Hi Everyone
After some confusion over the rules and objectives of the
Lila Squad last month, I've decided to make a habit of posting the
charter, rules, voting procedures and FAQ to the list at the beginning
of each month.
The charter is largely rewritten from what was previously on the site
so can all members (new and old) please read through it. We've also
removed the rule requiring members to post once a month as it
seems that was discouraging people from joining this list.
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LILA SQUAD CHARTER
The Lila Squad is a group of people engaged in an electronic dialog on
the Metaphysics of Quality as proposed by Robert M Pirsig in his book
"Lila: An Inquiry into Morals". Our objective is to develop and expand
our personal understandings of the metaphysical nature of the universe
through study and discourse on the Metaphysics of Quality, related
theories and empirical experience.
The Lila Squad believes that in order for dialog to be useful it must be
intelligent, coherent and manageable, and so the discussion is limited to
monthly programs during which we explore a single question to the
exclusion of all else. The primary reasons for this are:
1. It is the nature of metaphysics that it deals with underlying
assumptions. Often these assumptions are not obvious in everyday
"common sense" analysis and so it is necessary to examine issues
thorougly to see their metaphysical causes. Thus metaphysical analysis
requires a high level of focus. A superficial metaphysics is a
contradiction in terms.
2. On the whole our members are interested in the same range of
subjects, however they join the list at different times and may have
different interests at any specific time. By organizing ourselves so that
we all study and discuss the same subject at the same time we facilitate
greater communication and sharing of ideas in the long run.
3. By limiting the number of posts and organizing the subject matter we
make it possible for our members to participate meaningfully even if
they only have an hour or two a week to follow the list. Our monthly
discussions are also archived in this structure, which makes it easy for
both current and future students to research and learn from them.
We ask members to see the Lila Squad as a tool in their philosophical
pursuits. It will not provide the answers to all your questions and it will
not be everything you've ever wanted from a mailing list. But it will be a
high-quality forum providing serious philosophers with much insight
and satisfaction.
The Lila Squad is administered by Diana McPartlin, and the Lila Squad
steering committee consists of Diana, Horse, Magnus Berg and Keith
Gillette.
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LILA SQUAD RULES
All members of the Lila Squad are required to stick to the rules below.
1. Members must have read both Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance and LILA.
2. Members may post only one message every 24 hours (except for
PROGRAM topic suggestions and voting in last week of month).
3. Members must answer the program question in every post and
must not pursue topics that may distract from the program.
4. Members must express themselves clearly, concisely and
courteously. They should not use html email nor send attachments.
The Lila Squad Steering Committee reserves the right to block any posts
which break these rules and may suspend any members who
persistently ignore them. Suspensions will be considered on a case by
case basis and warnings will always be given before any action is taken.
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LILA SQUAD PROGRAMS
The Lila Squad discusses only one thread or PROGRAM per month.
These are decided on by the group in the last week of each month. Our
voting procedure is as follows, where day 0 is the first day of each new
month:
Stage 1: Topic suggestion.
day -6: Call for topics.
day -3: New moderator consolidates all topics, posts list to the
squad and reminds that voting will start on day -2.
Stage 2: Voting
day -2: Voting begins (00:01 hrs GMT)
day -1: Voting ends (24:00 hrs GMT)
day 0: Moderator counts votes and posts new topic and
subscribers begin dialog
Rules
* Members can vote for one topic only.
* Suggestion of topic and vote for topic are separate.
* If members suggest topics or vote before the set days
these will be held back until the set days and then posted
to the list.
* In the event of a tie the moderator will decide.
* The moderator may reword the topic question to make
it more conducive to constructive dialog on the MOQ.
* Subscribers are encouraged to write a summary of their
thoughts on the topic at the end of the month.
* A different person assumes the role of moderator each
month. Anyone who has been an active member of the
Lila Squad for three months can apply to be a moderator.
If you are interested in taking a turn please email Diana
directly.
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LILA SQUAD FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
How does this mailing list work?
It's an email-based discussion group. When you email the list your
mail is distributed to all the other people who have subscribed to this
group, so we can all join in the dialog together. You are welcome to
jump into any discussions that interest you or you can initiate your
own. If you've never been a member of a mailing list before we
suggest you check out this page on netiquette (ie Net-etiquette):
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
which tells you the commonly accepted standards of behaviour on
mailing lists.
