WELCOME TO UU-COMMUNITY

The UU-Community Mailing List is a moderated electronic forum for UUs to exchange information and discuss topics. UU-Community is founded upon the Principles of the UUA. Subscribers must follow the Membership Requirements in the UU-Community Covenant.

UU-Community Covenant
(Version 11.1)

PURPOSE

The UU-Community Mailing List exists to provide Unitarian Universalists with a moderated electronic forum to exchange information and discuss topics as they would in a UU Congregation. UU-Community intends to be the Internet equivalent of Joys and Concerns, Shared Reflection, Sermon Talk Back, Congregational Response, Forum, Congregational Meeting, and Coffee Hour, rolled into one.

PRINCIPLES

UU-Community is founded upon the Principles of the UUA (paraphrased):

We, the members of UU-Community, covenant to affirm and promote:

·        The inherent dignity and worth of every person;

·        Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

·        Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our mailing list;

·        A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

·        The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within UU-Community and in society at large;

·        The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

·        Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

PRACTICE

In practice, these Principles result in the following rules for posting messages to UU-Community:

·        Members need to be supportive of each other. This is a friendly community.

·        Every person has the same rights as any other. Every opinion is valuable.

·        Members respond to ideas with ideas, not with personal denigration or insults.

·        Comments on another member's personality or psychological state are only appropriate when the member being discussed is likely to welcome such comments.

·        Discussions are free and open, friendly and fair.

·        Arguments shall be tempered with compassion. A win-at-all-costs debating style is not appropriate.

·        The Moderators will not tolerate hostile threats, intimidation, accusations, or harassment of any kind against Members or Moderators.

·        Language must be suitable for reasonable sensibilities and all ages, including children.

·        Discussion shall be consistent with the environment. If a message would be inappropriate for public presentation in a UU Congregation, it is inappropriate for posting to UU-Community.

·        UU-Community will not tolerate dishonesty. Although the Moderators do not intend to check the backgrounds of members, misrepresentation of important personal facts (e.g., name, affiliation, and majority age) will be grounds for expulsion.

·        Members shall not post junk mail, chain letters, advertisements, get-rich-quick schemes, attachments, virus warnings, formatted email (HTML, RTF, etc.), non-standard characters, or copyrighted material without permission from the copyright holder.

 

 

MEMBERSHIP

The UU-Community Mailing List is open to all Unitarian Universalists who are in sympathy with the Purpose and Principles of UU-Community. A subscriber must be an active member of an UUA-affiliated congregation (church, society, or fellowship) or a member of the UU Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF). The list is open to all minor children of subscribers. Subscribers must identify their UU affiliation when they request subscription. Unitarian Universalists who do not meet the membership criteria (e.g., inactive members and friends) can request subscription by submitting a request and explanation directly to the Moderators.

Whenever possible, a Moderator will greet each new member and introduce the newcomer to UU-Community. The Moderators encourage new members to share a short biography with UU-Community, including information about their current UU affiliation and theology.

If the Moderators believe that a subscriber is posting messages that are inconsistent with the Purpose and Principles of UU-Community, they will take appropriate action. Possible actions include warning, rejection of submitted messages, suspension, or expulsion from UU-Community. The decision of the Moderators is final (subject to seemingly endless private email to discuss the action).

If a temporary problem with a subscriber email service causes UU-Community messages to be rejected, the Moderators will set the list processor to send only digests to the subscriber. If the problem persists and the digests are rejected, the Moderators will set the list processor to send no mail to the subscriber.

MODERATORS

The role of the Moderator is to review each message to determine if it is consistent with the UU-Community Covenant and Midrashim. If so, the Moderator approves the message and the list processor distributes the message. If the message is questionable, the Moderator will ask the author for a revision with the clear understanding that the author can ask for review by the other two Moderators. If the author does not revise the message, the Moderator will put the message on hold and consult with at least one other Moderator. If any two Moderators agree that the message is inconsistent with the UU-Community Covenant and Midrashim, they will discard the message. The Moderator will return the message with an explanation of the perceived problem and request the author to rewrite the message.

In addition, a Moderator will review each subscription request to determine if the person meets the membership requirements of the UU-Community Covenant. If so, the Moderator will instruct the computer system to add the subscriber. If not, the Moderator will put the subscription request on hold and consult with at least one other Moderator. If the Moderators are not sure, they will contact the person for additional information or clarification. If any two Moderators agree that the person does not meet the membership requirements, they will discard the subscription request and send an explanation to the person.

