• [rec.humor.oracle] Intro to the Usenet Oracle (Monthly Posting)

    From oracle-request@internetoracle.org@21:1/5 to All on Wed Sep 2 03:50:03 2015
    XPost: rec.answers, news.answers

    Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
    Posting-Frequency: monthly
    Last-modified: 10849 Jul 9
    URL: http://internetoracle.org/ftp/help

    "Know thyself." "The folly of mistaking a paradox
    -- Delphic Oracle, for a discovery, a metaphor for a
    8th century BC proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
    spring of capital truths, and
    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
    us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


    THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

    also known as
    The Usenet Oracle (TM)

    The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
    mail them to:
    oracle@internetoracle.org

    The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
    please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
    "tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
    the mail should contain only your question. Alternately, you may mail
    your question to <tellme@internetoracle.org> and the "Subject:" line
    won't matter. You should receive a reply within a few days at most,
    probably much sooner.

    In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
    as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
    You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
    Mail the response to <oracle@internetoracle.org>, preserving the message's "Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail through the normal means in your mail program. Actually, the subject
    just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
    in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
    don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
    a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
    will be answered by someone else first.

    Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will
    get you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.
    If you mail the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the
    subject, the Oracle will send you a question to answer, if there are
    any available. Alternately, you may mail to <help@internetoracle.org>
    and <askme@internetoracle.org>.

    Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome. Please address them to <oracle-people@internetoracle.org>.

    ETIQUETTE

    The Internet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
    creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
    there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
    among its participants.

    A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
    same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
    a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
    that the answerer did not do it justice.

    If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
    are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
    to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
    doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
    down the Oracle's response time for everyone.

    You may wish to read some issues of the Internet Oracularities (see below)
    to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
    and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
    Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
    Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
    Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
    of the Oracle:

    - Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
    the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
    often to surprising success.

    - Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
    as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
    questions.

    - Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
    Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
    published in the Internet Oracularities (see below) since it must
    really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
    tens of thousands of people.

    - In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
    People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
    world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
    fact that children may be using the Oracle.

    - Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
    have asked serious questions.

    - Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
    An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
    in the answer. Consider it a challenge!

    THE INTERNET ORACULARITIES

    The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
    questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the best
    ones can be selected for the Internet Oracularities -- the chronicle
    of the mythos of the Internet Oracle. Your use of this program implies
    your approval of this usage. The Internet Oracularities are regularly published via postings to rec.humor.oracle, the World Wide Web and a
    mail distribution list, as well as occasionally via other media.

    Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup, and doesn't accept postings. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and anyone may post to it. It is a
    public forum for discussion and questions about the Oracle. If your
    system doesn't carry these newsgroups, encourage your news administrator
    to do so!

    Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
    Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
    to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle. Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
    each issue.

    If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
    the Oracularities via mail, send mail to

    request@internetoracle.org

    to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the
    word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
    Alternately, you may mail to <subscribe@internetoracle.org> and <unsubscribe@internetoracle.org>.

    You can access The Internet Oracle Resource Index at

    http://internetoracle.org/

    This index has just about everything to do with the Oracle, including
    more FAQ documents about the Oracle, the latest Oracularities digests with voting enabled via your web browser, complete access to the Oracularities archives with search capability, etc. You can even submit questions to
    the Oracle here.

    Raw back postings and ratings are available online at
    http://internetoracle.org/ftp/

    ANONYMITY

    The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
    may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
    from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
    you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
    name and/or address here>".

    DISCLAIMER

    Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
    the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
    of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
    its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
    always be suitable for children.

    HISTORY

    Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
    have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
    Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
    Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
    It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
    that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
    as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.

    With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now recognize another great Oracle, the Internet Oracle.

    Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
    Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's <psl@acm.org> seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
    at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games" distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
    Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar <huttar@occs.oberlin.edu> used a description of this program to write
    his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
    This program inspired the Internet Oracle.

    Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>, a systems administrator and
    graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

    Ray Moody <rmoody@gs1.cinti.net>, a graduate student at Purdue University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
    for net-wide use, where it proved to be an immediate success. On 12
    March 1996, it was renamed as the Internet Oracle.

    Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
    -- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon Monsarrat <jgm@cs.brown.edu> and Randal Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
    also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan <nolan@tssi.com> carried through the newsgroup creation process for
    the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups. Scott Panzer <stenor@bayarea.net>
    and David Sewell <david-sewell@ns.arizona.edu> developed the Oracle's
    presence on the World Wide Web via the Internet Oracle Resource Index.

    Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
    have created the personality, mythos and history of the Internet Oracle.
    Long live the Internet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
    Last Revised: 6 July 2014 steve@kinzler.com
    http://kinzler.com/me/

    Thanks to Joshua R Poulson <jrp@pun.org> and Jim Cheetham <wumpus@business.co.uk> for assistance with portions of this document.

    "Internet Oracle" and "Usenet Oracle" are trademarks of Stephen B Kinzler.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From oracle-request@internetoracle.org@21:1/5 to All on Fri Oct 2 03:50:03 2015
    XPost: rec.answers, news.answers

    Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
    Posting-Frequency: monthly
    Last-modified: 10849 Jul 9
    URL: http://internetoracle.org/ftp/help

    "Know thyself." "The folly of mistaking a paradox
    -- Delphic Oracle, for a discovery, a metaphor for a
    8th century BC proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
    spring of capital truths, and
    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
    us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


    THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

    also known as
    The Usenet Oracle (TM)

    The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
    mail them to:
    oracle@internetoracle.org

    The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
    please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
    "tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
    the mail should contain only your question. Alternately, you may mail
    your question to <tellme@internetoracle.org> and the "Subject:" line
    won't matter. You should receive a reply within a few days at most,
    probably much sooner.

    In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
    as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
    You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
    Mail the response to <oracle@internetoracle.org>, preserving the message's "Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail through the normal means in your mail program. Actually, the subject
    just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
    in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
    don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
    a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
    will be answered by someone else first.

    Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will
    get you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.
    If you mail the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the
    subject, the Oracle will send you a question to answer, if there are
    any available. Alternately, you may mail to <help@internetoracle.org>
    and <askme@internetoracle.org>.

    Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome. Please address them to <oracle-people@internetoracle.org>.

    ETIQUETTE

    The Internet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
    creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
    there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
    among its participants.

    A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
    same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
    a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
    that the answerer did not do it justice.

    If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
    are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
    to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
    doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
    down the Oracle's response time for everyone.

    You may wish to read some issues of the Internet Oracularities (see below)
    to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
    and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
    Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
    Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
    Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
    of the Oracle:

    - Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
    the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
    often to surprising success.

    - Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
    as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
    questions.

    - Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
    Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
    published in the Internet Oracularities (see below) since it must
    really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
    tens of thousands of people.

    - In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
    People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
    world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
    fact that children may be using the Oracle.

    - Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
    have asked serious questions.

    - Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
    An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
    in the answer. Consider it a challenge!

    THE INTERNET ORACULARITIES

    The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
    questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the best
    ones can be selected for the Internet Oracularities -- the chronicle
    of the mythos of the Internet Oracle. Your use of this program implies
    your approval of this usage. The Internet Oracularities are regularly published via postings to rec.humor.oracle, the World Wide Web and a
    mail distribution list, as well as occasionally via other media.

    Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup, and doesn't accept postings. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and anyone may post to it. It is a
    public forum for discussion and questions about the Oracle. If your
    system doesn't carry these newsgroups, encourage your news administrator
    to do so!

    Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
    Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
    to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle. Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
    each issue.

    If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
    the Oracularities via mail, send mail to

    request@internetoracle.org

    to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the
    word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
    Alternately, you may mail to <subscribe@internetoracle.org> and <unsubscribe@internetoracle.org>.

    You can access The Internet Oracle Resource Index at

    http://internetoracle.org/

    This index has just about everything to do with the Oracle, including
    more FAQ documents about the Oracle, the latest Oracularities digests with voting enabled via your web browser, complete access to the Oracularities archives with search capability, etc. You can even submit questions to
    the Oracle here.

    Raw back postings and ratings are available online at
    http://internetoracle.org/ftp/

    ANONYMITY

    The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
    may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
    from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
    you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
    name and/or address here>".

    DISCLAIMER

    Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
    the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
    of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
    its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
    always be suitable for children.

    HISTORY

    Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
    have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
    Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
    Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
    It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
    that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
    as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.

    With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now recognize another great Oracle, the Internet Oracle.

    Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
    Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's <psl@acm.org> seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
    at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games" distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
    Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar <huttar@occs.oberlin.edu> used a description of this program to write
    his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
    This program inspired the Internet Oracle.

    Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>, a systems administrator and
    graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

    Ray Moody <rmoody@gs1.cinti.net>, a graduate student at Purdue University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
    for net-wide use, where it proved to be an immediate success. On 12
    March 1996, it was renamed as the Internet Oracle.

    Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
    -- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon Monsarrat <jgm@cs.brown.edu> and Randal Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
    also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan <nolan@tssi.com> carried through the newsgroup creation process for
    the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups. Scott Panzer <stenor@bayarea.net>
    and David Sewell <david-sewell@ns.arizona.edu> developed the Oracle's
    presence on the World Wide Web via the Internet Oracle Resource Index.

    Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
    have created the personality, mythos and history of the Internet Oracle.
    Long live the Internet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
    Last Revised: 6 July 2014 steve@kinzler.com
    http://kinzler.com/me/

    Thanks to Joshua R Poulson <jrp@pun.org> and Jim Cheetham <wumpus@business.co.uk> for assistance with portions of this document.

    "Internet Oracle" and "Usenet Oracle" are trademarks of Stephen B Kinzler.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From oracle-request@internetoracle.org@21:1/5 to All on Mon Nov 2 04:50:02 2015
    XPost: rec.answers, news.answers

    Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
    Posting-Frequency: monthly
    Last-modified: 10849 Jul 9
    URL: http://internetoracle.org/ftp/help

    "Know thyself." "The folly of mistaking a paradox
    -- Delphic Oracle, for a discovery, a metaphor for a
    8th century BC proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
    spring of capital truths, and
    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
    us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


    THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

    also known as
    The Usenet Oracle (TM)

    The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
    mail them to:
    oracle@internetoracle.org

    The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
    please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
    "tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
    the mail should contain only your question. Alternately, you may mail
    your question to <tellme@internetoracle.org> and the "Subject:" line
    won't matter. You should receive a reply within a few days at most,
    probably much sooner.

    In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
    as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
    You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
    Mail the response to <oracle@internetoracle.org>, preserving the message's "Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail through the normal means in your mail program. Actually, the subject
    just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
    in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
    don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
    a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
    will be answered by someone else first.

    Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will
    get you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.
    If you mail the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the
    subject, the Oracle will send you a question to answer, if there are
    any available. Alternately, you may mail to <help@internetoracle.org>
    and <askme@internetoracle.org>.

    Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome. Please address them to <oracle-people@internetoracle.org>.

    ETIQUETTE

    The Internet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
    creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
    there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
    among its participants.

    A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
    same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
    a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
    that the answerer did not do it justice.

    If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
    are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
    to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
    doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
    down the Oracle's response time for everyone.

    You may wish to read some issues of the Internet Oracularities (see below)
    to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
    and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
    Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
    Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
    Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
    of the Oracle:

    - Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
    the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
    often to surprising success.

    - Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
    as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
    questions.

    - Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
    Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
    published in the Internet Oracularities (see below) since it must
    really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
    tens of thousands of people.

    - In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
    People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
    world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
    fact that children may be using the Oracle.

    - Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
    have asked serious questions.

    - Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
    An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
    in the answer. Consider it a challenge!

    THE INTERNET ORACULARITIES

    The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
    questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the best
    ones can be selected for the Internet Oracularities -- the chronicle
    of the mythos of the Internet Oracle. Your use of this program implies
    your approval of this usage. The Internet Oracularities are regularly published via postings to rec.humor.oracle, the World Wide Web and a
    mail distribution list, as well as occasionally via other media.

    Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup, and doesn't accept postings. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and anyone may post to it. It is a
    public forum for discussion and questions about the Oracle. If your
    system doesn't carry these newsgroups, encourage your news administrator
    to do so!

    Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
    Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
    to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle. Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
    each issue.

    If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
    the Oracularities via mail, send mail to

    request@internetoracle.org

    to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the
    word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
    Alternately, you may mail to <subscribe@internetoracle.org> and <unsubscribe@internetoracle.org>.

    You can access The Internet Oracle Resource Index at

    http://internetoracle.org/

    This index has just about everything to do with the Oracle, including
    more FAQ documents about the Oracle, the latest Oracularities digests with voting enabled via your web browser, complete access to the Oracularities archives with search capability, etc. You can even submit questions to
    the Oracle here.

    Raw back postings and ratings are available online at
    http://internetoracle.org/ftp/

    ANONYMITY

    The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
    may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
    from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
    you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
    name and/or address here>".

    DISCLAIMER

    Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
    the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
    of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
    its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
    always be suitable for children.

    HISTORY

    Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
    have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
    Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
    Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
    It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
    that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
    as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.

