OBSOLETE INFORMATION

Sod, some of these parts are incomplete!

Most posters start off an episode post with a message. Usually the message has part number 00 in the subject line or something that identifies it as an info file.

Read the 00/## or readme posts to see what the poster has to say before downloading. Some posters have a repost policy about when they'll start taking repost requests, or how to ask for reposts. Not following those instructions will usually result in your requests being ignored.

It's amazing the number of people who seem incapable of reading something so simple. Please make the effort to read the poster's preferences if there are any.

And please, don't make a request right after the posts are just finished. I've seen this often and it's bloody annoying. Usenet is somewhat quirky even at the best of times, and more often than not some parts of the same post arrives before other parts, sometimes more than a few hours apart. If some files arrived incomplete at your newsserver at first, wait a few hours (12 hours is a good guideline, even though I have seen file trickling in well over 30 hours of initial post) before making a repost request. Usually the missing parts would arrive in the mean time and make the request unnecessary. Unnecessary reposts would merely suck up more bandwidth and disk space on the newsserver, which will cause older articles to expire more quickly.

Quite a few people had been making requests but not really getting the information through. Here is a guideline on standard repost request heading:

Attn [poster]: Please repost [series] ep ## .r##

or for multiple parts

Attn [poster]: Please repost following parts of [series]

And put the episode number and parts in the message body, don't post 10 separate messages with a request for a different part in each. That is annoying, it looks like vertical spam, and difficult for the poster to keep track of what's what and will probably get you ignored.

The point is to make sure the poster knows exactly which part of which episode of what series you want to be reposted.

And most importantly, don't forget to thank the poster. They are doing this on their time and bandwidth for no compensation.

How NOT to make a request. [SWong, user, ed.]

or, doing any of these things will get you deliberately ignored or kill filed

1. ALL CAPS - It looks like you're yelling.
2. ########LOTS OF PUNCTUATION#########
3. Nym-shifting: changing your pseudonym to pretend to be different people requesting the same thing.
4. Most annoying of all, vertical spam:
   

           ############PLZ POST KAWAII GIRLS TIA!!!!!###########
           ############PLZ POST KAWAII GIRLS TIA!!!!!###########
           ############PLZ POST KAWAII GIRLS TIA!!!!!###########
           ############PLZ POST KAWAII GIRLS TIA!!!!!###########
           ############PLZ POST KAWAII GIRLS TIA!!!!!###########
   

   Some newbies post a request multiple times with some attention getting letterings, thinking that'll get somebody's attention and will respond to it. Well it gets attention all right. It gets deliberately ignored, or maybe even kill filed.
5. Pestering the wrong person for repost. 2 words: bloody annoying, chances are the person you pester will not post your request even if s/he has what you want. It doesn't take very much effort to keep track of who posted what.
6. HIWIH (Here Is What I Have) posts. HIWIH posts constitute posting only those files that one is able to obtain with a request for the remainder.

See the posting section for tips on how to make a request.