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Welcome to the Tomorrow People Mailing Lists!
Please read this message carefully and keep it for future reference. The rules and guidelines laid out within are provided to ensure that the mailing lists are as efficient and enjoyable for everyone as possible. Any problems should be discussed with any of the list administrators off the lists. The rules are not immutable, but only the admins have the power to change them. Questions answered herein include:
These are the rules and guidelines for the Tomorrow People mailing lists.
TPDIS is a mailing list dedicated to the discussion of all aspects of either generation of the television show The Tomorrow People. TPFICT is a mailing list dedicated to the posting and discussion of creative works (fanfic) based on the television show The Tomorrow People. By subscribing and/or posting to TPFICT and/or the TPFICT archives, you acknowledge that The Tomorrow People and all characters associated with either series are created and owned by Roger Damon Price, Nickelodeon, ITV and/or Thames/Tetra Television. All stories posted to this list are for entertainment purposes only, are not to be sold for profit of any kind, and are not intended to infringe upon any copyrights. What is the Galactic Federation Communications Hub? The Galactic Federation Communications Hub (GFTCH) is the internet home page for the mailing lists. It contains links to other Tomorrow People related sites. It also houses the archives for the TPFICT mailing list.
No. While the mailing lists are places for fans to be with other fans, they are not fan clubs, nor are they affiliated with fan clubs, of any kind. Anyone is free to join, participate (or not participate), and leave whenever he or she wants. There are no membership fees, name badges, newsletters, etc., just people with the same interest staying in communication. Nothing. While there are costs associated with the existence of the lists and web pages, none of them have ever or will ever be passed on to subscribers. The listowner handles all associated costs. To subscribe to either of the mailing lists, follow these steps:
In a few minutes you should receive a response from the majordomo. It'll ask you to confirm you subscription request by forwarding the email you just received back to the server. This is to make sure that you're not subscribed to the list without your permission. Please keep in mind that the email address you confirm your subscription from has to be exactly the same as the address from which you made the request. If the two are off by even one character, the request will be rejected. The computer has no way of knowing that ladyslvr@xmission.com and wlkelley@students.wisc.edu are the same person. For that matter, it has no way of knowing that ladyslvr@xmission.com and ladyslvr@mail.xmission.com are the same person. If your subscription was done correctly, you'll soon receive an outdated version of this document. While it's a good place to start, anything written here supercedes anything written there in the case of contradictions. You can't subscribe to the web site. That's open to the public. How do I know if I'm really subscribed? If you received the email with the rules, then you're really subscribed. If you're getting any email from the list, then you're really subscribed. If you're not getting any email, you haven't received the rules, or you have some other reason to think your subscription failed or was cancelled, there are several things you can do to check.
How can I tell if I'm getting email from the list? Email from the lists are labelled. The name of the list is the very first thing you'll see in the subject line. This labelling is automatic, and is not something you have to remember to do. No. Test messages are considered to be off-topic. Off-topic posts are not allowed. A contribution to a mailing list is called a "post". To make a post to the list, send your email messages to LISTNAME@lists.xmission.com. Only members can post to the mailing lists. A mailing list is not a chat room; conversation does not happen in real time. It may be hours before you message even shows up on the list, and it may be hours or days more before people respond to it. Having a conversation with people on a mailing list is a lot like having a pen pal, only you don't have to pay for the stamp and everyone subscribed to the list gets a copy of everything sent to it. You can't "post" to the web site. You are encouraged to sign the guestbook, but that's not the same thing as posting to the list. You are also welcome to contribute to any of the Thread Theorys, or to start your own, but you have to do that via the mailing list. If it's directly related to The Tomorrow People then it's allowed. This includes conversation about the characters and the public lives of actors and other people directly connected to the show. However, discussion about real people is dangerous territory and the administrators reserve the right to kill any discussion that seems to be crossing the line between public and private lives. Speculation into the private lives of the actors, executives, other list members, your neighbor, someone you loaned a tape to once, etc. is not allowed. TPDIS is a general audience list. There are no restrictions against discussion of topics such as homosexuality, religion or politics, but all posts must be kept clean and geared towards a family audience. TPFICT is dedicated to the posting of creative works based on the show. This includes poems, stories, top 10 lists, or almost anything else you can think of. It is also for the discussion of those works. Fanfiction (fanfic) and/or other creative works as well as the discussion of those works should not go to TPDIS. That's what TPFICT is for.
