Guidelines for contributing, discussing and moderating

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Though these posting guidelines have been framed for the Abhinavagupta forum, they apply mutatis mutandis do all the other satellite forums that likewise revolve around this svAbhinava website. New subscribers should also and especially read the Newbie section. The intention behind these rules and guidelines is not to cramp anyone's freedom and creativity but to ensure that the larger interests of the existing virtual community, many of whom have contributed valuable hours of their time to raising the level of discourse, are fulfilled. They also facilitate subsequent editing and compilation of selected threads into digests of Dialogues. The Moderator reserves the right to edit posts to ensure that they conform to these guidelines, reject those that fall too short and/or request that the contributor repost a suitably revised message.

Table of Contents

Abhinavagupta

Newbie

Content

Presentation

Proofing

Proofing. 4

Formatting

Moderator

Abhinavagupta

Newbie

Posting:

 If you are starting a new topic, click the New button in your email client (i.e., do not Reply to an existing thread). Make sure to give your post a meaningful subject line that accurately captures the main point of your thesis. Make sure to click the Reply button (only) if you are contributing to the ongoing thread. If you are taking it in a new but related direction, revise the subject line of your email accordingly. In all cases, replace the post with the corresponding hyperlink.

Threads:

The hyperlink to the message you are responding or referring to can be found at the Abhinavagupta (or other forum) online archive. If it’s a recent message, you can easily find it by scrolling at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Abhinavagupta/ For an older message, check its date in your inbox and then, in your web browser, click the corresponding month / year in the Message History grid at the above forum web page. Then navigate the subject lines of the messages which are ordered according to posting date. Click on the relevant subject line to open the targeted message, copy its URL from the address bar of your browser, and then append (by pasting) it to your own message, in the format you see at the bottom of other archived messages (with poster’s name and date of posting).

Advertisement:

 a first post drawing attention to your web-site, sometimes with an 'advertisement' might be an excellent way of presenting yourself. But further such posts that are only canvassing will be probably rejected. If passionate about your beliefs, make an effort to relate them to the specific concerns of this forum. Once interest is awakened and credibility established, the moderator will be more than willing to give you the benefit of the doubt for future posts.

Content

Relevance:

 if possible, try to relate the issue you are raising directly to Abhinavagupta; otherwise, focus on confronting or comparing aspects of Indian traditions and world culture that are relevant to understanding him today, or on which his thought (or related Indian traditions) could shed light. Read the group description at Yahoo!

Continuity:

before posting your thoughts, check for and read the existing threads on your topic at http://www.svabhinava.org/abhinava/ForumIndex/default.htm. Before responding to anyone, check out the person’s profile, interests and views there and/or at the linked homepage.

Personalize:

 share ideas, examples, doubts, difficulties, resources, etc., freely on the list, but take personal one-on-one communications off-line. To reduce traffic and distractions, avoid responses that are mere one-liners (words of appreciation, etc.) and/or inserted phrases into someone else’s texts.

Ideas:

 subordinate all details, narrative, references, value-judgments to the few central ideas you are trying to render intelligible. Even more important to us than defense and critique of ideologies are your thought-processes in context and the formative experiences they draw upon.

Personal writings:

 clarify their relevance, at least by way of an introductory, concluding or follow-up note,. Otherwise, post on the Web somewhere, and invite comment, with just the most relevant extract. Check if any of the members are interested enough to display on their personal home page.

News articles:

 

Presentation

Subject-head:

use a descriptive title that accurately describes your message (for easy retrieval). If you reply to a message, do revise the subject line to reflect any shift in focus that you may be introducing. Use the Post (and not the Reply) function to start a discussion on a new subject.

Focus:

keep your communications concise, readable and well organized. When responding to someone, ensure that others who might not have the required background are not simply excluded from the discussion.

Tenor:

 while adhering to rigorous academic standards, this forum is intended for an international educated lay public. Scholars should minimize and clarify jargon in this virtual ‘study-group’ while lay persons should make an effort to learn.

