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
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