>So anyways, just for giggles I thought "Well I wonder what Jerry Doyle
>thinks about the new project?" so I sent an (ONLY ONE!!!) E-mail.
>Thinking Jerry's a busy guy might not even see mine. Which, hey I'm
>fine with, and understand, 9 out of 10 E-mails I get I don't even
>read, DELETED.
>
>So you can imagine my shock when I got an E-mail back in a few days!
>
>Now keep in mind I have the mind set of a Babylon 5 hard core geek. So
>when I wrote the E-mail, I was thinking "Oh, gee, I'll bet the cast is
>as up to date on Babylon 5: The Memory of Shadows as all of us "here"
>are. What better way to sneak (here's where you can slap me up side
>the head) some info on the new project!"
>
>So it's with that in mind that the following E-mail "happened".
>
>_________________________________________
>arkofthekundert@juno.com wrote:
>
>"So, has JMS let you see the script for "Babylon 5: The Memory of
>Shadows"?
>I gather if so that you can't talk at length about it, but what are
>your thoughts regaurding the over all writing of it? Good, bad?
>
>Arlen Kundert"
>

Allow me to explain the multitude of things you did wrong here.

There's fannish (I use that term in a neutral fashion here, only to distinguish
between a fan of what's done, and those charged with the doing of it) fannish
interest in something, and the day to day reality of people who make a living
in this area.

You went to someone you did not know, asking a question you knew in your heart
you probably couldn't get an answer to in any event, about a confidential
matter which that person may or may not yet have been informed
himself...meaning if he wasn't, he'd feel out of the loop, and if he was, he'd
have to lie or be disingenuous.

You did not "open a can of worms."

You stuck your nose where it did not belong. Slight difference.

Never. Do it. Again.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2004 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

>Wow, kinda harsh there, don't you think?
>
>With respect JMS, the email sent to Jerry Doyle doesn't seem much different
>from the several thousand times you and the actors have been asked
>substantially the same question in person at conventions.

It was harsh, perhaps...but at the same time, that doesn't mean that it was
*wrong*.

The thing of it is, in a public forum, as part of a dialogue that's been
ongoing for a long time now, I expect questions of that sort. But to go in a
private email, to someone with whom one *hasn't* been having an ongoing
conversation, and that person is not in charge of the situation but rather is
kind of on the outside...it was the combination of factors behind the question,
rather than the question per se, which struck me as wrong-headed.

Just to clarify.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2004 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

>I applaud Jan and Derek for speaking their minds.
>

As do I.

Because that's how it is in here...it's really no big thing to do that. Nor
should it be.


jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2004 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

>And that would be *between* you and the actor, who are both
>*in* the business. If it had been asked at a con, where
>both you and Jerry had been sitting next to each other at
>the same table, *that* would have been OK, correct?

Absolutely.

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2004 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)

>That's really great to hear, Joe. (not being sarcastic) I've always
>thought of you as just one of the guys in this ng. However, I do get the
>feeling that sometimes people refrain from disagreeing with you...well,
>because you're you. That's what my original comment was directed at.

It's always been my perception that that is the perception of the people who
don't actually spend any time here...because I gotta tell you, I've far more
than once had my pants yanked up around my head by folks here...sometimes
rightfully, sometimes not, but it doesn't stop the pants-yanking from happening
in the first place.

Only difference is you don't have a lot of folks here who just yell YOU SUCK!
all the time.

Though I *have* considered making t-shirts emblazoned with JOE YOU SUCK! on
them to sell at conventions...I mean, give people what they want, right...?

jms

(jmsatb5@aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2004 by synthetic worlds, ltd.,
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine
and don't send me story ideas)