haha

.gitignore

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+# custom
+.DS_Store
+
+
+
 # ---> Python
 # Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
 __pycache__/

README.md

@@ -1,3 +1 @@
-# full_digest_rescheduled
-
 List server busy. Full digest rescheduled.

xml/1.Welcome.xml

@@ -0,0 +1,775 @@
+<chapter>
+<title>Welcome</title>
+<desc>...</desc>
+<mails>
+<mail>
+<nbr>0.0</nbr>
+<subject>Welcome, and information on the &lt;oldboys&gt;-lis</subject>
+<from>Cornelia Sollfrank</from>
+<to>oldboys@lists.ccc.de</to>
+<date>Tue, 20 Mar 2001 20:28:29 +0000</date>
+<content>Welcome to the mailing list of Old Boys Network, &lt;oldboys-list&gt;!
+
+Please save this message for future reference.  Thank you.
+
+TECHNICAL INFORMATION: (as regards content, information below)
+
+This is the ezmlm program, managing the oldboys@lists.ccc.de mailing list. It will speak in the first person further on...
+
+I can handle administrative requests automatically. Please do not send them to the list address! Instead, send your message to the correct command address:
+
+To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
+   &lt;oldboys-subscribe@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+
+To remove your address from the list, send a message to:
+   &lt;oldboys-unsubscribe@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+
+Send mail to the following for info and FAQ for this list:
+   &lt;oldboys-info@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+   &lt;oldboys-faq@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+
+To get messages 123 through 145 (a maximum of 100 per request), mail:
+   &lt;oldboys-get.123_145@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+
+To get an index with subject and author for messages 123-456 , mail:
+   &lt;oldboys-index.123_456@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+
+They are always returned as sets of 100, max 2000 per request,
+so you'll actually get 100-499.
+
+To receive all messages with the same subject as message 12345,
+send an empty message to:
+   &lt;oldboys-thread.12345@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+
+The messages do not really need to be empty, but I will ignore
+their content. Only the ADDRESS you send to is important.
+
+You can start a subscription for an alternate address,
+for example "john@host.domain", just add a hyphen and your
+address (with '=' instead of '@') after the command word:
+&lt;oldboys-subscribe-john=host.domain@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+
+To stop subscription for this address, mail:
+&lt;oldboys-unsubscribe-john=host.domain@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+
+In both cases, I'll send a confirmation message to that address. When you receive it, simply reply to it to complete your subscription.
+
+If despite following these instructions, you do not get the
+desired results, please contact my owner at 
+&lt;oldboys-owner@lists.ccc.de&gt; 
+Please be patient, my owners are a lot slower than I am ;-)
+
+WHAT IT IS ABOUT:
+
+&lt;oldboys-list&gt; is an international discussion mailing list owned by the Old Boys Network.
+
+OBN is regarded as the first international Cyberfeminist alliance and has been founded in 1997 in Berlin. Under the umbrella of the term 'Cyberfeminism' OBN contributes to the critical discourse on new media, especially gender-specific aspects. 
+ 
+OBN is dedicated to appropriating, creating and disseminating Cyberfeminisms (plural). OBN creates real and virtual spaces where Cyberfeminists can research, experiment, communicate and act. The OBN platforms aim to provide a contextualized presence for the diverse and interdisciplinary approaches to Cyberfeminism. One of these platforms is &lt;oldboys list&gt;.
+
+One of the basic rules of OBN is that every member is required to call herself a woman (without consideration of the biological base of this intelligent life-form). With regard to its contents - the elaboration of Cyberfeminisms - our aim is the principle of disagreement!
+
+Additional to our communication in virtual space OBN regularly organizes real space meetings.
+- First conference: 'first Cyberfeminist International', documenta x, Kassel, 1997, hybrid workspace;
+- Second conference: 'next Cyberfeminist International', 1999, Rotterdam, de Balie (in cooperation with 'next5mintues, festival for tactical media, Amsterdam).
+- Third conference: ’very Cyberfeminist International', 2001, Hamburg, is currently in preparation.
+
+All conferences are documented in printed readers. No.1 and no.2 are sold out already. The content will be available on our new website, soon! 
+
+Currently (2001) the book ’Cyberfeminism - next protocols' is in production in collaboration with the Publishing House Autonomedia, New York. 
+
+In 2000 OBN presented itself in the 15 minutes long video ’processing Cyberfeminism'.
+
+Since OBN has come into being it's personnel as well as the organisatorial structure have been in a constant flow. 
+
+If you want to learn more about the regulating structure of OBN, and you are interested in finding out what is special about this transitory network, please visit our website (currently being redesigned by Slowenian artist Irena Woelle).
+http://www.obn.org
+
+&lt;oldboys-list&gt; can stay unmoderated as long as all subscribers feel responsible for the list, share it's policy and the general netiquette.
+
+* text-format:
+plain ascii, no MIME-attachements, maximum size: 40.000 bytes (please split bigger texts); 
+
+* visuals:
+basically visuals are welcome to be distributed, but not automatically via the list; pls. announce your visuals and send them at request to individual addresses.
+
+* all postings are automatically forwarded to the searchable &lt;oldboys-list&gt; web-archive. This archive is only accessable by subscribed members of the list who have the password. (further instructions soon)
+address: www.nettime.org/oldboys
+
+* copyright policy:
+forwarding of public announcements via e-mail is allowed if the footer is included; all other forwarding has to be checked with the authors. for republishing on a web or ftp site, contact with the authors is obligatory. The same regulation is valid when republishing in paper media, or if money changes hands.