    With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now recognize another great Oracle, the Internet Oracle.

    Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
    Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's <psl@acm.org> seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
    at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games" distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
    Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar <huttar@occs.oberlin.edu> used a description of this program to write
    his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
    This program inspired the Internet Oracle.

    Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>, a systems administrator and
    graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

    Ray Moody <rmoody@gs1.cinti.net>, a graduate student at Purdue University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
    for net-wide use, where it proved to be an immediate success. On 12
    March 1996, it was renamed as the Internet Oracle.

    Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
    -- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon Monsarrat <jgm@cs.brown.edu> and Randal Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
    also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan <nolan@tssi.com> carried through the newsgroup creation process for
    the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups. Scott Panzer <stenor@bayarea.net>
    and David Sewell <david-sewell@ns.arizona.edu> developed the Oracle's
    presence on the World Wide Web via the Internet Oracle Resource Index.

    Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
    have created the personality, mythos and history of the Internet Oracle.
    Long live the Internet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
    Last Revised: 6 July 2014 steve@kinzler.com
    http://kinzler.com/me/

    Thanks to Joshua R Poulson <jrp@pun.org> and Jim Cheetham <wumpus@business.co.uk> for assistance with portions of this document.

    "Internet Oracle" and "Usenet Oracle" are trademarks of Stephen B Kinzler.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From oracle-request@internetoracle.org@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jan 2 04:50:02 2016
    XPost: rec.answers, news.answers

    Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
    Posting-Frequency: monthly
    Last-modified: 10849 Jul 9
    URL: http://internetoracle.org/ftp/help

    "Know thyself." "The folly of mistaking a paradox
    -- Delphic Oracle, for a discovery, a metaphor for a
    8th century BC proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
    spring of capital truths, and
    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
    us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


    THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

    also known as
    The Usenet Oracle (TM)

    The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
    mail them to:
    oracle@internetoracle.org

    The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
    please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
    "tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
    the mail should contain only your question. Alternately, you may mail
    your question to <tellme@internetoracle.org> and the "Subject:" line
    won't matter. You should receive a reply within a few days at most,
    probably much sooner.

    In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
    as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
    You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
    Mail the response to <oracle@internetoracle.org>, preserving the message's "Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail through the normal means in your mail program. Actually, the subject
    just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
    in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
    don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
    a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
    will be answered by someone else first.

    Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will
    get you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.
    If you mail the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the
    subject, the Oracle will send you a question to answer, if there are
    any available. Alternately, you may mail to <help@internetoracle.org>
    and <askme@internetoracle.org>.

    Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome. Please address them to <oracle-people@internetoracle.org>.

    ETIQUETTE

    The Internet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
    creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
    there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
    among its participants.

    A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
    same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
    a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
    that the answerer did not do it justice.

    If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
    are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
    to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
    doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
    down the Oracle's response time for everyone.

    You may wish to read some issues of the Internet Oracularities (see below)
    to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
    and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
    Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
    Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
    Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
    of the Oracle:

    - Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
    the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
    often to surprising success.

    - Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
    as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
    questions.

    - Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
    Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
    published in the Internet Oracularities (see below) since it must
    really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
    tens of thousands of people.

    - In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
    People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
    world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
    fact that children may be using the Oracle.

    - Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
    have asked serious questions.

    - Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
    An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
    in the answer. Consider it a challenge!

    THE INTERNET ORACULARITIES

    The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
    questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the best
    ones can be selected for the Internet Oracularities -- the chronicle
    of the mythos of the Internet Oracle. Your use of this program implies
    your approval of this usage. The Internet Oracularities are regularly published via postings to rec.humor.oracle, the World Wide Web and a
    mail distribution list, as well as occasionally via other media.

    Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup, and doesn't accept postings. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and anyone may post to it. It is a
    public forum for discussion and questions about the Oracle. If your
    system doesn't carry these newsgroups, encourage your news administrator
    to do so!

    Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
    Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
    to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle. Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
    each issue.

    If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
    the Oracularities via mail, send mail to

    request@internetoracle.org

    to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the
    word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
    Alternately, you may mail to <subscribe@internetoracle.org> and <unsubscribe@internetoracle.org>.

    You can access The Internet Oracle Resource Index at

    http://internetoracle.org/

    This index has just about everything to do with the Oracle, including
    more FAQ documents about the Oracle, the latest Oracularities digests with voting enabled via your web browser, complete access to the Oracularities archives with search capability, etc. You can even submit questions to
    the Oracle here.

    Raw back postings and ratings are available online at
    http://internetoracle.org/ftp/

    ANONYMITY

    The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
    may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
    from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
    you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
    name and/or address here>".

    DISCLAIMER

    Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
    the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
    of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
    its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
    always be suitable for children.

    HISTORY

    Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
    have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
    Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
    Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
    It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
    that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
    as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.

    With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now recognize another great Oracle, the Internet Oracle.

    Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
    Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's <psl@acm.org> seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
    at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games" distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
    Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar <huttar@occs.oberlin.edu> used a description of this program to write
    his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
    This program inspired the Internet Oracle.

    Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>, a systems administrator and
    graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

    Ray Moody <rmoody@gs1.cinti.net>, a graduate student at Purdue University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
    for net-wide use, where it proved to be an immediate success. On 12
    March 1996, it was renamed as the Internet Oracle.

    Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
    -- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon Monsarrat <jgm@cs.brown.edu> and Randal Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
    also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan <nolan@tssi.com> carried through the newsgroup creation process for
    the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups. Scott Panzer <stenor@bayarea.net>
    and David Sewell <david-sewell@ns.arizona.edu> developed the Oracle's
    presence on the World Wide Web via the Internet Oracle Resource Index.

    Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
    have created the personality, mythos and history of the Internet Oracle.
    Long live the Internet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
    Last Revised: 6 July 2014 steve@kinzler.com
    http://kinzler.com/me/

    Thanks to Joshua R Poulson <jrp@pun.org> and Jim Cheetham <wumpus@business.co.uk> for assistance with portions of this document.

    "Internet Oracle" and "Usenet Oracle" are trademarks of Stephen B Kinzler.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From oracle-request@internetoracle.org@21:1/5 to All on Wed Dec 2 04:50:03 2015
    XPost: rec.answers, news.answers

    Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
    Posting-Frequency: monthly
    Last-modified: 10849 Jul 9
    URL: http://internetoracle.org/ftp/help

    "Know thyself." "The folly of mistaking a paradox
    -- Delphic Oracle, for a discovery, a metaphor for a
    8th century BC proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
    spring of capital truths, and
    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
    us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


    THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

    also known as
    The Usenet Oracle (TM)

    The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
    mail them to:
    oracle@internetoracle.org

    The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
    please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
    "tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
    the mail should contain only your question. Alternately, you may mail
    your question to <tellme@internetoracle.org> and the "Subject:" line
    won't matter. You should receive a reply within a few days at most,
    probably much sooner.

