This document is available in a hypertext version on the World Wide Web as http://sunsite.unc.edu/darlene/coaster/FAQ/FAQ.cover. It is also available on usenet as a regular posting to rec.roller-coaster, rec.parks.theme, rec.answers, and news.answers. The plain text version of this document comes in three parts. Part 1 offers a table of contents to the posts, plus a general introduction. Part 2 offers general roller-coaster info -- abbreviations, definitions, and information on organizations and references for the roller coaster/amusement park enthusiast. Part 3 contains lists and statistics relating to coasters. It is also the most volatile section, more likely than the others to be changed.
The rec.roller-coaster FAQ was originally compiled by Dave Rounds (dave@bcco.com), then maintained by Bill Buckley (buckley@powdml.enet.dec.com), and has now fallen into my hands (Geoff Allen, geoff@eecs.wsu.edu). Comments and questions are most welcome via e-mail to Geoff.
You can get a copy of the latest version of this document via anonymous FTP from the "official" roller-coaster FTP site, gboro.rowan.edu, in directory /pub/Coasters (more on the site later). You can also get a copy from the official archive of news.answers, which is on rtfm.mit.edu in the directory /pub/usenet-by-group/rec.roller-coaster. (A lot of other interesting FAQs are there, too. The name under which a FAQ is archived appears in the Archive-name: line at the top of the article. This FAQ, for example, is archived as roller-coaster-faq/part1, 2, and 3. If you just want to browse there, try directory /pub/usenet-by-hierarchy, where the dots in newsgroup names represent directories. So these documents are in /pub/usenet-by-hierarchy/rec/roller-coaster.)
If you don't know how to use FTP, or don't even know if you can at your site (not all sites can), ask a knowledgeable user at your site.
Special thanks to all the contributors, commentators, error-correctors and others who've helped to make this FAQ possible. They are (in no particular order):