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/_|___|___|___|___|___|__\ Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)
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/___|___|___|___|___|___|___|\ Version 4.0 (July 1999)
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The latest version of this document can always be found on
http://www.meddle.org
Section 1 (of 10) : The Basics
01 : Do I Have To Read All This?
Do I Have To Read All This?
Yes! The main reason behind having a FAQ is so that people don't keep asking the same old questions day after day after day. It frees up fans for discussions about new topics, and keeps them from having to answer the same questions over and over again. Yes, there's a helluva lot of stuff to read here, but there's a lot that new fans may want to know right off that they'll find right here.
This list is the collected work of a lot of Echoesians, what you are reading here is sometimes literally the result of weeks and months of hard labor. By not reading this FAQ you are effectively ignoring their hard work.
This FAQ has turned from a list of common questions to a net- generated Pink Floyd Reference Work. It is heartily recommended that you keep a copy nearby, either online or printed.
If you keep a copy online, familiarize yourself with the search options that your computer offers you.
"Yes, I understand that, but do I have to read all of it now?"
No, not all of it, but before posting to Echoes, at least read the sections on posting guidelines and setting up your e-mail client. Before asking a question on Echoes, please search through the FAQ to see if your question is already answered here.
What Is Echoes?
Echoes is a mailing list devoted to Pink Floyd. It has been
running since 14nov1991. It replaces a list called "Eclipse"
that ran for several years previously. Originally intended as
a temporary replacement, Echoes is now here for the duration.
There are roughly 1000 members of Echoes, on 6 continents.
(North Am, South Am, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia). If
anyone on Antarctica is subscribed, please let us know.
Echoes is available in two formats: realtime and digest. "Realtime" means that you get messages as soon as they are sent by other members. The "digest" format is composed of all the realtime postings; they are grouped together in a more compact format, mailed out once a day, or when the amount of e-mail sent that day exceeds a certain threshold.
Some of the Echoes members are very well respected and extremely knowledgeable pink Floyd fans. Don't let the occasional "highbrow" discussions overwhelm you.
Echoes is a very active list. Expect 30-50 messages a day. When Pink Floyd goes on tour again, the volume of message will at least double, and probably triple. With traffic already so high, we try to avoid certain topics that we've found do more harm than good. Talking about these topics on Echoes is extremely discouraged, and can lead to your removal from the Echoes mailing list. "Taboo" topics include:
*Apologies for the strictness of this description, but it seems to help avoid trouble if folks know all this in advance.*
If you are interested in joining Echoes, mail to
with the following message:
help
quit
This will send you subscription information.
Who runs Echoes?
Echoes is maintained by bear (bear@fawnya.meddle.org), he makes sure mail gets out, subscriptions are properly handled, the daily digests are sent out on time and much much more. However, the content of Echoes is the responsibility of all people who are subscribed to Echoes.
Subscription-stuff
Here is information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe, how to post, and how to get in touch with bear, the list administrator. If you join Echoes, it might be a good idea to print this section out and keep it handy, in case you forget one of the addresses, etc.
"echoserv" is a mail-based list processor. It will read your message, one line at a time, and respond to each command. The subject line is irrelevant. All commands should be lowercase, and left-justified (even though they're indented here, just to confuse you ;)
If you must include a .sig file at the end of your message, you should use the "quit" command at the end of the list of commands, before your .sig, to make sure echoserv knows when to stop parsing.
So, to subscribe, use the following commands:
For realtime mode:
add-realtime echoes
quit
For digest mode:
add echoes
quit
And, if you want both:
add-realtime echoes
add echoes
quit
With the commands:
delete echoes
quit
Again, mail to
To change from realtime to digest, you would say:
delete echoes
add echoes
quit
Or, to go from digest to realtime, it would be:
delete echoes
add-realtime echoes
quit
You will, unfortunately, be sent all the subscription material (like this document) again when you switch. (But see the next item).
re-subscribe-realtime echoes
re-subscribe-digest echoes
resubscribe you to Echoes, but without sending the subscription info. Those commands are as of yet undocumented, so use at your own risk.
