rec.autos.simulators

An unmoderated usenet newsgroup that was created on November 30, 1993 at the request of UUNET, an ISP based in Virginia. Until that point the sim racing community had bounced around other similar group topics, annoying users as it went. The topics begin with discussion of IndyCar Racing, F1GP and effectively ended with users trying iRacing for the first time.

The Dark Side

Unfortunately R.A.S. included a lot of arguments and a fair bit of spam (including some that was purposely targeted). So ferocious were the “flame wars” that it was regularly suggested the group be split so each group of users could be separated from each other. The lack of moderation likely led to the eventual downfall of the group as the political arguments and negativity ran wild, and wouldn’t generally be allowed on moderated forums.

The original charter (1993)

The charter the group was created under, as quoted by its proposer, Afzal Ballim (see the original post).

Group Name 
---------- 

        rec.autos.simulators 

Status 
------ 

        Unmoderated 

Newsgroup line 
-------------- 

rec.autos.simulators    discussion of automotive simulators. 

Charter 
------- 

This newsgroup will be used for discussions of realistic computer 
simulations of automotive vehicles, irrespective of the platforms on which 
said simulations are supported.  This will include simulations which have a 
competitive component (racing simulations) and those which do not.  Topics 
will include (but are not restricted to): 

o       Global characteristics of particular simulations. 

o       Platform-dependent characteristics of such simulations (as a 
        convention, it is suggested that such discussions list the 
        platforms in the subject header, e.g., 

        Subject: [ibm-pc,sun] Blog's Yugo simulator 

o       Design and implementation issues of such simulations. 

o       Issues of realism in automotive simulation. 

o       General discussion of automobile simulations. 

Obviously, determining whether a particular simulator is "realistic" 
requires a judgement call.  It is hoped that broad accord between posters 
will enable the discernment of valid simulators (for discussion in this 
group) from those which are devised for an entertainment value without 
concern for realism.  Thus, discussion of many of the arcade racing 
simulators, which provide an overview perspective of the vehicle being 
simulated and which do not attempt to provide realism of handling of the 
vehicle, would not be appropriate in this newsgroup.  On the other hand, 
simulators such as Microprose's Formula 1 Grand Prix would fall within the 
purview of this group as attempts are made to capture realistic handling of 
the vehicle.

The original welcome message

First posted on 12 January 1997 by Michael E. Carver (see the original post), then reposted every week.

Posting-Frequency: every 7 days 
Last-modified: 11th January 1997 
Version: 0.9a 

Welcome to rec.autos.simulators.  This is an unmoderated newsgroup for 
discussions of realistic computer simulations of automotive vehicles, 
irrespective of the platforms on which the simulations are supported. 
This includes simulations which have a competitive component (racing 
simulations) and those which do not. Arcade racing simulators, which 
give an overhead perspective and which do not attempt to provide realism 
of handling of the vehicle, would not be appropriate in this newsgroup, 
whilst discussion of Microprose's Formula 1 Grand Prix and Papyrus's 
IndyCar Racing would be appropriate. (From the original charter of 


This message will be posted every 7 days to rec.autos.simulators.  It 
has some guideline on posting to this newsgroup as well as instructions 
on how to obtain the FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) related to 
topics discussed in this forum. 

1.  NETTIQUETTE 

A lot of people read these newsgroups - over 100,000 at the latest 
estimate (that's newsgroups not people). Some readers are restricted to 
tortuously slow connections.  Some people pay for their connect time by 
the minute. Other people just like to read news when the Net is running 
slowly. 

If your article contains quoted text please take some time to pare it down 
to just the key points to which you are responding, or people will think 
you are a dweeb!  Many people have the habit of skipping any article whose 
first page is largely quoted material.  Format your article to fit in 80 
columns, since  that's the  conventional size.  If your lines are too long 
they'll wrap  around  ugly and  people won't read what you  write.  If you 
aren't  careful  and considerate  in  formatting  your posting, people  are 
likely to ignore it completely.  It's a crowded net out there. 

