Initially compiled by squelch at slack.net; substantially expanded and revised by jwgh at earthlink.net.


  1. Introduction

    1. What is gas?
    2. What gets discussed on gas?
    3. Who is welcome on gas?
    4. Are there other, similar mailing lists around?
  2. Mechanics of Gas

    1. How do I get on gas?
    2. How do I get off of gas?
    3. What do I do if I have technical problems related to gas?
    4. How do I get someone else kicked off of gas?
    5. How do I get kicked off of gas?
  3. Gas Who's Who

    1. How do I find out who's on gas?
    2. Who is Rob Molchon?
    3. Who is Cheng-Jih Chen?
    4. Who is Squelch?
    5. Who is jwgh?
    6. Who are all these other people?
    7. How can I get listed in this section of the FAQ?
  4. Other questions you might have

    1. Who farted?
    2. Does anyone know how to get a haircut around here?
    3. Are men simply controlled by biological urges or are they victims of social conditioning?
    4. Some people seem to be a little hostile about their former employer. Is this really necessary?
    5. How long does it take for a monkey with a wooden leg to kick all the seeds out of a dill pickle?
    6. I'm sick of reading fart jokes, near-death narratives, and movie reviews. Where can I go to meet my intellectual needs?

    1. Introduction

    1.1. What is Gas?

    Gas is a mailing list. Most of the subscribers are present or former employees of a certain Internet company, although not all are.

    1.2. What gets discussed on Gas?

    It's pretty free-form--see the last section for some sample topics of discussion. A certain amount of time is spent insulting each other. Try not to be too boring.

    1.3. Who is welcome on Gas?

    A tricky question, and one I can't really answer. Basically someone requests to be added. If I know them myself I'll either add them or not based on my knowledge of them. If I don't know them I'll send a note to the mailing list asking if anyone knows this person and if they should be added. I then act as seems prudent.

    1.4 Are there other, similar mailing lists around?

    Oh my yes.

    At one time there were five or six mailing lists around that had substantially the same subscribers and were intended for substantially the same purpose. Most of them are either gone or have gone mostly silent. I believe that a majordomo-hosted mailing list named bluespark@gonif.com is still around. It's been pretty quiet, but maybe you can liven things up.

    2. Mechanics of Gas

    2.1 How do I get on Gas?

    Basically, you send mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following command in the body of the message:

    		SUBSCRIBE GAS-LOVERS Firstname Lastname
    

    Substitute your first and last names for Firstname and Lastname. (Duh.)

    The request will be forwarded to the current mailing list owner, who will act as described in section 1.3.

    2.2 How do I get off of Gas?

    Send mail to gas-lovers-signoff-request@home.ease.lsoft.com and you should be automatically removed.

    2.3 What do I do if I have technical problems related to gas?

    Send mail to the listowner at GAS-LOVERS-request@home.ease.lsoft.com explaining your perdicament. Note that the listowner may not manage the mailing list from his or her work account and so may not get to your request until later that day.

    2.4 How do I get someone else kicked off of gas?

    You can't. Don't try it. The listowner will make his or her own determinations of who should be on gas. (If he or she asks you for advice that's another matter of course.)

    2.5 How do I get kicked off of Gas?

    This has not happened yet, and in general it's pretty difficult to get kicked off gas (assuming you made it through the door in the first place). Generally speaking, if people start leaving the mailing list because of your behavior the listowner will start considering this possibility.

    3. Gas Who's Who

    3.1 Who's subscribed to gas?

    If you're a member of gas, you can find out by sending a message to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with REVIEW GAS-LOVERS in the body of the message.

    If you're not a member of gas, then it's basically none of your business.

    3.2 Who is Rob Molchon?

    Rob's the king of gas. The mailing list was originally created for him. He is not currently subscribed, but his spirit lives on, to a greater or lesser extent. I think he's an out of work proctologist.

    3.3 Who is Cheng-Jih Chen?

    Cheng is the pope of gas. He's a DBA. He writes good movie reviews that often contain major spoilers.

    3.5 Who is squelch?

    Queen of gas. Systems engineer. Banjo player. DJ. Listowner of a previous incarnation of this mailing list. Truly, a man for all seasons. The only person I know who was kicked out of Canada.

    At the time I write this, squelch is not technically a member of gas, but his truth goes marching on.

    3.6 Who is jwgh?

    He's the current listowner of gas. He was elected gas saint for using a public forum to tell off a founding member of the company he worked for. He was not fired.

    Some mug shots are online, as is a short guide on how to pronounce jwgh.

    3.7 Who are all these other people?

    At this point, I am authorized to neither confirm nor deny the rumors that we are all cyborgs sent to confuse and distract you. Likewise, we may or may not be puppets; speculation as to who the puppetmaster might be are of course completely premature.

    3.8 How can I get listed in this section of the FAQ?

    Simalicrums desiring to get their own listing in this section of the FAQ should psychicly contact me. If there are too many sunspots to allow this, then drop me a line.

    4. Other questions you might have

    4.1 Who farted?

    Probably you. Can you smell it? It was probably the Chicken McNuggets that did it.

    4.2 Does anyone know how to get a haircut around here?

    Try Astor Place Haircutters. The skills of your barber are directly proportional to the amount of nudie pictures taped up to his mirror.

    4.3 Are men simply controlled by biological urges or are they victims of social conditioning?

    You betcha.

    4.4 Some people seem to be a little hostile about their former employer. Is this really necessary?

    For some, it is a mere biological imperitive; others raise it to the level of an art form.

    What was the question again?

    4.5 How long does it take for a monkey with a wooden leg to kick all the seeds out of a dill pickle?

    12

    4.6 I'm sick of reading fart jokes, near-death narratives, and movie reviews. Where can I go to meet my intellectual needs?

    The library? You could also try this