JABB was
founded on July 19th, 1998 by Touched by an Angel fans Audrey,
Barbara, Jarrod, and myself. TBAA had aired earlier
that evening and, as was customary, we gathered in the
TBAA AOL chat to discuss the show. As the hours
dragged on our fellow chatters left until there were only
the four of us. Unfortunately, my memory of that
night is all ready a little foggy. What I do know is
that by the time we parted for the night we had written
the 12
Steps for the John/Andrew Bucket Brigade. We
emailed that out to interested parties with in a couple of
days. People seemed to enjoy it and so we continued
with biweekly "newsletters." Of course, these
newsletters weren't so much about news as a chance to show
off our fannish creativity. However, newsletter was
the word we used then and still do to this day.
Regretfully, Barbara was only with us for a short time but
JABB continued on with Audrey and myself as the
co-presidents and Jarrod assisting. In June of 2004,
Audrey stepped down as JABB co-president and was replaced
by Doc. Doc had a brief tenure as co-president with
myself that extended from JABB 140 to JABB 143.
Longtime JABBer, Karen then stepped in as co-president
starting in August of that year. In July 2006,
however, the entire co-president system was abolished and
JABB was run by a group called the JABB Sisterhood.
The members were:
Jenni (Me)- Co-Founder, Head Writer, and Web Mistress of
the John/Andrew Bucket Brigade
Jess- Homeworld Security, Director of
Photography, and Creative Collaborator for JABB
Liz- Editor-in-Chief and Head Solutions Master
for JABB
Karen- Consultant for JABB
However, in January 2007, it was decided the JABB
Sisterhood should be abolished and the way made for a
more inclusive way of running JABB. So now I
welcome help and support with JABB from whomever is
willing to give it. :-) I'll even give ya a
cute title and business e-card if ya want!
Thankfully, I am assisted by several JABB members at
various times. It's my hope that this current
setup will allow JABB to continue to grow!
Newsletter Delivery
Though JABB has
changed in some ways over the years, we still send
our biweekly (or nearly so) newsletters. As
stated above, these often contain little actual
news. Were any actual news to become
available, I would first post it on the JABB
News and Reminders page. So if the
newsletter isn't news, what is it?
A JABB newsletter can contain any number of
things ranging from top tens, short jokes, and poems
about Andrew and other John Dye characters.
Dyeland also figures in quite a lot these
days. Occasionally (but increasingly more
frequently), a newsletter may even feature a more
lengthy, serious story about Andrew and Co.
Essentially, it's a very mixed bag. We hope in
this way to reach as wide an audience as
possible. If you don't like the current
newsletter perhaps the next will be just what you're
hoping for!
The newsletter is sent from the address newsletter @
onthisside.net by Jenni. In the event I am
unable to send JABB, well... you'll just have to
wait because I no longer have a back-up plan.
Newsletters are always sent blind copied so the
other members will NOT see your address. I try
to shoot for sending one every 14 days (only missed
that once!) but sometimes as few as 10 days pass
between newsletters or as many as 20.
Basically I try my best to get them out but I do
have other commitments to maintain.
Just a brief note: As of October 2009, I am no
longer sending the newsletters in text-only
emails. Instead, you'll be sent a link to a
web-based (and decorated!) version. Should you
ever require a text only version, please ask.
I serve as head writer of the newsletters but if
you'd like to see about submitting something you
wrote, please contact me. We do have a few stipulations
relating to content and may not be able to accept
all submissions but it never hurts to ask! If
you should need to leave JABB or need your email
address changed, just send an email to the first
email address listed here.
Web Site
After a few years of putting up with various
free web hosting services, I finally moved JABB
to its own domain name and its own web space
in 2004. So now every newsletter we ever
sent (barring the most recent which take some
time to add) and lots more are available at www.onthisside.net.
The domain name was suggested by a longtime
former member, Sara. It comes from my
favorite TBAA quote: "I want you to know there's
nothing... nothing to be afraid of. On one
side, there's life. And on the other...there's
life, too." That was spoken by Andrew
in the episode "Random Acts." I like to
think of it as our way of saying that while we're
living our lives *on this side* of the Great
Divide, Andrew has increased our hope for what is
to come on the Other Side. Additionally,
that line took on even greater importance when we
learned of Mr. Dye's own journey Home.
