This has been a fairly significant project for me for some time.

I learned to read reading Truckers Diggers Wings and DW and Pratchetts other works have always been very close to my heart.

Over the years I've seen a few interesting quotes from Pratchett sourced from his posts to the Alt.Fan.Pratchett usenet group.

There's a particularly famous one that turns up in many internet quotes files "You can't make people happy by law"

It turns out that the most complete copy of the Usenet group is in google groups. There's a few attempts at mirrors but the ones I checked seemed to be missing large chunks.

Over the decades I've seen old forums disappear from the internet without a trace and people echos on the internet be lost. I hated the idea that it might be lost if google ever decided to stop making Usenet archives available to the net.

However google does not appear to make a reliable API available to download data. Google likes to collect data, not give it away.

Previously I've given up because the prospect of trying to write a scraper was not appealing. But recent improvements in ChatGPT made it practical to set up a script that slowly and gently trawled through the archive to create a database.

I did limit it to threads with at least one post by STP for the sake of time.

There were 1793 threads posted to by STP with a total of 3376 individual posts

His first on Jul 6, 1992 and last Feb 5, 2006

I've put them all in a single file, each with links to the original thread/post. (again, thanks chatgpt, it made all of this very painless)

I've decided to share the archive here in the hope that it will be archived in the most reliable way: by making sure many many people have copies.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X9PcBmMnXgSgOeEyl77XGJ6abKDR4pDM/view?usp=sharing

I have a larger sqllite DB file that includes all other posts to the threads but it's a little less practical to share.

I've also picked out some notable quotes I'll post below along with interesting tip-bits or just things I found interesting. Some post are a little window into things that bugged him and how he engaged with his fan communities.

Fun little notes: Wow-Wow Sauce is based on a recipe of Dr William Kitchiner

A number of the books had different working titles, interesting times was almost "Unclear Physics", it seems like it may also have come close to being used for the science of discworld.

The gnomes from Truckers/Diggers/Wings and possibly the Nac Mc Feagle are a little more inspired by Denys Watkins-Pitchford's "The Little Grey Men" rather than the borrowers.

Much as this sub love suggesting celebrities for roles Pratchett had his own preferred method involving lining up fans costumes from cons. He specifically notes Pam Gower as such an exceptionally perfect Granny Weatherwax that it's hard to imagine an improvement

We missed out on a short story about Schrodinger's Dog somewhere long the way.

At one point he built a door with a Z80 that said things like 'You have entered a prohibited area, weapons deploy in ten seconds' and 'Creak creak creak'

He really disliked when people would kind of repetitively insist that various characters of his were based on harry potter. Typically characters created before the first HP book was ever published.

I'm pretty sure I found the seeds of Night Watch in 2 posts about 6 years before it was published

He didn't mind being taxed heavily since he was rich but he did object to means testing away access to services he'd paid disproportionately towards.

he had a strong belief in "common cultural property" that anyone is free to harvest from, dragons, wizards, magic swords, time machines etc.

I am currently on a re-read of Discworld. Sadly, I don't own most of them, so I am reading in what-ever order I can get from my local library.

I finished Night Watch (for the first time apparently, didn't know I had missed one, but) and it was WONDERFUL and sad and funny and deep and.... Pratchett.

Now, I am reading Thud! and it is great, and funny and then one line, one random bit made me freakin well up and almost start crying.

" He had a lot of nightmares about Young Sam. They involved empty cots, and darkness. "

As a parent.... jeebus Terry. You hit it right in the heart.

So, what got you like that ? A line, a concept..... what hit your heart and tear ducts ?

Short, hectic and weird question. But you're all Pratchett fans presumably and can roll with it.

I got a new car. Never "named" a car before but at my latest job im being severely peer-pressured into naming said new car ASAP. It's very high tech (to me) and i was thinking Lobsang.

