mailing list guidelines

AOHL is primarily an in-person social group, and this mailing list is our means of communication. Members prefer that those who post to this list also attend AOHL activities. These are the guidelines for posting to the AOHL Groups.io Group Mailing List:

• Please use the AOHL Mailing List thoughtfully; keep communication respectful and positive.
• While members may use the list to express personal concerns, posts should remain constructive and aimed at solving the problem in a positive way. Members may not attack or blame individuals, subgroups, or the group at large on this list, by name or by implication. If you find it difficult to resolve your issue according to these guidelines, consider other means: talking to individuals in the group, presenting your issue at a Planning Meeting, or asking for help from our Mediation Team.
• Please include your name on every email message, especially if your Groups.io ID does not include your actual name.
• Ideally, posts to this list should be related to AOHL and/or homeschooling. Items not related to homeschooling should be prefaced with “OT” (for off topic) in the subject header. Please be judicious about using this list to post announcements not related to homeschooling.
• Commercial announcements for businesses, classes, and activities in which the organizer has a commercial interest should be prefaced with “AD” in the subject header. After making an initial announcement to the group, please request contact information from interested parties so you may conduct further communication off the mailing list. Members would prefer not to receive excessive announcements about events and classes, particularly announcements in which the poster has a commercial interest.
• Please refrain from sending “reply all” messages, unless you believe that your response will be useful to many members of the group.
• Collecting email addresses for marketing purposes is not allowed.

All AOHL Groups.io Group members are responsible to help maintain the positive atmosphere on the list. If a posted message is not in line with our guidelines, any member may “ping” that post by forwarding it to the Groups.io Group Administrator with the subject line “ping” and without comment. If the administrator receives three pings for any post, s/he will send the following to the original poster:

“At least three members feel that this post is not in line with AOHL’s Groups.io Group guidelines. Please review the guidelines here.”

If a member receives three pings each for three separate posts from the administrator, his/her posting privileges will be suspended and s/he will have read-only permissions on the Groups.io Group.

Members who receive pings from the administrator and would like to follow up can talk to individuals in the group, present the issue at a Planning Meeting, or ask for help from our Mediation Team.