Neighborhood | Ghost of Midnight

Yahoo Mail’s overly enthusiastic bulk mail filter

Posted on Monday, July 28, 2008 by Michael • 8 comments

Update: We’ve had a few reports of this same problem happening for Gmail users. So… if you’re not receiving your FPF email, regardless of your email host (Yahoo, Gmail, etc.), please follow the steps below.

Original posting: Yahoo Mail‘s spam filter technology has a tough assignment… no doubt. But recently it started blocking many Front Porch Forum e-newsletters from our subscribers’ inboxes. Not only did these good folks sign up to receive their neighborhood newsletter, but they write it too. You can imagine how upset some people are becoming. Not much help forthcoming from the Yahoo monolith, so we’re sharing the message below with all FPF-subscribing Yahoo Mail users.

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For Yahoo Mail using Front Porch Forum Subscribers: Front Porch Forum (FPF) has learned that Yahoo Mail’s spam filter mistakenly thinks that some FPF neighborhood e-newsletters are spam. So, it’s likely that your Yahoo Mail inbox is not receiving your FPF neighborhood forum. PLEASE TAKE STEP 1 below and consider taking the other steps (DETAILS below):

Teach your Yahoo Mail spam filter to accept Front Porch Forum!
Provide FPF with a non-Yahoo email address.
Stick with Yahoo Mail, but use email client software instead of Yahoo Mail’s website.
Read your FPF neighborhood news on our website, instead of via email.

We regret this inconvenience. TAKING STEP 1 will help you and hundreds of other folks who have been cut off from their neighborhood news. Thank you!

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DETAILS for the steps above:

1. TEACH YOUR YAHOO MAIL SPAM FILTER to accept incoming email from Front Porch Forum by taking step A (please consider steps B and C too):

A. DESIGNATE FPF MESSAGES AS “NOT SPAM”:
– Go to http://mail.yahoo.com and sign into your Mail account.
– Click on Spam folder to see contents (do NOT click “Empty” next to the spam folder!)
– For any Front Porch Forum messages listed in the Spam folder, click to create a check-mark in the small box at the left.
– Go to the “Not Spam” icon just above the message list, and click once. This will move any checked messages into your Inbox.
– Yahoo says this should train your Yahoo spam filter to accept FPF messages (however some Yahoo Mail users have reported that this feature is not dependable). Repeat as needed.

If there is nothing in your Yahoo spam folder, chances are that you’ve set it to be emptied automatically and immediately. To fix this, go to “Options” (top right), then to “Mail Options” and then “Spam” (left-hand menu) and change the spam settings to empty your spam folder weekly or monthly. Then repeat step 1A above in a few days.

B. ADD FPF’S “FROM” ADDRESSES TO YOUR YAHOO CONTACT LIST:
– On Yahoo Mail website, open any email with an FPF address (especially one that was sent to spam folder), or click message to view it in the preview pane.
– Click the “Add” icon next to the “From” email address.
– At “Add Contact” dialog box, confirm email address and click “Save.”
– Alternately, you can click on the “Contacts” folder and add FPF address(es) manually.
– Addresses to add include: members@frontporchforum.com, neighbors@frontporchforum.com, and [YourNeighborhoodForum’sName]@frontporchforum.com

C. CREATE FILTERS TO ROUTE ANY FPF MESSAGES DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX:
– On Yahoo Mail website, go to “Options” (top right), then to “Mail Options” and then “Filters” (left-hand menu).
– Click on “Create or edit filters.”
– Click “Add.”
– Filter Name: “FPF” (for example).
– Under: “If all of the following rules are true:” designate “From header” / “ends with” / and enter “@frontporchforum.com”
– In “Then… Move the message to:”, choose “Inbox.”

2. PROVIDE FPF WITH A NON-YAHOO EMAIL ADDRESS: You can either (A) replace your Yahoo address as your FPF Primary Address with one from a different provider (gmail, hotmail, your employer/school, your ISP, etc.), or (B) add a secondary email address to your FPF account. To change your FPF account, go to http://frontporchforum.com and click “Log In.” Once logged in successfully, click on “Account” and make changes there. Or contact us directly (http://frontporchforum.com/about) and we’ll be happy to help.

3. Continue using your Yahoo email address, but USE EMAIL CLIENT SOFTWARE, such as Mozilla Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird), that will download your emails onto your computer for reading. The Yahoo Mail spam filter will be avoided this way.

4. READ YOUR FPF NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS ON OUR WEBSITE, instead of via email: If email fails altogether, or you want to look at any missed issues, you can read your FPF neighborhood news on our website. Go to http://frontporchforum.com and click “Log In.” Once logged in successfully, click on “Archives” and browse or search.

