ohiOMiami "OM" Valley Rainbow, has a long standing concensus, to NOT post directions to Net/Newsgroups (like AGR), bulletin/message boards, websites, clubs/egroups or  chatrooms. The Cumberland, Katuah and Indiana families have 'similar' consensii. Directions available via the Lightline,  private Email(like this) and Snailmail (depending on the energy available) If you are giving out Info, Please Include the above Consensus! {^:{~:Thank You For Respecting It::^}:`}                                                  Cincinnati,OH.                                   Dragonfly <dragnfly@fuse.net>                                                                                                                 Columbus & Cleveland,OH. "Rusty Sky's" <rustyskysilove@hotmail.com> 1-888-511-4783 Ironton: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/irontonrainbowfamily/ "chadwick goodrich" <chadwick_goodrich@hotmail.com> or stop by Granny's Wise, VA. :   Rob Healing Water wrote                                                       rmercure@verizon.net                                                       1-859-278-8947 I felt that I was reacting to your reacting to my reacting to your "broadcast" - but this response is much clearer which makes you, I guess, a "new-clear reactor" (sorry, just can't resist -grin).  All is cool brother and I understand why the consesnsii cause so much confusion.  There is a dichotomy between us who use computers daily and other family who couldn't plug one in.  Then there is just the fact that we only make decisions in Council by consensus while items passed around the internet at "almost the speed of light" somehow take on "official" status even if they are only the thoughts shared by a family member.  (Old Man cackle:) "Long before you were pissing in the woods sonny there was this insane Greek Brother named Zeus who got ahold of a rainbow mailing list (Mid Atlantic I think - perhaps Katuah - I was on three or four then) and decided to have his own gathering in E. TN - sent out a mailing that looked much like the other family announcements of the time (no internet at the time) and almost succeeded in getting the USFS to arrest 30-40 family even before the permit issue raised it's ugly head."  'Cuz of this, and other similar "personal gathering movies"  some of us try to monitor and modify the flow as much as we can (like I'm on-line all the time or could ever stand AGR? - 'nother grin)..  But none of us want to be the "Consensus Police". 'Nother issue is the low energy state in some families - OMV is moribund, Cumberland is Doug and to some extent Alex (with a little eastern scouting from me)., and  who know what ever happened to BARF or the Piedmont family?  Katuah alone seems to have energy and it's not at the all time high for this family.  So we have little coordination between families, and those of us who are on-line attempting to create a cyber-family which is analogous to having a council in a shopping mall <GRIN>. One factor you mentioned - the idea that gatherings are a "private" affair - might be addressed.  When I came to rainbow about 15 years ago there was no internet and one only found out about a gathering through personal contact which could eventually get you on a family mailing list.  There was only one "original" lightline that I know - Atlanta (then PYREMAL, a Mid-Atlantic, OMV and others - but my history could be sorely lacking due to my SE USA bias) and the Atlanta line attempted to inform for as many families as possible but the consistent pattern was to announce a gathering/council a few weeks before the event but not to release directions until the day before the event.  Again, not to make a private gathering but to ensure that experienced family was on-site with trails made, shitters dug, a kitchen, water supply ,etc., before anyone inexperienced  in the woods - and in rainbow tradition in the woods - could blunder in, camp on the trail, piss in the water supply - you know the gig! Unfortunately,  a internet site is effectively a bulletin board/bill board so I'm not sure that even the most liberal of rainbow computer users would want councils and gatherings that widely announced.  And e-mail  can be an exponential growth media - one person decides to send announcements to her/his "list" and we all know that our lists contain casual acquaintances who can then inform their lists and suddenly you've got hundreds of folks informed of a council that's expecting about 30 - which could be wonderful if these hundreds were family-experienced enough to bring focus and energy to council! Anyhoo, I find that I've stated the obvious in the last paragraph - you know this <GRIN>.  I dunno, perhaps you could cut and paste them and use them if you need a "packaged" explanation for some other family member. Love you and am glad that your energy is still in the soup - hope you make the Cumberland or Katuah Councils and perhaps I'll be able to head north for on. Rob There are links in the OM Graphics to OM Fest , CA.