[Last updated on: Thu Oct 31 12:23:28 1996]

This is the information file for Signal-to-Noise, an electronic mailing list for fans of The Flash Girls.

Please take the time to read this message in it's entirety-- it's useful information that may save you time in the long run. Also, do hang onto it for future reference (trust me, you may need it someday).

The Flash Girls are Emma Bull and the Fabulous Lorraine Garland. They're an award-winning (and utterly charming) musical duo based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with fans all over the world. This list was originally created to distribute information about Flash Girls shows, albums, and related information. The list has grown to encompass discussion of the Flash Girls and other topics of interest.

What defines "other topics of interest"? You, the listmember do. We try not to stray too far afield... but pretty much anything is fair game. Discussions typically involve The Flash Girls (of course), friends of The Flash Girls, music, and/or books. Other Stuff may be okay, but keep in mind that the further we stray from topic, the less likely all 150+ listmembers are going to be interested in the discussion. Which is why, from time to time, I may post a gentle reminder to the list or to individuals, when non-Flash Girls related discussions go on a bit too long.

Please introduce yourself to the mailing list (if you want to wait a few days or even weeks before you do so, that's cool. And I'm not going to force you to. It's just nice to know who's on the list). When/where did you first hear the Flash Girls? Do you have any questions about the Flash Girls?

There is a list of Frequently Asked Questions & Answers being compiled about the Flash Girls. If you have questions (and/or answers) to contribute, email laurel@pobox.com. The list will be informed when the FAQ becomes available.

You may wish to consult the Flash Girls webpages for information, before posting questions to the list. Even if you don't have questions, pay them a visit, just 'cuz. :)
The Flash Girls -- http://www.player.org/pub/flash/flash.html
Signal-to-Noise -- http://www.apocalypse.org/pub/signal-to-noise/

Please be courteous to other listmembers. Do remember to...

...Edit out unnecessary text.
When responding to someone else's post, the writer should include only as much "original text" as is absolutely necessary to help readers know what's being responding to, and the rest should be deleted.

...Doublecheck the address you are replying to.
Think about your audience. If the reply is directed primarily at the individual who posted the message and isn't necessarily of interest to the list at large, you may want to reply solely to the individual's email address (remember to remove signal-to-noise). In other cases, perhaps the message is directed at the list, then you might want to remove the individual's email address from the To: field and only send to the list address.

...Avoid shouting.
On the Internet, writing in all capital letters comes across to readers as shouting and should be avoided. When you want to emphasize individual words or phrases, you might try capital letters, or perhaps *asterisks*, =equal signs=, or whatever suits your style.

...Keep private email private.
It is not cool to post excerpts from private email one receives unless and until one has the author's explicit permission.

...Keep your one-liners to a minimum.
There is nothing more frustrating than getting a load of mail, and finding that half are just one line comments being bounced back and forth. (If I find myself accululating a bunch of brief comments, I like to combine them into one message, rather than send a bunch of short messages, but to each their own).

...Keep this list flame-free.
If you have a disagreement with a listmember, please take any flames off-list. By flame, I mean negative remarks about the other individual and such stuff. I'd hope that kind of stuff wouldn't happen at all, but if it does... well, we don't want to see it on the list.

That said, don't be afraid to jump into the discussions (lurkers are, of course, welcome, too). Folks who trample on rules of ettiquette or anything like that needn't fear being booted off the list (hey, we all make mistakes). Just be good to each other, have fun, all will be well. :)

Now on to more technical matters (don't be afraid, I used to be afraid of techie stuff, so I had to say that)...

Signal-to-noise runs on majordomo software.

Unsubscribe, subscribe, and other administrative requests should be sent to signal-to-noise-request@apocalypse.org. All mail to these addresses should not have a subject line or signature.

The body of your message should only include the indicated commands.

To subscribe to the list, send email to signal-to-noise-request@apocalypse.org with a message body of:

       subscribe signal-to-noise

If you have questions about majordomo commands, send email to signal-to-noise-request@apocalypse.org with a message body of:

       help

To unsubscribe from signal-to-noise, send email to signal-to-noise-request@apocalypse.org with a message body of:

       unsubscribe signal-to-noise

There are other versions of signal-to-noise available, if you prefer getting one big message each day (or however often email accumulates) collecting a bunch of messages, you'll probably prefer the digest version. There is also signal-to-noise-announce, which is for announcments only... you might subscribe to that if you aren't interested in discussion, or you might subscribe to it in addition to the digest version, so you hear the latest announcements as they happen.

There is also a mailing list called "rades" for, oddly enough, the trading of tapes, books, CDs, and other stuff that may or may not be related to The Flash Girls, Boiled in Lead, and related artists. To subscribe, write to majordomo@apocalypse.org with a message body of:

       subscribe trades

If you have any questions that need a personal response, send email to laurel@pobox.com or signal-to-noise-owner@apocalypse.org.

To send email to the list, send your message to signal-to-noise@apocalypse.org. Please don't send subscribe or unsubscribe messages to the list address. :) Thanks.

[ signal-to-noise main page | digest info | announce info ]

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Revised: 10/31/96 / Laurel Krahn / laurel@pobox.com