I’m not sure whether to feel elated that general council members of the Theosophical Society started a blog, or offended that I didn’t know about it 
[I'm not supposed to link to it just yet and it's pulled offline, because it wasn't supposed to be accessible just yet.]
Seriously – I’m very glad that they are coming out publicly discussing the issues they think the general council should be discussing. The issues their sections run into etc. For a blog it is so far rather quiet. No comments yet. That might have something to do with the fact that they didn’t let people like me know the blog exists. Or with the fact that all comments go through the moderator so far (at least mine did). This blog has some posts I have trouble reading (is there a point here?) as well as some posts that are quite interesting for those who want to know organizational issues sections run into.
There are also a few open letters by general council members to general council members. This gives a unique perspective into what they feel matters in the current TS.
Erica Letzerlich started her own blog as well. It does allow comments and it also has information like the last version of the International Bylaws of the Theosophical Society that she has access to (she’s general secretary of the Greece section). So far her main content is related to the proposal by John Algeo to give the General Council the power to vote for the next president. (That proposal seems to be off the table though). The main content so far is people sharing their outrage at that proposal.
Keep up to date on the latest from all theosophical blogs and forums here.
Katinka is being read by theosophical leaders and she has power! The Theosophy Forward blog was put off immediatelly as she wrote about it here! I guess she found out it as I mentioned it…
Somebody got scared of the coming publicity! The blog was there for a month or two, and Anton Rozman had linked to it, but nothing happened before Katinka wrote!
Yep, it was interesting to see what the General Secretaries wrote with each other. But this what John Algeo wrote in his first letter to the General Council (10 July, 2008; published in that blog) is almost funny, considering his latest secret plots against members: “Free expression and open debate is the foundation of the best governments the world has ever known. Censorship and suppression of information are the tools of tyrannies and dictatorships.”
Actually the solution to the mystery is more simple than that: I posted the above an hour or so after asking John Algeo about that blog through direct e-mail. He is pretty good at keeping up to date with his e-mail, so he consulted his colleagues and they decided to quit the site.
I think it has more to do with the fear of publicity than with the actual publicity itself.
He has since let me know the site will probably not go back up. I think that’s unfortunate.
It is indeed disappointing that John could write about openness and freedom of information and set that proposal up mere months after. It made me conclude it is very fortunate that we did not elect him as our president. Long live the Indian members
Alright, the case went like that: you wrote Algeo directly. Yes, it is unfortunate if the site won’t come back.
Btw. I must admit I don’t know how long the blog was there. Some dates of the messages were from July, but like Anton Rozman rightly writed on Theos-Talk, those dates were just original dates of the messages:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/theos-talk/message/46260
I believe I visited the blog for the first time in the end of September.
This is an American blog. Could American Theosophists please tell here what is going on in the TS in America now? How do members react on John’s and Betty’s proposals when they hear about them? Are John and Betty under pressure from members? For me this attempt to change the rules was a giant slam against openness and it confirms my view that old generations can’t change the TS as an organisation, regardless all their talking. In my view there are too many same people who just want to be on power and who don’t respect members. Several new people who see the name of the game see it is better to go to some other group or be without any group… Many young people think the TS is dead. Fortunately, there are some who will wait until old people die, but how small will the TS be then?
I respect Chris Richardson, the founder of this blog and apparently an officer of the TSA, for trying to carry new winds, both in contents and in institutions, into theosophical work. Could you Chris please tell us something about events in the US? And how about Olcott? On Theos-Talk there were some unpleasant rumours about the Olcott HQ.
I hope you (you all) don’t mind that I write without right name.