[Lnc-business] Post LNC meeting discussion website issues

Thu Dec 15 13:20:45 EST 2016

Sure thing Wes, and I will be speaking with Ken off-list.

-- 
*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/>

On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 10:38 AM, Wes Benedict <wes.benedict at lp.org> wrote:

> Your requests for timing estimates are reasonable, however, I'd prefer to
> hold off on the estimates in the short run.
>
> Our recent history with LP.org is one of over promising, under-delivering,
> and breaking new things in the process.
>
> I'd prefer to give you an estimate on January 4, after our new team (Wes,
> Ken, Sean, Andy, contractors) has a couple weeks to make progress and I can
> better gauge our speed at accomplishing things.
>
>
> Wes Benedict, Executive Director
> Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
> 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314(202) 333-0008 ext. 232 <(202)%20333-0008>, wes.benedict at lp.orgfacebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
> Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership
>
> On 12/15/2016 9:09 AM, Caryn Ann Harlos wrote:
>
> I would like some tentative time frames here:
>
> LPedia:  When can we do something on this and what would that "something"
> involve (which will include an LNC vote).  With my new information on OUR
> archives which is OUR responsibility to preserve (though I would rather
> them be preserved anywhere rather than nowhere), I believe the LNC needs to
> keep this.  The technical issues are not something new, in fact that was
> the whole reason it was put off until now as I was assured we would have
> time now.
>
> The 2006 and the 2016 site: When will these be put into the archive
> solution.  That solution might work beautifully.  I do not believe it can
> due to the concerns in the beginning email, but we have a responsibility to
> at least get them up, and if they are the subject of further motions, then
> let's get that going.
>
> The archiving project I working with volunteers on our own as party
> members to see what we can take on and other than insisting that these
> items needs to be put somewhere will not be troubling the LNC about it at
> this time.
>
> But those two other items above need timefames and plans.
>
> -
> *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/>
>
> On Wed, Dec 14, 2016 at 1:16 PM, Caryn Ann Harlos <
> carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> With this treasure trove of historical information and background
>> discussions with enthusiastic volunteers eager to retain our history, I
>> suggest that the Party retain LPedia but do something with it.  Barring
>> that, putting it to LSLA is an option and LSLA at one time indicated
>> willingness.  One way or another we need to decide.  I fear we risk losing
>> history if LSLA decided to neglect it and then we could wash our hands of
>> it and lose accountability for this stewardship.
>>
>> My analysis of the other issues above remains.  The archive option is
>>  not good and there are better ways to handle.  I believe a historical
>> committee (and yes I will be proposing one when this things gets talked out
>> - or not if really good disqualifiers come up) would be the best to advise
>> on this and work with volunteers and staff to get the content moved to the
>> current site without "clutter" - until such content is moved, the archive
>> sites would allow members some way to access.
>>
>> My solution would keep our promises and use LPedia for the rest.
>>
>> --
>> *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/>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 14, 2016 at 12:57 PM, Ken Moellman <ken.moellman at lpky.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I'm happy to report that we're off and running, post-meeting.  Wes is
>>> running with Zocalo.  Meanwhile, I'm trying to merge one of our hosting
>>> sites with a bunch of "leftovers" on it into cheaper hosting.  I've been
>>> working on that for the last 24 hours.
>>>
>>> There are still some technical decisions to be made, but the priorities
>>> at the moment are (a) fix the website; (b) clean up and save some money.
>>>
>>>
>>> Also, a decision needs to be made about LPedia.  I have recently learned
>>> through investigation that LPedia has some technical challenges. Wherever
>>> it lands, it's going to need some help.  So, is LSLA taking LPedia?  Is the
>>> LNC retaining it?  What's the timeframe?  The reason I ask, is that we're
>>> going to have to move LPedia one way or the other.   I personally think it
>>> would be a good task for LSLA, which would let us standardize on one
>>> platform for every other website the party will be maintaining (thus making
>>> maintenance easier).
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ---
>>>
>>> Ken C. Moellman, Jr.
>>> LNC Region 3 Alternate Representative
>>> LPKY Judicial Committee
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2016-12-14 13:26, Caryn Ann Harlos wrote:
>>>
>>> Committee members, I am back talking about the website and some
>>> decisions that were made this weekend.  Some of those decisions were good,
>>> some were at best very incomplete (and at worst misguided).  I believe
>>> Motion(s) to amend will be the result of these discussions I hope to get
>>> going-perhaps even a sub-committee to work with the IT Committee (one that
>>> might be in the realm of the proposed historical/archival committee).  In
>>> our very time-limited discussions, complicated decisions and discussions
>>> cannot be adequately done.  I will attempt to organize this email into
>>> digestable issues.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *BASIC ISSUES WITH CURRENT WEBSITE*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> This would include bad colour scheme of grey on grey, difficult
>>> navigation, slow load times, odd information screens that are not
>>> customizable etc.  We gave Wes the authority to work with Zocolo on that
>>> which seems to be the right move to get these issues resolved.  I trust Wes
>>> will give us regular reports.  We also gave Wes the authority and
>>> discretion to restore the old masthead which stated "Party of Principle"
>>> (as that was a separate issue as to whether that would be a policy manual
>>> official logo – it is in fact a trademark – no matter how I feel about
>>> trademarks – of the Libertarian Party).  I highly encourage Wes to make
>>> that happen and the LNC can later vote to change if they wish.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *THE PROPOSED NEW SEPARATE LP ARCHIVE SITE*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I do not believe this was the right decision or a well-thought-out
>>> decision with all due respect to my fellow committee members.  It is in
>>> fact an inadvertent betrayal of the earlier promise to membership that no
>>> ideological content would be lost.  This solution does not make good on
>>> that promise.  Words are made in a context, and the context of the
>>> assurances to members was that content would not be lost *from the
>>> LP.org website* AND IT IS– shunting it off into another website which
>>> may not even be cross-searchable (that decision was not made) is in fact
>>> losing the content, and this should be unacceptable.  I think part of the
>>> problem in the discussions was a fundamental mis-casting of how websites