So what's on the web site? Lots and lots of
stuff! The best way to get acquainted with
it is to start with our Main
TOC. The top half of that page will
lead you to our original 12 Steps, our guestbook,
and all of our newsletters. Please note the
link above that which begins "First
time visitor?" If you read nothing
else, please read that. That tells you,
briefly, what we can and cannot do for you or tell
you. Below the newsletter section, please
note the flying dove. Click on that and
you'll be taken to the Contact
Info page. I keep that up-to-date with
JABB's various email addresses. Before we
move on from this section I'd like to draw your
attention to the rainbow
logo on the upper left corner. Click
on that to reveal JABB's hate-free mission
statement. We feel it's very important.
We then move into the "Our Other Stuff" half of the
page. The first link will lead you to JABB's
CafePress store. There you can order
T-shirts, mugs, pins, and more with various JABB,
TBAA, and John Dye related designs on them.
Proceeds from the store go either to keeping the
JABB site running or, on occasion, supporting
various charities.
Below the store is a box that
enables you to join our YahooGroup.
I will discuss that in greater detail in the final
section of this page. Click on the graphic
below that and you'll go to our Photo
Gallery. I add snapshots from various
John Dye projects as the DVDs become available to
me.
Then we get into the various sub-categories!
The next section, I
think, is potentially the best for new
members. The links listed in "Stuff that's
Useful..." will hopefully give you a
better sense of JABB's history and
development. Updates
lists all the changes that have been made to
JABB's web pages since March of 2000. The JABB
Self-Help Pages are largely about technical
aspects of JABB. The
JABB Encyclopedia is a very lengthy page
that lists all (or at least the majority of)
references to various characters, themes, and
objects in the newsletters. It's also pretty
well packed with graphics. So if you're
reading a newsletter and wondering who the heck
Chiwawa is just check out his entry on the
Encyclo. Useful
Links gives various online sources related
to John Dye and TBAA. Next, you'll find
another link to our Contact
Info page. The JABB
Calendar lists important dates: real and
Dyeland. Dictionary
of
JABBerisms teaches you our lingo. Things
You Should Know... tells you a bit about the
widespread beliefs and sentiments of our
membership.
Next comes "Stuff We Wrote
or Made." The Easter
Egg Cheat Sheet can help you get the most
out of the web-version newsletters. Poems
and Stories gives you access to works
created by your fellow JABBers. Some of the
other poems and stories are pre-existing ones that
were submitted by JABBers because they reminded
them of John, Andrew, TBAA, or the JABB
group. The
"Author's
Cut" is my answer to the director's
commentaries and cut scenes available on
DVDs. There we give our thoughts on various
issues and post the occasional cut or alternate
scenes from stories or offer Dyeland stories that
were not part of a newsletter. JABB
Member Links is your source for web pages
created and maintained by members of JABB.
If you have your own web site you'd like added,
just lemme know! JABBers'
Fiction
Page is home to fiction written by JABB
members which reflect some aspect of John Dye's
filmography, generally TBAA. Dyelander
Info
Database will help clue you in on our
creations and also tell how TBAA and other
existing characters fit in. Then we come to
JABB's
TBAA
Episode Guide where we give our views on the
episodes. Finally, we started Andrew's
Historical
Timeline wherein you can read about where
all Andrew's been and when, from both TBAA and
JABB material.
"Stuff About
Stuff We've Done" is mostly
informative. The Green
Pages are a sort of short resume for the
group. They're also the only professional
looking pages on JABB! Our
FAQ answers some more common questions we
get about our group. JABB
News and Reminders is a good page to keep on
hand. If we hear any news regarding DVD
releases for John Dye projects or TBAA or related
subjects (that we have good reason to believe), I
will add it to that page just as soon as I
can. Disclaimers
and
Credits is where we stress (yet again) that
we were never affiliated with Mr. Dye and also
thank those who have helped us along the
way. That section finishes with the About
Us pages where you can learn about various
JABBers and some of the fictional characters that
figure into JABB's Dyeland stories.