1.1 The Content and Style of Your Post 

  o It is perfectly legal to reproduce short extracts of a copyrighted 
    work for critical purposes, but reproduction in whole is strictly and 
    explicitly forbidden by international and US copyright law 
    unless given permission by the author. 

  o Would you want to read what you are writing ? Might it be better to 
    email a comment, or even make no comment ? Spelling and grammar 
    flames are particularly dull for the rest of the world, as are posts 
    which follow fifty lines of quoted text with "I agree". 

  o On the Net, most people only know you by the words that you write. 
    People will pay more attention to your thoughts if your writing is 
    clear and easy to read. 

  o Trim down your quotes. Delete parts of the article that you are not 
    responding to such as other people's signatures. Its best to have as 
    little as possible from previous posts.  However, do be careful when 
    you "edit" a post.  Do not cut it so it appears that someone wrote 
    something they did not.   

  o Humour, and particularly sarcasm, is often misunderstood over the Net 
    with hilarious consequences. A smily, :-), may be advisable. 

1.2 Practicalities 

  o Is the subject line both descriptive and accurate ? 

  o People can select the articles which most appeal to them if you 
    include a keyword in your Subject Field with something about the 
    topic you are posting about.  Also you may wish to start off your 
    Subject Field with a "code" related to the topic you are posting. 
    This will make it easier for readers to choose the posts they wish 
    to read.  Also, some news readers can actually filter out specific 
    posts to be read or discarded based on keywords. 
    Examples: 
        Code            Simulation 

        DD2             Destruction Derby 2 
        GP1             Grand Prix 1 or World Circuit 
        GP2             Grand Prix 2 by 
        ICR1            Indycar Racing 1 
        ICR2            IndyCar Racing 2 
        MTM             Monster Truck Madness 
        NFS             Need For Speed 
        NFSSE           Need For Speed Special Edition 
        NR1             Nascar Racing 1 
        NR2             Nascar Racing 2 
        S1              Screamer 1 
        S2              Screamer 2 

  o Please try to keep the lines in the main text of your posts to fewer 
    than 80 characters per line. When lines are longer than this, it 
    becomes difficult to read with many news readers. 72 characters per 
    line is a good length, since it allows others to quote you without 
    running over 80 characters. 

  o If you are following up an article to create a new article, please 
    remember to delete the References: line in the header. This will help 
    the readers who use a threaded news reader; otherwise your new topic 
    will be mixed in with an old one. 

  o Please do not post large binary files like GIFs, JPEGs, MPEGs or WAVs 
    to rec.autos.simulators.  They will fill the Usenet disk partitions at 
    some sites. Some people cannot select which articles they want before 
    they have to download them. Post them to alt.binaries.simulators.autos 
    newsgroup with a short post to rec.autos.simulators to notify anyone 
    who is interested. 

1.3 Handling Frequently Asked Questions 

  o If you are asking a basic question, please check the FAQ's first. If 
    the FAQ is has expired on your system, see section 2 for information 
    on how to get a copy. 

  o If someone posts a question about something that was resolved 
    recently, please answer the poster via email. Rehashing something 
    that was just discussed is a waste of bandwidth unless you have 
    something new to add.  ("Please don't dominate the rap, Jack, if 
    you got nothing new to say" -- New Speedway Boogie, Robert Hunter) 

  o Many news reading programs allow you to filter the articles in a 
    newsgroup to ignore articles from a particular author or on certain 
    subjects using a KILL file. If you're using rn or its brethren, see 
    the rn KILL file FAQ in news.answers.   

3.1  Known FAQ's for Simulations discussed in rec.autos.simulators. 

  o IndyCar Racing 2 FAQ is available from: 
    http://www.teleport.com/~mcarver/icr2faq.txt 

  o NASCAR Racing 2 FAQ is available from: 
    http://www.sequoia-dev.com/Hawaii/Features/N2FAQ.txt