[GSBN] Admin: Proposal for Non-posting subscribers

Mon Dec 12 12:05:28 UTC 2011

I'm supportive of all of these responses to the topic.  And your 
rewording, Derek, is brilliant.
You'd almost think that your clear wording was written by a linguist.

Speaking as someone who reads all the posts, but is definitely not so 
informed as to respond to all of the posts,
I feel that there is a great deal of experienced knowledge written in 
the whole GSBN collection.  A few years back, I was a bit concerned that 
the 'exclusiveness' of the list was detrimental to the whole idea of 
spreading information.

Now I see that the 'inclusiveness' of experienced, non-judgemental 
members is what sets this list apart from the banality of most internet 
transactions.  Going public with the list's out-put seems generously 
altruistic, yet keeping the small membership encourages personal 
responses from everyone without competitive arguing and one-up-man-ship.

Me, I am delighted to share in these discussions, in the early hours 
before going to work.  It's a lot more soulfully uplifting that 
subscribing to the main stream morning papers.

Cheers,
Frank

-- 
Frank Tettemer
Living Sol ~ Building and Design
www.livingsol.com
613 756 3884

I think the concept of this change is excellent, Bill.  I like the 
changes in wording that Kim and Bruce have suggested.  Perhaps the term 
"natural building" might be included in the description, as well.

I wonder if we can find a clearer way to describe this new initiative, 
that anyone may receive/read the activity of the list.  My concern is 
that "non-post mode" may not always get the idea across, especially to 
those for whom English is a second or third language.  Here is my stab 
at it:

The Global Straw Building Network (GSBN) is a private discussion list 
with publicly available archives [add live link to archives].  In 
addition, anyone may sign up to receive copies, via email, of all 
postings to GSBN.  [And right here in the text, we should have a live 
link to a webpage that will explain how people can sign up for this new 
"non-post" mode that Bill has proposed.  Then, back to Bill's wording, 
"It is composed..."]

What do you think?

Derelict

Derek Roff
derek at unm.edu <mailto:derek at unm.edu>

On Dec 11, 2011, at 10:10 PM, kim thompson wrote:

> I want to shout (and whisper) what a fantastic step forward (I think) 
> Bill's proposal is.... for all the good, the generous, the wise and 
> the humble that GSBN collectively stands for.
> Thank you for taking us there!
>
> Vis a vis comments on the notice for uninvited guests, the one flag I 
> had was "other straw-use building materials..." how about 
> environmentally responsible building materials and techniques... other 
> thoughts???
>
> kim
>
> On 2011-12-12, at 12:28 AM, Bill Christensen wrote:
>
>> I don't think I'd go so far as an Occupy GSBN movement... I'm not a 
>> fan of tear gas or confrontational techniques myself. ;-)  Besides, 
>> the only pigs at the straw construction trough are three little ones, 
>> and they're in the 99%.
>>
>> Here's what I've written for the rejection notice for posts from 
>> uninvited guests:
>>
>>     The ability to post to GSBN is by invitation only.  Any posts
>>     sent to the GSBN address from email addresses which have not been
>>     approved to post are automatically discarded.
>>
>>     The Global Straw Building Network is a private discussion list
>>     with publicly available archives and the option for anyone to
>>     subscribe in non-post mode.  It is composed of representatives of
>>     regional organizations and other non-affiliated key individuals
>>     involved in the general advancement of straw-bale and other
>>     straw-use building materials and techniques. The intentionally
>>     small number of members range from highly experienced
>>     professionals to well informed laypeople.
>>
>>     Other discussion forums about building with straw exist elsewhere
>>     for those who are new to the process and/or to building
>>     techniques in general. Please see
>>     http://strawbale.sustainablesources.com or
>>     http://sustainablesources.com/resources/online-discussions/ to
>>     join them.
>>
>>     Should you have further questions about the operation of GSBN,
>>     please contact the list maintainer/host at
>>     http://sustainablesources.com/about/contact-us/
>>
>> I'm open to edits or feedback on all of this.
>>
>>
>> On 12/11/11 9:58 PM, Maurice Bennett wrote:
>>> The wider the audience the wider the acceptance of all that this 
>>> group attempts to foster.  The membership should not be opened to 
>>> one and all but the information certainly deserves to be available.
>>>
>>> So are we advocating Occupy GSBN?
>>>
>>> MHB
>>>
>>> On Dec 11, 2011, at 04:50 PM, Bruce King <bruce at ecobuildnetwork.org> 
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sounds like a great idea to me.  I don't remember writing or 
>>>> reading anything here that couldn't be made public.  And anyway, as 
>>>> you say we're all aware that once you send an email anywhere, it's 
>>>> public or at least findable.
>>>>
>>>> Let's not go hiding our torches or candles or sometimes teensy 
>>>> burning match ends under bushel baskets.  Let GSBN free!
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Bruce King
>>>> bruce at bruce-king.com <mailto:bruce at bruce-king.com>
>>>> (415) 987-7271
>>>> Twitter: @EBNetwork
>>>> bruceking.posterous.com <http://bruceking.posterous.com/>
>>>>
>>>> On Dec 11, 2011, at 3:12 PM, Bill Christensen wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi folks,
>>>>>
>>>>> As y'all might know by now, the GSBN discussions are interesting 
>>>>> and popular, not just with GSBN folks but with others in the straw 
>>>>> building world as well.
>>>>>
>>>>> We've long made the archives available to all.  Google and other 
>>>>> search engines regularly crawl the archives, so they're easily 
>>>>> searchable by putting "GSBN" and your topic in the search field.
>>>>>
>>>>> But we also regularly get requests from non GSBN people who just 
>>>>> want to be able to receive and read the emails and learn from 
>>>>> them, without participating in the discussion.  I just got another 
>>>>> compelling request the other day which caused me to re-think things.
>>>>>
>>>>> Right now, GSBN is set up as an invitation-only list.  I'm the 
>>>>> only one who can subscribe people.  If instead we changed the 
>>>>> setup such that *anyone* can subscribe but only specific people 
>>>>> (the current and future invited membership) can post to the 
>>>>> discussion, with any other posts to the list getting 
>>>>> rejected/returned to the sender, I think we can expand GSBN's 
>>>>> influence.  The whole point is to spread knowledge of best 
>>>>> practices, after all.
>>>>>
>>>>> One change which would come from this is that those of us with 
>>>>> multiple addresses would have to post from the correct one or 
>>>>> we'll receive a rejection notice.  Up til now I've been getting a 
>>>>> notice any time one of you does that, then going in and reviewing 
>>>>> the message and manually approving them for publication to the 
>>>>> list.  That won't happen any more.
>>>>>
>>>>> The only other potential downside - and it's sort of a moot point 
>>>>> since the archives are published automatically - is that we would 
>>>>> want to watch what we say about specific problems with specific 
>>>>> projects.  Not naming owners or builders or otherwise pointing 
>>>>> fingers that could be followed by insurance companies or lawyers, 
>>>>> for instance.  I think we're all pretty careful about that anyway 
>>>>> as most of us have been on the internet long enough to know that 
>>>>> no email is truly private.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm not attached to the decision either way but I'd like to hear 
>>>>> some of your thoughts.
>>>>>
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> Bill Christensen
>>>>>
>>>>> <http://SustainableSources.com <http://SustainableSources.com/>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> GSBN mailing list
>>>>> GSBN at sustainablesources.com <mailto:GSBN at sustainablesources.com>
>>>>> http://sustainablesources.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/GSBN
>>>>