Community Discussion Lists

A Digital Forum for Engaged, Welcoming Communities

How do you find out what happened at your town Select Board meeting or what your neighbors think of the pending school budget? What roads to avoid in mud season? Who’s performing at the community coffee house? Whose cat is missing?

For this kind of information about their towns, thousands of Upper Valley residents turn to the Vital Communities Community Discussion Lists!

The Discussion Lists are a digital forum that delivers to your email inbox news of topics and events that enliven our towns and help them function. Vital Communities offers the Lists free of charge. List subscription is a privilege, not a right, and is predicated on following the Posting Guidelines (see below).

Each List is monitored by a volunteer List Manager from that List’s community who responds to subscribers’ questions and comments, helps them follow the Posting Guidelines, and takes action (including warnings or membership suspension or revocation) when necessary.

The Lists fall into three categories:

Location-specific Lists, for posts pertaining to a particular municipality or locale
Topic-specific Lists, for posts about particular topics, which currently include:
The Upper Valley List, for topics pertaining to multiple towns or topics or the region as a whole

The CDLs were started by ValleyNet. In 2014, they were passed to Vital Communities.

Community Discussion Lists Posting Guidelines

List subscription is a privilege, not a right, and is predicated on following the Posting Guidelines that help the Lists remain useful and welcoming spaces that connect people within towns or topics. Let’s work together to keep them free of irrelevant, repetitive, uncivil, or overly commercial postings. We get enough of that in other parts of the digital landscape!

We ask you to:

Read these Guidelines and take them to heart.
Respond respectfully if a List Manager reminds you of a Guideline.
Remember that List Managers vary in how they interpret the Guidelines based on their list’s needs; check with your List Managers if you have questions.

Keep It Local

For Location-Specific Lists, post about topics and events that pertain to the locale the List serves. The issue doesn’t need to be unique to a particular town, but it must be specific to that town. For example, discussion of legislation in Concord, Montpelier or Washington is OK if it addresses a town issue and discussion of national or state issues in the context of a warned town meeting resolution is OK. Do not post announcements about items not connected with that town; post these to Upper Valley Discussion List. Do not post information about topics without a local “hook”; consider posting to a Topic List (scroll up for current Topic Lists).

Keep It Civil

Postings must be civil and respectful to other list members. Abusive or threatening postings, personal attacks, and the promotion of violence will not be tolerated. It is inappropriate to post the content of any private correspondence to or from a list member without the express permission of all correspondents involved. Remember that you are responsible for the content you post.

State Your Name

If your first and last name are not obvious from your email address, please sign your post.

Limit Commercial Postings

Occasional announcements from businesses in town are OK (for example, a new business in town, a new product available at the general store, or a one-time listing from a new babysitter). In no case should any business (small or large) use a List for ongoing business promotion. Posting commercial announcements more often than monthly may annoy your neighbors and bring a warning from that List’s Manager.

Keep It Original

In order to keep the Lists useful and dynamic, do not forward content that has already appeared elsewhere. If an online article is appropriate to reference, simply summarize your point and link to the source. Copyrighted content should not be posted.

Legal Disclaimer

Vital Communities does not control and assumes no legal or editorial responsibility for any content distributed through the community discussion lists. Content is generated by individual subscribers, who each bear responsibility for their individual postings. Content posted to the discussion lists is automatically distributed to the subscribers and Vital Communities cannot retract or modify any such content before it is sent to subscribers. All historical content is publicly accessible in the archives (Vital Communities can remove content from the archives after the fact upon request from the original poster). Volunteer individual discussion list administrators in each town are responsible for post-facto monitoring of the content of a town discussion list and may, at their own discretion, issue private warnings to individual subscribers or public guidelines to the entire discussion list if, in their sole judgment, any of the Posting Guidelines or General Rules are repeatedly violated.

Discussion Lists FAQ

How do the Community Discussion Lists work?

Community Discussion Lists allow members of a community to post and respond to email messages about town events, notices about town government, questions for the school board, recycling announcements, items for sale, questions about lost or found pets, etc. It’s a great way to keep up with what’s happening in your town.

Subscribers can receive list postings as they are made or in a daily digest. Email the List Manager to change from one mode to another.

Each List has a volunteer Moderator from the community who is available to answer questions and to help subscribers follow the posting guidelines.

The Lists are not “official” town communications. They are set up and managed by volunteer residents from the community, not by the town government. Vital Communities works with these Managers to facilitate the overall process.

Who owns the Discussion Lists?

The CDLs, Upper Valley Discussion List, and Topic Lists are owned by Vital Communities, a nonprofit corporation, and are governed by the guidelines Vital Communities sets. Vital Communities operates the Discussion Lists as part of its mission to help build community and create equitable solutions to our region’s challenges. Membership on a List is a privilege, not a right, and is predicated on conforming to the Posting Guidelines.

