Online Membership Directories

[flutem3]

:rolleyes: Hello to one and all,

I have heard a few people discussing the advisability of having a membership directory on the church website. It would be much easier to keep updated than the hard copy directory which is compiled once a year.

I think it is a good idea except for the privacy issues. However, do you think it would be feasible if the directory were password protected or protected in some other manner which I don't know? I do know about password protecting and how to do it. Would it be feasible for people who are leery about websites to opt out of a website directory so to speak? We seem to be overrun with people who do not trust websites etc. at all. They have heard all the negatives and few of the positives and don't use computers themselves.

Any comments will be appreciated.

Blessings to everyone and have a good day!

[HansR]

Any comments will be appreciated.We've previously addressed this issue. Once a year we ask all attendees to sign off that their contact info is correct and that they wish it to be published. Printed directories are then released and available for one year before next year's update. In spite of the fact that most of the information remains the same from book to book, if we released an new version at every change, we'd be printing directories all the time. Although we have yet to put in place, we think a wiser approach is to maintain an updated .PDF which can be provided upon request (via e-mail or on CD). We also employ a very inexpensive yet secure technology referred to as "Calling the church office". We have an obligation to protect this information and certainly if Dell and Microsoft's sites are occasionally violated, ours is vulnerable too.

[flutem3]

We've previously addressed this issue. Once a year we ask all attendees to sign off that their contact info is correct and that they wish it to be published. Printed directories are then released and available for one year before next year's update. In spite of the fact that most of the information remains the same from book to book, if we released an new version at every change, we'd be printing directories all the time. Although we have yet to put in place, we think a wiser approach is to maintain an updated .PDF which can be provided upon request (via e-mail or on CD). We also employ a very inexpensive yet secure technology referred to as "Calling the church office". We have an obligation to protect this information and certainly if Dell and Microsoft's sites are occasionally violated, ours is vulnerable too.

Thanks for your time in addressing this with me. I think I will just drop it. People seem to be getting along well without an online directory. And your are right about the big companies. If they can be hit, so can we.

[David Gillaspey]

Hi Carol,

I've seen a number of church websites in my research that do have online directories. This is so even though privacy issues and concerns about misuse of the information would seem to speak against it. But then, access to the online directories in such cases usually requires logging in -- that is, a person's first having online membership -- but I wouldn't say there was always control over who gets to sign up for membership.

But, let's continue the dialog a bit. What exactly are the purposes of having a directory (printed or online) in the first place? What kind of information would be included? How would it be used? Who would mostly likely need the information, and why?

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[flutem3]

Hi Carol,

I've seen a number of church websites in my research that do have online directories. This is so even though privacy issues and concerns about misuse of the information would seem to speak against it. But then, access to the online directories in such cases usually requires logging in -- that is, a person's first having online membership -- but I wouldn't say there was always control over who gets to sign up for membership.

But, let's continue the dialog a bit. What exactly are the purposes of having a directory (printed or online) in the first place? What kind of information would be included? How would it be used? Who would mostly likely need the information, and why?

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites


Those are all good questions which I need to address. I had not considered an online directory until somebody said his/her church had one. Basically, I have just been exploring the ideas. Your questions will assist me in doing that. I have not even said anything to anyone in our church yet. Until I have it worked out in my own head to my own satisfaction, I will not be saying anything. I am a "fool who rushes in where angels fear to tread" in some cases, but I don't on an issue like this.

I have a question. How can I quote just part of the post instead of the entire thing? I have tried several things, but I still end up with the entire quote.

Thanks. I enjoy this forum. Thanks for having it!!

[David Gillaspey]

Those are all good questions which I need to address.Well, just so you know, I was addressing the question to everyone, not just you. That's in hope that some other members of the forum will want to join the discussion with their views.

How can I quote just part of the post instead of the entire thing? I have tried several things, but I still end up with the entire quote.When you click the Quote button, you'll see the quoted text surrounded by code. It starts with "[QUOTE=name_of_member]" and ends with "[/QUOTE]". Just edit the stuff in between to your heart's content.