How do I post to this list?
Send an email to the mailing list's email address exactly the same
way as you would send an email to a friend. You can use any email
program - Eudora, MS Outlook, Netscape mail etc. This list's email
address is [EMAIL PROTECTED] Our computer will automatically
add the prefix LS to your post, you don't have to do that yourself.
The prefixes are intended help you separate your LS mail from the
rest of your mail.
How do I unsubscribe from this list?
Send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
unsubscribe lilasquad
in the body of the mail. Don't write anything else in the email. The
subject line will be ignored so you can write anything you want or
leave it blank.
Why do you have two mailing lists on MOQ.org?
The MOQ.org mailing lists - MOQ_discuss (MD) and the Lila Squad
(LS) - serve two very different purposes. The MD is a straightforward
discussion group. It is unmoderated and you are free to raise and
discuss any topic related to the MOQ. The LS is run as a series of
workshops. Each month we take a single question and investigate it
to the exclusion of all else.The LS is moderated so if you send a post
that is not directly related to the monthly PROGRAM then it will
not be allowed into the discussion.
The two mailing lists each have advantages and disadvantages.The
amount of mail on the LS is far less than on the MD and it's is
easier to keep track of the dialog because the topic is the same for
the whole month. The LS also tends to examine topics in greater
depth than the MD. However, on its own, the LS would be too
restrictive so the MD is a necessary balance to it. The MOQ
discussion is free-flowing and all MOQ related posts are allowed. The
dialog moves very rapidly and covers a lot of ground, but the mail
load can be heavy and the signal to noise ratio tends to be lower.
You can see the MD as the place for dynamic exploration, while the
LS aims for high-quality static latching. Or, you can see MD as what
you'd normally expect from a mailing list and the LS as a dynamic
attempt to break free of static patterns. Or, you can see LS as an
option for those who only have an hour or two a week to devote to the
group and simply can't keep up with the MD. The main thing is to
realise they are complementary to each other, not in competition.
You can join either one or both, but we do ask that you respect the
distinctions between them and help us make them both good in their
respective ways.
I've posted to the mailing lists several times and nobody has
responded, why not and what should I do?
The lack of face-to-face interaction on the Internet means that it can
be difficult to gauge other people's reactions to your posts. There
may well be people reading and learning from your posts -- you just
can't tell. Don't take it personally and keep on posting. Keep your
posts relevant, well-informed and courteous and you'll soon win the
respect of the group.
Somebody has made a nasty, sarcastic reply to one of my posts,
what should I do?
This is a philosophy discussion group and there's really no need for
this kind of behaviour, but still, it happens. Don't waste your energy
on it. Either reply calmly asking for clarification, or ignore it and
devote your time to something more constructive instead.
How can I send an essay for the Forum on the MOQ.org website?
Send it to the webmaster, ie Diana ([EMAIL PROTECTED]),
preferably in plain text in the body of an email. Please don't use any
fancy formatting unless essential because we'll just have to undo it
all to convert it to HTML for publishing on the web.
How can I send a bio for the Members page on the website?
Send it to Diana, as above.
What is the copyright situation regarding posts and essays?
MOQ.org retains the right to publish all posts submitted to our mailing
lists in our archives only and the right to publish essays submitted to
our Forum on our website only. We will not use your contributions in
any other publication or media without your written consent. All
contributors will retain copyright over their own work. That means you
are free to sell it to other publishers if you wish, and if anyone
plagiarises your work or reproduces it without your permission it will
constitute a breach of copyright.
How can I help you develop MOQ.org?
If you've only just joined we suggest you hang around for a few weeks
and get to know us. If you understand what we've done in the past
and what we're doing now you'll be able to contribute more effectively.
If, after the honeymoon period is over, you're still interested, think
of what you can do constructively to develop MOQ.org. If you can't
think of anything specific but you still want to help, email us because
we have a long list of things that we would like to do but never get
round to.
This is an abridged version of the FAQ that appears on the MOQ.org
website at: http://www.moq.org/faq.html. If you have any further
questions please contact the list administrator.
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Diana McPartlin
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lila Squad List Administrator
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
