Theos-Talk Archives (November 1997 Message tl00259)

Eldon B Tucker wrote:
> 
> 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.)

Eldon, I am in support of an unmoderated list, although, I do think
rules of etiqute are good to follow. I am on an Alchemy list which is
moderated, but for most of the time I have been subscribed persons broke
the rules with no retribution taken. Of course the situation changed, a
little while back, when the list gained a great firery energy from posts
made by an intellegent but very phrenetic practical alchemist. He was
quite the bombast. List members began by responding to him with lengthy
refutations of his radical ideas which one might call Platonic or biased
toward a spiritual metaphysics. Well, the materialists came out of
hiding and there was a great war which ensued between the listmembers;
physical versus spiritual.

It was a bit of a nusance but there really were some Valcurian moments
that were rather unforgettable. The listowner sadly put an end to it by
making a system change which meant that posts sent to the list would
wait at the server until he o.k.ed them and sent them to the list. The
result of this action is that there is very rarely anthing posted to the
list; "the thrill is gone" so to speak. 

This list and the Alchemy forum don't seem to get any 'tourists' so you
might want to come up with some rules and make them available to list
members, but I think that strict enforcement of the rules defeats a free
exchange of ideas that people who subscribe to lists are looking for.

Vincent
-- 

vincent@dmv.com

http://home.dmv.com/~vincent/