The mother of all FAQs

Tim May says:
> I've decided to give my FAQ a name, to prevent confusion. "THE
> CYPHERNOMICON" is what I call it. (If the reference is obscure, I can
> explain.)
> 
> The main file is 1.3 MB. It takes about 12-15 minutes to transfer

This is really the "Mother of all FAQs" - the largest I've seen so far are 
less than 500k! Actually, I've spotted a trend in recent FAQs - they're no
longer a list of Frequently Asked (or Answered ;-) Questions, but a sort of
encyclopaedic guide to the group/topic.

Well, if newbies _read_ this one, the SNR on this list should soar 
exponentially!

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Rishab Aiyer Ghosh             "Clean the air! clean the sky! wash the wind!
rishab@dxm.ernet.in                   take stone from stone and wash them..."
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Voicemail +91 11 3760335                 H 34C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

Rishab Aiyer Ghosh writes:

> This is really the "Mother of all FAQs" - the largest I've seen so far are 
> less than 500k! Actually, I've spotted a trend in recent FAQs - they're no
> longer a list of Frequently Asked (or Answered ;-) Questions, but a sort of
> encyclopaedic guide to the group/topic.
> 
> Well, if newbies _read_ this one, the SNR on this list should soar 
> exponentially!

Yes, "FAQ" is a misnomer (a miscyphernomer?). And as long as it is, it
won't answer questions that get asked here, such as:

"I've looked for a FAQ on versions of RC4 that run on the Amiga, and I
can't find anything."

(Well, I'm kidding about this one, but similarly obscure questions do
come up. Rishab is right that most "FAQs" are becoming much more than
that. It seems to me we need a new term.)

I don't expect many people will try to read all 1.3 MB. Actually, the
text part is about 1 MB, with another 200-300KB added when I saved the
file so as to preserve the outline format. (I had to use MORE saved as
a Microsoft Word doc, then "Save Text with Layout," a little-used (and
buggy!) filter option that inserts spaces so as to preserve some
semblance of the original outline structure.)

I expect that people will pursue what interests them and ignore the
rest.

--Tim May


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