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Archiver > BOARD > 2008-10 > 1225211492


From: "Mike St. Clair/ST" <>
Subject: Re: [BOARD] Motion 2008/09-04: 'Webmaster Qualifications'
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:31:32 -0600
References: <E10E7015F5BA442CB2DF3CAEAAAB60F0@TinaSVickeryPC><015001c938fb$51030930$7301a8c0@scott>
In-Reply-To: <015001c938fb$51030930$7301a8c0@scott>


I'll take a stab at answering. Maybe some other WSG members will have
another take or will have more to add. See my comments below.

Mike St. Clair

Scott Burow wrote:
> Questions from constituents organized into Sections:
>
> Section 1: Why is it necessary to add an AB member to act as liaison
> between the Board/NC and the Webmaster?
>

Since it is the AB's responsibility to oversee the webmaster, and not
solely the NC's responsibility, we felt a liaison should be assigned to
help us take care of that and to ensure that the webmaster had the
support of the AB. This is somewhat similar to the assigned liaison
from the AB to the Election Committee. We also recognized that the NC,
as our operational executive, often had reason to work with the
webmaster in the performance of their own duties. We felt this
additional support to the webmaster would be useful to both the
webmaster and the AB.

> Section 2: Php and database? Why are these even considered helpful if we
> do not use them?
>

Even though we don't currently use PHP or databases on the national
website, a significant portion of websites do now use one or both
because they make doing the job easier, many times reducing the amount
of code to be written, or simplifying the code required to accomplish a
desired objective, reducing maintenance effort, and preventing errors.
If you explore the project, you will find these facilities are
increasingly being used within USGENWEB. I'm pretty sure we would
already be using one or both if we had not been on Rootsweb until
recently, which does not offer the option. If a webmaster does have
those skills, we will have the option to consider them if they will make
the job for effective and efficient.
> Section 4: Doesn't (a) conflict with (b) and (c). If the responsibilities
> of the NC include providing the codes for access under (a), how would it
> occur that they don't have access under (b) and (c)? If you're talking
> different sets of codes (ftp v. control panel) it should be so designated
> for clarity.
>

I don't see any conflict at all. The whole of 4 says that the NC or
designated person, if the AB appoints one, would provide access codes to
the webmaster/assistant, and/or provide access to error logs and the
support organization if some sorts of direct access are not currently
available directly to the webmaster/assistant. We were recognizing some
of the current constraints in place to protect financial information and
because of the shared hosting account environment we are using where the
national website and other websites are running on the same account. We
were also anticipating that perhaps those constraints wouldn't always be
with us, and therefore the webmaster could directly perform some of
these functions rather than force them to be upon the NC or another
designated individual.

With regard to getting even more specific, we've heard from some folks
(including you) that we were already getting more detailed than they
would prefer. We were trying to be as specific as required to address
areas that have been areas of disagreement in the past few months, while
not so specific that changes would be constantly required.

> Scott
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tina S. Vickery" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 8:01 PM
> Subject: [BOARD] Motion 2008/09-04: 'Webmaster Qualifications'
>
>
>
>> Motion 2008/09-04: 'Webmaster Qualifications'
>>
>> Presented by Sherri Bradley and seconded by Ann Allen Geoghegan,
>> 'Webmaster Qualifications' dated October 27, 2008, is numbered
>> Motion 2008/09-04.
>>
>> Motion reads:
>>
>> I move that the following webmaster qualifications and duties proposed by
>> the Webmaster Study Group be approved and added to the Standard Rules of
>> the
>> USGenWeb Project.
>>
>> Sherri [Bradley]
>>
>> -----

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