Alt.fan.pratchett
This article or section needs expansion. |
| Newsgroup | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Alt.fan.pratchett |
| Date(s): | January 30 1992- |
| Moderator: | |
| Type: | |
| Fandom: | Discworld |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Welcome to the hotel alt.fan.pratchett,Such a lovely plot, a pedantic lot.
Plenty of room at the hotel alt.fan.pratchett
Any time of year, there are weirdos here!a filk song to the tune of “Hotel California”. Written by Gid Holyoake [1]
Alt.fan.pratchett is a usenet group created on January 30, 1992. It was one of the first Terry Pratchett and Discworld mailing lists created. The usenet group helped create and popularize many fandom activities and jokes in the Discworld fandom.
Timeline
- The AFP Timelines (full collection)
Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett joined the usenet group and was known to interact with fans on the group. He even wrote one AFP member into the novel Maskerade.
(For context, when Collette first met Terry Pratchett she was wearing Discworld themed earrings.)
On 31st December 1994, completely out of the blue, I got an email from Terry [Pratchett]. In it he said he was doing the polishing draft of Maskerade and which of the following two characters would I like to be called Colette -- the make-up girl at the Opera House, or one of the 'young ladies' at Mrs. Palm's and that mention might be made of her interesting earrings. When I had picked myself up off the floor, and being the mischievous soul that I am, I wrote back to Terry and asked if Colette could be one of the 'young ladies' at Mrs. Palm's, explaining that I felt that such a 'young lady' would be much more likely not only to wear interesting earrings, but also to receive lots of marriage proposals from men she hardly knew. When I got my copy of Maskerade signed, Terry wrote in it 'What's a nice girl like you doing in a book like this?' -- a dedication in the same league as that which he wrote when he signed my Discworld game booklet, which was 'To Colette, Will you marry me?'Collette Reap [2]
Fanfiction
As a general rule, fans were not permitted to post fanfiction to alt.fan.pratchett to avoid potential issues of influencing or claiming to have influenced Pratchett's actual writing (as he was in the newsgroup).[3]
Filk
AFP is also notable for the number of filk created by members. The filk would not just be about Discworld and Terry Pratchett but also about the usenet group and its members [4].
AFProposals
A common activity on the usenet group was proposals to other members. Proposals became so popular that the term AFProposal was used to refer to proposals on the group and the acronym WYMM? (Will you marry me?). There were many variants such as WYMMF? (Will you marry my friend?). The term “AFPoligamy” was also used, presumably in reference to someone with multiple proposals.
And it's another first for a.f.p. as none other than the legendary Rocky Frisco goes on record as being the first person to propose marriage to another member of the newsgroup.
One of the more unusual traditions of afp is the marriage proposal. Originally, the first proposal came from a lad impressed by the sense of humour of one of the female posters, and was regretfully declined by its recipient on the grounds that she was already married, although this was felt by onlookers to be insufficient reason. However, this has since evolved into a tendency to make such proposals to any (apparently) female poster, especially if she is to mention that she hasn't thus far received one. In order that no-one should be deprived, certain regular posters now propose to just about everyone. As the proposals are seen as a form of friendly greeting, no-one expects the proposee to say 'yes'...This in turn has spawned a series of challenges to duels between afpers who have proposed to the same person. One duel has actually taken place - fortunately for the participants, the weapons used only fired foam rods.
lspace.org
lspace.org is a website created by AFP members Leo Breebaart, Robert Collier and Mike Kew in 1995. The website was created as a way to archive fan works on the usenet group, such as the Annotated Pratchett Files and the Pratchett quote file, as well as to be a hub for information surrounding Terry Pratchett, Discworld, and the online fandom.[5]
Mike "a.f.p.announce" Knell, Robert "L-Space Web" Collier, and Leo "Pratchett Archives" Breebaart announce the new Internet domain lspace.org, intended to unite all Pratchett-related resources on the Internet under one roof.Leo Breebaart on lspace.org.[5]
FAQs
AFPCode
Projects & Communities
- The AFP Recipe Archives (alt link), The AFP Recipe Archive FAQ
- AFP Madrigal Society
- Annotated Pratchett Files
- Pratchett Quote File
Other Activities/Contributions
Some of AFP’s other contributions include:
- The first Discworld convention
- The creation of the term ‘Merkin’
- The rules for Cripple Mr Onion
- The Discworld Emporium
Miscellaneous
Meets
References
- ^ Gid Holyoake hotel alt.fan.pratchett (retrieved July 1, 2024)
- ^ Collette Reap Maskerade (retrieved July 1, 2024)
- ^ The Laws and Ordinances of alt.books/fan.pratchett, or Pratchett Newsgroup Frequently Asked Questions (June 2002)
- ^ lspace.org Filks : Index by Type (retrieved June 28, 2024)
- ^ a b c Leo Breebaart The original AFP Timeline (Retrieved June 22 and 28, 2024)
- ^ Collette Reap How to Cope With alt.fan.pratchett via wayback machine (archived July 6, 1997)