From: Steve Basile <owner-pflag-talk@youth-guard.org>
Subject: Welcome To PFT (long)
Hello all,
[This is a long one. You might want to print this message, read
it over, and save it for future reference]
Welcome PFT List Assistants
(LA's) About the lists PFLAG-announce
(PFA) How to subscribe How
we've grown! PFT and PFA
========
I'm Steve, the guardian of the pflag-talk (PFT) and pflag-announce
(PFA) lists. I mean guardian, because all I try to do is keep them
safe and friendly to all who come to join our little patch of
cyberspace. I'd like to reintroduce the purpose of the lists, and
give some background that might be helpful.
First, I should note that I am assisted by a group of helpful and
conscientious list assistants, who help new members, assist with list
mechanics, point the way and gently guide people on the list who seem
to need some help. They are:
==========================
John Lindner:
Toni Mattson:
Tracy Kriese:
"Just Bill" (on leave)
Liz Armstrong (on leave)
Deb Bridge (on leave)
Laura Siegel (on leave)
Retired Staff
Barbara Eickhoff
===============
PFT is a list for support, education and advocacy issues and
questions of interest to PFLAG'ers.
PFT is a closed (subscribers only may post) list primarily for
PFLAG-related support, discussion, and chapter organizing
information. It is a friendly, supportive, "flame-free" environment
where only intolerance is not tolerated (I love saying that!) It is
NOT for action-alerts, reprints of news articles, announcements or
press releases, but a place to discuss how the issues raised in such
things make us FEEL, and what we can do about them.
Think of it like the support circle, or "rap session" at a local
PFLAG meeting--open, but with some guidelines for discussion to stay
on track. PFT is completely confidential--NO ONE SHOULD EVER REPOST
PFT MAIL WITHOUT THE AUTHOR'S PERMISSION. That way we can be totally
candid and open without any fear.
To post a message?
==================
Just send your mail to pflag-talk@youth-guard.org
and all on the PFT and the PFT-D (pflag-talk-digest) lists will get
it.
====================
PFA is for PFLAG-related announcements: pride parades, meeting
notices, national, state or local events, of interest to PFLAG'ers.
It is an approval-based list, so if you're not sure if something is
appropriate, send it in to pflag-announce@youth-guard.org
and I'll let you know. In general, PFA is a more public forum--its
posts get picked up by Internet news and also GLBT news services, so
it really is for public announcements.
To post a message?
==================
Just send your mail to pflag-announce@youth-guard.org
and all on the PFA list will get it.
After November 30, 2000: To subscribe to PFLAG-Talk or PFLAG-Announce, send e-mail to listproc@youth-guard.org. Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message, put either
subscribe pflag-talk FirstName LastNameor
subscribe pflag-announce FirstName LastName
You may put anything in for first and last name, but you must put something or the listproc software will kick back your request with an error message.
Once you are subscribed to either list, you may change your subscription settings, depending on whether you want to receive individual messages or in bulk (digest) form. You may also set the mailing list on temporary hold if you are going to be away for a while.
PFLAG-Talk 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.orgIn the BODY of the message, type:
set pflag-talk mail digest
end
Send a message to:
listproc@youth-guard.orgIn the BODY of the message, type:
set pflag-talk mail ack
end
Send a message to:
Steve Basile <owner-pflag-talk@youth-guard.org>
================
There are so many of us! PFA has 379 subscribers, and PFT and
PFT-digest have a total of 247. Many of us are relatively new to the
list, so I thought I'd repost some words that describe our mission
here, and also encourage each of us to send a short intro to the list
if you'd like. Mine will follow, with the word INTRO in the subject
line--if you do that too it will make it easier for people to save
and file all the intros for reference.
===========
We are a lot like a PFLAG chapter, made up of new folk and not so
new, and focused on support, education and advocacy. Of the three, we
emphasize support most strongly, because advocacy in particular can
engender strong political opinions which can be off-putting
especially for newer people. Support, and education, and sharing our
experiences for the growth of others are our primary missions. There
are other lists for complex issue discussion, queer-politics,
action-alerts and religious issues, and I have more info on them if
you'd like. PFT and PFA are more limited in scope, focusing mainly on
support and information.
I post "list guidelines" now and again, and they seem to have stifled
discussion a bit, perhaps for "fear of doing something wrong." The
guidelines I posted a while back, and repost now and again are just
that: guides for list behavior, but we are a diverse crowd, and we
all interact differently. There is lots of room for interpretation,
and we don't hang, shoot or flog "violators." The goals of any
guidelines at all fall into just a few categories:
Guidelines keep us on track, and help keep the list as useful as
it can be to as many of us as possible.
That said, this is OUR list, all of us. I act as sort of a benevolent
dictator :-) with a helpful "cabinet" of diplomats (PFT
list-assistants) who try to set the course of the lists. This is a
living, breathing, evolving thing--tell us what you need, ask the
questions that are on your minds, ask each other and answer each
other and we will all benefit.
So welcome to the PFLAG lists! Take off your shoes, grab a cool drink
and say howdy to your neighbor. We are all linked by one common bond:
love. We all are here, in some way shape or form, because we love
someone gay, and that common denominator should be our watchword as
well.
Please email
me, or any of our LA's at any time if you have
questions, comments, suggestions or just want to chat. Most of all,
have fun.
All the best from Austin,
Steve
-- owner-pflag-talk@youth-guard.org
Austin, TX
|"We should all be...connected
| to each other."
| --Steve Schalchlin/The Last Session
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--
Private email
encouraged on homosexuality, coming out or PFLAG
- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
--
List-Owner: pflag-talk@youth-guard.org, pflag-talk-digest &
pflag-announce@youth-guard.org
Personal: http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/1226
PFLAG/Austin: http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~jarehart/pflag/
Return to pflag-talk/tgs-pflag home page.
