From: vanan@aol.com (Vanan)
Subject: Re: alt.fan.eddings Frequently Asked Questions Part 2
Date: 31 Dec 1998 00:00:00 GMT
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G.  Dryads (a.k.a. The Thread That Will Not Die)

    Donal Fellows has a fairly comprehensive compilation of the endless
Dryad threads. To take a look, check out his hompage. (URL given at the
end of this FAQ).

    Although to date I have heard of three possible explanations for
this, below is Rumor's explanation, the most comprehensive explanation
I've yet seen. Keep in mind that PtS was discarded when considering this
question. The general consensus is that Eddings wasn't thinking clearly when he
wrote the section where Polgara briefly writes about this subject.

    It's really very simple (long, but simple): The dryad invariably has one
"human" X chromosome and one "dryad" X chromosome. When a dryad
(female, of course) and a human male produce a female child, the male
has donated an X chromosome, which still pairs with during mitosis and
meoisis so that the child can grow and produce eggs (not so strange -
the Y and X chromosomes of humans are extremely different and still pair in
cell division, and in this case, it's the dryad X that varies
slightly from the human X). Now, in human females, one X chromosome in
_every_ cell of the body becomes inactivated after a few weeks of life.
(It becomes super-condensed because a double-dose of genes would be too
much - it is then called a Barr body). In dryad female offspring, the
human X serves to determine sex of the child, and then is the one
condensed in every cell of the dryad's body (in humans, it is a random
choice in the cells, but it could _easily_ be forced in dryad cells,
because the two X chromosomes are slightly different, so one can be
recognized as the human one and then condensed). The simplest mechanism
for this would be a protein or series of protein reactions derived from
the dryad X to inactivate the human X.

    Thus, a female child develops via the dryad X. Because half of her
genome is human, dryads appear very much like humans. (The dryad half
couldn't be much different anyway, because all chromosomes have to pair
in cell division).

    Males: Child receives human male Y and a dryad female X. The male Y
chromosome codes for a gene product (TDF maybe - the testis (male)
determining factor) that inactivates portions of the dryad X chromosome
that deal with dryad physiology. This is entirely possible - on all
chromosomes, areas of the chromosome are regulated separately and turned 'on'
or 'off' at the genetic level by protein and DNA packing
regulation. Thus, a protein from the Y, normally meant only for some
human purpose (such as TDF, which develops a male into a male) could
also bind to the dryad X or cause some sort of signal cascade that
deactivates the specific dryad genes - remember that the dryad X is
quite similar to the human X which can clearly be indicated by their
stark similarity to humans, so all the normal physiological genes needed from
the X chromosome remain active. So, there you go. Gene regulation and
inactivation. Simple, real, human genetics that can be applied to the dryad
system, which must be amazingly similar to ours if human males can actually
manage to reproduce with them.

Re: "Half-dryad" and "full-dryad" nomenclature
Or, why there are no full dryads

    _All_ dryads are half-dryad because half their genome is from a
human, in which case, the definition for "dryad" becomes "half-dryad,"
and the word "dryad" still is correct: Dryads are all half-dryads, but
are still called dryads, because there are no full-dryads.

    An analogy: the word hypercholesterolemia. This is a disease in
which a person has one of _two_ genes defective for a certain receptor
that allows cholesterol to be taken out of the blood. That is to say,
the person has one mutant copy of the gene and one wildtype (normal)
copy.

    Hypercholesterolemia breeds true (it is genetic, so obviously...),
but the definition refers to a half-hypercholesterolemic, technically...

    However, people with two copies are _not_ called
hypercholesterolemic (ack, bad example! Typing that is annoying! ^_^),
because there aren't any. Two copies of the mutant are lethal, so all
"full-hyper'emics" are dead. Hence the word, like dryad, technically
means a half-breed, but that's _all_ it means, so it is still the
correct connotation. "Dryad" _means_ half-breed, and there are _no_
"full-dryads." So, essentially, when Polgara refers to Ce'Nedra is a
half-dryad, it's still what we're all used to.

    My explanation way above also explains how a female with only one
dryad X can have the same phenotype of a theoretical full dryad.

Re: Children of dryads, especially males.

    Without a deletion, half the male children of a dryad would have all their
daughters (grand-daughters of the dryad) be dryads again; the gene causing
dryad-ness in females would resurface after a generation. So, deletion of this
gene by male children of dryads is likely possible, probably through an induced
inversion mechanism, although it deoesn't really matter.