OFF-TOPIC POSTS:
LANGUAGE:
FLAMES: Saying: I don't like A Man For Emily because Peter Davison looked silly in that silver wig is fine. Saying: I don't like A Man For Emily because it's stupid, is not at all constructive, but it's still fine. Saying: You're stupid because you like A Man For Emily, is a flame. TPDIS, TPFICT, and the Galactic Federation page are privately owned and operated. In other words, what constitutes flaming is determined solely at the discretion of the listowner and/or assistant list administrators. So far, neither list has ever had a problem with flamers. Let's try to keep it that way. Discussion of the show or other related topics should not go to TPFICT. That's what TPDIS is for.
RATINGS:
For those who aren't familiar with the MPAA rating system, it is roughly
as follows: G - General Audience - Minimal violence, no sexual material, no profanity.
REAL PEOPLE:
OFF-TOPIC POSTS:
FLAMES: Saying: I don't like The Atropos Project because the plot doesn't make any sense, is fine. Saying: I don't like The Atropos Project because it's stupid, is not at all constructive, but it's still fine. Saying: You're stupid because you like The Atropos Project, is a flame. TPDIS, TPFICT, and the Galactic Federation page are privately owned and operated. In other words, what constitutes flaming is determined solely at the discretion of the listowner and/or assistant list administrators. So far, neither list has ever had a problem with flamers. Let's try to keep it that way. Spoilers are any information that may ruin a story for someone else if he or she hasn't seen it yet. Spoilers are usually only considered in regards to new material that is being, or just has been, released. In fandoms such as The Tomorrow People, where the show has been cancelled for some time, there is generally very little left to spoil, so they're not a concern. Currently, however, Big Finish Productions has decided to produce new audio plays starring the original series cast. These plays are under spoiler protection. Any play is under spoiler protection for six months from its release date, or until the next play is released, whichever comes first. Information regarding cast, writer, director, or release date is not a spoiler. In other words, it's fine to say that Peter Vaughn Clark will be in the next story. It's a spoiler to say anything about what his character Stephen will be doing. Spoiler space is used in email messages posted to the list. It's a series of blank lines, or lines of any non-spoiler content, placed before spoilers. This is so people don't accidentally see something they would have chosen not to see. Spoiler space should be about 20 lines deep: the height of the average email box window. Spoilers should also be marked in the subject line of the message. Both of these methods are used in conjuction for double protection. Can I send pictures or sound files? No. Do not send attached or encoded files of any kind. The list software cannot handle binary files. Attachments or encoded files will choke the list. Most likely the list will spit it back. If by some chance the software does allow the post, it will result in pages and pages of gibberish. The kinds of files that are binary (as opposed to ASCII, which is allowed) include, but are not limited to, movie files, audio files and pictures. If your email program attaches or encodes files automatically, refer to the documentation that came with your software to learn how to turn the feature off. If that doesn't work or isn't an option, then you need to find another way to get your posts to the list. Can I send HTML files, web pages, and other fancy stuff? Many email programs now allow the option to spruce up email text with bold face, italics, different font colors, and/or different font sizes. Although it may look nice to you, that's not allowed either. The problem with this option is that it adds formatting to the email message that many peoples' mailers can't support. As a result, they receive unreadable pages of garbage characters. All email should be sent as straight ASCII text. That's the plain text, without any pretty colors, neat characters, unusual text sizes, or anything else. It's the one in which documents are saved when you tell your word processor to save as .txt. It's also that one that anyone can read, no matter what word processor they're using, what web browser, electronic mailer, or operating system. But using plain text is so boring. True. On the other hand, the reason you're posting to the mailing list is presumably because you want people to read your messages. If you put all the fancy stuff in your messages, then you're limiting the people who can read them. In fact, if you put too much fancy stuff in, then you're preventing anyone from reading them. Active discussion is encouraged. There are even a few people on the list who have designated themselves as being in charge of making sure the list