Get ready Upper Valley listserv subscribers. There are more than 22,000 of you, and you likely have heard by now that your town discussion list will soon be moved to a new hosting platform and stewarded by a new organization known as UVLists.org. As soon as its nonprofit status is approved, this will be the Upper Valley’s newest nonprofit organization. UVLists.org grew out of the effort to carry forward the regional mailing lists supported by Vital Communities and keep them under community stewardship.
Thirty-eight Upper Valley town discussion lists (listservs) are set to migrate away from Vital Communities’ oversight and onto a newly created hosting platform developed by the
UVLists.org all-volunteer, superstar team of local community members. All town lists will migrate starting this Tuesday and end this Thursday.
Details of when each town’s list will be moved to the new platform are mapped out on
UVLists.org wiki page that’s easy to access online. This wiki page also has plenty more
information about UVLIsts.org, its mission, its goals, who’s involved, news and updates,
questions and answers, FAQ’s, and its hoped-for objectives. As far as non-profits go, this is
about as transparent as it gets, happily.
The good news is that for current listserv subscribers, not much will change. And there’s
nothing to do but wait until your list migrates over to keep on using it as you always have. The switch should be quick, easy and seamless. However, if you ‘d like to ensure future list posts don’t get sent to your spam folder, you can follow some simple pre-migration instructions on the UVLists.org wiki page, at uvlists.org.
As an executive committee member for UVLists.org for the past two months, I’ve had a bird’s-eye view of the activity that’s been ongoing every day, seemingly 24 hours per day. The volunteers who comprise this newly-formed nonprofit are devoting tremendous amounts of their time and technical know-how to make this listserv migration a reality. I, for one, am incredibly grateful for these local friends and neighbors I never knew existed, but who have pulled together quickly and with a shared intent and purpose to help all of us. The work they’re doing that will allow us to continue to communicate easily, town-by-town, is extraordinary. I feel fortunate they decided to make this listserv migration effort a reality.
The town discussion lists are so much more than the backbone and foundation we and our
towns rely upon daily to stay in touch. The listservs have become the Upper Valley’s whole
cloth with which we weave new, creative, and communicative threads with every one of our
email posts and replies. They make the Upper Valley a uniquely special place where easy
communication through simple emails (without bots and advertising) brings us together.
Let’s cherish what’s being done via UVLists.org as a local, volunteer, community-based effort. Now, hold onto your hats; the listserv migration is about to begin!
Dave Celone, of Sharon, is an executive committee member for UVLists.org.