Alex, being his usual sensible self, has suggested that we should make more of the articles on our site public, for everyone to see. Because as it is at the moment, and random surfer happening upon us will get the impression we’re a theoretical and mostly inactive group. Which can’t be good for attracting new members.
Do you agree with this and if so, what articles do you think could be public?
I think the upcoming events should definitely be private, but I don’t see why reports on things that have already happened should be. And some of our conversations could be interesting to the public as well.
What do you think?
Yes, I think we probably ought to make a few more articles public. Reports seem like a good idea, as you say. Conversations is more of a tricky topic: depends on what people are talking about. I think that one should be up to the person who starts the topic. Is there any way that the site could give a visual indication that the topic is public, so it is obvious to people when they add comments?
Comment by Daniel — 30/8/2005 @ 6:41 pm
The software won’t let me edit my own comment now!
I should have said, I know it shows the lock symbol for private, but somehow that isn’t really ‘in your face’ and it needs to be if it is to be useful. I’d prefer a symbol for public anyway, since private seems to be the default.
Comment by Daniel — 30/8/2005 @ 6:43 pm
I think it would be a really good idea - as long as the events and contacts sections stay private since they contain phone numbers and addresses. It would be helpful for me to direct people who are enquiring about the Grove at this website, as well as sending them meeting details as it may tempt them to dip their toe in the water. I haven’t tended to do so since there wasn’t much to look at if you weren’t logged in. It may be a good idea to write some general blurb specifically about the Grove for that purpose too.
Comment by Lorraine — 30/8/2005 @ 7:50 pm
So shall I go around ‘unlocking’ some things, then?
I’ll talk to Alex about a symbol for public articles. He’ll know if Wordpress can do that.
Comment by hilde — 31/8/2005 @ 7:52 am
I think some more public stuff sounds a good idea - though I have noticed that if I type in a word on google, and it happens to be one on our website, it takes you to the page anyway. Eg I typed in ‘Ankerwyke yew’ at one point, and the bit of Raven which mentions our visit came up as one of the entries. I went to it out of interest, to see how far I could get, and it let me look at that page though not move about. In theory I suppose anyone could do that for any page, private or not? I don’t really know enough about how it all works.
Comment by francesca — 31/8/2005 @ 11:48 am
Now, Francesca, that slightly worries me. I’ll put that to the technical support person as well!
It doesn’t come up when I Google for it.
Comment by hilde — 31/8/2005 @ 12:32 pm
Yes, Hilde, you’re welcome to go ahead and unlock my reports and conversations articles.
Comment by Daniel — 31/8/2005 @ 7:18 pm
I think we need to be careful not to give away personal details of other members in any public posts.
Comment by Daniel — 31/8/2005 @ 7:21 pm
And having looked through all the Reports, I think we probably shouldn’t publish the “Minutes of the London Grove General Meeting” as public.
Comment by Daniel — 31/8/2005 @ 7:24 pm
Blast, this not allowing me to edit comments. I keep thinking of odd points to make and can’t go back.
Anyway, 4th point is that this article itself shouldn’t be made public, which is, I suppose, an example of the kind of conversation that wouldn’t normally be public I mentioned before.
Comment by Daniel — 31/8/2005 @ 7:25 pm
Right. Let me summarise: reports of things that we have done can generally be public, unless they are about ‘internal business’ or disclose personal details. Conversations can be public at the discretion of the person starting the conversation. You can set an article as ‘public’ by typing ‘vl=0′ anywhere in the article.
We could have a little Awen symbol or something on the right hand side of the title area to show that an article is public. As long as we all know what it means, that should do the trick, right?
Now where do I find a good Awen?
Comment by hilde — 31/8/2005 @ 7:49 pm
Is everyone OK with photos being visible on public articles? I don’t mind, but thought I should bring the subject up. There are only two reports as far as I can remember that have group pictures - the Physic Garden and Ankerwyke Yew.
There is an Awen emoticon on the OBOD messageboard and I’ve asked one of the admins if it’s OK to copy it because it’s probably the right size, or close.
Comment by Lorraine — 31/8/2005 @ 11:03 pm
Hilde I just tried to replicate what I did before re typing in ‘Ankerwyke yew’ to see what would happen, and this time our website page didn’t come up! It definitely has a few times before, but not this time. Odd!
I’m fine about photos by the way, as long as we just keep our contact details private.
Comment by francesca — 1/9/2005 @ 11:49 am
*Important Note:* In order to make a post public, you now have to type “vl=*”. The old formula now only allows you to see posts if you’ve registered on the site (which anyone can do).
Comment by site admin — 1/9/2005 @ 3:22 pm