    In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
    as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
    You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
    Mail the response to <oracle@internetoracle.org>, preserving the message's "Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail through the normal means in your mail program. Actually, the subject
    just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
    in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
    don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
    a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
    will be answered by someone else first.

    Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will
    get you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.
    If you mail the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the
    subject, the Oracle will send you a question to answer, if there are
    any available. Alternately, you may mail to <help@internetoracle.org>
    and <askme@internetoracle.org>.

    Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome. Please address them to <oracle-people@internetoracle.org>.

    ETIQUETTE

    The Internet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
    creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
    there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
    among its participants.

    A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
    same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
    a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
    that the answerer did not do it justice.

    If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
    are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
    to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
    doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
    down the Oracle's response time for everyone.

    You may wish to read some issues of the Internet Oracularities (see below)
    to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
    and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
    Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
    Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
    Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
    of the Oracle:

    - Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
    the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
    often to surprising success.

    - Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
    as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
    questions.

    - Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
    Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
    published in the Internet Oracularities (see below) since it must
    really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
    tens of thousands of people.

    - In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
    People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
    world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
    fact that children may be using the Oracle.

    - Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
    have asked serious questions.

    - Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
    An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
    in the answer. Consider it a challenge!

    THE INTERNET ORACULARITIES

    The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
    questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the best
    ones can be selected for the Internet Oracularities -- the chronicle
    of the mythos of the Internet Oracle. Your use of this program implies
    your approval of this usage. The Internet Oracularities are regularly published via postings to rec.humor.oracle, the World Wide Web and a
    mail distribution list, as well as occasionally via other media.

    Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup, and doesn't accept postings. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and anyone may post to it. It is a
    public forum for discussion and questions about the Oracle. If your
    system doesn't carry these newsgroups, encourage your news administrator
    to do so!

    Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
    Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
    to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle. Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
    each issue.

    If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
    the Oracularities via mail, send mail to

    request@internetoracle.org

    to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the
    word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
    Alternately, you may mail to <subscribe@internetoracle.org> and <unsubscribe@internetoracle.org>.

    You can access The Internet Oracle Resource Index at

    http://internetoracle.org/

    This index has just about everything to do with the Oracle, including
    more FAQ documents about the Oracle, the latest Oracularities digests with voting enabled via your web browser, complete access to the Oracularities archives with search capability, etc. You can even submit questions to
    the Oracle here.

    Raw back postings and ratings are available online at
    http://internetoracle.org/ftp/

    ANONYMITY

    The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
    may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
    from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
    you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
    name and/or address here>".

    DISCLAIMER

    Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
    the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
    of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
    its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
    always be suitable for children.

    HISTORY

    Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
    have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
    Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
    Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
    It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
    that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
    as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.

    With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now recognize another great Oracle, the Internet Oracle.

    Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
    Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's <psl@acm.org> seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
    at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games" distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
    Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar <huttar@occs.oberlin.edu> used a description of this program to write
    his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
    This program inspired the Internet Oracle.

    Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>, a systems administrator and
    graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

    Ray Moody <rmoody@gs1.cinti.net>, a graduate student at Purdue University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
    for net-wide use, where it proved to be an immediate success. On 12
    March 1996, it was renamed as the Internet Oracle.

    Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
    -- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon Monsarrat <jgm@cs.brown.edu> and Randal Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
    also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan <nolan@tssi.com> carried through the newsgroup creation process for
    the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups. Scott Panzer <stenor@bayarea.net>
    and David Sewell <david-sewell@ns.arizona.edu> developed the Oracle's
    presence on the World Wide Web via the Internet Oracle Resource Index.

    Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
    have created the personality, mythos and history of the Internet Oracle.
    Long live the Internet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
    Last Revised: 6 July 2014 steve@kinzler.com
    http://kinzler.com/me/

    Thanks to Joshua R Poulson <jrp@pun.org> and Jim Cheetham <wumpus@business.co.uk> for assistance with portions of this document.

    "Internet Oracle" and "Usenet Oracle" are trademarks of Stephen B Kinzler.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From oracle-request@internetoracle.org@21:1/5 to All on Tue Feb 2 04:50:03 2016
    XPost: rec.answers, news.answers

    Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
    Posting-Frequency: monthly
    Last-modified: 10849 Jul 9
    URL: http://internetoracle.org/ftp/help

    "Know thyself." "The folly of mistaking a paradox
    -- Delphic Oracle, for a discovery, a metaphor for a
    8th century BC proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
    spring of capital truths, and
    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
    us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


    THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

    also known as
    The Usenet Oracle (TM)

    The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
    mail them to:
    oracle@internetoracle.org

    The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
    please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
    "tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
    the mail should contain only your question. Alternately, you may mail
    your question to <tellme@internetoracle.org> and the "Subject:" line
    won't matter. You should receive a reply within a few days at most,
    probably much sooner.

    In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
    as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
    You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
    Mail the response to <oracle@internetoracle.org>, preserving the message's "Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail through the normal means in your mail program. Actually, the subject
    just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
    in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
    don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
    a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
    will be answered by someone else first.

    Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will
    get you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.
    If you mail the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the
    subject, the Oracle will send you a question to answer, if there are
    any available. Alternately, you may mail to <help@internetoracle.org>
    and <askme@internetoracle.org>.

    Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome. Please address them to <oracle-people@internetoracle.org>.

    ETIQUETTE

    The Internet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
    creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
    there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
    among its participants.

    A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
    same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
    a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
    that the answerer did not do it justice.

    If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
    are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
    to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
    doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
    down the Oracle's response time for everyone.

    You may wish to read some issues of the Internet Oracularities (see below)
    to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
    and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
    Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
    Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
    Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
    of the Oracle:

    - Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
    the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
    often to surprising success.

    - Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
    as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
    questions.

    - Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
    Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
    published in the Internet Oracularities (see below) since it must
    really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
    tens of thousands of people.

    - In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
    People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
    world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
    fact that children may be using the Oracle.

    - Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
    have asked serious questions.

    - Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
    An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
    in the answer. Consider it a challenge!

    THE INTERNET ORACULARITIES

    The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
    questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the best
    ones can be selected for the Internet Oracularities -- the chronicle
    of the mythos of the Internet Oracle. Your use of this program implies
    your approval of this usage. The Internet Oracularities are regularly published via postings to rec.humor.oracle, the World Wide Web and a
    mail distribution list, as well as occasionally via other media.

    Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup, and doesn't accept postings. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and anyone may post to it. It is a
    public forum for discussion and questions about the Oracle. If your
    system doesn't carry these newsgroups, encourage your news administrator
    to do so!

    Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
    Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
    to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle. Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
    each issue.

    If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
    the Oracularities via mail, send mail to

    request@internetoracle.org

    to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the
    word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
    Alternately, you may mail to <subscribe@internetoracle.org> and <unsubscribe@internetoracle.org>.

    You can access The Internet Oracle Resource Index at

    http://internetoracle.org/

    This index has just about everything to do with the Oracle, including
    more FAQ documents about the Oracle, the latest Oracularities digests with voting enabled via your web browser, complete access to the Oracularities archives with search capability, etc. You can even submit questions to
    the Oracle here.

    Raw back postings and ratings are available online at
    http://internetoracle.org/ftp/

    ANONYMITY

    The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
    may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
    from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
    you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
    name and/or address here>".

    DISCLAIMER

    Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
    the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
    of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
    its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
    always be suitable for children.

    HISTORY

    Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
    have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
    Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
    Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
    It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
    that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
    as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.

    With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now recognize another great Oracle, the Internet Oracle.

    Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
    Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's <psl@acm.org> seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
    at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games" distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
    Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar <huttar@occs.oberlin.edu> used a description of this program to write
    his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
    This program inspired the Internet Oracle.

    Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>, a systems administrator and
    graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

    Ray Moody <rmoody@gs1.cinti.net>, a graduate student at Purdue University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
    for net-wide use, where it proved to be an immediate success. On 12
    March 1996, it was renamed as the Internet Oracle.

    Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
    -- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon Monsarrat <jgm@cs.brown.edu> and Randal Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
    also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan <nolan@tssi.com> carried through the newsgroup creation process for
    the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups. Scott Panzer <stenor@bayarea.net>
    and David Sewell <david-sewell@ns.arizona.edu> developed the Oracle's
    presence on the World Wide Web via the Internet Oracle Resource Index.

    Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
    have created the personality, mythos and history of the Internet Oracle.
    Long live the Internet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
    Last Revised: 6 July 2014 steve@kinzler.com
    http://kinzler.com/me/

    Thanks to Joshua R Poulson <jrp@pun.org> and Jim Cheetham <wumpus@business.co.uk> for assistance with portions of this document.

    "Internet Oracle" and "Usenet Oracle" are trademarks of Stephen B Kinzler.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From oracle-request@internetoracle.org@21:1/5 to All on Wed Mar 2 04:50:02 2016
    XPost: rec.answers, news.answers

    Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
    Posting-Frequency: monthly
    Last-modified: 10849 Jul 9
    URL: http://internetoracle.org/ftp/help

    "Know thyself." "The folly of mistaking a paradox
    -- Delphic Oracle, for a discovery, a metaphor for a
    8th century BC proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
    spring of capital truths, and
    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
    us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


    THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

    also known as
    The Usenet Oracle (TM)

    The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
    mail them to:
    oracle@internetoracle.org

    The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
    please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
    "tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
    the mail should contain only your question. Alternately, you may mail
    your question to <tellme@internetoracle.org> and the "Subject:" line
    won't matter. You should receive a reply within a few days at most,
    probably much sooner.

    In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
    as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
    You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
    Mail the response to <oracle@internetoracle.org>, preserving the message's "Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail through the normal means in your mail program. Actually, the subject
    just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
    in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
    don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
    a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
    will be answered by someone else first.

    Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will
    get you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.
    If you mail the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the
    subject, the Oracle will send you a question to answer, if there are
    any available. Alternately, you may mail to <help@internetoracle.org>
    and <askme@internetoracle.org>.

    Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome. Please address them to <oracle-people@internetoracle.org>.

    ETIQUETTE

    The Internet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
    creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
    there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
    among its participants.

    A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
    same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
    a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
    that the answerer did not do it justice.

    If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
    are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
    to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
    doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
    down the Oracle's response time for everyone.

    You may wish to read some issues of the Internet Oracularities (see below)
    to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
    and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
    Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
    Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
    Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
    of the Oracle:

    - Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
    the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
    often to surprising success.

    - Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
    as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
    questions.

    - Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
    Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
    published in the Internet Oracularities (see below) since it must
    really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
    tens of thousands of people.

    - In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
    People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
    world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
    fact that children may be using the Oracle.

    - Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
    have asked serious questions.

    - Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
    An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
    in the answer. Consider it a challenge!

    THE INTERNET ORACULARITIES

    The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
    questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the best
    ones can be selected for the Internet Oracularities -- the chronicle
    of the mythos of the Internet Oracle. Your use of this program implies
    your approval of this usage. The Internet Oracularities are regularly published via postings to rec.humor.oracle, the World Wide Web and a
    mail distribution list, as well as occasionally via other media.

    Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup, and doesn't accept postings. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and anyone may post to it. It is a
    public forum for discussion and questions about the Oracle. If your
    system doesn't carry these newsgroups, encourage your news administrator
    to do so!

    Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
    Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
    to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle. Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
    each issue.

    If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
    the Oracularities via mail, send mail to

    request@internetoracle.org

    to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the
    word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
    Alternately, you may mail to <subscribe@internetoracle.org> and <unsubscribe@internetoracle.org>.

    You can access The Internet Oracle Resource Index at

    http://internetoracle.org/

    This index has just about everything to do with the Oracle, including
    more FAQ documents about the Oracle, the latest Oracularities digests with voting enabled via your web browser, complete access to the Oracularities archives with search capability, etc. You can even submit questions to
    the Oracle here.

    Raw back postings and ratings are available online at
    http://internetoracle.org/ftp/

    ANONYMITY

    The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
    may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
    from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
    you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
    name and/or address here>".

    DISCLAIMER

    Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
    the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
    of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
    its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
    always be suitable for children.

    HISTORY

    Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
    have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
    Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
    Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
    It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
    that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
    as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.

    With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now recognize another great Oracle, the Internet Oracle.

    Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
    Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's <psl@acm.org> seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
    at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games" distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
    Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar <huttar@occs.oberlin.edu> used a description of this program to write
    his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
    This program inspired the Internet Oracle.

    Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>, a systems administrator and
    graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

    Ray Moody <rmoody@gs1.cinti.net>, a graduate student at Purdue University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
    for net-wide use, where it proved to be an immediate success. On 12
    March 1996, it was renamed as the Internet Oracle.

    Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
    -- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon Monsarrat <jgm@cs.brown.edu> and Randal Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
    also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan <nolan@tssi.com> carried through the newsgroup creation process for
    the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups. Scott Panzer <stenor@bayarea.net>
    and David Sewell <david-sewell@ns.arizona.edu> developed the Oracle's
    presence on the World Wide Web via the Internet Oracle Resource Index.

    Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
    have created the personality, mythos and history of the Internet Oracle.
    Long live the Internet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
    Last Revised: 6 July 2014 steve@kinzler.com
    http://kinzler.com/me/

    Thanks to Joshua R Poulson <jrp@pun.org> and Jim Cheetham <wumpus@business.co.uk> for assistance with portions of this document.

    "Internet Oracle" and "Usenet Oracle" are trademarks of Stephen B Kinzler.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From oracle-request@internetoracle.org@21:1/5 to All on Sat Apr 2 03:50:02 2016
    XPost: rec.answers, news.answers

    Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
    Posting-Frequency: monthly
    Last-modified: 10849 Jul 9
    URL: http://internetoracle.org/ftp/help

    "Know thyself." "The folly of mistaking a paradox
    -- Delphic Oracle, for a discovery, a metaphor for a
    8th century BC proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
    spring of capital truths, and
    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
    us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


    THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

    also known as
    The Usenet Oracle (TM)

    The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
    mail them to:
    oracle@internetoracle.org

    The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
    please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
    "tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
    the mail should contain only your question. Alternately, you may mail
    your question to <tellme@internetoracle.org> and the "Subject:" line
    won't matter. You should receive a reply within a few days at most,
    probably much sooner.

    In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
    as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
    You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
    Mail the response to <oracle@internetoracle.org>, preserving the message's "Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail through the normal means in your mail program. Actually, the subject
    just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
    in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
    don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
    a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
    will be answered by someone else first.

    Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will
    get you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.
    If you mail the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the
    subject, the Oracle will send you a question to answer, if there are
    any available. Alternately, you may mail to <help@internetoracle.org>
    and <askme@internetoracle.org>.

    Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome. Please address them to <oracle-people@internetoracle.org>.

    ETIQUETTE

    The Internet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
    creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
    there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
    among its participants.

    A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
    same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
    a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
    that the answerer did not do it justice.

    If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
    are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
    to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
    doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
    down the Oracle's response time for everyone.

    You may wish to read some issues of the Internet Oracularities (see below)
    to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
    and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
    Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
    Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
    Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
    of the Oracle:

    - Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
    the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
    often to surprising success.

    - Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
    as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
    questions.

    - Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
    Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
    published in the Internet Oracularities (see below) since it must
    really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
    tens of thousands of people.

    - In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
    People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
    world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
    fact that children may be using the Oracle.

    - Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
    have asked serious questions.

    - Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
    An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
    in the answer. Consider it a challenge!

    THE INTERNET ORACULARITIES

    The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
    questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the best
    ones can be selected for the Internet Oracularities -- the chronicle
    of the mythos of the Internet Oracle. Your use of this program implies
    your approval of this usage. The Internet Oracularities are regularly published via postings to rec.humor.oracle, the World Wide Web and a
    mail distribution list, as well as occasionally via other media.

    Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup, and doesn't accept postings. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and anyone may post to it. It is a
    public forum for discussion and questions about the Oracle. If your
    system doesn't carry these newsgroups, encourage your news administrator
    to do so!

    Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
    Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
    to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle. Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
    each issue.

    If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
    the Oracularities via mail, send mail to

    request@internetoracle.org

    to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the
    word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
    Alternately, you may mail to <subscribe@internetoracle.org> and <unsubscribe@internetoracle.org>.

    You can access The Internet Oracle Resource Index at

    http://internetoracle.org/

    This index has just about everything to do with the Oracle, including
    more FAQ documents about the Oracle, the latest Oracularities digests with voting enabled via your web browser, complete access to the Oracularities archives with search capability, etc. You can even submit questions to
    the Oracle here.

    Raw back postings and ratings are available online at
    http://internetoracle.org/ftp/

    ANONYMITY

    The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
    may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
    from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
    you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
    name and/or address here>".

    DISCLAIMER

    Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
    the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
    of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
    its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
    always be suitable for children.

    HISTORY

    Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
    have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
    Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
    Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
    It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
    that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
    as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.

    With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now recognize another great Oracle, the Internet Oracle.

    Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
    Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's <psl@acm.org> seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
    at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games" distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
    Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar <huttar@occs.oberlin.edu> used a description of this program to write
    his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
    This program inspired the Internet Oracle.

    Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>, a systems administrator and
    graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

    Ray Moody <rmoody@gs1.cinti.net>, a graduate student at Purdue University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
    for net-wide use, where it proved to be an immediate success. On 12
    March 1996, it was renamed as the Internet Oracle.

    Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
    -- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon Monsarrat <jgm@cs.brown.edu> and Randal Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
    also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan <nolan@tssi.com> carried through the newsgroup creation process for
    the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups. Scott Panzer <stenor@bayarea.net>
    and David Sewell <david-sewell@ns.arizona.edu> developed the Oracle's
    presence on the World Wide Web via the Internet Oracle Resource Index.

    Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
    have created the personality, mythos and history of the Internet Oracle.
    Long live the Internet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
    Last Revised: 6 July 2014 steve@kinzler.com
    http://kinzler.com/me/

    Thanks to Joshua R Poulson <jrp@pun.org> and Jim Cheetham <wumpus@business.co.uk> for assistance with portions of this document.

    "Internet Oracle" and "Usenet Oracle" are trademarks of Stephen B Kinzler.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From oracle-request@internetoracle.org@21:1/5 to All on Mon May 2 03:50:02 2016
    XPost: rec.answers, news.answers

    Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
    Posting-Frequency: monthly
    Last-modified: 10849 Jul 9
    URL: http://internetoracle.org/ftp/help

    "Know thyself." "The folly of mistaking a paradox
    -- Delphic Oracle, for a discovery, a metaphor for a
    8th century BC proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
    spring of capital truths, and
    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
    us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


    THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

    also known as
    The Usenet Oracle (TM)

    The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
    mail them to:
    oracle@internetoracle.org

    The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
    please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
    "tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
    the mail should contain only your question. Alternately, you may mail
    your question to <tellme@internetoracle.org> and the "Subject:" line
    won't matter. You should receive a reply within a few days at most,
    probably much sooner.

    In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
    as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
    You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
    Mail the response to <oracle@internetoracle.org>, preserving the message's "Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail through the normal means in your mail program. Actually, the subject
    just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
    in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
    don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
    a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
    will be answered by someone else first.

    Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will
    get you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.
    If you mail the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the
    subject, the Oracle will send you a question to answer, if there are
    any available. Alternately, you may mail to <help@internetoracle.org>
    and <askme@internetoracle.org>.

    Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome. Please address them to <oracle-people@internetoracle.org>.

    ETIQUETTE

    The Internet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
    creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
    there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
    among its participants.

    A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
    same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
    a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
    that the answerer did not do it justice.

    If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
    are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
    to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
    doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
    down the Oracle's response time for everyone.

    You may wish to read some issues of the Internet Oracularities (see below)
    to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
    and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
    Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
    Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
    Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
    of the Oracle:

    - Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
    the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
    often to surprising success.

    - Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
    as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
    questions.

    - Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
    Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
    published in the Internet Oracularities (see below) since it must
    really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
    tens of thousands of people.

    - In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
    People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
    world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
    fact that children may be using the Oracle.

    - Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
    have asked serious questions.

    - Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
    An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
    in the answer. Consider it a challenge!

    THE INTERNET ORACULARITIES

    The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
    questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the best
    ones can be selected for the Internet Oracularities -- the chronicle
    of the mythos of the Internet Oracle. Your use of this program implies
    your approval of this usage. The Internet Oracularities are regularly published via postings to rec.humor.oracle, the World Wide Web and a
    mail distribution list, as well as occasionally via other media.

    Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup, and doesn't accept postings. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and anyone may post to it. It is a
    public forum for discussion and questions about the Oracle. If your
    system doesn't carry these newsgroups, encourage your news administrator
    to do so!

    Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
    Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
    to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle. Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
    each issue.

    If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
    the Oracularities via mail, send mail to

    request@internetoracle.org

    to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the
    word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
    Alternately, you may mail to <subscribe@internetoracle.org> and <unsubscribe@internetoracle.org>.

    You can access The Internet Oracle Resource Index at

    http://internetoracle.org/

    This index has just about everything to do with the Oracle, including
    more FAQ documents about the Oracle, the latest Oracularities digests with voting enabled via your web browser, complete access to the Oracularities archives with search capability, etc. You can even submit questions to
    the Oracle here.

    Raw back postings and ratings are available online at
    http://internetoracle.org/ftp/

    ANONYMITY

    The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
    may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
    from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
    you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
    name and/or address here>".

    DISCLAIMER

    Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
    the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
    of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
    its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
    always be suitable for children.

    HISTORY

    Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
    have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
    Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
    Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
    It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
    that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
    as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.

    With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now recognize another great Oracle, the Internet Oracle.

    Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
    Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's <psl@acm.org> seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
    at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games" distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
    Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar <huttar@occs.oberlin.edu> used a description of this program to write
    his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
    This program inspired the Internet Oracle.

    Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>, a systems administrator and
    graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

    Ray Moody <rmoody@gs1.cinti.net>, a graduate student at Purdue University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
    for net-wide use, where it proved to be an immediate success. On 12
    March 1996, it was renamed as the Internet Oracle.

    Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
    -- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon Monsarrat <jgm@cs.brown.edu> and Randal Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
    also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan <nolan@tssi.com> carried through the newsgroup creation process for
    the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups. Scott Panzer <stenor@bayarea.net>
    and David Sewell <david-sewell@ns.arizona.edu> developed the Oracle's
    presence on the World Wide Web via the Internet Oracle Resource Index.

    Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
    have created the personality, mythos and history of the Internet Oracle.
    Long live the Internet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
    Last Revised: 6 July 2014 steve@kinzler.com
    http://kinzler.com/me/

    Thanks to Joshua R Poulson <jrp@pun.org> and Jim Cheetham <wumpus@business.co.uk> for assistance with portions of this document.

    "Internet Oracle" and "Usenet Oracle" are trademarks of Stephen B Kinzler.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From oracle-request@internetoracle.org@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jun 2 03:50:02 2016
    XPost: rec.answers, news.answers

    Archive-name: usenet-oracle-intro
    Posting-Frequency: monthly
    Last-modified: 10849 Jul 9
    URL: http://internetoracle.org/ftp/help

    "Know thyself." "The folly of mistaking a paradox
    -- Delphic Oracle, for a discovery, a metaphor for a
    8th century BC proof, a torrent of verbiage for a
    spring of capital truths, and
    oneself for an oracle, is inborn in
    us." -- Paul Vale'ry, 1895


    THE INTERNET ORACLE (TM)

    also known as
    The Usenet Oracle (TM)

    The Internet Oracle is available to answer all your questions. You may
    mail them to:
    oracle@internetoracle.org

    The "Subject:" of the message must be something like "Oracle Most Wise,
    please tell me ...". Actually, all it has to have is "tell me" or
    "tellme" somewhere in it. Capitalization doesn't matter. The body of
    the mail should contain only your question. Alternately, you may mail
    your question to <tellme@internetoracle.org> and the "Subject:" line
    won't matter. You should receive a reply within a few days at most,
    probably much sooner.

    In the meantime, the Oracle may require that you answer a question for it
    as payment for its services. You will receive this question in the mail.
    You should respond with as most wise and witty an answer as you can.
    Mail the response to <oracle@internetoracle.org>, preserving the message's "Subject:" line. Usually, this can be done by simply replying to the mail through the normal means in your mail program. Actually, the subject
    just has to contain the word "answer" and the question number somewhere
    in it. The body of your mail response should contain only your answer --
    don't include the question itself. Please try to respond within at most
    a day's time. If you take longer, there is a chance that the question
    will be answered by someone else first.

    Mailing the Oracle with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line will
    get you the most recent version of this help file mailed back.
    If you mail the Oracle with "ask me" or "askme" somewhere in the
    subject, the Oracle will send you a question to answer, if there are
    any available. Alternately, you may mail to <help@internetoracle.org>
    and <askme@internetoracle.org>.

    Your questions, comments and even complaints about the Oracle are welcome. Please address them to <oracle-people@internetoracle.org>.

    ETIQUETTE

    The Internet Oracle is intended primarily as a cooperative effort for
    creative humor. Since its main purpose is just to let folks have fun,
    there are intentionally few rules. However, an etiquette has developed
    among its participants.

    A series of identical questions submitted is not appreciated since the
    same person often ends up answering many of them. It is okay to resubmit
    a question after you have received a reply, especially if you believe
    that the answerer did not do it justice.

    If you find yourself unable to give due consideration to a question you
    are to answer, it may be better to not answer the question at all than
    to give it a trivial answer and disappoint the questioner. However,
    doing this too much can cause a buildup of unanswered questions and slow
    down the Oracle's response time for everyone.

