file: /pub/resources/text/site-surveys: snet.txt ------------------------------------------------ SHARENET CONFERENCES AVAILABLE & DISTRIBUTION RULES Many missions-oriented e-mail forums are available today for participation from just about any e-mail system on the planet. CrossConnect, a new electronic communications ministry, is "sponsoring" the ShareNet conferences as a service to the missions-oriented Christian community. There is currently no charge to subscribe. Here are the names and descriptions for each conference: SNET-MISC (known as MISSION in the FamilyNet EchoMail realm) - Miscellaneous discussion about missions. Includes topics such as communicating the Gospel cross-culturally, how to evangelize Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, prayer requests, reports from the mission fields, etc. Participants include missionaries, missions professors, seminary students, technical people, pastors and local church members. SNET-TECH (known as SNET.TECH in the FamilyNet EchoMail realm) - ShareNet Technical Echo - Mobilize Christian technical people to be involved in missions. Problem-solving discussions on general technical computing issues. Participants include many missions-minded technical people in various computer-related fields. SNET-TECH-COMM (known as SNET.TECH.COMM in the FamilyNet EchoMail realm) - ShareNet Communications Echo - Discussion of issues relating to the technical side of building a missions e-mail network. Many technical people from industry and missions participate. SNET-TECH-GRDB (known as SNET.TECH.GRDB in the FamilyNet EchoMail realm) - ShareNet Database Echo - Discussion of issues related to missions information sharing and database development. Technical support for Global Mapping database software. People from a variety of ministries participate, including both technical and non-technical. SNET-TECH-MAPS (known as SNET.TECH.MAPS in the FamilyNet EchoMail realm) - ShareNet Mapping Echo - Discussion of issues related to computerized mapping and sharing of map boundary and base files. Technical support for Atlas*GIS and ARCInfo mapping software. Technical and non-technical participants. SNET-TRAVEL-SAFETY - Travel advisories from the U.S. State Department and others. Very helpful information for those preparing to go to other countries for ministry. I really don't set many rules for the ShareNet conferences, as to content or verbosity. I like to keep things simple. Thus, the list of requirements for distribution is short: Only Christians can read and post to the conferences, whether through Christian BBSs, Internet mail/news mechanisms, or commercial e-mail systems. These conferences are not meant to be for outreach to non-Christians who read other Christian conferences. Their main function is to spur believers on to fulfilling the Great Commission through the various means available, including the other Christian conferences that are designed for that purpose. There are non-believers that are hostile to the Gospel and may try to disrupt the discussion. I try to keep sensitive information from being shared, but even some of the information being shared is somewhat sensitive and *could* be used to disrupt work going on in the field. If you know of exceptions to these rules that should be allowed or have reasons for including, for instance, non-Christian BBSs, please let me know and we can work together on it. My intention is not to hinder you or in any way slow down the process of expanding distribution to the ends of the earth. The above are simple guidelines to at least set some boundaries (wide as they are). If you want to subscribe to get the conference messages as private e-mail (as opposed to using Fido EchoMail or an Internet news mechanism), a system is now in place to automate handling of requests to subscribe and unsubscribe, for help on using the system, etc. However, all conferences (except SNET-TRAVEL-SAFETY) are private and have an "owner" that must approve all subscription requests to his/her conference. To subscribe to a conference listed above, you need to agree to the following statements: 1. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and that faith in Him is the only way to salvation. 2. I believe that the Great Commission calls the Church to spread the gospel to all the peoples of the earth. If you agree, send your e-mail request to the Internet address "hub@xc.org", with "subscribe conference-name" as the first line in the body of the message. You can use multiple subscribe commands in one message to get more than one of the above conferences. Example: subscribe snet-misc subscribe snet-tech-comm end End of Example. Note the "end" command in the message body example. It is normally only needed if your e-mail software automatically appends a "signature" or other information to the end of the message body. The "end" command keeps the software from processing other text as commands. Please also send a message to the list owner of the group(s) to which you wish to subscriber reaffirming your agreement to statements one and two above. For example, to confirm your re- quest to snet-misc, send your e-mail confirmation to: owner-snet-misc@xc.org. A simple "yes" in the body of your note will work. Once you get a confirmation message that you are subscribed, you can send a message to a specific conference by simply addressing the message to "conf-name@xc.org" (i.e. snet-misc@xc.org). To unsubscribe to one or more conferences, send a message to "hub@XC.Org" and use "unsubscribe" in place of "subscribe" in the message body (see the example above). --- Mark Patterson CrossConnect (seconded from Global Mapping Int'l) 12175 Howells Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80908 [November 1994]