New Members--Please Read, and welcome! Options

[Tapati]

I want to welcome our new members--it's a tribute to Chakra that several new members have registered today!

I'd like to draw your attention to our rules and statement of purpose (and there is a link at the top of the forum under our logo as well):

http://www.gaudiya-repercussions.com/index...?act=boardrules

We also, as mentioned in our Chakra article, have a policy that active members with full posting rights have a bio that indicates just a few things about themselves. We think it helps build a sense of community that leads to more considerate and respectful posting and the development of friendships through mutual interests.

We are asking for just a few paragraphs including (but not limited to) the following:

--your spiritual journey thus far (we are most interested in this)
--your age (or a range such as thirties, forties, fifties)
--country where you reside (not asking you to narrow it down for your security)
--gender (we like to get the pronouns right)
--hobbies or musical and literary interests (yes, we are curious!)
--education or professional interests
--NOT asking for a picture-- Pics are optional.

We want to get an idea of you as a human being with a well rounded life. It might help to know that the person you are hotly debating a point with also listens to Tool or The Beatles, for instance. You'll know you have something in common. We are not looking for a particular word length, just the basic elements listed above.

Please send any of us a private message when your bio is complete.

If there is any area that you are concerned about adding (for security reasons) please just let us know and we'll endeavor to work with you. Professional interests can be as vague as "I work in the scientific field." We don't need to know your place of work or exact job title.

Choosing not to fill in your bio will result in posting privileges being restricted to Community forum, health, entertainment, hobbies, connections and questions subforums. We tried having no consequences and that did not seem to work.

We hope you enjoy our forum and we look forward to getting to know you--

Tapati (admin)
and our moderating staff, Chanahari, Dhyana, Milla and Babu.

example of profile:

Tapati's Bio:
I began my journey as a child fascinated by the mystical. I sought spiritual experience at every opportunity, but they were few and far between in my lukewarm Protestant family.

I became a Catholic at the age of 13, then started looking again at 15 when they no longer answered my burning questions. My search led me through every religion they had a book about in our library until I found Hinduism. My friend Carolyn and I celebrated Krishna Day before we even knew about ISKCON. Later we found an ad for Krsna Book on a box of incense. We became registered members writing to Swarup Das in L.A.

I joined the St. Louis temple, moved on to Chicago and out to L.A. (My friend Carolyn was basically deprogrammed by her family.)

I married and had 2 kids, left in 1979 over the appointed guru issue, practiced KC until 1989, after I came out as lesbian. There seemed no place for me there. Gravitated to paganism (Wicca) where I remain in an eclectic practice. I love to read the Buddhists also.

Later realizing I am bisexual, I married Dave, my husband, in 1998. I have two grandsons who bring me great joy every day. Dave has become a Grandpa.

I am between jobs, taking some time off before I look for work. I normally work in bookkeeping and HR.

I am learning to live with heart disease.
---------hobby, birthday section below---------
Birthday 2 December 1958
Location  USA
Interests  Learning how to run a forum and moderate.

Gardening, sci fi, mysteries, cooking, social activism, suicide crisis line counseling, learning to use my ipod.

Music I listen to (not a full list): Ani DiFranco, Tool, Libana, Metallica, "classic rock", blues--Koko Taylor, r&b, NIN, Pink Floyd, Tempest, and other eclectic genres/groups. The older I get, the more my tastes widen. I can enjoy classical in some settings but coming from a working class background I didn't grow up appreciating it and don't seek it out.

I loved kirtans and bhajans and still sing some of the old songs.

As I said, the length is not a requirement, just the basic elements. No need to go into the same level of detail (or reveal sexual orientation). I could also have said, "I normally work in Finance," if I wanted to be a bit more general about my occupation.

This post has been edited by Tapati: Apr 9 2006, 09:53 PM

[Tapati]

Regarding unmoderated forum:

Some of our members wanted a freer atmosphere to post in. I felt I was uncomfortable with that in the public part of the forum, which I feel represents us to the world. While I am pretty free regarding subject matter we discuss, barring pornographic material, I have an aversion to flame wars and the like.

So, we have a passworded forum. Once you have filled in your bio to the standard indicated in the post above, send me a private message via the forum and I will give you the password. Surprisingly it hasn't gotten much use.

Our usual rules regarding not judging others' religions don't apply, and x rated sexual discussion is allowed. You can even plot the revolution in ISKCON if you like. Only actual threats of violence or child porn would be forbidden there, or overt sexual harassment.

[Tapati]

I should add that I will be unavailable (offline) from July 1-3rd, and our capable moderating staff will be here to answer your questions or handle any problems that come up with the forum. If there are technical difficulties, I will make sure they can contact our consultant to resolve them.

