ADMINISTRIVIA AND GENERAL QUESTIONS
ADMINISTRIVIA AND GENERAL QUESTIONS
The TSA in "TSA-TALK" is short for the Transformation Story Archive, a collection of short stories and novellas involving transformation of some kind within them, usually of gender, species, or age.
This mailing list, TSA-TALK, was originally for the archive's maintainer, Thomas Hassan, to allow him to let people know when the archive was updated. Since then, it has grown into a forum for authors to forge and develop new works involving transformation, as well as a place to discuss transformation in published works, in popular entertainment, and on the Internet.
The TSA-TALK list was begun in April 1996. As for the archive itself, no official start date is known. However, the Yahoo! search engine cataloged the Transformation Stories Archive on May 25th, 1995, and so Thomas has declared May 1st, 1995 to be the archive's ad hoc start date.
Subscriptions can be obtained by going to the website http://lists.integral.org/listinfo/tsa-talk. Simply follow the directions there.
We are a high-traffic mailing list, meaning that we can generate anywhere from twenty to one hundred messages per day. We are also a private mailing list. By 'private' we do not mean 'exclusive'; anyone is welcome to join. However, the list should not be archived by any public mailing list archive (such as FindMail) or Web search engine (such as AltaVista or Excite).
Thomas Hassan was in charge of the list until May 1, 2001. At that point he passed control to the "List Uncles". They are:
Ignore them at your peril.
In addition, The Dragon De Monsyne is the person (creature?) in charge of Integral, which is the software that manages the TSA-TALK mailing list.
There are only two topics that are forbidden by the list charter.
One, formatting discussions and complaints, if any, are to be sent to the author directly and not spoken of on the list.
Two, Thomas has asked that discussions about lycanthropy and transgenderism that do not focus on the transformation itself be taken to the other forums that exist on the Internet for those purposes, and not spoken about here on the list.
While these are the only subjects explicitly banned, please attempt to keep your posts on-topic. Don't post something about the local shopping mall opening, even if it did have someone in a fursuit (mascot costume) there. And although flame wars are not specifically forbidden by the list charter, it is best to take them to private mail.
Sorry, no. While this once was the case, the editors no longer have thetime to wade through the traffic looking for stories that declare they can put them on the TSA. The following is a slight edit of the List Dad's own words on the new submission guidelines:
To get a story considered for the TSA, it must be sent to tsa-submission@grendelkom.com and be clearly marked "TSA-Submission" in the subject. I may not read the story until I am preparing for a new update, which can -- as we all know -- take a while. If you need an immediate decision, please tack "Dec. asap" at the end of the subject. Mails which don't follow these conventions may get overlooked.
In the first lines of the mail, please give me the following information:
If there is no pressing reason to do otherwise, please send me the story as plain text, if possible pasted into the mailbody. Also, as the web is not "typographically-savvy", try not to use ellipses and/or curly quotes. If you need any "markup", use *asterisks for bold* and _underlines for italics_.
More detail can be found at http://tsa.transform.to/aux/submit.html. It is strongly suggested you check it out.
The chief editor is J.T. SkunkTaur. He is assisted by:
But remember, stories slated for the Transformation Story Archive should be sent to tsa-submission@grendelkom.com! The individual mailing addressed of the editors are provided only as a courtesy and emergency measure. What kind of emergency could arise in regards to chosing a story, I have no idea, but the option is open.
Assuming you don't mean the author of the story, you'd probably want to talk to J.T. SkunkTaur. He's in charge of the actual site, making edits to the stories, changes to the page layout, or putting up new material. You can contact him at editors@grendelkom.com. Indeed, that address emails all the editors listed above.
You can access the archives through the Web or through FTP.
Please do not create a publicly accessible link to the mailing list archives, either on the Web or via FTP. [Feel free to link to the Transformation Story Archive.] This is in accordance with Thomas' wishes that this remain a private mailing list. You can get the URL for these archives from the footer of any mailing list message.
