To: K-list
Recieved: 2003/02/08 10:19
Subject: Re: [k-list] New poll: Guidelines: apologies
From: Mystress Angelique Serpent
On 2003/02/08 10:19, Mystress Angelique Serpent posted thus to the K-list:
At 11:29 PM 07/02/03, Paul Perner wrote:
>Hi Folks,
>
> But jeez, my friends, was it really all that bad?
>The poem was just a few lines. I didn't think it was too
>much of a violation.
Yeah, "It is only wafer thin" and then the bloated fat K-list explodes it guts all over cyberspace. Monty python quote, for those who do not recognise the reference. Restaurant sketch, "Meaning of Life."
1) it was off topic.
2) it was not written by the person who posted it.
3) it was political.
4) it was not short, it was repeated. 5k
5) it was followed by another member posting an off topic gif attachment.
6) it was followed by several members commenting on it, not snipping.
(not picking on you shelle, just an example)
The thing about the off topic spammed stuff, is how it snowballs. One member posts some crap, I respond via private mail to correct them, but in the meantime another member has seen it, and is inspired to post their favorite off topic crap... The third member, a newbie sees two examples of off topic crap and assumes that it is ok to post their top 10 list of off topic crap as well... these off topic posts each get several responses, and very quickly you have a digest that is 50% off topic crap! Useless.
Multiply this by a week, (which is what was happening, prior to Shelle's post) and the signal to noise ratio becomes such that genuine on topic posts, even help requests for kundalini problems get lost in the avalanche. Valuable, knowledgeable members unsubscribe out of frustration, because knowledgeable people are much in demand, and usually too busy to deal with the noise, and the list degenerates.
You may think my example is extreme, but remember I have been on the list since 1996, I know how many valued and knowledgeable members have left the list because they could not handle the traffic and the noise.
Search the archives for any sanskrit word, Muldahara, for example. That is the sanskrit word for the root chakra, where the serpents sleep. You will find most of the references are from the early years of the list. Back when we had many experts on the list who had classical Kundalini training. Admittedly, many of their posts went right over the heads of other members... including me! ... but it was still nice to have them around.
I also know how often I am too busy reminding people of the guidelines to share my own knowledge... however non traditional and limited it may be. After completing my List Mystress duties of reminding a dozen people to snip, avoid styled text, or whatever, and dealing with whatever excuses, resentment or apologies they send me in response, I want to shut off my computer and veg in front of the TV. I do not have energy left, for the kind of intense focus channeling I use to gather insights from the Witness state... let alone, deal with my personal and professional mail.
>After all we went through with the troll and others in
>the Yahoo days, is just a brief, clumsy infraction among
>this smaller, more trusted list worth changing the rules
>over?
Paul, what part of "I snapped" did you not understand? Sigh.
Based on the poll results so far, we are not changing the guidelines, we are affirming them. Yaaaay!!
> I say no to everything until "whatever else any list member feels
>like sharing at the moment." A lot of beautiful, helpful
>and even healing threads were started by someone just popping up and
>saying something like , "I've had a lousy day," or "I saw this amazing
>looking bird." The word "Kundalini" might not be found anywhere in
>the message.
I do not agree. If you are awakened, it is not too hard to find a way to relate the post to kundalini, or spirituality, however thinly. Did the bird remind you of limitless manifestation and the beauty of creation? Did the bad day make your power chakra feel like a black hole? Make the effort.
It has been a problem since the list began. While updating the website, I assembled a page about the creation of the list guidelines.
http://www.kundalini-gateway.org/history/threads/guidehist.html
There was this comment, from the original guidelines poll, circa July 1996:
>The problem is that, say 10 persons currently posting, are
>emotionally upset by what is happening with them. They need
>support, and have found that they can use the list as a private,
>therapeutic and pep-talk line. They don't realise that they misuse the list for hundreds of others.
That has not changed. Car vandalism: off topic. Hety's response tonight brought it back on topic, but even so. Suicide thread: off topic. Perfect example of what the quote is talking about. I responded to it too.. we are kind hearted people. Some responses to it were related to K. but the original post and many of the responses were off topic. I won't waste space with more examples. You all have been reading the list, you know what I mean.
> Please bare with me.
We have been. We do. You are beloved.
>My point is, when Mystress posted about her new house and
>her cedar tree, I jumped in. It was refreshing. <snip> Although
>"off topic" it had the K vibe; brutally honest, but trusting and loving.
You are the second person to suggest my house post was off topic.
I did not think it was, or I would not have posted it.
Previously, there was a thread about abundance, which was on topic because it related to how hard it can be to juggle awakening and worldly, financial responsibilities. I offered some tips on manifestation via surrender, which caused some debate... and later, posted about my house as an example of how well it works. That was spelled out, in the beginning of the post.
It was gratuitously excessively long, because I was excited and happy... I admit that... but it was not off topic.
The effect of huggable cedar trees on Kundalini is not to be underestimated. I'd rather rest my spine on a big old cedar for a few hours, than have Satsangh with Yogi Bahan or Swami Muktananda. I surrendered, and Goddess provided me with a home that is so beautiful, and so perfect for my spiritual needs that I am still in awe of the miracle.
Miraculous, indeed. My real estate agent has been working in the area since 1979, and he kept saying "there are just not houses like this, in Delta..." amazed.
It is my hope that it inspired other members who are struggling with manifesting what they need, to surrender and let Goddess provide.
Certainly, my comments about Canadian comedy were off topic, but at least they were clearly labeled as such, in the subject header. That post also got edited shorter by 1/2, before being sent.
Even my comments about Beastmaster.. were in a post labeled off topic. Someone responded without the label, essentially an "I agree" that would have been better sent direct. In my response, I took a moment to pull it back on topic with a comment on his spirituality and manifestation as an archetypal warrior-hero master.
I am not being defensive, I am clarifying what I mean, using examples from my own posts. Perhaps this comment from the original guideline poll in 1996 will make it clearer:
>I understand we may each have different perspectives, and I'd like
>to request that if you have something to share which relates to
>the topic of kundalini, please clarify how you see that it relates
>if it might not be apparent to others.
Additionally, from the 1996 guideline poll:
>My preference is a self-moderated list, which means we might have
>to remind one another from time to time about how to keep the list
>as we would like it.
I really appreciate that idea. Many hands make light work. I'm really tired of being the only enforcer... (not meaning to diminish the valuable efforts of the co-moderators! Thank you all! )
>I really need the contact with other kindred souls, but in my
>opinion, the general line of discussion has reduced itself to mere
>chat as opposed to what I thought the original intent was. There
>is far too many responses that should really be sent to the
>original poster rather than to the list and in doing so, clogs
>everyone else's mail box with things that are really irrelevant.
>
>I may be way off base about this, but it seems to me that some of
>the folks who are most experienced with kundalini have become
>strangely silent, my guess being that the sheer volume has
>overwhelmed them or they simply lost interest since the subject
>seems to have strayed.
The list guidelines really are tried, tested and true. The list really has not changed so much, in all these years. Same problems, same beauty, same needs.
Blessings...
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