This will immediately broadcast your message to all realtime subscribers (including yourself, if you are on realtime). At the end of the day, or if the collected amount of posts exceeds a threshold, all the posts sent to Echoes so far are grouped together and mailed out to digest subscribers as one large file.
Please observe the posting guidelines. In addition, please don't ever post lines beginning with the string "From " or the ~ character; these cause problems.
echoes-request@fawnya.meddle.org
If you find the echoserv subscribing/unsubscribing commands too confusing or hard to remember, you can use this address for these functions as well. Just realize that response won't be as instantaneous as with echoserv.
Managing and maintaining a mailing list is a lot of work. To ease this burden bear has written a server program to take over the tasks that can easily be automated.
In addition to handling Echoes subscription routines, echoserv has stored, and can send you on request, back issues of the Echoes digest and assorted other files of interest. At this point, these files are divided into several different databases. Each database contains its own distinct set of files. Think of them as different directories.
All commands to echoserv should be lowercase and left- justified, with the "quit" command included (if necessary) at the end of the message, before any .sig
For a complete "manual" for echoserv, beyond what is covered here, use the command "help". That is, send an e-mail to echoserv@fawnya.meddle.org with the word "help" (without the quotes) lowercase and left-justified in the body.
To obtain a list of available files, mail to echoserv
and use the "filelist" command:
filelist <database>
where <database> should be replaced with the name of the directory you'd like a listing of. Valid values are listed below. Do *not* enter the word "<database>." This will cause an error and just send your mail back to you, as there's no database called "<database>."
As of April 1999 the current databases are:
| echoes | Echoes digest archives of the current Volume, the FAQ list, and other miscellaneous Echoes files |
| echoes-volX | Archives of Volume X of the Echoes digest (where X is a number between 1 and 7) |
| echoes-tour | Info on the current Roger Waters tour, including dates and sets, as well as info on the 1994 tour. |
| roio | The main RoIO CD database |
| roio-lp | Database of vinyl RoIO | rolo | Normal catalog items, including rarities |
| pc-code | Programs for a PC |
| sun4-code | Programs for a Sun | mac-code | Programs for Macs | eclipse | Archives from the old Eclipse mailing list | misc | Stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else | publius | Information on Publius |
NOTE: At this time (June 1999) the echoserv program is on the fritz. bear is working on getting it all fixed. If the above commands do not work as promised, this might be because of that.
Requests for other issues are constructed in the obvious manner.
filelist eclipse
If you know the specific date you want, you can get the file directly, as the date is part of the name:
send eclipsed.30aug90 eclipse
send eclipsed.01feg91 eclipse
NOTE: The filename has eclipse in the past tense (i.e. "eclipsed")
echoes.faq.1 (this document)
echoes.faq.2
echoes.faq.3
echoes.faq.4
echoes.faq.4
echoes.faq.5
echoes.faq.6
echoes.faq.7
echoes.faq.8
echoes.faq.9
echoes.faq.10
So, to get Part 2, you would use the command
send echoes.faq.2 echoes
03 : Frequently Asked Questions about the FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about the FAQ
Where did this FAQ list come from?
In early 1991, David Schuetz began to tire of seeing the same questions appearing in public forums. In late April, the FAQ was formally begun, and it was his "baby" for nearly three years. In those years, it grew from just a few pages to more than 60! In late 1993, it became apparent that David just didn't have the time to work on it anymore (for reasons far too numerous to mention). In early 1994, David published the final version of the FAQ that he'd be responsible for (version 2.9).
