The Antichrome Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 (edited) This post, and some follow on replies, were given their own thread. They originated in the "Front Sight - Back Issues" thread. - Admin I've had fun browsing thru these back issues. But if I hadnt seen Flex's notice that they were available, I would have never seen them. You'd think it would be announced on the USPSA website or maybe even their facebook page. Even when I click the FrontSite tab, no info. The website also has no search function. It's like they want to keep them a secret. Edited August 14, 2012 by Flexmoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 I don't think the front page of the USPSA web-site lends itself to rapid updates and news items. They would be better off replacing the News Block with a Twitter window. That way anyone in the office can post updates quickly and then they would show up automatically. Women of USPSA and my own web-site uses this method for news updates... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I don't think the front page of the USPSA web-site lends itself to rapid updates and news items. They would be better off replacing the News Block with a Twitter window. That way anyone in the office can post updates quickly and then they would show up automatically. uspsa.org is almost entirely database-driven now. The news block is just another database table. Anyone in the office with the necessary userid and password could easily add news items. I guess they just don't think of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I don't think the front page of the USPSA web-site lends itself to rapid updates and news items. They would be better off replacing the News Block with a Twitter window. That way anyone in the office can post updates quickly and then they would show up automatically. uspsa.org is almost entirely database-driven now. The news block is just another database table. Anyone in the office with the necessary userid and password could easily add news items. I guess they just don't think of it. I'd really like to see that updated. Ideas please? (AD5 & Market Committee) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I don't think the front page of the USPSA web-site lends itself to rapid updates and news items. They would be better off replacing the News Block with a Twitter window. That way anyone in the office can post updates quickly and then they would show up automatically. uspsa.org is almost entirely database-driven now. The news block is just another database table. Anyone in the office with the necessary userid and password could easily add news items. I guess they just don't think of it. I'd really like to see that updated. Ideas please? (AD5 & Market Committee) Seems like one of the first things needed would be a copywriter to write news snippets about USPSA. Perhaps someone to go through more general gun industry news press releases and decide what's pertinent to USPSA (like perhaps some of the releases regarding who signs with what manufacturer, press releases about sport-oriented guns [e.g. the XDm 5.25], etc.). I would certainly like the ability to opt-in to be notified when things are posted, particularly things such as meeting minutes, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I don't think the front page of the USPSA web-site lends itself to rapid updates and news items. They would be better off replacing the News Block with a Twitter window. That way anyone in the office can post updates quickly and then they would show up automatically. uspsa.org is almost entirely database-driven now. The news block is just another database table. Anyone in the office with the necessary userid and password could easily add news items. I guess they just don't think of it. I'd really like to see that updated. Ideas please? (AD5 & Market Committee) You already pay a USPSA publicist, Paul Erhardt. This would be a "rob" question, but would there be a way to give him a userid that could update only that list? Also encourage more frequent updates to Dave Thomas. One of things I beat upon in 2010 in my run for Area 6 was lack of communication between uspsa and the membership. It's still pretty much true today. Also you've got a FB page. That could be pushed a whole lot more than it is right now. Is there also a twitter account? If not, there should be. Just random thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Paul is out. We have such a strength in human resources (our membership)... I'd reallylike to get the "news" updates out of any one office/person's hands. We have lots of folks that could provide "news" content (I am thinking Section Coordinators, perhaps...if we are too afraid to widen who can post news). At most, we could have somebody at the office approve the content. I just don't know the best tech to do so? Maybe multiple technologies could be used? I do know that that a script can be written to show...new posts on a forum, for instance. And, I know those post could be set to not show up until they are "approved". Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Hate the Facebook suggestion (Don't force members to subscribe to a service with closed doors they don't like or want). USPSA does have a Twitter account. It should be a simple process to allow members to opt in or out of a notification for a newsfeed or blog from the mainpage. The e-mail notification system is already there for self squading and match uploads. When a new L2 match or higher is opened, newclips, blogs all seem to be relevant. How about each AD select an active member in their area and so designate them to have access to post news, updates, etc. with the AD only needing to approve such post. Would increase frequency and communication and still leave final approval in the hands of the ADs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 If the goal is to have multiple writers, there does need to be someone with the hammer & guidelines by which to use it. Those guidelines should be published. Is local match info worth posting about? Section? Is that to be on the front page or just an opt-in? Flood control is another issue, so that it doesn't become like the classifieds where 1 person uses it as his private advertising area. I don't know how much of a burden it would be on whichever USPSA staff member/s is/are given responsibility for maintaining the feed, but it could become an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlgentlegiant Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 It should be pretty easy to have a twitter account feed the database, as a matter of fact I think Twitter has APIs and plug-ins to do just that ready to integrate into most website solutions. Facebook has the same capabilities if I remember