Hi

I’ve just spent about the last three hours doing all the work necessary to set up this list, adding 52 of you, approving the 2 subscriptions that were pending, sending the list announcement to two e-mail lists, and seven more have joined in the time after that.

I’m pretty physically wrecked at the moment, so I can’t compose a nice well-written message. The list announcement, containing A Process Based on Respect, which I think all of you have seen, and the statement of principles that you got with your subscription, lay out the basis for the list. The agenda that those of us have who have worked to get this going is outlined in those documents. We have no master plan beyond what you have read in those documents. I do not particularly see this list as launching a national organization in and of itself, but I do see it as a place to decide on how we are going to get to a place where one that will really work can be launched. Deciding upon and taking the next steps is what we brought this list into being for.

I may raise more specific issues later when I’ve had some rest my mind returns to functioning, but this is the basic “mission.”

I wrote extensively about this in the statement of principles, but another word about moderation. There are ten moderators here in addition to myself. The group of us have a wide diversity in both perspectives and movement experience. This list is basically meant to work “unmoderated,” but we feel we need to be careful, so all new subscribers will be added as moderated. I have removed the moderation from the people involved in organizing the list, from the National Summit plank facilitators who have been subscribed because of that role, and from the TA Center directors who were also subscribed because of their roles. Everyone else will stay on moderation until a history of acceptable posting has been established. I’m starting out with a history of acceptable posting being three messages sent with no problems. With any of us being able to approve messages, message approval should normally go pretty quickly, and I hope this doesn’t interfere with the flow of posting too much, as it will to some degree in the first week or two until most of the active posters get set off moderation.

I know some of the rest of you personally, and for those of you that do, I know you won’t cause any problems, but I have to treat all of you the same way. I’ve been involved in the consumer/survivor movement for some 30 years now, and I have seen too many attempts to deal with these issues sabotaged by flames, disrespect for the perspectives of others, disrespect for the importance of process, and on and on. I’m taking responsibility for this list because I think we can do it differently this time. But I still want to take care with this. Sorry to go on so long about this.

I’m also sorry it took me so long to start this list after I had decided to do it, but my life has been overwhelmed these past few months, there were more details than I imagined, and this has to be done right.

Welcome,

Dennis