The John Zorn Mailing List
15 May 2002

About | Subscribing and Unsubscribing | Sending Messages
Archives | Frequent Questions | Human Contact

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. About The Zorn List
  2. How To Subscribe, Unsubscribe and Manage Your Account
  3. General
  4. Recent Archives
  5. Old Archives
  6. Contacting The List Administrator (aka Human Contact)
  7. Sending Messages To The Zorn List
  8. Simple Text Only
  9. Attaching Files
  10. Message Length
  11. Replying To Messages On The List
  12. Quoting Another Message
  13. Subject Lines
  14. Signature Blocks
  15. Messages In Languages Other Than English
  16. Netiquette
  17. Frequently Asked Questions
  18. How To Switch From Individual Messages To A Digest
  19. How To Switch From A Digest To Individual Messages
  20. If Your E-Mail Address Changes
  21. If You Are Unable To Post Messages Or Send Commands
  22. If You Receive Mail Delivery Failure Notices
  23. You May Be Removed From The List
  24. Vacations And Out-Of-Office Auto-Replies
  25. Note To Users Of Microsoft Exchange, Outlook, Or Windows Messaging
  26. Note To Microsoft Internet Mail Users
  27. Note To cc:Mail Users

ABOUT THE ZORN LIST
The Zorn list was created so that fans of John Zorn and his MANY projects could come together and chat about the man and his music...Naked City, Masada, Painkiller, etc.....

Also discussed on this list, are: Bill Laswell, Bill Frisell, Elliott Sharp, Bobby Previte, Wayne Horvitz, Zeena Parkins, Knitting Factory roster artists, Joey Baron, Last Exit posse, and any other downtown NYC connected musicians.

GENERAL
Message Topics: Please keep the topics of your messages relevant to the subject of the mailing list. Promotional announcements and Press Releases are not welcome.
FAQ: There is a list of frequently asked questions on the zorn-list available on the web at http://browbeat.com/zornlist/faq.html Please read the FAQ when you first subscribe to avoid asking a question that has already been discussed, ad nauseum.
Courtesy: To make this mailing list useful for the greatest number of people, please treat your fellow list members with courtesy. Please refrain from actions that would detract from the value of the list for other members. Be careful not to cross the fine line of criticizing what someone says into a personal attack.
Related Websites: The fine folks at WNUR have a created a web page for John Zorn which contains links to all of the known Zorn related websites. The WNUR page can be found at http://www.nwu.edu/WNUR/jazz/artists/zorn.john/

CONTACTING THE LIST ADMINISTRATOR (aka HUMAN CONTACT)
If you need assistance, have comments or suggestions, do not hesitate to contact the list owner, Mike Rizzi (that's me) at 

                zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com
The promptness of my reply depends on whether I am in town and how nice you are.

SENDING MESSAGES TO THE ZORN LIST
You must be a member of the zorn list before you can post messages to the mailing list (see How To Subscribe section below for more info). To post to the list, send your mail to 

                zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com
which will then distribute your words of wit and wisdom to all the current members of the list.

BEFORE sending a message to the list, please note that:

  • You MUST send your messages FROM the computer account you used to subscribe to the list, otherwise the message will bounce to me and not be sent to the other subscribers. This feature prevents our list from being "spammed" with unwanted junk mail from non-subscribers.
  • When sending a copy of private email to the list, please make sure that you remove the email headers. Not doing so has the unfortunate side effect of breaking the digest.

SIMPLE TEXT ONLY
Please only post messages with simple (ASCII) text, anything else can cause your prose to be interspersed with funny symbols like ^t and =20 when read by others. Also, not everyones mail readers can display MIME files and special characters (curly apostrophes and quotes, accent marks, bold, italics, etc.). No HTML messages either !

ATTACHING FILES
Please don't attach files to messages posted to the Zorn mailing list. Paste in the relevant text if it's a reasonable size, provide a URL where it's available, or send the file by private mail.

MESSAGE LENGTH
Please limit messages to 7K in size. Messages larger than that will automatically go to the list owner for approval at their leisure. And we do mean leisure. Heh.

REPLYING TO MESSAGES ON THE LIST
If you reply to someone on the list, it will only go to that person unless you explicitly add zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com to the To: or Cc: fields of your mail message header.

QUOTING ANOTHER MESSAGE
A good message does not contain the entire text of the message to which it's responding; only the relevant parts (usually a single sentence or sentence fragment) should be included.

Do not quote an entire message or an entire paragraph unless it's absolutely necessary. There's an enormous amount of traffic on the xmission.com mailing lists; please do your share to cut down the load by quoting effectively (especially since xmission is hosting us gratis!).

Trimmed messages also keep the digests and archives neat, tidy and easy-to-read. Digest subsribers will thank you.

