Vital Communities List Migration/Renaming Lists
As part of the migration from Vital Communities, each town list is getting a new name ending in -Discuss. For example, the Barnard list (barnard@lists.vitalcommunities.org) becomes Barnard-Discuss (barnard-discuss@lists.uvlists.org).
This is the same community list. The subscribers, the purpose, the guidelines, and the volunteers who run it stay the same. Only the name, the address, and the service provider change.
What is changing
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| List name | Barnard | Barnard-Discuss |
| Posting address | barnard@lists.vitalcommunities.org | barnard-discuss@lists.uvlists.org |
| Subject tag | [Barnard] | [Barnard-Discuss] |
| Join address | (Vital Communities web page) | barnard-discuss-join@lists.uvlists.org |
| Leave address | barnard-unsubscribe@lists.vitalcommunities.org | barnard-discuss-leave@lists.uvlists.org |
Every migrating town list follows the same pattern. Each list's page under Mailing lists shows its new addresses.
Why the names end in -Discuss
A town can have more than one list
A list named only for its town leaves no room for anything else. With the old naming, Barnard's one list was simply "Barnard", so there was no good name for a second Barnard list.
Naming each list for its purpose changes that. A town can have several lists, each clearly labeled, side by side. For example, a town might have:
| List | Purpose |
|---|---|
| barnard-discuss | Open discussion among neighbors (the migrated community list) |
| barnard-announce | Announcements only, with low traffic |
| barnard-forsale | Items for sale, wanted, or free |
These examples show how the naming works. They are not lists that exist today. Whether a town gets more lists is up to its community, and adding one should not require renaming the discussion list.
Clear labels also help subscribers. You can join only the lists you want, and you can tell from the name and subject tag which list a message came from.
The name describes the list
These lists are discussion forums for neighbors. They are run by volunteers and are not official channels of any town government. A list named only for its town can be mistaken for the town's own announcements. Adding -Discuss makes clear what the list is for.
One pattern for every town
Every migrated list uses the same form: town-discuss@lists.uvlists.org, with town-discuss-join and town-discuss-leave for joining and leaving. Once you know one list's addresses, you know them all.
What subscribers need to do
- Nothing to rejoin. Unless you unsubscribe from the Vital Communities list before its cutover date, your subscription and delivery preference move automatically. See the migration schedule for each list's dates.
- Update your contacts. After the cutover date, send messages to the new address. Each list page offers a contact card you can download.
- Check your email filters. If you have a filter or rule that matches the old subject tag (for example, [Barnard]) or the old address, update it to match the new tag or address. Otherwise new messages may land somewhere unexpected.
For a period after cutover, messages sent to the old address receive an automatic reply that points to the new list.
Questions
For help with the move or a question about a particular list, see Contact UVLists.