12/17/97 - 1370

Vaishnava Newsgroup Live or Die?

USA (VNN) - soc.religion.vaishnava is a Usenet newsgroup for discussing Vaishnavism in its various forms. It has gone through numerous changes as it evolved from the unmoderated newsgroup alt.religion.vaisnava, including some strong challenges to its creation and continued existence.

Agrahya das has been moderator of soc.religion.vaishnava (or SRV as it's commonly known) for over two years. He has now called for a vote from the newsgroup's readership to determine whether it is worth continuing. "One or two people basically dominate the newsgroup," Agrahya told VNN. "Many devotees have expressed to me their reluctance to post to SRV, as they expect sniping from a minority who are very skilled at rhetoric and negative innuendo. Specifically targeted are those who do not share the snipers' institutional loyalties."

Interested parties are invited to visit the newsgroup's home page at http://www.pobox.com/~srv and to express their opinion - should SRV live or die? Send e-mail to srv-mod@hgsoft.com or acces the newsgroup at soc.religion.vaishnava say to

1. Whether your comments are public or private
2. Whether you think SRV should continue
3. Whether you have any specific suggestions for how it might
continue, e.g. replacement moderator / venue, redefining moderation rules, etc. etc. Specific suggestions will be really far more helpful than general ones.

Comments will be accepted until the end of December, 1997.