What people really see ABC as

Almost all virus warnings sent by email are hoaxes. If you get one, you are much better to contact your work IT department or check on anti-virus websites than to circulate the message. The virus writers are all keen on Trojan Horses (where the message is the virus) and by sending it around you are either a)wasting people's time and perpetuating the hoax, or b) still worse, exposing other people to the virus or risking that they will follow these instructions. I wouldn't do anything to my computer unless I had some comeback with the person advising me to do so, i.e I had paid money to a reputable company.

This may be of use/interest (taken from our office guidelines) The majority of email-borne viruses require you to run them in order to do anything - in other words, they need you to double-click the attachment. Virus writers make use of what is called "social engineering" to try and trick you into doing this for them. Basically they need to make the attachment interesting... so the email can include a host of things to get you to open it, such as "run this to make your internet connection 200% faster!" or "here's a free porn movie for you.". So, before you blindly double-click an attachment, *THINK*. Do you know the person that the email is from? If not, why are they sending you things? Even if you do know them - why would Fred Jones from the mail room, who's 60 years old if he's a day, be sending you a Britney Spears movie? The virus writer *needs* you to blindly launch anything that lands in your inbox. So don't do their dirty work for them. Do not open any attachments without virus scanning them first (and make sure you reglarly update your virus scanner). This includes word files, excel files and any other files that may appear ‘normal’. People who create viruses will frequently design them so that infected files appear to be innocent. In addition, viruses can lurk in any type of file so SCAN BEFORE YOU OPEN. (right click on them, save to desktop, right click on the file on your desktop and select scan for viruses. Run the scan. If it is clean, then you can open the file) Turn your preview pane off on Outlook (go to view/preview pane and make sure it’s not selected) Many viruses propogate without you even needing to open the attached file if you have the preview pane open. Hoax virus warnings are more than just annoying. After receiving lots of hoaxes, you may get into the habit of ignoring all virus warning messages, leaving you vulnerable to real destructive viruses. Check whether a virus is a hoax at at http://vil.nai.com/VIL/hoaxes.asp before you forward it on to all your friends. If it's a real virus, you should find it at http://vil.nai.com/vil/default.asp. It’s bad form to forward hoaxes on as this clogs up the internet and slows things down for everyone. Be aware that the people who create viruses can use known hoaxes to their advantage. A good example is the AOL4FREE hoax. This began as a hoax warning about a nonexistent virus. Once it was known that this was a hoax, somebody began to distribute a destructive trojan horse (a trojan horse differs from a virus in that it does not reproduce itself) in a file named AOL4FREE, attached to the original hoax virus warning! The lessons are clear: - Always scan files before you open them - Don’t open anything you don’t need to

I think you're right the first time - it's a great place that allows criticism in a friendly environment - something all writers need. I have been to writing groups where people are too scared to say anything remotely negative and they become pointless back-slapping affairs. Constructive criticism is vital to people who want to write. I must confess, rather shame-facedly, that due to deadlines and stuff i've only read a few stories around here and only contacted one writer (i would have contacted more but not all the writer's whose stories i read had their e-mail addresses up so i just gave their stories a rating). Must try harder!

it's a dating agency isn't it?

heh

yeah, carbon dating!

I've just discovered a new use! I figured I better copy the disk that all my poems are on, just in case it corrupted. I put the disk in and lo and behold it WAS corrupted :( So I'm using ABC as a handy place to cut and paste from onto a new disk - one that will be backed up immediately! I've got lots of poems that aren't on the site tho, hope I can find them somewhere else...

Having read 26 animal limericks from Primate in one evening, I really hope that these Lost Poems are not animal related limericks volume 2. But I hope you find the stuff Primate.

