Chat Usage Guidelines
​(and how to manage email preferences) 

​Process & Communication Team
​Revised 02/02/24

Background
In addition to the timely and efficient distribution of important Heartwood business and communications matters, we believe there is value in allowing the online email "chat" to be a forum where community members can share what is important to them personally, including diverse opinions.


Chat Access

• Open only to Heartwood residents, meaning home owners and renters under lease that are currently living in/occupying one of the 24 units in the community and who are either in the process of becoming a member or who have already completed the membership process. 
• Homeowners that are renting their homes but not currently living on the property.
• Landlords will have the option of offering their short-term renters (less than three months or those that have no interest in long-term rental or ownership) chat access, after providing them with the relative pros and cons of chat participation.
• Landlords will have the option to provide chat access to those renters that are in the process of becoming members, including those in residence for more than three months, as governed by the membership policy that is currently in effect.
• At P&C's discretion:
  • Former residents may remain on the CONNECT chat for a period of 1 year as long as chat protocol guidelines are followed.
  • A former member can be removed at any time for any reason.
  

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Two Chats
HW-BIZ: The place to post Community-specific and time-sensitive information and announcements regarding HW business, decisions, budgets, team activities, meeting agendas and minutes, meals, work parties, celebrations, facilities maintenance, urgent rides needed, etc.

HW-CONNECT: The place to post non-urgent requests for rides, food ingredients, tools, help with projects, etc.; outside information about non-HW meetings; invitations to engage around or have further discussions about religious, political, and cultural issues, as well as interests, hobbies, etc.; and sharing jokes, poems, pictures, articles, etc.; and generally, topics that might be of interest to some but not all of the community.


Chat Guidelines
To help streamline HW email communications, please plan to utilize the following chat guidelines for effective and gracious electronic communications, particularly when you have an emotional charge and/or are responding to a perceived, emotionally charged email:

​SENDING:

• Is your email a HW business-related issue (HW-BIZ) or a non-essential (HW-CONNECT) one?
• Should this be a face-to-face conversation? Is ‘chat’ the right forum for this conversation or topic?
• Plan to follow our Interpersonal Agreements when creating emails.
• Don’t react: queue first drafts (or write a second draft), review and review again before you send. 
• Subject lines matter: Include all pertinent information in the subject line (who, what, when, where, why, how) so that the recipient can get a good idea about what the email is about without having to open it.
• If you request a response that does not require community input, ask responders to email or “ping” you privately via email, text or phone.

RESPONDING:

• Avoid clogging the chats with general acknowledgements, kudos or “thank you’s.” If you choose to reply with a “thanks!,” please put your note in the subject line (so others don’t have to open each email). If two to three “thank you’s” have been posted to the chat, please consider reaching out to the sender privately, so as to not clutter the chat. 
• Whenever possible, unless you are providing additional information of perceived value to the community, it’s best to respond to the sender privately.
• Plan to follow our Interpersonal Agreements when responding to emails.
• If you are particularly moved by an email, express it privately in person, phone or private email—the sender will really appreciate it.
• Before you respond and before you “Respond All” — is this an HW-BIZ email or a HW-CONNECT email?
• When appropriate, quote from the original email for clarity.
• Proper punctuation and using paragraphs to separate your thoughts are friendly communications protocol and increase readability and comprehension.
• Try to avoid the use of ALL CAPS.

Most importantly, we see chat as a tool to support community life rather than our default mode of communication. We value live, face-to-face communication as the primary way we connect with one another. Above all, in every form of communication with one another we strive to abide by our Interpersonal Agreements.

Several of our Interpersonal Agreements are especially relevant to how we communicate on the chat:

• To Resolve Conflicts Constructively: I agree to take problems and complaints to the person(s) with whom I can resolve them, at the earliest opportunity. I agree not to criticize or complain to someone who cannot do something about my complaint, and I will redirect others to do the same. I will not say behind someone’s back what I am not willing to say to their face.
• To Be Aware of Conflict: I agree to look for the unresolved issues within me that create a disproportionate adverse reaction to another’s behavior.
• To Own My Feelings: I agree to take responsibility for my feelings and how I react to the words and actions of others. And I agree to express those feelings in a spirit of openness and compassion.

How to Manage your Email Preferences
 Four different email delivery options are available. Select the one you’d prefer for each chat, which can be changed at any time. These are:

• All Email: Send me an email for every new message – Receive an email for every post.
• Daily Digest: Send daily summaries to my inbox – Receive one summary email of new activity per day.
• Abridged Email: Send combined updates to my inbox – Receive one email for every 25 new messages.
• No Email: Don't send email updates to my inbox – Do not receive email for group posts. Participate in this group through only the web interface (reading and responding to chats online only).

 

How to Manage your Chat Subscription Delivery Settings
Members can change their subscription delivery setting themselves for any chat they are currently subscribed to:

1. Visit the homepage for Google Groups. Navigate to groups.google.com – make sure you are signed in under the same email address you are subscribed to the Heartwood chats under.
2. It should bring you directly to the My Groups page. If it does not, click the My Groups option on the left side of the page.
3. On the My Groups page you will see a list of all the various chats you are subscribed to. You will also see the date you subscribed to that chat and your subscription delivery setting. To change your subscription delivery setting, just use the pull-down menu under Subscription and select your choice.

NOTE:  You can also unsubscribe yourself from any chat on this page. To the right of the Subscription pull-down menu are four icons. Hover over each one and select the one that says 'leave group'. This will allow you to unsubscribe from any chat.