The Old-Time Radio Digest Guide

We believe that subscribers to the Internet's Old Time Radio Digest should be aware of the expectations established by both the Charter for this mail group as well as the long-contributing posters and lurkers. The following Guide will help assure your questions about Digest propriety and etiquette are answered. Observence of these guidelines will go far to insure your posts meet these expectations and maintain the high quality and good will of the Digest.


What does "OTR" mean?

What is the OTR Digest?		 "OTR" is an acronym for "Old Time Radio". "Old Time Radio", in turn is the commonly accepted name used by collectors and vendors of materials associated with radio programming and programs affiliated with the "Golden" or "Silver" ages of radio (usually defined as that time between the inception of radio broadcasting and the early 1960s).

The "OTR Digest" is a compilation of articles electronically published at www.oldradio.net Although the names may be similar to that used by publishers of paper OTR newsletters, the names "OTR Digest" and "Old Time Radio Digest" as used herein, are unique and exclusive to the distribution and production of the electronic Internet publication known by those names, and to the creators / maintainers / administrators of the internet OTR Digest.
Why was the OTR Digest started? The OTR Digest was initiated to provide a friendly, community-like forum linking OTR hobbyists, actors, vendors and other interested parties worldwide. It consists primarily of articles written by digest subscribers, compiled into a daily digest and distributed to the group by email. The OTR Digest is not available via postal mail or fax, and is not yet compiled in any printed format.
How do I get the Digest, and how much does it cost me? You can subscribe to the Digest by sending an email 
To: old.time.radio-request@oldradio.net
SUBJECT: subscribe
(the body of the message is ignored)


Alternately, click on the button, below.


Subscriptions to The OTR Digest are free (except for local connect charges), and available to anyone who can send and receive email. Generally, membership will continue until the member voluntarily leaves the list.

The OTR Digest is monitored, and users are expected to adhere to its charter and guidelines. Users who stray too far may be advised (in private email) to stay on-topic and those who repeatedly or maliciously violate the charter will be removed from the subscriber list. In short, your "cost" to stay subscribed is to stay within the bounds of the charter.
What can I post in the Digest? Since no forum can do justice to every possible topic pertaining to something as broad as Old Time Radio, The OTR Digest focuses primarily on spoken-word programs such as drama, soap operas, adventure, mystery, comedy, and similar programming of the 20's - 60's era. Comparative discussions about contemporary radio theater, (sometimes called "New Time Radio"), are acceptable in small doses, but are not the main focus of The OTR Digest.

Similarly, lengthy discussions of OTR-era music (Big Band, Swing, Jazz, Bluegrass etc.) are discouraged, except as they relate to the above. These topics are extensively covered elsewhere on the net, and tend to dilute the focus of the OTR Digest.

"Cross-posts" (messages posted to multiple mail groups) are discouraged as a waste of bandwidth. If your message is indeed appropriate for all the groups, post it in the group for which it is MOST appropriate, and post a "pointer" to that message in the other groups.
Can I post technical articles about methods of recording, preserving, or reviving OTR sounds? We encourage articles concerning the preservation of OTR programs. As time passes, keeping these programs alive and in good condition is more important than ever. However, we ask that highly involved and/or technical matters be taken to private email. If sufficient interest exists, we may be able to create a forum for highly technical articles.
Can I use the Digest to trade or sell OTR materials? Subscribers may tell others of their willingness to trade their public domain OTR tape or script holdings, but please DON'T post the list to the Digest.

Commercial postings, including OTR tapes and items "For Sale" must be cleared with the list owner (listmaster@lofcom.com) before being sent to the Digest. Failure to clear these posts ahead of time may be cause for removal from the list. OTR vendors and catalogs can be found at www.old-time.com
Somebody posted an article that I think is a vicious attack on my favorite actor, show, topic or belief. How can I get even? Flames, personal attacks and extensive "gossip" are not tolerated in The OTR Digest. This is a friendly place, we like it that way, and will not tolerate troublemakers. Additionally, anyone who replies to a flame or flame-bait, even if that reply is in opposition to the flame-artist, will be considered as guilty as the original poster of the flame. Instead of responding to flame in the digest, please report it to the list owner (listmaster@lofcom.com) for action. A troller's dream come true is a forum in which a member takes the bait and continues the argument. We know it is hard, sometimes, but The OTR Digest will not tolerate flames or responses to flames. [If you are unfamiliar with these terms, a "flame" refers to personal insult, attack or ridicule and "flame-bait" refers to content designed to elicit a strong, negative reaction and/or argument. A synonym for flame-bait or flame-baiter is "troll".]

