Re: COMPUSERVE KATE FORUM

[Chris Williams <chrisw@wwa.com>]

Kyrie@compuserve.com (Kyri) writes:

>Hi there all compuserve Kate fans,
>
>as you probably all know there is no Kate room in any of the three music
>forums but a sysop there promised me that we'd get one if there were at
>least say 10 people interested. SO PLEASE PLEASE ANY COMPUSERVE MEMBERS 'GO
>FANCLUBC' 
>AND ANSWER MY MESSAGE THERE.
>As you prolly know the forums have the advantage of being able to build up
>a library of info, including pics and WAV files (sort of a neater and more
>expansive form of what is on the net).

   We have a lovely collection of pictures, in an expansive form that beats
any compu$erve forum I've ever seen in Gaffaweb at:
http://www.gryphon.com/gaffa/

    The pictures are available in a number of different sizes, as well as a
text listing. You can peruse the collection of pictures in thumbnail size,
and click to get the larger version. IMO, http is a lot faster than CI$'s
dreadful CI$-B transfer format. (Of course, putting the images on
floppy and shipping them UPS is faster than CI$-B).

   Look at http://www.gryphon.com/gaffa/wow/ to see what I
mean.

   As for WAV files, we have none of them on Gaffaweb. Why? Because
we want people to *buy* Kate's music...and we have no desire to 
irritate Kate's record companies. 

   Gaffaweb is free to access (unlike compu$erve forums), is available to
anyone, anywhere in the world, no matter what service they use (unlike
compu$erve forums), works on all browsers and platforms (unlike
compu$erve forums). In my opinion, Gaffaweb has it all over anything
on those soon-to-be-dead-and-good-riddance compu$erve forums.

> Another advantage is the real time
>chat (sort of set a date we can all meet up live on-line- this is very
>common with other artists eg Tori) and perhaps one day Kate might even get
>on-line -following suit of other artists- to speak to her fans (although
>that room would certainly be moderated).

   It's called IRC. We don't apparently have the numbers to keep a channel
constantly open, but I have joined other Kate fans on EfNet on channels
like #gaffa and #katebush. My own IRC handle is k8_fan. If we want to get
serious, we can use one of the DalNet servers, which will allow us to set
up a permanent channel. CI$ users can access IRC. Internet users cannot,
without paying CI$, access CI$ forums.

>please respond.

    No problem. The vast majority of the posters on Love-Hounds/
rec.music.gaffa are coming in via either educational or commercial
independent ISPs. Some are on AOL. Only a few are on CI$. Any
person on any service can contribute to Love-Hounds and read
Love-Hounds as long as they have the minimum e-mail account
to receive the digest or loose mail versions. I've read Love-Hounds
from borrowed accounts, at trade shows, on WebTV...you name
it. The reverse is very definitely not true. No one who is not on CI$ 
can read a Ci$ forum.

    Gaffaweb, Love-Hounds and rec.music.gaffa pretty much knock
CI$, AOL and all their proprietary brethren into the proverbial
cocked hat. This is just my opinion, and your milage may vary.
It is possible that CI$ serves your needs perfectly. But I see
little need for a Kate discussion group on a pay service. 

   Love-Hounds is the motherlode, offering top-quality Kate discussion 
since August 16, 1985 to any and all, open to any service that can
transfer mail to the Internet. Which, at this point appears to include
everyone with a computer and modem.


Chris Williams of
   Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
      chrisw@wwa.com
"How perfectly goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" - C. Crumb