Principia Discordia

Principia Discordia => Propaganda Depository => GASM Command => Topic started by: Cainad (dec.) on October 28, 2010, 02:34:31 AM

Title: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 28, 2010, 02:34:31 AM
(Credit goes to LordOfGanza for the original idea; see the first MailGASM thread. My personal thanks to Dok Howl for rekindling my enthusiasm for Weirdness by Mail with his Disturbed As Fuck Mailing List)

(http://www.best-of-web.com/_images/080103-214815.jpg)
Pre-Internet Discordianism, I am told, produced a great deal of its stuff by mailing weird text and art from one cabal to another and building upon what they'd sent each other.

I'd like to try and rekindle that old process, but with the assistance of modern technology.



Here's the basic idea:

I will start with a list of mailing addresses volunteered to me by anyone who wishes to participate. I will create some form of Discord-flavored weirdness (a bit of writing, a doodle, maybe a pic; who knows?) and mail it to someone on the list.

A few days later, I will post my little creation in PDF form on a shared Scribd account (if I choose to draw or write something by hand, I'll try and get as high-quality a scan as possible).

When the recipient of my letter gets it, they will make a post in this thread declaring that they've received the letter. They will then make their own addition to the letter (again, as a doodle, a bit of writing, an image, whatever) and mail it to someone else on the list. You can choose for yourself whether or not you announce to whom you are mailing the letter. Try to send it to someone who hasn't gotten it yet!

BEFORE mailing your own letter off, though, try to get a good-quality scan of it and post it as a PDF to Scribd after you mail it off. Obviously, this will be inconvenient or unfeasible for some people, but don't let that discourage you from participating.



The hypothesis here is as follows:

1) We potentially make a really cool bit of Discordiana using a method that has fallen by the wayside in recent years.

2) By posting our submissions as PDFs, we make it possible for someone who's too impatient to wait their turn to grab the latest version (or an earlier version, even) off of the Scribd account and make their own alterations, and mail THAT off. With any luck this will quickly make things really confusing as to which letter is the "original" letter and how many letters are going around at any given time. Hail Eris, and all that.



Anyone who wants to participate should agree to submit their work, both the physical letter and the electronic copy, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, described here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

If you're too lazy to click the link, it means you agree that people can make derivative stuff based on your work (which is kind of the whole point) as long as they credit you the way you want to be credited and don't try to make money off of it.
I personally don't care if you credit me or not; the point here is the creative process, not my personal ownership of my piece of it.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 28, 2010, 02:39:39 AM
Issue that I'd like to see resolved: I don't personally know what is involved in mailing letters overseas, and I don't want to exclude any Discordians from far-away lands if I don't have to!

If anyone wants to participate from outside the USA, you can either:

a) post ITT anything you may know about postage to and from your country (basically, how many stamps did your last letter from the states have on it? :P And what issues have you encountered with overseas postage in the past?)

b) start your own MailGASM within your own country
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 28, 2010, 02:48:01 AM
Also, everything in the OP is basically a rough draft of an idea; if you think there's something that needs to be improved/altered/annihilated with severe prejudice, please share your ideas!



I'm currently brainstorming a way to safely handle all of the addresses. My idea so far is:

Everyone who wants to participate sends me a PM with their mailing address. By doing so, you're agreeing to share this address with everyone else who volunteers their address to me; i.e. no one gets any addresses unless they fess up their own.

I will then compile all of the addresses and send it as a reply PM to everyone who sent me their address. Save this list somewhere so you can check it and choose whom you'd like to send the letter to when you get it.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Remington on October 28, 2010, 07:39:42 AM
Sounds awesome! PM'ed.

I live in Canada, but USA-Canada posting is fairly simple. It just takes longer.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Hanni on October 28, 2010, 09:38:12 AM
The last time I got post from the USA there was only one stamp on it  but it was only a small letter/package.