What to do when a friend asks you to post her message on your FPF neighborhood forum…

Posted on Saturday, July 26, 2008 by Michael • No comments yet

We frequently are asked about what’s “allowed” to be posted on Front Porch Forum. Here’s a sample inquiry from this morning in one of our neighborhood forums…

For Michael – or whoever does policy decisions – I’ve been approached by a colleague to use my access to the Shelburne portion of the Front Porch Forum to circulate a survey (questionnaire). I’m not sure that celebrates the spirit of the forum and want to know what your take on that is. I know you do some editing as to the nature of the requests that go out and the person who asked me to use my access to distribute a survey mentioned that they, for some reason couldn’t (or didn’t feel comfortable) approaching the whole network with the survey. What’s our policy – I’m in no hurry to distribute surveys through the Forum, but respect the colleague and want to help her, IF this is not an abuse of the Forum. I can tell you more about content if this is something we might entertain further.

My response…

Thanks for your inquiry. In short… yes, please feel free to post the survey on your own FPF neighborhood forum.

The intent of Front Porch Forum is to help neighbors connect and foster community within the neighborhood/town. This happens when clearly identified nearby neighbors communicate online… and, when it’s working, eventually more and more offline. So, like a good block party, we don’t care about the topics of conversation… we just want a good crowd of folks to get together online and chat… heavy stuff, light… politics, work-related… weather or speed bumps… missing cats or a found cell phone… selling your car or trying to get a summer job for your teenager… whatever folks want to post about is fair game (with a few reasonable excepts… no person attacks, and we discourage repetition).

We know FPF is successful when we get reports that the conversation is moving from the virtual to the actual front porch.

One other point… we also encourage folks to do as your colleague has done… reach out to personal networks to spread messages (lots of nonprofits do this with their events). Again, it all goes toward nearby neighbors getting to know each other in micro-steps. E.g., someone in one neighborhood posted an announcement for a disease fundraiser, and another neighbor (stranger) saw it this week and was delighted… her little girl has the same medical condition and now plans to connect with this person.

File under “Random Acts of Kindness”

Posted on Friday, July 25, 2008 by Michael • No comments yet

Posted to Front Porch Forum neighbors by Emily in Burlington’s Old North End today…

Yesterday evening I discovered that some kind souls from my neighborhood had surreptitiously replaced my tattered, duct-tape covered bike seat with just about the jazziest bike seat there ever was. It was the best surprise and you can bet I have been smiling (and riding much more comfortably) ever since. Thank you thank you!

Small wonder so many FPF subscribers enjoy reading their neighborhood news through this service.

“People don’t believe communities like ours exist”

Posted on Monday, July 21, 2008 by Michael • No comments yet

Bonnie posted the following note of appreciation to her town neighbors on Front Porch Forum today…

Dearest Neighbors, Thank you so much John for offering your Subaru. Your generosity is amazing.

Thank you all so much. I’m humbled to think about how many people living in our community, were willing to help me out. Many many thanks!

I’ve told people (away from home) of my car problem, and how it’s been solved with the help of neighbors in my community through the Front Porch Forum. People are in awe, and most don’t believe that communities like ours exist.

With love and gratitude, Bonnie

She was stuck without her car for a period of weeks and needed a way to commute to work. She reached out to her neighbors and cobbled together a number of free loaners… problem solved… sense of community enhanced. That’s what FPF is all about.

Burlington Field Day July 26

Posted on Sunday, July 20, 2008 by Michael • No comments yet

This is a good fun…

Water-balloon toss? Shot-put with a bowling ball? Come show your “side-pride” as Burlington Field Day pits the North End vs. the South End in a day of fun athletic competition.

The third installment of Burlington Field Day will be held at Battery Park on July 26. South Enders need to exact some revenge for last year’s loss to the North End… come one, come all.

Front Porch Forum, covering both sides of town, will, of course, remain perfectly neutral (go South End!).

Neighbors use Front Porch Forum to ignite drug dealing discussion

Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 by Michael • No comments yet

We love to see neighbors “hitting singles” daily on Front Porch Forum… finding babysitters, selling bikes, connecting about car break-ins and so much more. And the weekly “doubles and triples” smacked out of the infield are a joy too… e.g., several folks using FPF to organize a couple weeks of meals in support of an ailing neighbor, a citywide debate about the future of the Moran Plant, etc.

And then we have the “home run” shots like in Burlington’s Old North End recently. A weeks-long back-and-forth centered around drug dealing attracted lots of postings and some strong emotion. The results… loads of neighbor-to-neighbor discussion, involvement of the police and city councilors, media coverage, and now a public meeting is being organized to dig into the challenging issues tied up in this topic. We’re thrilled that Front Porch Forum acted as a catalyst for these concrete steps… especially the face-to-face efforts like the public meeting. At some point, it’s usually best to move these more intense discussions offline into real time and real space… I’m grateful to those organizing this meeting.

As part of all this, Seven Days published a piece this week about my decision to suspend the drug dealing discussion for a couple of weeks on the ONE Central Neighborhood Forum. The tone of the discussion was heading toward “flaming,” that is, it was devolving down to where so many online discussions go to die… personal attacks, strident statements, etc. My step brought criticism from a few FPF subscribers, which we take to heart. And it also brought lots of praise for keeping the peace. Experience predicts it was a necessary move.

