A. What is #TheAD'sOffice?
B. Who is in charge of the channel?
C. Can anyone visit the Office?
D. Does the Office have any rules?
E. What happens if we break the rules?
F. What are the Special Events/Chats and how
     are we expected to behave during them?

 
 

What is #TheAD'sOffice?

#TheAD'sOffice, or the Office, is an IRC channel on Squide that has been set up and run by X-Files slash fans who have a particular fondness of the Mulder/Skinner pairing. However, discussion of all pairings is tolerated, including the occasional discussion of other fandoms when relevant.

 
 

Who is in charge of the channel?

The current holder of the position as the Office's Chairman is Mulder, the co-founder of the channel. The other Slashketeers or Crew Members are Cedara, Mitsou, Riticulan and WSkinner. All of us take  turns at organizing and hosting special chats, writing up and sending out  announcements of channel events, and generally keeping order in the Office. In general, all important Office decisions are made as a group by the Slashketeers. All Crew Members are ready to answer all the questions you might have about the Office and willing to help you out if you run in to trouble getting to the Office or in there. All the questions about the reformatted logs should directed to Riticulan.
 
 

Our only requirements for visitors are that they be slash friendly and that they be over 18 and/or legal adults where they live. A tolerance for the themes of slash, including homosexuality, bisexuality, kinky sex, and other less-than-mainstream lifestyles, is also expected.

These requirements are why, when someone we (the Crew) haven't met yet enters the Office and no one else present knows the visitor, we try to gently find out a bit about them. Discussion often turns to sensitive topics, such as our own sexuality and life experiences, and we find that regular participants in a chat can feel uneasy about continuing discussion when a total stranger comes in and doesn't introduce themselves. So, we ask for an age statement, and will usually ask how each new visitor heard about the Office (it is only "advertised" on adult e-mail slash lists and websites). 

 
 

Does the Office have any rules?

The most important rule, which covers all the others, is that chatters be considerate of others. Here we'll try to explain further what that means as it applies to the Office:

A. Be tolerant. You don't have to agree with everything others say in chats at the Office - that would get boring! - but you do need to respect others' opinions, philosophies and basically who they are. Share your viewpoint, but don't force it down others' throats or flame them for feeling, thinking, or being different from you.

B. No flaming. People have different ideas of what "flaming" is, but in this context I'm using it to mean harsh, malicious, and/or unconstructive criticism of others, their opinions, their lifestyles, or their writing. 

Remember, this is a public place - even if you believe your intentions are good, it will probably be appreciated more if you e-mail or DCC (private chat) with someone if you want to continue a discussion with them that is getting especially personal, or if you want to offer them your negative opinion about their fanfic work. However, if the person doesn't want to continue the chat or hear the criticism, respect that. People generally come to the Office to have fun, relax, and meetfriends, not to get into arguments or hear criticism they haven't asked for. 

If you ever feel you have been flamed either on the channel or in a private DCC chat while in the Office, please notify Mulder or one of the co-hosts as soon as possible, and we will help resolve the problem. Even if you work it out with the "flamer", we would like to know of any negative experiences you may have had in the Office so we can do something to prevent a repetition. We will keep your name anonymous if you wish.

C. No monopolizing bandwidth. People come to the Office to chat, not to listen to someone's personal lecture on Life, Truth, and the Nature of Mankind, or to read fanfic that should be posted to edify the world and feed the hungry masses of slashdom outside the Office. We have spent our time sitting (or sleeping, or writing fanfic hidden between the pages of Psychology texts) in lecture halls, and we read fanfic on lists, newsgroups, and archives. We exchange opinions and *discuss* fanfic at the Office.

A good rule of thumb is, if your comments take up most of the screen, you're talking way too much. Shut up and listen for a while. Actually, a balanced chat would mean if there are three of you on the channel, your words would take up no more than 1/3 of the bandwidth; if there are 5 present, 1/5 of the screen should be enough for you. However, bells go off in our minda when we are in a chat and see someone going over the half-screen mark. Usually, by that time bells had been going off for a while, because we're usually bored listening to the person talking and can't get a word in edgewise <g>.

D. Office chats often go on long. Very long. A lot of us take breaks during the marathon ones for meals, showers, putting kids to bed, making love to spouses/S.O.s so they don't start complaining about our slash habits, checking to see if the sun is still in the sky or if the moon has turned red, etc. However, when you do take a break, please don't come back to demand a  complete and detailed summary of what has gone on while you were out communing with RL. Some of us choose not to have a RL, and forego the breaks so we don't miss anything <g>!

A general "Hey, what have you guys been talking about?" which would require a simple answer is perfectly fine, but don't expect a blow-by-blow of what you missed. If you've stayed logged on, scroll up and scan over what has gone by since you left. If you logged off, DCC someone you know to get caught up. Usually, if you haven't been gone for more than 15 minutes, just sitting and "listening" to the discussion for a minute or two will get you back in the swing of things. For longer absences...that's what your IRC program's logging feature is for! You can always read all the juicy details later before bedtime or over breakfast.

E. Stay on topic. Often, during regularly scheduled chats, we try to move from one topic to the next, and hosts do their best to keep discussion from straying too far. The "topic" at the time is usually what the people who are at that particular chat have chosen to discuss. Sure, we don't always have to discuss slash - there is no "topic outline" for the Office - but if a conversation is going about a slash-related topic, please don't announce you want to talk about the Superbowl or your Aunt Sally's hernia. Unless she got it doing something slash-worthy with Aunt Sarah! Well, even then...it's probably too far down the slash hierarchy for the Office to be considered on-topic most of the time.