Then bear (h.w. neff, the administrator of the Echoes mailing list) ran it for several months, before passing it on to Matt, who continued to maintain and expand the FAQ, almost doubling it in size (version 3.6 was 116 pages long). After august 1995 (the date on which 3.6 was released) things quieted down drastically on the Floydian front and the need for an updated FAQ lessened. However as time went on, the call for an updated FAQ grew, and Matt announced that he would either have a version ready by the end of 1998 or pass on the torch to someone willing to take over.
In 1999 a group of people talked with Matt and bear and volunteered to take over the torch. Sadly all the notes Matt compiled between 1995 and 1999 are lost. In March 1999 work on the new FAQ started, at which point the FAQ was largely rewritten, rearranged, enhanced and improved.
The first draft of the version 4 FAQ was written by Gerhard den Hollander, after that the draft was fact-checked, enhanced, augmented, spell checked, and grammar checked by Dave Ward with help from Rick Karhu. Additional help came from Michael McInnis and Patrick Keller. The background graphic for the html version was designed by Dave Ward.
While we assume that members of the band have read the FAQ we have never had any evidence that they have done so.
Changes
So what has changed between version 3.6 and 4.0?
A lot, way too much to mention. One of the first things we all agreed on was that the FAQ should be organized much more chronologically. The second thing was that the four sections had grown too big and should be split up into smaller sections. Items and sections you were familiar with in the older version of the FAQ may have been renamed, moved to another place, rewritten, or removed as a separate entry and instead applied to various other sections. This also means that the usual [-] [+] [*] markers are missing from the 4.0 issue.
Credits
We have tried our best to give credit where credit is due, and attribute all contributions to this FAQ to the right person. Unfortunately some of my notes did not include the sender (I started taking notes before I started work on the new FAQ).
Also, a lot of questions in this FAQ have been fact checked (and corrected) against my little Floyd library. Most notably I've used the books In The Flesh (Glenn Povey/Ian Russel), The Pink Floyd Encyclopedia (Vernon Fitch), Pink Floyd Through The Eyes Of (Bruno MacDonald[ed.]) and back issues of The Amazing Pudding and Brain Damage.
If you feel that your contribution to the FAQ has gone uncredited, please contact the maintainer.
Copyright Issues
This document is (c) 1999 by the FAQ-committee, and the Echoes mailing list. In this FAQ there are quotes and citations, all of which are (hopefully) properly attributed. It is our understanding that the use of these quotes falls under the "fair use" principle.
For questions on distribution please contact
This explicitly means, that you are not allowed to put this document on your web site without prior written approval of the maintainers.
If you want to put the Echoes FAQ on your web site, be aware of the following demands we will ask you before giving our approval:
Why is this FAQ not optimized for the web?
The web, while being a great source of information, suffers greatly from the misunderstanding that form is more important than content. While we could spend weeks making this FAQ hyperlinked, enhanced with cool pictures, .wav files, movie clips, dancing rabbits and an oh-so-cute background of a collage of all Pink Floyd album covers, we rather focus our attention on content than on the shitz and glitz.
Having said all that, the FAQ is written in POD (Plain Old Document)-format (see the perlpod manpages if you are curious) which allows us to easily generate html from the plain text, and allows for html-only enhancements to be maintained with the plain text, so the html versions should be just as current as the text-only version.
Our first goal is to get the content of the FAQ correct. Once we have done that, we will look into enhancing the FAQ for the web, but our main target is a text file, which can be printed out and kept under your pillow for those occasions where you suddenly wake up at night wondering what the working title for Echoes was.
What do I do if I have a comment/suggestion/correction?
Let us know! Send us e-mail at echoes-faq@fawnya.meddle.org You should receive an acknowledgement of reception within a few days.
When is the FAQ updated?
There is no definitive answer to this question, the FAQ is continuously updated, that is to say, we, the keepers of the FAQ, monitor Echoes and other sources, collect all tidbits of trivia we deem FAQ-able, combine them with all the helpful hints tips and suggestions we have received (see the section on "corrections") and use those to update our private copy of the FAQ. When we feel that we have gathered enough information to warrant a new update, we will do so.
