The following explains how to participate in the only e-mail discussion group dedicated to discussing all issues related to Belarus, its language, culture, politics, etc. Please note, this discussion (e-mail) list is un-moderated. Your submissions go directly to all of the list membership (usually approximately 200 subscribers).
Click here for further background information about the Belarus forums on the Internet, and about discussion lists and usenet newsgroups in general.
Messages are in English, Belarusian, or Russian (KOI-8 or transliterated for the last 2 languages). Where to get KOI-8 fonts on the 'net:
Note: There is a second discussion forum about Belarus. Follow this link for information about soc.culture.belarus.
[File last updated: September 27, 2000]
Welcome to "BELARUS-ABM", an unmoderated discussion (e-mail) list begun in
January, 1996, and designed to help coordinate and communicate
information concerning the Republic of Belarus and all things related
to Belarusian culture, history, language, literature, art, expatriate
organizations, publications, etc.
CHARTER
PURPOSE OF THIS LIST
This e-mail group is intended to facilitate discussion of Belarus-
related topics. It may be helpful to think of BELARUS as the e-mail
equivalent of "soc.culture.belarus", a (moderated) usenet newsgroup
that was created in June, 1996).
For further information about Internet forums, and specifically about
the Belarus listserv and soc.culture.belarus, refer to the following
Web page: http://www.belarus-misc.org/bel-net.htm
The spelling of "Belarusian" in this document conforms to our
understanding of the official spelling. We use this spelling out of a
expression of solidarity, even though some of us feel "Belarusan"
should be the spelling in English. Possibly, efforts will be initiated
to change the spelling to "Belarusan."
Appropriate messages to this list include, but are not
restricted to the following aspects of Belarus:
Informational posts about Belarus culture, history, etc.
Language issues related to Belarusian
Discussion of education, health, environment, etc., issues
Discussion of politics, elections, etc.
Relations between Belarus and other countries as long as
discussion remains relevant to Belarus
Discussion of economic conditions and gov't policies toward them
Issues related to members of the Belarusian diaspora
Questions and information about genealogy within the
historical territory that has been Belarus
Discussion of (new) books, articles, movies, etc., about Belarus
Belarusian cuisine
The effects of Chornobyl on Belarusians and the environment
Discussion of minority issues, including language, within Belarus
Job opportunities within Belarus
The following are NOT permitted:
Postings unrelated to Belarus
Advertisements unrelated to Belarus
Copyrighted material to which you do not own the copyright
nor have written permission to reproduce
All personal ads
Submissions containing ethnic slurs, or submissions intended
to hurt any given race, religion, gender, or sexual
orientation
Personal attacks made by a listmember toward other
listmembers or other members of the internet community
EXTREMELY long messages -- contact the listowners to make
other arrangements for such messages (to a Web site, and
then a pointer message to the list membership)
IMPORTANT: If you have any questions about whether your possible
posting meets the conditions of this charter, please contact the
listowners directly. They are listed later in this file. DO NOT post
to the list membership in such cases.
This discussion list is for anyone who is interested in Belarus and who
can follow usenet newsgroup netiquette, basic rules of polite human
interaction, and any further restrictions imposed by this charter.
There is no test or requirement as to how much of a Belarusian a
person is who wants to make a submission and participate. Any
restrictions concerning the contents of a post are intended to keep to
the topic of Belarus, and are not intended to restrict anyone's
expression of opinions. Free speech exists within the context of
Belarus as a topic as defined in this charter. If the topic is not
about Belarus, forums other than the Belarus discussion list are more
appropriate.
Format of submissions shall be as follows:
Subject Line -- Clearly identifies the content as explicitly and
concisely as possible; please edit subject line when
changing topic in a thread (or when topic needs
clarification)
Line length -- No more than 72 characters/line; most lines more
than 60 characters (for legibility, especially
when quoted in a follow-up post)
Content -- At least 1/3 original (unquoted) text preferred
Appropriate to the group readership, not for personal
e-mail (i.e., for one or only several others). Meets
conditions of this charter, including netiquette.
Signatures -- separated from the body by "-- " (note space) very
long signatures and "handles" are discouraged;
real names preferred
Cross-posts -- are discouraged, but can be to no more than 4 newsgroups
or mailing lists (total, including the Belarus list), if
any at all
BELARUS DISCUSSION LIST NETIQUETTE
Rules for posting to BELARUS, the nature and range of the topics, the
"netiquette" for behavior, etc., are explained in the charter section
of this file. Netiquette for this discussion list is the same as
usenet netiquette.
A good starting point for learning about usenet (and mailing list)
netiquette is the file, "Rules for Posting to Usenet." It is posted
regularly to the newsgroups "news.misc" and "news.answers." This file
can also be found on the Web site,
http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/usenet/posting-rules/part1.html
and there is a humorous & satiric version, "Dear Emily Postnews," at
http://www.cs.ruu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/usenet/emily-postnews/part1.html
EXCLUSION FROM THE BELARUS DISCUSSION LIST
Subscribers who repeatedly violate the charter and netiquette will be
removed from the list and will not be permitted to post to it (I hope
there is no need for this).
LANGUAGES USED IN POSTS TO THE BELARUS LIST
Submissions must be in English, Belarusian, or Russian. If in
Belarusian or Russian, they should be transliterated or in KOI-8
(RFC-1489). There is a problem with posts in Belarusian in KOI-8
in that there is no agreed to mapping for "y neskladovae" and "i".
This issue will be addressed and resolved through discussions on this
list and will be included in the forthcoming FAQ. Visual
approximations of Cyrillic Belarusian and Russian are strongly
discouraged for the body of the message as they are essentially
indecipherable. Use in signatures or other short usage is
acceptable.
END of CHARTER
OWNERSHIP OF THE BELARUS DISCUSSION LIST
Co-listowner: Peter Kasaty belarus@cts.com kasaty@cts.com
(English, some Belarusian, German, and Russian)
Co-listowners are available to handle any requests, etc., and are
fluent in the Belarusian and Russian languages (as well as in English):
[ currently open positions ]
Please send your comments, criticisms, suggestions (and offers of
help! :-) ).
Djakoui! (Thank you!) :-)
Please contact the following or the co-listowners previously listed
Peter Kasaty
belarus@cts.com kasaty@cts.com
San Diego, California, USA
[File last updated: September 27, 2000]