Replies:

 retain those parts of the original message in your reply required to make sense of the thread, but delete everything that is irrelevant. If your response branches into several unrelated directions, split it into several targeted replies, each with a different subject-head.

One-on-one:

 feel free to initiate discussions offline with another member before bringing it to the forum with your interlocutor’s consent once the ideas have matured. Edit the personal thread to ensure that it is intelligible to and resonates well with the whole community.

Argument:

 make your points forcefully and cogently, while respecting others' right to differ. If the debate is becoming repetitive and is making no headway, pass on to more promising (perhaps related) issues. Chances are you’ll find an opportunity to return from a fresh even unexpected angle.

Author references:

 if you refer to an author’s work, either cite the relevant passage(s) in full or summarize his/her argument (with publication details), and clarify your own take (even if only to express doubts or non-comprehension). Above all, avoid dropping names in succession that mean nothing to the rest of us on this forum.

Links:

 provide web-links to essays, preferably at the author’s home- or other authoritative page, that best exemplify the ideas or positions you are discussing. Don’t hesitate to cite the most representative passages, duly edited, especially if there’s likelihood that the (news) article may no longer be accessible in the future.

Personalize:

share ideas, examples, doubts, difficulties, resources, etc., freely on the list, but take personal one-on-one communications off-line. To reduce traffic and distractions, avoid responses that are mere one-liners (words of appreciation, etc.) and/or inserted phrases into someone else’s texts.

 

Proofing

Proofing:

 run your spell-checker and verify your syntax before posting, so that others may focus on deciphering your meaning (and not your text). Ensure that any terms and phrases in Sanskrit are always accurately typed and translated so as not to mislead non-Sanskritists.

Edits:

your email may be distributed with edits by the moderator by way of proofing, clarifications (e.g., of Sanskrit terms), insertions (e.g., of links to other relevant posts), a header providing additional context, etc. If you find that your message has been unwittingly distorted, please post a follow-up message to clarify. The best is to edit yourself before posting!

Formatting

Look back:

 read Forum-Index section on “moderating and contributing to discussion within a virtual community” (under Knowledge Management) for various communication problems that arise and ideas on how to avoid them in advance.

HTML:

 set your email client to accept messages in HTML format and select the corresponding Yahoo! option at the forum homepage. The formatting that comes through makes the messages more readable—with emphases, color coding and embedded hyperlinks—and also facilitates the use of these touches to surcharge the meaning.

Format:

 I consistently use Verdana (the most readable online) 10 point font for my entire text, and select blue to distinguish my new message from citations and the preceding thread. If you have other preferences, at least be consistent in your choice of font, size, coloring, etc., so that readers can focus on your text and its meaning.

Dia-Gnosis:

 if a thread here might aliment discussion in another forum or vice-versa, cross-post at the right moment and keep us informed of any illuminating developments. Beyond bridging (cultural) distances and wide diffusion, such ‘lateral thinking’ is what distinguishes this medium.

Synergize:

 listen to the heartbeat of the forum—what are most people passionate about at the moment—and ask yourself how best you can contribute so as to rev up the discussion a notch higher. Watch for a opportunity to introduce skillfully your own pet ideas and projects as if they were exactly what everyone has been waiting for.

Advertisement:

 a first post drawing attention to your web-site, sometimes with an 'advertisement' might be an excellent way of presenting yourself. But further such posts that are only canvassing will be probably rejected. If passionate about your beliefs, make an effort to relate them to the specific concerns of this forum. Once interest is awakened and credibility established, the moderator will be more than willing to give you the benefit of the doubt for future posts.

Moderator

Delays:

 give your post at least 36 hours to be approved, before attempting to repost. If it has still not appeared even after 48 hours (and you have not received your copy back from the listserv), chances are that the moderator is trying to decide whether to approve, edit or reject the post. In the latter case, you'll probably get an explanatory note pointing to the guidelines.

Guidelines:

 adopt this evolving document as the backdrop to all discussions, and contribute your own maxims for fruitful interaction as we learn together.