+
+* &lt;oldboys-list&gt; is a way to form a large network of active cyberfeminists. Please feel free to invite new subscribers or to suggest them by simply sending a mail to the list-owner.
+
+* questions, comments, criticism are welcome!
+please direct them to &lt;oldboys@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+Old Boys Network, march 2001</content>
+</mail>
+<mail>
+<nbr>1.0</nbr>
+<subject>[oldboys] Personal Welcome!</subject>
+<from>Cornelia Sollfrank</from>
+<to>oldboys@lists.ccc.de</to>
+<date>Mon, 26 Mar 2001 16:25:13 +0100</date>
+<content>Welcome to the &lt;oldboys&gt;-list!
+
+As I have already announced to you individually some weeks ago, OBN has finally installed it's mailinglist. It is running on the list server of CCC, Chaos Computer Club in Berlin, which is the German hacker's club. About 150 cyberfeminists have subscribed so far. 
+
+Attached to the list is a searchable webarchive: http://www.nettime.org/oldboys 
+This means that &lt;oldboys&gt;-list is an open list and everyone who is interested can follow what is going on here.
+
+In order to give you a better understanding of what OBN used to be and what it is now, and also what the list is supposed to be used for, I would like to describe the situation of OBN from MY PERSONAL point of view. 
+
+I am sure, most of you know OBN through our conferences and the documentary readers. Indeed, the ’real' platforms of OBN have been dominant so far, in contrast to our ’virtual' ones. But this mailinglist is the first step to improve our virtual presence and communication, and is meant to host a global discourse on Cyberfeminism. 
+
+As a matter of fact, we are also working currently on the relaunch of our website. Irena Woelle from Ljubljana is our webdesigner, and we are looking forward to our new site, which will represent what OBN is, much better than the current one. Amongst many other things, next to a theory section, there will also be a gallery space, and a calendar which contains all current events in which cyberfeminists take part. As soon as we have a Beta-version, we will put it up and inform you, as well as ask you for your contributions. 
+
+Furthermore OBN is planning a third international conference, called ’next Cyberfeminist International' which hopefully will take place in November this year in Hamburg. The current situation is, that we are in the middle of organizing the funding for the conference. We will keep you updated about this and send out a call as soon as we can verify the details.
+
+OBN itself has gone through several major shifts in the almost four years of it's existence, shifts in personnel and shifts in the organisatorial structure. Some of you might know our video ’processing cyberfeminism' which represented the so-called core-group of OBN. Our current website also still contains this outdated information that there is something like a core-group. There used to be one, right, and it consisted of Cornelia Sollfrank, Susanne Ackers, Julianne Pierce, Helene von Oldenburg, Claudia Reiche, Faith Wilding, Yvonne Volkart, Verena Kuni. But we had to realize after a while that it was no longer functional, for several reasons. For me, most irritating was the fact that the existence of a core-group transported the idea of a closed inner circle to the public, and consequently many interested people felt uncomfortable and not really welcome. I feel very sorry for that, because OBN was always meant to be an open network.
+
+About one year ago, the core-group abolished itself in order to open up the structure and make space for new boys, new ideas, new projects, and new cyberfeminisms. Still, there was no infrastructure where we could have announced and praticed our desire for change. We found ourselves in the contradictory situation that it was up to the ex-core-group again to build these new structures. 
+
+In this very transitional phase during the last year, a fragmented ex-core-group consisting of Helene von Oldenburg, Claudia Reiche, Verena Kuni, myself and partly Susanne Ackers gathered again and made efforts in order to realize the transition of OBN. We have set up the list, made the concept and raised money for the new website, thought and talked about the possible future of OBN, and are now busy making the next International happen.
+
+I would like to welcome you, on this list and in the network. Please understand OBN as an open structure where activities and contributions are welcome, and of course a lot of qualified critique;-) And, be also aware that all the work which the boys have invested so far in OBN was voluntary. Although, our ressources are very limited, we try to make things happen, but we can not function as a service business. 
+
+I'm looking forward to your input and many lively discussions, and hope you enjoy this piece of autonomous infrastructure. Make the best out of it! 
+
+To find out more about OBN and the current regulatory structure, pls. send a mail to &lt;oldboys-info@lists.ccc.de&gt; and/or &lt;oldboys-faq@lists.ccc.de&gt;
+
+Cheers from Scotland, Cornelia
+March 20th, 2001
+
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+To unsubscribe, e-mail: oldboys-unsubscribe@lists.ccc.de
+For additional commands, e-mail: oldboys-help@lists.ccc.de</content>
+</mail>
+<mail>
+<nbr>2.0</nbr>
+<subject>Welcome to nettime-l</subject>
+<from>majordomo</from>
+<to>nettime-l@desk.nl</to>
+<date>Fri, 4 Apr 1997 00:17:49 +0100</date>
+<content>Welcome to the nettime-l mailing list!