"Stuff You
Can Do" is for those JABBers who wish to
be more involved. Contribute
to
JABB lists specific ways you can join in on
the fun of writing newsletters. Contest
Rules and Information is a must-read page
for anyone intending to participate in the JABB
contests that occasionally occur. JABB
Contests and Games makes all former contests
and Jeopardy games available to you. While
they are out-of-date and prizes are no longer
awarded for completing them, they do make for some
fun on a rainy day! The Dye
Scouts are JABBers who wish to make their
love of Andrew/John even more blatant. You can
earn virtual badges and a spot on JABB's web site
by completing various tasks. Finally, JABB's
To-Do List contains time-sensitive deadlines
for submissions requested for particular, imminent
JABB newsletters along with general ideas.
Please note the deadlines as I cannot accept
submissions past the dates listed. Again, this
page is for members only. You must be a
member of JABB to make a submission to these newsletters.
And now for our final
section... "Stuff We'll Probly Get Committed For."
Here are what I think are JABB's craziest
offerings. The Dyeland
Map and Info page hosts an ever-growing map
of the world we wished we lived in as well as info
about it. Dyeland is populated by the
fictional counterparts of many JABB members.
It's also a sort of second residence for some very
special angels. Dyeland is the setting for
many newsletters. There's also our Graffiti
Wall. There you can tag a brick wall
with your most deeply felt Andrew-related
sentiments! Finally, you can get inside
Andrew's (or Violeta's) head at AndrewBlog.
And that's it for our site! If you're ever
perusing the site and notice dead links or broken
graphics please contact me, Jenni, so I can fix
the problem. Thanks!!!
ETA 3-2-21- The above was written some time ago
and follows the order of the web site when you
access it here: http://www.newsletters.onthisside.net/toc1.html
However, when I access the site, I
tend to use the JABB
Portal so the following was written in
early 2021 from that perspective. From JABB
589:
Firstly, there are
three different ways to explore the site,
one of which I find most useful:
1. Via Frames-
Personally, this is the one I use the
least... as in basically never. Way
back when, I think someone said it might
be helpful so I did it. It's kind of
nice if you're wanting to click quickly
through various pages without repeatedly
navigating back to the Table of
Contents. Other than that... not
sure it's very useful.
2. Via the Main
TOC- For many years, this was the
main way to navigate the JABB site and
it's still not bad... except for the fact
that, since I no longer use it, I
sometimes forget to update it. But
most everything can be accessed from there
and it's got a nostalgic look to it, IMO.
3. Via the JABB
Portal- This is the way I prefer to
get around the web site. It's got a
cleaner and crisper look to it and the
categories are most helpful to me when I
try to focus on different updates.
So the remainder of this tour is going to
follow the JABB Portal order. So
here goes!
After viewing the lovely photos of John
and that beloved TBAA quote from which the
site takes its name, we have the First
Time Visitors link. I created
that web site back when it wasn't entirely
uncommon for me to get emails from folks
who assumed I knew John Dye or... stranger
still... that I was John Dye. (To
date, I still really wonder what sort of
person they thought John Dye was to create
a goofy fan club containing top tens and
such about himself but anyway...)
After that come the links to all the
newsletters. One change I have made
there is that I used to create a new TOC
for every 30 newsletters. I've
decided to up that to every 50
newsletters. And I'm about due for a
new one.
Then there's an email link and a link to
the classic TOC for anyone who wants to
bail on the Portal.
The section that comes next is JABB
Info. There's the Updates
page which is exactly what it sounds
like. The
JABB Encyclopedia follows which is,
I believe, the largest page on the whole
web site. If you're reading a
Dyeland story and really like a particular
character, you can go there and get a
complete listing of which stories and
newsletters they appear in. Or maybe
you want to see all the times Doc Hock
comes up. That works, too!
Next up comes the JABB
Calendar which lists important
dates. It does have some Dyeland
character birthdates and such but there's
another page that's better for that which
I'll get to later. Welcome
Newbies is a more practical guide
for new members. I am going to
eventually replace the Web Site section
with the contents of this
newsletter. JABB
News and Reminders isn't a page I
use much any more. But if another
John Dye series was ever released, I'd
note it there... though perhaps at a delay
as I realized only today that I never got
the news about Promised Land
added. Oops.
One thing I've started to do is mark pages
that are basically archival. I don't
delete them because I'm sentimental but
they're also useless, out-dated, or not
being updated for other reasons.
