[RP TownTalk] Town Talk and Town Announce

[Alan K. Thompson]

Before digging into the thorny question of combination, I'd like to point
out that the town staff are now sending out TownAnnounce mailings in both
text AND pdf formats.  This was not done at the creation of the lists
because of technical reasons (even the simple formatting of the mailings
was sometimes corrupted by e-mail clients of that era) and, more recently,
because the town staff was concerned about compliance with a council
resolution limiting file formats for electronically distributed
information. Kate Kelly's recent postings and requests were what led to a
discussion about file formats that allowed text postings in TownAnnounce to
begin.

Lou points out in his note that there are, at least in principle, people
who choose to receive only TownAnnounce mailings and not to participate in
TownTalk.  That was a major reason for separating the lists in the first
place, because a significant number of people at that time wanted to be
able to receive just the official postings.  While it is possible to
determine what overlap there is between the two lists, it might just be
simpler to either subscribe TownTalk to TownAnnounce (so that it
automatically receives all postings to TownAnnounce) or to have town staff
send TownAnnounce messages to both lists.  Either way, we could figure out
a way to make clear what postings were official (as has been discussed
already).

Before moving forward on this question, though, I would like to give people
who receive these messages in digest form (who won't see this discussion
until tomorrow morning) a chance to weigh in, and also to encourage people
who are reserved about posting to privately contact either me (
akthompson at riverdaleparkmd.gov), their council representative (contact info
at ) or Mayor Archer (varcher at riverdaleparkmd.gov).  I'm also interested to
hear, privately or publicly, whether anyone has concerns about leaving
TownAnnounce as it is and just making sure the postings from there are
cross-posted to TownTalk.

Best,

Alan

On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 2:29 PM, Lou King <lking at knob.com> wrote:

> There are pros and cons for both combining and keeping the two list
> separate. One group that may not have considered are those that receive one
> or both list by daily digest. And of course those that chose to only
> receive the official TownAnnounce and do not want to interact here will not
> be heard from until they are inundated with TownTalk just to get the
> official info. (the keeper of the list could compare the two to see if
> there is such a sub set.) We all have valid reasons for how we choose to
> utilize our time.
>
>
<snip>


>
> My vote is to keep they separate. Why have one channel that everything is
> dumped into? As already noted, some just use the delete button. With only
> one source the tendency is to hit the delete button to quickly. That's why
> people use spam filters to help manage the deluge of email we receive,
> sorting the information from the rest.
>
> As for the PDF format of TownAnnounce, that format is a logical pick from
> a technical stand point.  That approach does make it easier, less time
> consuming, for town staff to update the current list of meetings using
> whatever tool/word process they choose, and then presenting the information
> in an understandable, visually pleasing, non-proprietary format accessible
> to all.
>
> However, As my tag line would suggest, I do agree with Liz about non-text
> email.
>
> Lou
> O< ascii ribbon campaign - stop HTML mail - www.asciiribbon.org
>
>
> ______________________________**_________________
> TownTalk mailing list
> To post to the list, send mail to TownTalk at riverdale-park.org
> TownTalk-request at riverdale-**park.org<TownTalk-request at riverdale-park.org>is for automated subscription processing only
> http://riverdale-park.org/**mailman/listinfo/towntalk<http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk>
>
> For more information about Riverdale Park, visit
> http://www.riverdaleparkmd.**info <http://www.riverdaleparkmd.info>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20120604/5949842e/attachment.html>