Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl01400)

Chuck:

>The group will be unmoderated, which means there are no rules and I have no
>intention of being a netcop or allowing anyone else to be.  Of course there
>are procedures for dealing with something really gross, but they are long,
>complicated and never permanent.  So the newsgroup is going to be a
>free-for-all.

It will be an entirely different experience than theos-l, since people
who've read even a shred of Theosophy could easily be in the minority.
And lots of views that *all* of us might consider too extreme or simply
silly will potentially have strong advocates.

We'll also have to learn more diplomacy. On theos-l, if there's something
really nasty said, there may or may not be a note of protest or two.
On the internet, one could get hundreds of angry replies if one does
not take care with one's words.

>I know that this is going to be problem for some folks, but they'll learn to
>live with it and you're absolutely right.  I hope that the theosophy
>newsgroup will spawn many more newsgroups dedicated to different aspects of
>the subject.  Then there will a home for all of us no matter what our
>disagreements.

The challenge there will be for us to write even clearer, simpler,
kinder, and write of things more immediately useful to people. Does
this mean that most of the theosophical ideas will have to go underground
or esoteric? I hope not. I hope that we can communicate many of them
in this more challenging, but more productive environment.

-- Eldon