Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing-L Digest, Vol 58, Issue 21

[Rebecca Reid (rreid]

Rob mentions a list moderator--we also have a community listsserve but have 
not had a moderator.  I am curious 1. whether other communities have 
moderators, and 2. how it works at Sharingwood.
Rebecca Reid
Pioneer Valley
Amherst, MA


> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:42:04 -0800
> From: "Rob Sandelin" <floriferous [at] msn.com>
> Subject: [C-L]_ Internal Listserve
> To: "'Cohousing-L'" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Message-ID: <BLU0-SMTP963258536F5893DA9AD11A3160 [at] phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> We have had an internal listserve at Sharingwood for almost 10 years now. 
> It
> is only open to residents and we remove people from it as soon as they 
> leave
> the community.  It is private and things get put on it randomly which I am
> sure only get put there because it is a private list.  It has never been
> used as a PR tool, and on a few occasions when people have sent onlist 
> email
> offlist, the list moderator has privately scolded them.
>
> A listserve is the only communication medium which reaches almost 
> everybody
> in our community. That is why it gets used so much. It does generate a lot
> of....me too... type replies and many of the threads are only of interest 
> to
> a small subgroup but email is easy to scan and delete and all attempts to
> create sublists have not taken hold, mainly I think because people do not
> want to keep up with more than one community communication list and can
> easily delete threads that do not interest them.
>
> It is a broadcast medium and it has happened that on random occasions,
> particular individuals have been chastised over email, which makes some
> folks uncomfortable. This used to happen more often but as we have matured
> in our list use, it rarely happens anymore.  However, the situation Sharon
> mentioned, where things done by unknown persons have been brought up, 
> either
> to praise them, or damn them. It happens frequently for the exact reason 
> she
> states, it would take hours of work to try to figure out WHO left the
> shovels out in the rain, easier and probably better just to sent a general
> message about putting tools away, better because we all then get reminded,
> or learn about something rather than just the one person who did it so our
> community awareness is increased.
>
> One of the most useful things we have done is use some standardized 
> headings
> in the subject line. One of the best for us is: Shirley's List.  This is a
> notice that I have something to give away. Usually what is being given 
> away
> is listed in the subject also.  The heading RANT: alerts the readers of a
> pissy email. HELP is one which is obvious.
>
> Rob Sandelin
> Too much caffeine up past midnight
> Sharingwood
> Snohomish County, WA