[Lnc-business] LP.org website transition botched (as predicted)
Ken Moellman
ken.moellman at lpky.org
Wed Oct 26 02:05:53 EDT 2016
I just asked my 19 year old son, who is about to graduate from college
with a Bachelors in CS with a focus on programming, and he says the
website looks good. He recommends that the borders between sections on
the page content be reduced. Example:
https://www.lp.org/the-libertarian-party/ [20] the spacing between each
item in the content pane could be reduced, and thus reduce the need for
scrolling. We were viewing with Chrome. It otherwise appears to be
"Mission Accomplished" for the layout.
And my (to myself) complaint about speed will get addressed by working
on the cache.
---
Ken C. Moellman, Jr.
LNC Region 3 Alternate Representative
LPKY Judicial Committee
On 2016-10-26 01:38, Kevin Ludlow wrote:
> Thank you, Ken.
>
> I am personally working to ensure the site is being properly cached, has all of the most efficient distribution mechanisms in place that we can reasonably have, and is otherwise optimized.
>
> And yes, information about any specific bugs / dead links / etc. would be very welcome.
>
> ~k
>
> On Wed, Oct 26, 2016 at 12:12 AM, Ken Moellman <ken.moellman at lpky.org> wrote:
>
> All - Please let Mr. Ludlow, a volunteer, complete the immediate tasks at hand. In the mean time, make a list of what needs improved and prepare to submit that list to the IT Committee. All bylaws-required items will be fixed, obviously. It might not happen until sometime soon after November 9th, but it will get done.
>
> Mr. Ludlow - Please focus on the technical aspects and get the site running as smoothly as possible.
>
> Chairman Sarwark - I respectfully ask that you direct staff to focus on correcting any missing content or links related to the election on November 8th. IMO that should be the party's focus until the polls close. We can fix everything else starting on November 9th.
>
> ---
> Ken C. Moellman, Jr.
> LNC Region 3 Alternate Representative
> LPKY Judicial Committee
>
> On 2016-10-26 00:52, Kevin Ludlow wrote:
>
> Great, now I've got to buy off the judicial committee. Sigh*
>
> It was mostly a joke. I know this is your bag, but I'm a thousand miles from caring about the bylaws this moment. I'm working on practical solutions to anything missing. I understand you're going to tout that position. I'm frustrated only because an hour ago we came to what I thought was a peaceful conclusion. Now I'm told it's a bylaws violation. There's no penalty of being in violation of the bylaws, so best I can tell the trajectory I'm on remains the same.
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 11:48 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
> Kevin, I do not believe that is a credible, reasonable or member rights' honouring interpretation of the Bylaws.
>
> --
>
> 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 [1]
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [2]
>
> On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hah. Well to be fair it just says they have to be in a permanent archive on the website. That is still technically the case. It doesn't actually stipulate they have to be publicly visible, just archived. Just sayin..
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 11:36 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Kevin, the Party, and the LNC if it does not act (and I consider securing a promise that this will be fixed in a matter of days an "act") is in violation of the Bylaws. My duty is to protect the membes' rights under the Bylaws. I had to make it publicly known that I see the Bylaws violation and am committed to making sure it gets fixed. That is my duty as representative of the members in my Region.
>
> There is nothing that can be done now, but a website should not have gone live that is in violation of our Bylaws.
>
> --
>
> 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 [1]
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [2]
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 10:27 PM, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Again, duly noted.
>
> I'm not sure *who* is in violation of the bylaws, but I can't give you them any faster than we're going. Obviously as the one handling these issues, I will take full responsibility for it. And since I'm not sure what it means for me to be in violation of the bylaws.
>
> ...and I'm not even trying to be smug, but really, what can I possibly do right this second that knowing that is going to change?
>
> ~k
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 11:23 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Everyone, I will chill out a few days as promised, but I want to get on the record that not having the LNC minutes and link to the LNC Business List on the website when it went live is a clear Bylaws violation. I am uninterested in whether or not a marketing firm thinks that is "autustic" or not. I look forward to this being put to head of the pile to correct. Whether or not anyone else thinks this should be a priority, our Bylaws say otherwise. The site should not have went live without this.
>
> *
>
> The Secretary or a designee shall promptly post notice for each session of the National Committee; any National Committee proposed agendas; and approved minutes of each Convention and open National Committee session to a permanent archive section on the Party's website. Any person may record the National Committee's proceedings while in open session, or subscribe to a read-only email list on which LNC votes are recorded.
>
> --
>
> 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 [1]
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [2]
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 10:05 PM, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks, Ken, for the constructive position.
>
> As noted, I would really like to get actual problems with the site organized so that they can be tackled. Staff has been working on testing; I have been building the infrastructure.
