QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED
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From: Lorraine Cook
Date: Monday, September 15, 2008, 11:41 AM
Subject: Questions to be answered
ID: 264538

Dear “Sophia Open Forum” Moderators,

In the spirit of openness I would like to ask the moderators of this list to clarify how this forum works. I have a few specific questions about the process.

1. Is there an application process for new members to this forum? If so, who makes the decisions about who can participate in this forum? What criteria are used to decide who is allowed? Is anybody turned away?

2. Are messages that are submitted “monitored” for content before they appear on the forum? If so, what are the criteria for determining what content is allowed? Who is authorized to make the decisions determining content?

I assume that the move to this new forum area was based on some concern that the public discussion of process issues in the “Sophia2010 Women and Wisdom” forum area was inappropriate to some subscribers. I can understand that, although it would have been good to hear from the folks who raised the concern before action was taken. I think it might have been possible to collectively come up with this same solution and at the same time collectively answer the above questions.

However, for me at least, as part of the community of interested people now moved to this new forum area, to feel real ownership of this discussion, the questions raised above remain to be answered. I think they are pertinent to the principles of shared governance and a transparent, positive, inclusive process—which, is I see it, is what our discussion is deeply about. I invite both the response of the moderators and the dialog of the community around these questions in the same spirit of openness, recognizing that we are all learners here.

May all beings listen to the deepest calling of the heart,