+
+If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list,
+you can send mail to "majordomo {AT} Desk.nl" with the following command
+in the body of your email message:
+
+    unsubscribe nettime-l nettime-archive {AT} factory.org
+
+Here's the general information for the list you've
+subscribed to, in case you don't already have it:
+
+[Last updated on: Tue Feb 27 22:38:19 1996]
+
+&lt;nettime&gt; is not only a mailing list, but an attempt to to formulate an
+international, networked discourse, that is either promoting the dominant
+euforia (in order to sell some product), nor to continue with the cynical
+pessimism, spread by journlalists and intellectuals working in the 'old'
+media, who can still make general statements without any deeper knowledge
+on the specific communication aspects of the so-called 'new' media.
+We intend to bring out books, readers and floppies and web sites in
+various languages, so that the 'immanent' net critique will not only
+circulate within the internet, but can also be read by people who are not
+on-line.
+&lt;nettime&gt; 
+is closed and slightly moderated,
+it has two channels:
+
+-&gt; post to : nettime {AT} is.in-berlin.de 
+   (mail gets delivered to all subscribers via desk.nl)
+   news://news.thing.at/thing-talk {AT} mail.thing.at
+
+&lt;- reply to: the adress of the original sender
+   re: (public dialogue): nettime-talk {AT} mail.thing.at
+   which is the same like
+   news://news.thing.at/thing.nettime-talk  
+
+text-format: plain ascii, max 72 chars, monospace 
+   fonttype (courier), no MIME-attachements or bin-hex,
+   maximum size : 40.000 bytes, please split bigger textes
+
+text-collection:
+   ZK Proceedings (book in progress):  
+   http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/
+
+copyright policy: 
+   forwarding via e-mail is allowed if footers gets included,
+   for republishing on a web or ftpsite contact with the authors
+   is recommened. in case of a republishing in paper media, 
+   or if money changes hands, the confirmation of the authors is 
+   obligate. (this note is under construction - look for updates)
+
+* with &lt;nettime&gt; you can reach a group of people 
+  of active cultural producers. feel free to
+  invite new subscribers by simply sending a 
+  mail to the list-owner.
+
+* you can use nettime as a forward channel, a 
+  social text filter, for own textes, found textes,
+  requests, announcements... 
+
+* to get to know who is on the list (only e-adresses), 
+  please send a mail to majordomo {AT} desk.nl with 
+             who nettime-l 
+  in the body of the message.
+
+* questions, comments, criticism are welcome!
+  please direct them to nettime-owner {AT} is.in-berlin.de
+ 27feb96                         Geert Lovink, Pit Schultz</content>
+</mail>
+<mail>
+<nbr>3.0</nbr>
+<subject>Welcome to nettime-l</subject>
+<from>Majordomo</from>
+<to>nettime-l@desk.nl</to>
+<date>Sun, 25 Oct 1998 14:58:56 +0100</date>
+<content>Welcome to the nettime-l mailing list!
+
+Please save this message for future reference.  Thank you.
+
+If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list,
+you can send mail to &lt;Majordomo {AT} Desk.nl&gt; with the following
+command in the body of your email message:
+
+    unsubscribe nettime-l nettime-archive {AT} nettime.khm.de
+
+ Here's the general information for the list you've subscribed to,
+ in case you don't already have it:
+
+[Last updated on: Fri Feb  6 18:00:59 1998]
+
+&lt;nettime&gt; is not only a mailing list, but an attempt to formulate an
+international, networked discourse, that is neither promoting the dominant
+euforia (in order to sell some product), nor to continue with the cynical
+pessimism, spread by journalists and intellectuals working in the 'old'
+media, who can still make general statements without any deeper knowledge
+on the specific communication aspects of the so-called 'new' media.
+We intend to bring out books, readers and floppies and web sites in
+various languages, so that the 'immanent' net critique will not only
+circulate within the internet, but can also be read by people who are not
+on-line.
+
+&lt;nettime&gt; 
+
+is closed and slightly moderated,
+it has two channels:
+
+-&gt; post to : nettime {AT} desk.nl 
+   (mail gets delivered to all subscribers via desk.nl)
+   news://news.thing.at/thing.nettime-talk  
+
+text-format: plain ascii, max 72 chars, monospace 
+   fonttype (courier), no MIME-attachements or bin-hex,
+   maximum size : 40.000 bytes, please split bigger textes
+
+text-collection:
+   ZK Proceedings (book in progress):  
+   http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/
+
+copyright policy: 
+   forwarding via e-mail is allowed if footers gets included,
+   for republishing on a web or ftpsite contact with the authors
+   is recommended. in case of a republishing in paper media, 
+   or if money changes hands, the confirmation of the authors is 
+   obligate. (this note is under construction - look for updates)
+
+* with &lt;nettime&gt; you can reach a group of people 
+  of active cultural producers. feel free to
+  invite new subscribers by simply sending a 
+  mail to the list-owner.
+
+* you can use nettime as a forward channel, a 
+  social text filter, for own textes, found textes,
+  requests, announcements... 
+
+* to get to know who is on the list (only e-adresses), 
+  please send a mail to majordomo {AT} desk.nl with 
+             who nettime-l 
+  in the body of the message.
+
+* questions, comments, criticism are welcome!
