Ask Anything

Carl Baker, hello!

I have all of my information posted and have had no "bad" mail in all of the years I've been on this site. I'm not sure why people only give an e-mail address. I never write to them to ask for a postal address, I skip over them. As for P.O. boxes, some people might not be able to afford a P.O. Box or not have a post office nearby, I don't know. Maybe some of those who don't give out their postal address will comment on this. There's nothing we can do about this. Just send mail to those who have their postal addresses listed. Easy.

I like that we don't have to make our address available, during my busy times it means that I don't feel overwhelmed with mail that sends me into a panic to respond to.

This group needs a revive since a lot of new members arrived at IUOMA with lots of questions.....

Joe Brainard, the artist, did several works featuring Nancy but I'm not sure how that relates to mail art.

Where is Richard Canard? Did Ray Johnson appropriate Nancy too?

Good info about Joe Brainard. Given the times & the people, Joe Brainard MUST have known Ray Johnson & other people doing m-a. That is a bit of research for someone to look into because I have never seen anything about RJ & Joe B. any place.

The library of UC San Diego apparently has some correspondence between Joe Brainard and Ray Johnson from the 1970s.

http://libraries.ucsd.edu/speccoll/findingaids/mss0703.html

OK, I give up. What the heck are the "5089 rez X" stickers all about?

Moan Lisa (USA) designed these and people could order their stamps of the logo. Was a test for a new name for the network, lets call it 5089.

the IUOMA variation, which Moan Lisa arranged a rubberstamp for (which I ordered and use the last years)

Thanks, Ruud. 

the history of the logo comes from the Fluxus Movement. Moan Lisa changed that concept a bit......

I have an extensive collection of prints of all those Fluxus rubberstamps.....

I want to put photos on my side, but they don't appear, it's black and the page doesn't move. What have I to do?

You choose 'image' and then choose the image you want. If this option doesn't appear you might use Safari as browser. Try another browser and it should work. Hope this helps you.

Am I the only one having trouble finding members these days? I was thinking it was just when I wasn't using exactly the way the person's name appears, e.g. in capital letters, with or without a hyphen, etc.

But today I was looking for Lorella from Italy. I first tried putting in "Lorella" (without the brackets) in the All Members spot. Nothing showed. I tried the advanced search, put in Italy and Female, got a list but no Lorella.

Eventually after much hunting and searching I did find a post by Lorella, who, low and behold, is exactly listed as that, Lorella. I went back and entered in her name and STILL didn't have her come up. There are no groups for Italians that I see.

Any help?? This seems to be happening since the grouping by countries and areas appeared under Mail Artist Profiles.

Thanks for any illumination!

moderator/ what happened to the group page FREE ART 2.0? i posted images there yesterday and today it is disappeared, there was two free-art pages, now there is only one. this seems very autocratic, who took it down?why were group members not informed or any explanation given? i am an active member of various groups at iuoma but this will discourage my involvment, what the hell is going on? who originated the group? there are too many anonymous entities at iuoma, please comment.

The space of IUOMA on NING is not unlimited. Groupowner was one of the accounts of Moan Lisa, who left again, and all his images and groups are now gone.The digital space is a lively one. And hosting space isn't free. Groups dissapear when owners dissapear and new space come free.

When a member leaves, he/she has two options. One is to leave all data intact (when he/she returns as a member all is available still, and others can still read and see the data). A member can also choose to delete all his contributions. Then all data is permanently lost.

Moan LIsa left the IUOMA quite a few times. Last time he also choose the option to delete all his data. He is still active on facebook, but says he left Mail-Art on Feb 8th 2017. After that date he also started to delete several digital traces. That includes groups.

Lorella still doesn't come up under Members overview or  the other search for all members. Strange.

For every group the owner is visible. It is even possible to start your own group and become the group moderator. That is very useful when you want to work on a specific theme with a group of people, or even to document a larger project where particitants can join in.

Il bello della Mail Art (oggi diventata anche Web Art) è il fatto che sia libera e fortemente democratica! Tante Gallerie d'Arte e Musei stanno chiudendo, mentre la Mail Art trionfa!  W LA MAIL ART E W IUOMA!  

The beauty of Mail Art (now also become Web Art) is the fact that it is free and strongly democratic! Many art galleries and museums are closing, while the Mail Art triumphs! W THE MAIL ART AND W IUOMA!

Jan, I'm finding (or not finding) members profiles through the usual way as well. Just searched for someone and they didn't come up with their correct name or country. They are here which I found through the friends list of someone else. A bit round the houses.

The search routines are giving problems right now. Ning is working on that.

Thanks Ruud.

Ah, good to know, Ruud. Today I was able to find a couple that hadn't been showing up before. Thanks for all you do! And thank you,  Gü  for letting me know your process/workaround!

Yes thanks Ruud for everything behind the scenes. Sometimes if I can't find someone right away on this site I google the name and country and that finds a link to their iuoma page :>)

SPAM

But I'm not sure where to report it?

Madlea Agnia left a comment for Flor de Louis

Sorry if this is a repeat question, I'm new. What is the etiquette for posting images of received mail-art? Is it required? I'm used to tangible, through the mail only correspondence.  I don't want to offend by not posting what I receive or not communicating through this site. What are the rules?