    Actually, if a dryad X underwent auto-inversion in males across the
centromere of the X chromosome... the dryad X chromosomes would break
up. Thus, sons of dryads could only have male kids, and the dryad
chromosome would be _lost_ in that first generation.

    Would anybody ever notice that particular orphans found near the
Wood of the Dryads only have male children. Probably not, actually.
Medical records in Tolnedra were probably sketchy.

    The necessity for such a mechanism depends on whether a dryad is in
any way recognizable from a normal human. Suppose the gene is not
normally deleted, and a dryad-borne male is dumped into Tolnedra as an
orphan (as per Aphrael's theory). He has three children in his lifetime, two of
which are female, and thus both are dryad. _However,_ he doesn't know he's
carrying the dryad genes on his X chromosome (which is given to all female
children),  and so nobody ever realizes they're dryad. _And_ if they're never
bonded to a tree... then they don't have an extended lifetime (we _know_,
despite the dryad/tree argument that tree age is the reason the dryads live so
long. Xantha states it). So, nobody ever realizes she's dryad, and nothing ever
comes of it...

    If this is the case, there's probably a lot of unclaimed dryads
running around clueless in Tolnedra. Personally, I prefer the
deletion/inversion theory, because it's simpler, neater, and wraps
everything up just fine. Occam's Razor, n' such.

H.  Immortality (a.k.a. The Other Thread That Will Not Die)

    We've already witnessed that Belgarath, Polgara, Beldin and the
other sorcerers have lived for centuries. So doesn't this mean that
Garion will have the same life span? What will happen to the Rivan line? Will
Garion abdicate when Geran is old enough to take over?  And what about
Ce'Nedra, won't she live a long time, too, at least until her tree dies?

    Everybody seems to have an opinion on this one.  First of all, we
never learn if the sorcerers are, in fact, immortal or if they just have a very
long life span.  And secondly, we never know if long life is part of the
natural order of sorcerers or if Belgarath was allowed to live for 7000 years
because the Prophecy needed him.  There are two major schools of thought on
this one. The first is that the sorcerers are, in fact, immortal and will live
forever. The second is that the Prophecy's work is done and things will resume
their natural order, and the sorcerers will die in the normal course of time
now. Take your pick, because there doesn't seem to be enough evidence to prove
either theory.

    As for the Rivan line, most people seem to agree that if Garion is,
in fact, going to live for a long, long time, he will hand over the
crown to Geran when Geran reaches a suitable age.  Garion was never that
thrilled to be a king in the first place, and there doesn't seem to be any
reason why he would want to extend that role for several centuries.

    And with regard to Ce'Nedra, there are two major schools of thought
on that. Some people believe that she will live as long as her tree (how long
her tree will live is a whole other tangent thread), while others believe that
the Prophecy tweaked things a bit so that Ce'Nedra will live as long as Garion
does.


I.  The mark on Garion's hand -- is it symbolic of the Rivan line or
    the mark of his being a sorcerer?

    As with most of these questions, there are two schools of thought on this
one.  Some people believe that the mark signifies Garion's place in the Rivan
line, and point to the fact that all the Rivan kings had the mark, even after
they went into hiding and never touched the Orb. Others believe it is the mark
of Garion's sorcery, and point to the facts that 1) we are told that all the
sorcerers had some sort of mark signifying their talent -- Polgara has her
white lock, Belgarath has a mark over his heart, etc. and 2) the mark on
Garion's hand throbs, itches or burns when he uses sorcery, and also has some
sort of connection with Polgara's white lock. It's also been suggested that the
mark simply served both purposes.

J.  So, what exactly is on Garion's amulet?
    (Thanks to Jonathan Yen for this answer)

    We have no clue. Eddings only made one comment on what was on the
amulet. In _Queen of Sorcery_, Garion looks at his amulet and notices
that it has a strange geometric design. That's it. For some reason,
Garion never bothers to look at his amulet ever again. Why? Don't ask
me.

    So, of course, there has been speculation on what is on the amulet
Various things have been said, like a wolf, the orb, the Rivan sword
going through a crown, and a circle. Because Garion ain't that dumb, I
think he would have noticed that his amulet had a design of one of these rather
than think of it as a strange geometric design.

