In the loop

ANOTHER email address?! Lordy lordy… Hopefully members will agree this is a good idea, though.

Why? At the last council meeting, we saw a need for more transparency in Free Ride’s communications; council membership can be an obstacle to this goal. Crabgrass is great for documenting stuff, but can be overkill while in the planning stage. Quick email recap:

1) info@freeridepgh.org – High-volume, public-facing address, maintenance is a struggle
2) free-ride-volunteers@lists.riseup.net – Distributed to hundreds, little privacy
3) freeride-staffers@lists.riseup.net – Intended for short announcements re: security/money/shifts/etc.
4) freeride_council@lists.riseup.net – Everything else has been going here. However, we only have 5 active council members (plus treasurers), and outside messages must be moderated first.

The idea is to easily document ongoing collaborations, without having to rise to the council level. Basically, anything that could be covered as a “report-back” at a council meeting. This ISN’T carte blanche to head into uncharted territory (as far as Free Ride is concerned); for that we still have proposals and/or council email. Also, as an official non-profit corp, we should be publicizing our actions, so as details for your project emerge, explicit documentation’s still a good idea.

Mechanically, email to intheloop@freeridepgh.org winds up in our Gmail account (in its own folder, not the inbox), so pretty much any keyholder will have access to it. For some projects, more privacy will be needed, so “in the loop” is just a courtesy.