Front Porch Forum is a fine place for neighbors to take on challenging subjects (and has been used that way dozens of times). And in these situations we won’t allow it to become an online shouting match among a tiny minority… there are plenty of other venues on the internet for that kind of thing… and there’s only one Front Porch Forum!

Time to watch the neighbors score some more runs on behalf of community in their neighborhoods.

UPDATE: Seven Days just published my letter to the editor…

I was glad to see Seven Days’ coverage of a Front Porch Forum discussion about neighborhood drug dealing. However, the title of your article [“Moderator Shuts Down Online Debate on ONE Drug Use,” July 16] mischaracterized the situation. We were not squelching community dialogue about this important issue — just the opposite.

Front Porch Forum exists to encourage and facilitate this kind of communication. I took the highly unusual step of suspending a single topic on one of our 130 neighborhood forums for two weeks in an attempt to let tempers cool and to reclaim a civil and inclusive tone. Allowing a neighborhood forum to devolve into an online shouting match among a tiny minority of subscribers drives people away and serves no one’s long-term interest.

In fact, we’re encouraged by the results in this case. Where previously there was little talk about drug dealing, now there’s loads of it, among hundreds of neighbors, city councilors, police and others. Media is reporting on this important issue. Public meetings are in the works. Front Porch Forum was a starting point and a catalyst for this positive activity.

So I respectfully offer an alternative headline: “Neighbors Use Front Porch Forum to Ignite Drug Dealing Discussion.”

Michael Wood-Lewis
BURLINGTON
Wood-Lewis is the co-founder of FrontPorchForum.com

UPDATE 2: I continue to get lovely feedback from FPF subscribers on this issue, such as this one…

I wanted to express my support for you surrounding the recent heated discussion on our FPF.

I am a member of several listservs, and have been for about a decade. Your moderation appears to me to be very appropriate and even generous. The vigilante attitude about “dismissing” you as a moderator resulting from the alleged violations of the 1st Amendment was absurd and lacked maturity. Living in Burlington sometimes skews the lens of reality for people, and I think the most outspoken opponents to what was clearly stated to be a 2 week moratorium, not “censorship”, had no idea what they were talking about.

Please continue your fabulous work and your level of moderation. The FPF is such an incredible asset to residents and I have no idea how I lived without it before moving back here.

UPDATE 3: See this follow-up posting…

Successfully Managing Online Community

Posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 by Michael • No comments yet

Managing online communities is a tricky business. I’ve seen many stories in traditional media citing examples of people at each others’ throats online. I know some elementary school PTO email groups in our area have turned so nasty that they had to be shut down. Now today I read a blog post by Simmons Buntin on Next American City about how the challenges of managing an online discussion for a planned New Urbanist neighborhood… wow. So even in a place where people move ostensibly to enjoy the benefits of a heightened sense of community, online discussion still turns sour?

Well, this bodes well for the Front Porch Forum model… where this negative stuff is largely absent. We’ve worked hard to nurture civil and constructive discourse among clearly identified nearby neighbors in the 130 online neighborhood forums that we host across our pilot area (Chittenden County, VT).

In fact, today in my role as “community manager,” I had to inject myself into a thread and close it off for only the third time in a couple years and 30,000 postings. The pattern has been the same in each case… a topic about which people feel passionate (dogs, slate roofs and historic preservation, and, recently, illegal drug activity) is introduced in an inflammatory way and people line up to take sides and start blasting each other.

We typically ask folks to keep it civil and constructive and, if they must attack, attack the idea and not people.

These steps and many others add up to only three “flame outs” in 30,000 postings… an amazing batting average so far.

St. Nicholas of Tomatoes?

Posted on Monday, July 7, 2008 by Michael • No comments yet

Wonderful Front Porch Forum posting of the day from Christine in Burlington’s Old North End…

Some of us, including myself, have mentioned problems in our neighborhood this summer. I just wanted to mention a kind act that was done for me. A couple weeks ago I posted a question about worms in my garden soil and mentioned I was trying to grow tomatoes in my yard. A few days later I came home to find some beautiful tomato seedlings on my front steps!! I don’t know who left them for me, but I was so surprised and pleased to receive them! Thank you to whoever gave me the tomatoes! I will be sure to share the tomatoes from these plants and therefore you can know your act of kindness has given happiness to others too.

While on the topic of things we are thankful for, I just want to say how grateful I am for my neighbor Iris, who watches over my home whenever I am not there. She is a wonderful neighbor and has been such a help to me over the years. I always feel more secure knowing she will keep an eye on my place if I am not home.

Front Porch Photos

Posted on Monday, July 7, 2008 by Michael • No comments yet

Our friend and neighbor Carolyn Bates is a wonderful professional photographer. Recently she started playing with front porches in our Five Sisters neighborhood. What a rich subject… especially because so many of our porches are full of life.

Here are a few samples…