From: rick@helix.nih.gov (Rick Troxel)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.bahai
Subject: Welcome
Date: 7 Oct 92 21:14:15 GMT
Article-I.D.: ogicse.43797
Expires: 30 Oct 92 23:59:59 GMT
Organization: Moderators of soc.religion.bahai
Supersedes: <1992Sep3.030316.13977@qiclab.scn.rain.com>

[Last updated 16-Sep-92]

Welcome! to the soc.religion.bahai newsgroup and its equivalent
mailing list, bahai-faith.  This article is one of several that shall
be posted periodically.  The current list of periodically posted
articles is

	Welcome
	Introduction to the Baha'i Faith


PURPOSE

The newsgroup will act as a non-threatening forum for discussing and
sharing information about the tenets, history, and texts of the Baha'i
Faith.  Prior to its formation there was a good amount of traffic on
this topic in other newsgroups; this group provides a "single point of
contact" for such discussion.

Examples of posts that fall within the group's scope are:

* The Baha'i Faith's relation to other religions
* Relevance of Baha'i principles to current world events/problems
* Analysis of particular scriptural passages or themes
* General Q & A

MODERATOR POLICIES

The newsgroup will be subject to standards of Baha'i consultation, a
decision-making process whose salient features include frank yet
respectful statement of views and the concerted, open-minded search
for truth.  In practice, the moderators will reject personal attacks
(flames) directed at individual posters, similarly inflammatory
attacks directed at religious institutions, and articles which use
offensive language.  These guidelines are intended to regulate only
the tone of the discussions, and not their contents.

Repetitive postings (such as multiple responses to one request for a
book reference) may also be rejected.  Any rejected article will be
returned to the sender with an explanation.  The moderators may also,
when it appears helpful, insert clarifying remarks in posts, with the
intent of maintaining a good signal/noise ratio.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

At USENET sites, one is subscribed to all available newsgroups,
including soc.religion.bahai, by default.  If soc.religion.bahai does
not appear on your system, request that your news administrator make
it available.

The soc.religion.bahai newsgroup is gatewayed to USENET from the
moderated Internet mailing list, bahai-faith, which shares
soc.religion.bahai's policies.  Those without USENET access should
address subscription and unsubscription requests to

		 bahai-faith-request@oneworld.wa.com

If you have access to both USENET and Internet email, the former
medium is generally preferable, as it requires fewer network resources
per additional subscriber.

SUBMISSIONS

Readers of bahai-faith submit articles to the moderators by mailing
them to

		     bahai-faith@oneworld.wa.com

Please note that the distinction between the bahai-faith and
bahai-faith-request addresses is that administrivia is handled at the
latter.  (This distinction applies to most other mailing lists as
well.)  The distinction is significant in that the moderators do not
administer bahai-faith; the two addresses denote entirely distinct
recipients.

At USENET sites that provide automatic mailing in support of moderated
newsgroups, posting to soc.religion.bahai will transparently mail the
article to the moderators.  At other sites articles will need to be
mailed explicitly to the moderators, by means of the mailing list
address:

		     bahai-faith@oneworld.wa.com

The moderators attempt to handle each incoming article in a timely
manner, either posting it publicly or responding to its author
privately within four days of receipt.  If a post has resulted in
neither of these actions after four days, it should be assumed that
one's site is not configured to support submissions to moderated
groups, and the article should be resubmitted by mail to the above
address.

NETIQUETTE

Please bear in mind that, because of the gatewayed nature of
soc.religion.bahai and bahai-faith, each posted article will appear in
both a USENET newsgroup and an Internet mailing list.  The combined
technical limitations of these forums require that a "least common
denominator" approach be used in posting articles.

Specifically, authors should be aware that:

* USENET news has a massive readership, as articles are replicated on
  literally thousands of hosts; mailing list readerships are generally
  much less extensive

* except for the Subject: header, mailing list articles have no
  built-in way of referencing previous articles

* whereas news facilitates the direction of responses to either the
  entire readership (via a "Follow-up") or an individual author (via a
  "Reply"), a mailing list requires that the user explicitly rewrite
  an address for one of these tasks (depending on the list's
  configuration) by altering the default To: header or possibly just
  adding a Cc: header in a mail reply

* a mailing list subscriber's host may have quite limited mail
  storage, so article length is a concern

* many readers' terminals are limited to 80 character lines

Therefore, the following suggestions are offered for your
consideration before posting.

An option in requests for specific information (how do I reach
someone, where is this quotation to be found, etc.) is to ask
explicitly that all replies be mailed directly to the poster, who may
then post a summary if it is of general interest.  This would result
in only 2 messages (or perhaps just one) being seen by all
subscribers, which could be desirable in some contexts.  Likewise,
responses to such requests may, in some cases, be most appropriately
addressed just to the original poster.

Please use line lengths of no more than 75.  This keeps your text
within the 80 character per line limit of most terminals, in both your
initial article and in any followup articles, where it is customary to
prefix each line of quotation from another article with a few
additional characters to indicate the material is quoted.

Please be merciful to small mail systems by limiting articles to 50
KiloBytes in length.  Posts that exceed this limit should either be
pared down or subdivided; or one could submit an announcement of the
item instead, asking that readers respond via private mail in order to
obtain the actual item.

If you quote a previously posted article, please limit the amount of
quoted text that you include.  One may generally assume that readers
have already seen an article to which one is responding.  Therefore,
you need only quote as much as required for establishing a context.

Please choose your Subject: heading carefully!

In the spirit of sharing ideas rather than wrangling over same, please
consider the following two contrasting quotations and the questions
that appear after them.

  The shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of
  differing opinions.

	'Abdu'l-Baha, in Baha'i Administration, p. 21

  If two souls quarrel and contend about a question of the Divine
  questions, differing and disputing, _both are wrong_.  The wisdom of
  this incontrovertible law of God is this: That between two souls
  from amongst the believers of God, no contention and dispute might
  arise; that they may speak with each other with infinite amity and
  love.  Should there appear the least trace of controversy, they must
  remain silent, and both parties must continue their discussions no
  longer.

	'Abdu'l-Baha, in Baha'i World Faith, pp. 428-429
	(Emphasis as in the original)

a. In my article, is an idea being offered, expanded or clarified, or
   its implications being explored?  Has it been stated previously?
   Or is it mostly being reiterated and/or defended?

b. Have others indicated a desire to move on to another topic?

c. If responding to an earlier article, is it best in this case to
   respond to each paragraph therein?  Or is there one statement that
   succinctly summarizes the earlier viewpoint?  Or should a
   paraphrase be attempted?

d. Does the article express facts, or opinions?  More important, is it
   easy to discern which is which?

Our thanks for your help in maintaining a good "signal to noise"
ratio.

With best wishes,

--The Moderators:
  nabil@cse.ogi.edu	(Aaron Nabil Eastlund)
  babak@canada.sun.com	(Babak Kashef)
  towfiq@clearpoint.com	(Mark Towfiq)
  rick@helix.nih.gov	(Rick Troxel)