FAQ Location and Weekly posting for Rec.Bicycles.*

I have seen this "FAQ" posted for many, many years. However, the FAQ states
that it was last updated 11/1/04.

Since there is a *newer* version that has been updated, AND its currently
being hosted by Sheldon Brown, see: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/
it begs the question of whether "Mike Iglesias" (if that is his real name)
really needs to keep posting this Bicycle FAQ EVERY WEEK?

I think this "FAQ" either needs to be updated or maybe its time to stop
posting? What do ya all think?

"Mike Iglesias" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Last updated: November 1, 2004

Weekly Posting for Rec.Bicycles.*

This is the weekly posting to Rec.Bicycles.*. In it, you will find
information on how to get a copy of the FAQ (in case you missed it
when it was posted to rec.bicycles.misc/news.answers) and some tips on
nettiquette when posting articles to rec.bicycles.*.

The FAQ was last updated on October 28, 2004.

Mike Iglesias
[email hidden]

Web access to rec.bicycles archives and FAQ
------------------------------------------------------

The rec.bicycles ftp archives and FAQ are available via the web

<http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/>

<http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/bicycles-faq/top.html>

Quoted message said:

Posting Guidelines
------------------

The rec.bicycles subgroups are described below - please try to post your
article to the appropriate group. The newsgroups were designed to

minimize

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cross posting, so please take the time to think about the most appropriate
newsgroup and post your article there. Most postings to rec.bicycles

should

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not be cross-posted to groups outside of rec.*.

rec.bicycles: DO NOT USE THIS NEWSGROUP - it should have been dropped
from news servers, having been replaced by rec.bicycles.misc.

rec.bicycles.marketplace: Bicycles, components, ancillary equipment and
services wanted or for sale, reviews of such things, places to buy
them, and evaluations of these sources. Not for discussion of general
engineering, maintenance, or repair -- see rec.bicycles.tech.

rec.bicycles.tech: Techniques of engineering, construction, maintenance
and repair of bicycles and ancillary equipment. Not for products or
services offered or wanted -- see rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.rides: Discussions of tours and training or commuting routes.
Not for disussion of general riding techniques -- see

rec.bicycles.misc.

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Not for products or services offered or wanted -- see
rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.soc: Social issues, cycling transportation advocacy, laws,
conduct of riders and drivers; road hazards such as potholes, dogs, and
sociopaths. Not for products or services offered or wanted --
see rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.racing: Race results, racing techniques, rules, and
organizations. Not racing equipment -- see rec.bicycles.marketplace
or rec.bicycles.tech.

rec.bicycles.misc: General riding techniques, rider physiology,
injuries and treatment, diets, and other cycling topics.
Not for products or services offered or wanted -- see
rec.bicycles.marketplace.

rec.bicycles.off-road: This group is moderated. Discussion of riding
on unimproved roads, gravel, dirt, grass, sand, single track or 4x4

roads.

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Also discussion of environmental issues related to mountain biking,

trail

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issues, backcountry travel, how to handle conditions
(technically and evo-sensitively), off-road magazines and other media.

Nettiquette
-----------

Here are some tips to remember when posting to rec.bicycles.*:

* Check your line lengths. Most readers use 80 column terminals, and
articles with longer line lengths are hard to read. 72 characters per
line is a good length, since it allows others to quote you without
running over 80 characters.

* Trim down your quotes. Delete parts of the article that you are not
responding to. Less to read from previous posts is better. And

please

Quoted message said:

don't include the signature of the article you are responding to.

* If you are asking a basic question, please check the FAQ first. If

the

Quoted message said:

FAQ is has expired on your system, see the "Archives" section below
for information on how to get a copy.

* If someone posts a question about something that was resolved

recently,

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please answer the poster via email. Rehashing something that was just
discussed is a waste of bandwidth unless you have something new to

add.

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* Please don't flame someone if their posting should have been

restricted

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to a certain region (for example, california only). Most people are

not

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the news admin on their system, so publicly flaming them does no good.
A nicely worded email message to them that there may be a problem
would allow them to notify their news admin. Please remember that
it may be some other site somewhere along the line that is leaking
articles out of its region and the poster may not have any way to
solve the problem.

* Along the above lines, please try to restrict your postings to your
site/region/state/whatever. People in Australia may not want to see
bike-for-sale ads from the U.S., for example.

* Make your subject line informative about the content of your article.

* If you are following up an article to create a new article, please
remember to delete the "References:" line in the header. This will
help the readers who use a threaded news reader; otherwise your new
topic will be mixed in with an old one.

* Please don't flame others. We're a somewhat opinionated group, and
there are many diverse personalities here. This is especially true
in the never-ending helmet wars.

