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Cleveland Park Listserv FAQ

Questions and answers about using the Cleveland Park Listserv

How do I join the Cleveland Park Listserv?

There are 2 ways to join:

On the web: Go to www.cleveland-park.com and look for the button marked Join This Group! on the right-hand side of your screen. Click on that button and follow the prompts.

By email: Just send a blank email (that is, no subject line, no text) to cleveland-park-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Be sure to send it from the email address that you wish to sign up.

How do I read messages?

There are 3 different ways to read messages on this (or any) YahooGroup.

1. Individual Messages. You receive your messages by email, each message arriving at your subscribed email address in a separate email. This is the default setting for those who have signed up by sending a blank email to cleveland-park-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. If you have signed up on on the web, you had the option of choosing your message delivery mode at the time you created your listserv membership.

2. Daily Digest. You receive one long email per day, containing all the messages to the listserv in that time period. Later in this FAQ you will find the answer to the question of how to switch from individual messages to digest mode.

3. On the web. You receive no email but must go to the website, www.cleveland-park.com, to read messages. You must register with Yahoo and create your own Yahoo User Name and password (described in a subsequent Q&A in this FAQ) to be able to use this option and access the other web features of this group. You will also find instructions for changing from one subscription delivery mode to another.

How do I send a message to the group?

Write your message exactly as you want it to appear -- that is, no notes to the moderator -- and send it to cleveland-park@yahoogroups.com. Be sure you are sending it from the email address that you used when you subscribed to this group. If you have changed your email address, you must be sure to change your subscription in order to send a message. If you have multiple email addresses, please check before sending to be sure you’re writing from your subscribed address.

Don't use a wordprocessing program such as Microsoft Word to compose messages for the listserv. Wordprocessing programs introduce strange characters and formatting errors in messages posted on YahooGroups. Your best bet is to compose your message in plain text.

You can also compose and send a message to the listserv directly on the group's web site, provided that you are a registered Yahoo user. A subsequent Q&A explains how to register with Yahoo to gain access to the web features of this YahooGroup.

How do I reply to a message I read on this listserv?

That depends on how you receive the group’s messages and where you’d like your reply to go: to the person who posted the original message, or to the whole group.

If you receive individual messages, read this section:

If your reply is of interest just to the person who posted the message, then use your reply button; this group’s default is for replies to go directly to the sender of the original message.

If your reply is intended for all group members, use the “reply to all” button, which will send your message to the entire group, as well as to the writer of the message to which you are replying. Please be aware, however, that we can't possibly publish all the submissions we receive, and each day we select somewhere between one third to one half of messages for publication on the Listserv. If your message is not chosen, please do not send it again.

If you receive the Daily Digest, read this section:

Daily Digest Subscribers should NOT use the “reply” or “reply to all” button to respond to messages, as that would create a digest-within-a-digest if your message were to be posted. To prevent that, all such messages will be deleted. To reply to the group, you must start a NEW message to cleveland-park@yahoogroups.com. If you’d like to quote a part or all of someone’s message, go back to the digest that contained that message, copy the parts of the message that give context to your reply, and paste them into the text box following your own message to the group. As mentioned above, please keep in mind that we don't publish all submissions; the odds of having your message selected are somewhere in the 30 to 50 percent range. (This policy keeps the daily message volume from becoming overwhelming.)

If you want your reply to go just to the person who wrote a message to the group, go to that message in the digest and find that person’s email address, and copy and paste it into the TO: line of a new message, and then write your reply, and send it.

I want to change from individual messages to daily digest (or vice versa). How do I do that?

Just send a blank email (that is, no subject line, no text) to the email address that matches the change you want to make:

To switch to Daily Digest: cleveland-park-digest@yahoogroups.com

To switch to getting messages one at a time: cleveland-park-normal@yahoogroups.com

To remain a group member but stop delivery of messages by email: cleveland-park-nomail@yahoogroups.com

I don’t want to get any messages at all for a while, because I’m going on vacation. What do I do?

Just send a blank email (that is, no subject line, no text) to:

cleveland-park-nomail@yahoogroups.com

When you want to start receiving messages again, just send a blank email to the digest address (cleveland-park-digest@yahoogroups.com) or to the individual messages address (cleveland-park-normal@yahoogroups.com), depending on how you want to receive your messages from the group.

