From: "Chris Ho-Stuart" <> Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian,aus.religion Subject: Re: Finding a sane Christian newsgroup > The charter for aus.religion.christian and aus.religion can > be found here: > <http://danny.oz.au/communities/aus.religion/Charter.html> > > Here is the introduction: ~~~ > > This charter covers both aus.religion and > aus.religion.christian (henceforth AR and ARC). It is > normative, but should be seen as offering guidelines rather > than hard-and-fast rules. > > First of all, note that the dividing line between the two > groups has nothing to do with the beliefs of the poster -- > atheists, Jews, Buddhists, etc. are welcome in ARC and > Christians in AR. The division between the two is solely > on content, and is fairly simple: anything whose primary > subject is Christianity or some aspect of Christianity > belongs in ARC; anything else to do with religion or > religions belongs in AR. ~~~ > > There is more material in the charter as well. Note that it > explicitly requests people NOT to cross post from these > Australian groups to wider discussion forums. Also, there is > a request for people not to post "flame-bait". Gratuitous > insults to Christians, or unbelievers, or any particular > doctrinal position, would be better elsewhere. This group > aims to be an friendly and open forum. > > We don't always acheive that; but there is a kind of central > core of regulars who have maintained high standards of mutual > respect throughout the group's long history. > > I have contributed here for more than ten years. I believe I > generally maintained a high standard of constructive engagement. > I think any of the other long time regulars would confirm that; > even colleagues with whom I have had some major disagreements. > > At its best, this group has been able to set a very high standard > for mutually respectful and substantive engagement across a range > of views. At its worst, the problem has often been blow-ins from > other groups, or inappropriate crossposting. > > If anyone takes the time to learn about the charter of the > group, and the people who contribute, it may help them to join > in the kind of open accepting and constructive multi-viewpoint > community that we can be. > > The newsgroup also has a FAQ, which is now badly out of date, > unfortunately. It is at present found here: > <http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/8898.htm> > because the sites where it used to be maintained is no longer > available. > > From that FAQ, here are the official set of posting guidelines > for the group. > > Subject: 5. Posting guidelines > > Aus.religion is first and foremost a discussion group. It > is home to many people of extremely diverse beliefs. Please > respect this. > > This is not to say that you shouldn't criticise people's > beliefs --- on the contrary, most people enjoy having their > beliefs challenged. However resorting to personal abuse > is the surest sign that you have lost your argument. If > in doubt, always remember: The thing that you believe in > most dearly is nonsense to someone else. > > Oh, and one more thing: Please PLEASE don't cross-post to > other news groups, especially American ones. Aus.religion > prides itself on its relatively high signal-to-noise > ratio. If you must cross-post (for example, many religious > groups hold political beliefs, so a cross-posting to > aus.politics is conceivable) please include a Followups-to > line in your message so that the resulting discussion is > limited to one of the groups. Also mention this for the > benefit of anyone who may wish to follow the discussion. > > As of mid-1996, articles posted to aus.religion.christian > which are cross-posted to more than one non-aus.* group > are cancelled by an automatic script. See the question > below on why this measure was taken. > > Unfortunately, the last paragraph no longer applies, since for > technical reasons the moderation script does not have a home. > > But generally, the other points remain as they have always been. > > (1) You are all welcome to join in, regardless of beliefs. > (2) Please respect others of different beliefs. > (3) Please do not engage in personal abuse of others. > (4) Please do not cross post; or if you really must, then > please use a followup line so that subsequent discussion is > in one group only. > > This is the long standing ideal of aus.religion.christian. Of > course, there are also other ways to do things, and other places > where they are done differently. > > But HERE, the aspirations are as set out above. > > Please respect this group, for what it is. If you would like > to join in and share in this style of open and accepting forum, > be very welcome. If you would prefer something else, then you'll > certainly find it available somewhere. Drop back here anytime, > but don't try and just run roughshed of the group, and its > aspirations, and people who have been posting here for years. > > Best wishes -- Chris