The Members of UU-Community select three Moderators, subject to approval by the UUA Electronic Communications Committee. The UU-Community Mailing List belongs to the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Moderators must follow the policies of the UUA OEC at <http://www.uua.org/lists/listpolicies.html>.

Each Moderator will serve for a one-year term beginning in January, May, and September, respectively. Candidates for Moderator must have been members of UU-Community for at least 6 months. Moderators can serve only one additional term after a single full term. A former Moderator can serve again after eight months of rest. The UUA OEC will appoint Moderators to fill any vacancy, subject only to their good judgment.

Even with three Moderators, the list cannot be monitored every minute of the day, especially on weekends. Message delays may be hours, or as much as a day, depending on the personal schedules of the Moderators.

Problems or questions about this list or subscriptions shall be addressed to the Moderators at <UU-Community-owner@uua.org>. If the Moderators don't resolve your problem, contact the UUA Office of Electronic Communication at <oec@uua.org>.

MINISTER

UU-Community members can call a Minister to provide spiritual and ethical guidance. The members may use any reasonable method to select and accept the minister. The Minister would be an advisor to the Moderators and be independent, although subject to the same requirements as any other member.

 

 

MIDRASHIM (Commentaries and Explanations about the Rules)

 

 

·        Speak from your own experience and feelings. It is better to hear about someone's own experiences with spirituality, UUism, or whatever, than to hear theories about it or opinions about other people's opinions.

·        UU-Community is not a debating society; scoring points is not the goal. Instead, this list seeks to foster a conversation where the members hear everyone and attack no one. Bear in mind that attacking an idea held dearly can feel like a personal attack.

·        Beware False Tongues, rumors, false-hoods, and second-hand information. Do not send screams of "Fire!" More harm than good is the usual result.

·        Check rumors out at the Computer Incident Advisory Capability web site at <http://www.ciac.org/ciac/> before posting them -- then don't bother posting them.

·        Be considerate and caring in your search for understanding when expressing your opinions, or pointing out the merits of your opinion to others.

·        When in doubt about whether a draft message is disrespectful or not, wait 24 hours, and then reread the message. You may answer your doubts when time has lapsed and you read it fresh, or you may discover a better way to phrase it that is more respectful.

·        The author of a private message holds a copyright on it, as with all works of original authorship, under US and international law. It is an open question whether sending such a message to others gives the recipient the right to further distribute it. The recipient of a private message may not quote from it to the list without obtaining explicit permission from the sender.

·        Many people consider the public distribution of a private message, without permission, to be a violation of the author's right to privacy.

·        Point-by-point refutation of messages usually causes people's positions to harden, and is discouraged. When people start doing the point-by-point, quote and counter-quote thing, the discussion goes right down the toilet (except where technical points are being clarified). Instead, choose no more than three of the more important points to quote. Better yet, say in your own words the most important part of what you think the other person meant, and then add your response.

·        The Moderators are human and will make mistakes. Let them know in a kindly way, preferably by private email to <UU-Community-owner@uua.org>, so they can learn from, and fix, their mistakes. If you feel that the Moderators aren't doing a responsible job, complain to the UUA Office of Electronic Communication at <oec@uua.org>.

·        Don't abuse, libel, defame or malign the Moderators in public about the way they moderate UU-Community. Don't misrepresent, or lie about, the actions of the Moderators in public. Don't be abusive to the UU-Community Moderators in private email to them. . Any of these actions is cause for expulsion from UU-Community, either summarily or after an initial warning, at the discretion of the Moderators.

·        If you are having an off-list argument with an UU-Community subscriber, don't bring it up here. For example, if you were having an argument on another list, or by private email, in which you just called someone a filthy epithet involving a rhinoceros, it would be inappropriate to bring up rhinos in a message to that person on this list. This does not preclude private conversations among members, as long as they don't send these messages to the list. However, never forward a message from this list to a non-member without getting explicit permission from the sender of the message.

·        UU-Community is like an informal party after church, hosted by the Moderators. Like a party at church, it's not the place for no-hold-barred arguments, gossip about each other, or throwing spitballs at the hosts. Instead, it's a place where people can hear interesting ideas, consider them, and discuss them, and where they can get to know some fellow UUs better.

·        If you find that you are replying to too many messages, be more discriminating and select only those you find most interesting. Let someone else respond to the other messages. Often, if you wait, someone else will make the same comment that you were thinking about making. There is a quiet beauty in waiting until some of the more introverted persons have a chance to respond to a message. It takes them longer to respond. If the more extroverted members jump in and respond to messages quickly, some members will always remain lurkers.