You can make this change any time, or switch back and forth as often as you like -- but keep in mind that it can take Yahoo’s central processor up to 72 hours to process subscription changes.

I want to leave the group for good. How do I do that?

Send a blank email (no subject line, no text) to: cleveland-park-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Be sure to do so from the email address that you used when you subscribed. You can also unsubscribe yourself from the web site, but only if you are a registered Yahoo User. The next Q&A explains how to register and set up a free Yahoo account, which gives you access to all the web features of YahooGroups (not just the CP Listserv but any and all YahooGroups you belong to or may want to join).

How can I access the listserv’s web features? I would like to search through old messages using the "Messages" link (also called "the archives"), post a message directly from the web site using the "Post" link, read the Files, change my subscription settings on the web site, etc.

Only registered Yahoo Users can access the egroup from the web site. Registering with Yahoo is quick, free, and relatively easy. First, go to the web site at www.cleveland-park.com. Look for the Yahoo! Groups logo toward the top of your screen. Next to it you’ll see the words, “New User? Sign Up” Click on the Sign Up link and you will be prompted to create a Yahoo account, with your own unique Yahoo User Name and password.

Be sure to choose both a User Name and password that you can remember (and please, write it down somewhere, in case you forget!), because you will need to sign in (log on) virtually every time you want to get to the group’s web features.

Make sure you follow all the Yahoo prompts and answer all the required Yahoo questions, especially the one where you’re shown some distorted letters and numbers and asked to retype them into a box. That prevents spam-bots from automatically signing onto YahooGroups to send spam messages to listservs, and you can’t join Yahoo without completing that step. Don’t worry if you can’t retype the letters accurately on the first try. You’ll get more chances if the first set of letters is too distorted for you to read.

Once you have a working Yahoo User Name and password, return to the home page at www.cleveland-park.com and look for the Yahoo! Groups logo at the top of the page; it should say “Welcome” followed by your Yahoo User Name. If it does, you will be able to see a column of clickable site links on the left-hand side of the page: Home, Messages, Post, Files, Photos, Links, etc. You will be able to click on any of those links to do various things (read archived messages on Messages; post a message directly from the web site on Post; read the list’s files on Files, and so on). You will also be able to click on the "Edit Membership" link, found on the line just under the Yahoo logo, which allows you to change your own subscription settings, e.g., from individual messages to digest, or from “fully featured” messages with clickable links, to “traditional” plain-text messages.

You’ll discover that it’s very advantageous for you to be able to do all these things right on the web site -- things you can’t do if you have a listserv subscription but are not a registered Yahoo User. Not only are you able to click on "Messages" to look up old messages in the message archives, but you can also write your messages directly from the web -- very helpful when you’re traveling or can’t easily get to your subscribed email account. And, as noted above, you can change your subscription settings yourself anytime, using the "edit membership" link on the web site.

I’m switching or adding an email address. What do I do?

To add an email address, follow the steps to join the listserv as described in the first question in this FAQ (by web method or by email). You can subscribe with as many email addresses as you’d like. If you don’t want to receive listserv email from multiple subscriptions, follow the steps to set the other subscriptions to “no mail.”

To switch from one email address to another, first sign up the new email address, and then, after going back to your old email account, unsubscribe it by sending a blank email to cleveland-park-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. Remember, you can unsubscribe an address only by sending an unsubscribe email from that same address.

If you are a registered Yahoo User, you may prefer to make changes to your egroup subscription directly from the web site. (The Q&A above explains how to register with Yahoo.) Just go to the home page, log in, and click on the “edit my membership” link on the line just under the Yahoo logo. Then follow Yahoo’s instructions to change your email delivery address.

I don't see photos or graphics in the messages that I receive. How can I fix this?

Turn on the "fully featured" function for messages, which you can do at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cleveland-park/join. You need a free YahooGroups ID to be able to access the group's website and turn this on.

I sent my message to the listserv but it didn’t appear? What happened?

Here are the possibilities:

You misaddressed the message and so it was never received. Check to see if your message was properly addressed to cleveland-park@yahoogroups.com (and not, for example, cleveland-park-owner (at) yahoogroups [dot] com). If that’s the case, then resend your message to the correct email address.

