Sorry again, as many have replied.   Please delete now if you’re no longer interested in this topic.  Fair warning given…concerned comments ahead.

 

Although list servs may be an older approach, often serving a different demographic than current social media channels tend to, folks need to remember just how many recipients will see – and judge – their responses.  My biggest peeve with list servs are needless and careless replies to ALL in cases when directly contacting an individual would be more appropriate.  Secondary peeve – posts based on emotion or general rants that discourage discourse.  (The irony here isn’t lost on me…)

 

But if the list serv is not actively being moderated, like this one, then subscribers should know they WILL get messages they don’t care for or about.  One can always delete or ignore, that comes with using a list serv.  It would perhaps be helpful if the list serv rules were included or linked to in the auto-appended message text (as opposed to merely an unsubscribe link, which seems to say “if you don’t like it then leave”), along with a contact to report suspected abuse.  

 

Although NEARC’s list serv is unmoderated, it obviously is not unsupervised.  Whether or not the original posts being complained about were outside the rules, I note that there have been other NEARC list messages with references promoting books authored by the message sender, training services that are not free, etc.   If those are acceptable then I fail to see how a commercial blog reference is not. 

 

None of this has bothered me until today.   Some of the replies in this thread were, to be blunt, heavy-handed.  A subscriber made some suggestions and received in return a public reprimand.   That person is probably gone, and who know how many others.   If we are concerned about folks unsubscribing, in this case it wasn’t because of the vendor posts.

 

If I may point out, the NEARC community is not the same as this list serv.   I have been on this list serv for years, but not a frequent attendee of NEARC events.   (Mainly, because we have a zero travel budget.  I suspect we’re not alone.)   I don’t personally see a “tight knit family” here, nor do I feel part of that.  That doesn’t mean I find no value to NEARC or this list serv.  I do appreciate and value the efforts of the NEARC organization and its members.   I would hope we all try to ensure that “tight knit family” means “welcoming group” and not “exclusive clique”, both in person as well as in messaging.   Thus the reason I’m offering my own two cents here.