Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Internal listserv (was: Defining Cohousing)

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Nov 13, 2008, at 2:47 PM, Muriel Kranowski wrote:

> Sharon, this sounds somewhat like the discussion we had in my
> community about a year ago about our listserv.  Can you explain what
> it means in your community for some members to regard the internal
> listserv as "public"?  What do they do?

Examples:

1. In team notes I explained that we were considering a different  
sprinkler inspection company because when company A didn't respond to  
an emergency request, even though they are our contracted provider, we  
called company B. B come out and said we would be cited for the  
electrical work that was done by A and that other things we have  
suffered through (a beeping fire alarm) for months, could have been  
fixed immediately.

I was told to take that out of the team notes because it was "bad  
mouthing" company A. I was making it  "public" by putting it in our  
notes which go to the internal list.

Since all the people on the internal list will be participating the  
decision to change to the new company, shouldn't they know this and  
that a decision will be forthcoming? And if a member believes that  
information is incorrect, shouldn't we know it? How can we know it if  
we don't publish the info?

2. Someone, probably several people, moved an upright piano against a  
return air vent in the common house sometime in the last few days. I  
put out a message this  morning asking people to "please, please,  
please do not do this" and explained why blocking that vent can add  
thousands of dollars to our electric bills. It not only prevents the  
room from being properly heated, it causes the HVAC to run longer than  
it is designed to run and will burn out the compressor.

I don't know who moved the piano or who told them to move it there.  
Some people will say that I should have found out who moved the piano  
and spoken to them "privately." It would have taken me hours to find  
out who moved the piano, if I ever did. Then I would have to do it all  
over again in a month when someone else does the same thing.

Many people will ignore problems like this because they don't want the  
blow back. I fixed the problem by moving the piano myself and sent an  
email. That's all the time and energy I had.

I consider the internal list to be the same as a membership meeting.  
Others seem to feel that it is like a neighborhood publication that  
goes to a lot of unrelated and unknown people.

Some people on this list think I'm complaining about my community when  
I explain these things. I might be personally pissed, but the real  
issue is that these are things that come up and have to be dealt with  
in someway when living in a community. There is nothing "wrong."  
That's just the way things are.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing,Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org