* Speaking of helmet wars, let's try to stay away from them. Most
everything that could be said pro and con for wearing helmets has
been said at least once in rec.bicycles. There is some evidence that
wearing a helmet can help prevent head injuries. There are people

that

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wear a helmet all the time, people that wear a helmet some of the

time,

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and people who will never wear one. Everyone has their own reasons
for their decision, and most will not change it in the middle of a
flaming helmet war. Questions on types of helmets, what ones are
coolest (temperature and otherwise), etc are always welcome.

Archives

I've made available via anonymous ftp a copy of the current FAQ and a
few other items on draco.acs.uci.edu (128.200.34.12). This is the
workstation on my desk, so I'd appreciate it if people would restrict
their use to 7pm-7am Pacific time. The files are in pub/rec.bicycles.

Here's what's available at this time:

README for Rec.Bicycles Anonymous FTP area

arnie.light Arnie Berger's ([email hidden]) "Ultimate bike light"

bike_gear.sea.hqx
Lawrence Hare's ([email hidden]) copy of a
Hypercard stack to calculate gearing. Lawrence says
there is a newer version on major bbs systems.

bike.lockers David H. Wolfskill's ([email hidden]) summary of
bike locker vendors.

bike.painting Sam Henry's ([email hidden]) collection of articles on
how to paint a bike.

bike_power.* Ken Roberts program to calculate power output and power
consumption. See bike_power.doc for more info. Updates
now include wind speed, altitude, and size of rider.
updated by Mark Grennan ([email hidden]) is available
at http://www.grennan.com/BikePower/

biking_log.* Phil Etheridge's ([email hidden]) hypercard stack
riding diary. It keeps track of dates, distance, time,
average speed, etc., and keeps running weekly, monthly,
and yearly totals. See biking_log.read_me for more
information.

CA-veh-code A directory containing the California vehicle code sections
that pertain to bicycles and gopher bookmarks. See the
README in that directory for more information.

camera.tour Vivian Aldridge's ([email hidden]) collection of articles
on cameras to take on a bike tour.

competitive.nutrition
Roger Marquis' ([email hidden]) article from the
Feb 91 Velo News on nutrition and cycling.

computer.calibrate
computer.install
Sheldon Brown's ([email hidden]) universal bike
computer calibration chart and installation suggestions.

cyclesense Larry Watanabe's ([email hidden]) copy of
the "Cycle Sense for Motorists" ready to run thru LaTeX.

faq.* The current Frequently Asked Questions posting

first.century Pamela Blalock's ([email hidden]) tips on training
for your first century ride.

frame.build Terry Zmrhal's ([email hidden]) writeup of
a frame building class he took.

gear.c Larry Watanabe's ([email hidden]) program to
print gear inch tables.

glossary Alan Bloom's ([email hidden]) glossary of bicycle terms.

lab.info Erin O'Brien's ([email hidden]) article on the
League of American Bicyclists.

lights Tom Reingold's ([email hidden]) collection of
articles on bike lights.

lights2 More articles from rec.bicycles.* on lights.

mtb.faq Vince Cheng's ([email hidden]) MTB FAQ.

pam.bmb* Pamela Blalock's ([email hidden]) report on her
Boston-Montreal-Boston rides.

pam.pactour* Pamela Blalock's ([email hidden]) writeup of her PAC

tours

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across the country.

pbp.info Pamela Blalock's ([email hidden]) information
on her Paris-Brest-Paris ride.

pictures Bicycling gif pictures.

prof.sched Roland Stahl's ([email hidden]) list of
scheduled professional races in many countries.

pwm.regulator Willie Hunt's ([email hidden]) design notes
on a pulse width modulated voltage regulator. Originally
designed for caving, this design is adaptable to bike
lighting. The author has parts available in kit form.

ride.index Chris Hull's/Bill Bushnell's ([email hidden])
explanation of a way to "index" rides and compare the
difficulty of different rides.

ridelg22.* Found on AOL by Gary Thurman ([email hidden]), a
ride diary program. The .exe file a self-extracting archive
for PCs.

spike.bike Bob Fishell's ([email hidden]) Spike Bike series.
They are numbered in the order that Bob posted them to
rec.bicycles. All the Spike Bike stories are
"Copyright 1989 by Robert Fishell, all rights reserved."

spokelen11.bas Roger Marquis' ([email hidden]) spoke length
calculator, written in Microsoft Quickbasic.

spokelen.c Andy Tucker's ([email hidden]) port of
Roger Marquis' spokelen11.bas to C.

spokelen.hqx Eric Topp's [email hidden]'s Hypercard stack that
computes spoke lengths.

studded.tires (Name removed by request) compilation
of messages on studded tires, including how to make your
own.

