pitfalls of email communication

Substitute snail mail for email. Same complaints? I'll guess Yes.

If so, it doesn't seem the mode of communication is your issue; rather, sounds like content and courtesy (or lack thereof) is.

I think your idea of having a common email address, and not publishing individual addresses is unique and useful.-Tom

If you asked an officer of the corporation about an issue, I think it is appropriate that she CC the other officers, in case they'd like to pipe in.

But really, all this should be at a meeting. She should have told you to come to a meeting and present your concerns or write a letter so the entire board could respond.

About the other residents: perhaps they were on a committee that deals with your concern.

Again, conducting any board business over email should be of concern,here.

Thomas:

If your documents state a specific manner in which your notifications must be sent, and email is not one of those, and that is the only way notification is sent (email) then they are in conflict and could be in for some problems.

Boards, as a rule, cannot force members to own, use, and maintain an email account.

Regarding the rest of your problem, there are no hard and fast email protocols, so if you write me an email, and I reply and cc everyone on my email list, whether you know them or not, there's really not much you can do about it.

It's a stupid thing to do, but I'm sure she/he has some reason for doing it.

Perhaps it was an accident.

Perhaps her bulk mail list is out of date.

Perhaps she is in C.Y.A. overkill.

Who knows? But there really isn't an HOA rule or otherwise preventing her from doing it.

And even in this day and age there should be minimal expectation of privacy in using email. First of all, do you have any clue how many computers your email passes through on the way to its destination? It's sort of like a post card, for the most part.

At any rate, it would be in everyone's best interest to refrain from using email for confidential or critical information that one doesn't want shared with the universe.

Follow two simple rules whenever writing ANY e-mails

1. Write them with the knowledge that anyone, anywhere, may someday read what you wrote.

2. You can't trust anyone not to forward what you wrote.

I have a very dear friend who is also a fellow board member. On past occassions she's answered my "all board members" e-mail information with her opinion back to simply me. I've (mistakenly) written back to her with a reply such as, "Gretal, please let your opinion known to ALL board members since Dumb Dorah and Stupid Stacy will not know how you feel." (Just an example of course.) Then Gretal has taken MY e-mail and replied ON TOP of it, so everyone knows what I wrote about them.

Trust me.......I've learned from MY stupid mistakes.

Several people seem to be indicating that perhaps email is entirely the wrong venue for discussions better handled at meetings. Which is enlightening. And everyone else seems to agree that one should just about always assume an email may not remain private! -Tom

At our annual meeting in January we put the "Use of HOA E-mail List" on the agenda, after two instances, one where someone wanted to use the list for his annual charity fundraiser, and the other where a local school had the kids annual fundraiser on-line for the first time and e-mail addresses in the hood were given out without permission. The association voted unanimously to prohibit the association e-mail list from being used for anything but association and neighborhood business. Finally, if anyone did not want to provide an e-mail address they only need to let us know and we would provide the hard copies, as we do already with a few of the elders in the neighborhood who do not use e-mail. If your neighborhood is too large to deliver in person than the U.S.P.S. is what you use.

All Board Officers and committee members addresses are available to all homeowners. Our homeowners are encouraged to contact any Board member whenever they want about any concern they have. E-mail is no different than home numbers or home addresses. I can't imagine a Board member prohibiting the e-mail address as if it is some different sort of contact information than the traditional street address and phone number.

Any e-mail that warrants Board discussion is shared with the officers only. If the homeowner does not wish this to be, it would be incumbent on that homeowner to have a good reason to keep it from the rest of the Board. It would then be incumbent on the Board officer to determine whether that is possible or not, and to make sure the homeowner understands protocol. Any information in the e-mail that is determined to need dissemination to the association is done in a formal communicant from the Board, and not as a cc:, or forward. Any problems with which the Board is dealing are kept confidential. If it is a problem concerning the whole association hard copies of the issue are distributed, along with or without an e-mail notification. Ultimately, all immediate or potentially problematic issues that cannot be solved through reasonable discourse among the parties involved, are addressed via meetings, in whatever appropriate forum the issue requires, HOA meeting, special meeting or meeting with the Board.

E-mail is a handy way to keep people informed but not a substitute for actual face-to-face conversation when addressing any issues or problems. When confidentiality is an issue it is best to talk to those involved in person. Good rule of thumb: never e-mail anything you don't mind anyone else knowing.

Dorothy

11 year old thread, MartyS5.

My God do threads actually last this many years? How old is this?

The forum software used on this site isn't the greatest. Besides leaving threads open forever, once a post is made it can't be deleted or edited either.