You sent it but there was a sending glitch on your end. Check to see if it bounced back or if you sent it from an email address other than the one you used when you signed up, or if you’re having trouble with your email account or server.

You sent it, but there was a receiving glitch on your end. In other words, you didn't receive a copy of your own message, although it was posted and received by other list members. You can see if your message was posted or not by checking the list's posts on the web. (Go to the home page and click on the "Messages" link. If you can't access the web features of the group, be sure to read the Q&A on that topic, above.)

You sent it, double-checked the sending address, checked your email system, but it hasn’t appeared within 24 hours of the time you sent it. This could be because it’s still in the pending queue, waiting for moderator approval. Just be patient. There isn’t a moderator on duty 24 hours a day. If you sent your message in the middle of the night or in the early morning, you may have to wait until normal working hours for it to appear. Sometimes the problem is just that Yahoo’s central processor is running slowly. It can take up to 24 hours for a message to appear. In either case, do not resend it.

You sent it, checked everything, it’s been more than 24 hours, and your message still hasn’t appeared. Now the thing to do is check over the list rules carefully. We assume that you read the rules when you first joined the listserv, but please check again, as the rules do change from time to time. Please read through all the rules to be sure that your message is right for this neighborhood discussion list.

A message will be deleted if:

• It’s unsigned. Posters need to sign their messages at the end with at least a first name. Do not use initials or screen names. Messages may not be signed "T. Smith" or "Jane R." by way of example.
• It’s off topic, about something outside of or unrelated to life or home maintenance within the defined boundaries of the Cleveland Park listserv. (The boundaries are spelled out at the end of the CP Rules page.)
• It’s got extraneous material that needs to be edited out (such as the previous day’s digest or tag lines from a previous message on the list or a note to the moderators).
• It’s addressed to a specific list member, calling upon that person to respond, if it is written in a scolding tone, or it contains assumptions about the previous poster's motives or views that are not explicitly stated in that person's message, or if it quotes a private correspondence (except for quoting government officials.)
• It’s a cross-post (a message sent to multiple recipients or email lists), a press release, a reprint of material published elsewhere, a forward from another listserv, or anything other than a message in your own words, written just for this listserv. (There are exceptions for messages from the police, city agencies, and community organizations.)
• It’s hard on the eyes. We don’t run messages written in all lower case, or using too much upper case, or lacking punctuation or paragraphing. Highly formatted messages will usually be garbled by the Yahoo processor and have to be deleted. Please note: Messages need to be sent as plain text; do not use a wordprocessing program to compose your message or copy formatted text from a flyer or Word document.
• It's an ad that goes against one or more of our limitations on advertising. In order to prevent this neighbor-to-neighbor discussion forum from becoming mainly a free bulletin board, we have many restrictions on advertising, which you can read on our CP Rules page (see Section 10). Before sending an ad to the list, it's always a good idea to check it against our Ad Checklist page. Note that anything not postable as a free advertisement may be published as a paid advertisement; please visit our main ads page (for business or property ads) or our discount ad page (for individual or nonprofit ads) for details.
• It’s better suited to be a personal reply, or it contains someone’s personal information without any indication that the person wants that information published on the listserv.
• It asks a question that can easily be Googled.
• It's a post from the same person who's already commented before on this topic, or it's a post from someone who has posted several times in the past few days or weeks. Since we limit the number of posts each day, we don't want the same voices posting repeatedly ("overposting").
  • It asks a question that's so specific or narrowly focused that it might concern only a few out of the many thousands on the listserv. Messages about some specialized topics are probably best asked on an email list dedicated to that topic.
• It continues a thread that ended a while ago or it takes a thread off-topic. Please note that it's the prerogative of the moderators to decide how long to let a thread go on, or when to start a new thread. We do our best to publish a fair sampling of the views submitted, regardless of our own views on any subject.

As you can see, there are many reasons why a message isn’t right for this listserv. The volunteer moderators can’t take the time to write to a list member with an explanation each time a message is deleted, as this is something that happens dozens of times per day. If you have a question about a message that has or has not appeared, you can write to the moderators at cleveland (dash) park (dash) owner (dot) com. Due to the volume of email,, we may not be able to respond to all inquiries, but we'll do our best to answer any questions that are not explained in this FAQ.