tandem.boxes Arnie Berger's ([email hidden]) notes on how
he built a box to transport his tandem to Europe and
back. It's taken from a longer travelogue on his trip - if
you want more information, contact him at the above
address.

tech.supp.phone Joshua Putnam's ([email hidden]) list of technical
support numbers for various manufacturers. This list
used to be in the FAQ but now is too long to include there.

trailers A summary posting of messages about bike trailers. Good
stuff if you're thinking of buying a trailer.

wheelbuild.txt Sheldon Brown's ([email hidden]) instructions on
how to build a wheel.

wheels.*.hqx R. Scott Truesdell's ([email hidden]) Hypercard
stack to calculate spoke lengths. See wheels.readme
for more info.

wintertips Pete Hickey's ([email hidden]) notes about
how to cycle in the winter.

wintertips.pam Pamela Blalock's ([email hidden]) winter cycling tips.

bfd said:

I have seen this "FAQ" posted for many, many years. However, the FAQ states
that it was last updated 11/1/04.

Since there is a *newer* version that has been updated, AND its currently
being hosted by Sheldon Brown, see: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/
it begs the question of whether "Mike Iglesias" (if that is his real name)
really needs to keep posting this Bicycle FAQ EVERY WEEK?

I think this "FAQ" either needs to be updated or maybe its time to stop
posting? What do ya all think?

A top poster probably won't be able to grasp this concept but there are
scripts and cron jobs that will auto-post these FAQ messages. If Mike
Iglesias is still around in one of the rec.bicycles.* groups then great.
If not, good luck trying to get it stopped.

In this case from doing a little Googling it looks like he is active on
Usenet and still has the same email address.

Greg

--
"All my time I spent in heaven
Revelries of dance and wine
Waking to the sound of laughter
Up I'd rise and kiss the sky" - The Mekons

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I think this "FAQ" either needs to be updated or maybe its time to stop
posting? What do ya all think?

Are you offering to update the FAQ? What parts of the FAQ do you think are
outdated?
--------------
Alex

No, I'm not offering to update the FAQ, but there have been several
*additions* that this FAQ doesn't appear to have. For example, the more
recent FAQ, hosted by Sheldon Brown, has the following that the
original FAQ doesn't:

Rolling Resistance of Tubular Tires
Threadless headset
and Headwinds, Tailwinds and Crosswinds

If this guy really is interested in continuing to post a "Bicycle FAQ,"
then he ought to host the more recent version. Otherwise, what's the
point?

In article
<[email hidden]>,

bfd said:

No, I'm not offering to update the FAQ, but there have been several
*additions* that this FAQ doesn't appear to have. For example, the more
recent FAQ, hosted by Sheldon Brown, has the following that the
original FAQ doesn't:

Rolling Resistance of Tubular Tires
Threadless headset
and Headwinds, Tailwinds and Crosswinds

If this guy really is interested in continuing to post a "Bicycle FAQ,"
then he ought to host the more recent version. Otherwise, what's the
point?

Learn to quote properly and to bottom post. Asking you if
you want to edit the FAQ is a joke you failed to identify.

--
Michael Press

Maybe this "Mike Iglesias" ought to learn how to stop spamming this
newsgroup with outdated material!

Someone said:

No, I'm not offering to update the FAQ, but there have been several
*additions* that this FAQ doesn't appear to have. For example, the
more recent FAQ, hosted by Sheldon Brown, has the following that the
original FAQ doesn't:

Quoted message said:

Rolling Resistance of Tubular Tires
Threadless headset
and Headwinds, Tailwinds and Crosswinds

Quoted message said:

If this guy really is interested in continuing to post a "Bicycle
FAQ," then he ought to host the more recent version. Otherwise,
what's the point?

Ah yes, but he does have "Bicycling in America" a subject close to
most of us as we seek our space on the road.

Jobst Brandt

Alex Rodriguez said:

Are you offering to update the FAQ? What parts of the FAQ do you think are
outdated?

It doesn't have a definition for dumbass, entries on helmet trolls, leg
shaving trolls or the advantages of owning 2 guns ?

"bfd" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Maybe this "Mike Iglesias" ought to learn how to stop spamming this
newsgroup with outdated material!

This is one of the most (inintentionally) humorous threads I've read here in
a few weeks.

On Tue, 02 May 2006 18:43:26 +0000, Donald Munro <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Alex Rodriguez said:

Are you offering to update the FAQ? What parts of the FAQ do you think are
outdated?

It doesn't have a definition for dumbass, entries on helmet trolls, leg
shaving trolls or the advantages of owning 2 guns ?

Why only two?

