SW-RPG

The Star Wars mailing list was set up to provide a means whereby fans and players of the "Star Wars Role-playing Game" by West End Games could meet and discuss topics related to any aspect of the Star Wars universe. The discussion also includes a forum for independently created adventures and aids to be discussed and dispersed for public use.

Feel free to participate. SW-RPG belongs to the fans. It is only through active use that a "virtual community" will evolve. Read this entire letter if you wish to be able to post messages to the list.

The list is "self-moderated"--you are responsible for what you post. Keep in mind that the topic of the list is the Star Wars Role Playing game, and stay on topic. Nastiness and flaming will get you booted from the list, but otherwise just about anything about the SW:RPG goes.

HOWEVER -this is a very busy list (up to 100 messages a day on an average day). There are other lists for the discussion of Star Wars in general and you will need to take those discussions elsewhere.

These Are the Rules

Please read and save this message - you're responsible for abiding by the rules, and there's information here you need. These are basic, common-sense rules of nettiquette and will serve you well on any mailing list. I know it's long, but if you read it all through at least once it will save you a lot of time, grief and trouble.

For more information on "nettiquette", point your web browser at:

http://www.fau.edu/~rinaldi/netiquette.html

And if you don't read all of this letter, you won't be able to post.

• Read the list for a little while before you jump in. It's always a good idea to see what the natives are up to before you start thrashing around.
• Read all of your list mail before you respond. It's very likely that someone else has already answered any given question, in the same manner you might have. SW-RPG is a very busy list - we can't afford the extra traffic, though we do very much want your original contributions.
• The topic of the list is the Star Wars Role Playing Game. Again, this is a very busy list, and cannot afford to support off-topic traffic. Some discussion of SW fandom (the movies, the books, etc.) is allowable, but it must always tie back to the RPG in some way.
• Only quote the relevant portions of messages you're replying to. A good rule of thumb is to quote less than your contribution. I pay for the list out of my own pocket, and when you fill your messages with material quoted from previous messages I have to edit all of the logs by hand in order to not pay for storing all that extraneous garbage. It's kinder to your fellow list-members as well - they don't need to read the same message over and over and over again. If you can't cut down the quote, then summarize. Because of the huge impact on my vanishing free time, I feel very strongly about this one.
• Please use TOPICS correctly (see below for a description of how to use TOPICS). This is simple courtesy to your fellow listmembers.
• Don't post in all caps - PEOPLE INTERPRET IT AS SHOUTING, AND FIND IT VERY IRRITATING. (Kinda like that...)
• .sig files are best kept to 6 lines or less. The long ones get old very fast. Do sign your messages with your name and email address, however, so that people can reply directly to you if they wish.
• Personal notes should go to individuals, not to a whole list of strangers who don't really need to know your personal business. This includes things like "Good work" or "send me a copy too" or "So, where are you from and how old are you?".
• Flaming is forbidden, and consistent flaming will get you bounced right off the list. Consider before you mail - would you like to receive the message you're about to send? A little courtesy goes a long way.
• Trolling is out of place and not appreciated. This will also get you bounced in a hurry. Trolling is the practice of posting something completely obnoxious in order to stir up a list and cause argument. If you spot an obvious troll (say, OBI-WAN IS A DROID), your job is to ignore it. Trolls do it for the attention.
• There will be NO Star Wars vs. Star Trek arguments, nor any other pointless debates of this sort (like whether or not Luke deserved Dark Side Points, and for what, or whether it's better to run with or without dice). They can never be resolved, they lead to hard feelings and flames and are a total waste of everyone's time. I guarantee that this kind of behavior will get you into big trouble in a hurry.
• Other topics guaranteed to get you in hot water with your fellow listmembers are the various net.hoaxes going around. Good Times is not a virus, it's a hoax. Craig Shergold is in remission and doesn't need or want more postcards. And that <expletive deleted> cookie recipe goes back to the 1920's, when it was a Red Velvet Cake recipe. For your own sake, don't go there. If you come across something of that ilk and feel the list must know, send it to your listowner (sw-rpg-request@listserv.aol.com) and she'll look into it for you. If you want to look into virus hoaxes on your own, you might want to start with http://kumite.com/myths/.
• Do not post copyrighted materials. We operate with the blessing of West End Games, and as such abide with their desire not to be put out of business by pirates. It's okay to quote stats for a single character or item, but do not post lengthy portions from the SW-RPG books. This list does not exist so that you don't have to buy source books. It exists to encourage discussion of the game and the creation of new materials. If you're looking for materials for your game, check out the Resource Pool. There's quite a bit there. Information on the Resource Pool can be found later in this letter.
• Please do not post binary files (pictures, word processing documents, things like that) to the list. Only a small percentage of the 800+ users can actually get them, and they just fill up mailboxes and archive space. Put your cool .gif of your character out on a web page and tell us where to find it instead.
• By the same token, do not use "fancy formatting", HTML tags, Microsoft T-NEF or anything else except plain text. This is a text-based list and not everyone has the same mailer you have. I will set people to REVIEW the first time the list receives such a message from them in order to prevent problems.

