[Lnc-business] LP.org website transition botched (as predicted)

Tue Oct 25 23:01:10 EDT 2016

Kevin,

He was writing as a member to a busy elected to SERVE members.  That means
sometimes we will hear things we don't want to and have to respond to very
upset complaints.  No matter what anyone says  - high-handed responses are
not appropriate IMHO.

I didn't agree with Chuck's desire to see heads roll.  I said so
respectfully,

Can we start again?

-- 
*In Liberty,*
*Caryn Ann Harlos*
Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
Harlos at LP.org
Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
<http://www.lpcolorado.org/>
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
<http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org/>

On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:

> Caryn,
>
> Chuck opened with whoever made the decision was a MORON and should be
> FIRED.
>
> I think my response was in line.
>
> Regardless, I remain open to seeing links broken. I'm sure some still
> exist. We launched the site this morning. Staff has spent weeks testing the
> site and fixing links and such. I'm all for fixing dead links, but 6 pages
> of complaints without any information is not helpful.
>
> Also, I'm not a member of the LNC. I'm a volunteer only. So I don't really
> owe anyone anything. I've delightfully put in a couple hundred hours so
> far. That's the best I'm willing to do at this point given such a response.
>
> K
>
> On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','carynannharlos at gmail.com');>> wrote:
>
>> Kevin, that was an inappropriate response to concerns of a member IMHO-
>> his concerns are valid and shouldn't be dismissed as "oh you Libertarians,
>> you are a minority - we can safely ignore you."
>>
>> Where are the links to the LNC Business list, the old blog articles, and
>> the past minutes?
>>
>> Can we have the discussion without sarcasm and without putting down
>> Libertarians as inconsequential?
>>
>> --
>> *In Liberty,*
>> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
>> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska,
>> Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
>> Harlos at LP.org
>> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
>> <http://www.lpcolorado.org/>
>> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
>> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org/>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 8:19 PM, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hey Chuck,
>>>
>>> Thanks for the constructive feedback.
>>>
>>> I'll delightfully take credit/responsibility for whatever and all
>>> actions you've written about.  Please pardon Nick, Robert, Wes, and anybody
>>> else in your crosshairs.  I'm sure they'll be relieved to be spared.
>>>
>>> I'm not going to read that entire document you've sent as I've spent the
>>> last 3 weeks trying to fix the party's infrastructure for the website TO go
>>> live.  It was finished two days ago, it was launched last night.  That was
>>> my call.
>>>
>>> What would be useful right now would be if you could point out the
>>> broken links so that we can assign permanent redirects to them.  Any page
>>> content that existed STILL exists.  This has been made clear over and over
>>> again.  It's possible that some page links have not been forwarded, but
>>> I've been monitoring logs on all 4 servers all day and have not seen many
>>> 404s.  The downtime this morning wasn't actually from an outage, but rather
>>> ME under-predicting the load our servers would take.  This is admittedly
>>> because I didn't have any data to go on because -- well -- we've not really
>>> ever kept any before.  I made the best prediction I could; I way
>>> under-estimated.  The servers were scaled up and unless you're seeing
>>> something different, the site has been running fine all day since about
>>> 9:45am CST.  It was running before that just fine too, but the morning
>>> surge in traffic overwhelmed it.
>>>
>>> So anyway, if you'd like to submit broken links, we'd love to set up
>>> additional forwards.  Overall though, I'm pretty happy with the change.
>>> I'm happy we've done it before the election - even if it wound up being
>>> delayed from our proposed launch of September 29th.
>>>
>>> The old site was very, very bad.  I know you're a tech guy all the way.
>>> I know words resonate with you and not colors and images and feelings and
>>> emotions.  But you comprise a very, very, VERY small portion of the
>>> American electorate and the new site was designed to appeal to people who
