Version: 1.0
 
 
Welcome to alt.folklore.suburban!
 
1) What is the charter of alt.folklore.suburban?
 
    Alt.folklore.suburban is a moderated newsgroup in the alt.* 
hierarchy
    dedicated to serious discussion of urban legends.  It is intended 
as a low-
    volume, high-signal repository for discussion of urban legends.  
While many
    urban legends are collected, in detail, in the works of Professor 
Jan
    Harold Brunvand (see below), there are those who wish to discuss 
variants,
    local "spins", people who refuse to accept them as urban legends, 
and other
    aspects of the urban legend phenomenon.  Jokes, test postings, 
insults,
    attacks, ads, and other non-urban-legend-related material is off-
charter.
 
2) Who is the moderator of alt.folklore.suburban?
 
    The moderator of alt.folklore.suburban is Joel Furr 
(jfurr@acpub.duke.edu).
 
    You can submit articles to the group either by mailing them 
directly or by
    posting to the group and letting your site's news software forward 
the
    articles on to the moderator.  The latter is preferred as it 
preserves
    important header information.
 
3) Why is the group named alt.folklore.suburban?
 
    Alt.folklore.suburban was originally proposed as 
'alt.folklore.urban.-
    moderated'... a moderated counterpart to alt.folklore.urban.
 
    Alt.folklore.urban itself is often a very, very noisy group where 
actual
    discussion of urban legends sometimes seems to take a back seat to 
silly
    jokes, long posts about alt.folklore.urban common stock being 
floated on
    the New York Stock Exchange, taunts and attacks, and in general, 
noise.
 
    However, the name alt.folklore.urban.moderated got a lot of flames 
from
    clueless people who confusedly thought that the proposal was for
    alt.folklore.urban itself to be removed and replaced by the new 
alt.-
    folklore.urban.moderated newsgroup.  Since every iteration of 
proposals for
    a.f.u.m got more flames from people who didn't take the time to 
read the
    proposal in detail, the proposal was dropped for a while until a 
better
    name could be found.
 
    On April Fool's Day, 1994, someone jokingly proposed that a 
newsgroup
    called 'alt.folklore.suburban' be created to discuss lawns, 
swimming pools,
    and so forth.  Joke though it was, a.f.s's creator, Joel Furr, 
thought the
    name had some charm and appropriated it in place of 
alt.folklore.urban.
 
    If you want a rationale for the name, think of alt.folklore.-
suburban as
    alt.folklore.SUB-urban, a subset of the scope and thrust of
    alt.folklore.urban.  Just the facts, ma'am, and none of that loud 
noise.
 
4) Why was a moderated counterpart to alt.folklore.urban necessary?
 
    Nothing is _necessary_.  But in actual point of fact, there are 
now two
    moderated counterparts to alt.folklore.urban:  alt.folklore.info, 
moderated
    by Terry Wood, and alt.folklore.suburban, moderated by Joel Furr.  
Both
    were created by individuals who found that no matter how hard they 
tried,
    they could no longer keep up with more than a fraction of the 
traffic in
    alt.folklore.urban.  The volume of messages per day was simply too 
great.
    By creating moderated counterparts, it was hoped that those people 
who had
    actual urban legends to post would go there or spend some time 
there.
    Alt.folklore.info doesn't get many posts -- this is partly because 
its
    moderator, didn't do much to encourage subscribers to post, and 
partly
    because alt.folklore.suburban, which came along later, gets most 
of the
    submissions that go to a moderated urban legends group these days.
 
5) What's the moderation policy for alt.folklore.suburban?
 
    The moderator reserves the right to reject posts which contain no 
urban
    legend related content.  Insults, test postings, ads, attacks, and 
posts
    that are mainly jokes, among others, qualify for rejection.  In 
actual
    practice, however, very few posts are rejected, and for the most 
part,
    these are rejected because they are providing the same answer as 
an
    approved post.  Example: some guy asks a question, ten people 
follow up
    with the answer.  Only one of the replies is approved, since the 
other 9
    said the same answer.
 
    STUFF THAT WILL BE EDITED OUT BY THE MODERATOR (PLEASE READ):
 
    The moderator reserves the right to trim or eliminate .signatures, 
exces-
    sive quoting, and crossposted newsgroups.  Since the inhabitants 
of alt.-
    folklore.urban usually respond with incredible rage any time an 
article is
    crossposted to alt.folklore.suburban AND alt.folklore.urban (they 
see it as
    deliberate 'pollution' by the moderator of alt.folklore.suburban), 
from
    this point forward, all crossposting to groups other than 
alt.folklore.-
    suburban will be eliminated prior to posting.  If you do not like 
this
    policy, please submit your articles elsewhere or submit an article 
to
    alt.folklore.suburban without crossposting and submit another 
copy, with
    all the other newsgroups, to those newsgroups.
 
    Repeat: Articles submitted to alt.folklore.suburban with 
crossposting to
    other newsgroups will have the other newsgroups removed by the 
moderator
    prior to posting.
 
6) Where should I go for a canonical list of urban legends?
 
    As you'll have noted, this 'FAQ' does not list common urban 
legends.  This
    is partly because there are many excellent books on the subject 
(see below)
    and partly because the alt.folklore.urban FAQ, maintained by Terry 
Chan,
    lists almost all of the well-known legends and many of the not-so-
well-
    known legends.
 
    For books on the subject, see Professor Jan Harold Brunvand's 
popular
    books, _The Vanishing Hitchhiker_, _The Choking Doberman_, _The 
Mexican
    Pet_, _Curses, Broiled Again_, and _The Baby Train_, which are 
available at
    most public libraries and at many bookstores.