Theos-Talk Archives (July 1996 Message tl00224)

Richard Ihle:

[writing to Chuch]

>Chuck, I appreciate your sharing the frequently-asked-questions material.
> Let me take this opportunity to ask you a question as well:  Is the piece
>just intended to be the one-time contribution of a common participant on alt.
>theosophy, or is in some way a "quasi-official" semi-defining or tone-setting
>introduction-to-the-newsgroup which will appear again and again?

With a private mailing list, the listowner can set the agenda, just
like someone, holding a theosophical class in their home, can assert
some control over what programs are put on. 

On the other hand, with an alt.theosophy group, there is not a "listowner"
and I don't think that anyone in the world can be precluded from posting
whatever they're inspired to say.

The purpose of a FAQ (frequently-asked questions) is to conserve bandwidth.
(This is something that is more important on a newgroup that is read by
the world where millions of computers may get a copy of the messages.)
What goes in one? The typical questions that new readers of a newsgroup
have, and the standard replies that they can expect to find. This is not
someone's "official line" on what is true, it's a *summary* of the typical
interchanges on the list.

For a FAQ to be representative of something like 'theos-l', there'd be
questions like "What is Theosophy?" and following the question would be
a half-dozen representative (and conflicting) answers. A single answer
to each question in the FAQ represents a single person's view, or the
party line of a particular organization. If Chuck's FAQ is along these
lines, then it would be "Theosophy According to Chuck" rather than
an FAQ.

My understanding of a newsgroup is that anyone can use it, much like
a public part. The only restriction is that the discussion have something
to do with the topic of the group. Is there anything that *doesn't*
have something to do with Theosophy?

-- Eldon