Mark Baum's Tagline Collection FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions Last updated 1/16/96 (c) Mark Baum Contents of this FAQ: * - Indicates New or Updated information [0] - About the FAQ: [0.1]* Latest changes & additions [0.2]* The scope of this FAQ [1] - About Mark Baum's Tagline Collection: [1.1]* What is the MBTC? [1.2]* Tagline order [1.3]* Tagline screening [1.4]* Tagline sources [2] - About the tagline acquisition/compilation tools: [2.1]* The MBTC archive generator [2.2]* Other utilities used. [2.3] Companion programs [2.3.1] OLXTAGS.BAS [2.4]* Future projects [3] - Distribution notes: [3.1] Contents of the MBTC archive [3.2]* Distribution sites [3.3]* Contacting the Collector [4] - Flotsam & jetsam: [4.1]* Recommended programs [4.1.1]* QuikSort [4.1.2]* Tag-X Pro [4.1.3]* Norton Editor [4.2]* Special thanks [0] - About This FAQ [0.1]* Latest changes & additions. Due to the rushed release of the debut tagline collection (MBTC9601.ZIP) I have found ample time to polish up some of the many inconsistencies which may have plagued the previous release. The previous MBTC-FAQ.TXT (from now on, all references to this file will be referred to as FAQ) was hastily assembled with no clear order whatsoever due to last minute bugs in the MBTC Generator (see [2.1]). It was basically a "down to Earth" Q&A file. However I've changed that. There is now a table of contents which will allow you to quickly find information pertaining to a specific topic. As well, by simply glancing at the table of contents you'll quickly find which parts were updated and which were not. Speaking of updated information, I have greatly expanded the scope of this FAQ as well as expanded (or, in this case, expounded on) several topics. So this FAQ will be approximately 2.5 times larger than the FAQ included with the debut release of the MBTC. So most of the information in this FAQ has been updated accordingly. Also, the previous release of the FAQ was composed in record time using Norton Editor instead of a word processor. This meant that the previous FAQ may have been plagued by spelling mistakes or other formatting errors. All of this means the FAQ will have a more professional appearance. I hope you enjoy reading this "new and improved" FAQ as much as I have in writing it. Hopefully it will answer some of the questions you may have regarding my Tagline Collection. [0.2]* The Scope of this FAQ This FAQ will cover any questions you may have about the MBTC. Also, I set aside some space in the FAQ to cover my recommendations for the best software I ever used in my tagline collection activities. Questions about running BASIC, A86, Norton Editor, QuikSort, Tag-X Pro and other programs which are not shipped with the MBTC are beyond the scope of this FAQ. [1] - About Mark Baum's Tagline Collection [1.1]* What is the MBTC? Mark Baum's Tagline Collection (this will be referred to as MBTC for the remainder of this FAQ) is a collection of taglines for use with offline mail readers. It is published monthly featuring the best taglines which I may have run across. Unlike many other tagline lists out there this list presents the taglines in a unique fashion. Instead of being sorted I've gone out of my way to randomize the order (refer to [1.2]) as well as filter out most "risque" taglines and duplicates (see [1.3]). This gives this file a unique look and feel as well as instilling the user who obtains it with the full knowledge that he is getting a quality tagline list which won't get him/her booted off of a network. [1.2]* Tagline order This tagline file has not been sorted. That doesn't mean that the taglines contained within the MBTC are in the order they were submitted. I've gone out of my way to do something completely different to this Tagline Collection. All tagline files which I have seen released are always sorted. So instead of me sorting the file after it had most of the duplicate and possibly vulgar taglines removed I created a small subprogram which will go through the file and "shuffle" the taglines one by one until anarchy resulted. As an unforeseen benefit, if you decided to use the MBTC as your main tagline file and want a completely random tagline appended to the end of your message, just change your tagline function to sequential mode. This ensures that you won't get the occasional duplicate tagline which happens with some offline mail readers' "Random Tagline" functions. [1.3]* Tagline screening. As this collection grows in size the possibility of near-duplicates being found increases. Also I do my best to screen out any vulgar taglines where possible...but I won't say that 100% of such taglines have been removed. This tagline collection is scrutinized by a program I've written to help clean up the file by removing such taglines where possible and it is always in a constant state of improvement (see [2.1]). Yes, all exact and some near-duplicate taglines are removed and most but not all vulgar taglines are removed. All submitted taglines get screened and/or modified to "standardize" the Collection. This involves standardizing display codes (ex: converting pseudo-ANSI strings to real ANSI strings), removal of tagline manager specific codes (ex: the leading "... " strings) as well as filter out any duplicate or "network offensive" taglines. Fortunately, the only human intervention on my part