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 Intertel - Recommended for libertarians and conservatives who enjoy discussions which are politically biased in their favor. Founded in 1966 by Ralph Haines, Intertel is the 2nd oldest functioning high IQ society. Its history through 1988 is contained in the book The One Percent Solution, which Intertel sells (but not through their web site at present). Per veteran Ilian (Intertel member) Kort Patterson, "authoritarian" approaches to leadership in the early days of Intertel (detailed in The One Percent Solution) "literally destroyed" the organization and produced the current Intertel which has more of a laissez-faire mentality. Intertel is broken up into 8 regions (including 1 International/non-US region), and has a number of elected officers, including a President. Intertel's journal Integra I found to be quite good, and a number of interesting people are in this approximately 1,000 member organization. Intertel has an annual gathering (AGA), and some regions have occasional gatherings. Top1, Intertel's e-mail forum, has approximately 100 subscribers and is extremely active. It is dominated by libertarians and conservatives, with these folks rarely having to defend their arguments and those without these views routinely being subjected to a fair amount of bullying if they ever speak up (which is understandably rare). In keeping with libertarian philosophy there are no speech restrictions on Top1, so expect to see some level of nastiness and occasional profanity, at times in the form of insults. Much of the potential that Top1 might have is undermined substantially by consistent childish behavior. Having said this, Intertel has many loyal followers who seem to get a lot out of Top1, some suggesting that Top1 is a place to vent their frustrations with media and institutions which they in effect feel bully them. Only scores from supervised tests are accepted for purposes of joining Intertel. Top One Percent Society - Recommended for those who enjoy civil discussions. Founded in 1989 by Dr. Ronald K. Hoeflin, TOPS started out as a print journal (In-Genius) with aspirations of having regular meetings. This did not happen. However, in recent years TOPS has created a Yahoo Group, with a fairly active e-mail discussion list. Membership is now entirely free. The journal Termite is now entirely online (effectively the successor to In-Genius), and there are no admission fees or any other fees. The Yahoo Group shows that there are 104 active Tops group members, but not all group members actually receive the e-mails. Yahoo Groups allow you to modify your subscription status without canceling your membership, which is very nice. Mind Society - Recommended for those who enjoy civil, apolitical discussions. "The Mind Society (TMS) is a worldwide High IQ Society open to qualified individuals at the 99th percentile in intelligence. The only purpose of the Society is to gather people for friendly exchange." Founded by Hernan R. Chang, M.D., who is also involved with a number of other groups. There are no fees whatsoever. Application must include a brief personal statement. This society has a focus on civil conduct and apolitical discussions, which is a breath of fresh air to many, but may be somewhat stifling for others. Many members ("Minders") share poetry, music, and stories, so there is also a focus on creativity and member feedback. Chorium - The High I.Q. Society for Musicians - "Chorium was founded to promote intellectual engagement among musicians. It is free to join the community although membership is restricted to the the top 1% of the population. Prospective members have to complete a two part test which explores Classical and Musical I.Q. Test papers are available to download for you to complete at your leisure."
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