Cheers mate! I got just about all of it now - just a few odds and sods gone for good. The only thing that really bothers me is the plot outline for my book :( It's there, on a disk, staring at me and I cant open it! The other files on the disk are fine but this one isn't. Something to do with long-filenames probably. Typical! Oh well, back to the drawing board :(

For me the site is a constant reminder that I should keep writing. When I first started writing in 1998, I could email things to friends, which was fine, but they got a bit testy after piece 14 in three days. Then I created a little web site on geocities, but very few people saw it. The one's who did had usesul comments like: hmmm, "interesting." Besides, there is some very good stuff here. It raises the standard for me. I also think a pint of whiskey is a much more reliable source of ego massaging than anything likely to be found on this web site.

Ego massaging ? Not sure where that idea arises. I think there are a lot of people who like to talk and want to share their views with like-minded souls via the forums. Also plenty of really good writers that don't waste hours of their life chatting about nonsense and the great issues of the day on the forums. I don't think anyone is on the forums to shout, look at me, look at my work, I am a genius. More, just hanging out and talking to people who share some interests. I don't think anyone's ego is being massaged really - the few people here who have been published tend to keep quiet about it. When someone likes a piece of work and starts a conversation about it, that isn't massaging an ego, that's boosting confidence and giving feedback.

If ABC is a dating agency it's never worked for me, must try to find out where I'm going wrong. Mark

i didn't say it was a SUCCESSFUL dating agency mark! although to be less flippant about it ... one of the best things the site is for me is contact with other writers ... the allegiances i have made on the site have been based mostly on initially admiring someone's work and getting into email discussion and then perhaps talking online and meeting ... this doesn't seem odd as the majority of my friends have been met via writing related or other creative activities ... what could be better than here are a big bunch of people and we already have something in common? ... that romance might follow is only natural i suspect ... (not speaking for myself here ... but i HEAR a lot of things ... ) also ... heaven help any two poet households ... just a friendly warning ....

I must admit I have got to know a few people through writing, Liana for one, and it has made quite a difference to my life. I should also add though that it's mostly through email writing lists rather than ABC. I wish there was an email option with ABC, especially these discussion groups. Mark

by the way, I was being flippant too - with a touch of menlacholy thrown in for good measure. Mark

flippancy and melancholy is such a winning combination...i think it would my answer to liana's pre-nups question...

What question was that? Mark

dont worry, I've found it now

going off at a tangent. The Internet is often thought of as a place, but is it actually a series of electronic transactions between computers giving the illusion of a place, or a virtual place. As a virtual place abc is a site which provides hosting and critique for writers. It is also a vast free library accessible for all readers catering for a vast range of tastes. As a true child of the internet though, it is a series of electronic and personal transactions between all its users forming (the most cheesy and overused word on the net) a community of headcases. and yes Its also a dating agency in which almost all applicants have failed

Well life is also a dating agency in which we all fail eventually Mark

Special message for "primate" about recovering files with long filenames. This is going to get a bit technical, sorry. Just before Christmas a fake virus warning did the rounds that read as follows: possible infection. please use this to locate/remove virus. 1. Go to "Start" then "Find" followed by "Files or Folders" 2. In the "Files or Folders" screen type "sulfnbk.exe" - this is the name of the virus. 3. In "Look in" select your C drive. 4. Click "Search" or "Find now" 5. If the file shows up DO NOT OPEN IT! It has a black icon with red markings. 6. RIGHT click on the file, go to delete and left click. 7. Send it to the Recycle Bin. 8. Return to Desktop and open the Recycle Bin. 9. Empty the Recycle Bin or right click on "sulfnbk.exe" and delete again. If you find you have the virus, please send this message to all in your address book. Now I stress this warning was a FAKE. sulfnbk.exe is a valid Windows file and one of its functions is to allow you to recover files with long names in exactly the kind of circumstances that you are talking about. Information on restoring the deleted file can be found here: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/sulfnbk.exe.warning.html If you received the bogus warning and acted on it that might explain why you were able to recover all the other files but not the plot outline one that has a longer name. Let's hope that's all that's wrong. David.