>
> It is very useful to be informed of visible problems so that we can address them so any effort you're willing to make in that regard is highly appreciated.
>
> ~k
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 10:59 PM, Ken Moellman <ken.moellman at lpky.org> wrote:
>
> I've been involved in lots of various projects throughout my IT career. This website project seems to fit the stereotypical IT project.
>
> I personally don't like the layout of the website, but I'm a grumpy "old" man who still likes 2006-era website layouts with drop-down menus and whatnot. The design we need, however, is one targeted at millenials. We know this because of the Johnson campaign's polling. That's the future of this party. I believe that this website accomplishes that task. I'd be interested to see how it looks on a mobile (I'm also still using a Blackberry. Don't ask.)
>
> Kevin - Thank you for continuing onward with this project, even though you are no longer on the LNC. As one who's been embroiled in volunteer projects that have run over time and over budget, I know how much of a PITA it is to put the time in and also take the inevitable hits. I'm sure you're all too aware, as well. But I wanted to make sure you knew that at least I knew and recognized what's up.
>
> Chuck, and others with concerns - Let's make a list of the "what's wrong", try to prioritize that list based on importance and easy of resolution, and try to work through them. Any website changeover will take time to fix. I know there are some "broken links" where people externally linked things like LP.org/join ... I have a cool graphic from The Advocates that we used on LPKY.org that has the same problem. These can ad should be resolved.
>
> As the new IT committee is formed, I'm sure we'll be tasked with assessing these issues and implementing fixes. I ask that everyone please be patient. We have 2 weeks until the election is over. If there's anything election-related that's not working, then we definitely need to address that immediately. Otherwise, let's get through Nov 8th and then we can push forward with this and other projects.
>
> ---
> Ken C. Moellman, Jr.
> LNC Region 3 Alternate Representative
> LPKY Judicial Committee
>
> On 2016-10-25 23:38, Caryn Ann Harlos wrote:
>
> Thank you Kevin. I will cool my jets on that issue for a few days and check back in.
>
> --
>
> 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 [1]
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [2]
>
> On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> No problem, Caryn.
>
> I wouldn't even think days. I would think A day. Staff was tasked with taking each page from the old Drupal system and importing it into the new one. As far as I know ALL pages were copied over. They were copied into 1 of 6 (or so) different page templates that were created to serve different formats of data. So I'm certain we have everything. Even if it hadn't been copied over, we still have it and it would just need TO BE copied over, but I don't believe this is the case. I believe in those cases the links structure may have changed. We have been updating these so that all incoming links to the old structure point to the appropriate new structure and send out PERMANENT REDIRECT notifications to Google and such (so things are updated).
>
> ~k
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 10:28 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thank you Kevin.
>
> That is why I was asking staff about them. If we are talking a matter of days for that content - that is reasonable. If moreso, not so much.
>
> --
>
> 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 [1]
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [2]
>
> On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Caryn,
>
> I genuinely am not trying to avoid those issues. I know content is there. What I'm trying to convey is that from my point of view, if those documents are "opaque" for another 12 hours, I'm okay with that. I realize you might not be, but this goes back to my volunteering work. I have to prioritize work that I am personally responsible for.
>
> So I will happily weigh in with staff and get links to them. I can even check the admin pages and see what the current URL is provided they have been copied and not linked.
>
> But I really need to know if anything is actually not functioning. This is what my current workload is.
>
> I apologize if any of that sounds dismissive. It's not my intent, but I can't do specific projects for you and/or Chuck or the LNC or whomever else right now as I need to make sure the site is fully functional. If/when it IS fully functional (which it very well may already be), then we can address any missing pieces.
>
> ~k
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 10:15 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thank you Kevin for all your work.
>
> I can't though not desire answers on the minutes archives and LNC business list not being there. That is essential for members and cannot be optional.
>
> Can staff answer when those can be restored? This is an acceptable situation of opacity.
>
> --
>
> 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 [1]
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [2]
>
> On Tuesday, October 25, 2016, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Caryn,
>
> I've always gotten along with you just fine as you're very reasonable.
>
> In this case, I respectfully disagree that it's useful to deliver a 6-page rant citing the "I told you so" lines when the decision has been done, executed, and is live. Further, I have been in this business for 20 years now. We had roughly 2.5 hours of outages this morning between roughly 7:45AM and 9:15AM EST. This was only because of the unknown. Staff has spent a lot of time testing this software. It was rolled over twice already and rolled back just to ensure we COULD roll it back if there was a major problem. The point being that we transitioned an entire infrastructure from 6 services to ONE, the monthly cost savings should be about $500 once everything is in place, and best I can tell nothing is broken - there are just complaints that some things are missing (which they're definitely not, but I'll concede that perhaps staff hasn't finished adding links - I honestly don't know right now).
