The Orion's Arm Community

What Orion's Arm does and doesn't stand for.

What Orion's Arm stands for:

• Fun! We are in this for the enjoyment. If you think it seems too much like work, you shouldn't be here!
• Realistic Science Fiction. With the debatable exceptions of some clarketech elements and the unavoidable handwaving over ultratech, we are trying to make this setting as scientifically reasonable as possible. We'd appreciate the same in your posts.
• Cooperation. While the debate sometimes gets mighty thick and heated at times, we strive to keep this a cooperative effort with creative criticism and support.

What Orion's Arm doesn't stand for:

• Prejudice. If you can't settle you disagreements politely, we ask you to settle them privately.
• Ad Hominem attacks. We don't like being the butt of someone else's aggression, and therefore don't want anyone to be the butt of someone's aggression while they're here.

For a (relatively) brief introduction to the very large and detailed world of OA, see our FAQ's - especially Intro Faqs and Intro pages.

The Mail Lists

There are now two Orion's Arm mail lists.

The Official Orion's Arm Worldbuilding Mail List is where you read or post anything pertaining to the worldbuilding side of the OA project. This may include

1. genuine entries for the Encyclopaedia Galactica (or critical comments thereon, but not if the thread changes subject!)
2. Moderator announcements <ADM>, new or ongoing projects <PRO>/<Project>, interesting Links, book reviews, etc, and the occasional humor and OT post
3. genuine questions that are not in the FAQs pages or in the EG or elsewhere on the site - or if they are they are not explained well
4. suggestions, ideas, scenarios, and proposals not already including in the Encyclopaedia Galactica or elsewhere on the site

If a particular item on the site has moved from the list to the stage of actually having its own page/EG entry, than new discussion on that item needs to consist of either:

1. An actual new twist/variant/idea/consequence of that item.
2. A rebuttal of a specific item including proof acceptable to the majority of the group as a whole. Merely saying that you don't believe that something can work without something to back it up will at best get you a polite moderator request to check the EG/site and come back with evidence of your position and at worst a nice quiet talk behind the woodshed with one of our more assertive contributers and a very big stick.

If you have not already done so, please see the netiquette page for more on how to post on the Mail List.

The Creative Writing List is a new forum that emphasises the humanistic and writing, art, and music side of things. So if you like the Orion's Arm universe but are intimidated by all that techno-geek worldbuilding, this is the place to be.

The Cafe OA List is

• a forum where people can email and just talk about writing and not the technical worldbuilding and science stuff.
• reading stories and offering editing advice.
• Finished Stories or drafts would also be announced on the main list, so people there can offer their technical expertise
• feedback on OA artwork and discussion of different art techniques
• OA music projects
• other creative non- worldbuilding projects for OA

This is a much lower traffic list than the Worldbuilding list, and so there is more openness and leeway in posting topics that may be OT on the main list, as long as they have some relevance

In Conclusion...

Remember, Orion's Arm is not to everyone's taste, and there is no shame in that. If you find the Hard SF side of OA too restrictive, there are other online scenarios and worldbuilding groups which you can join, which have more alien races, hyperspace, FTL, etc

If however you like exploring a synthesis of hard science, social science, and transhumanist concepts within a slightly noir galactic setting, then being a part of the Orion's Arm Worldbuilding Group or Creative Writing Group will be the ride of lifetime!