


Last updated: 07 Jan 1993 

Unlike most FAQs, this list is not a collection of hearsay :-) 

(A "+" indicates a new question, and a "*" indicates a change from the last edition of
this FAQ.) 

Summary of Questions 

 1. What is the QRD? 
 2. How long has the QRD been around? 
 3. Who operates and maintains the QRD? 
 4. How do I access it? 
 5. How do I find something in it? 
 6. How frequently do people use it? 
 7. (*) What is a mirror, and why do I care? 
 8. Sounds cool; how can I mirror the QRD? 
 9. How often are the files updated, and what about accuracy? 
 10. How do I add something to it? 
 11. What file formats are allowed? 

And Now for the Answers... 

1. What is the QRD? 

   The QRD (short for Queer Resources Directory) is an electronic library with
   news clippings, political contact information, newsletters, essays, images, and
   every other kind of information resource of interest to the GLBO community.
   Information is stored both for the use of casual network users and serious
   researchers alike.

   There is one exception to the broad collection guidelines. Although the QRD
   recognizes the imporance of erotic artwork and writing to our community, we
   do not archive that type of information. Please look elsewhere for those
   resources.

2. How long has the QRD been around? 

   The QRD started in 1991 as an electronic archive for Queer Nation. It has
   been hosted -- although not officially supported -- at both
   cambridge.apple.com, and nifty.andrew.cmu.edu. In 1993 the QRD moved to
   vector.casti.com, a privately owned and maintained system. On January 1,
   1994, vector's name changed to vector.casti.com, although the QRD did not
   have to move again. 

3. Who operates and maintains the QRD? 

   In the early days, the QRD could be maintained by a single individual: Ron
   Buckmire, a graduate student at RPI. He will graduate in June '94 with a
   Ph.D. in Mathematics. Ron is still involved as the primary manager of the
   QRD, but the explosive growth the QRD experienced in 1993 demanded a
   larger staff. 

   On April 9, 1993, the QRD headquarters moved from nifty.andrew.cmu.edu
   to vector.casti.com due to some other (non-QRD related) problems which had
   developed on nifty. At that time, David Casti became the QRD system
   administrator tasked with improving the access methods available for the
   QRD and also providing general technical support. David is currently
   employed as a technical support engineer for InterCon Systems Corporation.
   While Ron is in the "home stretch" of finishing his degree and has little time
   to spend attending to the QRD, David has also assumed the role of Acting
   Manager. 

   September 1, 1993 was Thomas Holt Jr.'s first day as associate manager for
   the QRD. As Ron's school-related responsibilities had increased, a new
   position was created and Tom was recruited mostly to handle the basic
   maintenance of the QRD -- adding new files, deleting obsolete ones, etc.
   Tom is a staff member at Indiana State University. 

   As technology marched on, the QRD staff discussed the opportunities
   hypertext provided for "information surfing", but no one had the time to put
   together hypertext documents. On October 5, Darci Chapman from Nehalem
   River Software volunteered to create several hypertext files for the QRD
   users, and on November 1, 1993 this new access method was opened for
   business. 

   On December 7, 1993, the QRD added its first liaison officer: Kevyn Jacobs,
   the Electronic Organizer for Equality Kansas. Kevyn's responsibility is to act
   as a liaison to AOL and assist AOL users who want access to QRD resources. 

   On January 3, 1994, Alan Hamilton joined the QRD Staff as the Bisexual
   Resource Center Administrator. Alan is also responsible for maintaining the 
   Bisexual Resource List. 

   On February 8, 1994, Roger Grauwmeijer joined the QRD Staff to lend a
   helping hand with the hypertext documents. Roger has been mirroring the
   QRD in New Zealand since mid-1993. 

   The QRD staff can be reached at QRDstaff@vector.casti.com. 

4. How do I access it? 

   The QRD can be accessed via electronic mail, BBS, FTP, WAIS, gopher, and
   WWW. Below are abbreviated instructions for each method; more thorough
   instructions are available in the QRD-BY files at the top of the QRD
   directory structure.

      WWW: the URL is 
      ftp://vector.casti.com/pub/QRD/.html/QRD-home-page.html
      or click here. A New Zealand server is available now. 
      Gopher: Point your gopher client to vector.casti.com or click 
      here. 
      WAIS: database "/wais/qrd" on port 210 or click here. 
      FTP: ftp to vector.casti.com and log in as "anonymous". 
      BBS: call: 
         Central Park BBS: +44 81 947 4411 
         Outright: +1 510 568 9461 
         The Underground BBS: +1 908 262 9666 
      E-mail: Send an email message containing "help" to 
      ftpmail@vector.casti.com 
      Telnet: Please only use this method as a last resort.