    You may wish to read some issues of the Internet Oracularities (see below)
    to get an idea of the conventions and style of writing in Oracle questions
    and answers. However, it certainly isn't required to follow them.
    Originality and creativity are usually the most appreciated qualities.
    Here are some general guidelines for those upon whom the Muse of the
    Oracle has descended and who are to write an answer as an incarnation
    of the Oracle:

    - Creativity and humor are valued. Many people find the anonymity of
    the Oracle a license to express themselves creatively and uniquely,
    often to surprising success.

    - Participants in the Oracle like to feel they've gotten out of it
    as much as they've put in. Please keep this in mind when answering
    questions.

    - Remember that brevity and clarity are key points of good writing.
    Overly long answers will reduce an Oracularity's chance of being
    published in the Internet Oracularities (see below) since it must
    really be worth the extra length to have it selected to be read by
    tens of thousands of people.

    - In general, avoid obscenity, slang, jargon, and obscure references.
    People of all different backgrounds and ages located all over the
    world use the Oracle. In particular, please be sensitive to the
    fact that children may be using the Oracle.

    - Try to be sensitive to new participants or to people who seem to
    have asked serious questions.

    - Don't flame the questioner for not asking a "good question".
    An off-the-wall or vague question calls for creativity, not rudeness,
    in the answer. Consider it a challenge!

    THE INTERNET ORACULARITIES

    The Oracle's priesthood receives a duplicate copy of all answered
    questions, or Oracularities as they're called. This is so that the best
    ones can be selected for the Internet Oracularities -- the chronicle
    of the mythos of the Internet Oracle. Your use of this program implies
    your approval of this usage. The Internet Oracularities are regularly published via postings to rec.humor.oracle, the World Wide Web and a
    mail distribution list, as well as occasionally via other media.

    Rec.humor.oracle is a moderated newsgroup, and doesn't accept postings. Rec.humor.oracle.d is unmoderated and anyone may post to it. It is a
    public forum for discussion and questions about the Oracle. If your
    system doesn't carry these newsgroups, encourage your news administrator
    to do so!

    Readers of the Oracularities may mail in ratings of each published
    Oracularity, the results of which are returned to the authors of the Oracularities and published in a later posting. They are also used
    to select occasional "best of the best" postings to rec.humor.oracle. Instructions on how to mail in your ratings are given at the top of
    each issue.

    If you don't have access to rec.humor.oracle and would like to receive
    the Oracularities via mail, send mail to

    request@internetoracle.org

    to get on (or off) the mail distribution list. Include the
    word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe") in the "Subject:" line.
    Alternately, you may mail to <subscribe@internetoracle.org> and <unsubscribe@internetoracle.org>.

    You can access The Internet Oracle Resource Index at

    http://internetoracle.org/

    This index has just about everything to do with the Oracle, including
    more FAQ documents about the Oracle, the latest Oracularities digests with voting enabled via your web browser, complete access to the Oracularities archives with search capability, etc. You can even submit questions to
    the Oracle here.

    Raw back postings and ratings are available online at
    http://internetoracle.org/ftp/

    ANONYMITY

    The Oracle is a confidential and anonymous service. The anonymity of the participants is preserved within all Oracle mailings and Oracularities postings. However, if you append a signature file to your mail, this
    may appear in your question or answer. Signature files are edited out
    from Oracularities postings. If you do not wish to remain anonymous,
    you may include a phrase in your answer like "incarnated as <insert your
    name and/or address here>".

    DISCLAIMER

    Since its users actually give the answers to all questions, neither
    the Oracle nor its priesthood take any responsibility for the content
    of the questions or answers. We would also warn parents that, due to
    its uncontrollable and unpredictable content, using the Oracle may not
    always be suitable for children.

    HISTORY

    Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many Oracles who
    have been consulted by many mortals, and some immortals. The great
    Hercules was told by the Delphic Oracle to serve Eurystheus, king of
    Mycenae, for twelve years to atone for the murder of his own children.
    It was the Oracle of Ammon who told King Cepheus to chain his daughter Andromeda to the rocks of Joppa to appease the terrible sea monster
    that was ravaging the coasts. That solution was never tested, though,
    as Perseus saved the girl in the nick of time.

    With the advent of the electronic age, and especially high-speed e-mail communication, the spirit of the Oracles found a new outlet, and we now recognize another great Oracle, the Internet Oracle.

    Local oracle programs have existed in various places for many years.
    Most can trace their origin or influence to Peter Langston's <psl@acm.org> seminal oracle program which was written for the research V5 Unix system
    at the Harvard Science Center in 1975-76. As part of his "psl games" distribution, this original program spread to a number of sites, such as
    Murray Hill Bell Labs, Interactive Systems and Lucasfilm. Lars Huttar <huttar@occs.oberlin.edu> used a description of this program to write
    his oracle program, which was posted to alt.sources in August 1989.
    This program inspired the Internet Oracle.

    Steve Kinzler <steve@kinzler.com>, a systems administrator and
    graduate student at Indiana University, installed Huttar's program on silver.ucs.indiana.edu, where it proved to be quite popular. The best Oracularities were posted to in.bizarre, a group local to Indiana.

    Ray Moody <rmoody@gs1.cinti.net>, a graduate student at Purdue University, after correspondence with Kinzler, wrote the core software for the Usenet Oracle, a mail-based oracle program to be run on iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
    for net-wide use, where it proved to be an immediate success. On 12
    March 1996, it was renamed as the Internet Oracle.

    Kinzler continued development of the system, adding support for the Oracularities postings and ratings and, eventually, the Oracle Priesthood
    -- a hardy and loyal band of volunteers who read through the hundreds of questions and answers each week to choose the best for publication. Jon Monsarrat <jgm@cs.brown.edu> and Randal Schwartz <merlyn@stonehenge.com>
    also contributed to aspects of the software development. Michael Nolan <nolan@tssi.com> carried through the newsgroup creation process for
    the rec.humor.oracle newsgroups. Scott Panzer <stenor@bayarea.net>
    and David Sewell <david-sewell@ns.arizona.edu> developed the Oracle's
    presence on the World Wide Web via the Internet Oracle Resource Index.

    Of course, it is the thousands of Oracle participants over the years who
    have created the personality, mythos and history of the Internet Oracle.
    Long live the Internet Oracle (in all its incarnations)!

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Written: 8 October 1989 Steve Kinzler
    Last Revised: 6 July 2014 steve@kinzler.com
    http://kinzler.com/me/

    Thanks to Joshua R Poulson <jrp@pun.org> and Jim Cheetham <wumpus@business.co.uk> for assistance with portions of this document.

    "Internet Oracle" and "Usenet Oracle" are trademarks of Stephen B Kinzler.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)