Statement of Purpose
This email list is a discussion forum for topics specific to Norwich, VT. It is not an 'official' list set up by the town government. It is open to anyone who wants to participate and completes a survey confirming that they have read, understand, and will abide by this list’s guidelines.
How the List Works
Subscribe to this list by sending an email with a blank subject line to norwich-subscribe@lists.vitalcommunities.org. You will receive a survey that you need to complete in order to be subscribed.
Subscribers can post to the list by emailing norwich@lists.vitalcommunities.org. All posts made on a given day are sent to subscribers the following day in a digest email.
The list is overseen by a volunteer list manager. The list manager does not review posts before they are published. Rather, the manager revokes posting privileges for subscribers who don’t follow the guidelines.
If you violate the guidelines, you will be blocklisted, meaning you still receive the digest but can’t post to the list. If you wish to inquire about being blocklisted, email the list manager at norwich-request@lists.vitalcommunities.org.
List Guidelines
These guidelines are designed to keep this list a positive, informative part of the Norwich community. The list manager is in charge of interpreting and enforcing the guidelines. The administration of Vital Communities reserves the right to warn, suspend, or permanently exclude any list subscriber for any abuse or infringement of these list rules and guidelines.
Keep It Local: The content should should pertain to Norwich only. Because this list has a high volume of posts, we allow no content not specific to the town.
Some examples:
- Discussion of legislation in Concord/Montpelier or Washington is OK if it addresses a Norwich-specific issue.
- Discussion of national or state issues in the context of a warned town meeting resolution is OK.
- Announcements for meetings, rallies, or demonstrations in Norwich, or for car pools leaving from Norwich are OK.
- Posting links or content of emails or websites not specifically relating to Norwich is not OK.
- Forwarding of copyrighted content is not ok. This includes pasting substantial portions of any published material, unless the publisher specifies that re-posting is permitted!
Keep It Civil: Email has no “tone of voice,” so take care in what you write. Discuss issues, not people. Don’t ascribe motives to other people. Remember that you might not have all the facts.
Sign Your Name: If your first and last name are not obvious from your email address, give your name in your post. Other subscribers need to know who's posting.
Limit Commercial Posts: No one wants to read a digest that’s full of ads. Businesses should post no more often than once a month. Businesses not based in Norwich or having physical locations in Norwich should not post.
If you feel a subscriber is not following the guidelines, email the Norwich list manager at norwich-request@lists.vitalcommunities.org. It is not appropriate to raise such issues openly on the list itself.
If you feel a list manager is not responsive to your concerns, email Vital Communities at discussionlists@vitalcommunities.org. discussionlists@vitalcommunities.org.
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.