>>> are visually oriented, not interested in reading walls of text, and might
>>> have the attention span of a few seconds at best (eg: the vast majority of
>>> people).  It was designed for people who might not care about the
>>> Libertarian Party - in hopes that something grabs their attention and they
>>> begin to care.  We don't need to "win over" existing Libertarians -- or at
>>> least one would think, but it's honestly hard to tell these days.
>>> Regardless, it was decided.  It's done.  You can hate it.  But I'd still
>>> love your help in knowing where links are broken instead of mostly ignoring
>>> another wall of text.  That would help ensure that it's in good shape.
>>>
>>> If you'd like to vent further, feel free to call me at 512-773-3968 to
>>> spare the group.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>> Kevin
>>>
>>> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 8:56 PM, Chuck Moulton <chuck at moulton.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> LNC members,
>>>>
>>>> Many of the problems I warned about have in fact come to pass.  It is
>>>> Cassandra's Curse: always right but never believed.
>>>>
>>>> See the exchange from IPR quoted below (in the P.S.) for context and
>>>> institutional memory.  I'll quote and discuss some of the highlights here.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> WARNING #1: TRANSITIONS CAN BE BOTCHED, LEADING TO DOWNTIME — AT THE
>>>> WORST TIME IN THE ELECTION CYCLE FOR SUCH DOWNTIME: THE PRESIDENTIAL
>>>> CAMPAIGN.
>>>>
>>>> This buggy transition was implemented 13 days before the presidential
>>>> election.  That is the 13th worst day in a 4 year cycle to unveil a new a
>>>> new website.  There were/are 1,448 better days to change to a new website
>>>> in a 4 year cycle.
>>>>
>>>> Whatever MORON decided to switch to a new website today instead of
>>>> after the election should be immediately FIRED.  Do not pass go, do not
>>>> collect $200.  FIRED.  I can't imagine a stupider, more incompetent,
>>>> strategically insane decision than pulling the plug on a working website
>>>> and trying out a new, buggy website immediately before a presidential
>>>> election.  It is INSANE.
>>>>
>>>> I like staff, but if Wes Benedict made this idiotic decision, FIRE HIM
>>>> IMMEDIATELY.
>>>>
>>>> I like much of the LNC, but if Nick Sarwark made this idiotic decision,
>>>> SUSPEND HIM FOR CAUSE IMMEDIATELY (I'll gladly recuse myself as a member of
>>>> the Judicial Committee if he appeals).
>>>>
>>>> If Kevin Ludlow made this idiotic decision, RESCIND THE FEBRUARY 2016
>>>> MOTION GIVING LUDLOW UNILATERAL AUTHORITY OVER THE LP'S MOST IMPORTANT
>>>> ASSET IMMEDIATELY.
>>>>
>>>> Everything we were told about a professional transition that does not
>>>> suffer from the pitfalls I highlighted was a lie.
>>>>
>>>> It takes significantly more time for lp.org pages to load than before.
>>>> The site has been down on & off all day long.  For a while people were
>>>> directed to another domain whenever they went to a LP page:
>>>> libparty.zocalodesign.com.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> WARNING #2: A LOT OF CONTENT IS REMOVED. LACK OF THAT CONTENT MAKES IT
>>>> MUCH HARDER TO ENERGIZE PROSPECTS; GET DONATIONS, VOLUNTEERS, AND
>>>> CANDIDATES; AND TRAIN LIBERTARIANS ON BEST PRACTICES.
>>>>
>>>> In fact (as predicted), a lot of content has been removed from lp.org.
>>>>
>>>> For example, as chair of the Judicial Committee I wonder what happened
>>>> to the webpage listing bylaws mandated committee members?
>>>>
>>>> Where is the link to the LP Business list?
>>>>
>>>> Where are the LNC minute archives before 2015?
>>>>
>>>> I could go on and on, but I cover this point more broadly in my next
>>>> unheeded warning.
>>>>
>>>> I was repeatedly assured that content would not be removed, except that
>>>> the front page would be made less cluttered.  That was a lie.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> WARNING #3: BOTH CONTENT REMOVAL AND TRANSITIONS TO A NEW SYSTEM MAY
>>>> LEAD SOME PAGES TO BE REMOVED OR MOVED, BREAKING LINKS TO PARTS OF THE SITE
>>>> FROM ALL AROUND THE INTERNET AND MAKING US LOOK UNPROFESSIONAL WITH 404
>>>> ERRORS.
>>>>
>>>> The number of 404 errors is shocking!  Activists have been out there
>>>> for months / years promoting our website by linking to it -- especially
>>>> during this presidential election.  Most of those links are now broken.
>>>>
>>>> Just try clicking on many of these links:
>>>> https://www.google.com/search?site=&source=hp&q=site%3Alp.or
>>>> g&oq=site%3Alp.org
>>>>