>
> There are no major problems that anyone has reported save for the overloading this morning. The page content was always intended to / has been / and IS preserved. If a link isn't immediately visible, then staff can correct that if appropriate.
>
> IF there are broken links, namely as a URL may have changed and needs to be forwarded now, I would really, genuinely like to know so I can fix those problems. I offered that to Chuck. I offered it to you.
>
> That said, we can start however necessary. I have ostensibly worked on this for 3.5 straight weeks. That is not because of the website itself, but rather the years of garbaged up infrastructure. We would have rolled the site out 6 weeks ago if not for all of that. My point being that I've been voluntarily taking on FAR more work than was entailed in the website redesign itself because our infrastructure couldn't handle the modern codebase (it is roughly 8 years out of spec).
>
> I would ask that you leave whatever issues you have with content alone for the time being. I'm not saying they won't be addressed, I'm saying that it's not a primary concern. The primary concern is ensuring that the site is running so it can serve up any content. IF there is a problem with something not loading, we need to know that.
>
> Staff has copied over existing pages and so nothing is lost or destroyed or anything of this sort.
>
> I need to convey though, that I am not on the clock for the people on this thread. I have been, and am continuing to volunteer a tremendous amount of time to ensure this is completed smoothly. I am happy to try and fix things that are broken. I'm very uninterested in listening to Mr. Molton rant on about his discontent with the structure. It's done. That ship sailed in February.
>
> So that's where I'm at. By all means, please inform me of broken pieces so we can look at and correct anything ASAP.
>
> ~k
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 10:01 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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 [1]
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [2]
>
> 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> 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 [1]
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [2]
>
> 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 [3] 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 [4] 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 [5].
>
> 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 [4].
>
> 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.org&oq=site%3Alp.org [6]
>
> 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 [7]
> 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 [8]
> 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 [9]
> 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-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1321872 [10]
>
> 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-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1321907 [11]
> 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-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322226 [12]
> 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-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322257 [13]
> 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 [14]
>
> 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-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322261 [15]
> 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-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322267 [16]
> 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-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322926 [17]
> 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-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322930 [18]
> 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-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322938 [19]
> I am hugely concerned about giving any one person carte blanche over
> the website.
--
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968 [3]
http://www.kevinludlow.com [21]
--
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 [22]
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [23]
--
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968 [3]
http://www.kevinludlow.com [21]
--
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 [22]
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [23]
--
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968 [3]
http://www.kevinludlow.com [21]
--
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 [22]
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [23]
--
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968 [3]
http://www.kevinludlow.com [21]
--
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 [22]
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [23]
--
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968 [3]
http://www.kevinludlow.com [21]
--
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 [22]
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [23]
_______________________________________________
Lnc-business mailing list
Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org [24]
--
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968 [3]
http://www.kevinludlow.com [21]
_______________________________________________
Lnc-business mailing list
Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org [24]
--
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 [22]
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [23]
_______________________________________________
Lnc-business mailing list
Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org [24]
--
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968 [3]
http://www.kevinludlow.com [21]
_______________________________________________
Lnc-business mailing list
Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org [24]
--
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 [22]
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [23]
_______________________________________________
Lnc-business mailing list
Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org [24]
--
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968 [3]
http://www.kevinludlow.com [21]
--
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 [22]
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus [23]
_______________________________________________
Lnc-business mailing list
Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org [24]
--
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968 [3]
http://www.kevinludlow.com [21]
_______________________________________________
Lnc-business mailing list
Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org [24]
--
========================================================
Kevin Ludlow
512-773-3968
http://www.kevinludlow.com [21]
Links:
------
[1] http://www.lpcolorado.org/
[2] http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org/
[3] tel:512-773-3968
[4] http://lp.org
[5] http://libparty.zocalodesign.com
[6]
https://www.google.com/search?site=&source=hp&q=site%3Alp.org&oq=site%3Alp.org
[7] http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business_hq.lp.org/2016/006577.html
[8] http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business_hq.lp.org/2016/004164.html
[9] http://hq.lp.org/pipermail/lnc-business_hq.lp.org/2016/004283.html
[10]
http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1321872
[11]
http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1321907
[12]
http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322226
[13]
http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322257
[14] https://www.lp.org/archives/lnc20061111.pdf
[15]
http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322261
[16]
http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322267
[17]
http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322926
[18]
http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322930
[19]
http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/02/libertarian-national-committee-meeting-streaming-now/#comment-1322938
[20] https://www.lp.org/the-libertarian-party/
[21] http://www.kevinludlow.com
[22] http://www.lpcolorado.org
[23] http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org
[24] http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
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