[Lnc-business] Request for Update on LP.org

Thu Nov 3 22:54:44 EDT 2016

===I don't consider it acceptable for staff or others to make major
substantive changes like removing the "Party of Principle" slogan under
cover of a website redesign without our prior approval.===

Me either.  Though I note it is in the text on the about page.

To me however removing it from the masthead or not should have been an LNC
decision.

-- 
*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 Thursday, November 3, 2016, Starchild <sfdreamer at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Kevin,
>
> Thank you for your point-by-point responses here to my previously posted
> list of post-overhaul website issues.
>
> I can understand from a technical perspective why you would classify most
> of these items as "design" issues rather than "bugs", but to my mind from a
> lay perspective they are all issues that resulted from the overhaul and
> that is what matters here. Also, things like changes to the language
> describing the party are not primarily technical matters of design – these
> go beyond mere considerations of style or marketing, but are matters of
> content and substance in which the LNC should be making the decisions. I
> don't consider it acceptable for staff or others to make major substantive
> changes like removing the "Party of Principle" slogan under cover of a
> website redesign without our prior approval.
>
> Members of the LNC should also be the deciders when it comes to which
> photo of themselves they want displayed, and if anyone on staff has an
> issue with a member's choice, that concern should be brought forward to us
> as a body *after* following the member's wishes.
>
> If you say the listing of email addresses in plain text attracting spam is
> no longer a significant issue, I'll take your word on that since it's not
> something I know much about.
>
> Anyway, thanks again for your generous donation of time and effort on this
> project. In reference to what you said on that in your other message this
> evening ("I have noted that as I am not being paid, I will not be keeping
> up the hours that I have been. It's entirely unreasonable"), it makes
> perfect sense that you wouldn't want to continue to continue your present
> level of volunteer commitment indefinitely beyond whatever you promised LNC
> members last term when pitching the project. But assuming it eventually
> works out to general satisfaction, having played a major role in
> redesigning the website of the country's 3rd largest political party will
> be a nice feather you can stick in your professional web designer cap, poor
> timing issues aside, and that should help compensate for the work being
> unpaid.
>
> Of course we can't and shouldn't *require* anyone to donate their time
> for this or anything else, but I do think it ought to be our general policy
> to seek volunteers before paying to have work done, whether the work in
> question relates to IT or something else. When we simply rush into spending
> money without first exploring volunteer possibilities, we are not acting as
> responsible custodians of party funds.
>
> Love & Liberty,
>                                     ((( starchild )))
> At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>                                   (415) 625-FREE
>                                     @StarchildSF
>
>
> On Nov 3, 2016, at 6:40 PM, Kevin Ludlow wrote:
>
> Starchild,
>
> I did want to try and tackle your bullet points one by one here, just so
> you get a response from me on if / how they're being fixed.
>
>>
>> *• While the site looks good on the web, it looks terrible on my phone!
>> The "Latest News" boxes show up as long, narrow, unreadable columns of type
>> with a couple letters on each line. Considering how many people access
>> websites on mobile devices, fixing this should be a high priority.*
>>
>> Again, this should be resolved.  Let me know if cache clearing fixed it.
> If not we may have to look into a specific Android fix for the responsive
> theme, but this will be a low priority right now given the very low Android
> traffic.
>
>>
>> • I don't see either the "Party of Principle" or "Minimum Government,
>> Maximum Freedom" slogans shown anywhere (a search for key terms doesn't
>> turn them up). Nor do I see the Nolan Chart except buried in a link. Each
>> of these ought to be listed prominently, imho. The brief introduction
>> statement when you click on "Libertarian Party" at the top of the main page
>> is rather weak ("The Libertarian Party (LP) is your representative in
>> American politics. We are the only political organization which respects
>> you as a  unique and responsible individual.")
>>
>> Currently a design consideration, not a bug.
>
>>
>> • The more detailed description of the party has a conservative leaning.
>> Under "The Libertarian Option" (at http://libparty.zocalodesi
>> gn.com/about/ , a URL that like that of many pages should also be fixed
>> so that it doesn't include the web design company's website), it reads:
>>
>> Consider voting Libertarian or joining the Libertarian Party because…
>>
>>    - We seek to substantially reduce the size and intrusiveness of
>>    government and cut and eliminate taxes at every opportunity.