>>>> I've been told the solution is just to report each broken link.  That
>>>> is ridiculous!  It is completely unprofessional for a website transition to
>>>> be reactive instead of proactive -- especially given that broken links
>>>> probably number in the thousands.  We were assured that this would be a
>>>> professional transition, but that was a lie.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> WARNING #4: A NEW SYSTEM REQUIRES RETRAINING STAFF ON PROCESSES — TIME
>>>> THAT COULD HAVE BEEN DEVOTED TO OTHER THINGS.  EVEN AFTER RETRAINING THERE
>>>> WILL BE A LEARNING CURVE… EXTRA TIME FOR WEBSITE RELATED TASKS THAT COULD
>>>> HAVE BEEN DEVOTED TO OTHER THINGS.
>>>>
>>>> In fact (as predicted), staff has mentioned that the website transition
>>>> has taken staff time that could have been devoted to other matters in this
>>>> busy election season.
>>>>
>>>> Wes Benedict wrote:
>>>> http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business_hq.lp.org/2016/006577.html
>>>>
>>>>> I hope we can get those things below implemented early in 2017,
>>>>> however, and get back to LPedia and many other projects, but first
>>>>> we're trying to roll out the new LP.org website.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> WARNING #5: INTERNAL SCRIPTS THAT CURRENTLY AUTOMATICALLY SHOOT DATA TO
>>>> STATE AFFILIATES SUCH AS THE VOLUNTEER FORM, THE WANT TO BE A CANDIDATE
>>>> FORM, THE INFO FORM, ETC. MAY STOP WORKING, WHICH WOULD DEPRIVE STATES OF A
>>>> VALUABLE SOURCE OF LEADS DURING A TRANSITION PERIOD.
>>>>
>>>> Do these all still work?  I don't know.  I can't currently test this as
>>>> I am not a state chair right now.  I hope someone is testing this stuff.
>>>> Based on all of the other monumental errors highlighted above, I certainly
>>>> don't trust whoever oversaw the website transition to have done this
>>>> testing.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> You all made a monumental error when you voted on this website.  Please
>>>> do whatever you can to minimize the damage and triage the website that is
>>>> being butchered before your very eyes.  I hope the lost content can be
>>>> restored and the bugs can be fixed ASAP.  Even if everything is fixed
>>>> within the next week though, the timing is still horrendous.
>>>>
>>>> Chuck Moulton
>>>> Life Member & Monthly Pledger, Libertarian Party
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> P.S. See below for context on this botched website transition and
>>>> eerily accurate prophesies from people with a clue.
>>>>
>>>> Kevin Ludlow wrote:
>>>> http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business_hq.lp.org/2016/004164.html
>>>>
>>>>> 1) Our website is a joke. I mean a real, horrible, laughable, "maybe
>>>>> it's 1996 and the www portion of the internet has just been
>>>>> unleashed" joke. It's got ridiculous internal ads all over it. It's
>>>>> terribly organized. It uses bad images. It has an outdated font, not
>>>>> great font colors, and antiquated font-spacing and sizing. It barely
>>>>> functions on mobile devices. It's full of information it doesn't need
>>>>> to have. It conveys that we're not a serious organization.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Kevin Ludlow wrote:
>>>> http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business_hq.lp.org/2016/004283.html
>>>>
>>>>> We want to do all of these things. So I’m asking you, just stop what
>>>>> you’re doing for 30 seconds, reflect what could happen if we
>>>>> actually tried to accomplish this one little task. What is the WORST
>>>>> that could happen? We fail? We’re in a very slightly worse financial
>>>>> position than we already are? But now consider what is the BEST that
>>>>> could happen? Maybe this tailspin of a cash hole we’re in stops.
>>>>> MAYBE people would see that the LNC is doing something external.
>>>>> MAYBE people would have their morale boosted just a little bit and
>>>>> be more inclined to donate. MAYBE we could use it as a way to
>>>>> leverage requesting donations from people.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Chuck Moulton wrote:
>>>> http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-na
>>>> tional-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1321872
>>>>
>>>>> What’s the worst that can happen? It’s not $20,000 wasted. That is
>>>>> pretty stupid thinking there… accounting rather than economics. The
>>>>> worst that can happen is the site is much worse than before. A lot
>>>>> of content is removed. Lack of that content makes it much harder to
