[LM_NET] ADMIN: list management concerns

[Blythe Allison Bennett <babennet@SYR.EDU>]

Dear supportive, innovative, and resourceful list members,

There are times when Michelle and I need to send list members messages off-list as 
reminders of how to keep the list running efficiently. I send out about 20 messages 
daily to people who need to include a complete signature on their messages before I 
can send them on to the rest of you. (You might want to check now to make sure you 
are including your name, workplace including city/state, and your email address in 
your signature). I don't like having to do that, because I don't want it to come 
across as nagging. It is one of our methods of instructing on how to participate on 
a list that is enormous.

Michelle often reminds people off-list about how to use the TARGET/HIT process. 
This process helps ALL of us. We don't all need to see the individual messages sent 
to the original question, because the person who posted the TARGET will compile it 
all for us in a HIT. That helps each of us keep our inbox lower, gives a nod of 
thanks to the people who offered help, and gives the rest of us the collective 
wisdom.  Everyone wins and the information is transmitted to the whole list in a 
summary.

I think sometimes we forget how good we have it in this community. There are more 
than 12,000 of us. Not 120, not 1200, but 12 THOUSAND. Put yourself in a room of 
12,000 other people, all listening to the same speakers. Now think about how many 
messages go out in a day, maybe 75 or so (not counting Recipe Day). It is a rare 
case when there are inappropriate messages sent. I manage smaller library listservs 
(100-200 members usually) and have had more netiquette problems with behavior on 
those than we do on this list that is HUGE. I think that speaks volumes about our 
collaborative spirit.

Some of the times we remind people of how to post to the group is really just to 
teach list behavior. I am on a local librarian list who in the last few days has 
had about 20 messages with individual RSVPs for a retirement party posted to the 
entire group. I wish that list manager would remind people to send an INDIVIDUAL 
message to the original post, not to everyone on the list. We don't all need to 
know that information, and it is a needless cluttering of everyone's inbox. LM_NET 
members hardly ever do that. We really do have a very sophisticated community here, 
and we try to nurture new people, or infrequent posters, and guide on best 
practices for using this list.

Daily, I am amazed at the service oriented attitudes you all have. Yes, librarians 
are service oriented by nature of the job, but having been an LM_NET member since 
the beginning in 1992, it has been the rare occasion that inappropriate posts 
occur. Your willingness to help a stranger reminds me that most people in the world 
are good and kind, who will lend support or wisdom to an unknown colleague.

Remember that when you hit SEND to the entire listserv, there are 12,000 readers of 
that message. We ask people to refrain from the "me too" kinds of responses to the 
list. When I have a message in the review inbox that was sent to the whole list AND 
the original poster, I delete the one to the whole list. That original poster will 
pass along the message in the compilation of information.

Please understand that if you get a comment from the list managers about messages 
going to the list, it is not to scold, it is to help streamline for all of us. 
Please continue to contribute because that is what makes this group work so well.

Blythe


Blythe Allison Bennett
Assistant Director, School Media Program
Director, Summer Institute
School of Information Studies
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY
babennet@syr.edu
315-443-5445
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