5. (*) How do I find something in it? 

   Hmmm... This is a tough one, but a question we get quite a bit at the QRD.
   Unfortunately, our staff is not large enough to provide research assistance, but
   here are some tips:

   Read the HIGHLIGHTS file. 
      This is file contains a quick synopsis of new and updated information
      that is of interest to most of our users.

   Use WAIS. 
      Since we've gone to the trouble to create a WAISindex for the
      database, use it! You can be sure that WAIS is up-to-date, as the
      entire QRD index is scrapped and rebuilt every morning at about 2
      a.m. This technique is by far the most powerful tool when you are
      looking for specific information in the QRD.

   Use Gopher and WWW/Mosaic. 
      Where possible, the QRD staff has created very descriptive handles to
      files in both gopher and hypertext format. These methods may provide
      more information than just the filename, and it will be much easier to
      surf the archive, reading only the first screen or two of a potentially
      interesting file before moving on. WAIS database searches are
      available via both gopher and WWW/Mosaic.

6. (*) How frequently people use it? 

   As 1993 has seen the QRD more than double in size, it only makes sense that
   the number of accesses has also increased dramatically. The QRD on vector
   reported 70,000 hits in December 1993, and more than 100,000 in January.
   There are eight mirror sites for the QRD and while statistics are not available
   from them, any reasonable estimate makes the QRD one of the most
   frequently accessed libraries of its kind. Mirror sites are listed in each of the
   QRD-BY files, referenced in question 4. 

7. What is a mirror, and why do I care? 

   A mirror is a site which keeps an up-to-date copy of another site's files and
   makes those files available. In many ways, it functions as a backup which is
   updated daily or weekly -- usually automatically, but sometimes manually.

   For most Internet users, there is little need or reason to use the QRD's mirrors
   regularly. Vector is on a highly stable segment of the network with ample
   bandwidth for many, many simultaneous network connections. However,
   there are two cases when using a mirror makes sense:

   1. When vector.casti.com goes down: 
      Over the last 12 months, vector has had full network access 95% of the
      time. Of course, we all know that the QRD will only be out-of-reach
      during that 5% of the time we really need it -- knowing a mirror site
      will prevent you from losing that 5%.

   2. If you are on a restricted network: 
      A prime example is many of our QRD users in New Zealand who do
      not have access outside their own country. Fortunately, there is now a
      mirror in that country which now serves the needs of New Zealand,
      Austrialia and Asia.

8. (*) Sounds cool; how can I mirror the QRD? 

   If you have more than 30 megs of free disk space and want to run either a
   public or private mirror of the QRD, there are a couple good options.

   Using perl, the program "mirror" will check the QRD for changes and only
   download the files you need to keep your site up to date. It can be found on
   various FTP sites and a version is available from vector in the directory 
   /pub/unix/mirror*

   If you can't do that for whatever reason, you can still download a tarred copy
   of the QRD to your local site via FTP. Be warned: FTP on vector does not
   currently support automatically compressing tarfiles on their way out, so
   you'll be downloading a VERY LARGE file. If you want to give that a try:

    1. Connect to vector 
    2. cd /pub 
    3. get QRD.tar 

9. How often are the files updated, and what about accuracy? 

   With the exception of a few files which are also maintained by the QRD staff
   (most notably the soc.motss FAQ and the LGBO list of email lists), we can
   make no warranty for the timeliness or accuracy of the information in the
   QRD. Since we draw on the net.public at large for most of our files, there is
   no way we could possibly verify each piece of information in our archives.
   Wherever possible, though, we include the name and email address of the
   person who submitted the file and you can of course contact that person for
   more information.

   If you find a file in the QRD which has out-of-date information, please bring
   it to our attention. As a general rule we will not remove files from the QRD
   without ample reason, but in the case of obsolete data we will do our best to
   keep that kind of misinformation to a minimum. 

10. How do I add something to it? 

   If you think you have something that would be of value to other GLBO folk
   as resource material -- for example an essay you've written or a set of fliers
   you've developed for a media campaign -- by all means, send the files our
   way. There are two convenient methods:

   1. Send email to QRD@vector.casti.com with your submission.

   2. Via FTP, upload your file(s) to /pub/QRD/incoming.

11. What file formats are accepted? 

   Most of the information in the QRD is ASCII text, and this is definitely our
   preferred format. ASCII can be easily indexed and reindexed, moved from
   platform to platform, compressed, formatted, etc. The only notable exception
   to this rule is the presence of a few GIF files. If you have questions or a
   special need for your submission, by all means drop us a line and we'll work
   something out.


Queer Resources Directory / QRDstaff@vector.casti.com / 07 Jan 1993 
