Topic: Moving Lists
Notifying members about moving a list
Q: I'm moving my list from one list service to another, how do I handle informing my groups? Should I find out if they want to continue with us at the new site? Or should I just arbitrarily move and hope they won't unsub? How did others do it?
A: I think it all depends on your group. On a smaller family or friends group, I'd probably discuss it with them, see how they feel, do they want to pay for premium, etc. On a larger topical group, I might run a poll to see what members want to do but I'd probably limit discussion on list, because it can get out of hand and make people think they can start telling the listowner how to run the list. :-) Even if I didn't run a poll, at the very least, I'd make an announcement about a week in advance, telling about the move and a brief explanation of why. And then I'd have a special paragraph in the beginning of the welcome letter at the new list service so they'd be reminded about the list move when I actually did it.
I was on one list a couple years ago back when eGroups was bought by YG and the listowner moved the list literally overnight without telling anyone anything at all, I just got this ordinary welcome message in my inbox, no mention of moving the list, from the new list service. Rather rude I thought and I ended up quitting the list, partly because of that, although there were other factors.
So it all depends on what kind of list you run, is it business like, always on topic? Perhaps run a poll, perhaps just make an announcement in advance, keep it in the same manner as the list. Is the list a bunch of friends or family? Discuss it, let people feel involved and a part of the process. Or something in between...