If there are open issues, we try to resolve them before releasing the FAQ (either by discussion amongst ourselves, by asking an outside expert for his opinion or by putting the issue on Echoes) or failing that, we put a disclaimer in that particular entry or move it to the FUQ section.
What is this FUQ section?
The FUQ section is the last section of the FAQ, it is a list of Unanswered Questions (finding out what the F stands for is left as an exercise for the reader. For any minors reading this, I suggest the phrase Frustrating Unanswered Questions). The FUQ section should not be confused with the FUQ.
Other Internet Resources
Are there lists like Echoes for other bands?"
Yes, there are a great many musical mailing lists on the 'net. To get a list of them all (The List of Musical Mailing Lists), do one of the following:
There are hundreds and hundreds of web sites that are more or less Pink Floyd related. Each day new sites appear, and each day old sites disappear. Trying to keep a complete list of all www sites is undoable.
In an attempt to make some order in this chaos, Rick Karhu has organized "The Essential Pink Floyd Web Ring" (http://www.nas.com/~inkswamp/efwr/index.html) a ring that groups those Pink Floyd web sites that by content and layout are essential surfing for Pink Floyd fans.
Two web sites attempt to list all Floyd-related sites on the web. These sites are: John "ping" Hiett's Libest Spacement Monitor http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pingfloyd and Vernon Fitch' Pink Floyd archives web page http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PFArchives
Echoes has its own web site at http://www.meddle.org. This is the official location of the FAQ.
FTP sites
The main FTP-repository used to be ftp.halcyon.com. This ftp site has moved to http://www.gawth.com/~rjones
News groups
The newsgroup alt.music.pink-floyd is meant to be the newsgroup for discussing Pink Floyd and related, however it has deteriorated to the point where it is hard to find a nugget of information between the flame wars and spam. However none of us have checked out this newsgroup since 1998, hopefully things have improved since then.
The newsgroup alt.music.roger-waters is a newsgroup dedicated to discussing the work and the music of Roger Waters.
The newsgroup alt.music.syd-barrett would be a good place to discuss the Crazy Diamond himself. Unfortunately, traffic is virtually nil.
The newsgroup alt.binaries.pink-floyd is a forum for trading Floyd-related images. The posting of pictures is a little irregular and slow, and unfortunately there is lots of spam. Signal to noise ratio is disappointing but tolerable.
IRC
IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a great way to meet up with other Floyd fans and discuss various topics in a live and engaging forum. Several Pink Floyd related IRC channels (or rooms) exist, but the most popular is #pinkfloyd on Undernet. You can find out more about #pinkfloyd at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/RichM66/
Early 1999, the Undernet channel #echoesians, which was created specifically for members of the Echoes mailing list, was removed by C-Service due to a prolonged absence by its channel manager. All efforts to revive the channel have failed thus far. #echoesians may still be visited, of course, regardless of whether it is registered or not. (Registration just indicates whether the channel will be watched by a "bot" program.)
You can find out more information about accessing and participating in IRC at http://www.irchelp.org/
Music files (.mp3 .vqf .wav .ra .au)
[Thanks to Dave Ward]
.mp3, .vqf, .wav, .ra, and .au are all extensions used to indicate formats for digital audio. Music sharers, traders, and sellers "rip" a recording into digital formats like these. These digital formats may be posted in newsgroups, on websites, ftp archives, on Hotline servers (http://www.hotlinesw.com), and distributed in other ways. The distribution of digitally encoded music is highly controversial. Several websites, including some Floydian ones, have been shut down under unpleasant circumstances. Publicity for such sites can lead to their demise. If you choose to share or download digitized music files, you alone are responsible for your actions.
Some common digital audio formats: *NOTE: this list is not complete, nor does it give indepth, fulll-detailed information about the described formats*.
