Here is the complete revision of the rules list, which includes the
revised spoiler warning text, as well as subject line guidelines, a
proposal for on-topic postings, formatting guidelines, etc.
Most of this is either verbatim or slightly modified text from the
existing rules. The rest is based on my personal understanding of the
generally accepted practices for the list. If details for any of this are
incorrect, incomplete, or poorly phrased, please respond accordingly.
Jon
---
Dragaera Mailing List Rules
General List information
We've created this list, with Steven's support, to provide a central forum
for fans of his work to find each other and discuss things.
Acceptable Use
Subscribers to this list are expected to have read and to abide by the
following when posting or responding to messages.
Anti-Flame Policy
This discussion must be conducted reasonably civilly. In particular,
personal attacks are forbidden. Do NOT tell somebody that they're a
poo-poo head. You may, if you wish, tell them that their claim to have
found Devera on page 184 of _Dragon_ doesn't stand up to examination.
On-topic postings
"On topic" material for this list includes general discussion among fans
of Steven Brust, Paarfi, and the world of Dragaera; moderate amounts of
"community" discussion; and such digressions as are more trouble to
suppress than to ignore.
Discussion of Steven’s non-Dragaera works is on-topic for this list,
however be sure to read the “Spoilers & Spoiler Warnings” section below.
If a discussion thread goes completely away from topics relating to
Brust’s work, or at least literary topics in general, it may be continued
in private by the list members involved, but should not continue to be
posted to the entire list beyond a reasonable point.
Formatting Guidelines
When replying to a message on the list, relevant portions of the previous
message should be quoted. The *entire* message should generally not be
quoted, unless you're responding to each part of it. New material should
be placed *below* the old material it's responding to, not above. “Top
Posting”, or placing new text above quoted material should be avoided.
(Note that this is the default behavior of many mail clients.) In other
words, normal Usenet quoting conventions should be observed.
Line lengths should be limited to less than 80 characters (70 is a better
number, to allow for some buildup of quoting).
Subject Line Guidelines
Subject lines help list subscribers track topics they are interested in.
As the volume of mail on the list can vary greatly from day to day, it is
important to maintain subject lines that correspond, more or less, to the
topic under discussion.
Since most messages posted to the list are replies, the subject lines tend
to be populated by most mail clients using a "RE:" prefix. If (as often
happens) the conversation begins to drift away from the original point of
discussion, it is appropriate to change the subject line to reflect this.
It is usually a good idea to include the previous subject line in
parentheses at the end of the new subject line, so that people can
continue to follow the same thread. Example: "The honing of Vlad (WAS Re:
Great Weapons)"
Topics concerning the administration and/or general use of the mailing
list (eg. Questions about list etiquette, spoiler warnings, formatting
guidelines, etc.) should be prefaced by the use of "Meta" in the beginning
of the subject line. Example: "Meta: Is discussion of X on-topic?" or
"Meta: What is the proper format of spoiler warnings?"
Spoilers & Spoiler Warnings
In general, it should be assumed that most readers of this list will be
familiar with the basic characters and general world of Dragaera.
When mentioning specific plot points, especially major revelations from
the later works it is considered polite to place a spoiler warning in the
subject line of the message. This most notably concerns certain facts
revealed late in _Orca_, and many of the later events in _Issola_ and _The
Viscount of Adrilankha_.
It is essential to include spoiler warnings when discussing virtually any
topic related to a book recently published by Steven Brust. ("Recent" in
this case means within 6 months of the release of the paperback edition.
Currently [May-06] there are none, but _Dzur_ is forthcoming,
[August-06].)
Examples of appropriate spoiler warnings: "The best thief in Dragaera?
(Orca Spoilers)" or "The undead and Dark Water (Athyra Spoilers)".
When writing a message marked with a spoiler warning, in cases where the
spoiler itself would normally occur very early in the text of the message,
it is a good idea to provide several blank lines (15-20 is usually a good
number) at the top of your message to make it less likely for a mail
client to display the spoiler text by accident.