What we mean by slash hierarchy is, the approach we take at the Office is to give priority to various types of discussion. So, if something of a higher priority is being discussed, we don't want to stop it for a lower priority subject. The hierarchy of on-topicness is, from highest to lowest:

Mulder/Skinner slash - works in progress. If someone is working on a M/Sk story and wants help or input, that's immediately a top priority. After all, we want more M/Sk!!

Mulder/Skinner slash - posted stories. Discussing posted fanfic.

Mulder or Skinner character discussion,

XF slash discussion.

Discussion of slash in general - topics associated with slash, slash writing, 'zine publications, etc.

Discussion of RL issues related to slash - same-sex relations, sexual practices, gay rights, attitudes about sexuality, slash and the law, slash and society, etc.

Other fandoms slash discussion. This generally happens when there are a majority of fans of other fandoms present. However, visitors should be sensitive to the fact that this is a Mulder/Skinner channel, and that others present may not be interested in other fandoms. we like to keep talk of other fandoms more on-topic by bringing it around to comparisons with XF slash, or how these characters may be treated in crossovers with XF characters.

So, the above points are the ones that have mainly been enough of a problem with some visitors that we felt we needed specific rules describing them. 

 
 

Aww, rules! What happens if we break them?

All visitors are expected to have read this FAQ, and by entering the Office, have agreed to abide by them or suffer the consequences. That sounds so serious! Well, so far we have not had to do much in the way of consequences. Generally, if a chatter crosses a line/breaks a rule, he or she will be warned that they are not following the channel's expectations. 

If the chatter who has been clearly warned continues to disregard expectations, he or she may be kicked from that particular chat. Please do not expect us to leave the chat to talk to you about it then and there - we want to enjoy the chat, not deal with someone who has not been cooperative with our authority as hosts. Just consider yourself suspended for at least the rest of that chat. We also believe all involved parties need some time to "cool their heels" in such a situation, and a few hours is the minimum time we think most people require to do that.

If someone has been kicked, the Slashketeers will discuss the situation asap (within a week, but very likely sooner, so that the person can come to the next week's chat) and whether or not the person should be temporarily or permanently banned from the channel. 

If temporary (we think of it as a "suspension"), the chatter will be given a written explanation of what caused them to get suspended, and details on what they need to do to be reinstated (most likely, a written apology, and/or a private chat with the host(s) and/or any offended parties to make sure the person understands fully that such behavior is not welcome in the Office, and that they have worked out any problems with others resulting from their behavior).

If permanent, we will give them the courtesy of explaining why they have been banned, but will not welcome them back to the channel. 

Of course, we can only contact the kicked person if we have access to the person's e-mail address; if a kicked chatter wishes an explanation or to be reinstated and we do not contact them, it is their responsibility to contact one of us (since our addies are published in this FAQ and elsewhere on the Office homepage, and more likely than not someone who is "kicked" will not be one of our die-hard regulars who know and follow the rules already...most of the time!).

If a chat is unhosted (none of the Slashketeers present) and there has been a problem with someone following these rules, please notify us through e-mail. Otherwise, please leave any disciplining to the host(s) present - although you are welcome to gently tell anyone who is being disruptive or in other ways annoying that their behavior is not appreciated. A few regular chatters have AutoOps privileges, and in extreme cases of abuse of the above rules, they may have the option to kick a participant from the channel, we believe there has only been one kick in the entire history of the channel, so that says something about the fine folks who frequent the Office!
 

 
 

What are the Special Events and how are we expected to behave during them?

About every two months the Slashketeers arrange a Special Event in the Office. Special guests, most often authors, are invited to talk about their work and answer the questions of the audience, hence the nickname "Grilling". These chats give an opportunity for the audience to get insight on what goes on in the heads of their favorite slashwriters, and authors get comments and feedback on their work from their readers in a live situation.

The Special Events are organized chats with their additional set of rules. To keep things going smoothly we have to ask you to change your usual "Office behavior" in the following two points:

A. If you have questions to the guest(s), and we hope you have many, please to keep the chat more organized send them to one of the Slashketeers via DCC or private message. Do not post the questions to the channel yourself. The Crew members will forward your question to the audience. In the heat of the chat it may be difficult for you to restrain yourself from making the questions straight to the guest(s), but we must ask you to have patience. We aim to deal with one topic at a time, otherwise the chat becomes confused and much less enjoyable for all. 

These forwarded questions will be considered the "main questions" or "new topics"; audience participants may then pose *on-topic* questions (or subquestions) to the current topic question. So, for example, if the main question is "What do you think makes Mulder lust after Skinner?", if the conversation seems open to it, you may ask "Do you think Mulder likes burly men?", but please don't ask "Why does Mulder love to hit Krycek?" or "What size briefs do you think Skinner wears?" Those would be off-topic. If you really want to know this, send those questions to one of the chat hosts, and we will put them in line for a main question.

We will keep changing the topic line (the one visible at the top of  the chat window) in the Office to reflect what the current topic is, and to help you to determine if your question is off-topic. If you do accidentally ask an off-topic question, we will gently remind you that it's off-topic, and to submit it to us for later discussion.
 

B. During the Special Events we ask you to restrain from much of the side-play on the actual channel , such as playing "tag" or otherwise joking around with friends. In regular chats we have nothing against side-play as long as it stays with in reasonable proportions. In fact we are all known to be "guilty" of it <g>. But during Special Events the situation is somewhat different. We have all come to listen to the guest(s), and for the respect for them and their valuable time, they deserve to have all of our attention! You can always play around with your friends on DCC or via private messages. 

Well, that's it for now - we will announce in the Office chats and on the lists where we make regular announcements if when and if we have revisions to this FAQ.

This page was created 08/26/98.
This page was last updated 12/05/99.