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The NickZone Mailing List FAQ

Welcome to the Nick Zone.

Cue the spooky music

Contact the list moms at:

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

(note: all bracketed comments are by Shadowfox)(including this one) :)

Nicholas Lea is a truly gifted actor who has played a number of roles that we enjoy immensely. Sadly, the role that he is most known for, Alex Krycek, tends to devour the others, and so this list and site has been set up to give the others a chance. All of Nick's other roles are up for discussion here, and we welcome fiction of all kinds that involve the characters, whether the stories be general, het erotica, or slash.

We post the stories to the website, and hope to build an archive that will be a testament to Nick's great skill. (as of January 2007, we have nearly 600 stories!-dossier)

We have noticed too that he is rather attractive so sue us.

(Attractive? ATTRACTIVE? He's a Botticelli come to life and all you can say is that he's merely attractive? What the heck have you been smoking lately, Suze? Do the words 'Me-ow, Baby!' mean anything to you? [bg])

The list began in summer of 2000, when Shadowfox and Sue were bemoaning the lack of such a forum. The site went on line in mid-October of 2000.

Nick Zone is a list and a site that try to do the impossible, to have slash, gen, and het fans co-exist on-line in self-policed Nick Lea worship. Content ranges from the inane to the sublime.

We post a question/topic for discussion on a weekly basis, and all info about our hero is welcome at any time.

SUBSCRIBING

Send your age statement to one of the list owners, or

ClickheretojoinNickZone

We'll still need that age statement though.

POSTING TO THE LIST:

We like you to introduce yourself. We're a friendly bunch. However, it's a good idea to see who's here and feel out the vibes of the list for a day or two prior to diving in unless you have a kickass story to share of course

To send mail to the list post it to Nickzone

YOU CAN ONLY POST FROM A SUBSCRIBED ADDRESS.

Your reply to a post will go to the list unless you change the recipient address. However, we don't want the list to degenerate to the extent that it is all off topic. Please, if you're posting to someone specific, do it off list.

ON TOPIC?

Anything relating to Nick's characters, fiction about them, or general discussions about Nick's work. We don't feel that his private life is a suitable topic for discussion on list.

(I feel I must reiterate this one, as it sometimes comes up on other lists and gets far too out of hand. Nick is a normal, real-life human being whose daytime job happens to be acting. As such, he owes us nothing more than the best performance he can possibly give in a project at any time. Nothing more. Those of us who choose to write about the sexual side of one of his characters do so with the knowledge that it's all in fun and nobody's getting hurt.

However, dealing with that when it comes to Nick himself is a different story; and an unfounded rumor or half-truth has the potential of doing very serious damage to not only Nick's career, but his life as well. I don't want to be the one responsible for that. Except for a very lucky few of us, we have never seen each other in person before. The nature of cyberspace is such that we have no way of knowing who's seeing what we post-hell, it could even be Nicky himself. Bottom line, what he does or doesn't do in the privacy of his own home and who he chooses to do it with is none of our business, period, and is off-limits as a subject. Anyone who blatantly disregards this policy will be asked to leave.)

We will tolerate a small amount of off topic posting, but reserve the right to shut down anything that gets out of hand. We are however pretty lenient. We don't intend to crack whips or anything if a subject is really intriguing.

OFF-TOPIC POSTING

We like to have fun, too, but it can get out of hand, and you must remember: if only a handful of you are posting to a thread, that means about 80 people are deleting those posts. Think before you post: is this something everyone would enjoy reading? Is it relevant to the list? Should it go to private mail?

If you have any doubts about whether a post is on topic, or not, feel free to run it by Shadowfox or Sue. We're here to help.

STORIES - THE RULES:

Since this is a Nick Lea list, we need one of his characters to be in the story.

What we need from you is 5 days clear between posting your story to the Nick Zone and posting it elsewhere. We need to have a reason for folks to join us. We like to archive the stories on the 'Zone. We'll assume that we can unless you say no.

What we also need is a rating and type. We have all kinds of folks on the list, and some folks don't want to read slash erotica. In the interests of protecting them, tell us what's in there.

PRIVACY

This list is PRIVATE. Privately owned, privately operated, and privacy is very important.

***NOTHING*** is to be forwarded off list without the POSTER'S permission. That means every single post and story. No exceptions. It's not just a matter of netiquette and common sense, it's also a matter of privacy and respect. All it takes is one quick note to say, 'can I send this to so and so', and you're covered. Violators will be unsubbed.

LIST COURTESY

This is a discussion forum for stories, for fun, for OPINIONS, for general silliness based on a common interest. It is to be hoped that we are all adults, and we can realize that an expression of an opinion that disagrees with us is not about us. As much as possible, the list moms hope that you can handle yourselves without our interference.

