The following amendments to the newsgroup charter have been
accepted by the moderators and arbitrators as per the amendment
rules of the original charter:

2004 February 23: Prohibited posts amendment to include:

"Solicitations of financial aid. Such solicitations by Masons in distress
should be directed to the distressed Mason's lodge or Grand Lodge.
Solicitations by non-masons should be directed to a nearby local lodge."
(Unanimous approval)

2004 August 8: Etiquette paragraph amendment to include:

"Posting topical but substantively similar announcements should be
limited to one every three months." (Unanimous approval)

2004 September 15: Prohibited posts amendment to include:

"Evangelizing, proselytizing, or sectarian discourse. Posts that
endorse a particular religion or sect over others, or that focus
on religion rather than on Freemasonry, are inappropriate for
this newsgroup." (Unanimous approval)

2007 December 1: West Virginia (a model for similar situations
                 involving disputes within a Grand Lodge):

Any posting related to the current events in West Virginia should
follow these guidelines: 
(1)  Be factual and not conjecture;
(2)  Label personal opinion clearly as such;

Conjecture and or hypothetical "what if" postings will not be 
allowed. As usual, the moderators will strictly observe the charter of
this newsgroup and exercise our judgement on what is an allowable
posting on this topic. As always, our decisions can be appealed 
as outlined in the group charter.

One of the Moderators has recused himself as he is affected by the events at
hand; he will not be performing any moderation of posts related
to this topic, leaving them in the queue for the other moderators.
This may result in a slightly greater moderation time for these posts.