>>    - We believe that peaceful, honest people should be able to offer
>>    their goods and services to willing consumers without inappropriate
>>    interference from government.
>>    - We believe that peaceful, honest people should decide for
>>    themselves how to live their lives, without fear of criminal or civil
>>    penalties.
>>    - We believe that government’s only responsibility, if any, should be
>>    protecting people from force and fraud.
>>
>> The first two points above appeal more to conservatives or people on the
>> right (economic freedoms), while the second two points are more neutral in
>> terms of left/right appeal. There is no balancing appeal to people on the
>> left by explicitly mentioning things like a non-interventionist foreign
>> policy or civil liberties such as ending Prohibition and reining in police
>> abuse.
>>
>> Again, textual consideration, not a bug.  Staff can choose to reword or
> not.
>
>>
>> • The URL for the candidate page has changed (hat tip to Thomas Knapp),
>> and entering the former URL (http://www.lp.org/2016-libert
>> arian-party-candidates) apparently now results in a page error rather
>> than connecting people to the new page (https://www.lp.org/2016-candi
>> dates/).
>>
>> Yes.  There were several pages that had their slugs updated.  This was
> one of them.  We have a tool for staff to set the auto-redirects.  This one
> has already been done.  I've noted to the LNC several times now that if
> others are found, please email us with them and we'll update the permanent
> redirection.
>
>>
>> • If the information about how to subscribe to the LNC email list as a
>> non-LNC member got ported over, I cannot find it. I would suggest listing
>> this both on the LNC leadership page, and on the LNC meeting archives page.
>>
>> This is an organizational design consideration, not a bug.  We can let
> staff mull it over.
>
>>
>> • The LNC page only lists email addresses. Previously at least a couple
>> LNC members' listings included phone number and/or other info such as
>> Twitter address, but now those listings are gone and only email addresses
>> are listed. I would personally like my phone number and Twitter handle
>> listed, and encourage my colleagues to request their phone numbers likewise
>> be listed, so that our members can readily reach us directly as well as in
>> writing.
>>
>> Right now this is a design consideration of trying to standardize
> information available.  I do personally believe there should be consistency
> in the approach and more importantly, there is a need for consistency as
> variation is difficult to maintain -- perhaps not so much in this case, but
> as a general idea for web design.  Again though, something for staff to
> mull over as it's not a bug.
>
>>
>> • Where email addresses are listed on the website (for candidates, LNC
>> members, staff, college chapter reps., etc.), they are spelled out. That's
>> unfortunately asking to get us spammed by web-crawling bots that harvest
>> email addresses. I recommend changing this so that addresses are listed in
>> a less literal format such as Nick.Sarwark[at]LP.org
>>
>> I totally understand the sentiment of this, but to be honest, it's kindof
> an outdated concern.  SPAM filters are generally so effective these days
> that harvesting at this level is not that common and you'll find that most
> major organizations display their email addresses in plain text on
> purpose.  I could find dozens of examples, but here is the Wall Street
> Journal - certainly a prominent and highly trafficked site:
> https://customercenter.wsj.com/public/view/contactinformation.html
>
>>
>> • The page https://www.lp.org/_2016/ mentions Johnson and Weld being our
>> presidential and VP candidates, but the photo next to the text is *not* a
>> photo of Johnson and Weld, but of Johnson and a woman I'm guessing is his
>> girlfriend (which is fine, but should be labeled as such so as not to give
>> visitors the impression that the images reflect the text).
>>
>> I can see this one going either way.  I don't think it's confusing that
> the text not match identically what the image is.  Still though, it's a
> design consideration - albeit perhaps one that staff should consider
> revising.
>
>>
>> • Our bylaws are referred to in the info at the bottom of each page as
>> "LNC Bylaws" rather than "Libertarian Party Bylaws"
>>
>> A textual fix that will need to happen with staff, but good catch.
>
>>
>> • A number of people (staff, LNC members) are missing photos. To whom can
>> we send photos of these individuals, if we have them, as well as our
>> contact info updates for the LNC page?
>>
>> Photos can and should be sent to staff.  I saw there was a fund for LNC
> members to get professional shots?  I would advise this be done.  Photos
> submitted will need to be of a certain quality (I'm not defining content,
> but rather photo quality) in order to be displayed.  Pictures containing
> other people, random exterior backgrounds, too far away, blurry,
> low-resolution, etc. will not be inserted onto the site for the sake of
> quality control.
>
> Hopefully this helps a little bit.
>
> ~k
>
>>
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>
>
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