Ron

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. It was obvious that this "person" was
auto-posting the FAQ, so I thought it would be easy to make fun! For
example, at least 2 posters got offended when I "top-post." Of course,
that was DONE ON PURPOSE to get people's attention, and it worked!

Further, since the auto-posting wasn't going to get a real response
from "Mike Iglesas" or whoever he is, then why not make fun!

And if there really is a "Mike Iglesias," then he really should stop
spammming this group with his dated material!

In article <[email hidden]>,

bfd said:

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. It was obvious that this "person" was
auto-posting the FAQ, so I thought it would be easy to make fun! For
example, at least 2 posters got offended when I "top-post." Of course,
that was DONE ON PURPOSE to get people's attention, and it worked!

Further, since the auto-posting wasn't going to get a real response
from "Mike Iglesas" or whoever he is, then why not make fun!

And if there really is a "Mike Iglesias," then he really should stop
spammming this group with his dated material!

If you don't like it, don't read it or filter it out.

--
Mike Iglesias Email: [email hidden]
University of California, Irvine phone: 949-824-6926
Network & Academic Computing Services FAX: 949-824-2069

This is so cool, there actually is a Mike Iglesias!

Alright, now that we know you're a real person, what is the purpose of
posting this same old tired FAQ week after week after week?

Quoted message said:

with his dated material!

all of the posts here have dates listed for them.

this one will be dated with the date/time that its submitted.
too bad that this one will not be worth reading.

-bdbafh

In article <[email hidden]>,

bfd said:

This is so cool, there actually is a Mike Iglesias!

Alright, now that we know you're a real person, what is the purpose of
posting this same old tired FAQ week after week after week?

Maybe it's because no one submits stuff to put in the FAQ? How about
you write some articles for it and submit them? Or is that too much
work for you, poor bfd? Jobst just sent me some updates that will be in
the FAQ soon.

If you don't have anything to contribute other than pissing about how long
it has been since the FAQ was updated, well, I really don't care.

--
Mike Iglesias Email: [email hidden]
University of California, Irvine phone: 949-824-6926
Network & Academic Computing Services FAX: 949-824-2069

Whoa, wait a minute, don't throw that [censored] about writing an article on
me. WHAT HAVE YOU WRITTEN? Or is your "contribution" just posting the
FAQ sufficient? Hey, you're probably using some sort of auto posting
program anyways, so what effort is that?

By continuing to post the same old tired FAQ, which may be outdated,
how is that doing these newsgroups a service. Or have you heard of
wasting bandwidth?

In article
<[email hidden]>,

bfd said:

Whoa, wait a minute, don't throw that [censored] about writing an article on
me. WHAT HAVE YOU WRITTEN? Or is your "contribution" just posting the
FAQ sufficient? Hey, you're probably using some sort of auto posting
program anyways, so what effort is that?

By continuing to post the same old tired FAQ, which may be outdated,
how is that doing these newsgroups a service. Or have you heard of
wasting bandwidth?

Leave off, eh? Every week there are people who see the FAQ
for the first time.

--
Michael Press

Michael states:

<Every week there are people who see the FAQ for the first time>

But do we really know that?! Is there a way to track whether people
actually read this FAQ? The reason I ask is that the same old
questiona about things supposedly addressed in the FAQ like slick tread
tires, rolling resistance of tires, blow outs and sudden flats, shimmy,
talcum powders, wearing a helmet, and on and on, are constant topics in
these newsgroups.

If these "first timers" actually read the FAQ, wouldn't their questions
have been answered and thus, they wouldn't need to ask these same old
questions? I bet not as many people actually read/use these newsgroups
and that the FAQ is not actually *seen* by these first timers!

In article <[email hidden]>,

bfd said:

Michael states:

<Every week there are people who see the FAQ for the first time>

But do we really know that?! Is there a way to track whether people
actually read this FAQ?

In the last month, the FAQ has been downloaded via ftp 103 times. In
addition, the web version of the FAQ has had pages browsed over 35,000
times in the last month. Here are the top 10 most requested articles
(the number is the count of the times it was requested):

566 /rbfaq/FAQ/7.8.html
554 /rbfaq/FAQ/8b.17.html
547 /rbfaq/FAQ/8b.21.html
426 /rbfaq/FAQ/9.3.html
401 /rbfaq/FAQ/9.7.html
398 /rbfaq/FAQ/8d.2.html
385 /rbfaq/FAQ/8h.3.html
365 /rbfaq/FAQ/8b.20.html
337 /rbfaq/FAQ/9.23.html
333 /rbfaq/FAQ/8c.8.html

Is that good enough for you?

--
Mike Iglesias Email: [email hidden]
University of California, Irvine phone: 949-824-6926
Network & Academic Computing Services FAX: 949-824-2069