Ladies of Lallybroch is a haven for fans of Diana Gabaldon and the Outlander series. The Ladies and Laddies of Lallybroch come from lots of different places, and we have all kinds of people here, but we all gather on the message boards and weekly chats to share this wonderful obsession with Jamie, Claire and all things Outlandish.

New people who find Ladies of Lallybroch often ask "How do I join?"

Well, the answer to that is "If you have found the message boards, you are considered JOINED!!!" :-)

Just start reading and posting!

We have many links to look at and read which you will hopefully find entertaining, and ANYONE AND EVERYONE is welcome to join us on the message boards. That's all you have to do -- start joining in!

The focus of LOL has always been the message boards. This is where the main activity occurs. Just hang out at the boards and meet people and have fun.

Each message board has the links to the other boards at the top, as well as to the LOL HomePage.

Please bookmark or add to your favorites the boards themselves and do NOT use the web site as a stepping stone to the boards. The reason for this request follows, explained by Lady CF:

Bandwidth, by CF, Technotard Extraordinaire.

Bandwidth: How much stuff you can send, (or how much you receive) through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression. (courtesy of http://www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html

How this effects the Lallybroch domain (www.lallybroch.com) is, we have paid for a specific amount of bandwidth per month. Each time you visit the site, no matter which page, or how long you stay there, you are sent bits of information. If we exceed the monthly limit, then we get charged for it. This only applies to the domain: www.lallybroch.com, not the message boards. However, if you use the links located on the domain to jump from message board to message board, then that affects bandwidth. We would like to save as much bandwidth usage for regular visits to Lallybroch, not as a jumping board between message boards. Is this now clear as mud?

The message boards are free. They are paid for by the banner advertising that appears on the top and the bottom of each page. We have no bandwidth limits and no charges whatsoever on any of the Inside the Web (ITW) message boards. Therefore, it's best if you do your jumping via the links we have provided at the top of the page. You can also bookmark (Netscape term) or add as a Favorite (Internet Explorer term-note the spelling, you foreigners) the individual ITW boards. Check your individual browsers for the instruction on how to do this. But please, if your browser does not have this feature, then by all means, feel free to use the LOL Hall Page page, and don't think twice about it. We want everyone to be able to access everything we offer, but we want this to be done the most economical way.

If you are new to LOL:

• Due to extreme traffic on other boards, introductions should be made on the Welcome Board only. Please feel free to ask any question about LOL in there too.
• Since there are so many of us, and we like to know who is who, use your last name initial after your name, unless you prefer going by a unique hosed nickname, so you won't be confused with another poster with the same name.
• To find out who can help you on any specific LOL activity, you can check the LOL Offices.

There are not many rules around here, and if you stay, you'll find we're a very friendly community. However, we do have a few guidelines to help us keep Lallybroch this way.

First and foremost, be polite and respect the other posters. Basically, do not flame, and that includes the characters. You don't have to LIKE them all, but if you are going to say something you don't like about them, please be constructive.

Do not post anonymously. We keep a friendly and fun community, and we do not like anonymous posts on our message boards. Anonymous posts, even if on topic, will be deleted. If you just forgot to sign your name, please post it in a reply message.

Do not discuss religion, politics or other controversial issues on LOL boards. We all have our own views on these matters, but that's not why LOL is here. If you want to discuss these with your lallypals, first make sure they're interested in talking about it and then take it to private e-mail or get your own message board to do it (they're free at Voy.com, for instance). Threads about politics, religion, and similar issues WILL BE DELETED.

Keep your posts on topic. Lallybroch presently keeps several message boards. Please chose the appropriate one for your post.

Please use the boards for personal contact ONLY if you have no other means of doing it.. Each time you post a message another one gets pushed out of the first page of the message boards, and the Social Board moves so fast, that a lot of messages get dropped into the second (and much less visited) page on the same day they're posted. We try to make a Bulletin Board post or two during the day so that people can post various topics in replies, which helps keep the board from scrolling so quickly. Thanks for your assistance in this. :-)

Do not post virus warnings unless you're 100% certain they're true. Before you post a new virus warning, please check the Computer Virus Myths Home Page. Most of the "if you receive a message called yada yada yada do not open it..." are hoaxes, so make sure you've got a valid warning when you post it.

Before posting, read the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). It will help you to post and use the boards and do basic HTML. This will help cut down on board traffic due to repeated questions that are covered in the FAQ files. Further help can be found in the Step-by-step posting instructions.

Don't forget to practice posting and your HTML skills in the HTML Practice Board.

Ladies of Lallybroch also maintains a Mailing List at Yahoo!Groups.

Note that this is exclusively a moderated announcements list (discussion about the books takes place on the message boards).

The Mailing List is used for special announcements and LOL contests.

To get on the mailing list you have to be at least 18 years old. If you want to be on the LOL Mailing List, email me at judolf2005@yahoo.com. I will require a few simple details about you, but these are strictly for my own information. They will not be shared with other LOL members unless you wish it.

Learn your Lallyvocabulary!

Some of these are pretty obvious, but the list of the non-obvious ones was very small :-) If you need help with any other acronym, just let us know!

DG - Diana Gabaldon, Herself

DIA - Dragonfly in Amber

DH - Dear Husband (on good days...)

DOA - Drums of Autumn

FWA - What Jamie likes... a Fine Wide Arse

Gabbers - #LallyGabbers, the LOL chat room at Talkcity.

MIK - What we all like... Men in Kilts

PB & FW - That's Princess Buttercup (Lady CF) and the Foreign Woman (Lady Rita)

WTFDIK - What In Fact Do I Know (weird... the initials don't match the acronym...)

If you stay at Lallybroch, you'll often hear the expression "hoser" or "hosed". Read all about it, in the following pages:

What is a hoser? - You'll hear this word a lot...

What is Clan MacHoser? - Lady Niki gives us our Clan name!

You Know You're Hosed When... - Inspired by Lady Hope... with help from the Clan!

You Know You're Hosed When... (continued!) - Compiled by Lady Claudia from contributions of the Ladies and Lads of Lallybroch!

For other mysterious abreviations used on the boards, see Common Chat Abbreviations.

Check these useful sites too:

World Clock will help you know the Chat schedules in your time zone.

Computer Virus Myths Home Page

Have fun!