>>>>> energize prospects; get donations, volunteers, and candidates; and
>>>>> train libertarians on best practices. A new system requires
>>>>> retraining staff on processes — time that coupd have been devoted to
>>>>> other things. Even after retraining there will be a learning curve…
>>>>> extra time for website related tasks that could have been devoted to
>>>>> other things. Will conversion of new visitors go up with a new
>>>>> flashy styled website? Maybe, but it could also go down, which is a
>>>>> potential cost. This is especially likely when the focus is on
>>>>> design/style rather than the technical features under the hood. When
>>>>> content is removed it may piss off current donors and activists, who
>>>>> may reduce their donations and activism. Both content removal and
>>>>> transitions to a new system may lead some pages to be removed or
>>>>> moved, breaking links to parts of the site from all around the
>>>>> Internet and making us look unprofessional with 404 errors. New
>>>>> sites often start out with a few bugs and errors which can take a
>>>>> while to track down… the site may look less professional in the
>>>>> interim. Transitions can be botched, leading to downtime — at the
>>>>> worst time in the election cycle for such downtime: the presidential
>>>>> campaign. Internal scripts that currently automatically shoot data to
>>>>> state affiliates such as the volunteer form, the want to be a
>>>>> candidate form, the info form, etc. may stop working, which would
>>>>> deprive states of a valuable source of leads during a transition
>>>>> period. That’s just what I could come up with off the top of my head…
>>>>> there are probably a lot more.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Kevin Ludlow wrote:
>>>> http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-na
>>>> tional-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1321907
>>>>
>>>>> I’ve launched many large scale sites just in the past year and not a
>>>>> single one of those sites had any of the problems you’re referring
>>>>> to. They DID – when they were on our development and testing servers
>>>>> – but not when they went into production. That’s how web launches
>>>>> are done professionally. A thorough maintenance schedule would also
>>>>> be implemented and the website would be designed for minimal
>>>>> maintainability in the first place. …also in accordance with best
>>>>> practices.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Kevin Ludlow wrote:
>>>> http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-na
>>>> tional-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322226
>>>>
>>>>> Furthermore, there is absolutely NO intention to remove Libertarian
>>>>> content from the website. This crowd has an astounding ability to
>>>>> spin half-truths and bake them into something entirely different. I
>>>>> will clarify specifically what is meant by moving them around.
>>>>>
>>>>> The FRONT PAGE of a website (for a non-profit, business, or any
>>>>> other organization) is NOT to leave people with walls of text. It is
>>>>> to create a fast and positive impression and to get a call to
>>>>> action.
>>>>>
>>>>> Having dozens and dozens of options is incredibly poor design,
>>>>> thoroughly proven to be ineffective, and generally an archaic
>>>>> website idea. The current website is not responsive; it does not work
>>>>> well (and not at all in some cases) on mobile and tablet devices.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Chuck Moulton wrote:
>>>> http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-na
>>>> tional-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322257
>>>>
>>>>> Great! Somehow in all your emails to the LNC (I read every LNC
>>>>> business list email) you never mentioned anything about the
>>>>> transition process. All you talk about is design/style.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you can manage a transition process well, that’s wonderful. It
>>>>> certainly hasn’t been done in the past. The transition from FoxPro
>>>>> to Raiser’s Edge was a disaster… it resulted in states not receiving
>>>>> working dumps for a year and a lot of records being screwed up
>>>>> (e.g., deceased coming back to life, etc.). During the website
>>>>> transition a decade ago, the LNC meeting minutes archive and the
>>>>> Success 97 and Success 99 seminars were removed.
>>>>>
>>>>> See the IT Committee discussion and report (pp. 15-16, pp. 51-59):
>>>>> https://www.lp.org/archives/lnc20061111.pdf
>>>>>
>>>>> If there will be no transition hiccups, that’s wonderful news. You
