ch-scene/a.m.c-h FAQ
 
ch-scene/alt.music.chapel-hill FAQ
Version 0.5 (May 28, 2003)
Draft by Ross Grady
location of canonical copy: http://www.trianglerock.com/amch/ Updates/changes/modifications/quarrels/questions/suggestions to

Contents:

1. List mechanics/basics

1.1 What is ch-scene?
1.2 What is alt.music.chapel-hill?
1.3 How do I subscribe/unsubscribe to ch-scene?
1.4 How do I read alt.music.chapel-hill?
1.5 Is ch-scene moderated?
1.6 What is the role of the listowner?
1.7 Who is the listowner?
1.8 Is the list/newsgroup archived?


2. Meta- and content issues

2.1 Is there a charter for ch-scene/a.m.c-h?
2.2 If there were a charter, what rules, if any, might it contain?
2.3 What is considered on-topic?
2.4 What is considered off-topic?
2.5 What about all the political bickering?


1. List mechanics/basics

1.1 What is ch-scene?

ch-scene is an email list which was started at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1994 by Doug Matthews. It was begun with the stated purpose of fostering discussion of/by/about/between musicians and fans in the Triangle region of North Carolina. Further content issues are discussed in the "content" section of this FAQ. ch-scene is mirrored (via the mail2news/news2mail software package) to the UseNet discussion group alt.music.chapel-hill.

The first post in the ch-scene archive is dated June 8, 1994, which is somewhere between a few weeks and a few months after the list was created. The first sentence of the first post in the archive is "Thanks to Ruby for reminding me to have the archiving turned on." It's OK if you don't find this as funny as I do.


1.2 What is alt.music.chapel-hill?

alt.music.chapel-hill is a UseNet discussion group which may or may not have been newgrouped before ch-scene was. The first post archived by groups.google.com is from April 21, 1994. Subject line "blah..." Body "test".

The 2nd post is from June 5, 1994 and the first sentence is "This group's title suggests a much broader musical domain than I've noticed so far" which would imply that there had been previous posts which weren't captured by groups.google.com for whatever reason.


1.3 How do I subscribe/unsubscribe to ch-scene?

Go here: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene

You have the ability to control what address you're subscribed from, to unsubscribe, or to put your subscription on hold while you're traveling, as well. If you don't know the password that was assigned to you when you subscribed, you can have it emailed to the address you're subscribed under. If that account is dead & you just want to unsubscribe, don't worry about it, mailman will deactivate you itself if you start bouncing messages. If for some reason you *need* to perform a list-management function & are unable to, please email & I'll endeavor to hook you up.


1.4 How do I read alt.music.chapel-hill?

If your ISP offers UseNet access, you'll need to select & configure a newsreader. I recommend using Mozilla 1.3 or greater, because it's fast, free & relatively painless to use. However, there are craploads of others and feel free to take your pick.

Otherwise, many folks read alt.music.chapel-hill via groups.google.com. They also have a posting facility. There may be some lag between the time messages hit the UseNet group and the time they show up on groups.google.com due to the way they archive UseNet posts. I haven't noticed a significant lag when posting via google, however.


1.5 Is ch-scene moderated?

No. Anyone can post to ch-scene and/or alt.music.chapel-hill. There is no moderation or censorship before-the-fact. Or after-the-fact, for that matter, unless you count general bitching and moaning about yr post as "censorship."


1.6 What is the role of the listowner?

The listowner has access to the various management settings of the ch-scene mailing list, which control things like the little footer at the bottom of each message, and the welcome email that gets sent out when a new person subscribes to the list. The listowner also gets the somewhat painfully futile job of interceding with the UNC email support people when something goes screwy with the mailing list or the mirror.

The listowner can also help you subscribe/unsubscribe, and/or answer questions such as those in this FAQ.


1.7 Who is the listowner?

Ross Grady is the listowner. Ross inherited it from Speight, who inherited it from Ruby, who inherited it from Doug. I think. It has been a long time. Ross can be contacted at .


1.8 Is the list/newsgroup archived?

Over the years, the ch-scene list has been hosted on at least 3 different servers running various different bits of list-management software, so at this point I think it's safe to say that there is no longer any real chance of laying hands on a complete set of list archives. However, thanks to the fact that ch-scene has been mirrored to alt.music.chapel-hill since more-or-less the very beginning, I recommend using Google Groups--the mirror has never been perfect, but it's the best archive we've got at this point.



2. Meta- and content issues

2.1 Is there a charter for ch-scene/a.m.c-h?

There is no charter per se. There was a message that Doug wrote that used to go out to new subscribers. I seem to have misplaced it at the moment, but I'm sure I'll come across it at some point. It name-checked Kathy Poindexter, but that's all I can remember.