If you want to break the quote up into two parts, then just copy everything and paste it below the first instance of the quote, with some extra returns in between for your comments about the first part of the quote. Then edit each quote as you wish.

By the way (everyone), the ending "[/QUOTE]" contains a built-in double-spacing (or double return). Therefore, just start typing your post right after the closing bracket, e.g., "[/QUOTE]I totally agree with you on this subject."

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[generalhavok]

maintain an updated .PDF which can be provided upon request

What a GREAT idea! Anyone can make a PDF with OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/), so this shouldn't be much trouble to do. A quick email to the webmaster (or someone else) could get you a fresh copy.

Of course, you could put a link on a temporary page and give out the password to that page for a week or two...then take down the page after most have their copy. That would lighten the email load.

[David Gillaspey]

What a GREAT idea! Anyone can make a PDF with OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/)Hi generalhavok,

Thanks for the tip about OpenOffice. I'm downloading it now (for Mac OSX) to give it a test. But at 155M, it's probably the largest software installer I've ever downloaded. ;)

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Churchwebsites

[generalhavok]

Yep...it's HUGE. Imagine downloading Microsoft Office. That's about what it's like!

[JackWolfgang]

I was involved in DB planning for an Open Source Church Membership Directory. The project is still in progress, and therefore, the final features have not yet been defined (not to mention that they are talking about plug-in modules that add functionality).

My point being that there may be a tool out there for web based directories that doesn't require a lot of extra work. FellowshipOne (http://www.fellowshiptech.com/) may handle it already.

[David Gillaspey]

My point being that there may be a tool out there for web based directories that doesn't require a lot of extra work. FellowshipOne (http://www.fellowshiptech.com/) may handle it already.More tools:

http://www.churchdb.org (ChurchInfo) ? php- and mySQL-based program
http://www.churchledger.com ? website is woefully short of information about the software, unfortunately
http://sourceforge.net/projects/osc ? open-source Church Management Software project

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[srmcatee]

Hello,

ChurchLedger is based on OSC (Open Source Church). So if you want to know anything about the code. Please download and peruse at your pleasure.

Steve McAtee
ChurchLedger.com

[NetMinistry]

Our NetMinistry platform allows you to manage your membership database and publish a segment of that database as a searchable directory on your website. You can password protect it, e-mail to it, and a bunch more.

I think you'll be seeing more of this type of functionality over the next few years as all the CMS systems begin to shift their focus from content management to relationships management.

[ckvkkeek]

Not only is it possible, but churches do it.

On my churches website, http://www.harvestpointecc.com , has a members area that is password protected. Inside of that has the membership directory. We also have a printed version for the members that don't do web stuff.

I hear nothing but good things from members, I consistantly hear people ask for numbers and then say nevermind they will just get it off the site when they get home.

But by being password protected, it stops it from being a privacy concern.

[rePete]

Clarence,

Welcome to the CWForum.

I have a question about the mechanics of password protecting a portion of the site. What is the mechanism behind the password? Cookies?

Thanks from another buckeye

(re)Pete Hanratty
Gahanna, OH

[ckvkkeek]

I develop my website using ASP, so I use session variables. Now when web servers were old and not very powerful, these were frowned on (and even now you should use them wisely) because they can use a lot of system resources. A session variable is basically a hidden cookie, puts the burden on the server. The reason I don't use cookies is because many people don't accept them and I have a dedicated server so I can do what I want :-) .

Here is the code I use on my pages.
If Session("Member") Then
Response.Write("") ' Do nothing, and continue to write the page.
Else
Response.Redirect("index.asp") ' Goes back to the log in, because they
' are not logged in.
End If

This code stops somebody from going directly to a page in the membership area, without first logging in. When I get time, I am actually going to try and make this sync in with Windows user management, so I can protect it even better.