About six months ago, I started the Russian-Women-L mailing list, to discuss all aspects of relationships between non-Russian men (typically American and European) and women from Russia and other ex-Soviet Union countries. Topics have included: 1. A consumer's view of the various introduction services: Which are reputable. Which give good value. What are the success rates. What types of services are in demand, and what needs are not being met. Which cater to the serious marriage-minded men, and which to the sexual tourist. 2. The mechanics of the marriage process from the first meeting through the wedding: Travel tips and bargains. Visa details to bring her back. Meeting in a third country. 3. After the couple are introduced and/or married: Long term success rates for marriages and other relationships. Potential intercultural problems. Successful methods for resolving problems. The cultural profile of Soviet women. 4. Reactions to this process: American women being threatened by a shift in the power balance. Responses from friends and family. Opinions of ex-Soviet men. I run it under Majordomo on my home Linux machine, using uucp and a legacy email link to the University of Houston. I started with a set of 650 email addresses which two introduction agencies exposed in cc: lines, and the list achieved critical mass almost immediately. We now have about 400 members between the individual and digest lists. We have arguably the best collection of intercultural information about Russia available on the Internet, and some great advice on dating and women in general. Our archive digests, now about 8MB of text, are being hosted on a Web site by one list member. Our regular posters include a Russian woman who runs an introduction agency in St. Petersburg, a woman who is a frustrated writer. She writes the most fascinating true stories about her clients, their lives and loves, their successes and disappointments. With the Internet connectivity now available, we have enjoyed several men posting to the list in real time while currently in Russia on a romantic visit. The list has been non-profit from the start, and the email addresses of (non-posting) subscribers are not public. The list is not available to be a marketing channel for any introduction agency. Instead, it works as, among other things, a consumer information resource and reality check to balance out the fantasies presented by the introduction agencies. Alas, the list is currently capacity constrained on my machine with my existing infrastructure. My UofH host has asked that I not advertise the list or otherwise try to grow the membership while using their email transport. And for six months, I have not been able to leave town for more than a weekend, because of various instabilities in the operation the list and in my email link. Several people have also urged me to start another list, Latin-Women-L. For these reasons, I am searching for a new, more robust, host for the Russian-Women-L mailing list. My goal with Russian-Women-L is to reach all possible men who might be considering this uncertain process, and to supply them with all the information and online support they need in a completely non-profit public forum. The Russian-Women-L may lead to huge savings in time and money, and possibly avoid some horrible marriages and build stronger intercultural relationships for those men and women proceeding to marriage. If you might be able to help me in finding a new home for the Russian-Women-L, I would very much appreciate hearing from you. Best regards, Lester -- A. Lester Buck [log in to unmask] For Russian-Women-L information, send a message with 'info russian-women-l' (no quotes) in the message body to [log in to unmask]