NEW DEAD SEA SCROLLS FORUM ONLINE: Ian Hutchesson e-mails:

Dead Sea Scrolls Forum
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I'd like to announce the "opening" of a web-based forum for Dead Sea Scrolls scholars at

http://scrollsforum.com/forum

and any scholar with a solid foundation in Qumran studies is welcome to register at the site.

A web forum is functionally quite different from a mailing list. In fact members receive no mail whatsoever. A member visits the internet site using a web browser to access any messages that might be of interest. Web forums have proven to be a successful medium of communication in various technical and non-specialist fields, and I believe this format can be successful in the contacts of scholarly pursuit as well.

Forums invariably present members with an index of topics, allowing members to follow only those topics which they are interested in. The topics I have made available include:

* Texts (technical aspects)
* Biblical Scrolls
* Parabiblical Texts
* Community related texts
* Cult and Practice
* Language Matters
* Contexts
* Archaeology

If you are only interested in one of these topics you never need to look at any of the others.

As this is an internet based structure, I have had to take security into consideration. Only members can read the forum material and to do so, a member must log in. Every member will have a password to access the site.

There are two types of membership: general and scholarly. A general member will be able to read most forum topics, but won't be able to write to them. There will be specific general forums. To register as a general member all you need do is visit the site and follow the indication on the top right, which says "Register". This will give reading access to the site. To become a scholarly member, do the same, ie register as a general member, then announce yourself by sending an email to

admin@scrollsforum.com

The information you supply at registration should be sufficient to verify eligibility. It will only be a matter of a day or perhaps less before you have full access to the site.

Before registering it is strongly advised that you check the forum topic called "Start Here". You will find a message there aptly entitled "Please read before registering!"

At the beginning of proceedings I will be acting as moderator.

The aims of the Scrolls Forum are simple:

1) put scholars in contact with others about matters that concern them; and

2) analyse scrolls issues in a non-adversarial manner, fostering new, and improving on old, ideas.

If the idea appeals to you, or if you know of someone who might be interested, please spread the word around. There are a lot of scholars working in Qumran related fields around the world, mostly left to their own devices, but, given the opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise, so much can be achieved. I think that the more scholars talk to one another the better off we all will be. Please think about joining this enterprise, if the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran archaeology are important to your interests. Your ideas can help others, as theirs can help you.