+  please direct them to nettime-owner {AT} desk.nl
+6feb98                   Geert Lovink, Pit Schultz</content>
+</mail>
+<mail>
+<nbr>4.0</nbr>
+<subject>&lt;nettime&gt; five years later</subject>
+<from>Nettime</from>
+<to>nettime-l@bbs.thing.net</to>
+<date>Tue, 31 Oct 2000 20:13:00 -0500</date>
+<content>___           ___           ___         ___               
+             /\  \         /\  \         /\  \       /\  \              
+             \:\  \       /::\  \       /::\  \     /::\  \       ___   
+              \:\  \     /:/\:\  \     /:/\:\__\   /:/\:\__\     /|  |  
+          ___ /::\  \   /:/ /::\  \   /:/ /:/  /  /:/ /:/  /    |:|  |  
+         /\  /:/\:\__\ /:/_/:/\:\__\ /:/_/:/  /  /:/_/:/  /     |:|  |  
+         \:\/:/  \/__/ \:\/:/  \/__/ \:\/:/  /   \:\/:/  /    __|:|__|  
+          \::/__/       \::/__/       \::/__/     \::/__/    /::::\  \  
+           \:\  \        \:\  \        \:\  \      \:\  \    ~~~~\:\  \ 
+            \:\__\        \:\__\        \:\__\      \:\__\        \:\__\
+             \/__/         \/__/         \/__/       \/__/         \/__/
+                                      ___                         ___     
+           _____                     /\  \                       /\  \    
+          /::\  \       ___         /::\  \         ___          \:\  \   
+         /:/\:\  \     /\__\       /:/\:\__\       /\__\          \:\  \  
+        /:/ /::\__\   /:/__/      /:/ /:/  /      /:/  /      ___ /::\  \ 
+       /:/_/:/\:|__| /::\  \     /:/_/:/__/___   /:/__/      /\  /:/\:\__\
+       \:\/:/ /:/  / \/\:\  \__  \:\/:::::/  /  /::\  \      \:\/:/  \/__/
+        \::/_/:/  /   ~~\:\/\__\  \::/~~/~~~~  /:/\:\  \      \::/__/     
+         \:\/:/  /       \::/  /   \:\~~\      \/__\:\  \      \:\  \     
+          \::/  /        /:/  /     \:\__\          \:\__\      \:\__\    
+           \/__/         \/__/       \/__/           \/__/       \/__/    
+                                        ___                 
+                         _____         /\  \                
+                        /::\  \       /::\  \         ___   
+                       /:/\:\  \     /:/\:\  \       /|  |  
+                      /:/  \:\__\   /:/ /::\  \     |:|  |  
+                     /:/__/ \:|__| /:/_/:/\:\__\    |:|  |  
+                     \:\  \ /:/  / \:\/:/  \/__/  __|:|__|  
+                      \:\  /:/  /   \::/__/      /::::\  \  
+                       \:\/:/  /     \:\  \      ~~~~\:\  \ 
+                        \::/  /       \:\__\          \:\__\
+                         \/__/         \/__/           \/__/
+
+                         ___           ___           ___     
+                        /\__\         /\  \         /\  \    
+                       /::|  |       /::\  \        \:\  \   
+                      /:|:|  |      /:/\:\  \        \:\  \  
+                     /:/|:|  |__   /::\~\:\  \       /::\  \ 
+                    /:/ |:| /\__\ /:/\:\ \:\__\     /:/\:\__\
+                    \/__|:|/:/  / \:\~\:\ \/__/    /:/  \/__/
+                        |:/:/  /   \:\ \:\__\     /:/  /     
+                        |::/  /     \:\ \/__/     \/__/      
+                        /:/  /       \:\__\                  
+                        \/__/         \/__/                  
+
+                   ___                       ___           ___     
+                  /\  \          ___        /\__\         /\  \    
+                  \:\  \        /\  \      /::|  |       /::\  \   
+                   \:\  \       \:\  \    /:|:|  |      /:/\:\  \  
+                   /::\  \      /::\__\  /:/|:|__|__   /::\~\:\  \ 
+                  /:/\:\__\  __/:/\/__/ /:/ |::::\__\ /:/\:\ \:\__\
+                 /:/  \/__/ /\/:/  /    \/__/~~/:/  / \:\~\:\ \/__/
+                /:/  /      \::/__/           /:/  /   \:\ \:\__\  
+                \/__/        \:\__\          /:/  /     \:\ \/__/  
+                              \/__/         /:/  /       \:\__\    
+                                            \/__/         \/__/    
+     &lt;http://www.nettime.org/nettime.w3archive/199510/msg00000.html&gt;
+
+          To: zack {AT} contrib.de
+          Subject: Welcome to nettime
+          From: majordomo
+          Date: Tue, 31 Oct 95 08:13 EST
+          
+          --
+          
+          Welcome to the nettime mailing list!
+          
+           &lt;...&gt;</content>
+</mail>
+<mail>
+<nbr>5.0</nbr>
+<subject>Welcome</subject>
+<from>Beryl Graham</from>
+<to>&lt;new-media-curating@jiscmail.ac.uk&gt;</to>
+<date>Fri, 9 Feb 2001 16:09:23 +0000</date>
+<content>Welcome to new-media-curating!
+
+This list is intended for those involved in curating, exhibiting, archiving or interpreting new media art (including net.art, interactive installations, digital video
+etc.)
+
+It is the discussion list of the CRUMB web site (Curatorial Resource for Upstart Media Bliss http://www.newmedia.sunderland.ac.uk/crumb/).
+
+The list will be active from March 2001, and list members will be emailed with details nearer the time.
