Sinister: New mailing list

Wed Aug 27 12:23:26 BST 1997

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 at majordomo.net

That's it.  Hopefully the service level and speed of the new list will be
an improvement!

Paul

psm at majordomo.net
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Sinister Mailing List

The Sinister mailing list was setup by Honey 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.

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Joining The List

Here's the quick answer: send a message to majordomo at 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).

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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.

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Mailing List FAQ

1. How do I subscribe/unsubscribe from Sinister?

There are two addresses you need to remember to use the list:

sinister at 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 at 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 at 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 at majordomo.net) but always to majordomo at majordomo.net!!!

2. Can I tell who is on the list?

Yes, just send the command

who sinister

to

majordomo at 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 at 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.

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Finally remember if you get really stuck with the list mail me at:

sinister-owner at majordomo.net

and if that doesn't work something's really wrong - you'd better try my real
address at:

psm at majordomo.net

Honey 24th August 1997

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