By far the best reply simply refers to the message author and a one-sentence description of the subject; for example, "John Doe asked about Masada 9." If you think it's necessary to quote portions of the previous message, include only the portions that are really essential. Remove the previous authors signature line. Only quote/attribute (>) enough to give context to your reply.

DON'T QUOTE 100 LINES OF TEXT, THEN POST A 2 LINE COMMENT.

SUBJECT LINES
A good message always uses a meaningful subject line. This helps you and other members of the list, since many members only read selected messages based on the subject. As a result, messages without a subject line or with vague subjects like "Help needed" may get less response.

If you have a digest subscription, you should always change the subject line in your replies from the original digest subject, which looks like this: "Zorn List Digest V2 # XXX".

SWITCHING FROM INDIVIDUAL MESSAGES TO A DIGEST, OR VICE VERSA
The Zorn mailing list sends out messages as they are received (aka "regular mail" aka "real-time mode") in order to facilitate discussion and allow for timely notice of upcoming shows. If you prefer to receive a digest form of the Zorn mailing list (one email for every bunch of messages), then go to the zorn-list management web page 

    http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/zorn-list
and edit your list options.

SUBSCRIBING, UNSUBSCRIBING, AND MANAGING YOUR ACCOUNT
The zorn-list is now adminstered by Mailman, the mailing list software that has a web interface so you can easily administer your own subscription. 

    http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/zorn-list
Through the web site you can
  • subscribe
  • unsubscribe
  • disable mail delivery
  • set digest mode
  • set acknowledgements
  • etc.
When subscribing, you will receive a confirmation request message that you must reply to, following the instructions in that message. When the list server has received your confirmation reply, you will be sent a list subscription confirmation and a welcome message containing further helpful information. If you need assistance, contact the mailing list administrator 
                zorn-list-admin@xmission.com

RECENT ARCHIVES
Archives of recent messages (since May 16, 2002) using the new Mailman mailing list software can be found at 

   http://mailman.xmission.com/pipermail/zorn-list/

OLD ARCHIVES
Old digests and monthly archives (from the Majordomo and pre-Majordomo days) are available via anonymous FTP at: 

                ftp.xmission.com:  /pub/lists/zorn-list/archive
or via your favorite web browser at: 
                ftp://ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/zorn-list/archive
Hopefully, the old archives will be merged with the new archives to create a single archive.

SIGNATURE BLOCKS
Distinctive signature blocks are a tradition on the Internet, but on the Zorn list we ask members to keep the signature shorter than the message as a courtesy to other members. Ideally, signatures should not exceed a few lines. Large ASCII graphics are particularly distracting and unacceptable.

The most important part of the posting should be your message, not your signature.

MESSAGES IN LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH
The mailing list is international, and it is important to assist people who don't read and write English as long as we can do so without disrupting the list. Also, we shouldn't be hypercritical and nitpicking of list members language skills. However, it's best if messages can be posted in English simply so the largest number of people can participate in the discussions. It's strictly a pragmatic issue.

French speaking fans of creative avant-garde improv music may be interested in the Fennec mailing list. For more information, please visit their website at http://www.fennec.digiweb.fr/

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
A list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to the list is available at: 

                http://browbeat.com/zornlist/faq.html

NETIQUETTE
Here are a few tips on netiquette:

  • DON'T send lines longer than 75 characters. This is a kindness to folks who have terminal-based mail editors. Some mail gateways truncate extra characters, turning your deathless prose into gibberish.

  • Some mail editors seem to insert line breaks for you but actually don't, so every paragraph turns into one immense line. Learn what your mail editors do by mailing a message to yourself and reading the message in several mail readers. Most mail programs will let you read your message in a plain, vanilla form, the way others will see it.

  • DON'T SEND A MESSAGE IN ALL CAPS. CAPITALIZED MESSAGES ARE HARDER TO READ THAN LOWERCASE OR MIXED-CASE MESSAGES.

  • DO use normal capitalization. Separate your paragraphs with blank lines. Make your message inviting to your potential readers.

  • DON'T betray confidences. It's all too easy to mistakenly quote a personal message in a message to the entire group.

  • DO read the "To:" and "Cc:" lines in your message before you send it. Are you sure you want the message to go there?

  • DO treat every post as though you were sending a copy to your boss, your minister, and your worst enemy.

  • DON'T rely on the ability of your readers to tell the difference between serious statements and satire or sarcasm. It's hard to write humor. It's even harder to write satire.

  • DO remember that no one can hear your tone of voice. Use emoticons (or smileys) like :-) or ;^) and tilt your head counterclockwise to see the smile. You can also use capitalization for emphasis or Usenet conventions for italics and underlined text.

  • DON'T put a huge signature at the bottom of your messages.

  • DO exercise some restraint. Remember that a large number of mail editors out there are set up to use proportional fonts, and your lovely ASCII art won't look the way you designed it on those readers. Remember also that there's a Usenet newsgroup out there whose sole function is to make fun of people's signatures.

