Alexander - We won't get a visa if we would, let's say - purely theoretically spoken ( I would never do something like this!) - make little funny jokes about - uhm - THE IMPERIALISTS! They wont let us board their beautiful country, REALLY?

Riette, I don�t know why you�re asking! Isabel, I liked to read about your newbie experiences....yes, Drool can look cryptic for those who don�t know all the names of the movies of *someone* by heart, like MLSF etc. It can be very off-putting, I know. But I don�t think Drool is hermetic, people there really sincerely wish newbies to join in and we also show it openly when it happens. I wouldn�t like any sort of cliques to spoil Drool and if there are some, at least they�re wise enough not to manifest themselves too much. Well, I think there was a minor crisis last March when a part of the Drooleurs met in London and others could only read about it! But Drool survived..... The more regulars we have, the more information and opinions, that�s the only way it can work. Ignoring somebody and talking only to the members of your own club is what makes new people leave and I think that many of the Drool people are aware of this.

Hmh.....Alexander, what�s that resonating Something?? (D�you ever feel like an alien.....:-)

D'ya ever feel like an alien? The first time we went to Britain, it was the oddest notion to this American that I had become an alien AND an immigrant at the same time. Very unsettling! We are the losers for making European countried obtain Visas...do not understand why in the least...other good and friendly places, as well.

I'm frustrated. I loaded all posts since whenever and logged off the net, because we have these extremely expensive phone costs here (upside: WE have ISDN...), so I wrote sumpdin' really pretty and nice for Elena and Riette and everybody, tried to dial up and submit, and BANG! lost all to some http error 404-crap. Bah! Go to a party now, try again tomorrow (when I come to again...). Cheerio, dear people!

Party Hearty, Alexander, and put your supply of aspirin by the computer...just in case!

Ooops, next time save your eloquent post to the clipboard or to a text file at least!

Terry, I've been having hosting trouble with my PhinisheD community (bb for stalled dissertation writers), and was wondering if you'd take it in, at least for a while. I'm moving back to Chicago, and just don't have time to go shopping for a new virtual hosting outfit. The board is broken right now (can't read messages) but you can get the flavor by looking at the index page: http://crossmyt.com/~amyloo/cgi-bin/phinished/phin.cgi This feels like deja-vu all over again. The conference probably should be named phinished Amy

Sure, phinished can have a home here. We'll create a conference if you supply us with a description, introduction, and, most important, list of hosts. We'll roll out the welcome wagon.

Thanks so much, Terry. Description: A discussion and support group for people who cannot seem to finish their dissertations or theses. Intro: This discussion and support group is for you if: - You are sick to death of people asking you "How is your dissertation [or thesis] coming?" (but you really would like to talk about your troubles in finishing -- with anybody except those who keep asking, no matter how genuinely concerned they may be, or may seem to be). - You have vague fears about finishing, but don't feel you have a safe outlet for discussing whatever it is you seem to be afraid of. - You're having organizational problems or blocks. - You are not getting the kind of support you need -- from your university, your employer, your family members or friends. Maybe you don't even know what kind of support you need, just that you don't have it! Face-to-face support groups offered by your university don't suit you, for whatever reason - You've been in this stagnant state of incompletion, and want to help those still plugging, or flailing. And it might be for you if: - You are an undergrad thesis writer, novel writer, or other type of writer staring down a mountain to climb that seems to touch the moon. If you can cull something from the discussion here, good, but the board's focus will hover tightly around graduate students, who seem to possess some singular needs and fears. - You are a family member or SO who wants to try to understand the pressures. Hosts would be me, Amy (I'm lowercase amy here, amyloo@bluemarble.net), Rochelle (t_rwilli@bellsouth.net), and Tom (ab9619@wayne.edu).

OK. Have pointed the poor lost souls to the anticipated URL. http://crossmyt.com/~amyloo/cgi-bin/phinished/phin.cgi

It is up and running, Amy...

You guys are great. Thanks so, so much.

You've got a new conference, Amy? Tell us more about it! Alexander, you wrote somethin' nice fer us? Awe! �:-O

Riette, PhinisheD is a small but active group of graduate students who listen to each other's stories of academic backstabbing, make pacts with each other about work on their dissertations, and generally cheer each other on. No, I'm not one. Since getting my B.A. in 1974 I've done nothing along those lines, save writing for grad school catalogs maybe a dozen times. I set up the bulletin board two years ago to help Henry (Terry you remember The Mysterious H.C.). He never did take to the group much, but did finally earn his PhD last year, and it's really helped a lot of other people. They're a very warm-hearted bunch, and I guess if you were desirous of their branching out into other areas of the Spring, you might want to ask their advice about topics that come up in other conferences to draw them in -- use them as experts. Who doesn't like to say what they know? They come from just about any field you can imagine. I think my bios database is still working. That script doesn't seem to have bogged down the server of my cut-rate little ISP as the webbbs script seemed to. "http://crossmyt.com/~amyloo/cgi-bin/prophiles/db.cgi?uid=default&view_records=1&ID=*

Yapp didn't see fit to include the asterisk at the end of that URL. If you put it in manually, you should be able to see all the database entries.

Thanks to the pervasive conf admin!

Tom and Rochelle were either unable or just didn't register as just plain Tom and Rochelle, but as TomJ and RochelleW, and so they aren't getting the host privileges. Wer, could you change them in the config file? I don't seem able to; I guess I'm not in the cfadm group anymore.

Thanks, Amy! Do you think they'd branch out into the rest of the Spring if we asked them to? It would be great to get more people over here, and they sound like an interesting bunch.

They are interesting, every last one of them. I think in time they might spread out if encouraged in a light way. Alexander's invite to Rochelle was nice. He asked her to drop by Geo; she's in earth science. I think it's like going into a new family, like when you go visit an SO's family for the first time and don't quite get the family humor and stuff? I have to say I felt a little invaded by mrchips coming into the Celebration Hall topic. It's a special thing when somebody passes their defense or comps, we always post congratulations and it's very inspiring to all the others still toiling and worrying. I guess I felt a little violated, not in any enormous sense, but just kind of put off that the topic was j ked about? I guess in time we'll all get used to the little one-liners and harmless banter. I'm probably being too -- too.

Thank you Alexander!! I was about to give free samples to the first ones through the door - just to get people to peek into Geo - including John, the elusive. He peeked and fled. It is not that bad or that boring...! Amy, Your conference looks wonderful - congratulations!

And the usernames have been corrected as hosts for the conf, Amy.

Thanx, wer!

I had a look at your conference as well - it's good. I can see how it is different from the stuff we go on about in here. Studying is fun, but hard as well - I think it's a great place for keeping people's spirit up.

Good words from '99 from Riette Walton.