests Most (David
          Weber)
        * 15.3. MWW = (the) Mad Wizard Weber
        * 15.4. SWMBOiG = She Who Must Be Obeyed in Greenville (Sharon
          Weber)

     16) Thanks/Acknowledgements for FAQ help

        * 16.1. My thanks to "AmyCat" <amy_c@efn.SPAM-SUCKS.org> ["You
          know what to delete if you want to e-mail me!" <g>] for
          proofreading and being my beta reader on the original
          version and to all the past and current members of the
          newsgroup for keeping me honest and nudging me to do the
          updates.
        * 16.2. Contributions to future versions of the FAQ are
          gratefully solicited in advance. I will advise the RMN
          Bureau of Personnel that all FAQ contributors should be
          considered candidates for the RMN Medal of Gallantry and my
          own personal order, the Mad Archivist's Thanks.
        * 16.3. Past recipients of the Mad Archivist's Thanks are (in
          no particular order): Ken Nixon, Kate Verleger, David Bell,
          Mike Richards, Carmold, Captain Button, Dan Cannata, Brom
          O'Berin, Joe Buckley, Jeanne Hedge, Scott Powers, Casey
          Lazo, Navbuoy, John Moreno, Splifford, Jason at
          concentric.net, Jack Tingle, TZ, Miguel Velez, and Wombat
          Woman.
        * 16.4. Recipients of the Deputy Mad Archivist's Thanks are:
          Marten Kemp, Robert Woodward, Michael Dolbear.
        * 16.5. Recipients of the Cashew Cluster to the Mad
          Archivist's Thanks are: Daniel Bernstein, Linda Fox.
        * 16.6. And of course, profuse thanks go to David Weber
          himself, who provides us all with a reason to get together
          in the virtual world.


-- 
Daniel
"These terrorists aren't out for a new kind of coexistence with
us. They are out for our non-existence."
    - Thomas L. Friedman, NY Times, 5 Oct 2001

User Contributions:

Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic:


[ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ]

Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer:
Cynthia Gonsalves <cynthia1960@attbi.com>





Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:12 PM