A change is brewing for the Upper Valley List (uppervalley@lists.vitalcommunities.org) provided by Vital Communities, which goes out daily to more than 10,000 subscribers: Starting March 1, 2023, that list will be discontinued and replaced by three lists, each for a specific type of content:
- uvevents@lists.vitalcommunities.org: for one-time and recurring EVENTS, both free and charging admission;
- uvgoods@lists.vitalcommunities.org: for ITEMS for sale, wanted, or free;
- uvservices@lists.vitalcommunities.org: for SERVICES for sale, wanted, or free.
The change comes after extensive meetings led by Vital Communities staff, involving the dozens of volunteers who manage the Upper Valley list and the 40-plus town Community Discussion Lists that Vital Communities provides.
The change addresses a longstanding issue with town lists: too many posts are not specific to that town and thus undermine town lists’ “hyperlocal” nature. Ideally, each town list should spotlight what’s going on that town or adjacent ones, to promote events, issues, businesses, and transactions that build connections with their neighbors and don’t require people to drive vast distances, and that build up civic and economic activity in each town. When people say their little town is “vital,” this is what they mean.
Those wanting to reach a wider audience have been directed to the Upper Valley List. However, that list hasn’t been easy to read, with close to 100 posts daily that are an unsorted jumble of events, goods, and services. Not very appealing to readers or posters. With the change, people will be able to subscribe to all or some of the lists and know from the return address in their inbox if an email lists events, goods, or services.
Subscribers to the current Upper Valley List have until midnight, Monday, February 27, to register their subscription preferences through this brief form. Subscribers who don’t state preferences will be automatically subscribed to all three new lists from which they can unsubscribe at any time.
To make the change, the Upper Valley List will not accept new posts on Monday and Tuesday, February 27 and 28. The first digests of the new lists will go out Wednesday, March 1.