The archives, by the way, automatically store all posts sent to TSA-TALK. You shouldn't have to post requests for copies of old list posts; just go to the archives.
Just a reminder.
The following are just that: tips. They aren't law.
Don't mark your messages as "high priority". It can cause jams at the server which infringe on other users.
On mailing lists in general, it's best to practice common courtesy, and to perhaps lurk for a few weeks to get a sense of what the list is like-what is acceptable, what is not, etc. It is worthwhile in our case to remember that we have members living in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Brazil, and France, so we have a lot of different perspectives on life all in one discussion forum.
Come into the list open-minded and accepting, and you'll most likely find yourself welcomed. If you are angry at someone, it might be a good idea to resist the urge to make an angry reply, and instead to take a deep breath and explain your case rationally.
If you're giving feedback to someone, you may want to write more than just the words "great story". What did you feel made it great: plot, characters, dialogue, setting? Constructive praise or criticism always helps out the author.
Lastly, use some common sense when replying to posts, either for feedback or otherwise. Ask yourself if it's something that the whole list needs to know or could profit from. Many times someone will post a question that someone on the list would likely know but isn't transformation related, like someone's email address. Other times the post is vaguely relevant but likely won't interest the list as a whole. This isn't meant to say "don't post." Not at all! But if you feel you must reply to a post, please, please, please think carefully before sending it to the entire list. Give it to everyone only if you think everyone wants it.
Well, there's a few things you can do. First, of course, is to ignore it. Just press the delete button on your mailer and send it to the trash. In most cases, the is the best thing to do.
If it gets you seriously annoyed, feel free to mail one of the List Uncles and ask him to squash the post. They don't usually do that until there's a threat the off-topic post may develop into an off-topic thread, though.
Please do not take it upon yourself to tell the poster that the post didn't belong. Certainly not publicly. Leave that to the List Uncles. We can't restrain you from replying privately, but exercise restraint. Complaining about every off-topic post will not win you many friends.
As a little hint, don't press the reply button immediately after reading a mail you want to reply to. Read all the messages in your inbox first. The subject may have been declared dead in a later post you haven't read yet. This is especially true if you haven't checked your mail in a while, or if the post was off-topic in the first place (most threads are killed because they are blatantly off-topic). Hold that reply until you're sure the thread is still live.
Legally, each person holds copyright over their stories, which means it's considered their "intellectual property." Most list members are as a result bound by the World Copyright Convention to honor their wishes regarding distribution of their stories and messages outside of the TSA-TALK mailing list.
Courtesy-wise, some people write on the list because they feel it is a safe place to share their work, and they simply may not feel comfortable with their work being sent to those not on the list.
Transformation is something every child indulges in at some age: Witness a little girl pretending she's a cat. And as we grow up, we "transform" from child into adult-our bodies, voices, and outlook changing drastically. So this might be a basis for associating sexuality with transformation.
Those on this mailing list seem to agree that sexually enjoying transformations is a fetish shared by different sexual preferences. Many men and women on the list are heterosexual but enjoy reading and writing transgender transformations. It could be construed as a literary form of sexual role-play. If aside from these stories, you are sure of your sexual preference, don't let your interest in these stories make you doubt your sexual preference. An interest in transgender stories does not necessarily translate to transsexualism, nor does an interest in age regression stories translate into pedophilia. As list member David Watkins pointed out in a post, transformation is also an extremely popular theme in the folklore and literature of every human culture. "If we never tried to imagine what it would be like to inhabit someone else's skin," wrote David, "sympathy, friendship and love would be impossible."
To criticize, you must offend a little. You're telling someone s/he is wrong. Unless the person has absolutely no sense of self-worth, that will hurt at least a little.
Unfortunately, writing doesn't convey tone of voice like speech does, nor does it give you immediate feedback as to the reader's response. So you basically say everything you're going to say without a clue as to how the reader will take it. You think you criticize kindly, the recipient reads it the wrong way and writes a nasty reply, you get offended that your effort is unappreciated and send back a scathing reply, and everything blows up.
