Tarikh — Moderated discussions related to Babi and Baha'i history

Description

Tarikh is the continuation of an email listserver first established in 1993 (then called Talisman). After the demise of Talisman and a couple short-lived attempts to resurrect it, Tarikh (and its sister list Tarjuman) were set up at yahoo.com in 2003, then moved to buffalo.edu in 2005, and finally to this location in 2014. (See a summary of this history in "Seeking for Truth: Plausibility Alignment on a Bahá'í Email List" by David Piff and Margit Warburg, n. 24, p. 100.)

The purpose of Tarikh is to facilitate discussion of issues related to Babi and Baha'i history, principally among academically trained specialists in the field, but also among well-informed non-professionals. Tarikh offers a platform on which members may put out pre-publication versions of articles for comment, as well as for collaboration on papers of interest.

This list adheres to high standards of courtesy and professionalism, and welcomes a diversity of perspectives irrespective of the member's religion, nationality, race, age, gender, or educational and professional training.

List rules

No forwarding

There are many reasons for our firm no-forwarding rule: information may be sensitive, confidential, inaccurate, private, or be awaiting publication or review. Do not quote from tarikh messages in order to share them in the world beyond this list, without the permission from the sender/author (and whether they want their name associated with the quote). Sometimes a message seems to have publicly-available information such as a quote from a newspaper or website, in which case you need to paste a sentence from it into Google or find the article on the web before sharing it, because links shared here may be private links made specially for Tarikh that are not visible to others on the web. If in doubt, err on the side of caution and ask the sender for advice.

Keep it relevant

To keep our inboxes uncluttered, the moderators may place temporary email limits (e.g., 3 posts per member per day) if/when discussions become too boisterous.

Netiquette

Please be polite and respectful, even of people and points of view that you don't like. We discourage ill-humored, insulting, or self-righteous postings. If you have a concern about something a fellow member has posted, please direct that concern to jonahwinters[at]gmail.com, who will bring it to the other moderators.

We especially ask that members not accuse one another of being fundamentalist or secular, conservative or liberal, loyal or disloyal to the Covenant. Labeling people is deeply distressing and it shuts down the exchange of ideas. We do not intend to police messages posted here, and do not want other members to do so.

We do not permit Covenant-Breakers to join and post to our lists. But there are members whose views you will not agree with, as well as members who do not agree with everything you post. Let's try to learn from each other.

If arguments between members violate decorum or civility, we will intervene by moderating their posts, or privately warning those engaged to tone down their language or discontinue the exchange.

Reporting issues

Any and all issues that a list member may have related to the speech of another list member should be directed in private to the administrator, and not to other members of the list or to the list itself. The administrator will make every effort to resolve issues quickly.

Keep personal replies off-list

The purpose of the list is to facilitate the exchange of information between scholars. If your contribution is limited to something like "I agree," "congratulations," or "send me a copy too," please reply privately and not to the group as a whole.

No cross-posting

If you're on multiple lists, please don't post to more than one. All "bcc" posts — where the list is a hidden recipient — will be rejected.

Real names

For the sake of list management, the administrator needs to know the real identity of every account holder.

Administration

Moderating

Decisions are made by the two moderators, Peter Terry and Rob Stockman. The list admin is Jonah Winters. Here is our procedure to handle cases of discord on the list:

• If any two subscribers of a list email the moderators to complain about the posts of another member, and if the moderators agree with the complaint, then:
• They will send a warning saying “2 or more people have complained about your recent posting to the list," quote the objectionable content, and say "this is your first warning”.
• The second time the moderators receive complaints from 2 or more subscribers, and if the moderators agree, they will email saying “you have been unsubscribed for one month. Please review the list rules."
• The third time 2 or more complaints are lodged, the list member will be unsubscribed for 1 year.

Membership

Membership criteria have not yet been formally defined. In general, members either have a degree in a field directly relevant to Baha'i history, or have an established record of contributing to Baha'i scholarship. While no specific academic degree is required to become a member, experience with some form of advanced educational training is helpful to participants on the list. Active engagement in and/or publication related to Babi and Baha'i history is required of all members, as it helps to keep discussions focused on the focus of the list.

New members are approved by a private vote among the board. To request membership, send a bio statement to the moderator peterry19@gmail.com or admin jonahwinters@gmail.com