    Aphrael posed the idea that the design on Garion's amulet was in
fact a moebius strip. "Something about two things becoming one or maybe
it was one thing becoming two. I don't know...I was feeling weird that
day."

    Amy Sheldon thought it might have been a rune; a weird character
that stands for an entire word (like in the Chinese language).  Of
course, this started up a whole lot of speculation of what the word
was...

K.  What is this Bel/Pol prefix business?
    -cont. by Donal Fellows with parenthetical
    commentary by Amy Sheldon

    `Bel' and `Pol' both mean beloved and nothing more. It's just that
`Bel' is the male form and `Pol' is the female form. Beldaran is an
anomaly, but languages (especially English) are full of them, so you'd
better get used to it...

    (NOWHERE in either the Belgariad or Malloreon does it state that
'Bel' or 'Pol' means disciple. Aldur added it to his original disciples' names,
presumably as a sign that they were his "beloved disciples", but simply adding
'Bel' to a name no more makes a character Aldur's disciple then adding 'Fido'
to your name would make you into a dog.)

L.  Why isn't 'Durnik' called 'Beldurnik'?

    How do you know he isn't? Everyone is used to calling him 'Durnik'
(and he's used to being called Durnik), so just because he's a disciple
now, and officially entitled to add 'Bel' to his name doesn't mean
everyone is going to start calling him a totally different name.

M.  Has anyone noticed the chess analogy in the titles of the
    Belgariad?

    The titles of the Belgariad all have two parts to them.  One part
refers to a chess piece or move (e.g. Pawn, Gambit) and the other part
is a reference to some form of magic, or magical person.

    There is quite a strong connection with chess throughout the
Belgariad. The game between the LP and the DP can be seen as a
complicated game of chess involving the characters (some people have
gone as far as associating each character with a type of chess piece).
It has also been speculated that the strange geometric design on
Garion's amulet is in fact a chessboard.

    The Mallorean titles are slightly more obscure. They use the title
of an individual and the place where they are located. (e.g. Seeress of
Kell)

N. What was Beldin's first act of sorcery?

    There is an inconsistency between accounts in Belgarath the Sorcerer and
Sorceress of Darshiva. In SoD Beldin says he was angry with Belgarath but
turned his will onto a tree instead. In BtS Belgarath asks Beldin to move a
rock to his tower and Beldin translocates it instead. A possible explanation
for this is that Beldin didn't want everyone to think his first act of sorcery
was to do something as simple as moving a rock.

O.  Why can't Zedar get out of that hole Belgarath put him in?
    (By Jonathan Yen, with parenthetical commentary by Amy Sheldon)

    Well, Belgarath mentions that sorcerers can't undo what another
sorcerer does because everyone thinks differently. But Zedar ain't
stupid, and so, should be able to think of another way to get out,
right? So, Belgarath must have thought of a pretty elaborate way to keep Zedar
down there. However, one should remember that Zedar is stuck in rock for all
eternity, which means that he has sufficient oxygen and
food for all eternity also. Or, it means that Belgarath made provisions
for his well-being for throughout eternity.

    Two possible solutions have been proposed.
    a) Zedar is stuck in rock like how Relg goes through it.
    b) Zedar is in suspended animation.
       (It should be noted that this is unlikely, as it wouldn't be that awful
a punishment if Zedar didn't know he was trapped.)

P.  Speaking of Zedar, don't you think his punishment was too
    harsh?

    No.

Q.  What is the sex of Polgara's twins?

    It is never said. In the prologue and epilogue of PtS, the twins are
mentioned many times, and are quite clearly not referred to by name or sex.
This is quite deliberate. The reason given is that no one can now come up with
any suggestion for stories about the twins, because
absolutely nothing is known about them.

R.  Who is the Wolf?

    This is thought to be, as with the twins, an attempt to keep a few
loose ends lying around in the world of the Belgariad. The wolf  refered to is
the one found by Poledra in the Mallorean. He is now Geran's pet/friend, and in
the epilogue of PtS he is described as having rather more intelligence than
your average wolf.

    Some of the various explanations are: he is just an ordinary wolf,
it's just that wolves are very intelligent creatures, he is an
embodiment of the Light Prophecy, enjoying his retirement, or finally,
he is David Eddings himself.