Try to soften the blow. Make it obvious that this is your personal reaction. Sprinkle in lots of 'I found,' 'I think,' and 'In my opinion' phrases. It's a lot easier to read 'I think your story sucks,' than 'Your story sucks.' The latter phrasing should be reserved for widely accepted facts.
Use 'please' a lot. It's not just courtesy. It turns an order into a request. People tend to rebel against orders. They will consider a request. Your goal as critic is to persuade, not force, the writer to change.
Be positive. Mention things you liked, not just things you disliked. Try to cast your criticisms in a positive light: 'This scene may have worked better if...' You're trying to provide useful feedback, not destroy the author's self-esteem.
Don't be afraid to admit you're wrong. It's not the end of the world. Everyone makes mistakes. Stupid people try to cover them up. Smart folks admit it, learn, and go on.
If you see a flame going on, try not to participate. If it's obvious who's wrong but the loser refuses to stop flaming, send a private note to the party in the right saying it's obvious he's right but he's undermining his position by continuing flaming.
If someone knows he's right, often it's very difficult for him to stop arguing, even if he wants to. Private supportive email helps heal his bruised ego, making it easier for him to stop.
Don't be afraid to stop replying. Stopping does not equal losing. Often, if you're right, the loser is making a fool of himself in everyone's eyes. If you continue to argue, you let him drag your good name down with him.
The primary discussion channel is #TSA_List, with an alternate channel called #Transformations and #TFChat. To connect, input your IRC server with the following information:
Server: irc.menagerie.tf
The official name of the server is TF-Net, but feel free to put in what you like. This information is mentioned so you know what people are talking about. There is a web page for TFNet at http://menagerie.tf/tfnet, which supplies details about conduct, bots, and admins. However, I conducted a survey in late January and early February of 1997 to which approximately one-third (32.4%) of the list responded.
Within the list, 93.9% of the responses were male, and 6.1% were female. 11.7% of the list are in their teens; 48.6% in their twenties; 21.6% in their thirties; 17.1% in their forties; and 0.9% in their sixties.
Nearly three-fourths (74.7%) of the list are Americans. People from the United Kingdom (6.3%), Canada (5.4%), and Germany (5.4%) comprised the remainder of the majority. 3.6% hailed from Australia, and 0.9% (1 person) from each of the following countries: the Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Brazil, and France.
44.2% of the list does not write stories, and 28.0% describe themselves as lurkers even when it comes to normal posting. 34.2% said they had written at least a few stories, and 45% had said they had least made a few posts to the list. 14.4% had said they had written at least one story, and 12.6% said they had at least made one post. 7.2% said they had written many stories, and 14.4% said they had posted a great deal to the list.
Add to that the fact that random delays occur all over the place due to computers going down, telephone lines going down, human error, noise, and other factors, and the net result is that there is no reliable way to ensure that the messages will arrive in order. Delays of individual pieces of up to a week are not uncommon, and are even "expected behavior" of the Internet. More to the point, if there were a way to ensure that the messages arrived in order, it would result in slower throughput.
(This is also the reason that people periodically send "is anybody there?" or "why is the list so quiet?" messages to the list when it is perfectly busy. They haven't gotten any mail for a day or two due to some connection somewhere being down. Such messages are really unnecessary, since such problems almost always resolve themselves within a day or so, and even if they don't, there is nothing that the list members can do about it. If you don't get mail from the list for a day.. just wait. If you haven't gotten mail for three days or so, it might be time for a message to Thomas asking if you are still subscribed, but a single day without mail from the list just means that you have an opportunity to mow the lawn, paint the cat, kick all the seeds out of a dill pickle, or whatever else you do in your free time.)
The moral of the story: If you want to see the messages in order, get a mail reader which is capable of sorting the articles by the date they were posted. Most mail readers are capable of doing this. Sorting by the subject line of the article may also be helpful for those posters who have a consistent prefix on their articles. Asking posters to change how they post their mail so that you can read the messages in order, however, is not a reasonable request, since no matter what they do, they really, really can't control the order in which the articles arrive at your site.
http://www.integral.org/mailman/listinfo/tsa-talk
You should be able to find all the information you need there. If that isn't possible, send mail to tsa-talk-request@lists.integral.org. Someone there should be able to help you.