And posting from England isn't generally too expensive if you put the effort into marching to the post office.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Chairman Risus on October 29, 2010, 05:16:45 AM
Xpost
People might be hesitant over how many people will receive their address.
How do you plan on distributing the addresses? Mass PM?

Maybe you can make a list and everyone only gets the address of the person below them on the list for purposes of sending.
Or
You can send it to person A, they send it back, you send to B, it returns, to C, etc.






Could we merge the two threads? I feel like we're repeating the same conversations in adjacent rooms.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Storebrand on October 29, 2010, 05:39:12 AM
Compile a list of people participating. Post the list. Have them sort out what order it's going to go in. Only send out the following address.  You could have people just pm their addy to the person who is supposed to send it to them.  Just a suggestion.  If you did it that way, I'd participate.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Doktor Howl on October 29, 2010, 05:40:15 AM
Quote from: Risus on October 29, 2010, 05:16:45 AM
Xpost
People might be hesitant over how many people will receive their address.
How do you plan on distributing the addresses? Mass PM?

Maybe you can make a list and everyone only gets the address of the person below them on the list for purposes of sending.
Or
You can send it to person A, they send it back, you send to B, it returns, to C, etc.






Could we merge the two threads? I feel like we're repeating the same conversations in adjacent rooms.

I have everyone's addie, pretty much.  I could act as an "operator", but only if I'm told by each person that their address can be passed on.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on October 29, 2010, 06:05:10 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on October 29, 2010, 05:40:15 AM
Quote from: Risus on October 29, 2010, 05:16:45 AM
Xpost
People might be hesitant over how many people will receive their address.
How do you plan on distributing the addresses? Mass PM?

Maybe you can make a list and everyone only gets the address of the person below them on the list for purposes of sending.
Or
You can send it to person A, they send it back, you send to B, it returns, to C, etc.






Could we merge the two threads? I feel like we're repeating the same conversations in adjacent rooms.

I have everyone's addie, pretty much.  I could act as an "operator", but only if I'm told by each person that their address can be passed on.

Some people have already sent me their addies, but I'm agreeable to this solution. You have the addresses of just about everyone who would want to participate, and anyone who received a letter from you previously has your return address.


NEW IDEA:

I'll send the letter off to someone who's address I already have, and when they receive it, they'll announce that they've got it ITT and then they can request an address from Dok.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on October 30, 2010, 12:22:22 AM
Wow, I was just thinking something like this would be really cool, and I checked these forums for the first time in a while.

One thing though:

Do we just keep on getting bigger and bigger letters to post? I guess someone could just decide to lighten the load at some point, but otherwise we could get some pretty heavy mailings...
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on October 30, 2010, 12:01:46 PM
That would work (note to self: I need a weighing scale).

Also, can this page be found by google? Because if it can be I'd like to mention the word abnormail. I know I've googled "abnormail" in the past, and this is what I wanted to find.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Triple Zero on October 30, 2010, 10:15:34 PM
Nope. O:MF and it's subforums are off-limits to non-members. And Googlebot is a non-member, the bitch.

Also I dunno if it was this thread or the other where people asked about how much it costs to send a letter, but I got my envelope from Dok here (sent to the Netherlands) and it has one stamp with the number 98 on it and a tiny silver airplane on it, the picture is of Grand T-something Northern Park, Wyoming (damn those letters are tiny). I dunno if that means it was 98 dollar cents? As for weight, it had one sheet of paper in it.

To send a letter from NL to the USA, it costs 95 eurocents up to 20 grammes. To the UK it's 77 cents. Up to 50 grammes it seems to double, and the other prices you can look up yourself: http://www.tntpost.nl/voorthuis/brieven/tarieven/tarieven-brievenbuspost-buitenland.aspx

Also I'm afraid I won't be participating, because I'm already fucking late with my letter to Dok and wouldn't want to hold up another project. But I thought I'd just post these prices, since someone asked.

Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Eater of Clowns on October 30, 2010, 10:59:52 PM
I'm definitely down.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on October 31, 2010, 12:58:46 AM
Yeah I think US to anywhere (except US or canada or Mexico) is basically 98 cents for an ounce (which is 28 grams. I would guess around 10 pieces of paper?). See http://pe.usps.gov/text/Imm/immctry.htm .

Even North Korea costs 98 cents.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on November 03, 2010, 04:24:29 PM
BUMP

Just a quick reminder that I haven't forgotten about this :D  Midterms rule my life at the moment, and I expect other people are busy too around this time.

I feel bad getting people riled up and excited only to put the project on hold; rest assured that I fully intend to pull this off in the near future. :)
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on November 03, 2010, 05:17:50 PM
I've got some stuff that I'd be willing to send within a week (I've got it mostly ready , just need to print it and buy international postage). Doktor Howl, could you give me an address, so I can start sending stuff?

Also, although I can technically scan stuff, it's kind of annoying. I'll just send some stuff and the next guy/gal can scan it if he/she wants.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on November 06, 2010, 03:29:57 PM
OKAY

Here's what's up:


I've received PMs from 4 brave souls so far who have been willing to share their addresses with me.

I have written my first page of the letter, and set up the MailGASM Scribd account: http://www.scribd.com/doc/41298359/MailGASM-Page1

I will share the password with whomever wants to upload their contributions to the project


What I would like to do is to send a copy of the letter to each of the 4 who've offered me their addresses. They can then request an address from Dok Howl, or me (in which case they'll only get one of the other 3 :P ).

Anyone who received a copy of MSY or one of the the Disturbed As Fuck letters, and is okay with participating, should send a PM to The Good Reverend Roger (who, I trust, will be managing the Doktor's affairs while he's away) to let him know that it is acceptable for him to give their address to one of the other MailGASM participants.


This is the plan of action I'm going to take on Monday. Today and tomorrow is everyone's chance to tell me why this is a terrible idea.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on November 06, 2010, 09:43:34 PM
Make that 5 brave souls who consider me not to be a dangerous threat to their well-being.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Chairman Risus on November 17, 2010, 01:44:34 AM
I'll be down for this in a week or so.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Golden Applesauce on November 21, 2010, 04:34:37 AM
I'll be mailing something out before new years.  Possibly earlier, it depends how long I'm busy with finals/admissions.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Remington on November 23, 2010, 06:21:58 AM
 :fap:

RECEIVED



Response will be going out in about a week or so.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on December 16, 2010, 06:07:01 PM
BUMP

STATUS REPORT!
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Remington on December 16, 2010, 06:27:39 PM
Scans will be going up soon. I've got them somewhere.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Chairman Risus on December 16, 2010, 10:11:04 PM
I'm game, come January.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Golden Applesauce on December 17, 2010, 04:02:33 AM
On track to get something mailed out before new years, still.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on December 22, 2010, 02:17:05 PM
I sent something towards the USA. Three sheets, it took two stamps (it weighed 20.1 grams), but that might just be because of the wax seal.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Chairman Risus on January 09, 2011, 03:43:03 AM
Quote from: Risus on December 16, 2010, 10:11:04 PM
I'm game, come January.

I'm still game. Who else is in?
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on January 09, 2011, 01:09:56 PM
I'm still game.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on February 12, 2011, 05:57:08 PM
BUMP

Our very own el sjaako has made contact from the distant planet known as "The Netherlands". Here is the object I received:

(http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6116/photo19ti.jpg)


However, instead of the white, powdery anthrax I was expecting, the envelope appeared to contain a letter...

(http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/7831/photo20rl.jpg)


But it actually contained THREE LETTERS!

(http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/1888/photo21e.jpg)


Why floss, indeed?

Instead of shredding my flimsy mortal mind asunder with maddening knowledge from beyond the furthest reaches of our puny reality, I received a friendly letter, and two documents educating me in the ways of Discordian Seed Planting, and The Greater Shelf Theory.