Thanks

Thank you stripygoose! I'll look at other pages. I'm planning to always respond through the mail but am trying to get away from spending too much time online...that's why I love mail-art! I'll find a good balance so received mail-art can be seen and shared here too.

hello, so how many members do we have? 1000-2000???? but that number is inaccurate because of all the members using bogus names and identifications, i think both miss noma and moan lisa use a number of different aliases, who are u pretending to be today? how do i know who i am talking to? so anyway lets be honest about the number of members, a lot of schizophrenics at iuoma!!!!!

Carl, I agree - a lot of Flakers right now, speaking from my own experience. I have no idea who they are. They don't seem to be malicious like some of the nasty Neoist pranksters we've seen. Some of them seem to have a lot of network knowledge.

I don't believe this New Wave has anything to do with Moan Lisa, but that's speculation. It seems to have started about the time Miss Noma appeared. I know nothing about who or what Miss Noma is and at this point don't much care.

Overall, I do not believe fake identities account for many of the nearly 5000 IUOMA-Ning members. But there has always been an undercurrent of this sort of thing that has made the site slightly strange, IMHO.

Oh and let me distinguish

Alias - it's very common for mail artists to use aliases - the alter-ego idea. I know, you know, Lord Fugue is this goy from North Carolina who has a real identity on FB.

Fake Identity - Now we have this group who will engage but refuse to identify themselves if asked.

So I'm drawing a distinction.

Ultimately, I'd say let it go. Val Herman almost went crazy trying to force every individual on the site to identify themselves. (And I was using the Dark Wall identity at the time.)

not goy! guy! Typo

I had no idea people were actively using 2+ identities on here. What's the point of doing that?? Secretly, I mean.

Hi Terri, what I say is just my opinion as an IUOMA member, like everybody else. This isn't my site, I'm not a moderator, admin etc.

Anyway, this issue of multiple identities has been discussed (passionately) on the platform before. Here are some related causes because IUOMA is just another social media site but also because it's unique:

1) On any social media you get people using fake identities. (Try being an admin of a Facebook group and you'll know). I think Ruud keeps track of membership pretty well.

BUT

(2) Mail art has always involved people creating persona. Some of the great mail artists have created characters for themselves. This worked well in the postal system. In the digital world, it's led to some misunderstanding. But I think there is a greater acceptance at IUOMA of persona.

(3) I was told the Fluxus people on the platform play "Fluxus games" related to identities. (whatever that means)

(4) Some people consider they are doing online performance art here. Don't laugh. A LOT of people are doing this. So you get into issues of self expression.

(5) Neoism is a movement connected to m-a based in alternative and shifting identities: Monty Cantsin, Luther Blissett, Karen Eliot. Those are Neoist multiple user identities. A bunch of Neoists are lurking here doing their obscure "performances." There's way more than meets the eye going on.

I'm not suggesting the site is unsafe. I've been here since 2010 and I think it's safe. There just have been a lot of people not using their real names.

Lately there are members who have engaged in private discussions with me. When I ask who they are, they will not reveal their identities. They won't engage in snail mail because they do not want to disclose an address. Personally, I find that a little off-putting. Once people become m-a friends, you usually learn who they are.

DVS,

thank u for that perspective, very helpful, i do not use facebook and i'm very guarded about my privacy online. ok about having a persona but be open about yr real identity. oh, its performance? that can be very tedious and kinda childish. people should know this about mail-art, stick to doing mail-art, actually making something and posting it via the mail service.that bothers me when no actual mailing address is supplied on their homepg. enuf said>>>>>>

Well said, Carl Baker. I'm not trying to make a dead horse drink.

But I second your concern about people on the site using a fake identify who will (1) not disclose their identities when asked privately and (2) will not disclose a snail mail address.

Why join a mail art site?

This is a relatively new phenom at IUOMA. Ultimately, there are very few of them.

One joins IUOMA to exchange art via snail mail...

if you personally do not wish post your mailing address,

then you can search other members' profile pages for their addresses

and send to them, but placing your return address on your mail art...

in order for the recipient to reply to you ...to "exchange" duh!

Personally, I make "friends" only with those who have sent me mail art

and their address, it is a sure sign that they are mail artists and want to

have an exchange via the mail.

Never will I email them to get their address

(and for them to get my email info, oh, no, no, no!)

Strange names, and faux identity does not bother me

(...me as MomKat, for some time, for various reasons)

but if their mail art is NOT in my mailbox, with their mailing address,

then I do not need to concern myself with their identity,

their reason for being here at IUOMA,

no need to join their blogs or their groups...

It is good to see a "thank you" mail art received message, or blog,

but it need not be here on-line, you can reply "thank you"

 to mail art received on the mail art you send to them...that is perfectly fine.

And as Ruud, moderator here at IUOMA says:

As it seems to pertain to the current discussion. I want to clarify that in my case, I need to use a PoBox or all my inbound mail will be lost. Costa Rica has a very poor directions system (something like ''My home is from the Mango tree, that you find in the left corner of a (not) existing building that everyone knows it was there, 500 long meters counting on the right and a short block counting on the left, home with 2 stories, color white and bricks fence''). I meant, it is too risky, so I prevent any bad situation by having a box at my nearest postal office but my name is my real name and I use my own picture and I am on Facebook, Instagram and everywhere exactly the same :-).

I must say, all this conversation has opened my eyes to things I did not know they existed. So much to learn!!

Thank you!