Questions about being here

History and community life

Who operates this place? How did it get started?

The original P&P2BB, a one-horse web bulletin board (message board) for those addicted to the adaptation, started by Amy, spun off in July 1996 from AUSTEN-L, an email discussion list. In Nov. of 1996, Amy formed an informal partnership with Myretta and they, along with the volunteer committee, have seen the community through many changes to become The Republic of Pemberley as it is today. The community was nomadic for a time, but settled in at a fine ISP in Boston in March 1997, when we registered our own domain name. Amy and Myretta managed the site together until 2000. Amy's interests expanded and she has moved on to start other internet communities (PhinisheD and Dregston, among others). Myretta now oversees the day-to-day operations of the site and the committee.

Henry moved the Jane Info page here from UT-Austin in July 1997. Kali's Emma adaptations page moved to Pemberley in 1998 and moved back to Kali's own server in 2003. Barb's Literary Companion joined us in 1999, Linda's Sequels page in 2000 and Deborah Jane's Woodhouse Defense League in 2002.

Pemberley's logo was designed by Hil and Amy when we first opened Pemberley. And Hil did the graphic for the header on our Love and Friendship board. To see more of Hil's graphics, visit her site, Spirits Dancing.

To see a history of our site graphics, please visit our Graphics Gallery.

All kinds. Though some people, who take pleasure from generalizing, say we all speak French, play the piano and own a cat. Read our bios on our Pemberleans Board.

Also, by subtle, yet consciously undertaken means, we exude a bit of an attitude, which could be characterized as polite with a bite. We miraculously manage, even within this odd framework, to remain one of the most civil places on the Internet, a distinction we prize, but one which is cultivated through an emulation of Jane Austen's own honest, moral and forthright ways, as opposed to sprinkling artificial sweeteners on our words. The attitude weeds out some people, and that's what we intend. If you resonate with the tone, visiting the site will be all the more fun for you. If you don't, just don't come; it's not your kind of place. You might want to give AUSTEN-L a try.

Keep in mind, as a new community member, that many people come and go. We regulars will not know, during the first few weeks you post, whether you will be a tourist, or somebody who turns out to be a lifelong friend -- and lifelong friendships have been formed here since community got its start in 1996. It takes a while to get a handle on a personality using this method of communication, but yours will emerge gradually. Give it time -- you shouldn't expect to become instant pals with everyone here any more than you would expect it in the real world. Neither should you expect that you should instantly have a say in the way things are done around the site. If that sounds like an initiation, it is, in a way -- but no more so than the culturally accepted norm of waiting until you have been on a new job for a while before you begin to say how the workplace should be changed.

Part of the attitude mentioned above includes frankly matriarchal governance. The guys who stick around the community (including our sole male site committee member) seem to like this about us, and don't try to change us. They understand the Republic's citizenry is at least 92 percent women and that it makes sense to target content to that majority. The best sports are comfortable enough with themselves that they can have fun with the novelty of an imaginary women's nation, and have no urge to dim our collective light or improve us.

Of course we hope you like it here, because we made this place in our own image, but if you don't like what you see, keep shopping. There's a place on the net for every taste.

Too much -- for what? The roots of this community were a support group for people addicted to P&P2, essentially a secession from AUSTEN-L because we wanted to feel free to gush. It's since become something more than that; however, we still honor our gushing roots, and the Austen-for-the-masses feel that a demonstrative love of the adaptations brings to the site. If you don't, our mother planet may be more to your taste. How to join AUSTEN-L.

Now, the wonderfully intolerable stuff is in advice column format. Lady Catherine & Co. Board

Some basic rules to keep in mind whilst visiting Lady C's establishment:

Any fictional character may ask for advice. This may include long-dead historical characters.

Advice may only be given by Jane Austen characters. However, Lady Catherine insists that you do not use her name or that of her loyal minion, Mr. Collins, as they are engaged in maintaining the establishment.

Lady Catherine is very particular about the use of her board and becomes quite put out when a request for advice degenerates into a conversation between two people that does not even purport to answer the request. This is not to be borne! And since Lady Catherine is excessively attentive to all these things and insists on being satisfied, such posts shall no longer be permitted to pollute the shades of Pemberley. Although you will not be censured, slighted or despised, these posts will be deleted, and in this case, neither should you expect Lady Catherine to send compliments to your mother. Every once in a while she has a snit and sends Mr. Collins in to clean the place out. Do save us all the trouble by not abusing her kind hospitality.

The only other thing to remember is that Lady Catherine is a persnickety old bat and refuses to be bound by any convention but her own. If she abuses you, take consolation in the fact that you are in excellent company.

And finally, Lady Catherine & Co is not a "real" advice column. If you are asking for serious advice in regards to your love life, friends, work or school, please seek help elsewhere. This board is strictly for fun.

If you have any questions, please ask them on the Help Board.

