Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

I forward this with the permission of Laren Corie, founder and owner of Yahoo 
Group Littlehouses. It is a very successful group, started in late 2004, has 
about 3,500 members, I guesstimate that fewer than 100 members post every 
month. We discuss almost everything, but the common interests are as Laren 
notes in this post. During the three or four years I have been a member, two 
members were told by Laren to stop making disrespectful posts or he would 
remove them. They stopped posting; I don't know if they unsubscribed or are 
simply sulking.

It seems to me that in any group, without behavioral rules, and enforcement, 
social breakdown is likely.

Gene

Begin forwarded message:

> From: LittleHouses AT yahoogroups.com
> Date: January 2, 2013 1:13:08 AM CST
> To: LittleHouses AT yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [LittleHouses] File - Monthly Reminder
> Reply-To: LittleHouses AT yahoogroups.com
> 
> 
> Greetings LittleHousers;
> 
> We have one basic rule......be nice.
> 
> This is a very active group. If the large number
> of emails bothers you, please try switching your group
> setting to "Digest" which will get you just one long
> email per day (or every 25 posts), which is much
> faster to skim through, as well as to keep in order.
> 
> You may also want to change you settings from "HTML"
> over to text only, which will remove the color adverts.
> 
> We intentionally do not allow attachments to emails, but
> if you want to show something, we have "Photos" and "Files"
> sections on our website, where members can upload.
> 
> Don't forget to take advantage of our other group features.
> We have "Photos" "Files" "Links" "Polls" and even "Calendar"
> and "Chat" sections of the group website. All these features
> are easily accessible on the left side of the group homepage.
> Some are filled with information. Others still wait to be
> utilized by group members. Most of all, we have an archive
> filled with tens of thousands of informative posts. Start
> at the beginning and work your way through by subject title.
> There is an interesting feature near the upper left corner
> of the archive posts ("Up Thread") which will take you to
> the first post of the subject, with links to all of the
> responses. The archive search feature may take a while
> to get used to, but once you master it, you should be
> able to find a huge treasure of information, quickly.
> 
> You will also find a lot of posts that you are likely to feel
> are off-topic. Some may be. Others may simply be a matter of
> being less directly related to what it takes to live a simple
> lifestyle. This group is not just about the construction of
> a smaller living space. It is about the bigger picture, of
> what it takes to build a smaller footprint lifestyle, and how
> to free yourself from the virtual slavery of debt, and the
> false "security" that it drives us into. That can require a
> pretty good understand of the bigger world we live in. For
> example, we clearly "knew" that the housing bubble was going
> to burst. You can read my old posts from before the collapse.
> If you are not interested in those conversations, simply do
> not read them. If you want to know something about building,
> it is YOUR responsibility to start a thread on that subject.
> DO NOT post complants about other group members discussing
> things that you are not inteerested in. That is none of
> your business. No one has, nor will anyone make you king
> of LittleHouses. I have spent, literally thousands of hours
> building this group. Think of it as a business. It is my
> business, not yours. However, I (and Tony) run it for the
> general benefit of anyone, and everyone, who is interested.
> And, we are very glad that you are here. Just don't think
> the we will appreciate any attempt to take over.
> 
> You will find one central posting rule around LittleHouses
> It is that we have a virtual zero tolerance rule about personal
> insults. That allows us to discuss touchy subjects, like politics,
> and even religion, without angering each other. Hopefully, these
> discussions actually promote a greater desire for diversity. This
> rule is not based on exact wording, but more on intent. There
> is no place here for comments that are only written to insult or
> otherwise denigrate fellow group members, or to try to place them
> in a less favorable light, than yourself. Please refrain from
> any adversarial posturing. You will know when you are doing it,
> and are responsible to edit out such comments. If you find that
> difficult, it may help to put you posts aside, after writing
> them. Then go back, to read them from a new viewpoint. We are
> all on the same team. We do not have to be perfect, and we can
> have different views and still be good friends. We are having
> these discussions not to fight, wih winners and losers, but so
> that we can all learn, together, as a team. I think that you
> will find this policy, though perhaps a little bit radical at
> first, to be to everyone's advantage, and also to the benefit
> of the quality of our discussions. It has been working very
> well, for quite a while now.
> 
> Tony Adrian is our other group moderator.
> Respect his word. It is law.
> 
> -Laren Corie-
> LittleHouses Yahoogroup Founder
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