AOI faq page

gg A.B.AOI charter & FAQ.

Are Herein:

Note: While the ideas and principles of the FAQ will always remain the same,

some contents may change as this is a work in progress.

First the A.B.AOI Charter:

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The purpose of this newsgroup is for the sharing of images of young adolescent girls, for the aesthetic appreciation and celebration of their youthful charm & beauty, and for general discussion of this & related topics. The images may be in the form of photographs, video clips in any format, or other kinds of artwork.

AOI stands for "Age of Innocence" - the title of a photo album book by photographer David Hamilton, a well-known classic in this field that epitomizes the genre. The images posted in this newsgroup may be nude or non-nude, but under NO circumstances pornographic. (That is, they may not depict any subject engaged in sexual activity or lascivious exhibition, or in any way fall within the definition of child pornography as specified in U.S. Federal law as defined in 18 USC Sec. 2256 and related statutes.) Policy as to what is unacceptable will be vigorously promulgated by active group members, and enforced if need be by means of complaint reports to appropriate entities.

Some acceptable images may be experienced or deemed by some to be
erotic, but alt.binaries.aoi is not intended as an erotica newsgoup per se.
Rather, it's purpose and focus is aesthetic in nature.

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* * * A.B.AOI FAQ * * *

Aug 1999 revision

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This is a faq covering the basic questions related to this newsgroup. The FAQ & the Charter set the general guidelines and rules for viewing and posting in alt.binaries.aoi. If it doesn't fully answer your questions, you're encouraged to post questions and requests for clarification. Regular members are generally more than happy to advise newbies.

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Q1: What is <a.b.aoi> and what does the name mean?

A1: Alt.binaries.aoi is a usenet newsgroup dedicated to the aesthetic appreciation of youthful female beauty, by means of both images and discussion. AOI is an abbreviation for Age of Innocence - and was inspired by the title of one of photographer David Hamilton's books celebrating the exquisite charm often found in adolescent girls - which to some is the age when females tend to be at their most beautiful - the phase during which a girl is no longer a child, but not yet an adult.

Q2: What's on-topic here?

A2: Any non-pornographic, aesthetically pleasing images of adolescent girls, between puberty and age 17, and relevant discussion. Images may be still photos, motion clips such as avi, mpg or rm video files, or other visual media such as drawings or paintings. Pertinent sound files have also occasionally been posted. While pre-pubescent girls may have great aesthetic appeal for some, they're off-topic in a.b.aoi, unless part of a series featuring adolescent girls to a significant extent - (such as the DSM series, for example.)

Posts concerning pertinent software issues & other technical matters are also considered on topic.

Q3: How is 'pornographic' defined?

A3: Tough question. Under U.S. Federal law, child pornography is basically defined as anything depicting a minor (under 18) in which there is sex of any kind. The problem is that one of the examples of sexual conduct given is "lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area", but the intended meaning of "lascivious" is not defined or explained. Therefore, there could be disagreement about whether specific pictures contain lascivious exhibition or not, and posters must exercise their own discretion about this. (For example, there are images by Hamilton & others in which the genitals are clearly visible, and while they are apparently legal due to their artistic quality, some might see such material to contain lascivious exhibition.) However, any material that without question involves blatantly explicit and clearly deliberate display of the genitals, which was obviously produced predominantly for this purpose, is definitely off-topic.

Q4: What else is off-topic?

A4: Basically 4 types of things are off-topic.

1] First of all, anything pornographic.

2] Secondly, pre-pubescents (unless part of a series featuring at least one adolescent girl to a significant extent) and girls over 17 (unless part of a series featuring at least one pubescent girl under 18.)

3] Thirdly, any images that the scanner, photographer, or owner of which has made it clear that he objects to their being posted here.

[Examples are: BlackCat series ("bc_") since BlackCat has requested that his scans only be posted in abp.bc-series; Jock Sturges has repeatedly conveyed objections to any unauthorized posting of his work; the photographer Jonathan Gontar does not want anyone besides himself to post his material (JG scans); the photographer Christian Judei has also asked that his work not be posted. Aristof objects to posts of work for which he holds copyrights or represents the copyright-holder, other than for small samples.] Any other requests from photographers or scanners to refrain from the posting of their work should also be honored.

4] Spam.

Q5: What about other images protected by copyright law?

A5: Most images posted on the internet are protected by copyright law.

However, like many net citizens we believe that the posting of images, especially from out-of-print, unavailable books, is a valuable informational service to the public which can bring positive attention to an unknown artist and even encourage the publisher to make the work available once again. However, if a copyright owner complains, then further posting of the images in question will be off-limits for posting here.

Q6: Is it legal to download & post pictures that are on-topic in this group?

A6: We cannot say for sure, because of the vagueness in the law mentioned earlier. Other than copyright infringement, we believe that it violates no laws in most counties to post or download much of the kinds of material this group is intended for, such as the work of David Hamilton and much of the "softcore" Japanese idol material. However, with much material, it appears that there's no way to know for sure whether it would be considered legal or not. Therefore, it would be wise to be cautious.

(For more information about this, read the text posts here and in other ng's on this topic, and ask questions of those who seem to you to be knowledgeable. People here are usually eager to be helpful. Lawrence Stanley, an attorney specializing in the subject who usually uses "Aristof' as a nickname, has often posted pertinent information and opinions that are particularly well-informed. An excellent source of information on privacy and security is Doctor Who's Security FAQ, which you can probably obtain by requesting it in this ng.)

Q7: Is there a limit on the number of files that one poster is allowed to post, or other rules about posting?

A7: There's no actual rule about this currently. However, if there has been a large number of posts by others that day, one should consider limiting the number of one's posts to some number that is not too large. For example, for large series of 100 files or more, one might consider dividing them into 2 or more batches.

There's also no rule about the posting of indexes or CRC's, but if they are available, they should be included with the post, preferably with the indexes posted first, or both at the beginning and the end. Indexes or CRC's created by someone other than the original poster are OK, but should be clearly identified as such.

If you are posting your own scans, please make a CRC and post it along with the scans. (If you need instructions on this, please ask.)

Also, ordinarily one should not post any files that one has renamed or altered in any way, with the exception of combines, or cases in which one had authorization from the scanner to make modifications.

Q8: How come there's virtually no spam here?!?

A8: Complaints are filed on all off-topic or otherwise unwelcome spammers. Only posts promoting websites featuring on-topic material are acceptable.

Q9: What is the proper demeanor here?

A9: Other than for being civil to others, that is hard to give definite advice about. Although the main reason many of us are interested in this topic has to do with artistic enjoyment and aesthetics - the love of beauty - we also like to have fun, and many of us are given to joking. The best advice would be to "lurk" for awhile if you're unsure what kind of images, comments and discussion are suitable here, and wait until you have a better idea about what's appropriate before diving in.

Q10: What about cross-posting to A.B.AOI & other groups at the same time?

A10: Please do NOT cross-post to A.B.AOI and any erotica, alt.sex, or pre-teen groups. (Among other issues, this attracts spammers.)

Q11: What is that gobbledegook I've seen people post that says "PGP message"??

A11: PGP is an encryption program for sending private messages that need to be decoded in order to be read. It's worth finding out how to use it, but PGP shouldn't be used here. If someone wants to speak privately with someone else, a group like alt.anonymous.messages should be used for this.

Q12: Is this all there is to the faq?

A12: This is all there is for now. The regular participants in this group tend to prefer keeping rules to a minimum, and policies informal and flexible. Additions may be made over time, however, to address further issues that may arise as time goes on.

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