+
+Beryl Graham and Sarah Cook
+CRUMB editors and new-media-curating list owners</content>
+</mail>
+<mail>
+<nbr>6.0</nbr>
+<subject>[-empyre-] welcome</subject>
+<from>n/a</from>
+<to>&lt;empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au&gt;</to>
+<date>Sun Jan  6 14:39:01 2002</date>
+<content>welcome to -empyre-
+ 
+-empyre- is a soft space where invited guests from the media arts field - artists, theorists, curators, producers and admisistrators can discuss their projects, publications, productions, and share knowledge and experience. it's specific to the issues which surround media arts, without necessarily being academically referenced, nor concerned with deliniating areas of practice into interactive, or digital, or net, or rom, or pda, or web, or text, or flash art.
+ 
+how it works:
+
+guests will send out an initial email statement about thier work/project/publiction, and then for two or so weeks will be open to comment, questions, discussion around the topics. on 15 january 2002 the discussion starts with Ollivier Dyens ( bio at http://www.subtle.net/empyrean/empyre/dyens.html ) who has generously agreed to be the test guest.. a new guest will be invited at regular intervals..currently every second month, however depending on the level of interaction perhaps i will make it more or less frequent. administratively there may still some glitches to be ironed out over the next few weeks as well - the net is never a seamless experience. 
+
+ 
+many people have subscribed since i opened the list a few days ago which is great.. and leads me to think a lot of you want something extra in the way of content from your email.. however i know i get enormous amount of email in my in box everyday, a lot of it duplicated info  which i have to filter out..
+
+ -empyre- is not the place for conference announcements, or art show invitations or email text works. i think we are all connected to (often too) many networks which provide these functions already.If anyone consistantly spams the list, sends attachments, or is abusive towards other members i will unsubscribe them.
+ 
+as i have made the subscriber list invisible so that it can't be harvested by bulk emailers, i would encourage people to post a brief introduction to the list before the first guest arrives.  i'm glad to see new names, as well as so many subscribers whom iv'e known in other hard and digital realms over the years, and i look forward to your participation, which has always been informative and stimulating... often contraversial and sometimes extremely funny. 
+ 
+-empyre- is an experiment in this format, and like most mailing lists will have an organic lifespan generating its unique rhythms, highs ands lows,  jumping between furious pace and slow silences... basically -empyre- will live or die according to your input, - you are the animating fluid of -empyre- 
+
+ 
+Melinda Rackham</content>
+</mail>
+<mail>
+<nbr>7.0</nbr>
+<subject>[spectre] Rise and Decline of the Syndicate</subject>
+<from>Arns/Broeckmann</from>
+<to>spectre@mikrolisten.de</to>
+<date>Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:52:15 +0100</date>
+<content>Rise and Decline of the Syndicate: the End of an Imagined Community
+
+Inke Arns &amp; Andreas Broeckmann, Berlin, November 2001
+The Syndicate mailing list imploded and went down in August 2001,
+destroying the life-line of the Syndicate network. The network had been in
+a shaky situation for a while, due - we believe - to the destabilisation of
+the problematic balance between personal contacts of list members, lurking
+and filtering-and-not-reading-let-alone-posting subscribers, and a growing
+number of self-promoters who used the list as a personal performance space
+and disregarded the social rules of the online community.
+
+Some people insisted on continuing the list on a new server, taking over
+the subscriber list, while we decided to form a new list, SPECTRE, which
+has been running on the previous Syndicate list-serve in Berlin since 28
+Aug 2001. The list currently has 250 new subscribers (Nov 01) and continues
+the tradition of the Syndicate list as a low-noise, open platform for
+exchange and cooperation in media culture in Europe.
+
+After six years of successful work with and for the Syndicate community,
+the demise of the Syndicate list in August 2001 was a rather shocking
+experience for many of us, imposing on us the realisation how feeble such a
+community channel can be, and how easily destroyed. It proved that
+responsibility and care are essential elements in a viable social online
+environment, and we had to learn the hard way that there is no consensus
+about the rules that should guide behaviour and interaction. The following
+text gives a brief summary from our personal perspective of the Syndicate
+initiative as it developed since its inception in 1996, and attempts an
+evaluation of its end.
+Andreas started administering the Syndicate mailing list after its
+installation on the server of the Ars Electronica Center in Linz (aec.at)
+in January 1996, helping people to subscribe, unsubscribe and post to the
+majordomo list. As the subscriber base grew from the original 30
+subscribers to about 300 in 1998, Inke joined in administering the list and
+- together with Arthur Bueno of the V2_Organisation in Rotterdam, who also
+maintained the Syndicate website and archive on www.v2.nl/syndicate from
+1998-2000 - mostly managed the list administration through these years. We
+taught ourselves the basic majordomo commands, had our private mail
+accounts jammed with bounced messages, and therefore installed an admin
+account. Each time we would look into this account there would be hundreds
+of mails sitting there and voraciously waiting for us ... but somehow it
+worked. Problems started appearing on an entirely different field.
+
+With its completely open structure (technically and socially speaking) the
+Syndicate mailing list soon proved to be vulnerable. In the beginning of
+November 1998 the list was first targeted: all the subscribers were
+unsubscribed. Luckily we had been extracting the "who"-file on an almost
+daily basis and thus were able to reconstruct the list quickly. In
+September 2000 the list software on the server faced a serious crash which
+the sysops in Linz could not take care of because of the festival they were
+in at the time. So we decided to relocate the list onto a server to which
+we would have easier access for administration and configuration. Since
+then, the Syndicate list was hosted by an ISP in Berlin (openoffice.de)
+which also soon gave us the opportunity to switch from Majordomo to the
+more easily administratable Mailman software.
