Yes, that is the name of the newsgroup. It was shortened in order to
fit within the internet guidelines for newsgroup name size. There is another
newsgroup, fully named alt.tv.my-so-called-life, but it is ignored by those
in the know. The main activity takes place in the newsgroup with the funny
spelling.
There is a very active mailing list of about 200 "Lifeheads" or "Lifers". To join, write to
robot@dreamworld.org
In the message body, type :
subscribe so-called
That's it! You will receive a confirmation note from the robot.
Most of us have been on the mailing list for a year or more. This means that we have grown to know one another and we will sometimes discuss our personal adventures, challenges, problems and stories with our friends on the list. This is, really, a very natural state of affairs in a group of people who are attracted to MSCL. By nature, we tend to see the complexity of human affairs, and the three-dimensionality of other people.
That's one of the aims of this web page - to welcome you and introduce you to the preexisting culture that has developed around MSCL and around the members of the mailing list.
One of the complaints we sometimes get from newbies is "Hey! I thought this list was about MSCL, not about you guys, let's talk about MSCL!" That's why we invented the "OFF:" convention.
The usual public response that this newbie complaint gets from list members is "We all love MSCL here, if you want to talk about MSCL then write something about how it touched your soul and you can be assured that it will be read with interest."
We understand. We all were stumbling around, wounded and dazed that something as fine as MSCL would be cancelled. We needed therapy. We needed friends. We needed other people who understood.
We have all been there. Fortunately, the mailing list archives at Kory Lasker's site contain all the dialog, discussion and group therapy that you need. Check out the earliest discussions from the mailing list, they are sure to be full of the same emotions that you are feeling now. Kory's site is discussed below, in the "Other MSCL resources" section.
Which of the above should we be called? Which is more grammatically correct? ; )
For this page, I'm going with "Listie". I know that "listee" is probably a more proper word, but there is a certain affectionate diminutive qualty about "listie", so I'd like to stick with it unless people really hate it.
When we post a message that is not really related to MSCL characters, we engage in a little truth-in advertising by saying up front that this is an off-topic post. For example, if it's an MSCL post, we say in the subject line :
Subject: Would Angela have chosen Brian or Jordan?
If it's an off-topic post, we write in the subject line :
Subject: OFF: Problems with my mechanic
This is not a mailing list standard at all, it's just my own loony idea that I'm proposing to the list. Since we get many posts from the list, sometimes we don't have time to follow all the threads. Some of us, at one time or another, have deleted whole threads that have come to us in our mailbox.
But what if someone responds to something in a thread by sending you a personal, private email? You might just delete it, thinking it's another public post. By writing
"EMAIL: Jordan vs. Brian"
in the subject line, you advertise "Hey! I'm not a public post! I'm a private email to you! Please don't delete me!"
Ahhh, the question. First of all, remember the address that takes commands such as subscribe and unsubscribe is the listserv, not the mailing list. Whatever you do, do not send your request to so-called@netcom.com. That's the addresses to the mailing list. Everyone will get an email from you saying "I want outta here", but of course you will still be subscribed and you might get some impatient public posts telling you in no uncertain terms how to unsub. So here's how you really do it.
Send an email to robot@dreamworld.org. In the body of the message, write
unsubscribe so-called
Write me, Alfredo, the listmaster.
We meet on Thursday night, 5:30 PM USA Pacific time (8:30 PM USA Eastern Time, Fridays 0030 GMT summers, 0130 GMT winters) in channel #MSCLLounge, usually on server irc.dreamworld.org. We chose this day and time because that's when MSCL used to air. We call it "MSCL night".
We also meet on Sundays at 4 PM Pacific time (7 PM USA Eastern time, 2300 GMT summers, Mondays 0000 GMT winters). This is in addition to the more established Thursday meetings. We started them mainly because some people felt that on Sundays the servers might be less busy, which turned out to be true. We tend to get a somewhat different list of regulars at these meetings, especially Bongy from a town "85 Km from Hamburg, Germany" who logs on at 3 AM, German time.
For a pretty complete How-To on IRC, check out my MSCL IRC FAQ, reachable from the main MSCL menu on the left side. See it? It's right over . . . there, on the left.
(Thanks to Steve Reed for the GMT math)