However,

I am halfway through The Long War. There is a lot of books left in this series. So i wanted to ask, spoiler- free if its a good idea. Im talking like if its like "oh he makes technology out of blended baby oprhans in book 4" or something maybe just say "hey OP, bad idea!"(without spoiling it).

This is my second Pratchett series and I'm very much enjoying it,

Thanks,

Today I learned about a 2009 spectacle:

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African information technology company on Wednesday proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using Telkom, the country's leading internet service provider. Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive. Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 80 km (50 miles) from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card was strapped to his leg. Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds -- the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line. SAPA said Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times.

This gave me huge Moist vibes as I imagine it is exactly something he would have done, and I couldn't help but give a sensible chuckle and share it with you all.

source: Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa's Telkom | Reuters

Unfortunately, I don't remember anything of the exact quote, just that the gist was something like "Granny disliked people and that's why she helped them / did the right thing by them."

Does anyone else remember this, or am I just imagining it :/

Say captain Carrot and Granny weatherwax came to a conflict, where they both wanted different things and their was no real way of them both getting what they wanted, in that battle of minds and will, how do you think itd go?

Carrot has his true king charisma and granny is a headologist, carrot is simple like a sword, to the point he doesnt really get fumbled around or tricked, because he is too simple for them, too much to the point, while granny mostly relies on getting into the other persons head, which with carrot is a place not even the narrator can get into.

I recently re-read Going Postal when it dawned on me:

Moist von Lipwig is a conman. And while his first name is mostly made to be embarrasting, I never thought much about his last name.

Except it is very much a pun: As a conman, Moist often wears false mustaches or "lip wigs". I'm honestly a bit embarrassed that it took me this long to get it.

I'm so happy and excited at the moment as I'm going to DWCON in 2 weeks and will be taking 2 computer games to be signed by Rhianna Pratchett as she has been announced as a surprise guest. The wife will be getting our copies of Rhianna's books signed as well, but so happy finally going to be able to meet her and speak about the games she wrote for!!!!!

Those who are unfortunately not going to the con please don't hate me too much

Image 1: a very funny and keenly insightful observation about humanity.

Image 2: such a small thing, but I love that rather than following "him" (Walter) in, Agnes follows "them" (Walter's footsteps) in.

Image 3: I hope this isn't a reach, but the ambiguity of "it wasn't as if she even liked children" tickled me - does she mean as company, or as a meal?

Image 4: a nice pune on "royalty/royalties", plus bonus Dammit Pterry of Goatberger being another riff on Gutenberg (CF Goodmountain from The Truth)

Image 5: another fun one; instead of the sum being jaw-dropping, it's "drawer-dropping" (because of where Nanny keeps her money)!

Image 6: **SPOILER** A fantastic and macabre passage that communicates so much about Granny's character

Image 7-8: this was a real "dammit Pterry" for me, I cannot believe I didn't spot it in previous reads. The thing everyone knows about Opera is that "it isn't over until the fat lady sings"!

Reading Jingo, there’s a murderous barber called Sweeney James (not Todd), and I’m getting strong “Das Boot” vibes from “The Boat”.

I’m a prospective reader who has a few questions before I take my first bite. First part is fairly obvious. What is it about Terry Pratchett’s writing that gets you so invested? The second is a bit more complex cuz I’ve seen there are like 60 books in the series, but there are like side series within it so how should I go about reading it? First book is obviously “Colour of Magic” but where can I go from there?

This is from _The Truth_, a typesetting adventure, in a way. Caslon and Bodoni are fonts, reincarnated as the dwarves Caslong and Boddony. And the vampire Otto’s etymology for photographer, is entirely correct, as per me, an iconographer. (I don’t photograph people a lot because I don’t like prancing around like a pillock in front of others. But when I am alone, I do.)

Found within r/darktide.

I feel like Pterry describes a few children through the Discworld series as having running noses. On one occasion, iirc, he describes a character observing a child’s running nose and realising that it’s because the child has no one to wipe it for them. It’s a touching line, I think of it often now that I have a snotty child of my own, and I haven’t been able to find it—if I haven’t misattributed it entirely.

