I don't think Flavio (LPC electronic communications chair, aka webmaster) is subscribed to any of these lists to which I posted my message about getting county parties linked on the new state website, so I'm forwarding his reply to my previous message (see below), in which he asks people *not* to send him the links.
Flavio, your tone is civil and I have no cause to take offense, however I must respectfully disagree with wanting to hold off on this. I strongly feel that linking all the active county websites on the state website is an urgent matter! Getting that basic task done ASAP is more important, imho, than getting it done perfectly. We can always go back and make changes and improvements later as we notice things that need fixing, or as county parties decide they want to have pages on the state site rather than maintaining their own independent websites, for those that may decide to go that route.
Right now, visitors to the state website who use the pull-down menus to find information about local Libertarian Party chapters in their area are finding nothing -- unless they happen to live in Ventura County (the only county that appears to have an active link). This is *not* good! People will be getting the impression that the LP has nothing going on where they live, which in many cases will be false. We are undoubtedly losing potential contacts with possible new members and activists as a result.
Personally I can't think of a single matter which should be higher on the Libertarian Party of California's agenda right now than getting this issue fixed, with the possible exception of ending the secrecy of the LPC Executive Committee's email list so that ordinary members can subscribe to that list and see what the ExCom is doing!
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Let me clarify the situation as it currently stands.
There are two pull-down menus on the main page of the state website (www.LPC.org) which list counties (this in itself being an unnecessary duplication which I hope will be fixed soon).
One of those pull-down menus ("Connect") has a tab which lists all 59 California counties. However Ventura is the only county I found in that list which appears to have an active link that actually takes people to the local county party's website.
The other pull-down menu ("Contact") has a tab which lists only four counties, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Clara, and San Bernardino, and none of those links connect to the websites of the LP chapters in those counties.
I don't think we should allow this situation to persist any longer than it takes someone with access to update the state party website to add working links for each county chapter with an active websites! Between compiling the data and entering it, I estimate this task should take someone no longer than three or four hours maximum.
What does everyone else think about this?
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Starchild,
If you are asking our opinion, mine is that having an LPCA website that says "Not found" when you click "Counties" is not a good thing. However, I would let Flavio do things his own way; and maybe follow up every week or so.
Marcy
Marcy,
I actually posted about this problem of the non-working links on the "Freebook Development" group on the state website OVER FOUR MONTHS AGO, and sent multiple emails to Flavio (point person for the website), Beau (the LPC's paid staffer, who has website access), and Kevin (the state chair), and at least one email to all members of the state ExCom, about this issue back in November. Here is part of one of those emails (I've snipped the part about my original message which was pertaining to getting my YouthVote win in the school board race mentioned with other news on the state website, which never was done either to my knowledge):
Beau,
Thanks for getting back to me. Sorry to hear Kevin is having a family emergency, hope it gets resolved favorably. Since you say you are going to be in Florida until December, and give the impression that neither of you are going to be able to do any LPC work until next month, I suggest that in the meantime you delegate the ability to post stuff to others. Ideally we would make it easy for many LPC activists to get the word out about their activities via LPC channels (e.g. press releases, the online calendar, published in the newsletter when we hopefully get that going again, etc.). This would encourage more active participation among our members and help spread our pro-freedom message.
Another matter that URGENTLY needs addressing is the county chapters not being properly linked from the state website. The pull-down menu under "Contact" lists only Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Clara, and San Bernardino, and it's been that way for quite a while. I raised the issue in the Freebook Web Development group (http://ca.lp.org/groups/web-development-group/) two months ago, and in an Oct. 26 email to Flavio, but have heard nothing. There is also another (redundant) pull-down menu under "Connect" which appears to list all or most of the counties, but selecting "San Francisco" from this menu leads not to our website LPSF.org, but to a page which is devoid of content and leads nowhere (http://ca.lp.org/sflp/). I did not even know it was there until recently discovering it, and I don't think anyone in our region does either.
All the other links that I checked under the "Connect" menu go to similarly non-functional pages. This is very bad -- it could be giving casual site visitors the impression that there are no active chapters in regions where we do in fact have active chapters. I urge you to act *immediately* to get this fixed, and if you can't, to delegate the ability to make changes to someone who can get on it ASAP.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help on any of this.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Starchild,
Kevin is focusing on a family emergency.
I've suggested to him that set up Freebook for publishing campaign stories
such as yours, and he liked the idea. However, I'm visiting family in
Florida for the rest of this month, too, and we may not get around to
actually publishing until some time in December, if we can make the blog
workable.
Thanks for your good work, and for your patience.
Beau
<< Starchild>>
<< Kevin & Beau,
<<
<< I have not heard back from either of you on the messages which I sent
<< you on Oct. 25, Oct. 30, and Nov. 7 (see below). It is now November
<< 18. How long is it going to take to get a reply from the chair and
<< lead staffer of my state LP on this? Please respond at your earliest
<< convenience.
<<
<< Love & Liberty,
<< ((( starchild )))
Here is the reply Ed Teyssier of the San Diego LP posted to one of the state lists where I sent my more recent message, and my response. I urge others concerned about the issue to likewise write to the state leadership. If enough of us make it clear we see this as an important issue, maybe the problem will be fixed.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Oh, I see. So LPCA has known about this since November, at least! I see you point in getting after them.
Marcy
--- In lpsf-discuss@...m, Starchild <sfdreamer@...> wrote: