update to reflect new organization, header structure, byteorder, etc.

[unix-history] / usr / src / games / fortune / Notes

Warning:
	The fortunes contained in the fortune database have been collected
	haphazardly from a cacophony of sources, in number so huge it
	boggles the mind.  It is impossible to do any meaningful quality
	control on attributions, or lack thereof, or exactness of the quote.
	Since this database is not used for profit, and since entire works
	are not published, it falls under fair use, as we understand it.
	However, if any half-assed idiot decides to make a profit off of
	this, they will need to double check it all, and nobody not involved
	of such an effort makes any warranty that anything in the database
	bears any relation to the real world of literature, law, or other
	bizzarrity.

This file describes the format for fortunes in the database.  This is done
in detail to make it easier to keep track of things.  Any rule given here
may be broken to make a better joke.

[All examples are indented by one tab stop -- KCRCA]

Numbers should be given in parentheses, e.g.,

	(1)	Everything depends.
	(2)	Nothing is always.
	(3)	Everything is sometimes.

Attributions are two tab stops, followed by two hyphens, followed by a
space, followed by the attribution, and are *not* preceded by blank
lines.  Book, journal, movie, and all other titles are in quotes, e.g.,

	$100 invested at 7% interest for 100 years will become $100,000, at
	which time it will be worth absolutely nothing.
			-- Lazarus Long, "Time Enough for Love"

Attributions which do not fit on one (72 char) line should be continued
on a line which lines up below the first text of the attribution, e.g.,

			-- A very long attribution which might not fit on one
			   line, "Ken Arnold's Stupid Sayings"

Single paragraph fortunes are in left justified (non-indented) paragraphs
unless they fall into another category listed below (see example above).
Longer fortunes should also be in left justified paragraphs, but if this
makes it too long, try indented paragraphs, with indentations of either one
tab stop or 5 chars.  Indentations of less than 5 are too hard to read.

Laws have the title left justified and capitalized, followed by a colon,
with all the text of the law itself indented one tab stop, initially
capitalized, e.g.,

	A Law of Computer Programming:
		Make it possible for programmers to write in English and
		you will find the programmers cannot write in English.

Limericks are indented as follows, all lines capitalized:

	A computer, to print out a fact,
	Will divide, multiply, and subtract.
		But this output can be
		No more than debris,
	If the input was short of exact.

Accents precede the letter they are over, e.g., "`^He" for e with a grave
accent.  Underlining is done on a word-by-word basis, with the underlines
preceding the word, e.g., "__^H^Hhi ____^H^H^H^Hthere".

No fortune should run beyond 72 characters on a single line without good
justification (er, no pun intended).  And no right margin justification,
either.  Sorry.  For BSD people, there is a program called "fmt" which can
make this kind of formatting easier.

Definitions are given with the word or phrase left justified, followed by
the part of speech (if appropriate) and a colon.  The definition starts
indented by one tab stop, with subsequent lines left justified, e.g.,

	Afternoon, n.:
		That part of the day we spend worrying about how we wasted
	the morning.

Quotes are sometimes put around statements which are funnier or make more
sense if they are understood as being spoken, rather than written,
communication, e.g.,

	"All my friends and I are crazy.  That's the only thing that
	keeps us sane."

Ellipses are always surrounded by spaces, except when next to punctuation,
and are three dots long.

	"... all the modern inconveniences ..."
			-- Mark Twain

Human initials always have spaces after the periods, e.g, "P. T.  Barnum",
not "P.T. Barnum".  However, "P.T.A.", not "P. T. A.".

All fortunes should be attributed, but if and only if they are original with
somebody.  Many people have said things that are folk sayings (i.e., are
common among the folk (i.e., us common slobs)).  There is nothing wrong with
this, of course, but such statements should not be attributed to individuals
who did not invent them.

Horoscopes should have the sign indented by one tab stop, followed by the
dates of the sign, with the text left justified below it, e.g.,

		AQUARIUS (Jan 20 - Feb 18)
	You have an inventive mind and are inclined to be progressive.  You
	lie a great deal.  On the other hand, you are inclined to be
	careless and impractical, causing you to make the same mistakes over
	and over again.  People think you are stupid.

Single quotes should not be used except as quotes within quotes.  Not even
single quotes masquerading as double quotes are to be used, e.g., don't say
``hi there'' or `hi there' or 'hi there', but "hi there".  However, you
*can* say "I said, `hi there'".

A long poem or song can be ordered as follows in order to make it fit on a
screen (fortunes should be 19 lines or less if at all possible) (numbers
here are stanza numbers):

	11111111111111111111
	11111111111111111111
	11111111111111111111			22222222222222222222
	11111111111111111111			22222222222222222222
						22222222222222222222
	33333333333333333333			22222222222222222222
	33333333333333333333
	33333333333333333333			44444444444444444444
	33333333333333333333			44444444444444444444
						44444444444444444444
						44444444444444444444

Fortunes are split into potentially offensive and not potentially offensive.
The offensive version of a file has the same name as the non-offensive
version with "-o" concatenated, i.e. "fort" is the standard fortune
database, and "fort-o" is the standard offensive database.  Anything which
would not make it onto network prime time programming (or which would only
be broadcast if some discredited kind of guy said it) MUST be in the
potentially offensive database.  Fortunes containing any explicit language
(see George Carlin's recent updated list) MUST be in the potentially
offensive database.  Political and religious opinions are often sequestered
in the potentially offensive section as well.  Anything which assumes as a
world view blatantly racist, mysogynist (sexist), or homophobic ideas should
not be in either, since they are not really funny unless *you* are racist,
mysogynist, or homophobic.

The point of this is that people have should have a reasonable expectation
that, should they just run "fortune", they will not be offended.  We know
that some people take offense at anything, but normal people do have
opinions, too, and have a right not to have their sensibilities offended by
a program which is supposed to be entertaining.  People who run "fortune
-o" or "fortune -a" are saying, in effect, that they are willing to have
their sensibilities tweaked.  However, they should not have their personal
worth seriously (i.e., not in jest) assaulted.  Jokes which depend for their
humor on racist, mysogynist, or homophobic stereotypes *do* seriously
assault individual personal worth, and in an general entertainment medium
we should be able to get by without it.