DC Government officials should read our guidelines for DC Government posts .

Candidates, campaign workers and supporters should read our posting guidelines for candidates at:

http://clevelandpark.googlepages.com/candidaterules

If you are writing a message about a nonprofit organization, or you are making an appeal to raise funds for a good cause, be sure to read our policy page on fundraising:

http://clevelandpark.googlepages.com/clevelandparkfundraisingrules

I sent a message to the list but I forgot to sign it. (Or I sent it with some other problem, such as a broken URL, or an incorrect phone number, or repeated tags lines from a previous message). What should I do?

Just repost your corrected message to cleveland-park@yahoogroups.com . Do not include any notes to the moderator along with your resubmitted message. Do not, for example, start your message with "Oops, I forgot to sign my message." Messages that contain notes to the moderator are automatically deleted. Simply resend the message the way you want it to appear. When we see two pending messages from the same person with the same subject line, we assume that the second message is the correct one.

I saw a message similar to my message on the Cleveland Park Listserv. Why did that message go through, but mine didn't?

First, consider the possibility that one of the volunteer moderators made a mistake and that that message shouldn't have been posted either. Or that the list's rules have changed since that other message was posted. (You've read the list's rules, right?) Those possibilities aside, we need to say that just because you see a similarity between a posted message and your deleted message doesn't mean that the moderators see it that way. Please don't write to us to argue about it! The moderators handle dozens of messages a day and often delete as many messages as are put through. We simply cannot revisit posting decisions based on a list member's perception of having seen a similar post. All the moderators have regular jobs and families and need to sleep sometimes.

We'd also ask you to keep in mind that the listserv simply can't run every message sent in, or the amount of message traffic would be overwhelming. There are some email lists that publish 50 to 100 messages per day, but we've made a conscious decision to keep the message volume manageable, that is, about 20 to 30 messages per day.

One final thought on this subject: While we know that we can never please all list members all the time, we're comforted by the thought that most people enjoy the listserv most of the time. And if we make a moderating mistake now and then, we know the fate of the world -- or the neighborhood -- doesn't hang on whether a particular message goes through.

May I post a message on the Cleveland Park Listserv if I've posted it on another email list?

No. With some exceptions, mostly for community groups, messages must be unique to the Cleveland Park Listserv. In other words, if you post a message elsewhere, you may not also post it on the Cleveland Park Listserv. Here are some of the reasons for our no-crosspost rule:

First, it helps to keep the neighbor-to-neighbor focus of this email list. By asking posters to address their messages just to their neighbors on this list, we prevent use of the list for a wide variety of canned messages and blanket announcements. (We make an exception for messages of importance to public health or safety or that the moderators consider of public benefit.)

Second, cross-posted messages frequently cause problems in the reply sequence; it can be confusing for the moderators to determine whether a reply was to a message that appeared on this list, when it has appeared on other lists as well.

Third -- when it comes to items for sale -- it can put the readers of this list at a disadvantage to compete with readers of another listserv for a chance to buy an item.

Fourth, many list members subscribe to more than one email list. Crossposts mean that these list members get duplicate messages, which clutters their inboxes. Bandwidth is a scarce resource -- and we like to help preserve it.

Fifth, if you crosspost a message and somebody who's on the Cleveland Park Listserv responds to your message only on that second list, that can deprive our list members of the information in the reply. In other words, crossposts really require that people respond on multiple lists, too (which then creates some confusion for the moderators -- see point number two above.)

We like to keep things simple and as unconfusing as possible on the Cleveland Park Listserv. So, no crossposts. Neighborhood civic groups are generally except from the no-crosspost rule (but still shouldn't have more than one email address in the TO or CC line of their message.)

If, after several days have passed, you find you don't get any useful responses from your message on other lists, and you would like to post your query on this listserv, you are welcome to revise it so that it is addressed just to the members of this listserv.

The Cleveland Park Listserv is like a letters-to-the-editor section of a newspaper. Not all messages get posted on our very busy place in cyberspace. Just as you can't send the same letter to more than one newspaper, you can't send the same message to both the Cleveland Park and other listservs.

