The Elfinkind Digest
| The Elfinkind Digest | |
|---|---|
| Moderator(s) | R'ykandar Korra'ti |
| Website | |
| Status | Defunct |
| Launch date | March 26, 1990 |
| End Date | February 2, 2018 |
| Message count | 2849 digests |
| Users | <100 |
| Average traffic | Low |
| Subject | Elves & General Otherkin |
The Elfinkind Digest was the first otherkin mailing list, created by R'ykandar Korra'ti in March 1990 and operated from the University of Kentucky. It ran for nearly twenty-eight years, closing on February 2, 2018.
The list gave the community its name. Otherkind — with a d — appeared in Elfinkind Digest #16 on April 18, 1990, in a post by a member named Elezar, a dwarf; the variant otherkin followed in #71 on July 9, 1990, in a post by Torin.[1] Orion Scribner's Otherkin Timeline instead attributes both forms to Torin and dates the coinage to #16, recording Torin's recollection that he "got tired of typing elf/dragon/orc/etc.-kin and just used otherkin."[2] The two accounts are compared at Otherkin.
Public announcement
The Digest ran without public advertisement for its first eighteen months. In September 1991 Korra'ti posted the same brief notice to three newsgroups in turn — alt.pagan on September 25, then alt.callahans and rec.games.frp on September 26:
I run a small mail-based digest for elves and interested observers. It has been in existence for a couple of years now, but has not been posted about in public before. We have an open membership policy, so if you're interested in being added to the distribution list, please let me know. Details will be made available upon request.
The wording is identical across the three postings, including the claim not to have been "posted about in public before," which was accurate only of the first.[3][4][5] Scribner's timeline records only the rec.games.frp posting, which was the last of the three.[2]
References
- ↑ Arethinn na'eleth aTinderel. 2021. A Brief(ish) History of the Word "Otherkind".
Mythsong. https://www.mythsong.net/history/wordhist.html.
Archived from the original on March 10, 2026 at https://web.archive.org/web/20260310162015/https://www.mythsong.net/history/wordhist.html. Last updated September 6, 2021. - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Scribner, Orion. 2012. Otherkin Timeline: The recent history of elfin, fae, and animal people.
Online: http://www.frameacloud.com.
Archived from the original on June 2, 2026 at https://web.archive.org/web/20260602154806/https://frameacloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Scribner_Timeline2p0.pdf. Version 2.0, dated September 8, 2012. The announcement is cited at footnote 111 to news: rec.games.frp, 1991-09-26. - ↑ R'ykandar Korra'ti, "Small digest/list." alt.pagan (Usenet), September 25, 1991, 2:02:31 AM. https://groups.google.com/g/alt.pagan/c/rDlEiVvVsE0/m/_BO2uXobmnUJ
- ↑ R'ykandar Korra'ti, "A small digest/list." alt.callahans (Usenet), September 26, 1991, 2:29:27 AM. https://groups.google.com/g/alt.callahans/c/LcbWzgvqBZg/m/CaNEzgwBqqsJ The signature block reads: "R'ykandar Korra'ti, Moderator / Elfinkind Digest — R'ykandar Korra'ti | Editor, LOW ORBIT Science and Fiction | pho...@ms.uky.edu | edi...@lorbit.UUCP | sumax!polari!lorbit!editor" (addresses obscured in the archived copy).
- ↑ R'ykandar Korra'ti, "A small digest/list." rec.games.frp (Usenet), September 26, 1991, 2:01:35 PM. https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.frp/c/gexg92IMyf8/m/zI_EmpN2SYMJ