JABB Info has six such links: Things
You Should Know About JABB, Our
FAQ, JABB
Member Links, About
Us,
The
"Green Pages", and The
JABB Self-Help Pages. The
first one is just plain hilarious to me
because I mention how JABB isn't about
angel/human romances. Haha! I
would scandalize younger me...
Anyway, I basically only keep that page
because it cracks me up. The FAQ was
a fine enough idea but is basically a
rehash of Welcome Newbies. I'm
trying to cut down on having the same
information on different pages or at least
having to update the same information on
different pages. Member Links is something
I'd be happy to bring back. There
just hasn't been any interest. But
if you'd like to share your blog, fanfic
site, etc., I'm happy to add it. It
doesn't have to be TBAA or John Dye
related at all. If you do submit a
link, please also include a brief
description. About Us is the same
sort of thing. If someone would like
to provide a bio or Q and A, I'm happy to
add it. But there's not been any
recent interest so I archived it.
I'm not even keeping my page there
updated. And "The Green
Pages"... That was a case of me
being like "Oooh! New toy!" but
without really having a reason to use the
new toy so I just duplicated some
stuff. It used to have a cool Flash
intro but, of course, Flash was retired so
it no longer works. I may eventually
delete the whole thing but, for now, I
sometimes look at it and appreciate the
time a former member spent taking digital
photos of her TV screen back before screen
shots from DVDs were possible. Kinda
touching, to be honest. The
Self-Help page used to be useful because
it contained a step-by-step guide to using
YahooGroups... with screenshots!
But, of course, I deleted all of that
since YG is no more. But it was a
pretty page so... I left a tiny bit.
But it could probably be deleted.
Just... again... sentimental.
The second section is TBAA
and More. I'm sure the most
popular link there is the Photo
Gallery featuring screenshots from
many John Dye projects. The TBAA
Episode Guide follows and one thing
I'll note there is if anyone would ever
like to submit their own thoughts about an
episode, please do! Useful
Links is probably not terribly
useful but you can give it a shot.
If there is a link that you would find
useful, please let me know and I'll
consider including it. I'm not sure
if any station is playing TBAA any more
but, if so, I'll add a link to their
schedule. Poems and
Stories has some fanfic,
thematically related poems, and
more. I should probably mark it as
archived but, who knows, maybe I'll get
back to writing poems as Ivy someday and
put them there. Andrew's
Historical Timeline is badly in need
of an update with Dyeland information but
as far as TBAA info, it's pretty
solid.
And now we come to the section that I use
the most: Dyeland
Stories. As you can see, it's
divided into two sections: Stories and
References. In the first section,
really only the JABB Story
Index is routinely updated.
Every Dyeland story is documented there
whether it first appeared in a newsletter
or was stand-alone. The
Author's Cut is next.
Originally, all stories that were NOT from
a newsletter were listed there. But
when I put together the Story Index, it
became redundant to add a story there
unless I had substantial author's
notes. And even when I have author's
notes, I tend to add those to the
individual story's page and not the
Author's Cut. That being said, I
have no plans to ever delete the Author's
Cut as it does have some good info about
older stories. And then there's the
Friends
of Joshua Forum which I think was a
cute idea but, ultimately, just way too
time-intensive. The actual
formatting took way too long and then
there was the matter of having to keep a
timeline straight. It just wasn't
sustainable.
The second section is Resources.
First we have the Dyeland
Map. Then there's the Timeline
which gets updated with every story's
information. More recent stories
have extremely detailed entries whereas
older ones... not so much. Then
there's another link to the Encyclopedia
because while it also has general JABB
information, I tend to utilize it most
often when working on Dyeland
stories. Each character has an entry
listing which stories they appear
in. Cultural
References lists all songs, books,
etc. alluded to or mentioned in Dyeland
stories. This can be useful if
you're looking for a story you remember
reading but can only remember, say, that
someone sang "Oo-De-Lally." (That's
"Triad," by the way.) The Birthdates
and More list is what I alluded to
earlier. It largely replaced the
JABB Calendar for Dyeland stuff.
