Theos-Talk Archives (October 1993 Message tl00120)

MRM:

It might be possible to come up with designations for groups that
we can all be comfortable with, but there wasn't any discussion,
nor even a call for suggestions, with John posting a summary.

John started the list, and I think that we are all grateful for its
existence, and for the computer work that he does to support and
maintain it.

It's true that any of us can break off and create a separate
mailing list, and as the quantity of materials increases with
perhaps hundreds of participants in the future, there may be
several other lists formed.

I see no reason to stop telling people about the list, nor to not
encourage greater participation.

One thing that we could do would be to have a convention where
all subject lines start with the initials of people writing the
messages. Then if you see that a message from "theos-l" came
from a particular writer, you could not read it, if you so choose.
Then you might not feel that anyone was forcing you to read
their writings.

The breakdown into groups should occur along lines of how
the participants naturally think, as well as to allow for an
introductory group that we could promote.

I hope that you're not saying that the whole activity of the
list is John's personal property, that he can do anything that
he pleases with it, and that if we don't like it we can go away.
I certainly hope that it is looked at and treated as an
impersonal project for the betterment of humanity, and not as
personal property that can be disposed of anyone way its owner
wants.

I'm sorry that it costs you a lot of money to participate in
the list, and if there's a way to organize things where you can
avoid costs and not have to read everything, I'd be for it.
I'm not against more lists, but feel the breakout was premature,
being in advance of any discussion about it.

The biggest problem is that anyone using compuserve is facing
a rapidly escalating cost of participation, because of its
pricing. It is not a fault of the list nor of the volume of
materials that are on it. It is only posponed by dividing the
list, as each piece will in itself also continue to grow.
To really save money, you need come fixed-rate access, like
on Delpha, at $23/month for 20/hours of access. My cost is
about $18/month, flat-rate, using netcom.com. And we have a
new member, Val, who lives in Ojai, who could perhaps show
you how to use it, should you sign up on it?

----

I'd like to know everyone's ideas regarding how the list could
be organized to label its contents, to break apart it somehow
by subject matter, and to allow our different views to peacefully
coexist. I don't think that censorship, regulation, nor banishment
of selected ideas or people is the right approach. The hardest
in our theosophical studies to do is to mantain flexibilty of
mind, and we should certainly practice it on things close to
home, like this list ...

                           Eldon Tucker
                           eldon@netcom.com