Archives of the list can be found here.
The Lion Dance Mail List is a place to discuss all the aspects of Lion Dancing, and to meet Lion Dancers from all over the world.
In the new year (1996), I decided to see if anything new had appeared on the web about lion dancing and then I found Rob Teng's homepage, and Boris Lee at the Cheng Man Fai Sport Association Dragon-Lion & Kung-Fu Team homepage (which has since gone defunct). Of course this was exciting for me to see that there was beginning to be some very good resources around, so I contacted both of them. It was actually Rob who brought the idea up about a mail list by asking, "Do you have something like a list on liondancing?" I answered, "No, but maybe we could start one." To which he promptly replied, "Well, I'm actually a bit in the dark about what we could be talking about..." =) Then he told me he found the Calpoly Lion Dance Team's homepage & I contacted them too.
By now there were about 15 people that I knew of and it seemed like they all were interested in meeting, so I started the mail list by having them send me messages and then forwarding the messages to everyone else. The first message went out on March 29, 1996. Mark Quon suggested that I might be able to set up a real mail list through my school, San Diego State University.
The system administrator there, Chris Paolini, was very helpful and did the initial set-up of the liondnace listserv. When I was about to graduate in May of 1996 he informed me that he thought the list was a valuable resource and that as long as I had an email address to take care of administrating the list he would keep the list active. This was a great arrangement and lasted until January of 1997 when SDSU changed system administrators.
The new system administrator asked about the purpose of the list and after I explained all of the good it did bringing all of us liondancers together, building friendships, and advancing the art of lion dancing, he reluctantly agreed to keep the list open. But then in August of 1998 SDSU changed system administrators again and one of the system analysts noticed that the liondance list was the only list not being run by a current student or staff member of SDSU and he contacted me wanting to know what we were all about. I thought it was an annual review or something so I gave him much the same information as the first guy. However, he took a much harder stance and said that the list had to end.
We exchanged email messages many times, but the end result was still that the liondnace mail list had to find a new home. So after much thought and careful consideration I decided to bring the list to a more permanent host. The list members agreed that the list must go on, and that it has thanks in a big way to the work of Rob Teng and his coworkers who installed mail list software on their server by special request and donated the system resources necessary to host the list. You guys are awesome!
The next big change, and possibly the best one to happen for us yet is the registration of our own domain name, liondancing.org. This is again thanks to the generousity of Rob Teng and Serhat Sakarya whose vision for the list and tireless efforts are sending us into the 21st century. This change officially took place on July 18, 2000. In addition to running the list, there are also plans for www.liondancing.org to host a list member information page--that way we can post our information (and pics, etc.) and get to know each other even more.
If you haven't subscribed to the list yet, please do so as soon as you can. To send mail to others on the list, send the message to list@liondancing.org Keep in mind that everyone who's subscribed to the list will get the message so if it's a personal message, you may be better off sending it directly to that person.
To subscribe to the list or be taken off of the list, send a blank message to the appropriate address:
Any topic related to lion dancing is open for discussion, but if things start getting off topic and start becoming more "personal" in nature, it may be requested that the discussion in question be moved off of the mail list and be carried out in personal email.
No flames allowed - this is a group for us to have serious discussions and some fun also. Flames take away from the enjoyment of others. This is not "My" list, and this is not anyone elses' list - it is a list for everyone to participate in and feel welcome. All contributions are to be treated seriously with respect.
Happy Lion Dancing, everyone!