correctly. Adding a search function should be easy as it is just a database search. This is standard with most web software packages. Separate the feed sections (tabbed please) into: Match Postings Match Updates (L2 and higher winners, etc.) USPSA announcements Classes, Clinics, etc. If set up correctly it should take a person very little time to do the updates if they cannot be done automatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Paul is out. We have such a strength in human resources (our membership)... I'd reallylike to get the "news" updates out of any one office/person's hands. We have lots of folks that could provide "news" content (I am thinking Section Coordinators, perhaps...if we are too afraid to widen who can post news). At most, we could have somebody at the office approve the content. I just don't know the best tech to do so? Maybe multiple technologies could be used? I do know that that a script can be written to show...new posts on a forum, for instance. And, I know those post could be set to not show up until they are "approved". Thoughts? As I recall, a post is automatically sent to the BoD whenever it it put up or changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Would the purpose of using Twitter be to have updates available easily because there are plug-ins or because USPSA already has a Twitter account or a combination thereof? Is such functionality (that is, simply a feed) available without relying on an outside service? I ask this question because not everything is posted via Twitter. Further, there'd be a need to limit tweets to the USPSA feed from appearing on the USPSA homepage. One could imagine how that could quickly deteriorate if not monitored. Same problem with using Facebook as the feed's source. Further, some people have the same issue with Twitter that others have with Facebook: don't have a Twitter account, don't want one. Using that service could be unpopular and, perhaps, cause some to overlook news. I know I tend to ignore Twitter feeds as the @, #, and twit-speak annoy me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Further, some people have the same issue with Twitter that others have with Facebook: don't have a Twitter account, don't want one. Using that service could be unpopular and, perhaps, cause some to overlook news. I know I tend to ignore Twitter feeds as the @, #, and twit-speak annoy me. But, a Twitter feed can be viewed without having a Twitter account whereas Facebook can not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritinUSA Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 The 'twitter window' can be set up to only show the feed from USPSA's twitter account. A scrollable window is the best way and tics be customized to show the last xx tweets. Or it can be set to cycle through all the available tweets on a loop ( see the WomenofUSPSA web site for an example). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diehli Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 USPSA's Twitter account would need to be repurposed so as to include everything that's determined to be of value, such as, for example, the announcement of Dave's retirement. That's the kind of thing that should appear, IMO. That being said, there's still the fact that I (and maybe I'm alone in that) ignore Twitter feeds. I'd like to see something front and center, big and bold, that's time- and date-stamped and, to make the point a different way, that really draws my eye to it. Maybe Yahoo!'s homepage could be an exemplar. As much as I loathe using Yahoo for anything else, I use them for news because of how easy it is to break things out into separate categories (for USPSA it could be match results, match announcements, general news, etc.). The top stories they choose can often be a joke, but there's something about the page layout that draws me in. Perhaps it's the pictures... sometimes I'm just that simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vluc Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 You are not alone, I have nothing to do with twitter. Whatever gets decided on, it should be linkable for us to have it show on our section webpage as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NMBOpen Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I have the RSS feed from 3 Gun Nation selected as part of the MyYahoo! home page. I'd do the same for an RSS feed from USPSA. Your choice of where the feed appears, doesn't have to be MyYahoo!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydiver Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 So far the requirements that I'm hearing are: - A way for the BOD and/or HQ to approve new postings. - A way to give designated individuals posting rights. - Some kind of realtime notification of new posts coming on line: RSS and/or Twitter. - Multiple feed sections - Web based for reading of news items - Search None requirements: - General membership email notifications of new posts... probably have email notifications to approvers Are these requirements? - On front page of USPSA website? - Support HTML or BBCode? - Support images? - Aging of news items before moving into Archive? - Expiration dates before moving into Archive? - Prioritizing of items? - Web 2.0 AJAX or plain old HTML? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperman Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 To me, having the website showing up to date information is the #1 priority. If the info can be duplicated on a twitter feed or on FB that is a bonus, but the primary focus should be the website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgnoyes Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 (edited) People may not go to a separate website on a regular basis; that requires a distinct action. But people can and will get stuff pushed to them all day long in FB and Twitter. Edited August 14, 2012 by wgnoyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mapzter Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 - Some kind of realtime notification of new posts coming on line: RSS and/or Twitter. RSS can be used to feed both Twitter and FaceBook. I've used http://dlvr.it/ for that for quite a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitedog Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Just me...and yes a dinosaur. I would like to go to U.S.P.S.A. web site for my info. That is where it belongs and I believe the first place some one will look. I don't have Facebook (don't want it) and I want less to do with twitter. If it is uspsa related, why would it not be on the web site? Why are other means or places nessasary or warrented? Just my thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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