Re: Request from Manzanita Village in Arizona: How does your community handle members who abuse the community e-mail?
From: Tom @ Gather (tomgather.coop)
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2021 18:46:27 -0800 (PST)
>
> Greetings co-housing friends:  We are looking for solutions to our issue
> of about 4 of our 60 plus members occasionally abusing the community group
> e-mail by "calling out" by name in
> disrespectful or even abusive posts other members they are upset with/have
> an issue with.  This issue has been raised, commented on, lamented, etc.
> but still people do this.
> Have you found a way to solve a similar issue in your community?
>

Do you have any community agreements or policies about email use? If not,
perhaps time to draft one! I'd share ours from Touchstone but it's not
particularly good and we're working on refining it. I'd recommend having
clear agreements about what constitutes appropriate email discourse (and
what does not), and then having an option to issue warnings and temporarily
disable posting privileges for repeat violators. The latter shouldn't be
needed if the former is clear and consented to by the group but it's good
to have just in case. Another thing you can do in the policy is to
designate a team of moderators who have some experience or basic training
in de-escalating and applying the policy. A team is important since it
means you have a better chance of having someone available to head off a
harmful discussion quickly before it spirals out of control. Especially in
the beginning when your community is adjusting to the new agreements.

Good luck!

-- 
Tom for the Gather Team
https://info.gather.coop

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