How to Play the TASS Game II

I recently had some business cards printed so I could save 
writing down the address of the web site. 
They say:

Thomas F. Droege Participant

This made Jennifer a little upset. She thought I should be giving myself more credit. 
The previous set of cards said Thomas F. Droege Founder. That seemed a little too pretentious.

That is how I see TASS. It is an association of people who get together on a mail list 
to do something that they all want to do. There are no rules. 
So they do what they want to do when they get together. There are no "members". 
There are no "outsiders". This Wiki is now another place to get together.

Some years ago I wrote a note "How to Play the TASS Game". I compared it to playing Adventure. 
I figured then that anyone that should be on the list had wasted at least a month of their life 
playing Adventure. Now I am not so sure. Possibly some of you have not even heard of Adventure. 
I will not explain. The non-explanation is part of the instruction.

If you are interested in variable stars you might want to participate. 
If you are drawn to astronomy and have looked through binoculars or a telescope in awe, 
then wondered what to do next, you may want to participate. If you like solving real puzzles 
in real time that have a real scientific result, then you may want to participate.

"How do I participate?" I hear you ask. I will not give you a direct answer. 
Just as you are not given instructions on how to move in Adventure, I cannot give you instructions 
on how to participate in tass. It is part of the instruction that you are not given instruction.

In general, what we do here is just what you would do if you were in a research group 
at some large science facility. The big differences are that no one pays you, you have no boss, 
and no one tells you what to do. The only real difference between tass and a big science 
research group is that you don't get paid. If you have to have a boss, or be told what to do, 
you do not belong in a big science group. You also will not be comfortable participating in tass.

You can easily do research work here that would get you a PhD if you did it in a program 
at a suitable University. The University would make you get grounded in the fundamentals 
that you would need. It is up to you to learn what you need to know when you participate here. 
There are plenty of people with PhDs that hang around here that can point you in the 
right direction if you want to learn. There are plenty of people who do not have PhDs 
that hang around here that can point you in the right direction if you want to learn. 
Some in either group might give you a bum steer. You have to be smart enough to sort out good advice from bad.

You may notice that I sometimes write TASS and sometimes tass. Yep, there are no rules. 
My personal sensibilities prevent me from writing tAsS or TAss.

So how do you get started in tass? It is easy. Hang around. We don't pay you 
so you do not have to arrive at work on time. The mail list is the "hang around" tool. 
I post something at least every couple of days even if I have to make it up. 
Often there are problems to post. Jump into the discussion when you have something to contribute. 
Jump in anyway. That is how we get to know you. For the most part, the list is spam free. 
A few of us sometimes emote on our favorite topic off topic, but this is rare. 
Mostly we are pretty businesslike. With no rules to break they are seldom broken. 
We tend not to even break the rules we would have if we had rules. -- TomDroege