+
+But the Syndicate was much more than a piece of software: it was a network
+of people. The Syndicate was founded in January 1996 on the last day of the
+Next 5 Minutes 2 Festival in Rotterdam. It was a network which devoted
+itself to fostering contacts and co-operation, improvements in
+communication and an exchange between institutions and individuals in
+Eastern and Western Europe active in the media and media culture. By
+allowing regular e-mail communication between participants regarding
+forthcoming events and collaborative projects the Syndicate mailing list
+developed into an important channel and information resource for announcing
+and reporting new projects, events and developments in media culture. The
+complete mail archive is kept at http://www.v2.nl/mail/v2east/
+
+Since the first meeting in Rotterdam in 1996, which was attended by 30
+media artists and activists, journalists and curators from 12 Eastern and
+Western European countries, the Syndicate network grew steadily. In August
+2001, it linked over 500 members from more than 30 European and a number of
+non-European countries. The original idea was to establish an East-West
+network as well as an East-East network. In the meantime, however, the
+Syndicate had increasingly developed into an all-European forum for media
+culture and art. Over the last few years the division between East and West
+had been growing less important as people cooperated in ever-changing
+constellations, in ad-hoc as well as long-lasting partnerships.
+
+Syndicate meetings and workshops have been held regularly, in most cases as
+part of festivals and conferences. The main meetings have taken place at
+half-yearly intervals in Rotterdam (Sept. 96), Liverpool (April 97), Kassel
+(July 97), Dessau (Nov. 97), Tirana (May 98), Skopje (Oct. 98), Budapest
+(April 99), and Helsinki (Oct. 99), with many smaller meetings and joint
+projects, presentations and workshops happening in between. Readers edited
+by Inke and published on the occasion of some of the meetings (Rotterdam
+1996, Ostranenie Dessau 1997, Junction Skopje 1998) have collected the most
+important texts from the mailing list in printed form. 
+
+It was worth condensing Syndicate stuff in this way because most of the
+time the mail traffic was dominated by announcements. Attempts to turn the
+Syndicate list into a discussion list and encouragements for people to send
+their personal reports, views, perceptions of what was happening, were met
+by only limited response. In the beginning, when many people on the list
+still knew each other personally, this strategy was more successful, later,
+with the exploding rate of lurkers, less.
+
+While in the first three years of its existence, the Syndicate held its
+meetings quite regularly (almost every six months!), and organised panels
+and workshops with its members, since 1999 the Syndicate list came to be
+more like a sleeping beauty which in times of crisis would awake and show
+its full potential. Suddenly, when necessary, everybody was back on,
+communicating almost breathlessly with each other ("Have you heard about
+X?" - "The cultural center Y was closed!" - "Z received his mobilisation
+call.") The list was last activated in order to support Edi Muka,
+Tirana-based long term Syndicalist, who had been sacked from his post at
+the cultural center Pyramid by some politically malevolent officials. 
+
+The meetings and personal contacts off-list were an essential part of the
+Syndicate network: they grounded the Syndicate in a network of friendly and
+working relationships, with strong ties and allegiances that spanned across
+Europe and made many cooperations between artists, initiatives and
+institutions possible. The Syndicate thus opened multiple channels between
+artists and cultural producers in Europe and beyond, which is probably its
+greatest achievement. It connected people and made them aware of each
+other's practice, creating multiple options for international cooperation
+projects.
+
+A structure like that can work so long as it is supported and protected by
+a sufficient number of participants. It needs an ethical consensus about
+what is and what isn't possible on the list, which kinds of actions support
+and which may tilt the social equilibrium. The case of Andrej Tisma, a
+Yugoslav artist from multi-cultural Novi Sad and a defender of the
+Milosevic regime throughout the late 90s, is a case in point: many
+perceived his tirades against the West and against NATO as pure Serbian
+propaganda which became unbearable at some point. Later, Tisma came back to
+the list and continued his criticisms by posting links to anti-NATO web
+pages he had created. For us, he was always an interesting sign post of
+Serb nationalist ideology which it was good to be aware of. And it was good
+that he showed that people can be artists 'like you and me', and be Serb
+nationalists at the same time. The Syndicate could handle his presence
+after he agreed to tune down his rants. 
+
+However, this consensus was further eroded through the last two years. The
+nn episode on Syndicate in August 2001, then, was a symptom, but not the
+reason for the death of Syndicate. This started way before August 2001. Not
+only that there were no more meetings after 1999, one could also notice
+that since mid 1999 people felt less and less responsible for the list.
+Many Syndicalists of the first hour grew more silent (this was partly
+incited by the hefty discussions during the NATO bombings in Yugoslavia),
+perhaps more weary, perhaps less naive, many also changed their personal
+circumstances and got involved in other things (new jobs, new families, new
+countries ...). At the same time, the number of subscribers kept growing:
+more and more newbies kept flowing onto the Syndicate list. 