>>> actually work.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Objection:  "We don't want to clutter the new website"*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> First I will add, clutter or not, this was an assurance made to members
>>> and we can either keep that assurance or not. I was given that assurance as
>>> a member, and I expect the LNC to keep it. But this is a non-concern that
>>> seems to be operating under some kind of physical assumption along the
>>> lines of some analogous idea that the website weighs two pounds now and
>>> would then weigh twenty pounds or that we would be adding 100 more library
>>> stacks.  That is not how websites work.  And I think we can get into this
>>> more in the sub-divisions of my email of the types of content on the two
>>> older sites which I will call the 2016 site and the 2006 site for clarity.
>>> But in general, this would be invisible to the user until they needed the
>>> data.  The issue of "clutter" is a red herring.  At most there might be a
>>> new submenu called "archives" which is hardly some monumental clutter.
>>> Users could go there or not.  The ones that go there *want* this
>>> information.  The rest of the information clearly falls under current
>>> headings, is relevant, and as presently organized is not cluttered.  It is
>>> arguably way too compressed.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Issue: What would this new Archive site look like?*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> This was not even discussed.  It seemed to me like the LNC thought we
>>> could just stick it at a new address, flip a switch, and be done.  But that
>>> isn't an archive, it is a time machine that would freeze a site as it
>>> looked on the day it was taken down.  For instance on the 2016 site, this
>>> LNC would remain enshrined forever on a page.  That is not useful.   Ditto
>>> to the 2006 site.  This brings us to the actual issue: the content that
>>> needs to be preserved – and that can be broken down into some broad
>>> categories (with some overlap but not much): ideological content, news
>>> content, parliamentary institutional content (some of it bylaws-required),
>>> and historical institutional content.   Each of these categories need to be
>>> handled deliberately and separately, and it is frankly impossible (I was
>>> going to say insane) to think a simple solution like flipping a switch to
>>> an archive site can responsibility do this.  And this also exposes another
>>> huge flaw:  Will there be TWO archive sites?  A 2016 and 2006 archive site?
>>> How does this LNC possibly think those two can be merged?  Do you seem how
>>> quickly unworkable this becomes?  What we passed is simply not do-able and
>>> if we continue down that path, it will become obvious and the temptation
>>> will be to throw up our hands and say "oh well we tried" and just let the
>>> content go away.  I will not go down that path because it isn't inevitable.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> So now on to discuss the types of content...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *THE CONTENT*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Ideological Content*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> This would include staff blog articles, press releases, newsletters, and
>>> the like.  These items are part of what makes up our current positions –
>>> there is an unbroken line – and these should be searchable and part of our
>>> current site.  How that would be done has many open paths, including simply
>>> putting them where they belong in chronological order.  This can be done by
>>> trained volunteers. I believe Chuck Moulton volunteered to do some.  This
>>> would be fulfilling the promise to our members.  As an example (and this
>>> touches on my earlier archive emails), ALL of the old issues of LP News
>>> should be on the website.  This does not "clutter" any more than having
>>> older minutes does, particularly the way we do with "see more" pull downs
>>> that only list the title year.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *News Content*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> This is part of our political history and again, these items should just
>>> be put into the blog section where they originally appeared and can be done
>>> by trained volunteers.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Parliamentary Institutional Content*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> This would include LNC minutes, EC minutes, Convention Minutes, old and
>>> current Bylaws, and Policy Manual etc.  These need to go where they exist
>>> presently on the site.  Most of this is required by our Bylaws and is
>>> already being planned on by staff, but when I say minutes, I mean *ALL
>>> minutes*, including those from the 2006 site and those that I am
>>> gathering from members.  We can either put a disclaimer that they are not
>>> certified or come up with a certification method.  They were historically
>>> verified.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Historical Institutional Content*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> This would include lists of past staff, past candidates, and past
>>> committees.  This is perfect for LPedia – but of course that requires us
>>> getting on the ball with LPedia.  Some other content above arguably would
>>> be better for LPedia.  I would like the IT Committee Chair to give us some
>>> thoughts here on LPedia.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Conclusory Comment*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I think this analysis has shown that this idea of an archive site is
>>> unworkable, not keeping our assurances to our members, and unnecessary – a
>>> combination of our current site and LPedia is the answer.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *MY PROPOSED SOLUTIONS*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> This ties right in to the Historical/Archive Committee I have been
>>> hinting out.  I believe these decisions and plans can be done by such a
>>> committee working with staff and the IT Committee and that the Chair of the
>>> IT Committee would automatically be on this almost proposed new Committee
>>> which would give a recommendation on how to better handle this issue rather
>>> than the clumsy way done at the LNC meeting.   And then there would be a
>>> plan going forward for digitizing the rich content found at HQ and in our
>>> storage unit. And yes, such a committee should have full transparency.
>>> Nothing here is secret and is the collective heritage of members.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I solicit thoughts.  I believe we made a rushed grave mistake, and we
>>> can fix it in an orderly manner that would not take more LNC time but the
>>> time and loving care of LNC members and voluntary Party members who truly
>>> care about this issue.  We can't all be passionate about all things.  Let's
>>> let those who are plan it.
>>> --
>>> *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>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> *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>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> *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>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing listLnc-business at hq.lp.orghttp://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>
>

-- 
*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/20161215/fd1cc090/attachment-0002.html>