OList > OActivists

OActivists

OActivists is an informal private e-mail list for Objectivists committed to fostering positive cultural and political change. Its purpose is to facilitate and encourage effective advocacy of Objectivist ideas in non-Objectivist forums by facilitating communication with other Objectivist activists. Posts to the list alert subscribers to opportunities to speak out, recommend sources of information, discuss effective arguments and principled strategies, reproduce op-eds and letters written by subscribers, announce events, and more.

Subscription

To join the OActivists mailing list, you must meet two criteria:

• You must be an Objectivist, meaning that you agree with and live by the principles of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism as best you understand them. Newcomers to Objectivism are just as welcome as old-timers. Please do not subscribe if you choose to associate with dishonest pseudo-advocates of Objectivism such as Nathaniel Branden, Barbara Branden, Chris Sciabarra, and David Kelley.

• You must be committed to engaging in intellectual activism to promote Objectivist ideas in online or print forums. At minimum, subscribers must post at least one comment advocating the Objectivist view on some news article, op-ed, or non-Objectivist blog at least once every six months. That comment doesn't have to be long: just a few sentences or even a relevant quote from essay by Ayn Rand or an op-ed from ARI will do. Arguing with people already substantially familiar with Objectivism in online forums does not qualify as activism.

If you do not clearly meet those criteria, you should not subscribe without first e-mailing the list owner, Diana Hsieh, diana@dianahsieh.com.

The OActivists list is managed through Google Groups. You can request a subscription via this web interface. You will be asked to confirm that you meet the two criteria for membership. Subscription requires an account with Google. (It's free and easy to create.)

After you subscribe, please feel free to post an introduction, including your name, profession, location, and interests and goals with respect to activism for Objectivism.

List Rules

The OActivists list has a few basic rules:

• Please be friendly or at least civil in posts to the list. Subscribers who behave like asses, such as by insulting other list members or attacking Objectivist intellectuals, will be removed from the list.

• Please respect the purpose of the list. Subscribers who prove disruptive to the basic purpose of the list -- such as by attempting to arguing against Objectivist positions or posting on irrelevant topics -- will be unsubscribed or subject to moderation.

• If you do not wish your post to be circulated outside the list (e.g. forwarded to friends of list members), please indicate that at the top of the post. Such requests must be respected. No list e-mails should ever be posted to any public forums without the express permission of the author. However, subscribers are welcome to use the information in posts as they see fit.

List Mechanics

Mail to OActivists should be addressed to oactivists@olist.com or oactivists@googlegroups.com. (Mail to the former address is automatically forwarded to the latter address.)

If you are a subscriber, you can access OActivists through this web interface. There, you can peruse the archives and change your subscription.

Contact

If you have any questions about or problems with the list, please e-mail Diana Hsieh, the list's owner and administrator, at diana@dianahsieh.com.

The OList.com web site and mailing lists are owned and administered by Diana Hsieh, a graduate student in philosophy at University of Colorado at Boulder. She's currently writing her dissertation on moral responsibility, as well as teaching introductory philosophy courses. She also blogs at NoodleFood. She can be reached via e-mail to diana@dianahsieh.com.