Thanks for your post Paul (and your opinion :) ..... BJ
P.S. Do stick around, every once in awhile actual "rainbow" topics ARE
discussed here :)
================
At 09:40 AM 10/25/97 -0700, Paul J. Lucas wrote:
>I wrote:
>
>> I was under the impression from the name that this newsgroup
>> was about upcoming rainbow gatherings. In the two or so weeks
>> I've been scanning it, there seems to be precious little posted
>> on that subject.
>
>> Did I misundertand something?
>
> to which the following responded:
>
>On Wed, 22 Oct 1997 Glenn Battin wrote:
>
>> Also, rainbow related topics like how we can help each other, grow in love,
>> deal w/medical challenges wholistically, poetry, occasional flames,
>> photos of gatherings, recipes, etc. In short such a diversity of things
>> that have a common thread of LOVE and Light from every perspective
imaginable.
>
> Common thread of "love?" The following are some of the topics
> of posts that lead me to make my original post:
>
> 1. The Cassini launch
> 2. Interior bill
> 3. Martin L. King
> 4. American Airlines
> 5. The homeless
> 6. Star Trek
> 7. Townhouse available in Palo Alto
>
> Topics 1-5 are political and thus are probably more appropriate
> to a political discussion newsgroup; 6 is sci-fi and thus is
> probably more appropriate in a sci-fi group; and 7 belongs in a
> housing newsgroup or in the ba.* newsgroup hierarchy.
>
> I am a great fan of "everything to its place." I have little to
> no interest in any of the above topics.
>
>On 23 Oct 1997 14:47:03 Madelyn Powell wrote:
>
>> all topics are rainbow!
>
> I hope not. If that were the case, then Usenet would consist
> of only one newsgroup. Luckily, Usenet consists of thousands
> of newsgroups, each to its own topic. I would venture that
> topics posted in comp.compilers, ba.transportation, soc.motss,
> alt.personals.fetish, and others, are most certainly not
> rainbow.
>
>> Just think, it wasn't all that long ago that no-one knew about vegetarianism,
>> yoga, recycling, the ozone layer, herbalism, the i ching, or massage or
>> chiropractic therapies, muchless reflexology and accupuncture!
>
> Ignoring the gross inaccuracy of that statement (yoga, i ching,
> massage, and accupuncture have been known to humankind for
> thousands of years) and also ignoring the relegation of all of
> Eastern culture, the Chinese in particular, to be under the
> umbrella of "no one" (my, what an arrogant, Western-centric
> viewpoint!), all of the aforementioned topics have their own
> newsgroups.
>
>> So any topic that concerns or enlightens any of us is free game,
>
> By that reasoning, I should be able to discuss developing web
> software on Solaris platforms here since, in terms of my job, I
> find that enlightening.
>
>> because we also believe in the first amendment
>
> That statement expresses a far-too-common fallacy of thinking.
> Discussing topics in the right place is not anti-first
> amendment nor is it pro-censorship. Discussing topics in the
> right place relies (far too heavily, IMHO) on people to use
> common sense to post in the right place. Usenet, for better or
> worse, mirrors real discussion groups in the world. Just as
> you wouldn't discuss needlepoint on the Senate floor, or racing
> cars in a breast-cancer support group, topics not related to
> rainbow gatherings should not be discussed here...IMHO.
> Otherwise you get a Tower of Babble, poor signal-to-noise
> ratio, (pick your favorite analogy).
>
>> If this were just an event calendar, it would be dull, dull, dull...
>
> Granted. But I never said it should be. I'm merely saying
> that topics with a heavy political slant, science fiction, and
> available housing aren't on-topic.
>
> Discussing *where* events should take place is on-topic. (I
> assume that somebody simply doesn't pull a date and location
> out of a hat and that it's discussed first.) Reports of past
> gatherings are on-topic. Advice for new-comers (e.g., what
> should one *bring* and *not* bring to a gathering) is on-topic.
> An FAQ is on-topic. Describing what generally goes on at
> gatherings is on-topic. Suggestions of other events (hikes,
> trips, sight-seeing tours) for rainbow-minded folk is on-topic.
> I could go on.
>
>On 22 Oct 1997 Karl-Heinz Jackson wrote:
>
>> Uh...were you looking for a rainbow newsgroup or a date listing? If the
>> latter, check out http://www.welcomehome.org (that's where you'll find info
>> over rainbow events as well as lots of other useful links and info).
>
> Thanks for the info (although the site was down as of 9:00 PDT).
>
>> PS- that's a REAL unfriendly email adress: "Nobody Write, Nobody
>> Welcome, I Ain't Here!" ;-)
>
> It should (?) be obvious that the e-mail address is intended
> for spammers. Those who REALLY want to contact me by e-mail,
> as opposed to posting a follow-up, have merely to use their
> favorite web search engine. I'm not difficult to find.
>
> - Paul
>
>