Ophi
diac oh-fid-e-ack - Formed Ju
ly 24th, 1996
aka nootropic
news, written by dieznyik
Having had my f
un in the sun with the scene as a whole, ive
deci
ded to devote more of my time towards the imp
rovment of
the scene. Ophidiac is my little attempt to
get a well
organized group for new
er members of the scene. See, newer
artists often only h
ave the option of joining groups that
ar
e poorly managed. Hence, the trials and tribulati
ons of the
new scener are more like a b
attle than a transition.
But Ophidiac will not be poorly m
anaged. The structure and
design of the group are layed out before th
e eyes of each
member. There are no secrets.
Ophidiac, being a solution to the small gro
up problem, will
be open to nearly
any artist. Applications are reviewed not
on artist
ic merit, but on attitude. The attitude we do not
agree wi
th is that Ophidiac itself is a better thing th
an
any of its artist
s. In other words, were not competitive.
Ophidiac is just a
resource to the -really- important things
in this scene, the
artists. Our goal is not total scene
domination, rather, he
lping an individual achieve a high
standard of a
rtistic excellence.
A
n application will only be turned down when it wo
uld seem
that an artist would fare better p
ractising on his/her own
time.
A large f
ocus of the group will be on improving the artist
skil
ls. Im here er, me.. dieznyik to help, and Im
sure
some more exper
ienced artists will join to help out..
One problem exists
with groups that have no size limits. Too
many mem
bers total chaos. Hence, weve lumped a bit mor
e
res
ponsibility on the artist than on staff. Artists
are
responsible for getting their art in for wh
atever pack they
w
ish their work to appear in. No nagging or collec
tion will
occur. Local artists can upload their works
to the local
site, and internet guys can just send their
work to me via
irc, or email.
Packs will be rel
eased on a rough schedule of every mon
th,
probably at midmonth. If an artist pushed t
he deadline and
didnt allow me enough t
ime to nab their work, well, theres
always next month. If theres
a lot of art happening, we
can release on a tw
o-week or three-week schedule. shrug
Application is s
imple. Find me locally, in the 416/905 area
code, on one of the b
oards listed below. Find me on the
internet as dieznyik, dingbat66, or even
nootropic..
I frequent no particular channel.. Maybe ophi
diac? Email me
at dieznyik@ice.org. And finally, find my pa
ge at http://
www.ice.org/dieznyik. Coming soon will be th
e Ophidiac web
site, complete with message bases, etc.
In your application, include:
1 aliases
2 what youre applying with rip/ansi/etc..
3 your voice phone real first name
4 a sample of your work. im curious :
The only thing we ask from an artist is partic
ipation.
Another small thing: we will most likely be us
ing the dark
method of file naming in order for people to g
et a better
idea of where an artist has improved, etc..
xxxxx-yy.ans
xxxxx five letter alias abbreviatio
n
yy release
Do not apply for a distro site. BBS
es are pretty much dead
as a form of distribution. The only sites we a
re looking for
are Web Sites, and 1 Local Site 905/416, whi
ch is already
chosen. Telnet FTP Sites will also be consid
ered, although
Ophidiac is not actively looking for them.
Im going to take a little time here and talk
about my local
scene, which essentially spawned this idea of
mine. 90 of
local groups die. Thats just a fact
. They form, make an
app generator why?!, and then disband afte
r about three
months.. shrug.. this is just the typical ro
ute. So what
Ophidiac would really like to be able to do is
merge with
these groups.
The actual merge process is quite s
imple. All members of the
group that wishes to merge just incorporates i
nto Ophidiac.
Staff/P.R. positions can be given to existing
staff so they
still have an elemental role in how the group
is run. The
process is really just strengthening -your- me
mbers. Since
Ophidiac is not interested in power, there wil
l be no silly
struggles. Secondly, since the group structure
is all written out, a merging grou
p can see exactly how this group is run.
Its really that simple. And the advantages are
great, over typical local group
. Distribution is -world-wide-. The gr
oup
WILL release a pack, and will do so regularily
. New artists
can associate with more experienced artists, a
nd thus gain
a great deal of skill. The list goes on and on
Since Ophidiac is currently only locally based
in 416/905,
wed love to merge with LD groups to form a lo
cal base in
other areas of the world. Same procedure as be
fore, but
communication is a bunch more difficult. LD po
rtions of the
group will tend to operate as seperate parts o
f the group as
a whole.
The last thing Id like to get to is on leavin
g. If you wish
to leave, by all means, tell me. The worst typ
e of leaving is when the group you
re leaving dosent even know. And no, we
have no one time only rule. Join/leave as ma
ny times as you like, as long as we
dont see it as you stringing us a line
of bullshit. :
Thats about it. If youre a new artist, I enco
urage you to
join. I remind you of two thin
gs: you can join regardless of
artistic merit, and, please re
ad all the info so you know
what kind of group youre joining. As for othe
r groups, I
encourage you to merge. The only thing to lose
is your name, and theres so much
to gain.
class
list
co-ord
duties distribution, pac
kaging, applications, news/member list
this position entails basi
c group maintainence and most organizational
functions dealing with get
ting the pack together.
members are chosen by the
co-ord class. note that for the most part,
membership is not giv
en for artistic merit, but for attitude.
packaging involves as
sembling the works of a given month, news/member
files, th
e diz, and possible applications currently this
is doubtful.
staff
duties internal relation
staff moderate in-group co
nflicts and make sure all members are aware
of current new
s policy.
P.R.
duties external relation
P.R. reps make sure the pu
blic is fully aware of group happenings, if
they care.. que
stions can be directed to this class.
artist
duties creating art, get
ting work in for the pack
none of the or
ganizational classes deal with nagging for work,
or
anything of the sort. the
artist has to remember that it is THEIR
responsibility to get thei
r art in for a given pack. and dont worry,
if you miss one pack, ther
es always another.
there is no set
requirement for quantity pieces/month, for exam
ple..
affiliate
duties staying mellow
this class just means fri
end of the group.. nothing more, nothing
less. affiliates are welco
me to contribute ideas, or help with
distribution, but have no
actual responsibilities.. its mellow.
Further Notes..
We release on the 15th of every month as of now
. Changes will be made
to this schedule based on how many pieces we te
nd to recieve each month. We d
ont want the packs going over 1 meg.
Ophidiac currently accepts Ansi, Ascii, and Lit
artists, as well as
Lit and Html www writers. Naturally, if you h
ave something special
to offer the group, well let you in for that.
Anyone out there able to set up an Internet mai
ling list?
Anyways, thats about it.. shrug Feedback, com
ments, or flames will
be appreciated.
Dieznyik/Nootropic