S.  How did Polgara and Poledra merging help them remain unseen by
Torak?

    The first time Polgara and Poledra merge form into the SuperOwl(tm),
Polgara remarks that it was the inward turning of themselves that made them
invisible. But that cannot be the whole reason, for it should be possible to
someone to turn their thoughts inward without merging with someone else. The
turning of thought can be seen as creating a shield against searching thoughts.
The merging process in combination with turning inward enables them to remain
unseen from Torak. It is possible that the merging means they can create the
shield and be aware of events happening outside of their merged form. Whereas
the shield Garion and Polgara made was imperfect at the join, a combined form
could create a perfect shield.

T. Why are there so many differences between BtS and PtS?

    It seems to be on purpose. In one of the letters to the Polgara
scrapbook, David speaks about this, and says not to bother pointing them out.
In the book, Polgara says that she has a different viewpoint and remembers
things differently to Belgarath. Now, given the fact David has put this in, it
means he knows there are differences and doesn't want to change them. It is
more realistic to think that Polgara and Belgarath cannot remember something
exactly when it's something that occurred 3000 years ago.

ELENIUM/TAMULI

U.  Inconsistencies

    1.) Some terms that may be confused and are occasionally mixed up by the
editors.

a.) Elene/Elenian

    The difference is pretty simple. "Elene" refers to an ethnic/racial
group, that group which dominates all of western Eosia, in the nations
of Elenia, Arcium, Deira, Thalesia, Pelosia, Lamorkand, Cammoria and
Rendor, as opposed to the Styric or Tamul races. "Elenian" refers to the
citizens of a particular Elene nation, Elenia. Not all Elenes are
Elenian, nor are all Elenians necessarily Elene, since a rural Styric
living in Elenia could also be classified as "Elenian."

b.) Patriarch/primate

    A patriarch is one of the 168 members of the upper level of the
Hierocracy of the Elene Church. A primate, from all indications, is one
rank below a patriarch. If the patriarch of a particular city or
district is incapacitated, the primate acts in his stead. I compare them to the
Roman Catholic ranks of cardinal vs. Bishop. The major difference is that
patriarchs can vote with the Hierocracy and primates can't. This is why it was
so important for Annias to buy support among the patriarchs.

    2.) Illogical gaps in the story

a.) When Ehlana coaxes the Bhelliom to let her touch it, Bhelliom flatly
refuses and states that it has _only once_ allowed a non-divine, non- Anakha
creature to touch it, and that was when Ghwerig first lifted it from the earth.
Yet we know that Adian must have touched the stone when he stole it from
Ghwerig's cave, and it's likely that the Thalesian kings who followed him
touched it as well.

    Aside from concluding that the ancient stone of power was developing
Alzheimer's, the only explanation seemed to be that Bhelliom
deliberately lied. There has been much debate about why.  We know, of
course, that the story about instant death if one touched Bhelliom was
false and that Bhelliom itself could decide who got to touch it. Rumor
believes that Bhelliom was very proud and egotistical, and didn't want
to admit that so many people had been allowed to touch it. Others agree
and add that Bhelliom was afraid that this would be seen as a sign of
weakness and as its alliance with Anakha was still relatively new, it
still didn't trust even its own creature.

b.) In Domes of Fire, Sparhawk mentions to Sephrenia that Aphrael can
fly, and Sephrenia replies that she never actually saw Aphrael do it,
but she assumed that her sister could fly. But later, we learn that
not only has Sephrenia seen Aphrael fly, but she's even been brought
along on about four or five flights in the last three centuries.

    Someone jokingly suggested that Sephrenia had never "seen" Aphrael
fly because she always had her eyes closed in terror. But otherwise,
there has not yet been a logical explanation for this one.

V. Do the Elenium or Tamuli titles have any connections to the stories?

    The Elenium titles are all related to types of precious stones. The
Tamuli is the hardest.  The closest anyone has come up with is that they refer
to cities. The only problem is "The Shining Ones" but that could refer to the
city of Delphaeus, as Delphaeus means both the city and The Shining Ones.

W.  What God is supporting Zalasta's spells when he crashes Sephrenia
    and Vanion's wedding?

    At the end of the Tamuli, Cyrgon is dead and Klæl is banished. If Styric
spells are nothing more than requests to a God, how do Zalasta's spells work at
Sephrenia and Vanion's wedding when he has no God left to appeal to?

    This one was argued back and forth a bit. This is the one solution that
seems that Edæmus gave the Delphae the power to act on their own
when he departed to prepare the way for their eventual journey. It seems
logical to conclude, then, that a God or other source of power could just as
easily have given Zalasta the power to act on his own.  Where he got that power
from is another matter entirely. Rumor and Aphrael concluded that it was Klæl.
As Rumor pointed out, a God is of this (i.e., Sparhawk's) world and has reason
to feel threatened by a human with the power to act on his own. But for Klæl,
Zalasta was little more than a tiny speck who meant nothing. He would never be
able to destroy or contend with Klæl. The only two entities from whom Klæl had
anything to fear were Bhelliom and Anakha. So it would be no loss for Klæl to
grant Zalasta the power to act on his own.

X.  If the Elder Gods were all confined and the Younger Gods were all
    good guys, where did the renegade Styrics get their power?

    This is one of those cases of not enough information. There are two
possibilities here. Either the renegades somehow found another Elder God
besides Azash who still had power despite his confinement, or else not all of
the Younger Gods were as lily-white as we're led to believe. In the first
scenario, it could be that the Elder Gods could still grant spells to
individuals in their confined state, but because of their lack of worshippers
they were somehow cut off from being powerful enough to command Bhelliom. On
the other hand, it's been proposed that it's entirely possible that there was
resentment among the Younger Gods, and, that there were one or two who would
actually grant spells to renegades. It's doubtful, however that the resentment
extended so far as to go along with Zalasta's plot to destroy Aphrael,
therefore necessitating Zalasta's alliances with Azash and Cyrgon.

Y.  Why was Sparhawk so afraid to let Wargun know that they were looking for
Bhelliom when they ran into Wargun in Pelosia?  Wouldn't Wargun have agreed to
at least let Sparhawk borrow the stone if he knew it was their only hope? And
even if not, wouldn't it be easier to steal the stone from Wargun after he and
his army captured it from Ghwerig
than to fight the Troll himself?

    It seems that we have to go on the assumption that Wargun was an
erratic drunk who was not thinking rationally.  Add to that the fact
that he probably wouldn't have believed that the Bhelliom had magical
powers and could cure Ehlana, and chances are, he wouldn't believe that
Sparhawk had a valid reason for wanting the stone.  As for the question
of letting Wargun help capture the stone and then stealing it from him,
it's important to note that time was of the essence.  Half the knights
whose lives were supporting Ehlana's had already died. And, as Rumor
pointed out, it would take a while just to move an army from Pelosia to
Thalesia.  Besides, chances are that Wargun would have taken his own
soldiers with him and sent Sparhawk to Arcium. Considering that the most
important thing in Sparhawk's mind was restoring Ehlana, he couldn't afford to
gamble on the whims of an erratic, drunken king.

Z.  Immortality (The Elenium Derivative)

    If Danae is going to be Queen of Elenia and she is immortal, will
she have to grow old and die like a normal person?

    Aphrael makes it clear at the end of the Elenium that she knows she
will have to play by the normal rules in her incarnation as Danae.  As
much as she may be tempted, she isn't about to upset the Elene
population of Eosia by remaining a child for several centuries. So it's
likely that at the appropriate time, Danae will fake a nice, peaceful,
painless death and move on to her next incarnation.

AA. Will Eddings write any more on Sparhawk and the gang when he is
    finished with _Polgara the Sorceress_?

    No.

THE ALT.FAN.EDDINGS NEWSGROUP

AB. alt.fan.eddings newsgroup; what is it, who created it, and when?
    -Cont. by Aquarius

    a.f.e. is the home of Eddings fanatics worldwide. The newsgroup has
a high level of traffic, several hundred posts a day, up from only a
couple dozen only a few years ago. The control message sent to
alt.config came from Bob Snyder, on behalf of Lydia Leong.  The date was 17 May
1992.  The reasons given for the creation of the new group was that the
existing place for discussion about Eddings,
rec.arts.sf.written, had a lot of flame wars about whether Eddings was a good
writer or not. It was felt that fans' questions were being lost as a result of
these flame wars. Interestingly, alt.fan.eddings was created with the idea that
it should also be a home for discussion about the Belgariad MUSH as well. A
fuller history of the newsgroup, and a full copy of the control message can be
seen at
http://www.members.tripod.com/~afecodex/

AC. Why does everyone have an Eddings alias, and how can I get one?

