The purpose of the mailing list, on the most basic level, is to connect gamers with one another. Without the presence of D&D material on the internet, we would all just be a bunch of small groups (sometimes groups of 1), wandering aimlessly through the Realms.
The World Wide Web allows us to share our ideas with others by creating web–based presentations of our own developments. Email allows our readers to provide us with feedback about the usefulness (or lack thereof) of our material in their own campaigns. Questions can be asked, clarifications can be made, and development can progress.
An email list allows each of us to communicate with other list members as part of a global gaming group. For instance: not only can we see AJA's site and talk to him about his material, but we can discuss that material with hundreds of other gamers as well.
And, rather than waiting for gamers to stumble across our sites by accident, we can subtly advertise by including our web addresses in our (preferably concise) email signature files. We can also offer snippets of our campaign material to the whole list directly, and gain immediate constructive feedback on it.
Monitors and Moderators
Understandably, such a large gathering of sharp wits must be given some rein and direction. A list moderator's job is to (attempt to) keep the conversations focused on Realms–related material, as well as the more mundane task of keeping the riff–raff out.
However, on a list as large as the Realms list, one is not enough. So there are monitors as well... while they don't always speak with the same authority as the moderator, you can save yourself a lot of grief by treating them with the same measure of respect.
What the List Is Not
D&D Q&A
Despite the generalized tone of the paragraphs above, this list is not for discussion of any and all Dungeons & Dragons matters. It is focused specifically on the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. There are other mailing lists on which to discuss general questions of game rules and mechanics.
So relax, don't worry about impressing anyone, and have fun.
Greenwood Hall
Although Ed is certainly aware of the list and at least the highlights of the threads, he doesn't participate directly for reasons that should be obvious. Addressing your questions to Ed (or any other specific designer or author) is tacky and reveals you to be a starstruck gamer geek. Your chances of attracting Ed's notice and getting an in–depth personalized response are roughly half as good as getting backstage passes at a Kid Rock concert by jumping up and down and screaming from the back of the ticket line, 6 blocks away.
So relax, don't worry about impressing anyone, and have fun.
Realms Press
The fact that Eric Boyd, George Krashos, Tom Costa, and other illustrious persons do participate directly on the list does not give you an "in" with Wizards of the Coast to the extent that anything you suggest is going to become official Realmslore. Designers (and would–be designers) hang out here to keep their finger on the pulse of what gamers want to see. If they're in a good mood, they may also answer questions regarding their work or areas that they're familiar with. But pestering them will not earn you brownie points.
So relax, don't worry about impressing anyone, and have fun.
Hey Baby, What's Your Sign?
This should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway. Occasionally someone broaches the topic of "adult" material in the context of gaming. This is fine, and can lead to a good round of jokes for all if the tone is kept light and nonspecific. However, D&D attracts all ages —I started playing at age 7— and the online environment definitely attracts the younger crowd. If at any point you feel compelled to regale the list with your own tawdry experience at, on, or under the gaming table, you may expect to be unceremoniously removed from the list by the monitors. Consider the list to be a family environment, and edit your own comments accordingly.
So relax, don't worry about impressing anyone, and have fun.
Netiquette 101
There are several "do & don't" collections, and I won't try to outdo them all here. If you choose to join the list, you will likely receive an automated email from the monitors outlining their expectations and the consequences of unacceptable behavior.
In general, I look at it as being invited to somebody else's house. If I yell at my hosts, make a mess, and cause general discomfort to the other guests, I can plan on being ejected... forcibly if necessary. And it's likely that I won't be welcome if I try to come back later.
Numerous long–time participants of various email lists advise waiting before responding to a post that upsets you or causes a contemptuous sneer to settle over your face. Go walk the dog, smell the roses, smile and say hello to a stranger. When you come back to the computer, it should be easier to converse rather than berate.
Relevance
When you email a friend or acquaintance with a question, you generally expect a reply in which she either answers the question or else admits that she doesn't know the answer. On an email list, you will (hopefully) not get a reply to each of your posts from every single subscriber. Not only would the resulting flood of emails be too much for you to read, but the traffic might overwhelm the server.
However, it is reasonable to expect that the replies you do receive will have something to do with the question or statement that you put forth. If you post a question to the list about gems and get a response describing ornamental horticulture in Turmish, then there is obviously a misunderstanding somewhere.
It's generally best to ignore such missteps, but if you absolutely must respond, do so privately. Everybody else on the list is already quietly laughing at them; they don't need to be publicly humiliated. And remember to make sure your reply is constructive and polite; making fun of people never accomplishes anything worth accomplishing.
Avoid negatively opinionated posts. You have a right to your own opinion, and everyone else has a right to theirs. It's unrealistic and unfair to expect anyone to agree with you simply based on the assertion of your opinion. If you think something stinks, and you just can't keep it to yourself, then do everyone a favor and make a well–structured argument. Saying "Cormyr is lame" without providing any reasons says more about your intelligence and maturity than it does about Cormyr.
Quoting
Your comments about a conversation thread will sometimes be easier for your readers to understand if you quote the relevant parts of the post that you are responding to. Most mail programs automatically quote all of the message you are replying to.
However, quoting is often overused. Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind, in the interest of keeping your responses both relevant and understandable.
Quote only the portion of the message that you are actually responding to. Nobody wants to scroll through an entire 15k message for a second time, just to see your five–word response at the bottom: "okay, but what about gems?" The suggested guideline is to make sure you're not quoting more than you're saying. That is, try to avoid quoting four lines of a previous post, unless you have four lines of stuff to say about it. If there's too much to quote, or your response isn't directly relevant to any specific thing in the previous post, you should delete everything except the header: "hesaidshesaid@quewookiee.net wrote: <snip>". This lets everyone know whose post you're talking about; valuable information in a busy thread.
