From: "T. S. Lewis, Sr." <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 12:16:03 -0700

Hey kids!
I'm glad the tape tree idea was received so favorably.  Some listees have
asked questions, so I've tried my best to answer them here.  I've added a
few rules for clarification, too.  If anyone strongly objects, feel free to
say so.

1. HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?
   Send a private e-mail to me or Kevan (who so graciously volunteered)
stating that you want to be involved, along with your snail-mail address, so
that we may place you in an appropriate tree (US or UK).  If you don't mind
paying for overseas postage every two weeks, please let us know as well.
After a week or so, I will organize some sort of tree and notify everyone
privately, so we don't clog up the sinister list.

2. HOW DOES THE TAPE TREE WORK?
   Let's pretend there are four people in a tape tree:  A, B, C, and D
(pretty clever, eh?)  After all the tapes have been made, a Swap Day will be
established.  On that day, person A will send his/her tape to person B,
person B will send a tape to person C, C will send his/hers to D, and person
D will send his/her tape to person A.  Then they get to listen to the tapes
(the fun part!).  After two weeks, they will swap again.  This time, person
A will be sending D's tape to person B (which he received in the last swap,
remember?)  The important thing to remember is that each person will send
only one tape to the same person, every two weeks.  The trick is that they
are different tapes each time.  Every two weeks, A will send a tape to B.
Every two weeks, A will receive a tape from D.  Ideally (this is the key
word), after the final swap, A, B, C, and D will all receive the original
tapes they made.  If this does not make sense, please shoot me for using
such an idiotic example.
   Now obviously, it doesn't always work like this, especially with more
than four people.  Some will be lazy/sick/stressed/too-poor-for-postage,
some people will go on vacation for a month, some will want to keep the
tapes for themselves and pretend they are obeying the rules.  (My last tape
tree took place over two years ago, and I still haven't seen my original
tape!)  The main thing is that everyone agrees to try and send the tapes off
on time.  If there is a problem, e.g. "I'm leaving the country! Ack! What do
I do?", you can contact the head honcho of your tape tree, and he/she will
adjust the tree accordingly.  He/she will also notify the people before and
after you, so that things can run smoothly again.  So if person C runs off
to Guatemala, B can just start sending tapes to D.

3. HOW DO I MAKE AN APPROPRIATE TAPE?
   Put as many songs, spoken word thingies, etc., as you can fit on a
single, 90-minute audiocassette.  Absolutely no Belle and Sebastian songs
are allowed.  It may sound harsh, but it's much easier to trade rare B&S
stuff privately, and it leaves more room for other music we may not have
heard.  (And if you desperately want everyone to know your favorite song
this week is LLPJ, you can write it on a Post-It note and stick it inside
the tape cover.)
   Be as creative as is humanly possible.  You are sending others a piece of
you!
   If you wish to be contacted, so that people may ask you questions like,
"Where did you get that Smurfs song??? I must have it now!", include your
e-mail or snail-mail addy inside the tape cover as well.  PLEASE list all
songs with appropriate titles and bands.  (I am still trying to find an
unidentified Pulp song from one mix tape I received, and it's driving me
batty.)

4. WHO'S IN CHARGE OF THE TAPE TREES?
   Anyone who wants to volunteer.  Seeing as I've got a bit of free time on
my hands (read:  mononucleosis/ glandular fever), I'd be happy to get the
trees started and organized.  I expect to be off traveling in a few months,
though, so I'll need a U.S. replacement.  It helps if the person can send an
e-mail to all the tree-members in the first few weeks, to remind them of an
upcoming Swap Day.  Other than that, responsibilities are pretty minute.

5. WHY DO YOU GET TO MAKE ALL THE RULES, MISS SMARTY PANTS?
   Someone has to.  Besides, if we didn't have rules, we'd all be staring at
our fabulously decorated mix tapes, wishing there was some way the rest of
the world could hear them, writing the very saddest songs, hoping someone
would sing along to make us happy now.  :)

Send any rants/raves/questions/ideas along, and get cracking on those tapes!

Love, Miss Smarty Pants (who swears it's her spleen that's making her bossy)