Nan:2007-01-18-shamanism-moderator-announce

From: The Big-8 Management Board <board@big-8.org>
Subject: MODERATOR FOUND: soc.religion.shamanism
Newsgroups: soc.culture.native, news.announce.newgroups, talk.religion.misc,
 soc.religion.shamanism, news.groups.proposals
Followup-To: news.groups.proposals
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 13:21:24 -0600
Organization: http://www.big-8.org/

                      REPLACEMENT MODERATOR FOUND
                         soc.religion.shamanism

The Big-8 Management Board is pleased to announce that Tim Skirvin has
volunteered to robo-moderate the vacant newsgroup soc.religion.shamanism. 

The new moderator will take over the duties on 21 Jan 2007.


HISTORY: 

soc.religion.shamanism was created in October 1993 by a 179:58 vote.  It
enjoyed regular traffic until December 2000.  A June 2006 Moderator Vacancy
Investigation into the group showed that there is no current active
moderator of soc.religion.shamanism.

While there were initially several volunteers to moderate the newsgroup, no
agreement could be found amongst them as to policies or technical details.
Rather than continue to let the group linger, the Big-8 Management Board has
decided to robo-moderate the group until a suitable moderator can be found.

Some web links of note:

 http://groups.google.com/group/soc.religion.shamanism/about
 ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/soc/soc.religion.shamanism


CHARTER:

Excerpted from the control messages:

  1. PURPOSE

  The purpose of soc.religion.shamanism is to provide a forum for
  discussion and exchange of questions, ideas, views, and information
  about historic, traditional, tribal, and contemporary shamanic
  experience. Everyone is invited to take part in this discussion by
  sharing views, ideas, opinions, experience and information about
  shamanism.


  2. BACKGROUND

  Technically speaking, Shamanism is classified by anthropologists as
  an archaic magico-religious phenomena (in) which the shaman is the
  great master of ecstasy. This view of shamanism is further detailed
  in the Shamanism-General Overview Frequently Asked Questions (which
  is available in news.answers). The distinguishing characteristic
  of shamanism is its focus on an ecstatic trance state in which the
  soul of the shaman is believed to leave the body and ascend to the
  sky (heavens) or descend into the earth (underworld).  The shaman
  makes use of spirit helpers, which he or she communicates with,all
  the while retaining control over his or her own consciousness. Most
  importantly, shamanism as a spiritual practice focuses on the personal
  experience of the shaman.  Everything that a shaman does depends upon
  this experience. Without it, there is no shaman.

  In contemporary, historical or traditional and non-traditional shamanic
  practice the shaman may at times fill the role of priest, magician,
  metaphysician or healer. Personal experience with and knowledge of other
  realms of being and consciousness and the cosmology of those regions are
  prime determinants of shamanism.  With this knowledge, the shaman is
  able to serve as a bridge between the mundane and the higher and lower
  states.  The shaman lives at the edge of reality as most people would
  recognize it and most commonly at the edge of society itself. Few indeed
  have the stamina to adventure into these realms and endure the outer
  hardships and personal crises that have been reported by or observed of
  many shamans.

  For more information see the shamanism-general overview FAQ, which
  has been posted to news.answers. In addition another FAQ, soc
  religion.shamanism FAQ, will be regularly posted to once this group has
  been created.

MODERATION POLICY: soc.religion.shamanism

This group will be robomoderated to block spam and crossposts.  If someone
wishes to apply more sophisticated filters, or to hand-moderate the group,
please contact the moderator.


MODERATOR INFO: soc.religion.shamanism

Moderator:                Kevin Cannon <kcannon@insurgent.org>
Moderator:                Doug Freyburger <dfreybur@yahoo.com>
Technical Moderator:      Tim Skirvin <skirv@big-8.org>

Article Submissions:      srs-submit@killfile.org
Administrative Contact:   srs-request@killfile.org


DISTRIBUTION:

This document has been posted to the following newsgroups:

  news.announce.newgroups
  news.groups.proposals
  soc.religion.shamanism
  soc.culture.native
  talk.religion.misc

The proponent will also post pointers to:

  soc.culture.celtic
  soc.culture.misc
  alt.pagan
  alt.mythology
  soc.religion.paganism (moderated)


PROPONENT: 

Tim Skirvin <skirv@big-8.org> - on behalf of the B8MB


CHANGE HISTORY: 

2007-01-10     New Moderator Found (Tentative)
2006-07-20     Moderator Vacancy Announcement
2006-06-27     Moderator Vacancy Investigation