Of course, I'll be heading to my school library at some point to scan these in and pass the knowledge on, but if anyone would like a paper copy of these sacred Discordian Holy Documents, they can let me know, and PM me their address if they haven't already... 8)
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Elder Iptuous on February 12, 2011, 06:04:47 PM
i have received mail, and now must respond.
i have been terribly busy, but it's been hanging like the sword of Damocles for some time now, and i will do it to it!
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on February 13, 2011, 12:16:01 AM
I've still got to mail one person, then I've mailed everyone whose address I've got (except for the one address that is now invalid).

It's not that much work once you've got the stamps and envelopes.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Chairman Risus on March 23, 2011, 10:47:41 PM
el sjaako

That's your address on the WHYFLOSS letter?

Cordially,
Risus
Eminent Commander of the BandarLog Battalion
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Golden Applesauce on March 24, 2011, 02:17:15 AM
FUCK.

Am several months late.

in an ideal world I get this together soon, but my life is kind of crazy now....
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on March 24, 2011, 01:48:58 PM
Risus: Yes. It should also be on the back of the envelope (unless I forgot).

I have now actually posted a letter to everyone involved, except Golden Applesauce, whose address I don't have.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on March 24, 2011, 07:24:15 PM
I didn't get a damn thing from anyone.

Scratch that, just got an awesome letter from El Sjaako.

8)

I have a package all ready to go out on Monday, and I'm writing the letter right now.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on March 30, 2011, 07:48:27 PM
Mailed out el sjaako's letter the other day.

For some reason I thought this was supposed to occur in a chain-mail kind of fashion: Spag A —> Spag B —> Spag C —> Spag D —> Spag E

But since I've been snubbed and have your addresses, I think I know just what to do....
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on March 30, 2011, 08:15:22 PM
Excellent! judging from how long your letter took to arive it should take about 5 days to arrive.

This whole thing was kind of unstructured. I would like to set up a more structured mail project sometime, but up to now I haven't done much more than register abnormail.org :P.

I think it might be better to set it up like a mail art project , where everyone is expected to mail something by a certain deadline. Everyone sends something, and everyone gets something back. I also thought it would be a good idea to have everyone send their stuff to a central address also, so we can use it to output a holy document or intermittens or something.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Cainad (dec.) on March 30, 2011, 08:50:21 PM
Quote from: ☄ · · · N E T · · · ☄ on March 30, 2011, 07:48:27 PM
Mailed out el sjaako's letter the other day.

For some reason I thought this was supposed to occur in a chain-mail kind of fashion: Spag A —> Spag B —> Spag C —> Spag D —> Spag E

But since I've been snubbed and have your addresses, I think I know just what to do....

I think that was what I wanted to do originally, but it was taking too long to dicker out precise details of WTF we wanted to do with this idea, so I sent 4 letters to the first 4 spags to give me their addresses and threw careful planning to the wind.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on March 30, 2011, 08:54:37 PM
Quote from: Cainad on March 30, 2011, 08:50:21 PM
Quote from: ☄ · · · N E T · · · ☄ on March 30, 2011, 07:48:27 PM
Mailed out el sjaako's letter the other day.

For some reason I thought this was supposed to occur in a chain-mail kind of fashion: Spag A —> Spag B —> Spag C —> Spag D —> Spag E

But since I've been snubbed and have your addresses, I think I know just what to do....

I think that was what I wanted to do originally, but it was taking too long to dicker out precise details of WTF we wanted to do with this idea, so I sent 4 letters to the first 4 spags to give me their addresses and threw careful planning to the wind.

Hmmmm:

Quote from: Cainad on November 06, 2010, 09:43:34 PM
Make that 5 brave souls who consider me not to be a dangerous threat to their well-being.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞ on March 30, 2011, 09:00:31 PM
Quote from: el sjaako on March 30, 2011, 08:15:22 PM
Excellent! judging from how long your letter took to arive it should take about 5 days to arrive.