    This popular habit was started around the summer of 97. There had
always been a few people using aliases, but more and more people started using
them until it was decided that some sort of system was needed to ensure that no
two people took the same alias. Teut monitors who has what alias and any
questions regarding aliases should be directed to teut@thebusstop.demon.co.uk.
Teut maintains a site listing all aliases currently in use. It can be found at
http://www.thebusstop.demon.co.uk/alias.htm


AD. What are the Silver Suggestions?

    The "Silver Suggestions" are alt.fan.eddings' guide to good
netiquette and is posted, twice a month, by Itagne (or rather, his
daemon Mordja). They are a collection of statements which people should
aim to follow when posting to alt.fan.eddings.  Newcomers are encouraged to
read them, as well as the FAQ, before posting for the first time. They include
Aphrael's Three Commandments, as mentioned in the main FAQ. To see the on-line
copy of the Silver Suggestions, visit
http://www.greenbeak.demon.co.uk/afe/silver-suggestions/

AE. Who runs the Trivia quiz, and when is it posted to the newsgroup?

    Simon Nickerson runs the AFE Trivia Quiz.  A new quiz is posted once every
two weeks and everyone is encouraged to enter.  Looking in the books for
answers is positively encouraged.  Please don't post the
answers to the newsgroup, instead mail them to triviaquiz@iname.com. For
further information, refer to the guidelines set out in the Trivia Quiz posts,
or the web page at http://www.sigma.demon.co.uk/quiz.

AF. What exactly is Klæl's Army?

    Klæl's Army was a rather innocuous looking thread about how the Arcerans
(aliens that Klæl brought over to fight in the Tamuli) could forge weapons in
the highly explosive atmosphere they lived in. It developed into a highly
complex and incomprehensible discussion about biology. Very quickly, it became
an in-joke to refer to it when any complicated thread was started, no matter
the subject. It has returned this year and if anything, is even more
complicated. Klæl's Army has now joined the Dryad and Immortality threads into
the history of
alt.fan.eddings.

AG. Where can a new user find information about this newsgroup?

    Itagne (itagne@greenbeak.demon.co.uk) runs the AFE Daemon Catalogue
which can automatically send you various information packs about this
newsgroup. To get the Newbie pack send  a blank email to
afe-daemon@greenbeak.demon.co.uk with a subject of  "get -newbie". For a
catalogue of all the documents send an e-mail to the same address as
above with a subject of "get -cat". Please ensure that your return email
address is *NOT* disguised as you will not get a reply. The catalogue can be
found at one of Itagne's afe related sites,
http://www.greenbeak.demon.co.uk/afe/dispatch-daemon/ along with a variety of
other files that the new user (or a returning old user who never read the
documents in the first place) might find of interest.

AH. Are there any rules for this newsgroup?

    There are no formal rules. Most people seem to agree that this is a
pretty pleasant newsgroup with friendly people and low spam and troll
ratios. But there are three things we can all do to make sure things
stay friendly and relaxed. They are called the Three Commandments.

        1.) Thou shalt not flame without malicious provocation.

    Pretty self-explanatory. If someone says something that upsets you
or that you disagree with, tell them calmly, in polite language, and
without resorting to name-calling or personal attacks.

        2.)  Thou shalt not profane the works of thy authors David and
Leigh Eddings.

    So maybe you didn't like _all_ of Eddings' books. Not everybody
does. But don't come out with belligerent statements like "This book
sucks!" Instead, state in intelligent, mature language that you had
problems with this particular book or series and explain why. Maybe
there is even someone else here who can offer you a new perspective on
it that will make you appreciate it more.

        3.)  Thou shalt not utilize foul or offensive language.

    This one follows pretty logically from the other two. What is meant
by "foul or offensive language?"  Basically, if you wouldn't say it in
front of your parents or other respected adults, or in the presence of
particular racial, ethnic or gender groups, don't say it here.

AI. What are the letters that I see before some thread names?

    The letters before thread names are a voluntary taggin method
started to help readers of afe who don't have the time and/or the
inclination to read every post keep up with what their most interested
in. The tags that are currently in use consist of:
[B]anter
[E]ddings
[M]eta (relating to the newsgroup itself)
[O]ff-topic
[T]echnical