is to simply prepare any newly-acquired taglines for importing into the master list of taglines and to run the software which handles all of this dirty work before uploading the resulting archive to the BBSes I call (see [3.2]). [1.4]* Tagline sources Most of the taglines in this Collection have been routinely stolen from various BBSes, networks and the Internet. Some have even been submitted by other tagline thieves who wish to further the expansion of this Collection. These sources include the Taglines conference on Wildnet, the Taglines conference on FidoNet, various joke/humor conferences (networked and otherwise), various tagline files and any taglines I can gleam from the Internet. [2] - About the tagline acquisition/compilation tools: [2.1]* The MBTC archive generator This whole Tagline Collection archive is generated using QuickBASIC v4.5 (with some portions hand-tuned in A86) in which I wrote the software which handles all of the mundane aspects of its creation...and for a good reason. It all comes down to whether human intervention is feasible. For example, me sitting down and reading each individual tagline. With the size of this file, that task would be rather inefficient. By using a program to automate the process of removing such taglines it saves plenty of time on my part and allows for each release to seem more consistent. But the computer isn't human. You have to tell it exactly what to look for. And I mean exactly. I don't have the time to create a context-based tagline filtering system. But by looking for small phrases and words which may sound a little suggestive it can help reduce the risk. As for some near-duplicate tags which are different because of misspellings I pray to the gawds to find a spell checker which doesn't require human intervention. I'm sure that there may be a few out there by now so time will only tell until I implement such a program. As for the MBTC Generator itself I do not plan on making it available to any individual...or the public for that matter. It is always in a state of flux and I'm always adding something new to it to either make it more efficient or to just do a better job at keeping the MBTC clean. [2.2]* Other utilities used In order for the duplicate removal routines to be very successful I had to resort to using a very fast file sorting program which is indeed very flexible but has an interface which would scare many users to death because A) it is a DOS program and B) it has a command line parameter set which actually REQUIRES you to read the accompanying manual. This program is called "QuikSort" which was designed and released as a shareware program by a small company by the name of "Omniware" (see [4.1.1]). The reason that I chose to use this program is because it can sort very quickly and can handle any proprietary database format as long as you know how the fields are organized. And, with the size of the temporary file generated with the MBTC generator in the duplicate deletion phase, I didn't have time to code anything nearly as fast or as optimized as QuikSort. Since the generator relies on this program during that phase, it would be rather foolish of me to release the MBTC generator requiring such a program. [2.3] Companion programs [2.3.1] OLXTAGS.BAS Included with this tagline collection is a small BASIC program which goes through a tagline file and extracts taglines which are 57 or less characters long from my Tagline Collection. To run this program load a BASIC interpreter (common ones are BASICA, GWBASIC and QBASIC). Load "OLXTAGS.BAS" into memory and RUN the program. The program will display a small file list showing what "*.LST" files are in the current directory. Enter in the name of the tagline file you wish to extract the taglines from (make sure you include the ".LST" extension) and the program will go through the file searching for the taglines and add what it finds to "TAGLINES.OLX". When completed it will exit to DOS. Be patient! The program isn't the fastest in the world under QBASIC or GWBASIC but it does get the job done. For users of SLMR, rename the newly generated TAGLINES.OLX file to TAGLINES.MR. [2.4]* Future projects Now and then during the process of maintaining the MBTC and the MBTC generator I tend to code something which could prove to be useful to other users or just because someone requested it. I plan on releasing the "tagline file randomizer" portion of code under the guise of "Simple, HiDeOuS Tagline Randomizer" (or "SHiTR", for short) in about a week after this Tagline Collection is released upon the world. Also, if I feel that the MBTC Generator is near-perfection I may just go back to working on my other pet project known as FlexText. It is a collection of routines for QuickBASIC which allow for efficient and professional-looking text-based screen handling. So far it can draw boxes, create windows, save portions of the screen as string variables plus some other useful functions. Plus, and I have tested this, because they write and read directly from screen memory, they are much faster than the tools QuickBASIC provides. It even includes BIOS and Windows compatibility modes. You don't even want to see how much code I packed into FlexText for the three years it has been residing on my hard drive. [3] - Distribution notes: [3.1] Contents of the MBTC archive Here is a list of all the files