Sinister: PLEASE READ: a list mummy speaks

[Honey]

Well chums, let's all sit down and have a tea-break.  Someone go and
get the chocolate fingers and let's settle down and natter.  Veteran
tea-drinkers and war heroes of this list will have done this a few
too many times, so I apologise in advance, but please read this
message to help this list survive, and please don't think I'm boring
as hell, I can be damned smutty too for a list mummy (Mick McMick:
"female parental-type ones, not the ones wrapped in bandages").

What I want to natter about for just a bit is this:

 Carmen: Why is it that every time I check my mail, I have 175 emails
 ... and usually none of them have anything to do with Belle and  
 Sebastian

 Heather: I should probably preface this message by asking, is it ok
 to write non B&S messages?

 Tara: Seems anything that's interesting, touching, funny or
 depravingly smutty and related to the lives of B&S fans gets the 
 green-light.

See the thing is, for anyone who's been on other mailing lists,
they'll know that this balance is very hard to make.  Most music
mailing lists die quickly and in squalid circumstances by becoming
either (a) too boring and talking about B sides on purple vinyl all
the time, (b) being spread too thin, where everyone posts
indiscriminately about the first thing they think of without pausing
for thought about who's reading, or (c) everyone discusses what
*should* be on the list and has a big pie fight; eventually someone
sticks a brick in one of the pies and hurts someone else and they all
end up sulking and moaning down the phone for hours to their mums.
If you've seen any of this on a mailing list before, and you hated
it, then you're *doubly* responsible to help here.

Well, (c)'s not going to happen here because I'm not going to let it,
as you all know :)  And you can help me with that by please not
prolonging discussions about what can and can't be on the list - as
Tara says it's all been set out for ages in the FAQ on the WWW page,
and you all got a copy when you joined so there will be a test at 3
o'clock next Tuesday.  I take it dead seriously - you've all been
asked to read this so if you haven't stop coughing and go and do it.
These  are The Ten Commandments and are not optional.  Let me write
it by your nipple in lipstick:

http://www.majordomo.net/sinister/faq.html

My job's to run the list and do a bit of prodding, so you'll have to
forgive me for that and not take offence, and please not feel
victimised.  It's worked for a year, so I know what I'm doing now,
and most people seem to like it; if you disagree come and see me.
Your job is to just enjoy the list, and help it survive.

And you do THAT by helping the balance between (a) and (b) above.
Why are most music lists boring or irritating?  Because this balance
is hard to strike?  Why is this one often not?  Because most of you
work really hard on the whole to pause before you post and think
about whether what you're saying is of interest to the majority of
800 people listening.  I can't help feeling just now that some are
straying into spouting a little too much without thinking first (and
this ISN'T aimed at anyone in particular so don't you DARE take
offence!).  Some threads are just getting too far from the source and
thinned out.  Quality and not quantity, otherwise no-one can keep up
and everyone starts posting to a few friends.  Then everyone leaves
and I'm left with the washing up to do on my own.

So this is a call to arms (again; it's worked before) to everyone to
do their bit please now: this list is run on limited, borrowed
resources, and on borrowings of my time; it's a Belle and Sebastian
list, which means it's about people who like Belle and Sebastian, but
we still have a focus.  It's neither a strict news list for the band,
nor a general music list, there are plenty of others that do that
well and I can't afford the resources to support that, indeed you can
start your own if you want something broader.  So of course you can
talk about other music, and indeed, sexually explicit bus rides, but
please be public spirited to see when this has gone far enough.
Anything else (honestly) lowers the chance of this list's survival.
It's a balance and everyone (definitely me) will get it wrong at
times, but trying's what counts.  Do your bit.

Don't post multiple posts with little content.  Bundle up your
thoughts for the day into one mail.  I've said it before, in almost
all circumstances, if anyone's posting more than two mails a day,
you're probably getting something wrong unless your house is on fire,
and everyone can see you are.  Think before you post.  Remember
you'll be forgiven some funny personal stuff if you send it with a
long general post which you put some time into too.  Don't send jokes
to the list or stuff with no personal content.  Don't slag people off
for fun, even if it's "ironic", because it isn't and I don't like it.
Don't send knee-jerk responses, and if you ever find yourself
thinking: "hey I'm groovy look at meeeeee!" when you hit send, go and
ponder your sins and how obvious it is when someone else does it :)

You can all sit back now and dunk your biscuits.  And whichever
people voted for me as a minor list crush, you can have bourbon
creams but of course you have to ask me first :)  I suspect mails
like this won't earn me any more votes, unless someone's got a thing
for schoolteachers.

Yes the WWW is back - phew.  Sorry for the break, I had to get me
spanners out.  But it means of course none of you have any excuse to
be lazy anymore :)  Do a little legwork on the WWW before you ask a
question - there's masses of information about the band, releases,
etc etc on the WWW pages linked from the Sinister page.  A question
pushed out to 800 people before you look is likely to excite a few
muted grrrs.

Francis surprisingly said: "I have been one of the many
naughty people "booted" off the sinister list" - no you haven't mate!
Aww I'm not mean honestly!  It's a threat of course that I'll use if
I have to, but it doesn't mean I ever quite have, and I'll only do it
if the list's future's threatened.

There have been lots of double posts to the list recently, can
someone tell me why?  I'm pretty sure it's not a problem this end...

No mitten offers yet, I'm going to have to resort to offering sexual
favours to knitting circles.

philippe's little pink goldfish, honey xxx


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