Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 07:59:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Maria Amuchastegui Subject: BA-BI (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- ========================== ba-bi Charter ========================== The ba-bi mailing list is a social forum for bisexual and bi-friendly people in the San Francisco bay area. ba-bi exists to help bi people: * meet other local bi people * discuss issues such as coming out as bi, interacting with the gay and lesbian communities, monogamy/non-monogamy, etc. * find out about local bi groups and activities The social focus of ba-bi is in contrast to ba-bi-org, which is a "down to business" list for bay-area bi organizers and activists. If you're familiar with the international BISEXU-L and BIACT-L lists, ba-bi is analogous to a regional BISEXU-L list, ba-bi-org to a regional BIACT-L list. People can subscribe to either the regular list, ba-bi, or the digested version of the list, ba-bi-digest. Subscribers to ba-bi agree to follow the "Rules of Engagement" described below. Geographic Focus ================ Anybody can participate on the ba-bi, regardless of their location, but the list discussion will focus on the "greater San Francisco bay area," which we very loosely define as the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma. Posting Guidelines ================== To help keep the list relevant and maintain a high "signal-to-noise" ratio, please keep the following guidelines in mind: * Keep discussions related to bisexuality. It is not the purpose of this list to discuss abortion, gun control, etc. * Don't post personal chat between just a few people. This is best kept in private, off-list email. * Don't post one-liners or me-toos. If you're going to respond to a message, try to add something of substance. * Include as little copied text as possible. When quoting others, use only one or two sentences, and not an entire paragraph. Consider paraphrasing or summarizing rather than quoting. * Use clear, informative subject lines to help others sort their mail. * Use small signature files (preferably four lines or less) -- or none at all. Privacy ======= Although privacy cannot be assured, the list manager will take reasonable steps to ensure the confidentiality of list membership. Remember, though, that your email address will appear on all messages sent to the list. There is a strict prohibition against posting private email publicly. If someone writes you a private post, you may not under any circumstances post it publicly (without his or her permission) either here or on another list. If you believe you're being harrassed or vilified, you may wish to write to the list manager. Except for messages announcing general-attendance events (that is, events not restricted to ba-bi list members), list members also agree not to share list mail with non-list members. Furthermore, list members agree not to crosspost messages to other lists or non-members. Flames ====== We all get along famously, and when we disagree we do so respectfully, taking care to remember that a real live person sits at the other end of our posts. At the same time, we don't go getting our feelings hurt when someone disagrees with us, labeling it abuse and harassment. Though sometimes it stings to be disagreed with, we realize that it's part of being a community. We recognize that there are many topics that predictably (and, sometimes, unpredictably) are conversational, personal, and political maelstroms. Also, many of us are survivors of nasty flame wars on other lists about the military, gun control, sizism, abortion, the political issues of the institution of marriage, monogamy/polyamoury, etc. We recognize that there is a difference between respectful disagreement and hostility. We strive for engaged, throughtful, respectful discussion. List Management =============== If a problem arises with list rules being broken, the list manager will take action as needed. At the list manager's discretion, this action may include reminding a list user of the rules, giving warnings, or removing a user from the list. How to Subscribe, Unsubscribe, and Send Messages ================================================ * Subscribing Regular version of the list: Send a message with the subject "subscribe" to ba-bi-request@sj-coop.net. Digested version of the list: Send a message with the subject "subscribe" to ba-bi-digest-request@sj-coop.net. * Unsubscribing Regular version of the list: Send a message with the subject "unsubscribe" to ba-bi-request@sj-coop.net. Digested version of the list: Send a message with the subject "unsubscribe" to ba-bi-digest-request@sj-coop.net. * Switching from the Regular Version to the Digested Version or Vice Versa Unsubscribe from the version to which you're currently subscribed, then subscribe to the version that you want. * Sending Messages to the List Either version of the list: Send messages to ba-bi@sj-coop.net. (Messages sent to ba-bi-digest@sj-coop.net should get properly distributed to both versions of the list.) * Contacting the List Manager Send messages to either ba-bi-request@sj-coop.net or ba-bi-digest-request@sj-coop.net. ** Thanks to Sharon Snyder for sharing her list's "Rules of Engagement," from which I swiped many ideas for these guidelines. ** Thanks to Bob Amstadt for hosting this list at San Jose Co-op.