List now open for discussion

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

I have now re-opened " INDOLOGY" for discussion. There have been

some minor changes to the list settings which you should be aware of.

 

1) membership remains open to all, as do the archives.

2) all postings will be moderated for the time being.

3) the default "reply" is now the sender, not the list.

 

As discussion resumes, may I make the following suggestions, which I

hope will make our experience together more pleasant and productive:

 

In general:

 

1) Keep all postings to a rough limit of 2 screens, and do not

include clippings from previous postings unless *absolutely* necessary!

 

2) Wait a bit before you compose a response to another posting;

gather your thoughts and make sure your response is well considered and

well-informed.

 

3) If you do then compose a response, wait again. . .allow a day

to go by. Then consider again whether your response is really

beneficial. Ask yourself: "Is this helpful to others? Is it

well-intentioned?" (And, need I add, "does it concern a topic directly

relevant to working scholars in classical Indian studies?")

**Do not hit "send" unless the answer to all these questions is an

unambiguous "yes."**

 

In particular, for the time being:

 

4) All previous threads should be dropped.

 

5) Much as "meta-level" discussions of Indology and Indologists

are fascinating, extremely important to the field, (and of great

interest to my own personal research), may I suggest that such topics

be avoided for the time being, and the list focus instead on the

*content* of Indological scholarship, rather than the context. In the

past, these topics in particular have tended to spark unhelpful and

un-nuanced discussion.

 

By following these guidelines and policing ourselves, I hope this list

may quickly evolve into the kind of **low-volume/high-quality** list

that most of us are looking for and which can exist without much, if

any, moderation.

 

A final reminder: this is not a chat room. This is an "Academic list

for the discussion of classical India". . ."designed as a forum for

discussions between working scholars and others with a serious interest

in the field of classical Indian studies." If you are not a "working

scholar" in a field directly related to "classical Indian studies,"

(and even if you are!) please think very carefully before posting. For

those of you who crave snappy repartee, there is a "chat" feature built

into this list (see the left column menu of the web page) which can be

used for this purpose.

 

Finally, I have changed the color of the " INDOLOGY" web page to

lovely purple hues. I hope you enjoy it.

 

Best wishes,

 

CKW