Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Guidelines for E-mail use

[D Bygott & J Hanby (kibuyu]

-- Bryan, some comments below:

----- Original Message ----
From: Bryan Syverson <Bryan [at] BrySy.net>
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Sent: Friday, October 5, 2007 8:33:19 AM
Subject: [C-L]_ Guidelines for E-mail use

Does your cohousing group have e-mail guidelines or an e-mail policy? Would you 
be willing to share it?

I'm in Fresno and our facilitation committee is just getting started drafting 
this. I'd like to make use of whatever work has already been done, so as not to 
reinvent the wheel.

We're trying to address at least these issues:
  a.. e-mail etiquette 

-- Within our community, e-mail is a very important communication
tool, probably more so than phone, as it's less intrusive. 
I don't think we have any written policy, but there is strong
social pressure against emotional outbursts or ad hominem attacks on
e-mail. 
We use e-mail mainly to inform, educate, amuse, inspire. 
We also try to encourage people to communicate on a
need-to-know basis to keep down the sheer volume of junk; thus, for example, 
intra-committee business messages go
only to the members of that committee, while announcements of each
committee's meetings and minutes go to everyone. Humorous stuff tends to be 
circulated only among those who enjoy it. Messages that
should really only concern two or three people are kept between those people.

  b.. what to do about members who don't have e-mail 

-- We have only two; each of them has a family member who tells them what they 
need to know. In the case of really important stuff, the communicator takes 
them a printout, or sees or phones them, as well as posting a copy on the CH 
bulletin board.

  c.. what to do about members who have e-mail but don't respond to it 

-- It's their choice. If you need an answer fast, you go see them or phone 
them. (Or you sign them up for some arduous duty that you e-mailed them the 
chance to decline, and they soon get the point :) )

-- From time to time, I like to circulate this little link about effective 
e-mail communication. I have really found it useful myself:
http://webfoot.com/advice/email.top.php

Good luck!

David Bygott
http://milagrocohousing.org


where there are still a few beautiful energy-efficient adobe homes for sale, 
surrounded by many acres of unspoilt Sonoran desert.




      
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