Still Life with Robin....Soon to Be Coming to You from Philadelphia, PA!

Grandma holding 6-month-old grandson
(sticking with his parents' observance
of the internet safety rule not to post
a child's face on social media)

by Peggy Robin

 

This edition of Still Life with Robin doubles as an administrative note about the Listserv from now until the end of summer. Starting tomorrow, I will be living in Philadelphia for the next few weeks.

 

I have taken on a second job, as full-time live-in nanny to my six-month-old grandson. The only thing is....the job is in Philadelphia.

 

The question I'm asking myself is, Can I handle TWO full-time jobs? Number One is remotely moderating the Listserv seven days a week, and Number Two is nannying a baby, 8am - 6pm, Monday - Friday.

 

Not sure I know the answer to that question....yet. But we shall see.

 

One thing I do know for sure: Some of the little extra things that I put into the Listserv are going to go away. I'm no longer going to reformat the DCPL weekly e-newsletter, Beyond Words, so that it can be turned into a Listserv message. If you'd like to keep up with the DCPL through its newsletter, you can always sign up to receive it in your inbox: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/DCLIBRARY/subscriber/new . 

 

I will be paying far less attention to the Alert DC system of warnings and crime reports, copying those that affect our neighborhood to the Listserv. You can subscribe directly to Alert DC here: https://hsema.dc.gov/page/alertdc 

 

I may even give up my column Still Life with Robin that I've posted every Saturday for umpty-ump years. Not sure about that -- I may be able to keep it up, or at least send in a column every now and then. That's one of those "We'll see" items.

 

Since I will be spending a lot less time during the day reviewing messages, here are some more things that without doubt will change:

 

Longer times between submission of messages and approval. Some days I may be reading and putting through messages only once in the morning and once again in the evening. That means a big pile-up of messages may be approved all at once, twice a day

 

List members who have time-sensitive announcements will need to get them in at LEAST 48 hours in advance. Under normal circumstances, that's a good idea, as a big chunk of our readers subscribe in "daily summary" format, which gives them all their messages the day after they're posted -- but with less time for me to read and review messages, you really need to factor in at least another 24 hours.

 

I won't be writing anywhere near the number of off-list notes to list members who need help with posting or need some guidance in understanding the posting rules. I'm afraid you're going to have to muddle through with your own posting problems. But there are some good resources to help you:

 

• Listserv FAQ
• Listserv Advertising FAQ
• How to Search the Archives

 

Listserv Policy Pages:

• Listserv Rules
• Listserv Recommendations Policies (Is it an ad? Or a recommendation?)
• Rules for fundraising on the Listserv 
• How to Post Items for Sale (A Checklist) 
• Guidelines for Candidates

 

Groups.io information: Members Manual / Help Center

 

Of course, you can still email me with questions -- but please be patient; I may not get back to you same day. I will do my best to make it same week!

 

I'll be back for a week or so at the end of April, and then will go back again for big chunks of May, June, July, August and September. My schedule is not set in stone, as I'm trading off nanny duties with the other set of grandparents, and we both want the flexibility to be able to do other things (e.g., go on vacation) on the dates that work out best for us. We have drawn up a tentative schedule that takes us through the start of the fall.

 

Of course, babysitting my grandson is as rewarding as running the Listserv.....just a lot more physically taxing. I also expect to make more mistakes -- like the classic one of correcting a typo in a subject line while introducing a whole new typo of my own invention. I do that a lot....and expect to be doing it even more if I'm rushing to approve messages while the baby is napping.

I ask your indulgence in advance. ...And to everyone who might write to me to wish me well in this endeavor, let me thank you now, because I just know once I start working both of these jobs full-time, I won't manage to send out individual replies!

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The Still Life with Robin column may be posted on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on some Saturdays, as it was before....but probably more Saturdays off than on.