I was told that my message was garbled and had strange formatting and characters. What can I do to fix it for the list?

Most of the time, garbled text creeps in because the sender used Microsoft Word or another word processing program to compose the message. The simple solution: Don't. Use your plain text format or tell your email software to compose messages in "text only" or compose your message directly from the group's web site at www.cleveland-park.com using the "Post Message" feature on the site. If you copy your message from some other place or program and then try to send it to the list, chances are that Yahoo will render at least a few of the characters unreadable. Line spacing problems often crop up with the use of auto-signatures: Yahoo inserts many extra line spaces. The solution: Go to your "insert signature" command and manually remove the auto-signature before sending your message to the list. Also, please keep in mind that the listserv does not accept attachments, and any message sent with an attachment will automatically be deleted.

I sent a message but now I don’t want it to appear. Is there any way to withdraw it?

Maybe, depending on the timing. If the message hasn’t yet gone through to the listserv, write to cleveland-park-owner [at] yahoogroups (dot) com without delay and ask to have the message deleted. If the message has been put through, then there’s no way to stop members from receiving it, but you can still have the message deleted from the message archive on the CP web site. Just write to the owner address -- cleveland-park-owner [at] yahoogroups (dot) com -- and be sure to include a copy of the message you want deleted. Don’t just say “it was about a yard sale,” because we don’t memorize the messages and we can’t spend time searching through old messages to find one based on a vague description.

How do I communicate with the moderators?

First, let’s say what NOT to do: Do NOT write a question for the moderators and send it to the group’s posting address. Your question will be deleted and you may not get it answered at all. To write to the moderators, address your message to cleveland-park-owner [at] yahoogroups (dot) com. You must be sure that the moderators can communicate with you using the same email address that you use when you write to us and when you post to the listserv. We do not make phone calls to list members and we expect them to be able to read notes that we send about problems in their listserv messages. If we can't communicate with you through your listserv email address, that means that other list members can't use it to reply either. To save time and prevent frustration, the moderators will suspend posting privileges for list members who can't communicate with the moderators by email.

I'm not receiving any messages from the group. How do I start receiving again?

Your listserv email may be "bouncing." You should check your listserv status on the web. First, if you're not already a registered Yahoo User, you need to follow the instructions in the Q&A that tells you how to register with Yahoo and get access to your YahooGroups membership on the web. Only registered Yahoo Users can change their list membership status via the web site. Once you're logged into Yahoo, with your User Name and Password, return to the group's home page at www.cleveland-park.com and look for the words "edit membership" in small type on the same line with your Yahoo User Name toward the top of the screen. Click on that link, and you will be able to view your membership details. If you are bouncing, you will see that and will be able to unbounce yourself by clicking on a box to reactivate your membership.

If you're not bouncing, check to be sure that your subscription hasn't been switched to "web only." Sometimes people forget that they have turned off email delivery by sending a cut-off message to cleveland-park-nomail@yahoogroups.com. If that's the case, you can turn message delivery back on by sending a blank email to cleveland-park-normal@yahoogroups.com (for individual messages) or cleveland-park-digest@yahoogroups.com (for the daily digest) from your subscribed email address. It may take up to 48 hours for message delivery to resume.

What if you're not bouncing and your message delivery hasn't been turned off? The first place to look is your ISP. Many ISPs block what they call "bulk email," which often includes newsletters, messages from email lists, and even family e-bulletins. Some ISPs put this bulk email, which they consider spam, into a spam or bulk email folder; other ISPs just zap the email without notifying their members. Another way that ISPs block email is by changing your email address in a way that interferes with your subscription. This has been a problem mainly for RCN users, many of whom began their listserv memberships using an Erols or Starpower email address. RCN has assured these subscribers that nothing has changed, but as far as YahooGroups is concerned, they are no longer members. If your email domain has changed, you will need to resubscribe using your new domain. Just follow the instructions for subscribing (read the answer to the first question in this FAQ) and your email should resume.

If you suspect that your Internet Service Provider is blocking your email, you need to call or email your ISP's customer service number to ask them to investigate what's happening to your email. Your ISP may tell you that the list owners must contact them directly, but that's not something we can do. (We tried that in the past and found it didn't help.) Don't accept that answer! Remember -- you have a right to your email.