I have some really interesting information that may not be strictly within your charter, but want to post it here. Can I? As mentioned previously, the topic limits for this group are indeed limited. Subscribers who exceed those limits may be unsubscribed with prejudice. Please respect the charter of this group, and remember this is a forum solely for the discussion of Old Time Radio programs and programming. Keeping the group focused is essential to its survival. When posting, please refrain from "pushing the envelope" by submitting something that is really outside our charter, and justifying it by attaching some tenuous OTR reference. Do not post articles which begin with the sentence "I know this is not OTR-related, but..." If it is not OTR-related, do not post it here... period. If in doubt, ask the list owner (listmaster@lofcom.com) if something is appropriate. The OTR Digest is a cooperative effort. Please respect it.
I don't belive any OTR is copyrighted, and want to offer my holdings to Digest subscribers. Copyright law is a can of worms. At least some OTR is under copyright protection. Finding what is and what is not protected can be expensive! Under no circumstances is copyrighted material to be offered on this Digest without the prior consent of the copyright holders. This can get you removed from the list, and could get you prosecuted.
My signature file expresses my philosophy about life and the universe. As such, it is nice and long, but I want to tell everybody, in every message, what I think. Is this OK? Whether you are a commercial entity or not, signature files are limited to a maximum of four or five lines of tasteful text. Extensive ASCII artwork, cute quotes and other content detracts from the readability of the Digest, particularly for our vision-impaired subscribers who use text-to-speech converters.
I read an article in the digest, and want to insure everybody else reads it before they see my comments. Can I quote the entire article? You are welcome to post as much of your original material as is appropriate. Excessive quoting of somebody elses's post, followed by only a line or two of your own will cause the Digest's Overquote Filter to automaticaly reject your article. If this happens, your article will be returned to you, with an explanation. One way to avoid overquoting is to synopsize in just a few lines what you think the original poster said.
I sell OTR materials and want to let subscribers know about it. Can I post ads in the Digest? Do not send advertising messages to The OTR Digest. The Digest is not a place for you to post commercial messages. If you are an OTR vendor, you are as welcome as anyone to participate, but please keep advertising OUT of your posting, except when asked for specific information. If you have the name of your OTR-related business in your signature file, limit it to the name, email address and/or web URL. No hype, no offers, no enticements.

If you wish to market your OTR-related service to our readership, consider sponsoring lofcom.com and/or old-time.com. Ads there are inexpensive, and they help the Digest remain a free resource.
How Good Is The Information in the Digest?
What Do you Do With It?		 The OTR Digest is a public forum for exchange of information. No guarantee of accuracy, veracity or propriety is made. The creators/maintainers/administrators of The OTR Digest are not liable for the consequences of any use or misuse of data or information posted in the Newsletter.

Posts made to The OTR Digest are copyrighted by their authors. The OTR Digest maintains a compilation copyright on the compiled digests. By posting to this forum, you agree to allow your email to be distributed in the digest, and archived by The OTR Digest.
Is my email address safe with you? The distribution list(s) for The OTR Digest are not sold or made available to anyone outside of the direct operation of The OTR Digest. However, your email address can be extracted from your postings. Permission is not granted by the administrators of this list to use the posted email addresses for any purpose other than direct, personal communications to that individual. Compilation of new mailing lists, or sending of Unsolicited Commercial Email to the members of this forum is strictly forbidden. The OTR Digest will cooperate with any official investigation of allegations of fraud or other crimes committed by or against members of this forum.
I am new to the Web, and don't want to embarass myself with inappropriate messages. Where can I learn more about accepted etiquette or practices? A good summary of "netiquette" (net etiquette) is at Netiquette: From RFC 1855 to Today page.

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