+
+The major change that occurred on the Syndicate around that time (1999) was
+the transition from a network of people and of trust to a more and more
+anonymous mailing list, a list for announcements like so many others. A
+growing majority of Syndicate subscribers now tended to see the mailing
+list merely as a quick and handy tool for spreading self promotion. The
+mailing list was to serve them for promotional goals, rather than as a tool
+of communication. When calls went out for support in the adminstration of
+the list, far too few people responded at all. Many people still do not
+understand the voluntary nature of the Syndicate initiative, and that the
+whole project depended on the sharing of work and responsibility. Too many
+people took the efforts of too few people for granted. Investing time and
+energy in the administration of such a list became more and more
+frustrating. When some fellow Syndicalists joined the admin team early
+2001, we could have realised that the project had peaked and should have
+been transformed into something different altogether.
+
+The net entity nn (Netochka Nezvanova, integer, antiorp, etc.), a pseudonym
+used by an international group of artists and programmers in their
+extensive and aggressive mailing list-based online-performances and for
+other art projects, had been subscribed to the Syndicate list in 1997. It
+was, as the first of less than a handful of people ever, unsubscribed
+against its will because it was spamming the list so heavily that all
+meaningful communication was blocked. In January 2001, nn sent an e-mail
+asking to again be subscribed to the Syndicate mailing list. (What nn never
+bothered to realise was that subscription to the list had always been open
+so that, at any point, it could have subscribed itself - we have always
+wondered why Majordomo is such a blind spot in this technophile entity's
+arsenal.) After getting assurances from nn that she was not out to misuse
+the list, we subscribed it to the Syndicate list. 
+
+Naively, as we had to realise. nn went from one or two messages every day
+in February to an average of three to five message in April and up to eight
+and ten messages per day in May and June - and that on a list which had a
+regular daily traffic of three to five messages a day. The distributed
+nature of the nn collective makes it possible for them to keep posting 24
+hours a day - great for promoting your online presence, irritating for
+people who have a less frantic life rhythm. nn's messages are always
+cryptic, sometimes amusing, often tediously repetitive in their quirky
+rhetorics and style, and generally irritating for the majority of people.
+Its activity on the Syndicate - like on many other lists it has used and
+terrorised - soon came to look like a hijack. But the sheer mass of traffic
+nn was generating, the sheer amount of nn's presence, was overwhelming.
+Perhaps this phenomenon could be compared to SMEGL, short for super mental
+grid lock, a term that was developed to describe traffic jam situations in
+NYC back in the eighties (or was this term coined in Berlin-Kreuzberg's
+famous Fischbuero? Who knows, the boundaries get blurred...). 
+
+In the spring of 2001, nn's and other people's activities who use open,
+unmoderated mailing lists for promulgating their self-promotional e-mails,
+triggered discussions about 'spam art', on Syndicate as well as on other
+lists. Actually, given the extreme openness and vulnerability of a
+structure like the Syndicate it remains quite astonishing that this
+structure survived for such a long time. What happened in the course of
+2000/2001 (not only to Syndicate, but also to several other mailing lists)
+was that the openness of these lists, i.e. the fact that they were
+unmoderated, was massively abused, and, finally, destroyed, by relentless
+'creative' spamming. One of the basic principles of the Internet - its
+openness - suddenly seemed to become a mere tool for attacking this very
+principle. 'Netiquette' did not seem to be of much value anymore and was
+sacrificed for the egotistical self-expression of (distributed) artist
+egos. The irony of this process is that, like any good parasite, this
+artistic practice depends on the existence of lively online communities: it
+not only bites, but kills the hand that feeds it. - These parasite nomads
+will find new hosts, no doubt, but they have over the past year helped to
+erode the social fabric of the wider net cultural population so much that
+communities have to protect themselves from attacks and hijacks more
+aggressively than before. Their adolescent carelessness is partly
+responsible for the withering of the romantic utopia of a completely open,
+sociable online environment. However educational that may be, we despise
+the deliberation with which these people act.
+
+nn got unsubscribed from the Syndicate without warning on a day when there
+had been nothing but ten messages from her. After some days of silence and
+sighs of relief, angry protests by nn came through. On the list,
+accusations of censorship and/or dictatorship were made. A small but noisy
+faction denounced unsubscribing nn as an act against the freedom of speech.
+They called the administrators fascists, murderers, and 'threatened' to
+report the case to 'Index on Censorship'. While some other list members
+welcomed the departure of nn on and off the list and the admin team again
+and again explained their move, the ludicrous allegations and vociferous
+insults continued. 
+
+The real shock for us was that the majority of list subscribers did not
+participate in the discussion and thus silently seemed to accept what was
+going on. It was personally hurtful not to receive more support against the
+insults raised against us, but more frustrating was the indifference that
+made the whole process possible. Within few days, the alienation from the
+atmosphere on the list was so great that we admitted defeat, re-subscribed
+nn and began to withdraw from the Syndicate. The list was moved to a
+different server and is now administered by other people at
+anart.no/~syndicate. We wanted to avoid further verbiage and conflict and
+therefore gave up the name, but we insist that from our perspective the
+Syndicate project that was founded in 1996 ended in August 2001. What
+remains under its name is a zombie kept alive by misconceptions about what
+the Syndicate really was. Maybe we should have stopped the project
+altogether in the summer?