doesn't stay quiet for too long. However, everyone is requested to limit their postings to no more than 5 per day. People who can't or don't check their email every day shouldn't have to be worried about being swamped next time they log in, nor should the admins have to worry about finding hundreds of bounced messages in their mailbox because some internet service provider was down that day. Spamming is not allowed at all. Spamming is sending the same post to the list over and over, and/or sending many different posts to the list in a very short amount of time. Spamming annoys people. Spamming can cause the list software to die a painful and expensive death. Spamming will get you unsubscribed, and possibly banned from the list. Do not repost to either list for any reason. If a post comes through mangled, or fails to come through within 24 hours from being sent, contact the list administrators to clear reposting. There may be something wrong with the list software that resending a post will only aggravate. Something may also be wrong with the post itself that has prevented it from showing up to the list. The list software is configured to not accept any posts containing administrative requests. Such requests include commands to subscribe, unsubscribe, or help. On one notable occassion, the software choked on the word unstable. In addition, posts that are too long or that contain attachments may be bounced. It's also possible that a post which hasn't shown up was sent to the wrong address. Posts to TPDIS must be sent to tpdis@lists.xmission.com. Posts to TPFICT must be sent to tpfict@lists.xmission.com. In addition, posts must be sent from the exact same email address as the one that's subscribed to the list. If they aren't, then they software won't allow them through.
TPDIS: Most posts are not archived in any way. If you missed one, you can try emailing the author directly and asking them if they still have it and would be willing to send it to you. Otherwise, it's gone. Do not request that the author repost to the list.
TPFICT: If you miss a post to the list, or you remember a story from the archives that is no longer there, you can try emailing the author directly to ask if they would be willing to send it to you. Do not request stories or story parts on the list, or request that they be posted to the list. List telepathy is the phenomenon by which people subscribed to the list develop or propose identical or near-identical ideas independently of one another. That is, two people think of the same idea at or near the same time, without having had any contact with one another regarding the idea. It seems to happen quite often, especially on the fanfic list, where two authors will post very similar stories at the same time. Do people on the list really think they're Tomorrow People? Although I can't speak for everyone, generally, no. Most list cultures, as with other similar organizations, usually develop some sort of "us versus them" mentality. On many other television based mailing lists, the fans will have a name for themselves used to distinguish list fans from other fans, both of whom in turn are distinguished from non-fans. The Tomorrow People lists never fully did either of those two things; the closest it's come is for members of the list to refer to themselves as Tomorrow People and to non-fans as Saps. Sometimes said Tomorrow People will make other show-based references, e.g. talking about:
To unsubscribe from the mailing list, follow these steps:
If you do not receive the response and/or you are still receiving posts from the list 24 hours after sending your confirmation, please email one of the list administrators and let them know what you've already tried to do and what you still need. Do not email the list requesting to be removed. The other people on the list cannot do anything to remove you from the list, and the administrators may not see your post amongst all the others from the list. What if I have a question that wasn't answered here? Email one of the administrators and ask. We won't bite, really. In fact, we'd prefer if you ask directly and get a definitive answer instead of breaking a rule because you didn't understand it. What happens if I break a rule? If it's really minor, maybe nothing. Mistakes happen. There really isn't a punishment scale of any sort, sliding or otherwise. Most likely you'll just receive a warning. If it seems like you're getting too many warnings for the same infraction, or you break a major rule (e.g. flaming, spamming), you may be unsubscribed from the list for a short period of time. Or, depending upon the severity of the infraction, you may be banned from the list altogether. The administrators are the only people who have the ability to send warnings or to remove or ban a person from the list for a rules infraction.
The listowner is:
The assistant administrators are:
IS GROUNDS FOR REMOVAL FROM THE LISTS |