Purpose of the Website
The Willard-Homewood Neighborhood website facilitates communication between residents as we work to improve the quality of life in our neighborhood. Website content is provided by a wide variety of our residents and mirrors the diverse worldview that characterizes our community.
Relevance
Editorial decisions are based on the relevance of submitted material to our common tasks of community advocacy, supporting and guiding our young people, reducing crime, encouraging economic development, and otherwise increasing neighborhood vitality.
Commercial postings and partisan politics are beyond the intended scope of either the website, blog, or listserve.
Respectful Communication
Material that could be construed as offensive, hostile, or needlessly divisive will not be accepted, as offensive content / language is detrimental to the kind of open dialogue a thriving community requires. Material that makes controversial points or raises complex questions in a respectful manner, however, is both invited and encouraged.
Status and Function of WHOmail
Subject: [WHOmail] status and function of WHOmail, from Margie & Michelle
To: whomail at willard-homewood.org
From: Michelle Lewis lewis088 at umn.edu
Date: Wed Nov 19 09:18:49 CST 2008
Dear WHOmail subscribers:
This is a note from your friendly neighborhood listowners, Margie and Michelle, to check in with you all about the status and function of who-mail.
We set up the list two years ago, and have been managing it and paying for it ($10/month, plus some additional annual charges), with some start-up assistance with funds from the Sheridan Avenue block club, as well as much-appreciated personal contributions from neighbors (a total of about $40).
The recent flurry of e-mails that we have received regarding the issue of partisan postings has really brought home the need to acknowledge and accept the really unofficial nature of this list. While we try as best we can to manage the list in a way that reflects the wishes of the neighborhood, the truth is we have never done this in any official capacity--there never has been any official organization that we have reported to. If such an organization is formed in the future, they will of course want to develop their own communications tools to meet their particular needs.
While at one time, there was an ad hoc neighborhood communications committee that was giving us some direction about the list and website, the committee has not been meeting for quite some time, and so we have been operating without any directives for the past year. It has become increasingly obvious to us that we need to acknowledge this practical reality, and, at the same time that we are acknowledging it to ourselves, we thought that it was important to verbalize this to the list as well.
As list managers, our goal is that this list be a safe and productive forum where residents can share information and focus on the things that we share, as neighbors. This is not to say that political announcements and discussion aren't vital parts of our lives, just that this is not the niche that this particular list attempts to fill. It also isn't to say that we believe that political (or even commercial) discourse can easily be (or should be) untangled from everyday speech, just that we want to, in a pragmatic way, create a forum where partisan politics and advertisements do not drown out the original purpose of the list. Trying to achieve this goal will continue to be more of an art than a science. Your feedback is vital to keeping the list on track.
As fellow posters, that means that--as difficult as it is at times (!)--Michelle will continue to refrain from bombarding the list with animal rights literature, and Margie will reluctantly comply with the ban on commercial postings, even if they are from really great neighborhood realtors! :)
All this is a long way of saying that no changes are planned for WHOmail. Please keep sending us your feedback, and we will keep trying to balance it as best we can, to make the list a useful and comfortable place for as many neighbors as possible.
Sincerely,
Margie & Michelle
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