This list has three primary guidelines related to posting:

1) Postings to the list must relate directly to marriage or alternatives to marriage. We have experimented with various ways to define the list topics, and have concluded that this definition keeps the most people on the list happy -- this is what people hoped to read and talk about when they subscribed.

2) Disagreeing with others' ideas is welcome. Attacking people as individuals is not OK. In general, AtMP-Talk is intended to be a suppportive, informative community for unmarried people.

3) Postings must contain new information -- very short messages like, "I agree!" or "I couldn't have said it better myself," do not add information and force hundreds of subscribers to spend time opening a message. Of course, you are always welcome to send those kinds of messages privately to the person with whom you agree.

AtMP-Talk is a moderated list. This means that all postings are forwarded to a moderator (at this time, Dorian Solot), who generally approves all messages for the list unless they violate one of the three guidelines above. Usually, the moderator will let a subscriber know the first time s/he submits a message that is not approved for the list. For later violations, the moderator may simply not approve the message, without notifying the sender. Occasional mistakes are understandable; repeated instances of ignoring the list guidelines could result in a subscriber being unsubscribed.

Postings written by AtMP-Talk subscribers may not be reprinted, quoted publicly, or forwarded to other lists without the permission of the author.

Things to keep in mind when posting to the list:

- If you're replying to someone else's message, please delete all but the relevant sections of the earlier message(s). Since some subscribers receive many messages compiled into a digest, this helps keep the digest to a manageable size.

- If you're replying to a message you received in a digest, please change the subject line to reflect the subject of the message.

- AtMP-Talk currently has over 600 subscribers. This is a diverse group, including those who support the mission of the Alternatives to Marriage Project, and some who may disagree with it. Anyone who chooses to post to the list should be aware that their posting will be read by those with a variety of perspectives on the issues.

How to post, subscribe, unsubscribe, or set your subscription to digest:

We are using Google Groups to manage our AtMP-Talk list. However, as the list is private, messages are not archived and cannot be read using the traditional Google Groups web interface.

To join the AtMP-Talk Google Group, please enter your email address in the box below:

You will receive an email from " This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it " confirming that you'd like to join AtMP-Talk. You must click on the link in the email to confirm your membership.

To post, send your email to atmp-talk { at } googlegroups.com. Your message will be sent to our moderator for posting. Once the moderator approves your message, it will be sent to the group. As the sender, you will not receive a copy of your message.

To unsubscribe, click on the link at the bottom of any message. You can also manage your subscription at http://groups.google.com/group/atmp-talk/. Note: You will need a Google Account to log in and manage your subscription in this way.