Re: Unofficial RAM FAQ

Richard Burke wrote:
I think that's a really nice description, Woodstock. IT pretty much sums up the experience. And you're right, just like a prty, there's a lot to choose from. Some of us do one thing almost always. Others cherry pick a bit here and there. Some pairings of people work better than others. But I guess if you know you're not going to like something, the best thing to do is avoid it. (Mind you, most of mess even this up occasionally!)

I joined in a few years ago when my first book was published. I had two reasons. First, I was a little insecure about the whole process of writing, and there were so many folk on RAM who either wrote or had experience of it. Knowing RAM was there made it easier for me to write through what was in the end a pretty turbulent year for all sorts of reasons. Second, it's usually a good idea for an author to let folk know that she or he is there. So there was a PR angle, too.

Those are the reasons I joined. The reason I have stayed is simply because I like it here. There are warm people, witty people, brilliant people - often all inhabiting the same body - and a wonderful smorgasbord of things to talk about. I kind of flit in and out depending how busy or motivated I am. But that sense of community is real and deep - and wide open to newcomers, without any form of prejudice.

So, my own experience matches Woodstock's summary. Thanks for it!

Well, I've been here a while. My Mate Val The Lurker told me about RAM not long after I first got into the Internet in early 1994. My first post was somewhere during the O.J. Simpson furore, probably either late 1994 or early 1995, and it was something about one of Patricia Caldwell's books, iirc. It might actually have been my last purely on-topic post. :-)

How do I love RAM? Let me count the ways. First, you have to understand that, by 1994, I had been profoundly deaf for many years and my face-to-face communications with people outside the family had become so difficult that I had been forced to give up work altogether. I'd had some sort of breakdown and was becoming extremely depressed and reclusive. I had previously made a lot of friends in a Fidonet group called LTUAE and most of those people, including the aforesaid Val and her partner DAC are still close friends in real life to this very day. RAM is the closest thing to LTUAE that I've ever been able to find in Usenet - a merry bunch of people from all over the English-speaking world (and a few - hi Kat - from elsewhere), from many different walks of life with at least one interest in common. And, miraculously for a profoundly deaf person, I COULD COMMUNICATE WITH THEM VIRTUALLY AT WILL FOR 24 HOURS IN EVERY SINGLE DAY IF I WANTED TO. And I didn't need my wife, or my kids, or some other kind soul to interpret for me.

I could talk about books, ideas, politics, or anything else that came to mind. I could personally express my regrets and condolences to people during their troubles or rejoice with them in their happier times. I could personally express my solidarity with and support for the Americans after 9/11, and fight like hell with them when we differed about what should be done about it.

Authors I'd never heard of became (to me) good and valued friends: Jane Haddam and her alter ego, Richard Burke-Ward, Karin Slaughter, Keith Snyder, Dusty Rhoades, Kat Richardson, Sparkle Hayter and the list goes on. I've chatted in here with Fidelis Morgan and Tess Gerritson, Stephen Booth and J.A Konrath, Sean Chercover and those miracle workers who produce Crimespree. Ali Karim is high on my list of people I hope to meet while I'm in London. Mitchy, Thalia, Katerina Lundgren and Mr E have entertained me during an earlier visit.

Yes, we do get a little short with each other from time to time. Sure, we're a fairly tight-knit little club which can appear daunting to first-timers. But, unlike most Usenet groups we are a real community, and we act like one, for better or worse, and for the most part the good so far outweighs the bad that after a while it's hard to resent even the most annoying things, because you just know that these things will pass.

I love the good ship RAM and all who sail in her and, for me, the more who climb on board the better. You might fall off, jump off but nobody will ever be thrown off, even if you might spend a while in somebody's virtual brig.

It's probably not exaggerating too much for me to say that RAM saved my life. It certainly restored mine to some degree of normality.

Mique
(all teared up in Athens, Greece)
.

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