New lojban-list member message

[cowan (John Cowan)]

The following message will henceforth be sent to all new members of lojban-list.
Consider this a retroactive welcome to the existing community.  Comments
are welcome, as always.

What is lojban-list?

lojban-list is an unmoderated mail reflector for discussion of the constructed
human language "Lojban - A Realization of Loglan" and for informing the
electronic community about logical languages in general.  It is sponsored
by the Logical Language Group, Inc., a non-profit tax-exempt organization.

Who should post to lojban-list?

Everybody!  lojban-list is not for novices, nor for experts, nor for the
LLG leadership, but for everyone with access to electronic mail and an
interest in Lojban.

Beginning Lojbanists tend to pose questions about the goals of the language,
specific ideas they may have about how a language can be 'logical', questions
about the availability and suitability of materials to support their interests
and goals, and questions about how Lojban handles presumably difficult
features of natural language.

Once Lojbanists have received our published materials, they post questions 
and comments about those materials, challenge design features and goals that
are not well explained, pose translation questions, or even try to post an
attempt to translate a sentence into Lojban, for comment by the group.

More experienced Lojbanists of course respond to these comments in light
of previous discussions.  They also pose more deeply challenging design
questions, and attempt more difficult translations.

Finally, the leadership of the Logical Language Group monitors these 
discussions, answering questions which are not answered by others on the list, 
reporting on language development progress, proposals for language change, and
upcoming events.  This leadership consists of people who have chosen to 
involve themselves strongly in Lojban's development -- new Lojbanists have
joined the "inner circle" within months of their arrival.

Is it all right to post stupid questions to lojban-list?

No question is stupid on lojban-list, and many new ideas and significant
discussions have stemmed from seemingly obvious points, from trivial seeming
translation attempts, or simply new points of view.  The mix of readership is
constantly evolving, and 'old' questions lead to new answers with the 
experience of new observers and language students.

The development of Lojban has been influenced by ideas and contributions
from hundreds of people with an enormous variety of interests.  No other
artificial language has had the same scope of contributors to its design.
These ideas have been applied to the standards and goals of the language, and
many of them have been incorporated, to the benefit of all who study Lojban.
Lojban is a community language project.

How do I post?

Send messages for posting to:

	lojban-list@snark.thyrsus.com

Send administrivia (changes of address, requests for deletion) to:

	lojban-list-request@thyrsus.snark.com

lojban-list is made possible with the kind assistance and cooperation of
Eric Raymond, Lojbanist and sysadmin of snark.thyrsus.com.