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| Photo by Bill Adler |
by Peggy Robin
Yesterday, November 30, 2018 was the NINETEENTH anniversary
of the Cleveland Park Listserv. (Yes, my math was off by a year when I first
announced it as the 20th anniversary. That’s next year, as an astute
and very longtime list member pointed out.)
After nineteen years, it seems like a good moment to look
back at what the listserv was like at the grand old age of three. Here’s an
article I wrote describing the listserv that ran in the Washington Post on
November 14, 2002.
Moderators Are Masters of Their Domain on Local E-Mail
List
[FINAL Edition] The Washington Post - Washington, D.C.
Author: Robin, Peggy
Date: Nov 14, 2002
Section: WEEKLY - DISTRICT Start Page: T.04
It has been a day of heavy traffic on the Cleveland Park
e-mail list. There's a debate raging on the fate of Klingle Road: Should it be
reopened or remain closed? One person has posted four times on the subject in
two days. Is that "over-posting"? Meanwhile, a new list member has
posted a message introducing herself as a massage therapist, describing the
types of massage she practices. Is she simply introducing herself to her
neighbors, or is she using the list as a form of free e-mail advertising
(otherwise known as "spam"), which our list rules strictly prohibit?
These are the kinds of questions I face every day in my role
as moderator of what we believe to be the District's largest neighborhood
e-mail list. There are more than 900 members of this free e-mail network.
People write in about lost dogs, the search for an honest plumber, the
cat-loving housesitter they seek, what new stores are moving into vacant
storefronts, whether the traffic light on Porter Street should be retimed, how
new zoning rules are needed to restrict the number of bars (but not
restaurants) on Connecticut Avenue, and dozens of other things, both weighty
and trivial.
My husband, Bill Adler, and I started the e-mail list in
1999, and we have been running it ever since. It's not a lot of work -- half an
hour a day on most days -- and it's often fun, although occasionally it can be
a big drag. When a message writer ignores the posting rules, Bill or I will
take the time to send a brief note to the violator. Bill writes to a member asking
him not to send pages and pages of text that overload the system, and then I
write to another one asking her not to post endlessly on the same subject. We
both write notes reminding members to sign their names, and -- most frequently
of all -- to stick to the main subject, our neighborhood.
We learned early on that unless we act quickly in our role
as moderators, things get out of hand. Our first big lesson came in the summer
of 2000 from the attempt by some Miami residents to bombard the list with messages
opposed to the return of Elian Gonzalez to Cuba. The issue was international,
but there was a bit of a local hook: At the time, Elian was staying at the
Rosedale estate in the heart of Cleveland Park. I suppose the would-be posters
thought they could have some influence over events by directing their e-mail to
the people who lived in the surrounding neighborhood. But the messages posted
were shrill diatribes, not the least bit neighborly in tone.
As a result, Bill and I decided that we had to have some
rules about who could post and what sorts of subjects were acceptable. We
prohibited name-calling, spamming and cross-posting (that is, including the
Cleveland Park list on a mass e-mail list for an announcement or press
release). Our aim is to get people to use the list to talk to each other online
in just the same way they would if they met in the park or at the supermarket.
No shouting slogans at each other. Say hello first, and then say what's on your
mind. No commercial advertising. No promotion of out-of-neighborhood causes,
however worthy. There are plenty of other e-mail groups to join for those
interested in such causes.
Despite the need to rein in the occasional shouter, we think
that, on the whole, our list has become one of the most civil in cyberspace.
It's useful, too: Lately, people have been approaching Bill or me on the street
to say that they found a great contractor through the list, or the most
wonderful babysitter. Our list has become the quick and easy way to find the
answer to any question. A short while ago, there were helicopters hovering
overhead for 20 minutes or more. Someone asked if anyone on the list knew what
was going on. Within a few minutes, the answer came back that there had been a
holdup at a local market and the robbers had escaped on foot. Police were using
helicopters to guide police cars in their attempt to catch the men.
Sometimes misinformation is posted, but usually when that
has happened, a list member has jumped in with a correction. Unlike most other
e-mail lists that accept anonymous posts, we ask all people to sign their
names, to stand behind what they write. That has been one way to keep things
neighborly.
Still, sparks do fly on occasion. When Giant Food unveiled
plans to expand, heated arguments pro and con dominated the list for months. An
e-mail list gives people a fast, convenient way to register opinion -- perhaps
too convenient. People who don't attend meetings or write a paper letter that
needs a stamp and an envelope can always fire off an e-mail. Yet a good case
can be made that the list does provides a fairly accurate way to gauge how the
lines are drawn on an issue.
The Giant Food discussion on the e-mail list led directly to
the formation of a grass-roots group of residents in favor of a bigger store.
(Until that development, meetings had been dominated by leaders of neighborhood
organizations adamantly opposed to Giant's expansion plan.) Eventually, city
officials worked out a compromise that so far has been hailed by all parties as
a victory. We like to think that discussion on our e-mail list played a part in
that outcome.
Then there are the perennial issues for which no compromise
seems possible: dog walkers who don't scoop vs. neighbors who are sick of the
mess. (Oh, you think no one would defend a scoopless dog walk? Think again.)
People who think city living means a lively streetscape and, yes, some late
night noise, vs. people who think Cleveland Park has always been and should
continue to be a tranquil oasis in the midst of a busy city. People who think
it's better to let traffic flow smoothly through neighborhood streets vs.
people who would like to see more traffic diverted from purely residential
streets and onto the major arterials. None of these debates shows any sign of
achieving consensus in the near or far future.
As long as people in Cleveland Park have keyboards, e-mail
servers and modems, we're going to be hearing more on these subjects. As
moderators, we stand ever at the ready, poised to send out a firm but politely
worded (and always private) note, "Please refrain from questioning the
parentage of another list member. Remember, you are talking to your neighbors.
Please keep it friendly! Sincerely, Peggy Robin & Bill Adler, Moderators,
Cleveland Park E-mail List."
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Peggy Robin is a freelance writer who has published seven
(mostly how-to) books. She lived in the Washington area for several years as a
teenager, moved back in 1977 and has lived in the city ever since. The
Cleveland Park e-mail list can be found at www.cleveland-park.com.
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Still Life with Robin is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Saturdays.
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