[Community_garden] List Serv "Etiquette"

[Alliums]

Hi, Folks!

I agree with #4, but as someone who manages 4 mailing lists myself, I think
it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce the first 3 items
on the list.

First off, community gardening, is by its nature, is inclusive and throws
off many "trails" -- unfortunately, if you don't keep up on them (how to
deal with local politics, how to care for your soil, how to encourage
volunteers, how to keep yourself sane while doing all of the above), you're
not going to have a community garden for very long.

Personally, I found the "Book of 5 Rings" thread very informative and what I
really needed to kick off another year of hard, political work to save the
community garden I've been with for 17 years.  It's the cheerful discussion
and banter from THIS LIST where folks (hopefully?) understand what the heck
I have been going through for the past 10 months and have another nasty,
NASTY 12 months to go (where, as I have mentioned, my posts here ARE being
monitored by Housing Authority of Chester County personnel - if you want to
see the pdf from their lawyer, just e-mail me!) that have given me the
strength to keep going -- and don't you think that's another reason why HACC
tried to keep me from posting to this list?

We need each other and we need to be able to discuss things as friends and
colleagues -- and that means we share the factual stuff and that means that
sometimes (as any psych textbook on friendship and community-building will
state), we'll tease each other and engage in banter.  Those are GOOD THINGS
that build community and trust -- why the heck are they suddenly contrary to
"list etiquette?"

I'm thinking Amy got her own letter from the HACC lawyer. ;-)

As a multi-list owner myself, I often remind people that the beauty of
e-mail lists is that the DELETE Key is always with you -- if you don't want
to read the conversation, just delete it.  And if you think this list has
THAT many posts that these restrictions are "necessary), I've got several
gardening and dog-related Yahoo Groups that will quickly show you what
"e-clutter" really is.

Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth

A mission of 
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA  19460