Enfield ListServ

Introduction

The Enfield listserv exists to serve the Enfield community by facilitating and promoting communication across all sectors of the community. The ENFIELD listserv has over 850 members at this writing and is quite active. This is an un-moderated email list; messages are typically not reviewed and they are never censored before they are distributed.

The moderators are Mike Diehn and Jonathan Stanford.  You can reach them about ENFIELD ListServ business by e-mailing enfield-owner@listserv.dartmouth.edu.

If you have questions about how we run the list or any decisions we make as we do, we ask that you contact us privately first at enfield-owner@listserv.dartmouth.edu. If you don’t get satisfaction, we welcome you to appeal to the list subscribers directly.

While you can subscribe and unsubscribe via e-mail, we recommend that you use the ListServ web interface at https://listserv.dartmouth.edu/ instead. There you’ll also find the archive and controls for your subscription.

The Rules

No, these weren’t made to be broken - ;-)

  1. No profanity
  2. No libel or disrespect to others. Address the issue, not the person.
  3. Enfield residents
  1. People outside the community are allowed to “lurk” (read posts) but generally not to post
  2. Non-residents may post if the post is of interest to the Enfield community (clubs, events, etc.)
  1. Retail sales messages only from local businesses and no more than twice per week
  2. No anonymous subscriptions

The Guidelines

  1. Writer's full name must appear on each message either clearly shown in your email address or signed in the message.
  2. Messages should be relevant to the Enfield community
  1. Issues, events etc. in Enfield or the Upper Valley are relevant
  2. Exchange of information on tradespersons, local products etc. is also most relevant.
  1. Respect for others is a basic principle. Agree to disagree if that is necessary, but under no circumstances should a person’s character be called into question or disparaging remarks made about a person or their position. Libel or disrespectful posting will get you put “on review” immediately - see below to learn what that means.
  2. DIGEST subscribers: edit your subject lines so other people know what your message is about without having to open it.

Good Practices

  1. You are in public: when you reply or write to the list, it goes to everyone. Stop and think for a moment before you hit send: “Do I want to send this to everyone?" If not, then reply directly to the other party.
  2. Don’t litter: your reply will usually contain the entire quoted thread unless you prevent it. Trim the quote to keep just the relevant portion. In GMail, click the ellipses (...) at the bottom.
  3. Keep the noise down: when you are replying to for-sale and similar msgs, please reply directly to the other person, not to the list address. Please.

Suspensions and Removals

We do not punish and we do not shun. We will not remove active email accounts from the listserv. We will not abuse our admin privileges to shun, to shut people out of the community, or to advance our personal agendas.

If we need to stop someone breaking the rules, we can configure their subscription options to send their posts to the admins for review. We call this putting someone “on review.” The admins may approve or reject the post, but we can’t change it. This feature allows us to protect the community and still allow the person to post when they aren’t violating our rules.

When we do put someone “on review,” we explain to the person what we’ve done and why. If we get a reasonable response from the person and believe they understand and aren’t likely to do it again, we happily reinstate their privileges. Persons who habitually break the rules will always have their posts reviewed by the moderators.

Again, we will not remove you from the listserv for breaking rules. We consider that punishment and we have no business doing that.

We do occasionally remove accounts that appear to have been abandoned. If we need to do that, we will attempt to contact the account owner to explain what we’ve done and why.

Here are some common situations in which we might suspend an account or remove it entirely.

  1. Loss of control of your account: if you’ve lost control of your e-mail account and someone is using it instead of you - we don’t want people posting in your name.
  2. Virus/Spam: if we see spam and malware actually coming from your address rather than your address simply being forged.
  3. Rule violations: we did say they weren’t meant to be broken.
  4. Bad Behavior: if you repeatedly violate the guidelines or the good practices or if you’re just a total drag on the group, we’ll put you on review - means the moderators must approve all your posts.
  5. You moved: if you move out of Enfield or loose the relationship for which we granted you a subscription, you can lurk but you won’t be allowed to post any more.