There - that wasn't so bad!

Failure to abide by the posting guidelines will get you a warning letter and your account set to REVIEW, so that every piece of mail you send has to wait for me to have time to pass it along. Continued disregard for these simple, courteous requests will get you set to NOPOST (you can read but not answer) or removed altogether.

Choosing Topics

Not everyone is interested in everything under discussion. That's just a law of life. Fortunately, we've got a nifty feature called Topics. What it will do for us is let people *exclude* topics that they aren't interested in.

Since some people have complained about receiving statistics for ships, characters, etc., and others have complained about the fluff, I've set up three TOPICS:   STATS: SPOILERS: and FLUFF:

SPOILERS:

If the material would "spoil" a movie, book, game or whatever for someone who hasn't seen it, please put SPOILERS: as the first word of the subject. It wouldn't hurt to add, after the :, what it's a spoiler for! SPOILERS: take precedence over STATS: if you're posting stats from something that would be a spoiler.

Example: SPOILERS: Who's Luke's father?

STATS:

When you send templates or anything of that sort (stuff you'd want me to put in the Resource Pool) please put STATS: as the first word in the subject line, followed by a colon. SPOILERS: take precedence over STATS: if you're posting stats from something that would be a spoiler.

Example: Subject: STATS: The biggest, baddest ship ever

Note that there is no space between STATS and the colon. Also, it has to be STATS - STAT won't do it.

FLUFF:

If you're starting a line of Fluff or participating in one, please put FLUFF: as the first word in the subject line, followed by a colon. (Fluff is member-written fiction, for those of you who've never heard the term before. Occasionally the gang will just go nuts on an interactive story and for a few days the list will be buzzing with messages featuring various outrageous characters.) The FLUFF: topic is ONLY for member written fiction. People seem to think that anything that's off-topic is Fluff... not so. Those things are simply off-topic, and shouldn't be posted to the SW-RPG list.

Example: Subject: Fluff: Fluffier than anyone has a right to be

By default you will receive all messages. If you want to stop receiving fluff (just by way of example) you'd send a message to the Listserver (listserv@listserv.aol.com) that says:

set SW-RPG TOPICS -FLUFF

Once Listserv processes the message, you won't get Fluff messages any more, as long as the Fluffsters remember to put FLUFF: at the start of the subject line.

To turn a topic back on, the command is SET SW-RPG TOPICS +FLUFF

This only works for topics I've set up in the headers (STATS: FLUFF: and SPOILERS:), and unfortunately it doesn't work for DIGEST mode. If other TOPICS become necessary it's simple for me to add them, although once they're added they can never be removed, and we have a limit on how many we can have.

Keep reading to find out what you need to do to be able to post to the list.

A partial list of other lists for Star Wars discussion can be found at: http://drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu/~jae/sw/sw-lists.html

IF THE MAIL STOPS COMING...

If you should unexpectedly stop receiving mail, it's probably that your address or your site started bouncing messages. The List Administration has no other option than to set you first DIGEST and if necessary NOMAIL when error messages pour in by the hundreds. You check your status by doing the following:

send to: listserv@listserv.aol.com
query sw-rpg

If you aren't subscribed and need to resubscribe,

send to: listserv@listserv.aol.com
subscribe sw-rpg Yourfirstname YourLastname
(no .sig or other data)

If you've been set to DIGEST, to set your subscription so that you receive individual messages again send to:

listserv@listserv.aol.com
set sw-rpg mail
(no .sig or other data)

If you're going on vacation and want to stop the mail for a while, you can set yourself NOMAIL so that you won't receive any messages. send to:

listserv@listserv.aol.com
set sw-rpg nomail
(no .sig or other data)

When you return, the command is

listserv@listserv.aol.com
set sw-rpg mail
(no .sig or other data)

If you have problems or questions, feel free to write the list administration address: sw-rpg-request@listserv.aol.com

Keep reading to find out how to get your subscription updated to be able to post to the list!

May the Force be with you!

STUFF YOU GOTTA KNOW, REALLY!

• ==> Send list mail to: sw-rpg@listserv.aol.com
• ==> For help, send mail to: sw-rpg-request@listserv.aol.com
• ==> To unsubscribe from SW-RPG send to:

  listserv@listserv.aol.com
  unsubscribe sw-rpg (no .sig or other data)

• ==> World Wide Web Page:

  http://drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu/~jae/sw-rpg.html

HOW TO POST TO THE LIST

Send a note to sw-rpg-request@listserv.aol.com stating that you've read your Welcome Letter and will abide by the rules listed in it. I'll set your subscription so that you can post at the earliest opportunity.

May the Force be with you!

Empress Jae
Your friendly, overworked Listowner
sw-rpg-request@listserv.aol.com

Return to the SW-RPG Home Page