Files of interest
Pink Floyd fans across the Internet have amassed a fair amount of information about the band and its activities. The archives at http://ultra.gawth.com/~rjones and the echoserv mail-server are the main repositories for such files; However, several of these resources merit special note...
As a result, you can find annotated lyric files to just about all Pink Floyd and solo member albums at:
http://ultra.gawth.com/~rjones/floyd/lyrics
The most recent edition of the VocalList can be obtained by mailing to "echoserv@fawnya.meddle.org" the following, lowercase and left-justified:
mail vocallist echoes
quit
Maintained by Gerhard den Hollander
(GDenHollander@jasongeo.com)
The most recent version of the Guest Work file can be obtained by mailing to "echoserv@fawnya.meddle.org" the following:
mail guest.work echoes quit
tour.charts.94 Chart results for TDB and its singles
tour.dates.94 Up-to-date list of all '94 gigs
tour.reports.94.am Set lists for all '94 American shows
tour.reports.94.eur Sets for the European shows
tour.rumours.94 Facts and rumours about Pink Floyd in '94
tour.stats.94 Tour statistics so far in '94
These can be accessed through the "echoes-tour" database,
or online at
http://www.jasongeo.com/gerhard/echoes.of.a.trip.
The upcoming Roger Waters tour will be accessible on both sites as well as on http://waterstour.cjb.net
Pink Floyd on the Internet
While it is certainly possible that members of Pink Floyd have an e-mail address and have looked at the Internet, there has been no contact between band members and Internet-users.
Nick Mason has said in an interview that he has an AOL- account.
A couple of years ago an AOL user posted using the account roger.h20s@aol.com (h2o being dihydrogen monoxide, commonly known as water) who may or may not have been Roger Waters. However he posted only a few times to some AOL forums, and never said anything newsworthy. The account was disabled after a short time.
On Thursday 3sep1998 Nick Mason appeared in an online chat. In December 1996 Richard Wright accepted questions from fans via email and his replies were posted on the Canadian rock web site "Canoe."
Apart from these two (possibly three) occasions no band members have ever contacted other Floyd fans over the Internet. Anyone telling you different is pulling your leg (or worse).
05 : Setting Up Email Setting Up Email
General guidelines:
Since Echoes is read by a lot of people using a large variety of mail reading and writing programs, on a variety of different machines it is important that you send your e-mail in such a way that it is readable by everyone. So:
CAVEAT! If you receive an e-mail urging you to forward this e- mail to as many people/everyone you know, If you receive an e- mail with more headers than content, If you receive a chain- e-mail letter, If you receive a really funny set of jokes do NOT forward this e-mail to Echoes.
NEVER EVER do this, no matter how urgent this e-mail may seem to you, no matter how close to your heart the issue seems to be, no matter how noble the presumed cause. DO NOT DO THIS, this includes (but is certainly not limited to):
Mail client specific guidelines:
If you use vi as your editor, set your wrap margin to something between 72 and 75 (use the command :se wm=5 or :se wm=8).
If you get the message "Your message contains control characters, do you wish to send the message as quoted- printable" or something to that effect, answer no to this text.
When using Outlook, Exchange or any other MS product that works/can work in combination with MS Exchange take note of the following:
You will have to make sure to send your message as plain text, which in true Microsoft fashion can be set in 2 locations.
Somewhere under the Options menu you can set the default format for outgoing e-mail. Set this to plain-text.
All these programs come with some forms of address book (or multiple address books) in these address books you can set per-email-address options, including the outgoing e- mail format. If you have not yet made an entry for Echoes in one of these address books do so, and set the outgoing mail option to plain texts
Posting Guidelines
The following posting guidelines were agreed upon by echoes members:
Guidelines
The syntax is:
unsubscribe echoes (both lines justified to the left margin
quit in the message body)
The ZZZ-header is NOT meant as, nor should be used as, an excuse to post non-floyd related topics.
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| | | | |goodbye| | | | |
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End of echoes Digest / FAQ section 1 of 10