Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 09:16:57 -0400
From: "L-Soft list server at America Online (1.8c)" <LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
Subject: File: "SW-RPG WELCOME"
To: "Jae Walker (Listowner)" <JAE@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU>
Message-id: <199710011323.JAA07107@beryllium.club.cc.cmu.edu>
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

Subject: Welcome to SW-RPG - Read and Save This Letter
    PLEASE READ AND SAVE THIS LETTER -  YOU WILL NEED THE INFORMATION!

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|  |           \____  \     |  |    /   ^   \  |   __    /            |  |
|  |________________)  )    |  |   /  /~~~\  \ |  |   \  \ ___________|  |
|   __________________/     |__|__/__/   __\__\|__|    \______________   |
|   ___________  \          /  /   \    |   ____  \   /  _____________   |
|  |           \  \   __   /  /     \   |  |____)  ) (  (___          |  |
|  |            \  \ /  \ /  /   ^   \  |   __    /   \____  \        |  |
|  |             \  ` /\ '  /  /~~~\  \ |  |   \  \ _______)  )       |  |
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  `----------------------[ The Role-playing Game ]---------------------'

Welcome to the Star Wars RPG Mailing List.

     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 (listed below) 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.

* 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.

* 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 600+
  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.

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 at our new
home 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 two TOPICS: STATS and FLUFF.

Please, 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.
  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.

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 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.)
   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 (STATS & FLUFF & SALE), 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.

              ***********************************
              **      OTHER STAR WARS LISTS    **
              ***********************************

* STAR WARS COLLECTABLE CARD GAME
  If you're interested in the SW Collectable Card game, the Decipher
  SW-CCG trading list can be subscribed to by sending mail to
  majordomo@games.decipher.com, and putting 'subscribe swccg-marketplace'
  in the message.  Decipher has also setup a SW:CCG discussion mailing
  list.  To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@lists.decipher.com
  with "subscribe swccg-discussion YOUR@ADDRESS" (no quotes with your
  e-mail address) in the body.

* C3POST
  The Star Wars Universe Mailing List - c3post@mudhole.ehche.ac.uk
  To subscribe, send mail to: listproc@mudhole.ehche.ac.uk
    subscribe c3post Your Name

* STARWARS
  Forces of the Empire StarWars List - starwars@logrus.org
  To subscribe, send mail to: Majordomo@logrus.org
     subscribe starwars Your Name

  For more information, their web page is: http://www.deathstar.org/groups/FoE
  or you can send mail to FoE-info@deathstar.org

And there are the following Usenet newsgroups:
  rec.arts.sf.starwars.collecting
  rec.arts.sf.starwars.games
  rec.arts.sf.starwars.info
  rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc

And the following discussion forum on the Web:
  http://www.bahnhof.se/~rick/starwars/starwars.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 (to listserv@listserv.aol.com) is:
               set sw-rpg mail

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!

              ***********************************
              ** 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

*==> To FTP to the Resource Pool
       FTP to:   drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
       login as: anonymous
       password: your userid
       Directory: cd jae
                  cd star-wars
                  cd sw-list
                  cd resource   (for resource pool)
                  or cd logs       (for list archives, by month)

*==> SW-RPG Frequently Asked Questions file (FAQ):
     FTP to the Resource Pool and get file: 00faq.txt
      or
     Mail to: mailserv@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
              SEND [JAE.STAR-WARS.SW-LIST.RESOURCE]00faq.txt
              (no .sig or other information)
     The mailserver will send you the file by return mail.

*==> If you intend to contribute to the Resource Pool, you
     should read the upload guidelines.
     FTP to the Resource Pool and get file: 00upload.txt
      or
     Mail to: mailserv@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
              SEND [JAE.STAR-WARS.SW-LIST.RESOURCE]00upload.txt

*==> Getting files if you don't have FTP or WWW browser access:

     All commands go to: mailserv@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
     Do not include .sig files or anything else besides the actual commands
     in the messages.

     To get a list of all the directories and all of the files in them,
     the command is:  DIRECTORY [jae.star-wars.sw-list.resource*...]*.*

     To get a list of the files in a single directory (for example, the
     .droids directory):  DIRECTORY [JAE.STAR-WARS.SW-LIST.RESOURCE.DROIDS]*.*

     The DIRECTORY command accepts wild cards, so if you wanted to get a
     list of all the readme files, you might send the following command:
     DIRECTORY [JAE.STAR-WARS.SW-LIST.RESOURCE*..]0READ*.*

GETTING THE FILES:
     Once you have a list of the files, getting the files you want is very
     simple.  Send the following:
        SEND [JAE.STAR-WARS.SW-LIST.RESOURCE.directory]filename.ext

     The mailserver will send you the file by return mail.  Couldn't be
     simpler.  This only works for text files - the programs in the
     utility directory must be retrieved via FTP or WWW browser.

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.

Empress Jae
Your friendly, overworked Listowner
sw-rpg-request@listserv.aol.com