I'm an AOL/Comcast/Earthlink/RCN/Verizon/Other large ISP subscriber and I'm not getting listserv email. What should I do?

Members who use large ISPs have been frequently been plagued with YahooGroups subscription problems. Periodically, these larges ISPs will simply block all email from YahooGroups, and the list member will not even receive notification that email has been blocked. If this problem persists, we strongly recommend that you also subscribe to the Cleveland-Park with a different email address. Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail all offer free email addresses that work well with the listserv. Please read the beginning of this FAQ for information about signing up a new email address.

I use my company's email system to send messages to the listserv, but my messages aren't showing up. What could be going wrong?

There are some problems with using a company email address. (But no email service is perfect!) If your company automatically adds a legal disclaimer to outgoing messages, your message may be deleted. These legal disclaimers aren't appropriate for a neighborhood listserv -- and they take up a lot of bandwidth. If your company's email server automatically generates an out-of-office message we may need to put your on can't post status to keep these out-of-office messages from appearing in the list's pending hopper. Also be sure to check that the email address you subscribe from is the email address you're posting from.

I’m having trouble logging on to the group with my Yahoo User Name and password. What do I do?

The moderators have no access to your Yahoo account. That’s your confidential information that you created and only you can change. All we can do is check to see whether your subscribed email address shows that you’re a Yahoo member or not. If you’ve forgotten the password that you created to go along with your Yahoo User Name, you should attempt to log in with that User Name and then click on the “Forgot your password?” link, prompting Yahoo to email your password to you.

If the problem is that you have more than one email address in your Yahoo account, you may need to straighten out which email address is the one linked to the Yahoo User Name and password and make sure that it matches the one you’ve used to subscribe to this Yahoo group.

If you can't figure out how to fix your Yahoo registration, it may be necessary for you to unsubscribe and resubscribe from this egroup, or create a new, separate Yahoo User Name and password for use with your egroup subscription -- but we can’t offer you any specific guidance because we don’t know how you set up your Yahoo account. Try the Yahoo help links or the Yahoo FAQ -- and good luck!

I'm having horrible computer problems! I can't access YahooGroups! I can't send a message! I can't go online and search the archives! My ISP isn't connecting me to the Cleveland Park Listserv! I haven't seen any messages for hours and hours!

You're not alone. Everyone has computer problems every now and again -- even the list moderators. While technical and computer questions aren't allowed on the Cleveland Park Listserv (we could too easily become a computer tech email list), almost every computer question or problem can be solved.

First, make sure you have good anti-spyware and anti-virus software installed. Many, though not all, computer problems can be traced to spyware. (FYI: Because the Cleveland Park Listserv doesn't permit attachments, it is impossible to get a computer virus through the listsev.) You can even have your computer scanned for free online via http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ or http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp.

Second, if you're having trouble connecting to the Internet, call your ISP. Most Internet service providers offer free support 24/7, and you would be surprised how often an Internet-related problem can be solved through a call to Comcast, RCN, Verizon or whatever service you use to connect to the Internet.

Third, if you can connect to the Internet, give Google a whirl. Type in the error message you see or the general nature of your problem. You may get a quick answer. If you don't, try asking Google with slightly different wording.

If these three suggestions don't help, then you might want to tap into some local resources. For Windows users, there's the Capitol PC User Group: http://www.cpcug.org. For Apple folks, contact Washington Apple Pi at http://www.wap.org/.

Finally, you might want to hire a computer consultant. Computers are complex devices and sometimes the only way to get them working is to get an expert who can actually see what's going on with your machine and set right whatever has gone wrong.

What not to do: Do not write to the moderators about your computer problem. Sorry, but we cannot diagnose it over email, and even if we could, we wouldn't. There are thousands and thousands of list members, and it's no longer possible for the moderators to try to help out. It's even time-consuming to write back to people to say we can't serve as tech support. We know that if you try all of the suggestions above, one of them will work for you.

Also, keep in mind that Yahoo sometimes suffers technical difficulties. If you don't see any messages for several hours, it's not an indication that the entire Internet has collapsed into a black hole. YahooGroups may simply be undergoing maintenance or repairs.