| From: | R Andrew Hayden <rahayden@*****.WEEG.UIOWA.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | ADMINISTRIVIA: Observations and Rules <please read> |
| Date: | Sun, 21 Feb 93 21:30:41 CET |
received at least three times in the last three days. People want
to know where the story is going, who is doing what, and frankly,
what the hell is going on in this list of confusion.
I'm not going to summarize the story, but I am going to make some
observations about how things have been running. I'm also going
to establish a few new guidelines that will be incorporated into
the next version of the FAQ.
---------------
Observations:
I'm actually quite stunned at both the quantity and the quality of
the fiction that is coming over this list. We've taken the simple
corporate takeover of last November and blown it up to rediculous
proportions and had a lot of fun doing it. We've created some
really fun characters in Dark Elf, Tirandor, Tommy Harada, and
even Splut. As a matter of fact, I received three letters from
people complaining when I killed off Splut because he was, in the
words of one person, "such a flamboyant and lovable character."
Funny, nobody complained when I killed off Lincoln Howe.
In any case, we have one big problem with a list like this. The
problem is that nobody knows where anything is going. This is
7both good and bad at the same time. It is good because it gives
everyone a lot of latitude in designing storylines, but difficult
because good storylines can get mucked up very easily.
The obvious way around this is to talk with the other authors
offlist, and I know that several people have (I have myself).
Unfortunately, anyone who is out of the loop can come in and
destroy a plot. On the other hand, I don't want to start a
"plot-planning" list, as I think that is over kill.
In any case, I think we can survive with the stories evolving as
they have been without too much hair-loss. If anyone has other
suggestions, please address them to me.
---------------------------------------------
FORMATTING:
At the end of the month, I download the logs from this group and
edit them up, taking out all of the headers so the whole thing
reads as a series of entries. It makes for good reading.
Unfortunately, editing this log takes time, and even more time if
I have to go through and fix everyone's postings to make them
workable. Here is a reprint of the posting rules from the FAQ.
>>--
3. What is the posting format?
The best guideline for posting format can be found in the FASA
rulebooks, but in summary, a post should be made as follows:
>>>>>[Text to be discussed]<<<<<
-- ID < Time / Date >
Where:
ID = Your LTG identification.
Time = The time of the post in 24hr format (ie, 23:45:16)
I've found it personally convienient to simply use the
current real-world time.
Date = The Shadowrun Date. In order to keep things in order,
use the current month and day, and for the year, take
the current year and add 61 to it (Shadowrun takes
place in 2054 during 1993)
NOTE: There are some industrious "deckers" that alter the
time-date stamp into saying something else. While this can be fun,
it can hamper attempts to port the messages to a log file in the
correct order. (see questions #5 and #6)
Signature Files:
As a general rule, it is unnescessary to include a signature file
for SHADOWTK postings, as your entries will have your "ID" to
identify you. Most mailers are able to resolve return addresses.
Quoting Previous Postings:
This is also frowned upon, mostly because of the difficulty in
creating a log file. Discussion should occur rapidly enough that
quoting of will be unecessary. If you feel that you need to
address specific points, please try to simply address them without
wasting bandwidth with unecessary quoting. Use the subject of the
posting to refresh everyone's memory if you can.
Flaming:
Isn't very nice, period.
>>--
PLEASE, try to follow these guidelines, espicially with regards to
the opening and closing brackets and date/time stamps. Not eveyone
is able to alter their stamp.
For multi-paragraph postings, you should double space after the
first paragraph, and start the next flush-left, not indented.
-----------------------------------------------------
CHARACTERS:
The characters that develop in out stories are wonderful.
Unfortunately, some complaints are leading me to the establishment
of a few guidelines with regards to how characters can be used.
1) You cannot use someone else's character without permission.
This means that I do not write something up and sign it as being
from Dark Elf. Of course, interacting with another's character is
encouraged.
2) If you do use someone else's character (with permission), keep
the posting style consistant, especially with regards to the ID
and time/date stamp. For example, on a couple of occasions,
persons posted messages from RUFUS or MONICA, but the trailing
stamp was not correct and I had to change it in the logs. Not a
big deal but one more thing I have to worry about when editing.
3) NEVER kill off someone else's character.
4) Give your characters some depth if you can. Make them more
than just a screenful of ASCII, give them a personality in their
posting style and way of speaking and thinking.
5) Above all, have fun.
-----------------------------------------------------
Well, that's about all I have for today.
If you have questions, please feel free to ask me.
[> Robert Hayden <] [> ____ Come out, Come out <]
[> <] [> \ /__ Wherever you are! <]
[> rahayden@*****.weeg.uiowa.edu <] [> \/ /
[> aq650@****.INS.CWRU.Edu <] [> \/
