Some sample (fake) emails, to hopefully make things more clear:
Dear Bayareapolymapproject,
My name is Jane Mansfield, I am dating Dick Cheney and am married to Spot Jones. We all live in the same house, with Dick's mother (who isn't poly). Dick isn't seeing anyone else at the moment. Spot said it was ok for you to contact him by email: spot@spotmail.org, to get his information.
- Jane
Sample 2
Mr. and Ms. Mapproject,
Joe Blow (me) is seeing:
> Martha Blow (married)
> Spot Jones
> Mary Contrary
Mary Contrary is seeing:
> August Blue
> Mary Contrite
> Martha Blow
> Spot Jones
Martha Blow is seeing:
> Joe Blow (married)
> Mary Contrary
> Spot Jones
Spot Jones: spot@spotmail.org
Mary Contrite: mary33@spotmail.org
August Blue: blueboy@googlemailx.com
Joe, Martha, Mary (Contrary) and August all live in the same house.
--blow
Sample 3
Hey there, my name's Spot Jones and a bunch of my partners have been bugging me to contact you.
I'm dating;
Jane Mansfield (my wife)
Joe Blow
Martha Blow
Mary Contrary
Mary Contrite
August Blue
September Orange
Max Minor
and I have a gf who doesn't want to give her name. She wants to go by Myna B, and she's dating a guy called 'JB' who lives in Boston.
I cc'd all my partners except Myna and JB on this email so they know to send their info in.
Spot
The Shape of Polyamory
Hello, our names are Anna and Michael. We are not researchers. We are not associated with any institution. This is not part of an academic or professional project. What this is, or hopes to be, is a community project by people who are interested in what shape a poly community takes.
The Poly Mapping Project aims to take a snapshot of Polyamory in the Bay Area (and beyond). The map itself will be a visual representation of the network of relationships that make up the community, somewhat like the map above. Utmost care will be taken to protect participants' anonymity. Only those working for the project will have any access to data with personally identifying information.
If a participant chooses to use a pseudonym, we ask them to make sure all of their partners know what it is; without consistent names we will be unable to 'line up' all of the relationships. Aside from mapping relationships, we're also noting marriages and people who are living together, including non-romantic living arrangements if the roommates are poly and wish to be included.
If we are blessed enough to gather sufficient information, we will show what we have at OpenSF. No names or other personally identifying information will appear on the map. The usage of names as far as the project is concerned, is to ensure accurate matchings. We look forward to seeing the many forms poly takes, and the overall interconnectedness and shape of the community.
At the onset, we won't be tracking relationships that pass outside of California. If a CA resident has an out of state partner, we're happy to include them, but for the time being we do not want to follow those connections any further out.
