Deja FAQ, version 1.0 27 Nov. 1999 Author: Wijit <wijit13@my-deja.com> This FAQ has been prepared to help people make use of one of the greatest resources available to NewsGroup readers. It is almost always possible to find a missing story or story part yourself, quickly and conveniently, using Deja. If more people would use Deja to find stories or story parts, it would help to cut down on the constant stream of requests for reposts. Please be advised that this FAQ is a simplified summary of options available, mostly with respect to searching for sex stories (and related subjects). For a complete description of what Deja is and how to use it, click on the link labelled Help near the upper left corner of the Deja home-page at http://www.deja.com What is Deja? Deja (www.deja.com) is now several things, but the primary usefulness in terms of sex stories is that Deja (formerly known as DejaNews) is an archive of UseNet newsgroups. They save all ASCII plain-text posts to all newsgroups, supposedly indefinitely. You can also register for an account, which gives you free anonymous web-based e-mail and the ability to subscribe to and make anonymous postings to your favourite newsgroups. If you register for a Deja account, you can also use Deja's "personal NewsReader service" if you wish, but be warned that that service is not free. What are "segments"? Deja breaks up larger posts into pieces called segments, for storage efficiency and for display purposes. One good way to differentiate stories from spam is that stories are usually longer than one segment. When you view a segmented posting, you can view one segment at a time, or click on "Get All Segments" to retrieve, view and/or download the entire story. How do I find sex stories using Deja? The best way to find stories using Deja is to use their Power Search. Go to www.deja.com, and near the upper right corner of the window, click on a small link in blue letters labelled "Power Search". That will take you to Deja's search engine. Note that the search engine is not case-sensitive. There are many ways to use the Power Search utility. The first thing you will see under My Search is Search For: and a field to enter a search string, and a button labelled "Search" beside the field. If you use this field, the search will look at the *content* of posts to find any articles that contain the keyword(s) entered into the field. Although this can be useful to find certain rare keywords, it can also find way too many matches that are not of interest. If you fail to find the story or story part you are looking for using other methods described below, try this method. Below that, there is a section labelled Limit Search. The first part is a grayed area containing some parameters that you can set. These will remain intact from one search to another. Match [Any | All] Keywords: Normally you want to match all keywords, otherwise you get too many unwanted matches. Keywords are distinguishable words entered into the field Search For: or any of the Limit Search fields. The Deja search engine will attempt to find matches that contain the keywords specified. Archive [Complete | Standard | Adult | Jobs | For Sale]: In most cases you want the Adult archive if you are looking for sex stories. Results Type [Discussions | Ratings | Communities | Deja Classic]: Set this to Discussions. If you want to see the old-style format, use Deja Classic. Language: Any is the usual choice, unless you are looking for a specific language. Next, there are several boxes in which to enter keywords that will narrow down your search. Subject: This will search for articles with a word or words in the Subject Line that matches or contains the keyword(s) you specify. You can use "or" in between multiple keywords to override the setting Match All Keywords, if you wish. The search engine matches only alphabetic words, not numbers or other non-alphabetic characters. Forum: Enter alt.sex.stories, or your favourite group in the ASS hierarchy, or alt.sex.stories* to include them all. Author: If you know the poster's posting handle (nym) or the e-mail address the poster used when posting, it can be inserted here. The search will match either format. Date (From / To): It is very helpful to enter a date range to narrow down the search and limit the number of potential matches. Several date formats are recognized, but the standard is "Nov 19 1999". Note that Deja used to have a "current" archive and a separate "older" archive. This is no longer the case. If you do not enter a date range, the most recent 12 month period will be searched. In most cases, the system will offer a "Search Older Messages" link. Below the middle section is a section labelled Organize Results, in a grayed area. These parameters will remain in effect from search to search. Sort By [confidence | subject | forum | author | date]: This is supposed to alter the order in which articles matching your criteria are presented to you. However, choosing a sort by anything other than confidence does not always work properly. Generally, sorting by confidence (the default) serves adequately, although some of the segments of larger stories may be displayed noncontiguously. Results Per Page [25 | 50 | 100]: If you expect only a few matches of small articles (few segments), the default of 25 may suffice. However, most stories consist of several segments, and longer works can consist of 100 segments, each of which will be listed as a result match. Therefore, setting this option to 100 is recommended. What are some useful ways in which to perform searches? If you are looking for a particular story, and you know a keyword from the subject line of the posting, then enter the keyword in the Subject