OWLs means Older Wiser Lesbians. Sometimes it means Older Wilder Lesbians.
The OWLs list is a high-volume discussion and support list with over 300 members. Respect for others is key. If you are a lesbian over forty and looking for amusement, friendship, connections, and inspiration, OWLs is the place.
The OWLS-DIGEST is a companion list to OWLS. Members of the digest will receive all the same posts in a different format: the digest. The digest goes out whenever the majordomo server accumulates 325 lines of text.
WHO CAN JOIN?
Lesbians 40 and older are welcome to join OWLS. If you are not 40 or older and/or not lesbian, please do not request a subscription. If you are doing research, looking to market something, or trying to post action alerts about a pet project, you will not be welcomed.CONDUCT and CONTENT GUIDELINES:
The OWLs list has a rich history and culture going back to 1994.
Nicolle is the OWLs archivist; she posts the OWLs Culture files twice a month. Every OWLs member should read the culture files. New members are asked to "lurk" for a couple of weeks before jumping into discussion in order to get a feel for the space. If you happen to join the list in the middle of a brouhaha, please refrain from commenting or offering advice or giving your opinion. Please wait to post until you feel you understand the dynamics of the established community.
Members are required to be respectful of other members at all times. This means no flaming on or off the list. "She started it" is not an acceptable excuse for engaging in inflammatory dialogue. There are a hundred civil ways to disagree. And it is ONLY the idea which may be debated, and not the person offering that idea.
Members MUST NOT forward/post virus warnings, no matter how urgent, cookie recipes, Urgent! and Please Post Widely! notices, ASCII art, HTML posts/pages/files, attachments, binaries, photographs, midi or executable files, and HTML postcards. Overlong posts will be retained by the majordomo server. Because OWLS is a closed and private list, members must not send messages to OWLS and other lists simultaneously; this is called cross-posting. Commercial advertisements or solicitations must be previewed with the list owner.
List members MUST NOT send OWLS posts to other lists or to individuals who are not members of the list. Do not forward OWLS mail without the express written consent of its originator and any parties whose mail might appear as an inclusion.
If members are abusive to others, including the list wranglers, or engage in a pattern of behavior on or off-list that the list owners deem disruptive to the list as a whole or its members in particular, the member's subscription can and will be terminated by the list owners without notice or discussion.
OWLS is a large mailing list with many members and a diverse make-up, but it is not managed according to the Constitution of the United States of America. Members of OWLS should not assume that any "rights" guaranteed in the US Constitution exist in this environment. OWLs is NOT a democracy!
OWLs members have a responsibility to read and follow the rules. There is a single executive branch with but two executives, the list co-wranglers. The list wranglers will enforce the rules as they see fit. There is no court of appeals. The list wranglers assume that you are an adult who has read, understood, and agreed to these instructions. The list wranglers' failure to enforce the rules or make comment in any instance of infraction shall not be interpreted as condoning an infraction, nor construed as a change in policy.
HOW DO I JOIN THE LIST?
Please follow these instructions carefully. Your successful entry to the list depends on it.
Please make sure your request includes everything in the example except the example itself.
You can join the OWLS or OWLS-DIGEST list by writing to
majordomo@queernet.org.
In the body of your message, write:
subscribe OWLS Firstname Lastname <login@host.domain>
or
subscribe OWLS-DIGEST Firstname Lastname <login@host.domain>
For example:
subscribe owls Ellen Degeneres <ellen@lifetime.com>(If you submit a request to majordomo that includes either the Ellen example or the login@host.domain example, instead of your own e-mail address, you won't ever get subscribed. If you mistype the word subscribe, or fail to include your name, or use something other than angle brackets, you won't ever get subscribed.)After you submit a correctly formatted request to majordomo@queernet.org, it will send an authorization code to the address you typed between the brackets. If you don't type your own address between the brackets, you won't ever get this authorization code.
After you receive the authorization code, you must send it back to majordomo in a new post. If majordomo has removed your name from the request and made it shorthand like this, auth ##### subscribe owls ellen@lifetime.com,
put it back in, like this:
auth ###### subscribe owls Ellen Degeneres <ellen@lifetime.com>
You must return that authorization code to majordomo; after you do so, your request will be forwarded to the list owners for approval. Subscriptions are not automatic. It may be a week before your request is approved.If you do not include your first and last name in the authenticated request you return to majordomo, the list wranglers will NOT approve your subscription. You can do everything else right but if you do not include your first and last name you will not be subscribed to the list. Some time later you will receive a form letter asking you to try again.
Your name will not be made public, or shared; it is simply recorded in the OWLS membership file for the list wranglers' use in managing the list. When the list wranglers approve your subscription, you will receive another letter that begins with Welcome to OWLS. Please familiarize yourself with the contents before posting to OWLS.
HELP IS AVAILABLE!
If you do not understand the majordomo instructions, please write to majordomo@queernet.org with the message:
help
If you have any questions about the OWLS or OWLS-DIGEST list that are not covered in this document, or you need technical assistance not covered in the majordomo documentation, write to the list wranglers, bsb/nkn <owls-owner@queernet.org>.