[RP TownTalk] list posting guidelines

[Sarah Wayland]

At the bottom of every post to Towntalk is a link to List Information,
which includes guidelines for posting to the list (
http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk). I've excerpted the
rules relevant to the recent discussion.

Electioneering Prohibited
Electioneering is not permitted on e-mail lists supported by the Town of
Riverdale Park.
​ ​
(Definition of electioneering: the activities that politicians and their
supporters carry out in order to persuade people to vote for them or their
political party in an election (
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/electioneering)


About TownTalk
The TownTalk mailing list is open to all Riverdale Park residents. It is a
way for you to discuss anything you think might be of interest to other
residents or the town's government. Discussions should be polite and
respectful of the opinions of others.


Promoting a Civilized Environment
We find a list works best when everyone treats everyone else with respect.
Below are some guidelines designed to make TownTalk a safe environment for
discussing difficult issues.

Posters may not attack other list members for their choices or opinions,
although they may suggest that certain opinions are worth evaluating or
that there may be other points of view. We don't flame here - we respect
the opinions of our fellow citizens. Because respect doesn't always mean
saying "I agree", it's important to phrase challenges in such a way that it
is clear that it is not the worth of the writer you are questioning, but
rather the validity of the idea. What is a flame? It is important to
recognize that to disagree respectfully, or to politely request a change of
behavior, is not to "flame".

Examples:

NOT acceptable: "I can't believe you think that! No right thinking person
could possibly believe something so stupid."

Acceptable: "I have a different perspective on this. My family actually
enjoys eating hockey pucks."

NOT acceptable: "Listen you jerk - how can you be so stupid and listen to
the idiots want a hockeypuckgarden?!? If you'd bothered to read up on
hockeypuck gardens, you would never be arguing in favor of such stupid
things."

Acceptable: "What has led you to believe that people who live in Riverdale
Park want a hockeypuckgarden? When I lived in Hockey Town, we had a
hockeypuckgarden for one year, but no one maintained it and it looked
horrible. I think a hockeypuckgarden is a bad idea."

TownTalk will be a much more effective resource for all of us if we
endeavor to keep it flame-free, and to avoid personal attacks.

Think carefully when you respond to a post about whether you should "Reply
to Sender", or "Reply to All" (which will send your e-mail to the entire
list.)

Personal attacks and profanity are not allowed and will not be tolerated.
We reserve the right to reject or delete any message and to remove and ban
any user from the list.

We recommend including your full name and e-mail address in the last two
lines of each message sent to the list, to make it simpler for people to
communicate privately with you via e-mail....

​(There's more at the link above, but these are the items that felt most
relevant to me.)​

I have to admit to being a bit unsure about whether the recent discussion
counts as electioneering. Notifying people that an event is happening does
not feel like electioneering to me. Trying to convince people that one side
or the other is on the right side of the law might be interpreted as
electioneering, though, especially during this election season. I hope we
can all respect our moderator's take on this. As he noted, there are other
communities (both online and in person) where it is appropriate and even
encouraged to have this discussion.


​Sarah Wayland
sarah.wayland at gmail.com​
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20180702/2c536ccc/attachment.html>