[Tapati]

I completed technical adjustments this evening that I had hoped to have ready before our new members arrived. Basically, in line with our profile policy, the adjustments restrict posting rights of members until they notify us that they have filled in their profile, we've reviewed it, and upgraded their posting capabilities. As I said before, we tried just asking people to fill in profiles with no consequences, and that didn't work out.

I am sorry I didn't have this in place when you arrived as that would have been less confusing. I got thrown off schedule Saturday night by going to the emergency room with my daughter so she could get checked out after a fender bender. She had severe neck pain and I insisted she get it checked out. She is mending now and has no structural damage, fortunately.

I've set an error message that will hopefully explain why posting suddenly doesn't work in some forums. You can post in this group of forums, in the health forum, entertainment, hobbies/humor, and questions without filling in your profile.

[Dhyana]

I should add that I will be unavailable (offline) from July 1-3rd, and our capable moderating staff will be here to answer your questions or handle any problems that come up with the forum. If there are technical difficulties, I will make sure they can contact our consultant to resolve them.

Tapati, you sound like such a capable TV program moderator, I can almost "see" you with the mike, cool face, reassuringly communicating with the viewers as the technicians behind you are frantically trying to fix the malfunctioning studio equipment!

-- one of the "capable moderating staff", at your service!

[Tapati]

Why thank you, what a sweet thing to say.

I want to add that one of the reasons we have the profile is to help orient new members to who is here and a little about the other members as people. Clicking on the link formed by our name takes you to our profile, telling you a bit about us. I found this really useful when I first joined Gaudiya Discussions, and to even remind myself which member was which. (A couple had similar logins and I used to get confused.)

We hope you'll find this feature useful.

Blessed be--

Tapati

[jonny rama]

Tapati Didi,staff,& repercussionists,
Thanks so much for creating and maintaining this website.
I feel as if I've just met members
of my long, lost family.
Such delightful senses of humors
are to be found here. Salutations to you all.

[Tapati]

Thanks, and we're so happy you could join us.

Part of the reason we started this is we just realized no one else could understand us, really. How we changed, why we left, our individual stories--no one else has shared these experiences--not those still inside ISKCON, and not those who never joined it or saw it.

Whatever our different ways of understanding that experience, whatever we kept or discarded, we were all there at various points in ISKCON history, trying to become God Conscious and save the world from maya.

We just felt that we finally deserved our own home on the internet. Lord knows we gave up enough to earn it.

I also, specifically, want this to be a place of lighthearted fun apart from all that heavy "this world is a place of suffering" vibe we lived under.

Laughter heals.

[Dhyana]

Tapati Didi,staff,& repercussionists,

Repercussionists! Hey, that's a cool name for us! Thank you, jonny rama, for the idea and for your appreciation!

[jonny rama]

Repercussionists! Hey, that's a cool name for us!

Happy to be of service.
Shouldn't repercussionists congregate for a drum circle sooner or later?

[Tapati]

We've reached a milestone:

Board Statistics
Board Stats Our members have made a total of 5,121 posts
We have 108 registered members
The newest member is Mirjam
Most users ever online was 394 on Apr 2 2005, 01:04 AM

And welcome, Mirjam! And the many other members who have been arriving in groups! We are lax in our welcoming posts lately. I plead severe busy-ness at work.

For those who wonder, profiles are only visible to other members and to repeat, we never require a picture. It's just an option. One can put up a pretty picture of something they like instead of a picture of themselves.

Blessed be--

Tapati

[Tapati]

Welcome, Sundari! This is the topic for new member orientation and questions.

[Tapati]

Welcome Omkara!

As I mentioned above, this is our topic to orient new members. Feel free to send me a message with any questions.

[0stone temple0]

Dear Fellow Earth dwellers,
Although I joined this group some time back my incessant laziness has prevented my fingers from engaging the keyboard until tonight.
Thank you for letting me be here.
All my best prayers and respect to all.
Stone Temple

[Tapati]

Thank you for joining, Stone Temple, and you've already posted some great things. We look forward to reading more!

[Dhyana]

Welcome Ananta Sesa Naga das! I see that Tapati has acted on the wish expressed in your member profile and started a thread for devotees who were at Bury Place. Hope you will find some old friends (or maybe new ones... )!

[Tapati]

-posts regarding bios moved to bio discussion thread-

[Dhyana]

Welcome to our two newest members, bbd and darknesss

[Chanahari]

And to Aran, Nitaicandra and Padmakant.

[Dhyana]

And to Aran, Nitaicandra and Padmakant.

Indeed! Thanks, Chanahari. The names are swishing so fast through the "Our Newest Member" header these days, I can't keep up anymore!

To our new members: if we have failed to welcome any of you, please forgive the oversight. You are all warmly welcome!