I've posted off several corrections. I... guess there's no reason not to post them here, too, I've redacted anything identifying people:
----- ...I went digging in the Elfinkind Digest archives for a few dates. Here are some of them:
Across a few days in February and March, 1990: I post to several newsgroups - particularly alt.pagan, but several - about a listserv I'm starting for elves. This is also forwarded to at least one pagan email list (subject: "A small experimental mailing list."), tho' I don't know which one because I didn't do it. The posts were probably all from phoenix[at]ms.uky.edu or possibly phoenix[at]s.ms.uky.edu (same account, different domaining). I will repost notices of the list several times over the next few years. The list was never really private; it was _specifically_ a publicly-joinable list. The repost you have from 1991 is one of the later reposts, looking to find more interested people.
Before there was a list, there was a fair amount of private email going back and forth between myself and people who had responded to my newsgroup posts. Those are not in the digest archives. I hope I have them somewhere, but I don't know that I do.
The first Elfinkind Digest (nr. 1) was dated 26 March 1990, and was sent out on that day. See below for a version redacting everything except my initial message laying out the list rules.
First use of the word "otherkind" is in Elfinkind Digest #16, dated 18 April 1990, coined in quotes as a term to include non-elf "others" cropping up on the list, and was a specific branching off from the word "elfinkind." There was later some talk of renaming the digest to "The Otherkind Digest" but that didn't happen. The first use of the word "otherkin" as a variant is in Elfinkind Digest nr. 71, July 10, 1990. I have the posters' names (and am still in touch with them, in fact) but don't want to give it without their permission.
Gathers were discussed several times in 1990, for both in the UK and the US. Serious proposals were floated in late September and early October, 1990. Digest nr. 131 (11 October 1990) published the list of "invitations" to host. Locations offered were in North Carolina, New York State, and New Jersey. Voting was held through private mail, with one write-in vote for my house. North Carolina won the vote (announced in Digest 143, 29 October 1990) was scheduled for _and actually occurred_, with a total attendance of nine, on 28-31 December 1990. I was one of the nine. First event reports appeared Elfinkind Digest 183, dated 11 January 1991. (The long delay was due to the mail server being down for a few weeks.) As elves and dragons were both represented, I'd say it may qualify as the first Otherkind Gather.
The first reference to the Elven Nation Manifesto appearing on Usenet is in Digest nr. 959, dated 16 February 1995. It references an alt.pagan posting of the Manifesto made on 6 February 1995, by someone who was not a listmember. I reposted the manifesto to Elfinkind Digest nr. 961 on 22 February 1995.
It would be nice if the history mentioned that elves started this thing. ^_^ I was in very light correspondence with the Silver Elves in the mid-1980s, if that matters, but nothing meaningful came of it.
no subject
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...I went digging in the Elfinkind Digest archives for a few dates. Here are some of them:
Across a few days in February and March, 1990: I post to several newsgroups - particularly alt.pagan, but several - about a listserv I'm starting for elves. This is also forwarded to at least one pagan email list (subject: "A small experimental mailing list."), tho' I don't know which one because I didn't do it. The posts were probably all from phoenix[at]ms.uky.edu or possibly phoenix[at]s.ms.uky.edu (same account, different domaining). I will repost notices of the list several times over the next few years. The list was never really private; it was _specifically_ a publicly-joinable list. The repost you have from 1991 is one of the later reposts, looking to find more interested people.
Before there was a list, there was a fair amount of private email going back and forth between myself and people who had responded to my newsgroup posts. Those are not in the digest archives. I hope I have them somewhere, but I don't know that I do.
The first Elfinkind Digest (nr. 1) was dated 26 March 1990, and was sent out on that day. See below for a version redacting everything except my initial message laying out the list rules.
First use of the word "otherkind" is in Elfinkind Digest #16, dated 18 April 1990, coined in quotes as a term to include non-elf "others" cropping up on the list, and was a specific branching off from the word "elfinkind." There was later some talk of renaming the digest to "The Otherkind Digest" but that didn't happen. The first use of the word "otherkin" as a variant is in Elfinkind Digest nr. 71, July 10, 1990. I have the posters' names (and am still in touch with them, in fact) but don't want to give it without their permission.
Gathers were discussed several times in 1990, for both in the UK and the US. Serious proposals were floated in late September and early October, 1990. Digest nr. 131 (11 October 1990) published the list of "invitations" to host. Locations offered were in North Carolina, New York State, and New Jersey. Voting was held through private mail, with one write-in vote for my house. North Carolina won the vote (announced in Digest 143, 29 October 1990) was scheduled for _and actually occurred_, with a total attendance of nine, on 28-31 December 1990. I was one of the nine. First event reports appeared Elfinkind Digest 183, dated 11 January 1991. (The long delay was due to the mail server being down for a few weeks.) As elves and dragons were both represented, I'd say it may qualify as the first Otherkind Gather.
The first reference to the Elven Nation Manifesto appearing on Usenet is in Digest nr. 959, dated 16 February 1995. It references an alt.pagan posting of the Manifesto made on 6 February 1995, by someone who was not a listmember. I reposted the manifesto to Elfinkind Digest nr. 961 on 22 February 1995.
It would be nice if the history mentioned that elves started this thing. ^_^ I was in very light correspondence with the Silver Elves in the mid-1980s, if that matters, but nothing meaningful came of it.