Re: List FAQ (was Re: DAVID WORLD PRESS NEWS LETTER)

[Jerry Stratton <jerry>]

At 6:59 PM -0700 on 5/23/01, Jim Drew / Ciao! Publications wrote: 
>which is what I provided.  (Jerry: feel free to edit that and make it
>official, if you like.)

Geez, do I have to start paying attention again? :*)

Jim's right, this is supposed to be a very focused mailing list--even more focused than his summary.

>DO:	Discuss how to make comics -- techniques for drawing, inking, 
>	writing, coloring, and lettering.

GUTTERS is not even just about making comics. It's about drawing and illustrating comics. Even discussions about writing are technically off-topic, except insofar as it applies to illustrating. So discussion of writing a script would be off-topic--unless the discussion was about how to illustrate what other people write. (On the page below, there's more than a hint of annoyance at the amount of discussion on the net for writers and the lack of such for illustrators.)

>	Direct list members to your work-in-progress and ask for feedback.

Links are wonderful things. If you're illustrating and you don't have a web page yet, get one. They're usually free, and if you don't want one of the free ones, you can get them really cheap, even with your own domain name. Just off the top of my head, check out www.io.com or www.pair.com.

>	Keep posts relatively short and on target.

Good advice for just about anything.


>DON'T:	Discuss general comics
>	Discuss items not closely and clearly related to making comics

Gutters isn't the place for press releases or general discussions; there used to be a mailing list called COMICS-PRO for the former, and the entire internet seems to be open for the latter. (COMICS-PRO seems to be gone, but that doesn't mean Gutters is open for PR.)

Long rambles and commentaries are okay, but only if they stay on topic. It's hard to both ramble and stay on topic at the same time, so the easiest thing is not to try.

And, the longer it is, the more likely it is that it is more appropriate as a web page. If it's long and worth sending to the list, it's also worth archiving on a web page; and if it's on a web page, there's no point in sending it to the list. Just send the link.

Gutters has, in the past, had a widely-geographically-spread readership. This tends to mean that there are people even now with very slow connections. Long messages slow them down. With links, everyone can read your long commentary if they want to without making it hard for them to read their e-mail.

The GUTTERS FAQ is at http://www.hoboes.com/Comics/Creators/Gutters/ although it could probably do with some work.

Jerry
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jerry         Negative Space    http://www.hoboes.com/
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