How do I subscribe to a Discussion List?

Go here and click on the name of the List you are interested in joining. Once you are on that Discussion List’s home page, go to the left side of the page and click on the link to subscribe.

How do I post a message to my list?

Simply email {listname}@lists.vitalcommunities.org, where {listname} is the name of your list (e.g. Norwich, Hanover, Bradford, etc.). Whatever is in the subject line of your email will be the heading of your post.

Your post will go directly to the List and can be viewed immediately by people receiving posts and individual emails and on the following day by those receiving the List posts as a daily digest. Once made, a post cannot be deleted – so think and proofread before you post!

How do I reply to a posting?

Under the post, click on either

“Reply to Sender” if you only want to reply to that individual, or
“Reply to List” if you want your response to be seen by everyone on the list.

Who can read postings on my Discussion List?

Email listservs, including these Discussion Lists, are open to the public. They are not private groups. Emails sent to a Community Discussion List are publicly visible immediately, and anyone anywhere can see anything that is sent to this list (nonsubscribers can view postings on the archive page). This means that the public, including third-party services, can see and share whatever is sent to the lists. Once made, posts cannot be deleted, so think – and proofread – before you post!

Can posts be deleted?

Emails sent to a Community Discussion List are publicly visible immediately, and anyone anywhere can see anything that is sent to this list (nonsubscribers can view postings on the archive page). This means that the public, including third-party services, can see and share whatever is sent to the lists.

In other words, once made, posts cannot be deleted, so think – and proofread – before you post!

My message wasn't posted - why?

Check the email address you sent the post to; it should be:

{listname}@lists.vitalcommunities.org, where {listname} is the name of your list (e.g. Norwich, Hanover, Bradford, etc.)
NOT {listname}-request@lists.vitalcommunities.org, which goes to the List Manager.

Just email your post to the correct address and it should appear.

If you continue to have problems, email the List Manager and make it clear in the subject line that you are having a problem!

My message was rejected because of an attachment - why?

The lists reject submissions with file attachments, including images and other documents.

If your submission is rejected with this error but you have not attached anything to your message, your message may contain a background pattern or a signature containing a graphic image such as a Twitter, Facebook, or corporate logo. If your message has any of these, the listserv will treat them as attachments. Please try sending your message without the pattern or the signature.

How can I change whether I receive my List as a daily digest or as individual posts?

Subscribers can receive list postings as they are made or in a daily digest. Email your List Manager to change from one mode to another.

Someone isn't following the Posting Guidelines - what should I do?

Contact the List Manager rather than responding to the person through the List. The List Manager will take what they consider appropriate action and will keep your identity confidential.

Contact the List Manager by sending an email to:{listname}-request@lists.vitalcommunities.org.

Example 1: To contact the Manager of the List for Brownsville, VT (brownsville@lists.vitalcommunities.org), email:

brownsville-request@lists.vitalcommunities.org

Example 2: To contact the Manager of the List for the 4 Town Coalition (4-towncoalition@lists.vitalcommunities.org), email:

4-towncoalition-request@lists.vitalcommunities.org.

How do I contact a List Manager?

If you need help using a List or have concerns about a posting, contact the List Manager by sending an email to: {listname}-request@lists.vitalcommunities.org.

Example 1: To contact the Manager of the List for Brownsville, VT (brownsville@lists.vitalcommunities.org), email:

brownsville-request@lists.vitalcommunities.org

Example 2: To contact the Manager of the List for the 4 Town Coalition (4-towncoalition@lists.vitalcommunities.org), email:

4-towncoalition-request@lists.vitalcommunities.org.

Which towns already have Lists?

Click here to see the towns that currently have Lists administered by Vital Communities.

How do I set up a List for my town?

To set up a Discussion List in your town, you will need to find one person to agree to be the Manager for the list. This person will help local residents get the most from this service by helping people become subscribed, post successfully, and follow the Posting Guidelines. If you are interested in helping to develop a Discussion List for your town, contact rebecca@vitalcommunities.org for more information.

Upper Valley Discussion List vs Community Discussion Lists

The Upper Valley Discussion List is a forum for addressing items of interest to the entire Upper Valley. This region-wide List allows Upper Valley residents to share events or items of interest that might be relevant to multiple towns. For example, an Upper Valley event like a concert or an office space for rent should be posted in the Upper Valley Discussion List, whereas minutes from a town meeting or the opening of a town skating rink should be posted on the Town Discussion List.

Are Discussion Lists a good way to share emergency messages?

Because most subscribers receive lists in Digest mode, meaning once a day, the Lists are not a reliable way to communicate messages with same-day urgency. However, they are an excellent and appropriate way to share longer-term public safety messages.

Community Discussion List Staff

Rebecca Bailey

Communications Manager (she/her)

Becky joined Vital Communities in 2020 and manages the print and electronic communications and is the contact for media. Her…