[Sust-mar] Sust-mar survey results, housekeeping, and business card distribution

[Peter Watson]

Greetings Sust-Martians (Paul's term, which I always liked so will continue
using ) . . .

>From our recent member survey, we have a clear mandate to not open
sust-mar to more 'discussion', and no clear mandate to increase the
message frequency. Of the seven responders (thank you all for taking
a moment to send your opinions), there were:

1) Two wanting sust-mar to remain at one message/day.
2) Two ok with going to two messages/day, but no more.
3) Three wanting sust-mar to NOT become a discussion list.
4) Three who appreciated having messages grouped by the moderator when
appropriate.

So we will continue with one message a day. As before, comments/discussion
about previous postings can be sent in but will not be prioritized and will
wait in queue behind any Maritime news/announcement/events messages.
I will also make a point of combining messages of similar theme when it
seems appropriate, which should shorten waiting times.

See comments from members at the bottom of this message.

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Another issue that has come up is that of identitying message senders.
There have been some recent posts sent from cryptic email addresses
(like abc123 at hotmail) with no identifying name, that are signed only by
initials (like G) .

While we want to respect peoples' right to privacy, folks who post like
this should know that there are subscribers who greatly appreciate knowing
where messages originate, especially if there are any personal requests
contained in the message.

Privacy on the web is a huge issue, far bigger than what I want to get into
here. But if anyone has strong opinions on this (or anything) please contact
us at sust-mar-owner at list.web.net .

----------------------------------------------------

You may notice a slight difference this week in the daily messages arriving
from sust-mar. We've turned on a filter that should (in theory)
automatically strip all attachments and convert all messages to plain text.
Messages will be just as readable when they arrive in your inbox, but will
be in a consistant plain text format and use less bandwidth.

This should also mean less trouble and annoyance for all concerned as we
shouldn't have to constantly reject messages that have attachments or are
otherwise too large. Plus it should eliminate any compatibility problems
caused from reading messages sent by different email programs that use
different formats.

But please keep in mind that no matter what fonts or format you use to
submit your message, it will now be sent out in plain text, and attachments
will be removed. This process already happens in the digest sust-mar and
for all messages in the archives.

We'll see how this works, and please let us know if any problems or concerns
arise.

For a detailed rundown of sust-mar guidelines, policy and posting tips,
please go to:

http://list.web.net/archives/sust-mar/2007-May/001236.html

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Sust-mar business card distribution:

We're asking for a little help with sust-mar publicity . . .

Every year or two we print a couple thousand sust-mar business cards for
distribution, dropping them off in places where environmentally and socially
aware folks might pass through or gather. Think coffee shops, farmers
markets, bulletin boards, libraries, community centres, responsible and
alternative shops and businesses, non profit offices, ferry terminals etc.
We're aiming for for full regional coverage this time around

Halifax: Distributor(s) needed for whatever areas you feel comfortable
covering (North/Southend, universities, downtown  . . .  etc). You can
just drop off a bunch when you are already in a neighbourhood or at a
location. This isn't supposed to take a lot of work (or driving) to
accomplish.

Elsewhere: We're also looking for anyone from any part of the Maritimes who
may know any good business card spots, and are willing to drop off a bunch
the next time they're at that market or coffee shop. Ideally we would like
to have at least some coverage in all provinces.

The cards also can come with little boxes that are suitable for leaving at
high traffic and safe locations where the boxes can be refilled when needed.
Otherwise, just leave a few out in a good spot or tac a few cards to message
boards.

If you're able to help with distributing any amount of cards (whether a
couple dozen or a few hundred) to some appropriate location(s) in your area,
please contact us at sust-mar-owner at list.web.net . We can then make
arrangements to get the cards to you, probably by mail if you're outside the
Halifax area.

Thank you!

Peter

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Comments from sust-mar subscribers re: message quantity and discussion:

Sust-mar is my favourite list! I always read it.
  I could stand 2 messages a day, but no more.
I greatly appreciate the moderator grouping
messages when sensible, such as Zenn car below.


I would prefer no more than one message per day, as would all the people
who I forward Sustmar emails to. Combining when suitable seems a fair
option, especially for debates around a common issue.


I personally would prefer that sust-mar remains an announce type of list and
that discussions like the one below be held on another forum. This keeps the
email traffic down and ensures that when there are announcements about
events, etc. of a timely nature, they are not kept waiting for
discussion-type items like the one below.


I'd prefer one a day, because e-overload is a big issue for me.
Unfortunately, that does put a bit of extra work onto your plate instead...


In the end, I hope that sust-mar does not become a "discussion list."  (I
would promptly unsubscribe).  I am here to receive notices, not to read some
small subset of the readership hashing out the nuances of some complex issue
that inherently can not be resolved over email anyway.  I don't mind the
occasional comment, as we have seen lately, but would not wish for more.


right now susmar doesn't generally operate as a discussion forum, it
can't really. if you open up the climate for discussion much it's
gunna mushroom, and personally that's not what i'm looking for. one
or two rounds of feedback is good sometimes, and grouping them into a
single email helps as well.


2 Sust-Mar emails a day is okay with me but I wouldn't want to get 3 or
more.