On 10/9/05 Mount Toby Meeting approved the establishment of a Peace and Social Concerns listserv, which is an email device for communications. Here is an explanation of what the listserv is, how it works, and the constraints that will govern it.

A listserv is an automated email mechanism. People "subscribe" to it. Email sent to the listserv by any subscriber is instantly sent out, like bulk email, to all other subscribers. Therefore it is a handy and quick way to disseminate announcements, but beyond that, it provides a means for having a sort of a conversation about a topic among subscribers to the list. However it is not a place for Quakerly discernment or corporate decision-making, since for one thing listservs do not work very well for that, and for another, Mount Toby policy is that no electronic media may be used for corporate decision-making.

Roger Conant (conant@ecs.umass.edu) has been designated as the administrator of the listserv, and the Peace and Social Concerns Committee will provide oversight of its operation.

One advantage of the listserv is the instant automated retransmission of messages. Another is that all messages are archived, and these archives can be read online by members of the listserv.

Members and attenders of the Mount Toby and Northampton Meetings may subscribe to the listserv. Indeed one hope we have is that through the listserv Mount Toby Friends will be able to cooperate with Northampton Friends on issues of Peace and Social Concerns. The listserv will not be open to the general public.

The Peace and Social Concerns Committee has discussed guidelines for what is appropriate and what is not appropriate for posting on the list. For example, no anti-Bush jokes or anti-administration rants, no forwarding of internet articles somebody thinks should be of interest to others, no attempt to make corporate decisions. It should be a forum for appropriate announcements; constructive suggestions; information about area peace and justice events by our Meetings, AFSC, and a few other closely allied organizations; sharing of insights around peace and justice issues; minutes of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee; sample letters to Congressional Representatives and Senators which could be downloaded, modified, and sent out by listserv members; proposals to be presented to Meeting for Business - that sort of thing. It will evolve, we are sure, and we hope and expect that a Friendly atmosphere will be established and maintained on it. Roger and the Committee will monitor Friends' cooperation with the guidelines.

If you want to subscribe to the listserv, which will allow you to post messages, receive messages, read the archives, set various options, etc. you can do so by asking Roger Conant to subscribe you, by sending email to him at conant@ecs.umass.edu with subject of "LISTSERV SUBSCRIBE" - be sure to include your name in the email.

If you have questions about the listserv, please ask Roger.