Who We Are
Diagnosis Murder Appreciation Society has been around since January 1998 with a membership now of 160+. We have members coming to us from all over the globe and some from as far as Australia and Europe. Lee Goldberg, one of five producers from DM, is also with us. He keeps us informed with news on the up and coming episodes for the 6th season, as well as interesting mega bits of information.

You can expect lots of mail. Plus information on the cast, characters and episodes new and old. There are several members who will for a small fee, copy any episode that you might have missed. We also have a growing library of Barry Van Dyke's screen work from the age of 10 on and some of Charlie Schlatter's non-DM work on tape.

We are starting up newsletters, thinking about con's and have one member setting up a zine for DM fan fiction. I have a regular chat going in the "Interrogation Room" Thursday's at 10:00 p.m. E.T. after DM airs. We discuss that day's episode and more. Do also check out my "Most Wanted" page... guaranteed you will find some of our members more than just interesting... how about unusual. :-)Addy is http://members.xoom.com/krysstarz/. You do not need to be a member to join in the chat.

Fan Fiction
Do you write DM fan fic or want to read more of it? Announcing the creation of "I'm On It!" press. Currently in the planning stages for an all DM zine. For guideline information and submission details e-mail BarryFan1@aol.com. And, if you have any friends who don't have internet access, let them know they can send a SASE for guidelines to Caroline Craig, PO Box 6089, Arlington VA 22206.

URLs
Caroline also has an extensive list of URL's (updated constantly) connected with Diagnosis Murder for you're viewing pleasure. Just contact her at the above e-mail address and she will forward it to you. You no longer have to search the web... we did the searching for you. :-)

How do I post to the list?
Once subscribed you will automatically receive mail. On average you can expect anywhere between 20-70 posts daily. If you or your server are not committed to this kind of volume then this list is NOT for you. When subscribed one address will connect you to all members DMAS@talklist.com.

Do we have digest (a collection of the day's mail in one long post)?
But of course, simply address your post to requests@talklist.com and put nothing in the body of the letter but "subscribe digest" and your e-mail address.

Changed your mind and wish to unsubscribe, simply address your post to requests@talklist.com with UNSUBSCRIBE DMAS in the body of the message. Do not post this to the list, every post has a tag at the end on how to unsubscribe. Should you have any problems then post me directly at krysstar@idirect.ca. Please acquaint yourself with your reply options. When replying to the group you need only to hit reply. Should you wish to reply privately to the original author, then you have to ensure that the address is changed manually. This will eliminate any embarrassment to you of a post not appropriate for the entire group to see.

Do subject lines have to be changed or edited?
Yes! Please make sure that your postings have a meaningful subject line, as many people use this to help determine which posts to read and which to ignore when they are operating under time constraints. If you're replying to a message and the topic of your reply is drifting from the original subject, then edit the subject line. When you do this, try and provide continuity between the threads.

Finally do not use deceptive subject lines that you think may help attract attention. It may work once or twice but if you keep wasting peoples time in this way they'll soon start ignoring your posts entirely. Honesty, clarity and conciseness are the best policy when composing your subject lines.

Is there anything I should not post to the list?
The basic rule is that your post must relate to the primary subject of Diagnosis Murder. This is first and foremost a discussion group for the series. Have fun with your membership, enjoy the various discussions, debates, and comments. Get caught up in DMAS addiction! In other words we have some serious fun at DMAS.

We unfortunately have grown too large to hear about surveys, help with homework, what you did during the weekend, hot international news, cute pet stories and life in general. No longer can we accept off topic material. Please leave these posts for your private e mail. One of our members has a full member directory for distribution as well as an extensive URL list.

1) You should not post inflammatory (aka flame) mail to the list. It is perfectly fine to disagree with people publicly, but be careful how you do it. Rudeness, personal insults and harassment will not be tolerated and our list C.O.P. (Catching Offending Posters) will take it upon themselves to reprimand the individual privately. But how many times will it be done before the magic delete button is hit?

2) Never do a follow up to the list with a post containing no more than "Me Too" or "Right on, brother!" This is a waist of your time and ours to even pull up. If you have something of substance to add to the discussion, then by all means do so, but if you simply wish to express a simple agreement, then do it in private mail.

3) We have members as young as 12, so please ensure your post is for everyone's ears. Leave the descriptive, salivating posts for private mail.

4) Do not post binaries (photos), attachments or other large files to the list. The list does not do well with attachments, they backup the system and never turn out the way you had originally planned. Mail sent to this list is going into subscribers private mailboxes, some of which are not set up to handle really large pieces of mail. The easiest way to handle this is to post an announcement to the list with instructions on how to access the files.

5) Please combine short reply posts (one liners) into one longer post. This cuts down on the amount of e-mail we generate, and the internet costs for others who do not pay by a monthly plan.

6) Do not post any DM fan fiction, story or episode ideas, these are best left for private mail. The reason for this is that we have a number of producers from DM on board and they are restricted by the studios to participate should we post stories.

Is prperly grammer and speeling inprtnt, doodz?
What do you think? Grammar and spelling are very important in a textual medium, please try and use your spell check or dictionary. Remember your postings reflect on you, so you should be proud of them. Do use punctuation and put spaces in the right places around it. Also use capitalization properly (NO SHOUTING please). Again others will judge you based on both what you say, and how you say it so give each post careful thought.

When replying, should I quote the previous message?
Yes! You should always provide some context to your replies so that people who may not have been following closely will easily be able to determine what you're talking about. However when quoting be very careful to edit the quoted sections down to the bare minimum of text needed to maintain the context for your reply. Don't forget to cite the author of the original text. To maintian a logical flow of discussion it is a good thing to include excerpts from previous post, but it is almost always a bad thing to include the entire text of a message being replied to, be it at the start or end of your reply.

I've been insulted! How do I respond?
Ah, congratulations. You've never been properly welcomed to the net until you've been flamed. Your response can take a number of forms. The first and most important thing you should do is to take a break and cool off. Replies written in the heat of anger are seldom any better than the postings which inspire them. Revenge is a dish best served cold, as they say. Should the post contain inaccuracies which you feel need to be addressed, then it is perfectly reasonable to send a follow up message. However the ideal approach is to ignore any hysteria, and stick with the facts (just the facts, ma'am). Be reasonable and rational, point out your attacker's errors and their attack will usually collapse. Your reputation will survive but the attacker will be viewed as nothing but a jerk.

Should these outbreaks interfere with the interchange of ideas and mature debate then the list C.O.P (catching offending posters) will have to take the matters over and subscription to DMAS will be terminated. So play nice, play fair, and above all have fun! We ask that new members post (optionally) a brief introduction. Tell us a little about yourself, (where you are from, who your favorite character is and age for demographic reasons.

Any questions regarding DMAS please contact me,
Krys Strzalkowski, (Starz)
List owner and administrator
krysstarz@idirect.ca