• Before bursting upon the scene and posting, spend some time getting to know us and what we talk about.

• If you like to be rude (or love a brawl), you may not like our company. If you don't like our ways, don't come here. We do tease and needle each other in a Lizzyesque fashion, but endeavor not to be so mean as Emma was on Box Hill, and strive never to let our differences get personal.

• If, as you have done your "getting-to-know-us" lurking, and after reading the list of names currently in use, you discover that a regular poster shares your name, please affix a number to your first name, use a middle name, incorporate your geography as an identifier, something like that -- but stick to it! Only one name per customer.

• Use your own name. We know, we know. That's odd for the net, but we're not like the rest of the net in many respects. We find it helps to keep things friendly, civil and accountable when people can't hide behind aliases. Just be yourself -- we have never found it to be a problem here. There are a few exceptions made for charter or nearly-charter posters. Also, aliases are expected on the Lady C board, where you may be certain that the venerable old bat will keep matters of civility well in hand.

• It's polite to read all or at least the latest posts in a thread before posting to it. If you end up repeating the same view another participant voiced earlier, it tends to make that other participant think, "Didn't anybody listen to me?"

• Please do not quote excessively from messages to which you are responding. Readers can easily click on the post and reread it, if they are so inclined, and our server does not need to serve up the same information twice.

• Don't correct people's grammar or spelling, please. The threat of being corrected may impede discourse, and we want people to feel comfortable here.

• Typing in all capital letters means that you are shouting. So, unless you mean to shout, don't.

• Don't post links to your own commercial ventures, or collect our e-mail addresses for unsolicited mailings. We don't profit from the site, for heaven's sake why should you?

• Please do not post pictures from other websites within your messages without asking permission of the owner. Pictures use up quite a lot of bandwidth for which the person hosting the picture usually has to pay. When you post it within a message, it is loaded every time someone reads your message at a cost to the person who put it on the web. If you particularly want us to see a picture, it would be better to post a link so that it is not forced to load when the message is opened. Either way, however, the polite thing to do is ask first. Conversely, please do not post a picture hosted at Pemberley at another site.

• We do not discuss religion, politics, or sports (this includes hunting) -- even on the Ramble board. So many other things to talk about, and lots of other places to talk of those things.

• We do not discuss the personal lives of actors, authors or other celebrities. You may say what you like about their work, but let's let them have whatever privacy they can get. Please don't make rude personal remarks about them, either.

• Let new people bring up what might seem to you like "done-to-death" topics (like, maybe, "What will Lizzy call Darcy?"), without shunting them bluntly back to the archives (unless the very same topic is currently on the board), and please don't display anything resembling annoyance that the topic has been raised yet again. Every topic has come up before! You had fun exploring whatever the subject is; let our newcomers have their pleasure, too.

• Some of our aging eyes have a rough time with all lowercase messages. There's no rush here, as in a chat room, so if you're inclined to make your messages a little easier to read, by starting off sentences with capital letters, the grannies would really appreciate it.

• A couple of the boards have guidelines that go a little beyond those enumerated here. So, please check the Ramble Guidelines and Life and Times Guidelines before posting at those boards. You will be able to find these guidelines linked from the top of the their respective boards.

For more explicit rules for this site, please visit our Terms of Use and Privacy statements.

Pemberley is safe for children, and we like to keep it that way. We have registered the site with the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA), and have an almost perfectly safe rating. The only things that keep us from absolute purity follow:

• We had to admit to showing revealing clothing. What else could you honestly call Regency dresses such as those worn in the adaptations?
• We admitted to allowing slang, but the RSACi deems this lapse a lesser blemish than "mild expletives."

You all can help us keep our rating by not inching into the mild expletive zone, by not discussing violence to any person or thing, and by avoiding even non-explicit talk of sexual acts. Yes, we're aware that Jane Austen might have put a sexually explicit thought or two into her novels, but that does not obligate us to discuss them here. In fact, don't.

It might surprise you to learn that we have kids as young as nine years old who frequent Pemberley. To be sure, they are precocious if they're reading Austen and liking it enough to want to discuss the fine points with us -- but they're still nine! So, keep those little faces in mind when posting out in to the faceless void. We appreciate your help.

A group read is not as elaborate as it might sound. It is merely what we call it when we determine on reading and discussing a book Pemberley group reads take place on the Group Read board, which is only open for the duration of the particular group read. More information on group reads, including upcoming schedules and links to past group reads, can be found at the Group Read page which is always linked at the top of the Library board.

We do not help with homework of any sort. We love Jane Austen and want others to discover her for themselves. For a more complete explanation,see our homework policy.

Checks should be made payable to The Republic of Pemberley and addressed to:

Myretta Robens
P.O. Box 560223
Medford, MA 02156
USA

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THIS ISN'T FINISHED. IT NEVER WILL BE.
Other questions, corrections or updates, email manager -at- pemberley.com
Revised August 24^th, 2009

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