In response to issues raised by subscribers, and after several months of discernment and discussions, the Terms of Use of the Newark List (news@dionewark.org) have been updated and clarified in a new version adopted by Diocesan Council at its meeting on November 14, 2012. The new Terms of Use are posted here.
The first version of the Newark List was started in the late 1990s. After changes over the years, there are currently 67 listservs managed by diocesan staff. The Newark List is a general interest listserv, to which one may subscribe via the Get News form. In 2009 it consisted of nearly 900 email addresses. After the diocesan e-newsletters were introduced in September 2009, subscribership to the Newark List quickly dropped to around 800 emails and has remained flat ever since. Meanwhile the number of emails subscribed to the e-newsletters has increased from nearly 900 in 2009 to approaching 1800 today.
The other 66 listservs are group-specific, such as clergy-all@dionewark.org, wardens@dionewark.org and diocesancouncil@dionewark.org. (You can see the full list here).
All diocesan listservs have always been subscriber-only to guard against spam.
“I didn’t sign up to get this.”
The most common subscriber complaints are about the sheer volume of emails – the most common reason cited by subscribers who migrated from the Newark List to the e-newsletters – or because a diocesan listserv created to meet the needs of a group is being used to meet the needs of an individual. Examples of the latter which have been reported to diocesan staff are sending links to a personal blog or business, or promoting an individual’s point of view, communications more appropriate to social media – which was not available when the diocesan listservs began but is now free and easily accessible to anyone.
In response to numerous subscriber complaints, in August 2012, at the request of Bishop Mark Beckwith, a task force met to discuss issues raised by subscribers to the various diocesan listservs. Members of the task force were:
- The Rev. Miguelina Howell, Rector of Church of the Epiphany in Orange;
- The Rev. Anne Koehler, Priest-in-Charge of Christ Church in Bloomfield/Glen Ridge;
- The Rev. Dr. Shane Phelan, Priest-in-Charge of St. Luke's in Haworth;
- The Rev. Dr. Canon Sandye Wilson, Rector of St. Andrew & Holy Communion in South Orange;
- Michael Francaviglia, Director of Administration and Secretary of Convention;
- Nina Nicholson, Director of Communications & Technology;
- Randy Johnson, Administrative Assistant for Diocesan Ministry Services.
Not able to attend the meeting but providing input were John Rollins and Jan Paxton, long-time members of the diocesan Technology Committee.
The new Newark List Terms of Use drafted by the task force was presented to Diocesan Council at its retreat in September and discussed at length at their October meeting before being adopted in an amended version in November.
Mindful of the limitations of online discussion, the task force also urged Diocesan Council to be more intentional about providing communications venues such as in-person meetings, when discussion is needed.
Group-Specific Listservs
Subscriptions to group-specific listservs are managed by Randy Johnson, based on the information in the diocesan database.
In these smaller, more focused listservs, members occasionally hold brief business-related discussions or vote upon issues between in-person meetings. However, because of the limitations of online discussion, it is recommended that topics which are sensitive, emotionally charged or require extensive discussion are better handled through verbal discussion, whether in-person, on conference calls or via an online utility such as Skype.
In a group as large as the clergy and lay leaders of the Diocese of Newark, email addresses are constantly changing. It’s important that churches report changes in leadership, or their contact information, to Randy as quickly as possible, so that both the diocesan database and the listservs may be kept current. Randy can be reached at rjohnson@dioceseofnewark.org or 973-430-9906.
