Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00678)

On another Yahoo Groups mailing list, Dick Slusser distributes his bimonthly
theosophical magazine, THE HIGH COUNTRY THEOSOPHIST. I manage the list for
him, sending out the issues and taking care of administrative concerns. 



Like theos-talk, that list is unmoderated. Anyone's postings can go out
immediately with advance preview. It differs, though, in that anyone can
subscribe without the request requiring approval. Because of that policy and
a bit of bad luck, it got its first porn spam mail.



I checked and the individual had subscribed today, set his mailing list
option to "no mail," then send out the message advertising a porn website. I
unsubscribed the email id and temporarily changed the list to require
approval for new subscribers.



Dick had opened the list up to general discussion about a year ago. Although
there are over 70 subscribers, most only want to get the bimonthly, since
the list has not subsequently seen more than a rare announcement from
subscribers - no notable threads of discussion.



As a microcosm of the greater theosophical community, theos-talk has been
able to somehow keep going with minimal intervention. I'm glad that we can
generally work things out and make some attempts at respectful consideration
of each other, even if we may at times find the views of some to be founded
in error and needing correction. We're a community of people working in our
own individual ways to improve ourselves and make a better world for
everyone. 



Everyone - keep up the good work - and try to remember that we are
communicating with other respectable fellow seekers. That can be easily
forgot if we get so caught up in defending our favorite opinions or
practicing sharpening our mental claws by seeing how deeply they sink into
the hides of our apparent opponents.



Smile. Laugh. Use brilliant words as a paintbrush rather than a barbed whip.
There are people out there on theos-talk. Our writing is not merely an
outlet for what we think in our heads, unrelated to other flesh-and-blood
people. This is good to be aware of, and we are aware of it, and it works.
Generally, most of the time, we do move forward, learn from each other, and
grow from the exchanges. We're lucky, in a sense. I'm glad.



Merry Christmas.



-- Eldon 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]