If you are responding to several points which were made in the same post, break up the quote and respond to each point as it occurs. First of all, nobody wants to re–read a huge quote before finding your response. Secondly, it can be difficult and annoying to read a sentence of your reply, scroll up to find out what you're referring to, scroll back down to read a couple more sentences, scroll back up to see what you're asking about, ... ad nauseum. It's much neater, and easier on the eyes and brain, to read a quote and a response to it, a quote and a response to it, and so forth.
Separate your response and the quoted material with a blank line. Email programs such as Microsoft Outlook will often indent quoted material, but freemail sites such as Yahoo do not. A blank line allows those who are familiar with the quote to skip over it and immediately find your pertinent response. If you are quoting several different passages, separate each one with one to three blank lines. That is, quote + blank line + your response, 3 blank lines, quote + blank line + your response...
"Flaming" and Profanity
It's simple. You don't want to get a message that blasts you as a moronic #$@%!, so don't send a message that blasts someone else as a moronic #$@%!. The Golden Rule definitely applies to email.
No matter how true you might believe it to be, they don't need to know what you think of them. Learn to separate the speaker and the spoken word. If I say 2 + 2 = 5, that doesn't make me an idiot. It might mean that I slept through first–grade math, or I might have hit the wrong key, or it might just be a joke. In any case, telling me that I'm an idiot doesn't supply the correct answer. If you need to vent your frustration, do it somewhere else.
The point of any conversation is constructive discussion. Vitriol, in any form, is inappropriate. If your post is worded in an inflammatory way or with the purpose of degrading or upsetting someone, reword it. If your comment is not constructive, and no constructive response to your comment is possible, then don't send it. Common sense may not be all that common, but if you ignore it long enough you will be barred from the discussion.
Incidentally, if you bend the rules of rounding a little bit and round each term to the nearest integer after adding 2.4 + 2.4 = 4.8... 2 + 2 = 5, for suitably large values of 2. har har.
On the Realms List
The FAQ
FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. In general, a FAQ takes the form of a collection of questions that are asked so often that it becomes painful to answer them. There's not necessarily anything wrong with the question; it's just mind–numbing in its frequency. Hence, Frequently Asked Questions.
As you might have guessed from the fact that it's mentioned here, there is an FAQ for the Forgotten Realms mailing list. And since you no doubt wish to avoid appearing ignorant and inconsiderate, you owe it to yourself to read the FAQ thoroughly before asking a question which appears therein.
There's also the fact that if you post a question to the list which appears on the FAQ, you will receive a number of replies directing you to read the FAQ. So you might as well save time and familiarize yourself with the questions that have already been asked all–too–frequently.
Copyrighted Material
This should, and usually does, go without saying. Don't use copyrighted material on the list.
Don't post official monster or NPC stats to the list. Don't ask for official descriptions of spells, skills, feats, magical items, or anything else.
As a rule of thumb... if it's in the SRD, send interested individuals to the SRD. If it's been printed in an official TSR or WotC novel or game accessory, don't quote it. If it's on somebody else's website, you can post a link and describe how to get to the pertinent info, but don't post that info directly to the list. Respect other people's work, regardless of whether or not they're part of a large corporation or likely to sue you.
The other side of the coin, equally obvious: don't post stuff to the list that you intend to publish for profit. While it might be legal, it would definitely be silly.
Keywords
The Forgotten Realms list is about all aspects of the Forgotten Realms— official products as well as subscriber campaign developments. This leaves room for a vast array of wildly varying topics. Some people are only interested in talking about certain kinds of topics and want to avoid others. Therefore, it's important to divide things up somehow.
The FR list addresses this concern through the use of keywords. Subscribers can elect to receive only those emails tagged with certain keywords. However, that also means that every email which is sent to the list must have at least one keyword attached... or it's entirely possible that nobody (except the list monitors and moderator) will receive the message. If you do send a message to the list without keywords, you'll generally get a patient but firm note from a monitor reminding you to use keywords; simply add the appropriate keyword and resend the message. A list of keywords, how to use them, and their respective topics, appears in the mailing list FAQ.
Scope
Technically, any discussion of the Realms is relevant to a Realms list. However, complete freedom of discussion would result in a deluge of posts on topics which are not interesting to 99% of the subscribers.
Not only would this be annoying to everyone, but it would make it impossible for freelance designers and representatives of WotC and affiliates to keep up with the intense (and largely pointless) traffic and interact with us. This interaction is a large and valuable part of the list's appeal to some subscribers.
So, curb your passion for your own campaigns. It's okay to provide some background for a peculiar question, if the circumstances of your campaign are interesting, humorous, or otherwise noteworthy. But don't regale the list with a four page play–by–play account of your adventure. Most won't read it, and most of the ones who do will be annoyed by it.
Review
If you don't keep Netiquette in mind, you will probably eventually find yourself on Review.
Review is the electronic mailing list's equivalent of probation. If you're placed on Review, it means you screwed up royally, were caught, and now you're being watched. Quit being stupid. If you can't have fun and behave at the same time, take your sorry self somewhere else.
Wrap
This was intended to be a mostly thorough, somewhat concise, mildly entertaining overview of the Forgotten Realmsmailing list. I'm confident that you'll find something on the list that will help your game, as a DM or as a player. If you have still have further questions after consulting the FAQ, I'm sure a monitor will be happy to provide you with answers. So join us in exploring the Realms!