David Kitchen has prepared people for a change in the mailing list - this note is to tell you it has now happened! Everyone one the belleandsebastian list has now been automatically added to the new list run by myself called "Sinister" (because it's easier to spell). You'll find full details of the list at http://www.majordomo.net/sinister and a text version of this information is below. Very quickly what you now need to do to send a message is send to: sininister@majordomo.net That's it. Hopefully the service level and speed of the new list will be an improvement! Paul psm@majordomo.net --------------------- Sinister Mailing List The Sinister mailing list was setup by Paul Mitchell in August 1997 to assist David Kitchen's efforts to create information about the band Belle and Sebastian - David and Katrina's site is available for more comprehensive info on the band and merchandise etc. The mailing list was originally set up via a public service list provider but the service, speed and flexibility just wasn't good enough. Hopefully this will be a bit better. Honourable mentions must also go to duke, Andrew Dean (who has a spiffing B&S site), Stuart David (who runs the excellent band members' site and I talked to in the early days of setting up this list) and others who assisted at the start of this list including my mate Linda. The information here isn't supposed to provide much about the band themselves, and will never become a fully-fledged WWW resource on B&S - see the other pages above for that. This also isn't an FAQ for the band themselves - hopefully one will be available soon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Joining The List Here's the quick answer: send a message to majordomo@majordomo.net with the text "subscribe sinister" in the body of the message. That's it - you should get a confirmation email. But please read the information below when you get a minute (a copy will be sent to you when yousubscribe). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mailing List Archive An archive of the current week's mailings to the list is available here. Previous weeks' mailings can be seen by ploughing through the directory structure via this link - sorry it's all a bit messy at the moment but I will tidy it up soon hopefully. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mailing List FAQ 1. How do I subscribe/unsubscribe from Sinister? There are two addresses you need to remember to use the list: sinister@majordomo.net - this is the address to send messages to everyone on the list. Everything sent here goes to everyone. You use this address everytime you want to mail information to the list. majordomo@majordomo.net - this is where you send mailing list requests i.e. subscribe/unsubscribes. Messages sent here don't go to the list but perform certain commands - they should be sent in the body of your message (i.e. first line) and not the subject line. To subscribe to the list you need to send the following command: subscribe sinister and equally unsubscribe sinister to get off the list. If this doesn't work then it may mean that your mail program is sending out your email address in a slightly different format than before (maybe you changed programs). In this case try unsubscribe sinister your-email-address If you ever get really stuck then just send a personal message to sinister-owner@majordomo.net This gets through to a person i.e. me and I can sort it out but please try the automatic method first. Please remember never to send unsubscribe requests to the list itself (i.e. sinister@majordomo.net) but always to majordomo@majordomo.net!!! 2. Can I tell who is on the list? Yes, just send the command who sinister to majordomo@majordomo.net Equally you can get some info on the list be sending info sinister but you'll probably just get the same as you're reading here. 3. I only just joined the list, can I see what's previously been sent? Yes there is an archive available on the WWW. Just point your browser to: http://www.majordomo.net/sinister (this page at the top if you are at the WWW site already). 4. I'm getting fed up with all these messages, can I get them all together sometime instead? Yes, instead of subscribing to "sinister" you need to subscribe to "sinister-digest". This is a summarised version of the list every few days or so. Just follow the same rules as above, so just send the message: subscribe sinister-digest to: majordomo@majordomo.net Remember if you are changing to the digest to unsubscribe from the standard list. 5. Brilliant! I can advertise my new band/floor cleaner/hygiene product to everyone on the list now! Please please please don't abuse the list (well OK you can say it's crap but you know what I mean). Anyone who consistently and unashamedly sends adverts to the list will be banned! 6. So why can't anyone out there send any old junk to the list? Because you can only send to the list if you are a member (hopefully). 7. So what can we talk about on the list? Well we'll play this by ear for now, but anything vaguely connected with the band is OK. I may step in if we get a long long conversation about something interesting to only a tiny minority of the list - some people pay handsomely for their email and would not be pleased to receive a thousand messages about an obscure band from Wigan who once sounded a bit like the intro to one of B&S's songs. Please try and be sensitive to the majority of listeners. Pet theories about whether Elvis is a cat or indeed a brussel sprout are however tolerated for a long time because they amuse your list administrator. Another rule: DO NOT FLAME PEOPLE OR BE ABUSIVE! I take this very seriously and will act accordingly - too many mailing lists have been ruined by arrogance or a quick temper by people who consider themselves "real fans" - a pathetic term. This mailing list is setup for everyone, especially new enthusiastic listeners who do not need to be abused and belittled. Please be helpful and if you can't think of anything nice to say go and do a jigsaw. Anyone who is consistently a real pain will be permanently removed. 8. Who provides this list? Who says I can't do what I want on it? The resources to run this list are provided by my employer and it is not a guaranteed public service - I will do whatever is necessary to ensure its continued existence. Hopefully (sorry Stuart) B&S won't become quite as popular as Take That so I will be able to keep it going on borrowed resources - but if it impacted too much I might have to withdraw it one day. To ensure it continues therefore it isn't a public resource in quite the same way a newsgroup is. So please be nice. 9. Why bother? FAQs like this are usually formal and stuffy affairs so a personal note: I am a grumpy thirty-something who still refuses to listen to Eric Clapton or moan how good music was when he was 16 - it's hard though when we're surrounded by so much mediocrity, but we shouldn't kid ourselves it was any different 15 years ago. But when I heard Belle and Sebastian I jumped for joy at a band with genuine musical sense, charm, toughness and POPness. So this is still all about music. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Finally remember if you get really stuck with the list mail me at: sinister-owner@majordomo.net and if that doesn't work something's really wrong - you'd better try my real address at: psm@majordomo.net Paul Mitchell 24th August 1997 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister -----------------------------------------------------------------------