There’s no such thing as a silly question…

What’s allowed on or not…

Why are posts about housing allowed? I moved here in spring 2002 – an economic migrant from Brighton. I was very aware that the high rents in a town make it hard for creatives to live there (I think we all know that most creatives actually don’t earn even an average salary, even though some earn shed-loads of dosh).
I have always allowed posts about accommodation – in the hope that cutting out letting agents and estate agents helps keep rents (and house prices) low and builds a REAL community where people liaise with each other, not via a business keen to extract huge deposits and cream off managing fees.

That’s why I still allow posts about housing. It’s “my list” and that’s my peccadillo.

Furniture, computer programs, removal companies to courier art or move challenging creative items like printing presses / pianos / plan chests / paint (all the Ps… and more… like books and magazines) are allowed if they are to do with running a creative business. Other stuff can be posted on Hastings Give and Takery or Marketplace or Nextdoor or Freegle. It’s pretty obvious to work out if you really should post something to HC or dispose of it elsewhere.

Campaigns – if there is a creative element to a campaign then it’s allowed.
I can’t remember if the recent exhibition at Stade Hall of artwork and poems by Palestinian children was posted to this list, but it would not have been wrong to do that. When I was a member of the Labour Party I organised an exhibition of art and a poetry night at the Ellen Draper Centre. Posting about that to this list caused antagonism from at least one member, I recall – but it was a creative post. If I’d been posting about a political discussion about Keir Starmer or Jeremy Corbyn, I’d have posted to another email group – unless, possibly, it was a local book launch by a political author – books and publishing are part of the creative industries.

Breathwork and bodywork courses
This is as borderline as it gets… When people post about things like breathing classes and sound baths (and sex programs), I do encourage them to put the purpose of the course into a creative context.
e.g. Gabriel Lewry’s amazing Wednesday lunchtime sound baths (currently at Royal Victoria Hotel, 12.30 sharp) which she doesn’t promote on this list but would be absolutely acceptable to post about. She sings, she creates extraordinary experimental music – it’s like lying down and having the BBC Radiphonic Workshop perform just for you.
Even breath work and yoga (and sex) can be incredibly creative and inspirational practices… but I ask people to emphasise the creative and not be too explicit about the courses they run.

Cookery/gardening… beyond the pale? – there was a relatively recent controversial post (a man who ran a course showing people how to skin and cook a deer). I know this really upset some people and his post was not well worded and was quite explicit. Again, it was borderline as to whether it should have been posted at all, but there was an element of performance in the description of the process. I asked him to be more careful about how to promote his courses if he was to post in the future – he’s basically a forager and I don’t think anyone would have objected to him posting about a foraging course if it had been using local plants and seafood. Cooking and gardening are creative, but so is hair-dressing… like breathwork and bodywork workshops, if you are going to post about cooking, gardening or even hair-dressing, please make sure there is a high level of creativity, not just ‘common or garden’ gardening/cooking/hair-dressing. Creative make-up for film / theatre is, for example, absolutely on topic.