You can receive a copy of this FAQ at any time by e-mailing me, and Thomas or I will send you a copy of this document.
Posting a reply to a topic that was killed could get people rather annoyed with you, most notably the list administrators. You'd likely get a letter of rebuke; depending on circumstanses, you may get worse. Don't post it to TSA-TALK, please, for your sake and ours.
You're bound by law and by courtesy to ask the author first.
There are many answers for this. For example, both sex and a transformation are intense physical experiences. Fantasies in general are safe, ideal situations where the experience is enjoyable and positive without the risk of injury or embarrassment. Many individuals can imagine themselves doing things as a horse, nymph, etc. which they would never dream of doing while merely themselves, in many cases transcending societal inhibitions on sex. Transformations allow someone to consider "what if" scenarios without the personal embarrassment (even if they never tell a soul) which would go along with images of themselves acting out the fantasy. Going beyond the limitations of what and who you are is a very powerful concept.
No one knows why someone would go to all the bother of subscribing onto a mailing list just to flame its members, but it's unfortunately a time-honored Internet tradition. Steve Exeter was the first flamer of the list on May 1st, 1996. It's best to treat flamers like mosquito bites: ignore them and they will eventually go away.
The answer to this question was written by John H. Kim
Aside from the obvious trolling and baiting (which I haven't seen here), most flames begin because of misunderstandings.
Once again, ladies and gents, John H. Kim.
Read criticism carefully. Don't immediately assume it's wrong. Try to see things from the critic's point of view. If there's something that sounds derogatory, give the critic the benefit of the doubt. It might've been a typo, an editing mistake, or a misjudged phrase. If you feel your temper rising, take a break and finish reading it later.
And for an encore presentation ... you guessed it.
If there's something insulting, ignore it - turn the other cheek. Show that you're better than the insulter by not stooping to his level. Or if it's completely insulting, just delete it. Only an insecure idiot gets his jollies insulting people. Don't waste your time on an idiot.
Please don't! It may very well be that the file that you have is something that will interest everyone on the list, but many of the people on the list are unable to handle large files in their mailbox. It is far better to post a note about the file to the list with the address of an FTP or WWW site where it can be downloaded from. If you don't have access to a site like that, a general request to the list will often dig someone out who can handle it and may be willing to assist!
Panther has graciously set up an IRC server specifically dedicated to Listmembers. People not on the list are welcome, but members of TSA-Talk and those interested in transformations are its primary audience.
Port: 6667
Surveys in general do not seem to succeed to any great number as many list members do not choose to participate in a survey.
And now, ladies, gents, horses, roaches, cats, tigers, pumas, and other assorted denizens of the list, the answer, as provided by the inimitable Deef.
Folks, the fact is that the Internet was never designed to be a method for transporting mail in the same order that it was sent. Each computer along the way tries to send each part of the message in what appears to be the most efficient way at the moment that that piece is sent. That means that if a higher-speed connection opens up after the first piece is sent, the rest of the pieces will be sent using it, and may arrive before the first piece. Etcetera.
Like any mailing list or newsgroup on the internet, we tend to have a few abbreviations that are commonly accepted and understood. It tends to cut down the typing a little. As such, here is at least a partial primer on our personal pontification:
We know, we know. You love the list, really, but some horrible, slimy alien is standing behind you right this moment with some strange weapon and demanding that you get off the list this instant. Well, we hate to lose you, but okay. Just go to this URL:
Brian Coe is no longer the Keeper of the FAQ due to time constraints. Instead, Doug Linger, also known as Xodiac, gets that honor. You can send suggestions and questions and whatnot to him at xodiac@xodiac@aaahawk.com.
Of everything I write in this document, this is the most important (from my perspective). I want you to know that the purpose of this document is not to set the rules; it's to report the rules that have been set by others.