>>>>> still didn’t address all the scripts on the website right now and
>>>>> the technical considerations Shane discussed.
>>>>>
>>>>> I’m concerned about giving management of the transition job who only
>>>>> talks about design/style, wants to remove content (supposedly…
>>>>> though I see you have now clarified that), and never mentions a
>>>>> transition plan to minimize problems.
>>>>>
>>>>> It’s great that you’re finally talking about a transition plan! It’s
>>>>> not my fault it’s the first I’ve heard of it though.
>>>>>
>>>>> There are lots of people in the LP (myself included) who have seen
>>>>> transitions mismanaged and are worried of a repeat of those
>>>>> disasters. We’re not saying the sky is going to fall because of you.
>>>>> We’re saying the sky has fallen in the past, we have documented
>>>>> evidence of this, and you don’t seem as on top of the process as we
>>>>> would hope to prevent similar problems. (You also seem to lack the
>>>>> institutional memory to be aware of these past issues.) That’s a
>>>>> matter of you not communicating your transition plan and experience,
>>>>> not a matter of us being overly pessimistic.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Kevin Ludlow wrote:
>>>> http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-na
>>>> tional-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322261
>>>>
>>>>> I’m sorry you’ve had people half-ass these efforts in the past. I
>>>>> definitely cannot say I’m surprised. I focus on style because to the
>>>>> external world, style IS the most important thing. This in no way
>>>>> means I neglect the engine, but in 20 years of delivering projects,
>>>>> nearly 100% of clients will respond positively to a broken system
>>>>> that looks amazing over a badass functioning system that looks ugly.
>>>>> It’s just psychology. Again, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t all get
>>>>> done.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-na
>>>> tional-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322267
>>>>
>>>>> I’ve found libertarians have a different psychology than much of the
>>>>> world. The tech saavy folks will feel talked down to or ignored if
>>>>> you only talk about style, ignoring tech under the hood. The
>>>>> ideological folks will feel defensive if you malign content. I fall
>>>>> in both categories, as do others on this thread.
>>>>>
>>>>> Just something to keep in mind for the future.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Stewart Flood wrote:
>>>> http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-na
>>>> tional-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322926
>>>>
>>>>> So they’re creating a new website committee and giving it authority
>>>>> to screw everything up without having to go back to the LNC to get
>>>>> approval on which one of their pals they give the money to?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Chuck Moulton wrote:
>>>> http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-na
>>>> tional-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322930
>>>>
>>>>> Yes, they created a new committee with unlimited power over the
>>>>> website. Then they spent the whole time debating an irrelevant
>>>>> $10,000.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Chuck Moulton wrote:
>>>> http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-na
>>>> tional-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322938
>>>>
>>>>> I am hugely concerned about giving any one person carte blanche over
>>>>> the website.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> ========================================================
>>> Kevin Ludlow
>>> 512-773-3968
>>> http://www.kevinludlow.com
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> *In Liberty,*
>> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
>> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska,
>> Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
>> Harlos at LP.org
>> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
>> <http://www.lpcolorado.org>
>> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
>> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> ========================================================
> Kevin Ludlow
> 512-773-3968
> http://www.kevinludlow.com
>
>
>

-- 
*In Liberty,*
*Caryn Ann Harlos*
Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
<http://www.lpcolorado.org>
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
<http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business/attachments/20161025/ded45194/attachment-0002.html>