+
+Filtering has, in a way, done us in. Before there were effective e-mail
+clients that could filter out lists and other mail communication, everybody
+on the list got everything more or less instantly, which also meant a
+higher level of social awareness and social control of what goes on on the
+list. Today, many people filter the lists they subscribe to and only look
+at the postings at irregular intervals - some mailboxes don't get opened
+for months. Like this, people consume the list passively and do not even
+notice a fiasco like the one that we experienced on the Syndicate list in
+the summer. I guess that some people who remain subscribed to the Syndicate
+list still have not noticed that anything has changed. For a social
+community, that kind of behaviour - automated deferance - can be fatal.
+"There's a spectre haunting Europe ..."
+
+In August 2001, after unsubscribing from the Syndicate, we initiated a new
+mailing list under the name SPECTRE. It is an open, unmoderated list for
+media art and culture in Deep Europe. SPECTRE offers a channel for
+practical information exchange concerning events, projects and initiatives
+organized within the field of media culture, and hosts discussions and
+critical commentary about the development of art, culture and politics in
+and beyond Europe. Deep Europe is not a particular territory, but is based
+on an attitude and experience of layered identities and histories -
+ubiquitous in Europe, yet in no way restricted by its topographical
+borders. (The term Deep Europe was coined by Anna Balint in 1996. It was
+passed on by Geert Lovink. It was used by Andreas Broeckmann and Inke Arns.
+It was interpreted by Luchezar Boyadjiev. It was used more by Sally Jane
+Norman, Iliyana Nedkova, Nina Czegledy, Edi Muka, and many others.)
+
+SPECTRE is a channel for people involved in old and new media in art and
+culture. Importantly, many people on this list know each other personally.
+SPECTRE aims to facilitate real-life meetings and favours real face-to-face
+(screen-to-screen) cooperation, test-bed experiences and environments to
+provoke querying of issues of cultural identity/identification and
+difference (translatable as well as untranslatable or irreducible). The new
+list was immediately welcomed by many frustrated Syndicalists who quickly
+made the move.
+
+SPECTRE is an unmoderated, but by not means open mailing list. With the
+Syndicate experience in mind we felt the need to explicitely formulate some
+basic, apparently no longer self-evident netiquette rules, like "meaningful
+discussions require mutual respect," and "self-advertise with care!" The
+list is initially hosted by the two of us who also have to approve requests
+for subscription. The blurb explicitely reads: "Subscriptions may be
+terminated or suspended in the case of persistent violation of netiquette."
+We regret that we have to introduce such a system of control but see no
+other effective way of protecting something that is dear to us. A lack of
+sensible protection brought down the Syndicate. Information about SPECTRE:
+http://coredump.buug.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre
+
+We try to continue the good Syndicate tradition of amiable exchange and are
+more hesitant about the illusion of being an 'online community'. We
+maintain our romantic belief in lasting friendships and insist on the need
+to infuse networks with a strong sense of conviviality. We believe in
+people and their needs more than we believe in art.
+
+Inke Arns, Andreas Broeckmann
+
+Berlin, November 2001</content>
+</mail>
+<mail>
+<nbr>7.1</nbr>
+<subject>[spectre] Rise and Decline of the Syndicate-SOME THOUGHTS</subject>
+<from>KINGA ARAYA</from>
+<to>spectre@mikrolisten.de</to>
+<date>Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:35:42 -0500 (EST)</date>
+<content>Dear Inke and Andreas,
+
+I have been a rather 'silent' member on your ex-Syndicate list. After the
+unpleasant events with Miss nn et al., I abandoned the Syndicate list and
+I gladly joined the Spectre list you created. I do appreciate time you
+took in writing to all of us about the summer events on the old Syndicate
+list. I actually did not have a clear idea what was really going on except
+that I was sensing that SOMETHING was going wrong with the virtual
+community you created. I did not know who the nn-crowd was and what they
+really wanted.
+
+Even though I was not a very active member of the Syndicate, I always
+appreciated the pieces of information you provided. THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO
+ANDREAS and INKE FOR YOUR WORK. And since I am an artist and a doctoral
+student who is always 'on the run', I regret that fact that when nn
+abusive e-mails where polluting my e-mail box I was simply deleting them
+and kept going on with my busy life in-between languages, countries and
+cultures. (I do not live on internet).
+
+Your e-mail Inke MADE ME understand that the silence of the members is no
+longer possible. Yes, we DO have certain responsibilities to each other,
+we-virtual and invisible specters. I think that your e-mail touches on a
+very critical issue of ethical and aesthetic responsibilities of virtual
+e-mails that have never been dealt successfully (at least to my
+knowledge).
+
+Well, now when I finally CAME OUT what would be my/our next step?
+
+I believe that all the Spectre subscribes share certain responsibilities
+to each others (it is already voiced in Inke's mail) and I am not sure
+what to propose given the large number of member of Specters. We cannot
+send each others personal e-mails and start interdicting each other - it
+would create a virtual chaos! But I strongly believe that we have to DO
+something.  As a flamboyant artist I would say: "Hey, who/where are you?
+Let's go for a drink and talk about art!" Unfortunately it can only remain
+a rhetoric call.  The only thing I CAN do right now is to VOICE my virtual
+presence more often on the Specter's list because I have great respect to
+people who work very hard to make sure that we get important and wonderful
+information about our cultural and political status quo.
+
+Thank you and best wishes to Inke, Andreas and all the 250 (+) member of
+the Specter,
+
+Kinga Araya (an interdisciplinary artist currently working and studying in
+Montreal, Canada)</content>
+</mail>
+</mails>
+</chapter>