If you read a post and it upsets you, please write directly to that person and make sure that what they meant to say was what you read. It's so easy to misinterpret email messages. And even if it was a flame, you should be able to handle it personally, or ignore it.

Rules and the consequences:

You have the right to voice your opinion. (So does everybody else.)
You have a right to disagree with another's opinion. (And they with yours.)
You do not have the right to make it a personal attack. Whether something is considered a flame or not is up to the individual in question. If you feel that you have been flamed, you can request admin intervention.

Remember, people are READING this. They can't see your face to see if you are smiling, they don't hear how calm your voice is when you speak. Words have impact. They can hurt, and they can wound. They are incredibly powerful.

If you do see a flame and it does NOT concern you, please refrain from posting anything about it.

If you have any questions about the content of the list, whether something is appropriate to post, or anything at all, please write to any or all of us and let us know. We can't do anything about it if we don't know what 'it' is.

(We can't stress this enough. We list-mommies were discussing this very thing a while back when it was discovered that a policy we'd set in place was causing a stir. The unspoken rule among list-sibs sometimes seems to be 'Thou shalt not tell the List-Moms Anything.' Well, the simple truth of the matter is that this is not just our list, it's everybody's list, and the only way we'll know if we're doing a good job or not is if you tell us. We need your input to make this work. Besides, we don't bite - much. [bg])

COURTESIES

When discussing NEW episodes or films that have Nick in them (e.g. Vertical Limit, Ignition etc.), please include spoiler space and a spoiler label in the subject line! Discussion of episodes that have been out for six months (Once a Thief or any other show Nick has appeared in) do not need spoiler space.

A list of characters that Nick has brought to life will be maintained up on the Nick Zone site.

ACRONYMS

By popular request, and by dint of theft from everywhere I could find, I've already run across a few that will undoubtedly appear on the list. Here's a short list to help the acronym impaired:

TPTB: The Powers That Be
ep: episode
BTW: by the way
OTOH: on the other hand
Fan fiction/fanfic (fic): fiction written by fans about characters created by someone else.
Slash: Fiction involving sexual/intimate relationships between two same-sex characters who don't have such a relationship on the show. A "Slasher" is a person who reads and/or writes slash.
Het: Fiction involving sexual/intimate relationships between a m/f character pairing. Short for Heterosexual.
Gen: shortened from "General. No sex, no hint of sexual or amorous relationship.
Canon: that which is sanctioned as being part of the storyline by TPTB i.e.-anything that we've actually seen over the course of the show.
Non-canon: that which is not sanctioned as being part of the storyline by TPTB. By definition, all fanfic is non-canon, because it deals with things that have not been dealt with by TPTB, or haven't been dealt with to an author's satisfaction.
Beta reader or beta: is a person who reads and edits a fanfic before it is posted.
Crossover: fanfic involving characters from more than one fandom. Alex meets Victor, or Dustin gets together with Cory.
Feedback: Feedback is when you contact the author of a fanfic to tell him/her what you thought of it. We encourage it either on or off the list. Don't hold back. Don't stint! Feedback is very important.
Mary Sue (MS): A story where the author has blatantly written herself in as a romantic foil for one (or more) of the characters.(WARNING! This is a very subjective term and should be used with the utmost caution!! While the initial definition is very cut-and-dried, none of us should ever presume that a character created by an author fits into this category even if it seems to, because all characters can fit that description in one way or another. The best advice I can give is that if an Original Character fits your definition of what an MS is, go with the definition instead in feedback. A little tact goes a long way in saving a writer's possibly-fragile ego.)
Original Character (OC, usually OFC or OMC): a character created by an author to interact with the established ones in a story. Can be confused with MS, especially if sex is involved.
Round robin (rr): a story that is written by several authors in turn. One author writes a chapter (or a few paragraphs), then the next person picks up where that one left off, and so on.
Shipper: short for "relationship." This term first arose in X-Files fandom to refer to the idea of Mulder and Scully getting romantically involved.
Skipper: Scully/Krycek fic.
Subtext: any element of plot, especially related to character psychology, that is not explicitly stated but rather implied.
AU: Alternate Universe.
BD: Bondage and Domination. Disciplinefic.
H/C: Hurt/Comfort. A story where the author injures one character purely for the purpose of having another character tend to him.
NC: Non-consensual (i.e. rape).
PWP: "Plot, What Plot?" Usually unredeemed smut.
SM: Sado-Masochism. Involves actual pain and humiliation.
UST: Unresolved Sexual Tension.
GMTA: Great minds think alike.
Fusion: Half a crossover--The plot or elements of an alternate source melded with source material. i.e. Mulder and Krycek as Sentinel and Guide.

More definitions will be added as they come up. Feel free to send them in for inclusion.