Re: Important: Encourage people to join the list
From: Karen Gimnig (karencohousgmail.com)
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2021 14:01:31 -0700 (PDT)
Thanks to Sharon for starting such an important conversation, and to Fred
both for providing this space to have such discussions and for your
suggestions.

As the Communications Director for CohoUS, it seems like I should chime in
here.

First, let me say that I really appreciate all the feedback and suggestions
relating to how the website and/or FB pages could be adapted to better
support Cohousing-L  I think I've captured them all and we will consider
them.

Note: For feedback about the website, FB Page and FB group, it is more
reliable to send it directly to me at karencohous [at] gmail.com than to post it
here.  As much as I appreciate this discussion forum, there are some days I
miss reading it, or skim over things.

There is NOT a turf war between CohoUS and Cohousing-L, or anyone else in
support of cohousing.  CohoUS is a gathering point and clearinghouse, a big
tent that welcomes all.  We love Cohousing-L for all the wonderful things
that it does. We also appreciate the power of other platforms for different
things.  And we have limited capacity (very small staff) and are careful of
what we take on maintenance for. We are careful not to attempt to do or be
everything for everyone.

There was a question about FB and why there are two FB identities for
CohoUS.  They are:
Cohousing Association of the US - a curated organization page. We post
things there that are of interest to cohousers, as well as events and other
activities of CohoUS. All are welcome to comment, but only our admins can
post (which means more info and less marketing).  You may encourage this to
show up in your feed by liking the page.
Cohousing US - is an open-to-all FB Group.  This is a space where anyone
can post anything they like.  In that way it's more like this listserv. Our
hope was/is that for folks who prefer a FB format to a listserv format, it
would serve a lot of the same function as cohousing-L. That said, it is
certainly not yet the case that the same sort of wisdom and experience is
posted there that can be found here.  We shall see how it develops.

Lastly, a word about other platforms: I think you all have demonstrated
quite nicely the diversity in communications preferences among cohousers.
As I work with forming groups, I can tell you that diversity is only
growing.  I know of not-yet-moved-in groups that use google groups,
groups.io, Slack, FB, mosaic, and a list of names in the "to" line of an
email, for their internal communications, and in some cases more than one
of those.  I'm betting that in each of those groups, we could find someone
who wishes it was something else and someone who loves it the way it is.

Cohousing is a very big tent with room for all.  CohoUS would welcome the
addition of a new platform for discussion and would be happy to share it as
best we can.  Meanwhile, I think it is highly unlikely that any platform
will attract the number, experience and quality of writers we have here any
time soon. I so appreciate you all!

Keep those ideas coming, and in the meantime, thank you for all you do to
support one another and the growth of cohousing.  I can't tell you how
often folks send us questions and we refer them to all of you.  You are one
of the most precious resources cohousing has.

-- 
Karen Gimnig
Communications Director
The Cohousing Association of the US
www.cohousing.org
678-705-9007

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