Integral Yoga Community - On-line Groups

Guidelines to Auroconf Discussions

Purpose

The purpose of Auroconf is to be a general means of communication among this online community, to allow its members to discuss varied topics, keep informed of events and to keep in touch one with another.

Who are we?

Auroconf does not represent any one physical community or organization, nor does it present itself as the official online voice for any one person or group of persons. Each participant is free to hold and express differing ideas on all subjects, including Sri Aurobindo, The Mother, this yoga, other teachers, etc.

On-line Etiquette

At the same time we strive for and expect each member of Auroconf to maintain the highest standard of discussion and interaction. Auroconf is designed to be a free and open discussion group. However participants who repeatedly attempt to disrupt the group with personal agendas, ideologies that are deeply at odds with the aims of the group, or other hostile behavior may not be allowed to continue. Removal of a person from the list will only be used as a last resort, if a person is unresponsive to reasonable requests or persists in posting messages that are deemed to be disruptive to Auroconf.

Collective Yoga

Each person is expected to be fair, respectful, and compassionate in his/her dealings with the others on this forum. Further, we see this forum and group as an opportunity to practice a collective sadhana [yogic practice], which means offering our actions here to the Divine for uplifting and transformation.

Complaints

Complaints about individual participants, if seen to be serious, will be reviewed by an informal moderating group. This group consists of people who have been involved over time in serving the needs of this on-line community.

        Current members of the Auroconf Moderating Group are:



        Dave Hutchinson        <dbhutchinson@ucdavis.edu>

        Will Moss              <wmoss108@gwi.net>

        Kenny Schachat         <kenny@beatstream.net>

        Larry Tepper           <ltepper@indra.com>

Conflict Resolution

If you have a complaint about the way the list is being handled, or the conduct of one of its members, please privately (and politely!) contact the individual with whom you have a disagreement. If you are unable to achieve a resolution of your dispute individually, then contact David Hutchinson, who will forward your complaint to the Moderating group. If complaints are seen as serious or numerous enough, a Group member will try to see if the parties in dispute can work it out amongst themselves first. If not, and if the complaints continue, the Moderating group will take it up. All participants on the list will have an opportunity to voice their feelings on the matter at hand. The Moderating Group, using all the information available, will then attempt to reach a consensus on the matter. If a consensus is reached that a member is completely incompatible with the purposes of the discussion group, that person may be removed from the list.

We have kept things as informal as possible while maintaining some structure, in order to keep the process open and flexible to changing circumstances and conditions, while trusting in the general goodwill of all concerned.

Quoting

We urge everyone who uses quotations and references from books and publications to provide specific sources for them. This will be helpful for those that would like to read the source material for themselves and also minimize speculation and mistakes.

Auroconf and Related Groups/Web-sites

Auroconf has grown as the online community has grown. It was started in 1994 by Larry Tepper ltepper@indra.com, and at this point [Feb 2000] has a membership of roughly 125 persons. There are also several related web sites as well as discussion groups on specific topics. These include:

Discussion Groups

Savitri: An online discussion group, studying Sri Aurobindo's masterwork, "Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol". To join, send a message to savitri-request@aurobindo.org with the word "subscribe" in the body of the message, or contact the group moderator, Ben Irvin irvinb@ix.netcom.com.

Synthesis of Yoga: An on-line study group for Sri Aurobindo's "The Synthesis of Yoga". To join, send a message to synthesis-request@aurobindo.org with the word "subscribe" in the body of the message

Web sites

Miraura - a WWW site built by members of this on-line group. The URL is:

http://www.miraura.org

Links to other web sites:

http://www.miraura.org/link.html

Please note that these web sites are maintained by separate organizations and the Auroconf group does not necessarily endorse all of the information or links to other web sites contained in them nor do we regularly monitor the links for availability.

E-mail and internet

If you are new to the Internet, electronic mail, or computers, we have many who can help. Here are some of the individuals who can help in specific ways:

Electronic mail:


Larry Tepper		ltepper@indra.com
Dave Hutchinson		dbhutchinson@ucdavis.edu
Prem Sobel			premsobel@earthlink.net


World Wide Web:		


Jim Hurley			krell-labs@sbcglobal.net

Since many of the members have regular jobs and other obligations, and some only have network access from their place of work, there may be delays (especially over weekends) if one expects a response.

If you have questions about Sri Aurobindo, The Mother, or the Yoga, it is probably best to address them to the whole list.

However, specific questions about Auroville may go to the following:

Auroville International USA: info@aviusa.org

Using the Auroconf email list

The address of Auroconf is auroconf@aurobindo.org. When you want to send a message to the list, this address must be in the "To:" line of your email program. Sometimes when people think they are replying to the list, they only send a message to one person. (And remember that if you wish to post a message to the whole group, you don't need to "cc" any individual in the group. If you do, that person will get two copies of the message.)

If you have questions about how email works, you can ask one of the people listed above and we will help you figure it out!

To join Auroconf, send a message to auroconf-request@aurobindo.org or owner-auroconf@aurobindo.org.

If you wish to be taken off Auroconf, please send a message to auroconf-request@aurobindo.org.. Don't send it to the list itself!

In one sense Auroconf is simply a mailing list. Yet it is also the dynamic expression of the spirit of a group of people who share many things, above all an aspiration toward spiritual growth.

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Last modified on 27 July, 2001