-------------------------- The Charter of Fractal-Art -------------------------- This mailing list is open to all individuals and organizations interested in all aspects of Fractal Art. This would include fractal and digital artists, fractal software developers, gallery owners, museum curators, art marketers and brokers, printers, art collectors, and simply anybody who just plain likes to look at fractal images. This should include just about everybody! The primary long-term goal of Fractal-Art is to create a unified community of individuals and organizations which will assist each other for the common benefit, and to promote fractal art and gain acceptance of it as a legitimate art form in the art community and in the general public. A second, and obviously more immediate goal, is to provide a convenient and centralized forum by which information and ideas about fractal art are exchanged, as well as simply sharing our creations with one another (EXCEPT THAT BINARIES ARE NOT ALLOWED to be posted on Fractal-Art -- see below). What can be discussed on Fractal-Art is quite broad. A very partial list of subjects include fractal art software, techniques, marketing, printing, and displaying. Basically anything that can be fit into the category of 'fractal art'. However, highly technical discussions regarding fractal mathematics and scientific/technical applications are to be discouraged, except where it is clearly relevant to the subject of fractal art. How many printers and art museum curators want to know what the area of the Mandelbrot set is, or care that all the points in the Mandelbrot set are connected? We need these people to contribute to this mailing list, yet too much discussion on "techno" subjects could simply drive them away. Fortunately, there are other more appropriate forums for these highly technical/mathematical subjects, such as the Usenet newsgroup 'sci.fractals', which you are encouraged to subscribe to if you can from your site. We should also avoid letting this mailing list degenerate into a "how-to-do- this-with-Fractint" type of discussion since if this is encouraged, the topic of fractal art itself could be pushed into the background. Again, other forums such as 'sci.fractals' or the FractInt mailing list are more appropriate places for these subjects, although sometimes there are legitimate reasons for making such posts here. But we must strive to maintain the proper balance in this mailing list so as to keep the focus on fractal art. Of course, everybody is welcome and encouraged to contribute to Fractal-Art, even those who do not support its primary goal. Note that: 1) All viewpoints are welcome, so long as they are fractal art related in some way. 2) Ad hominem attacks, spam, and disruptive posts are not welcome. Off-topic posts are not welcome. 3) The posting of binaries is NOT welcome. You do so, and you may be in BIG trouble from my cousin Guido, who'll break your kneecaps at my command. :^) If you want to share your fractal art (which we hope you do!), do so by giving references to where it can be retrieved on the Internet, or share the necessary parameters for others to generate it in Fractint or other fractal software package. There are fractal binaries newsgroups on Usenet where you can conveniently post your fractal art. If you have some other file which you wish to make available to readers of the Fractal-Art list, and do not have a web site or FTP site you can put the file, consider switching Internet Service Providers. :-) While you're considering it, you can contact me at dmj@fractalus.com and I'll consider making the file available at ftp.fractalus.com. 4) Cordiality and respect of other's views are encouraged and expected. Now, for the important administrative details: Although this list is open to all viewpoints, and it is unmoderated (meaning I don't pre-screen posts), I will not tolerate obviously off-topic posts, ad hominem attacks, blatant, hyped-up promotional advertisements, and anything else that disrupts the goals of this mailing list outlined above. And what do you do if you see a post which you think violates this Charter? Simple -- DON'T REPLY TO IT on Fractal-Art -- sit on your hands if you have to! Instead, send me an e-mail message objectively outlining your complaint, and I'll review it for appropriate action per the terms of this Charter. As the current administrator of this list, I reserve the right to remove any subscriber for whatever reason I choose, and even for no reason at all. Obviously, in these litigious times I have to state this policy to cover my kazisky. However, those who know me from other mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups know that I am fair, that I tolerate and even promote differing viewpoints, and I give people the benefit of the doubt (I *usually* play by the three strikes and you're out policy, but for unusually egregious violations I might waive this policy at my discretion.) Call me a benevolent dictator if you will. I also hope that many of you will become active participants and do more than just occasionally post. Since my free time is limited, and will be devoted to administering this mailing list, I'd like to see someone else put together, periodically update and post a FAQ (Frequently-Asked Questions). I'd also like to see somebody put together a complete list (maybe as a Web page) of all the known fractal art galleries and repositories on the Internet. Of course, I'm sure there are other similar things that could be done which I have not yet thought of -- feel free to take the initiative and make something happen for things that interest you. Who knows, this mailing list could eventually lead to the establishment of a fractal art advocacy organization. I also see new companies being created because of collaboration and partnerships developed on this list. Entrepreneurship will definitely be encouraged. [One important note about advertising. I have no difficulty with commercial advertising on this mailing list *as long* as it follows the goals of Fractal-Art given above, AND that the advert is *informational* and NOT *promotional* in nature -- there is a BIG and easily discernable difference. Most of us know a *promotional* advert when we see it -- it is usually full of sales/marketing hype and jargon as well as having a dearth of objective information, while an *informational* advert is written in a much more objective, and even boring, "here's the information" manner. Information exchange is one of the goals of this mailing list, not demonstrating how good you are at manipulating others by obfuscating information using hype and emotionally-laden words. I *highly* encourage those who wish to post an advert to first run it by me for evaluation and criticism. Of course, you can post it without me evaluating it (since this is an unmoderated mailing list), but then you run the risk of incurring my wrath if I determine what you posted is outside the guidelines. And you don't want to incur my wrath, mark my words. ---------------------- Mailing List Utilities ---------------------- The Majordomo software this mailing list uses provides a suite of convenient utilities that you can utilize. And they're as simple to use as sending e-mail. For further information, send an e-mail message to: majordomo@icd.com In the body of the e-mail message (and not the Subject: line as it will be ignored) place the simple line: help An informational file will be sent back to you outlining all the available commands and functions. ---------------------------- To Contact the Administrator ---------------------------- You can contact the the Fractal-Art administrator, Damien Jones, by sending e-mail to: dmj@fractalus.com ------------------- Fractal-Art Archive ------------------- The archive of most posts to the mailing list prior to May 15, 1998, as well as the Charter, is available via anonymous ftp. The file 'README' in the archive directory gives more complete information about the archive. The archive is located at: FTP: ftp.fractalus.com /pub/lists/fractal-art WWW: ftp://ftp.fractalus.com/pub/lists/fractal-art/ Material after that date is available as monthly archives through Majordomo. To receive a list of files in the archive, send a message to majordomo@icd.com containing just this line: index fractal-art Majordomo will reply with a list of all files that you can request. To request a file, send a message to majordomo@icd.com containing a line like this: get fractal-art Majordomo will reply with the requested file as an e-mail message. Files are named by year and month for your convenience. I hope you find Fractal-Art to be useful and enjoyable! And please do contribute to the discussion. Remember to keep the discussion professional, cordial, and "on-topic". Damien M. Jones Fractal-Art Administrator (dmj@fractalus.com)