field, and the newsgroup in the Forum field. You can enter the name of the poster in the Author field if you desire, but it is not required. If you have some idea of the time-frame during which the story was posted, it is very helpful to enter a date range. If you are looking for a story or stories from a particular poster, leave the subject field blank and enter the newsgroup in the Forum field, and the poster's handle or e-mail address in the Author field. Entering a date range will help to reduce the number of matches, especially in the case where certain posters frequently repost the same stories. If you just want some recent stories, leave the Subject and Author fields blank, enter the newsgroup in the Forum field, and specify a recent date range. One good method is to enter a specific date in both the From and To date fields. This will retrieve all postings on that particular date. Note, however, that if you enter today's date, only posts that were processed into the archive up to the time you did your search will be retrieved. You may use Deja as your largely spam-filtered NewsReader using this method (without registering for a Deja account or paying for their "personal NewsReader service"), although it is recommended to specify the date three days ago in order to allow time for all articles to arrive via UseNet propagation and be processed into Deja's archive. How do I avoid spam? As mentioned above, postings consisting of only one segment are usually spam, and postings consisting of at least two segments are usually stories. Aside from that, it is usually possible to tell at a glance from the subject line. Deja does not archive binary files or attachments of any kind (even plain- text attachments), and they have decent spam-filtering measures that reject obvious spam from ever getting into the archive. Spam disguised as a story or as commentary still gets into the archive, as it is very difficult to distinguish such spam from a real story or real comments. How do I retrieve and download stories? When you enter search criteria, and click on Search, you will be presented with everything that matches the criteria you entered, including multiple segments of multi-segment stories. Click on one of the segment links. Then scroll to the very bottom of the segment, and click on a tiny link labelled "View Original UseNet format". This retrieves the original ASCII plain-text version of the entire story. Then use "Save As ..." under the File menu to download the story. Enter the ".txt" extension when saving the story, or use Save As Type Text if appropriate for your newsreader. If you want to download Deja's HTML conversion rather than the plain-text version, click on "Get All N Segments", then use "Save As ..." using the ".htm" extension. Some postings are in Unix format, with linefeeds instead of carriage-return-linefeeds at the end of each line. If this is the case, it may be necessary to convert the file to MS-DOS format. This can be accomplished by using a utility program, or by renaming the file to ".doc", reading it into Word, then saving it as a ".txt" file by using "Save As ... MS-DOS text with line breaks". Can I cancel or remove my postings from Deja's archive? Is it possible to have postings cancelled or removed if someone else posted one of my stories without permission? Currently, is it not possible to actually *remove* anything from Deja's archive. You can cancel your postings (which prevents them from being viewed), but only if you posted from www.deja.com, and you know the exact message-ID. This can be done at http://deja.com/cancel_post.xp and is equivalent to cancelling a post made via your ISP. The cancellation message is propagated through normal UseNet distribution. There is no way to cancel postings made from elsewhere, nor is is possible to have someone else's postings cancelled. You can nuke your postings (which also prevents them from being viewed) regardless of whether or not they were posted from www.deja.com by going to http://deja.com/forms/nuke.shtml and following the instructions. Nuking only acts on Deja's archive and is not propagated. Normally you must nuke from the same e-mail address from which the post was made, as verification is required. If the ISP is defunct, or the e-mail address is no longer valid, or the e-mail address was altered to avoid spam, nuking online is not possible. You can still nuke your postings by sending a bunch of personal identification and a signed statement to Deja via snail-mail. See the Deja help guide for details. You can prevent your postings from being viewed at the time you post by using the following line either as a header, or as the first line of your posting: x-no-archive: yes The posting will still be archived, but cannot be viewed or found by a search. How do I post links to Deja articles? The best way is to insert the 9-digit Archive Number (AN) into the link-shell below, replacing the "xxxxxxxxx": http://www.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=xxxxxxxxx&fmt=text The Archive Number is displayed somewhere in the URL when you are viewing a Deja article, and is identifiable by the "AN". If the AN has a decimal point and more digits after the decimal point, that refers to a particular segment rather than the entire article. The 9-digit AN without any decimal point or extra digits after the decimal point refers to the entire article. The long URL's that result from a search are only temporary links valid until you exit that search. If the URL contains such things as "hitnum" or "context", they refer to the HTML conversion rather than the original plain-text version. Deja FAQ, version 1.0 27 Nov. 1999 Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.