Spoiler warnings should be used with greater discipline when discussing
Steven's non-Dragaera works, such as _Agyar_, _Freedom & Necessity_, _The
Gypsy_, _To Reign in Hell_, and also _Brokedown Palace_ which has been out
of print for many years.
Spoiler warnings should also be used when making revealing references to
works by other authors, including books, short stories, movies, or plays
that list members may not be familiar with.
Fan Fiction
While Steven doesn't hate fan fiction on principle, he doesn't want to
host it on the official web site or mailing list, so please don't send
any.
File Attachments
Do not send file attachments to the list. Especially, do not send binary
files to the list. Do not send HTML to the list. Send plain text messages
to the list. All those other things will be stripped off by the software
running the list.
(Technical details: MIME multipart/alternative is fine, so long as there
is a text/plain part; that part will be passed through and the rest
stripped.) (AOL users: that's what current AOL software does by default
[as of 15-Apr-2002] so you shouldn't have trouble posting).
Subscriber Information
Only list members may post to this list (this is primarily a
spam-prevention measure).
To subscribe, send email to <dragaera-subscribe at dragaera.info>, and
respond to the confirmation message you will receive. (The confirmation
message makes it much harder for somebody to subscribe you to this list as
a "joke".)
To unsubscribe, send email to <dragaera-unsubscribe at dragaera.info> from
the address you want unsubscribed, and respond to the confirmation message
you will receive there.
To send your message to all the subscribers on the list, send it to
<dragaera at dragaera.info>. You must be a subscriber to the list yourself to
do this. To communicate just with the Lord of the Keys, email your message
to <dragaera-owner at dragaera.info>.
To get help on the various commands the list management software supports,
send email to <dragaera-help at dragaera.info>. (Technicalities: this list is
run using ezmlm+idx).
Archive and Book Searches
The posts to this list are archived and are publicly available via email
and on the web.
Previous posts are archived in both a searchable
(http://dragaera.info/dragaerasearch/) and sortable
(http://lists.dd-b.net/pipermail/dragaera/) format.
Many of the Dragaera novels are full-text searchable at
http://dragaera.info/booksearch
Amazon.com Search Inside™
Amazon.com also provides full-text searches for almost all of Steven's
books, including the non-Dragaera novels. This is often a useful resource
when referring to particular passages of the books within the context of
list messages.
This search is available by using the “Search Inside™” feature on the
appropriate page for each particular book.
A list of Steven’s books available on Amazon.com can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=br_ss_hs/103-9953899-0684665?platform=gurupa&url=index%3Dblended&keywords=steven+brust&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go
Other resources
The following are useful informational sites that may useful as references
for researching topics discussed on this list (Note: These sites are not
spoiler-free. You have been warned.)
+ Cracks & Shards (http://cracksandshards.com/)
Observations on Dragaera by Mark A. Mandel
+ Alex's Dragaera Page (http://www.panix.com/~alexx/brust.html)
A Brust Fan Site. Includes the famous Dragaera Timeline.
+ Bryann Newell's Dragaeran Geography Site (
http://www.bryann.net/brust.html)
Speculative maps and general information on Dragaeran geography
+ Lyorn Records Wikicity (http://dragaera.wikia.com/)
The power of Wiki comes to Dragaera. Excellent general info site. Heavy
Spoilage factor.
Credits
Day-to-day operation is handled by the "Lord of the Keys" (see _500 Years
After_). All decisions of the LotK are final until he changes his mind.
The current [8-Jun-2002] Lord of the Keys is Felix Strates
<omaha at mpls.cx>.
The home page for this list is http://dragaera.info/dragaera-list/.
Steven's web site is at http://www.dreamcafe.com
This mailing list, and the related web site, is a project of Corwin Brust,
David Dyer-Bennet, and Felix Strates, with the support of Steven Brust.
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