This whole thing was kind of unstructured. I would like to set up a more structured mail project sometime, but up to now I haven't done much more than register abnormail.org :P.

I think it might be better to set it up like a mail art project , where everyone is expected to mail something by a certain deadline. Everyone sends something, and everyone gets something back. I also thought it would be a good idea to have everyone send their stuff to a central address also, so we can use it to output a holy document or intermittens or something.

I like it.

I think it would also be interesting to have a WOMP that each person adds to and then mails to the next, or something like that.

What sort of stuff would be dumped into this central repository thing? Not the letters, right? That would be weird.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on March 30, 2011, 10:42:49 PM
Quote from: ☄ · · · N E T · · · ☄ on March 30, 2011, 09:00:31 PM
What sort of stuff would be dumped into this central repository thing? Not the letters, right? That would be weird.

You know, I'm not completely sure. According to Kerry Thornley there was not really a central thing.

Quote from: Kerry Thornley
What is so unusual about Discordian Abnormail - as we call it - is decentralization. Don't contact me here at Orthodox Discordian Society Hindquarters. Send your letters, notes, relics, sacraments and writs of excommunication to one another.

But according to DrJon (an semi-old school Discordian):

Quote from: drjon
Abnormail was a kind of Central Sorting. The best pieces were redistributed to the Mailing List. Greg and Kerry set it up to keep themselves abreast of how Discordianism was evolving, and to make and remain in contact with new Discordians. Of course, it was also the boiling pot for Jakes...

What I was imagining was something like a big letter exchange (Ideally on a regular basis, like 5 times a year, but first just try and see if it works). In this letter exchange you are expected to write some kind of thing, like I wrote you something about Jack & Jill and about a Discordian confirmation. It could also be a poem, or a drawing, or a photo. That would be what you send to central sorting.

You also send it to someone else, possibly with a letter (I wouldn't dare expect everyone to write letters as long as I did, but then again I didn't plan to write letters as long as I did. They just sort of grow...) These letters could be in character (like RAW's letter on p72 of the Principia Discordia), or not.

Then  we have an end product (the intermittens or whatever) and everyone involved has a chance to reply, and thus start some kind of correspondence. I don't know why, but to me Discordianism by mail is more interesting/romantic/desirable than Discordianism over Internet.

If I do this, I would want to advertise it more widely. Not just a post on a forum that most people can't even get to (I'm not really sure how I found it, I don't think I'm supposed to be here with less than 50 posts. I can access GASM command, but not Operation Mindfuck). At the very least I'd post it to somewhere public on the three forums and on the facebook group.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Telarus on March 31, 2011, 01:02:27 AM
You probably tried to peek in on OM before you posted once. It takes one post to make it visible.

I love the idea of rebooting Abnormail. Watching with interest.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on April 05, 2011, 12:41:06 PM
I just got a letter from NET. It is awesome and yellow and includes stickers.

I will send another letter back shortly.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Chairman Risus on April 17, 2011, 09:22:27 PM
I'll return mail as soon as I get a lull in school work.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Chairman Risus on June 09, 2011, 07:31:43 PM
Quote from: Risus on April 17, 2011, 09:22:27 PM
I'll return mail as soon as I get a lull in school work.

Sorry for the delay. Life and accomplices got a little more hectic than I expected. Will be mailing soon. PM addresses if you want one and havent sent me it already.
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: El Sjaako on June 10, 2011, 12:45:03 AM
Looking forward to it!
Title: Re: MailGASM v2.0
Post by: Chairman Risus on December 28, 2011, 02:31:02 AM
Quote from: el sjaako on June 10, 2011, 12:45:03 AM
Looking forward to it!

MAIL WAS NOT FORGOTTEN OR LOST. I AM JUST BAD PEN PAL. LEFT MATERIALS IN DESK, SHOULD FINALLY SEND IN JANUARY.

RISUS
INSTIGATOR OF THE SERLING INITIATIVE
OFFICIATOR OF THE RUSTLING BRANCHES CABAL