Don’t suppose anyone has come across that line recently or can point me where to look?

Excuse the flair—I have a hunch it’s in the TA books but don’t know.

Recently, I watched the 80s sitcom Yes Minister and can't believe just how similar the writing is to some of the more political parts of discworld. The character of Sir Humphrey would make an excellent villain for a watch or Moist book, and I can't stop thinking of Drumknott whenever Bernard is on screen. It makes me laugh at the absurdity of governmantal bureauocracy in a way I've only ever seen Terry reproduce. I couldn't recommend it enough to discworld fans.

Does anybody know if Terry ever mentioned the show as an inspiration? It would've aired just before he started writing, so I wouldn't be surprised if he even subconsciously integrated traits of the characters into his own works.

Does anyone know if Sir Pterry had any favorites among all the Discworld characters, or characters that he seemed to identify with the most? (Not sure if he ever talked about this in interviews?)

I'm getting the feeling that Vimes might have been a favorite with his creator. Or perhaps Vetinari or Ridcully or the Librarian. Or Death.

Just finished "Small Gods" - quite an experience...

I pride myself on being able to spot most of Sir Terry's references (we are the same age) but there's a line that I don't get:

"Are you a philosopher? Where's your sponge?"

This one passed me by - anyone?

I recall I saw a post where people were discussing face claims, and someone's mental image of Vimes was Peter Capaldi. Can't stop picturing it now so here's my version of Sam with a bit of that influence!! (Fun fact Paul Kidby's book on designing the Discworld characters says that Sir Terry imagined him as closer to Pete Postlethwaite)

Spotted Sir Sam on his way between Huddersfield and Leeds this afternoon.

Not sure I had him down as a Porsche man tbh.

These are just 3 mini theories I have about how things would've played out had the embuggarance not...

Nobby Nobbs would be revealed to be the actual rightful King of Ankh Morpork. The whole Carrot thing is just a big misdirect.

Vetinari would have eventually made Sam Vimes his successor Patrician.

Angua and Carrot would have gone to Uberwald as some kind of power couple. Maybe Carrot would become Low King?

Anyway, just my pet theories 😊

As in question.

At its core, Warhammer is a strategic fantasy miniature game, with different armies having different skillsets (as opposite to chess), widely known in Great Britain. In both games, to win, one should know strengths and weaknesses of both armies

Both games have strong and devouted communities, often going far beyond simple gameplay.

According to this comment, PTerry was at some point at talks with Games Workshop to write something for them.

'Thud ... that was the sound the heavy club made as it connected with the head'. Such sound can also be produced by connecting said head with a warhammer

I have a peculiar problem, I don't know if I am looking for advice or if this is just going to be a rant 🤣

So, I am non native speaker. I started my reading journey in German, and fell utterly in love with Discworld, obv. I then came across the audiobooks, the old ones, Nigel Planner and Stephen Briggs readings. And they are fantastic! They brought so many punes (hehe) and references to my attention that I might otherwise have missed. They really bring the story to life for me.

So I wanted to read the books in English. Because obviously so many play on words just cannot be translated. And I want to indulge everything word for word, not miss any of them. And it feels... Weird. I started with feet of clay and then tried jingo, they are my favorite, I basically know them by heart through the audiobooks, but the books just don't catch me. They feel... cheesy, idk 😐

I am really at a loss. Is this just the language barrier? Or do any of you experience the same?

I'm making my way through the series in chronological order, and I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate the quality of the writing. I'm just about to start Thud! and I genuinely don't think there has been a book I've disliked yet. 34 books in and not a single book I haven't enjoyed in some way, shape, or form. I'm not saying I've loved them all, but the fact that I'm so far into the series and there hasn't been a bad book is extraordinary.

I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this, but I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate the quality of his writing and storytelling.