After that you can find a list of what characters'
names mean. Next up is Biblical
Era Characters which gives each
one's name in Aramaic which is what I tend
to use in stories and then also lists the
name as most commonly used in
English. There are three family
trees for Joshua's family,
JenniAnn's family, and the
Chandler/Moretti/Wells/Reese grandparents
situation. Then we have the Official
Flowers of Dyeland for any of you
language of flowers fans. Meanings
Behind the Place Names explains
where some of the castles, islands, etc.
in Dyeland got their names. Next are
some Guidelines
for Writing Dyeland Stories.
Even though it hasn't been updated in a
good while, I did read it over and it
holds up... unlike that "Things You Should
Know" list from earlier.
And then we come to the three archived
links: Dyeland
FAQ, Dyelander
Info Database, and Laws
of Dyeland. I'm kind of
ambivalent about the first. It makes
sense to have it in some ways. In
others, I'd rather people just ask me
directly since things can always
change. But, hey, it's there if
anyone needs it and is still legit.
The Dyelander
Info Database was a nice idea but,
again, too time-consuming. I didn't
want to constantly be updating it for
dozens upon dozens of characters.
Finally, there are the Laws
of Dyeland which are terribly old
and out-of-date but we've gone this far
without needing updated rules so I'll just
leave it as is.
And now to the fourth button on the Portal
which is Fun
and Games! First up, we have
the Easter
Egg Cheat Sheet. For a good
while, I hid some small, virtual prize in
the newsletters. I don't do that any
more because, again, time
constraints. But you can look at
that list and see what you can dig
up. If you want to Contribute
to JABB, you can find out ways to do
that there. Contest
Rules and Information is archived
and, to be honest, could probably be
deleted since we haven't done a contest in
a good while and won't be until the
pandemic is over since I don't want to be
trekking to the post office. But I
have hope that we can do that sometime in
the future so I'm keeping the page since
it's easier to make updates than start
from scratch. I'm being
optimistic! JABB
Contests and Games is also archived
but if you're ever bored, you can play the
games there just for fun. Then
there's Dye
Scouts wherein you can earn virtual
badges by completing assorted tasks.
It was popular in its day and not so much
any more. And some of those badges
are real ugly... I'd probably redo
them if anyone ever was interested.
JABB's
To-Do List follows. It's not
been updated in a good while but what's
there still looks kinda interesting if
there are any takes. Finally, I
added a link to all those Andrew, TBAA,
Dyeland jigsaws
I created during lockdown.
Finally... the Best of the Rest
which is the stuff I couldn't decide where
else to put! There's the Graffiti
Wall. I no longer have the
program I used to use for that but I think
a program I currently have would work
so... there's that. Then we have Andrew's
Blog which was eventually taken over
by Violeta only to be entirely abandoned
because yours truly couldn't keep up with
it. Next up is the Dictionary
and, gonna be honest, I don't remember the
word "ungether" but kinda dig it. Disclaimers
and Credits is exactly what it
sounds like and hasn't been touched in
years. To be honest, pretty much
that entire Best of the Rest section is
archived but I wouldn't mind updating it
so I didn't mark it as such. And,
yes, the CafePress store is still around
but I don't manage it much and I only get
a small cut of the proceeds so if you see
anything you like, definitely order
it. I have myself. But don't
think I'm relying on it for income or
anything. It's just for fun!
And that's the web site!
YahooGroup
After dwindling and becoming
less and less useful, YahooGroups finally closed in
2021. Please note, ALL of YahooGroups
closed. This wasn't me deciding to nix the
group. Yahoo abandoned the entire
thing. Thankfully, we were able to move
pretty seamlessly to Google Groups. It's
pretty quiet but if you're interested in
getting a daily (except when I space it) TBAA
quote, please get in touch and I'll get you
added. Discussion is always
welcome! I just want to temper any
expectations that it's a really busy group
because it's not.
I hope this
has helped to answer questions or concerns you
may have. If not, feel free to email
me!
JABB Portal
JABB
TOC
(Photo Credits: The
photograph of John Dye in a black
shirt is from "Journey to a Hate
Free Millennium" photos and property
of New Light Media. The one
where he has facial hair is from
"Best of the Best" and property of
Best of the Best Films, Kuys
Entertainment, SVS Films, and The
Movie Group Inc. The second,
fourth, and fifth photographs are
from "Touched by an Angel" and owned
by CBS Productions, Caroline
Productions, and Moon Water
Productions. They are not
being used to seek profit.)