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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: Road Spirits, Homosexuals, and S/N
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 13:51:29 -0600
The subjext says it all, in brief.

ROAD SPIRITS
WHile I agree with the view that the rules are a guide and are easily
amended, I don't think it's neccessary in this case. Why do you need a
Road SPirit instead of one of the others? Why not make a regular or
Free Spirit who has an affinity for a certain patch of road or area near
it? Even for story purposes, I don't think the rules need to be bent or
modified in any way.

HOMOSEXUALS
There was a response to Granite which came out of nowhere. Maybe my site was
down, but I mised the post it was intended to be a response to. Anyway,
Changeling is one of the only two SR books I read. I read it quick, so I may
have missed it, but where does it say that two of the characters are lesbians?
I do not recall. Is it an assumption you made about the two runners the troll
hires?

On the subject in general, I wouldn't say it's tamer than any of the other
things in c-punk work; that implies there's a scale by which things are
measured. I think that, by many of the standard held by many people today,
cyberpunk societies are very decadent. But if you don't have a problem a
problem with homosexuality, recreational drug use, blood sports, or the
escapist implications of VR, then cyberpunk is almost a nirvana of choice.

S/N -L
I agre with Rob's general policy of letting things run themselves; if a thread
is still irrelevant after 24 hours he's been pretty god about advising it to
kleave (witness the fighter plane discussion that went from postulated advances
in aeronautics to Que es mas macho: A-10 or F-15).

The subject heading is a good idea, but a think a general advisement to use
informative subject headers, rather than a lengthy iteration and definition of
different kinds is a better idea. What amuses me is that doing that is
considered good netiquette anyway, but we obviously have this problem of 200+
people who don't follow that "community standard" and so the responsibility
falls to us as a community. It's all in Zen/Internet, if you get a chance at
it. (In fact, you can FTP the postscript or text from VAX1.Utulsa.edu, if your
own site doesn't have a copy).

All I would add o top of that, and for the FAQ, is try to add something with
your post, and be selective about yourl quoting. Don't send a message saying
"I agree" and nothing more. Especially don't do that if you quote an entire
message to say "I agree". Take the time to support your statement and/or
offer an idea on how to change it or open up the implications of an idea.

When you quote (and many of us seem to have auto-quoters that scan in the entire
text of a message, BE SELECTIVE. Only quote those lines that absolutely must
be there for you response to make sense. Kill the rest. That makes the message
shorter and easier to read.

J Roberson
Message no. 2
From: "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Road Spirits, Homosexuals, and S/N
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 18:50:49 -0600
On Fri, 7 Jan 1994, The Deb Decker wrote:

> On the subject in general, I wouldn't say it's tamer than any of the other
> things in c-punk work; that implies there's a scale by which things are
> measured. I think that, by many of the standard held by many people today,
> cyberpunk societies are very decadent. But if you don't have a problem a
> problem with homosexuality, recreational drug use, blood sports, or the
> escapist implications of VR, then cyberpunk is almost a nirvana of choice.

Cyberpunk Genre can be terrifying, because a little think and you realize
that present society can EASILY become that, with both the good AND the bad.

> The subject heading is a good idea, but a think a general advisement to use
> informative subject headers, rather than a lengthy iteration and definition of
> different kinds is a better idea. What amuses me is that doing that is
> considered good netiquette anyway, but we obviously have this problem of 200+
> people who don't follow that "community standard" and so the responsibility
> falls to us as a community. It's all in Zen/Internet, if you get a chance at
> it. (In fact, you can FTP the postscript or text from VAX1.Utulsa.edu, if your
> own site doesn't have a copy).

Two things
1) Defined headers won't work, because all people aren't going
to use them. Either out of stuboornness, or ignorance or apathy. Good
descriptive subjects is probably the best way to approach it.
2) The author of Zen and the art of Internet (whose name I
unfortunately forget), was in a VERY serious car accident last week and
suffered massive head injuries. During surgery, they had to remove a
damaged portion of his brain, with will probably leave him autistic.
Full details can be found in the Computer-Underground Digest.


____ Robert A. Hayden <=> hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu
\ /__ -=-=-=-=- <=> -=-=-=-=-
\/ / Finger for Geek Code Info <=> To flame me, log on to ICBMnet and
\/ Finger for PGP 2.3a Public Key <=> target 44 09' 49" N x 93 59' 57"
W
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
(GEEK CODE 1.0.1) GAT d- -p+(---) c++(++++) l++ u++ e+/* m++(*)@ s-/++
n-(---) h+(*) f+ g+ w++ t++ r++ y+(*)
Message no. 3
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Road Spirits, Homosexuals, and S/N
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 1994 17:57:22 -0600
>Cyberpunk Genre can be terrifying, because a little think and you realize
>that present society can EASILY become that, with both the good AND the bad.

I try to emphasize both in my games. My 'punk games are probably lighter than
those based on the grim view of the world, but they aren't cyberpollyanna
games either.

> 1) Defined headers won't work, because all people aren't going
>to use them. Either out of stuboornness, or ignorance or apathy. Good
>descriptive subjects is probably the best way to approach it.

Which is what I said in the first place. Defined headerswon't work, but
coming up with a descriptive subject header is well within the abilities
of most people. And those who don't will most likely get public and private
mail urging them to mend their ways.


J Roberson

Further Reading

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