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What are the pro's and con's about having a neighborhood listserv?
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Anonymous
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I'm part of an active community association and great neighborhood. We don't have a neighborhood listserve yet, and it occurred to me it would be pretty easy to start one.
I think it would be nice for people to have another means to network and get to know each other, find a babysitter, share information about a construction project going on in the neighborhood, etc. But would there be any downsides? If you are part of a neighborhood listserve, has it created gossip or had any other negative effects? I just saw the other post about the dog going on someone's lawn; I agree this is very annoying, but I wouldn't want the neighborhood listserve to exist only as a forum for complaints. (Although, as part of a good listserve/community- hopefully the offender would clean up their act.) |
Anonymous
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We have a neighborhood listserv and it's been great. Last winter it was a great tool for getting people organized when our streets went unplowed for a week after the big snowstorm. Once we all started making the right phone calls the problem was resolved pretty quickly.
There are occasional disagreements but people have always kept it civil. Overall, I don't see much of a downside. |
Anonymous
Ha ha - we could be on the same list-serv. I totally agree with this post. I'm on a neighborhood list-serv, as well as a list-serv for moms in my area (believe it covers four or so neighborhoods in my area). Both are great and extremely helpful. |
Anonymous
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I think it depends on the neighborhood. There are large active ones like MOTH and Chevey Chase which are more than just dog poop and selling strollers. Then there are very weak ones such as PQMoms where only 3 people seem to post regularly and it's just to reforward Dupont and Logan Circle info.
Do you have a group of parents in your community? What are their interests (young kids interested in your local school? SAHMs connecting for playgroups?) Downside could be if the parents don't already know each other in your area you could be mobilizing them to start being more active in the community c |
Anonymous
| just make sure it's an option to receive it in digest form. I'm on the CC one and I get it in digest - one or 2 a day with 25 posts, where I can read the titles and decide what to read. I think its great, and it's easy to just not read the ones with titles that aren't interesting; however I'd go nusts if I got 35 separate emails a day with some of the discussions that go on! |
Anonymous
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I'm on CC too and was on MOTH for years when we lived on the Hill. The best thing to do with super busy listservs like those is to set your membership to "no mail" and then just go check the group website when you want to read the messages. This way, you can scan down the headers and read only what interests you. It's even easier and to my mind is more user-friendly than getting the daily digests.
We live in Bethesda now, and I wish our neighborhood listserv was more active than it is. I don't see any downsides to a neighborhood listserv. |
Anonymous
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I'm on a few and I think they are very valuable.
It's very easy to start one using yahoo group or google group. You'll need to decide who is the owner of the listserv -- is it the person who starts it (you?) or the neighborhood association, for example. Is it open to anyone who wants to be on it? Just to members of the association? Just to people you know live in the neighborhood and whom you have met? You need to decide is this listserv mostly for posting news and information? or is discussion/back and forth allowed and encouraged? |
Anonymous
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Many good reasons to be on:
-find referrals for handymen etc. -safety or vandalism postings -post things for sell, or giveaways -arrange meetups or playdates -also organizing snow removal or help for elderly |