ATTN Moderators, JMS, Everyone: A Proposal for all of the many questions to JMS

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: ATTN Moderators, JMS, Everyone: A Proposal for all of the many questions to JMS
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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+  1: Apr 26, 1996: Jeff at howell.mv.com
*  2: Apr 26, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: Jeff at howell.mv.com
Lines: 86

I have posted a couple questions to JMS without ever getting a
response from him. 

I completely understand that he is incredibly busy and doesn't have
all the time in the world to wade through the infinite number of posts
with the lines ATTN JMS on them.

I also believe there may be other people out there with the same
problem. 

Finally, I know this newsgroup is full of many questions directed to
JMS that are:
1) able to be answered by general babylon 5 knowledge,
2) a waste of his valuable time, sorry to insult all of you asking
what is favorite breakfast cereal is.
3) are repeats of the same questions he gets asked.

I feel, collectively, the people in this newsgroup have a golden
opportunity to talk and ask questions to the creator behind the best
show on TV.

I am not going to say that I, or anyone else, can figure out what
questions are good ones to ask JMS. But I know there are lots 
of ones that fit the above mentioned criteria.

That makes it harder for him to be able to find the ones that are a
better use of his online time.

MY PROPOSAL
Just like there exists a collection of questions and answers from
JMS's Compuserve messages,
Perhaps a collection of questions to JMS would be a good way to go. 
Questions other people have thought of, that they have never gotten a
response to.
Questions that are not repeats, off-topic, and can't be answered by a
FAQ or a little digging into Lurker's Guide.

People believing they have a question that fits the above criteria and
that they believe the entire group could benefit from the answer,
could e-mail it to the person in charge of the List.

Every week the person in charge of the List could collect the
questions and post it in a way that JMS can just scan the vast and
timeless universe of posts, and find it.
He could then read the list, and save a lot of time by answering those
questions.

I think JMS would like this idea, because it saves him the time of
having to wade through questions he would rather do without.

Also, I am not proposing censorship or anything like that. Just an
alternative to the normal posts.

The person in charge of the List should have lots of knowledge about
Babylon 5, read most of the current posts and Compuserve Collections,
and be able to discern a 'good' question to JMS. By 'good' I just mean
a question that everyone in the entire group would benefit from the
answer. Questions that don't fit the 1,2,3 list above that are
effectively a waste of JMS's time.

I woud like to volunteer to do this, If people in the newsgroup react
positively to my idea. 

I would just become a filter, to those that like my idea,  want to
e-mail me their questions, and possibly have a better chance of having
JMS answer them, because he would know that I have removed those
questions that he would prefer not to bother answering, and get down
to the nitty gritty.

I can even propose some rules in it if people would like. For
instance, one question per person, per week, or something to that
effect. I think a good question is a good one no matter who writes it,
however, it would be good if others who haven't had a chance to have
their questions addressed by JMS could get heard. This idea would of
course apply to me as well. I am sure no one wants to see this list
with 1 from some other guy, and 20 from me. Who would I be kidding.

I hope people will read this, I would love if JMS read this. Please
respond to this proposal with your reaction, positive or negative. I
would love to do this, for the good of the group, and the good of
myself, because I believe we have such a great outlet with JMS
present, we can't let it slip between our fingers.
 
Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Jeff Howell

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 33

Good hearted an idea as it might be, I'm not sure it's necessary.  Now, if
it's a question we've seen a thousand times before, and I've answered lots
of times before, if anybody wants to kick in with that answer, that's
fine, but overall....

I guess part of this is that very often the ATT JMS notes aren't really
questions, or advance a particular thought that doesn't seem to lead to a
response.  When a very specific question is asked, about writing or the
show or the like, then I tend to answer.  If someone uses ATT JMS and
says, as is often said, "I was thinking that the Minbari are an advanced
species, and maybe because of this they don't have the same approach to
justice we do, so we shouldn't judge them," my usual reaction is to nod
and move on, because they've expressed their opinion, and there really
isn't much I can add to that...it's their feeling about something.

As opposed to, "What, historically, have the Minbari done about the
question of justice?" which leads to a discusssion.  To some extent, like
any conversation, the quality of the answers you get depends on the
quality and specificity of the questions asked.

Also, right now, since we're not shooting, in a way during the hiatus
period I become something of a balloon sans air.  There isn't that much
interesting to talk about at this end, we're not doing anything but post
production; the sets are all dark, awaiting word.  And, finally, I do tend
to get somewhat quiet each season while we wait for word on renewal.  This
brief period between April and renewal are really my own down-times on the
show...and I'm kinda like Marcus, if I don't have something to say, I
generally don't say anything rather than waste people's time filling up
space.


 jms

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