which comprise the complete MBTC archive: DESC.SDI - Short BBS description of this release. FILE_ID.DIZ - Long BBS description of this release. MBTCyymm.LST - Mark Baum's Tagline Collection (where "yy" and "mm" indicates the year and month of release respectively) MBTC-FAQ.TXT - The FAQ file your are reading right now. OLXTAGS.BAS - A small BASIC program which extracts the taglines which are 57 or less characters long and creates a TAGLINES.OLX file for use with SLMR or OLX. Any other files which aren't mentioned on this list are not officially a part of this release. [3.2]* Distribution sites You may download my latest Tagline Collection from the following BBSes: Metropitt BBS (412) 487-9223 28.8k Software Creations BBS (508) 368-4137 28.8k The Dead Leeeeeeeech Society (614) 899-7839 14.4k Brinkman's Hollow (717) 689-3123 28.8k The magic filename is "MBTCyymm.ZIP"...where "yy" and "mm" indicates the release year and month of the tagline file. The latest version is always uploaded a few days before the first of the next month to these BBSes to allow for the new release to be downloaded and spread to other BBSes. Please note that I have no say as to how these BBSes operate. If you are a new user to any of these BBSes please make a note as to what is required for access. Read the rules and bulletins which these BBSes supply. [3.3]* Contacting the Collector If you have any questions, comments or taglines to share, you may leave me a private on any of the BBSes above or send Internet E-mail to "mark.baum@metropit.com". Make sure that you have the Subject of the message as "Taglines" so that it catches my eye. The previous address, "tag.guru@ix.netcom.com" will be disconnected soon as I change Internet providers once again. So don't send any mail to that address or it will be bounced. Also, you may participate in the WildNet Taglines conference which I have the honour of moderating. To find the nearest BBS which offers WildNet please call Brinkman's Hollow and download the latest WildNet nodelist. I will NOT accept Fido Netmail due to excessive lag time. [4] - Flotsam & jetsam [4.1]* Recommended programs This is the official "plug" section of the FAQ. For those who are looking for utilities that can enhance their tagline lists, I'll offer a few suggestions. If I run across something useful, I'll upload it to the official MBTC distribution sites (see [3.2]). And likewise, if you find something useful, let me know! I may use it and if it is truly useful I'll devote some space for it. [4.1.1]* QuikSort For those who wish to sort this Tagline Collection or any other tagline file, I must give the nod to Omniware's QuikSort program. This is _the_ file sorting program to have. It requires a minimum of 64K of memory, is extremely fast and can sort files of UNLIMITED length. Also, it has the ability to sort Btrieve and dBase files. In fact, if you compare how fast "QuikSort" sorts this file to the sort function in OLX, you'll swear off using OLX's tagline sort function FOREVER! If the file is big enough, OLX will take about a few hours to sort it. [4.1.2]* Tag-X Pro Also, I heard a lot of great reviews of Tag-X Pro. I haven't used it personally but I might as well recommend that program as well just from the reception from the users. [4.1.3]* Norton Editor For text editors I simply love Norton Editor. It may not be as fancy as any other text editor but it has all the features any user may need. It too can handle unlimited file sizes, allows customized tab stops and line length...including word wrap, and also has a simple split-screen mode which allows you to work on two files at once and a Spartan set of help screens. Unfortunately, since this an OLD program, its display mode is hard-coded in 25 lines by 80 columns. Since this program was distributed with an old version of the Norton Utilities I don't know whether it is now officially in the public domain or still considered as commercial software not intended for unauthorized duplication except for backup and/or archival purposes. All I do know is that it hasn't been distributed with Norton Utilities v4.5x and up. If you find this program, grab it immediately! Even for an old program it beats the pants off of Microsoft's version of EDIT, MSI's OLXED, OLX v1.x's internal editor...or any other editor that I know of and have used before getting hooked to Norton Editor. [4.2]* Special Thanks I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people who have been there behind the scenes and out in front center who helped make this small project a reality...as well as those who always have been there: Marlyn Bumpus & Lori Smith: The two major driving forces that helped make the WildNet Taglines conference a reality. Patrick Long: The esteemed moderator of WildNet Groaners and self- confessed tagline thief. Jim Powers & Jimm Crawford: Two of the best sysops I have ever met. Thanks Jim for putting back in my place numerous times and to Jimm for letting me "steal" his tagline file. Slave Pit Inc.: Mike Bonner, Dave Brockie, Mike Derks, Don Drakulich, Bob Gorman, Ethan Isenberg, Hunter Jackson, Scott Krahl, Pete Lee, Matt McGuire, Dave Musel, Charlie O'Donovan, Casey Orr, Brad Roberts, Danielle Stampe & Chuck Varga. Thanks for the photo opportunities and for doing unspeakable things to me backstage as a form of payment for such a privilege. [END OF FAQ]