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**** WELCOME TO PFLAG-DISCUSS! ****
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You have joined a group of PFLAG members and supporters united by dedication to the mission of PFLAG, who have joined together to discuss the more difficult issues pertaining to advocacy for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning (gay+) people, how to best support gay+ people and their loved ones, and how to educate the community at large. We are dedicated to improving communication among local PFLAG chapters as well as between the chapters and the national organization. We hope PFLAG-Discuss is useful to you.
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BACKGROUND
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PFLAG-Discuss is not affiliated with PFLAG National, but is administered by listowner Ron Iseli, a member of PFLAG-DC Metro. There are also several PFLAG-Discuss Guides, who assist with administration of the list. Those Guides are Gabi Clayton, Liz Armstrong, and Steve Basile.
PFLAG-Discuss is run on a list server computer owned by Youth Guardian Services through an Internet connection provided by the Critical Path Project. Server space and communications capability are provided to PFLAG-Discuss free of charge, and we wish to acknowledge the support of these two very important organizations. For more information, please visit their websites at:
PFLAG-Discuss is open to all supporters of the mission of PFLAG. PFLAG membership is not required, but it is strongly encouraged. To locate the ocal chapter nearest you, or for more information about PFLAG, you can email them at <info@pflag.org>. Or visit their website at:
Canadian residents should visit the Canadian PFLAG chapters web directory (http://www.pflag.ca/Chapters/chapters.htm).
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WHY PFLAG-DISCUSS?
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PFLAG-Discuss is a confidential forum to discuss issues pertaining to PFLAG, its members, and its supporters in a safe, flame-free environment. It is a place to share ideas, questions, and concerns regarding our local chapters. It is a place for communication among the local chapters, the national staff, the Board of Directors, and the Regional Directors of PFLAG. It is a place for all participants to learn and grow.
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TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
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PFLAG-Discuss is patterned after a typical PFLAG meeting, only with more advanced participants with more advanced issues. People seeking support during the coming out process, either their own or their loved ones', looking for resources for themselves or their loved ones, etc., would be better served by our sister list, PFLAG-Talk. For information about PFLAG-Talk, please visit their website at:
http://www.critpath.org/pflag-talk
PFLAG-Discuss topics include the business of PFLAG and the local chapters, such as membership issues, policy issues, strategies and tactics, publications, etc. Chapters are encouraged to share their successes and concerns, seek ideas and support from other chapters and national staff, share publications they have produced, etc. Besides the business of PFLAG, PFLAG-Discuss is open to the discussion of issues beyond the scope of PFLAG-Talk. Controversial issues are welcomed, as long as they are discussed responsibly and maturely. Arguments about these issues are inevitable and encouraged, but must be fair and considerate of participants' feelings. Lively discussion is encouraged, but the safe space and flame-free environment must be maintained at all times.
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PFLAG-DISCUSS GUIDELINES
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In order to accommodate the wide variety of discussion possible on PFLAG-Discuss, and to keep the discussion concise and focused, subscribers are asked to follow a few guidelines.
* USE A DESCRIPTIVE SUBJECT LINE FOR YOUR DISCUSSIONS. Some subscribers will be interested in some discussions and not others, and this will allow them to participate in what interests them and delete the rest. If your discussion strays from the topic in the subject line, please change the subject line to reflect the topic under discussion. For example, if the original discussion was about membership, but has now strayed into fundraising, change the subject line as follows:
Subject: Fundraising (was Re: Membership)
* EDIT QUOTED MATERIAL FROM LIST AND OFF-LIST SOURCES. When replying to a message, do not quote the entire message you are replying to, just the relevant parts. If quoting from an article or communication from outside the list, only quote the relevant parts of that article or communication.
Never post a long article or communication from an outside source without first checking with the listowner or Guide staff. If you wish to offer an interesting article to the subscribers, describe the article and offer to send the full article by private email. This guideline is necessary to help reduce the mail received by subscribers who may not be interested in that particular article or discussion.
* ACCEPT AND RESPECT GUIDANCE FROM THE LISTOWNER AND GUIDE STAFF. As we venture into controversial topics, emotions can give rise to discussions that become unproductive to those subscribers not involved in the discussion. If this happens, the listowner or one of the PFLAG-Discuss Guides may ask participants to take the discussion off the list and continue by private email. Previous experience has shown us that such discussions can generate huge volumes of mail, more than most subscribers wish to receive on a daily basis. Our purpose is not to censor discussion, but to maintain a safe space and a flame-free environment and to administer this list in a way most useful to a majority of the subscribers.
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HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH PFLAG-DISCUSS
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TO POST A MESSAGE TO THE PFLAG-DISCUSS MEMBERS
Send your message to:
pflag-discuss@youth-guard.org
REPLYING TO MESSAGES ON PFLAG-DISCUSS
If you want to reply to the original poster of a message, just use the "Reply" option of your email software. To reply to the whole list, use the "Reply to All" option. You should edit the original poster's name from the "To:" line, to keep that person from getting two copies of your reply.
TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM PFLAG-DISCUSS
Send a message to:
listproc@youth-guard.org
In the BODY of the message, type:
unsubscribe pflag-discuss
TO RECEIVE PFLAG-DISCUSS IN DIGEST FORMAT
PFLAG-Discuss is available in Digest format, which comes out once a day containing all the messages since the previous Digest. To switch to Digest format, send a message to:
listproc@youth-guard.org
In the BODY of the message, type:
set pflag-discuss mail digest
TO SWITCH FROM DIGEST FORMAT TO REGULAR FORMAT
Send a message to:
listproc@youth-guard.org
In the BODY of the message, type:
set pflag-discuss mail ack
TO CONTACT THE LISTOWNER
Send a message to:
Ron Iseli <ron@youth-guard.org>
TO CONTACT A PFLAG-DISCUSS GUIDE
Send a message to any of the following:
Gabi Clayton <gclayton@earthlink.net>Liz Armstrong <LIZARM@aol.com>
Steve Basile <owner-pflag-talk@youth-guard.org>
TO CONTACT THE WHOLE PFLAG-DISCUSS STAFF
Send a message to:
pfd-staff@youth-guard.org
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QUESTIONS AND/OR COMMENTS
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As listowner, I always welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions. Please feel free to write to me at any time.
And, again, welcome to PFLAG-Discuss! I hope you enjoy your time spent with this list.
Sincerely,
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