开云体育

Freedom of speech
From: Ullman Garrett
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2018 14:33:45 EDT

Any recommendations dealing with unfriendly, unneighborly, rude and even hurtful language on a neighborhood group. We are a restricted membership, unmoderated, no Anonymous posts allowed. We just went to a moderated status for 24 hours in an attempt to cool things off. We should allow free speech, shouldn't we?

I have such a list and we do have problems. The list is described a conversation between neighbors — like a chat on the front porch or the back fence. No press releases except from the government. No business postings except in direct request from a member or for a new business in the neighborhood. No solicitations except for rare instances of fires or other emergencies to a household in the neighborhood. People posting information about where to donate things for temporary disasters like school supplies for the immigrant children in (unlawful) detention, hurricane relief, etc are fine.

I ask people not to characterize the comments or person but to factually discuss their comments. “Harry, you have no sense at all and your statements are racist on top of it.” Privately I would remind the person that this message is neither helpful or informative. Explain why you believe the statements are racist and avoid discussing Harry’s intelligence. The people usually apologize to me and to the list.

If the message is horrible enough, I put the person on moderated status immediately which means I read their messages before they are posted. Repeated offenses definitely mean moderated. Sometimes people argue or ask why a message was returned. One person who does that is a gallery owner who _sometimes_ shows local artists but wants to post announcements of all her exhibitions to the list. She has been on moderated status for over 10 years.

Only one person in 15 years has been banned from the list.

1. He was a person who ran for office every time a position was open with no possibility of getting more than 1 vote if he got on the ballot,
2. repeated attacked people for attacking him when they objected to having several _hundred_ signs posted in our neighborhood,
3. arguing with me about every message I rejected as much as 6 emails back and forth, and finally
4. posting messages on other neighborhood lists that would never be allowed on ours that members of both lists respond to and copied our list. His message would thus be copied to our list. (Members either eventually stopped or he did.)

We once had two men that we think started drinking after dinner and by 10:00 would start posting messages attacking other people on the list. During the day they posted intelligent and helpful messages. I have 2 co-moderators — we take 4 months at a time but I step in when there is trouble. One of my less inhibited moderators who emails people and says Cut it out! sent them both an email telling them to stop posting after dark “for reasons you well know.”

The list keeps growing — almost 3,000 members and ~900 messages a month. Sometimes people complain because we often get requests for plumbers and chimney sweeps every week, but that is usually why people join the list. They move to the neighborhood and need help. Sending them to a list isn’t a friendly way of responding, although we have one. First they ask for a plumber and then they stay for the conversation.

As a former college professor I insist that we can discuss hard issues like racism and development sensibly and productively. If necessary I put the whole list on moderated status. The worst was about a development that covered what some people considered a public park and believed they had been promised it would be a park forever—not about racism.

I took over the list which began when 12 neighbors were afraid in neighborhood crime spree. Now it is the place to go when you want to know about anything happening in the neighborhood. I even got a response when I asked why snow had an acoustical effect when the trains that border our neighborhood went by.

So I consider it invaluable and it works. Private “educational” reminders to members, temporary moderation, permanent moderation, no commercial messages, government announcements are okay.

A long message, sorry. I must say that moving to Groups.io has made the list much easier to manage.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
[email protected]
"Neighbors Talking to Neighbors”
Takoma Park DC and MD