Subject: Alt.Atheism FAQ: Overview for New Readers
Supersedes: <overview_815994733@odin.cam.harlequin.co.uk>
Date: 29 Mar 1996 11:05:21 GMT
Summary: Hi.  Please read this before you post.

Alt-atheism-archive-name: overview
Version: 3.0

                          Welcome to alt.atheism!
                                      
   This is the FAQ for the Usenet newsgroup alt.atheism. All are
   welcome in the newsgroup, whether they're atheists or not.
   
   Many newsgroups of a 'controversial' nature have noticed that new
   readers often come up with the same questions, mis-statements or
   misconceptions and post them to the net. In addition, people often
   request information which has been posted time and time again.
   
   In order to try and cut down on this, most newsgroups have Frequently
   Asked Questions files, or FAQ files. They are posted regularly, and
   generally aimed especially at new readers of the newsgroup in
   question. However, even long-time readers should browse the FAQs now
   and again.
   
   The atheism-related newsgroups on the net have a shared resource known
   as The Atheism Web. You are strongly advised to read the atheism web
   before posting to any atheist newsgroup!  You'll find it at this URL:
   <http://freethought.tamu.edu/news/atheism/>

   These FAQ files are ASCII conversions of part of the information from
   The Atheism Web. The web version is much better!
   
   If you are new to Usenet, you may also find it helpful to read the
   newsgroup news.announce.newusers. The articles titled "A Primer on How
   to Work With the Usenet Community", "Answers to Frequently Asked
   Questions about Usenet" and "Hints on writing style for Usenet" are
   particularly relevant. Questions concerning how news works are best
   asked innews.newusers.questions.

Credits, corrections and copyrights

   Please send any changes or corrections to mathew
   <meta@harlequin.co.uk>
   
   The plain ASCII text versions of the alt.atheism FAQ files are free;
   you may distribute them to anyone you wish. The hypertext (HTML)
   versions are not free (yet), so please ask before distributing
   copies or mirroring them.
   
   Please do not re-post copies of the ASCII documents to alt.atheism; it
   does nobody any good to have multiple versions of the same document
   floating around the network.
   
   People sometimes ask whether the FAQ documents are original, and if
   so, who wrote them. It's not an easy question to answer. Some parts I
   wrote myself; many others were contributed by the readers of
   alt.atheism and of other Usenet newsgroups. The articles are therefore
   a massive collaborative effort, of a sort which would not have been
   possible without electronic networking.
   
   I have written, rewritten and edited a great deal of material, but
   these FAQ files would not have been possible without the efforts of
   hundreds of people.  For a list of contributors, see
   <http://freethought.tamu.edu/news/atheism/credits.html>.
   
Disclaimer

   The editor of these FAQ documents has attempted to verify the accuracy
   and correctness of the information contained in them, as far as is
   metaphysically possible. Mistakes can and do happen, and so far it
   seems no omnipotent beings have intervened to correct them. If you use
   the information in these FAQ documents, you do so at your own risk.
   
   However, the editor hereby guarantees that reading these documents
   will not cause your soul to perish in eternal damnation. Offer void
   where prohibited by natural law.
     _________________________________________________________________

              For the latest version of this information, see 
                <http://freethought.tamu.edu/news/atheism/>
