Here are some good guidelines to keep in mind when creating new BandAbbreviations for etree friendly bands. When in doubt, you can also use common sense, or ask around for advice. ([FurthurNet] has a reference listing too on their [Bandlist]. Please note that FurthurNet now requires filesets to conform to its [NamingConvention]. If you plan (or hope) to seed there, you may wish to follow that convention.

• Do not use special characters like & or ! since they can negatively affect downloading, decompression and other operations on various systems. Use only letters and numbers.

• If the band name is only one short word, the entire word is the abbreviation. Words such as 'of', 'a', or 'the' are not included.

• Example: Particle --> particle2002-01-01 --NOT-- par2002-01-01

• Example: The Slip --> slip2002-01-01

• Example: Zero --> zero2002-01-01

• If the band name has more than one word, the first letter of each word is the abbrevation. Words such as 'of', 'a', or 'the' are not included. Compound words might take an extra letter for the internal word.

• Example: Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains --> ccbbb2002-01-01 --NOT-- ccbobb2002-01-01

• Example: The Grateful Dead --> gd

• Example: North Mississippi Allstars --> nmas

• Example: Widespread panic --> wsp

• If the band is a solo performer, the performer's first initial plus last name is the abbreviation.

• Example: Adrian Belew --> abelew2002-01-01

• Example: Billy Nershi --> bnershi2002-01-01

(Wiki note on this guideline- In actual practice, most solos go by their last name only, eg "kimock" not "skimock". Should this be modified?)

• If the band has no name and is more than one performer, the first letter of each performer's last name make up the abbreviation:

• Example: Billy Nershi and Liza Oxnard --> no2002-01-01

• Example: Jerry Garcia and David Grisman --> gg2002-01-01 --NOT-- gargri2002-01-01

• Example: Kimock, Vega, Hertz and White --> kvhw2002-01-01

(wiki note: Should this guideline be modified in some way? "no" is rather low info content for such a combo, same with "gg" vs "gargri".)

• Special Cases: There are exceptions to these guidelines in a number of cases, generally occurring if a band's name is widely known as an abbreviated form within the community, or if there is already an existing abbreviation that conflicts.

• Example: Gov't Mule --> mule2002-01-01

• Example: Trey Anastasio solo --> trey2002-01-01

• Example: Jerry Garcia solo --> jerry2002-01-01 or garcia2002-01-01

• Example: Phish --> ph2002-01-01

• Example: The Flaming Lips --> lips2002-01-01

• Example: Widespread Panic --> wsp2002-01-01

• Example: The Big Wu --> wu2002-01-01

See also: BandAbbreviations, SeedingGuidelines, NamingStandards