The current welcome message is similar enough to this FAQ that I'll refrain from repeating it here.

But in terms of proposing a charter, voting on it, and making it official, no, we don't have one. Yet. It has only been 9 years, though, so give us a break.


2.2 If there were a charter, what rules, if any, might it contain?

a) Cross-posting with other UseNet groups is strongly discouraged.

b) Top-posting appears to be the accepted convention and thus while the official stance is top/bottom neutral, you certainly won't get any shit from anybody for top-posting, nor should you take any (or give any).

c) Advertisements by individuals/very-small-businesses are welcomed, provided there is some local connection. The local connection is vastly more important than any nominal music content in an advert. Looking for roommates is fine; advertising your out-of-town band's tour dates when none of those dates are in the Triangle may not be.

d) Posters are strongly encouraged to make their identities known, either via their email addresses or via message content, if they expect their posts/arguments to be taken seriously. While we certainly recognize the importance of anonymity in certain contexts (for example, when publishing broadsides against a government where the writer has a reasonable expectation that the government might exercise its power against the writer), ch-scene is probably not one of those contexts.


2.3 What is considered on-topic?

Nearly anything relating to the music, artistic, political and/or general cultural lives of residents of the Triangle region of North Carolina. This necessarily includes many topics which may not be overtly musical in nature, but which are absolutely vital to the health and well-being of musicians and/or music fans. Such as BBQ and/or fine vegetarian dining, and the procurement of same.

This also includes any item on the domestic and/or foreign-policy agenda of any government, current or former, foreign or domestic, which has the potential to impact the health and well-being of the aforementioned musicians and/or music fans. Just so we're clear on that.

A metaphor which has come in handy on many occasions is that of the cocktail party. We are a bunch of people who either live in the same region, or used to, or wished we did, with common interests. We get together to hang out & shoot the breeze. While what unites us is generally a fondness & appreciation for local music, we talk about whatever comes up.


2.4 What is considered off-topic?

Generic spam of the make-money-fast / increase-penis-size variety.

Repeated promotional/advertising posts by people from outside the Triangle area who do not otherwise participate in the general discussion are also considered to be off-topic, even if nominally music-related.

Generally, the litmus test is multifarious. To be considered off-topic, a post will likely share two or more of the following characteristics:

not-music-related
not-Triangle-culture-related
repetitive/redundant
posted by a non-triangle-resident
posted by an otherwise-unfamiliar individual

Yes, that definition is intentionally obscure/fuzzy.

Further extending the aforementioned cocktail-party metaphor, try to imagine ch-scene/a.m.c-h as an extended cocktail-party conversation, or rather the series of simultaneous conversations that you'd find at such a party. It's casual, and people are free to step up and join in, or wander away to freshen their drinks & etc. But there are certain basic rules of civility which we like to follow, and those are more or less the same as those for a real-world party: it's polite to listen in on the conversation for a moment to get the gist of what's being discussed, and who the participants are, before chipping in yr own 2 cents. This is doubly true if your initial post is combative, accusatory or trolly (trollish?).


2.5 What about all the political bickering?

On the one hand, it should be taken as the relatively minor price of living in a free society. On the other hand, you can also take it as an opportunity to hone your mail-filter-writing skills, a topic which is somewhat outside of the scope of this document.

On the third hand, I respectfully submit that there is no reasonable expectation for an unbiased readership/membership on ch-scene/alt.music.chapel-hill, nor should there be. This is not debate club, nor is it a media outlet subject to any equal-time restrictions. As I'm sure I've been told by plenty of people in the past, right-wingers included, "life isn't fair."

Evidence would indicate that the subgroup of regular/irregular posters to ch-scene/a.m.c-h skews "progressive," for lack of a better term. To the extent that we have right-wingers, they tend for the most part to be of the libertarian persuasion. This is a statement based upon 9 years of observation, not upon wishful thinking or any kind of active culling process apart from natural self-selection.

As such, left/liberal/progressive topics & posters tend to generate more positive discussion & responses than right/conservative ones. You can chalk this up to the words "chapel hill" in the name of the group, or to the fact that indie-rockers & related subgroups in general tend also to skew a little lefty.

This does not mean that right-wing/conservative ideas are unwelcome. However, I suppose it is not unreasonable to suggest that someone wishing to broach such ideas be prepared to defend them, and to do so with documentation, and with a calm, non-confrontational, non-condescending demeanor.

Ideally, the respose from the lefties would meet the same basic criteria.