  • DON'T send a message that says nothing but "Me, too." Ditto for "I don't know."

  • DO recall that you aren't obligated to reply to everything you read. Remember the immortal words of Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889): "Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech."

IF YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS CHANGES
Your e-mail address may change for many reasons, including:

  • You change ISPs or employers.
  • Your ISP or company changes their e-mail software.
  • You change e-mail software on your computer.
  • You change your ID with an online service.
If your address changes for any reason, you should unsubscribe your old address and resubscribe your new address. If you are unable to unsubscribe your old address, contact the list administrator. That's the best way to be certain you'll be able to post messages and sign off in the future without assistance.

IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO POST MESSAGES OR SEND COMMANDS
If your e-mail provider or mail system administrator makes changes to their system or you change e-mail programs, the address your messages appear to come from may change. A common example is when user@SOMEPLACE.COM becomes user@MAIL.SOMEPLACE.COM. That will prevent the majordomo list server from recognizing you and accepting your messages. In this case, you will have to unsubscribe your old address, and resubscribe with your new address.

IF YOU RECEIVE MAIL DELIVERY FAILURE NOTICES
If you receive a message saying that a message you just posted to a list could not be delivered, that usually means a problem in some other list member's mail. If you receive a copy of your own message back from the list, you can be sure that your message was sent to the other list members.

When you receive such a delivery error message, please forward it to the List Administrator. That way the problem can be corrected so other members don't receive the same error when they post messages.

YOU MAY BE REMOVED FROM THE LIST
A variety of problems can cause messages to fail to reach you. Errors encountered can include full mailbox, user unknown, unable to locate your domain, unable to contact your mail server, and many others. Most of these are temporary errors that quickly go away. Others are permanent problems that cannot be corrected. Sending messages that cannot be received by the list member wastes resources.

If errors are reported that indicate you are unable to receive messages from the list, or if you cannot receive messages from the list, you will be removed from the list.

If you are removed from the list, a notice will be sent to you periodically by the majordomo mail list server telling you that you were removed from the list and need to resubscribe.

VACATIONS AND OUT-OF-OFFICE AUTO-REPLIES
If you won't be checking your mail for more than a few days, you should consider switching to a digest subscription or stopping the list messages entirely during that time. Otherwise, your mailbox could fill up during your absence. Besides being a nuisance when you return, this can cause you to miss important messages. The "mailbox full" errors will also cause you to be removed from the list, as described in the previous section You May Be Removed From The List.

If you use any form of auto-reply message, particularly the automated out-of-office messages supported by some e-mail systems, and you receive individual messages from the mailing list, your auto-reply messages may be sent to everyone who posts a message to the mailing list during your absence. Auto-reply messages may be treated as errors and you may be removed from the list.

NOTE TO USERS OF MICROSOFT EXCHANGE, OUTLOOK, OR WINDOWS MESSAGING
Users of Microsoft Exchange or other RTF-capable e-mail clients may be accustomed to formatting e-mail messages using colors, italics, different fonts, and other features to emphasize portions of their messages. Not every subscriber uses e-mail software that interprets messages formatted using RTF.

To make list postings readable by the entire list membership, please follow these procedures: 

        If you use a Personal or System Address Book entry to write 
        to a list, be sure to clear the "Always send to this recipient 
        in Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format" check box in the 
        Address properties. 

        If you type in the address, always use the form listname@servername 
        and not [SMTP:listname@servername] for messages posted to the list. 

        If you reply to a message containing RTF formatting, your reply 
        will also contain RTF unless you clear the check box in the
        Address properties as described above.
Do not use RTF formatting such as font, size, color, italics, bold, underline, or bullet lists. Please find ways to show the desired emphasis using plain text (such as *text* for bold) and similar methods.

If you use Exchange Server, creating server commands by pasting data can cause errors because the server inserts ">" in front of pasted lines. Choose Paste Special from the Edit menu, and Select Text rather than RTF to avoid this problem.

NOTE TO MICROSOFT INTERNET MAIL USERS
If your program configuration options use MIME for attached files, your entire message will appear to Exchange users as an attached text file. This makes it difficult to read and reply to your contributions to the list. To prevent this problem, change the file attachment option to UUencode or use the options described below.

If you send messages as HTML instead of plain text, many list members will receive the plain text of your message plus an attached file containing the HTML. This is distracting, and any emphasis you intended through character formatting such as bold or colors will be lost, which can change the apparent meaning of your message.

Setting the following options can resolve both problems: 

        Plain/Text
        MIME
        Encode text using: none
        Allow 8-bit characters in headers (disabled)

NOTE TO cc:Mail USERS
You must turn off the "Retain Original Text" option when replying to list messages. This option automatically includes message headers in a way that makes your message resemble a transmission error report. As a result, messages with the original text included are not posted to the list.

Also see the previous section, Quoting Another Message. 






Enjoy!



mike rizzi