Theos-Talk Archives (November 1997 Message tl00258)

Hi Eldon,

I appreciate your effort and can see your side.  However, I would not
participate in a list with such guidelines.  I may lurk, but I absolutely
would have no urge to put in my .02.  My free time is limited.  Thus, in
order to feel compelled to write in, I would have to feel a rapport with my
fellow writers.  Mere intellectual discussions are very dry when they are
without light-hearted chat, jokes, or poetry.  It takes a lot of the light
stuff to get a thesis out of me now and then.  Otherwise, I would rather
use my energy toward getting a doctorate (Forget it!  I'm not going back to
school!).  It may not be for others, but for me, effort starts with love.

Thoa :o)

>Fellow theosophical writers:
>
>As fuel for further possible discussion on what are reasonable
>guidelines for participation in theosophical mailing lists,
>I've included a copy of the guidelines for the ARCANA mailing
>list. (The guidelines are reposted with permission from the
>listowners of that list.)
>
>Any useful ideas or comments would be appreciated. Statements
>like "I always do what I believe is best," though, don't really
>say anything, and are ways of avoiding discussing any of the
>issues involved. The same is true of statements, I think, like
>"Anyone should write anything anytime they like; there should
>be no limits or standards whatosever!"
>
>What is right or wrong, and why?
>
>-- Eldon
>
>----
>
>>Date: Tue, 25 Jun 1996 18:07:27 -0400
>>From: "L-Soft list server at Brown University (1.8b)" <LISTSERV@BROWNVM.brown.edu>
>>Subject:      Usage guidelines for ARCANA
>>
>>Welcome to ARCANA!
>>
>>PLEASE READ THIS MESSAGE CAREFULLY! It contains important information
>>about ARCANA's rules and the expected behavior of subscribers. These
>>rules are designed to maintain the usefulness and enjoyment of ARCANA.
>>The Listowners will enforce these rules and will unsubscribe continued
>>offenders.
>>
>>First and foremost, ARCANA is a forum for the serious and academic dis-
>>cussion of the occult by students, scholars, practictioners and inter-
>>ested parties. It is not intended to be a forum for the New Age, psychic
>>and paranormal phenomena, metaphysics, UFOs, neo-paganism, Wicca or other
>>religions, as such. While it is recognized that the discussions on ARCANA
>>will meander at times, plese keep your posts as on-topic as possible.
>>
>>With that in mind, there are only two specific rules which restrict the
>>content of on-topic posts:
>>
>>1) No ad hominem attacks on other listmembers.
>>
>>2) No attacks on any religion or esoteric belief system.
>>
>>The reason for these rules is simple: we do not want ARCANA to become a
>>battleground for fights about the two things most people are most likely
>>to feel obligated to fight over: their selves and their beliefs. While we
>>recognize that there may be legitimate grounds for some fights, we insist
>>that any such arguments be debated in private e-mail.
>>
>>Out of respect for the privacy of all subscribers, ARCANA is a closed
>>list. The list's archives are available only to other subscribers. You
>>MAY NOT forward anything posted to the list to non-subscribers without
>>the express permission of the author(s) of the postings, including quoted
>>material.
>>
>>Copyright laws should be obeyed and respected as written. This includes
>>the fair use of copyrighted material from other publications. While the
>>legal copyright of articles posted to other mailing lists and newsgroups
>>is still unclear, it is polite to seek the author's permission before
>>reposting their article to ARCANA.
>>
>>To facilitate communication between as many people as possible, the
>>official language of the list is English; we request that translations
>>of all posts and quoted texts written in other languages be provided.
>>
>>As not all mail readers will display the sender's address, please sign
>>all your posts with your name and e-mail address. For example:
>>
>>         Caryn McLeod
>>         mcleod@azathoth.miskatonic.edu
>>
>>Elaborate signature files are neither necessary or welcomed. Please limit
>>the length of your signature file to four lines or less.
>>
>>Messages are best kept short, about one subject and given a clear subject
>>header. If you change the subject of a discussion, please change the
>>subject header as well! Long messages are certainly valid, but please
>>indicate their lengthy nature in the subject header. The longest post
>>that LISTSERV will allow is 250 lines long. Anything larger will be
>>rejected by LISTSERV and returned. Long articles are best posted to the
>>list in smaller pieces. Alternatively, you could mention the long file in
>>a short note to the list and email the long file to interested parties or
>>make the file available on a World Wide Web site.
>>
>>Please refrain from excessively quoting messages in your replies. You
>>should retain enough of the message you are replying to to establish the
>>context of your reply, but not so much that there is significantly more
>>quoted text than new text. Quoting entire messages is particularly
>>frowned upon.
>>
>>Please refrain from "me-too" posts or "one-liners". Such posts are better
>>directed to the person you are replying to rather than the entire list.
>>
>>Please understand that these rules are meant to improve the quality of
>>the discussion on this mailing list. We do not feel that they are either
>>onerous or unreasonable. We hope you enjoy ARCANA and find it useful.
>>
>>The ARCANA Listowners
>>06/96