HVNA Listserv and Bulletin Board Moderation Guidelines

Hope Valley Neighborhood Association

Last updated August 2026

Purpose

The HVNA Listserv and Bulletin Board help neighbors share official HVNA business, time-sensitive announcements, public-safety information, lost and found pets, community events, recommendations, local resources, and other information relevant to Hope Valley residents.

The Listserv is intended primarily for official, urgent, and time-sensitive information. The Bulletin Board is intended for broader neighbor-to-neighbor conversation. These are posting guidelines, not strict distribution boundaries. A relevant message will not be declined solely because it was submitted to the less-preferred channel.

These guidelines govern review of submitted messages. Eligibility to join either email group and the process for verifying residency are described separately in the group information on the HVNA website.

What We Welcome

  • Official HVNA announcements and business
  • Timely questions about neighborhood activity or events
  • First-hand crime and public-safety information
  • Lost and found pets or property
  • Community events and volunteer opportunities
  • Requests for recommendations and genuine recommendations from neighbors
  • Occasional personal for-sale, wanted, or giveaway posts from residents
  • Local resources and other matters relevant to the shared interests of HVNA residents

Moderation Discretion

All posts are subject to review before distribution. Being a member of an email group does not guarantee distribution of every submission. The HVNA Board and its designated moderators retain discretion to approve, hold, or decline messages and to close threads consistent with the purposes of the Listserv and Bulletin Board.

A decision to decline a message or close a thread is not an endorsement or rejection of any participant's point of view. It is a decision about whether distributing that contribution would keep the channel useful and constructive for the neighborhood.

What We May Decline

Moderators may decline or discontinue messages that:

  • Air a personal dispute, accusation, or grievance involving identifiable neighbors
  • Contain profanity, obscenity, slurs, or obvious censored or obfuscated profanity
  • Contain harassment, threats, abuse, insults, personal characterizations, or dismissive personal jabs
  • Repeat a point without adding material information, particularly after a thread has become contentious
  • Risk escalating an adversarial exchange or continue a thread after a moderator has closed it
  • Contain vendor advertising or commercial solicitation, including a vendor posing as a neighbor or posting through changing aliases
  • Contain political campaigning or fundraising unrelated to HVNA business, except as separately permitted by the Board
  • Are defamatory or discriminatory, invade privacy, violate another person's rights, or violate applicable law
  • Are unrelated to the shared interests of HVNA residents, deceptive, or spam

Recommendations and Commercial Posts

A neighbor may ask for a plumber, contractor, sitter, doctor, school, or other recommendation on either channel. A neighbor may also provide a genuine recommendation based on personal experience.

A request for a recommendation is different from a vendor advertisement. Moderators may decline direct or disguised solicitations, repeated sales pitches, fabricated neighbor endorsements, coupons or group-rate offers, or posts associated with a recurring commercial fingerprint such as the same company, phone number, link, template, or offer appearing under different names.

An occasional personal for-sale, wanted, or giveaway post from a resident is allowed. Repeated inventory, business promotions, lead generation, and posts made on behalf of a vendor are commercial solicitations rather than neighbor-to-neighbor posts.

Threads and Material Updates

A reply is not automatically inappropriate. Moderators consider what the reply contributes and the state of the conversation.

  • An opening question or incident report may be distributed when relevant.
  • A factual answer, correction, resolution, or material update may be distributed.
  • Repetition, score-settling, personal commentary, and pile-on replies may be declined.
  • Once a thread becomes adversarial, moderators may close it to further posts from every participant.
  • A moderator closure or concise official summary may be distributed to end a thread.

Public-Safety Posts

For an active emergency, contact 911 or the appropriate authority first. The Listserv and Bulletin Board are channels for community awareness, not substitutes for emergency response or venues for resolving disputes.

Safety reports should state first-hand facts: what happened, where, when, and any official case number. Avoid speculation about responsibility, commentary about a person's character, or efforts to shame a specific neighbor.

A concise first-hand incident report may be distributed even when it concerns a neighbor. Subsequent messages should add new safety information, a correction, or a resolution. Accusations, rebuttals, histories of a personal conflict, and commentary about the people involved may be declined.

Allowed example:

At 7:30 PM, a large tree limb was blocking Oak Lane near the entrance. The city was notified under service request #12345.

Not allowed example:

This is what happens when careless homeowners refuse to maintain their trees.

Each contribution is evaluated on whether it adds useful safety information, not merely on whether earlier messages about the incident were distributed.

Where to Report Safety Concerns

  • Emergency: 911
  • Durham Police non-emergency line: 919-560-4600
  • The HVNA Listserv, for community awareness rather than incident resolution

Questions or Appeals

Questions about a moderation decision may be submitted through the HVNA contact page. The Board will consider feedback and retains final discretion over content distributed through official HVNA channels.