Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are devoted to posts by HBL members, selected by me and occasionally containing my comments. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and either Saturday or Sundays I write my own posts for the list. I guarantee a minimum of 275 days of HBL per calendar year.
I NEVER send any attachments with HBL posts. So, for your protection, NEVER open any attachment that claims to be coming from HBL--it isn't, and it is probably a virus.
We do not give out, rent, or sell your email address or your contact information. By the same token, HBL members are not permitted to cull email addresses from posts for their own group-mailings.
Since I am charging for membership, I have to put certain conditions on the forwarding of HBL posts.
1) Forwarding to individuals: You can forward up to three individual posts to three individuals per month. We work on the honor system. You will need to remove any links to pictures or to "read on web," since these give people access to the HBL archives, where there are three weeks of posts.
2) If it is a post you wrote, and you remove any HB comments and all links to reading on the web, you can do whatever you like with it. (It's your intellectual property.) We would appreciate it, however, if you would add a link to our main site (www.hblist.com): we could get a customer out of it.
To forward more than three posts per month (not counting those you wrote) or to include HB's comments in your forward, simply send the post to hblist@hblist.com with a first line asking us to forward it to so-and-so at such-and-such email address.
3) Forwarding even one post (unless written by you) to a blog or list is a special case, because it's mass distribution. So, to do this, you need to get HB's permission by sending an email to hblist@hblist.com with your request.
SHARED SUBSCRIPTIONS
I allow shared subscriptions, but only among members of the same household, including roommates. You may even have, upon request, up to three different email addresses for the shared account, so that each spouse or roommate can get his/her own individual email.
Onscreen reading: You may let anyone read postings on your computer screen as often as you like.
It is a widely recognized danger of email lists that they easily degenerate into "flames "--i.e., inflammatory back-and-forth arguments, often with personal attacks, among participants.
This is bad on any number of counts, and becomes tedious for the vast majority who are not involved in the dispute. Since I have to terminate threads eventually, the person who doesn't get "the last word" always feels he has been left defenseless.
So let me urge you to maintain a collegial, 19th-century-style attitude toward other posts and other posters. And please minimize the quoting of sections of other people's posts and instead just name the subject. Here's a contrived example:
First post:
From Immanuel Kant:
There has been too much emphasis by HBLers on reason and values. Reason can deal only with the phenomenal world, not with things as they really are in themselves, and values introduce a subjective element into morality, because they depend on a lone individual's personal choices (though these "choices" are deterministic responses, considered phenomenally).
Sample reply post illustrating proper etiquette:
From John Doe:
On the subject of whether there has been too much emphasis here on reason and values, the truth is exactly the opposite: only by reference to reason and values can we grasp reality and remain in reality. I reject any alleged distinction between a "phenomenal" realm and "things as they really are"--"'Things as they are' are things as perceived by your mind'" (Galt's Speech). Values are not subjective (or intrinsic) but *objective* ... <etc.>
You may not re-publish elsewhere any HBL post, in whole or in part, unless you obtain the explicit permission of the post's author; if the material you wish to re-publish includes quotes from another HBL member's earlier post, you must also get that member's explicit permission. The purpose of this policy is to assure those posting here that their words will not be thrown into the public arena where they would appear out of the context of our ongoing discussion and not be subject to our standards of civility and respect.
By the same token, posts on HBL should not import parts of discussion going on elsewhere or comment on them. HBL should be a self-contained world, with no cross-conversations.
If you cancel your subscription, we will refund the unused portion of your payment, calculated at the monthly rate.
The HBL is primarily for Objectivists. Full agreement with Objectivism is not required, but certain people are excluded--see the Loyalty Oath below. You need not sign or return it. If you join the list, or accept the free-trial offer, that indicates your agreement with its provisions.
I have created this list for those who are deeply and sincerely interested in Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism and its application to cultural-political issues.
It is understood that Objectivism is limited to the philosophic principles expounded by Ayn Rand in the writings published during her lifetime plus those articles by other authors that she published in her own periodicals (e.g., The Objectivist) or included in her anthologies. Applications, implications, developments, and extensions of Objectivism--though they are to be encouraged and will be discussed on my list--are not, even if entirely valid, part of Objectivism. (Objectivism does not exhaust the field of rational philosophic identifications.)
I do not make full agreement with Objectivism a condition of joining my list. However, I do exclude anyone who is sanctioning or supporting the enemies of Ayn Rand and Objectivism. "Enemies" include: "libertarians," moral agnostics or "tolerationists," anarchists, and those whom Ayn Rand condemned morally or who have written books or articles attacking Ayn Rand. I do not wish to publicize the myriad of anti-Objectivist individuals and organizations by giving names, so if you have questions about any such, email me privately and I will be glad to discuss it with you.
If you bristle at the very idea of a "loyalty oath" and declaring certain ideological movements and individuals as "enemies," then my list is probably not for you. This is a "loyalty oath" in the sense that a condition of joining HBL is that you agree with the policy outlined in this section. Thus, to join my list while concealing your sanction or support of these enemies, would be to commit a fraud. Again, if you have any questions on this policy, please let me know.