Private Sides to your HQ websites?
 

This is a topic of discussion in the KD yahoo group and I was wondering if any of you would share some info. Obviously nothing secret :) But i'm pretty sure that nothing secret is discussed on your HQ's website/message board or what not, more just to keep it closed to only members and avoid spammers and intruders and such.

What kind of set up is it?

How active are the discussions?

Do contraversial topics get brought up like they do here?

How is it moderated?

Do you get real responses or some sort of greek version of corporate babble-speak?

How long ago did it start being used?

Are there other, "unofficial" resources out there for your group that are used more? Why do you think that is?

Re: Private Sides to your HQ websites?
 

I'll answer my own questions:

What kind of set up is it?
Divided up into categories for various topics- AA events, etc. No lead in page like the one here on GC showing active topics and such.

How active are the discussions?
Nearly nonexistent. The most use is for announcing AA events.

Do contraversial topics get brought up like they do here?
Not to my knowledge

How is it moderated?
Not totally sure, I believe by our Electronic Communications Coordinator

Do you get real responses or some sort of greek version of corporate babble-speak?
Not sure, as not that much has been posted there, but probably a good amount of sorority babble speak

How long ago did it start being used?
There was one before our website was revamped, and it was hard to use, not many people used it.

Are there other, "unofficial" resources out there for your group that are used more? Why do you think that is?
Yes! The KD Yahoogroup, the KD unofficial newsletter, Greekchat, etc. I think it's because these things developed first and people developed loyalty. Also, each of them offer something that the "official" versions do not

There is no forum, but they have compiled a 'members only' directory that is very well kept up.

It is also used to register new initiates and to register for events.

What do you mean register for events? Like if your chapter has a rush event, you list it on there?

-Rudey

Oh. Ours were listed publicly so I didn't realize that was private. Cool.

-Rudey

Regional or national events -- LEAD Institutes (pledge trainer training), Recruitment training, Grand Chapter, things like that.

Chapter events are on the master calendar hanging in the house, and if our recorder is doing his job, it'll be posted on our chapter website as well.

We also have registration for leadership conferences and conclaves on the private site. Chapter materials and message boards are available.

In the past few years the fraternity has tried to move more paperwork online, making it easier for the executive committees at each chapter to do what they need to do.

SAE has a couple of private websites.

One of them is reserved for use by undergraduate members and includes areas for each Brother to monitor his progress as he develops in certain areas of personal growth and such. It's part of The True Gentleman Initiative.

The other, more general private site is best described from the following information copied/pasted off of the greeting page from that site itself:

Not really. I've never heard anyone say that it's a secret. The main reason it's private is so that only members of the GLO can access the info- message boards, forms, manuals, etc. Even though access is controlled, ritual is never discussed anywhere online.

I didn't want to know anything like oh, what exactly do the posts say, but a general idea of the setup and what sort of information/resources/message boards are available and how much the members actually use them.

Not to be Andy Rooney, but did you ever notice how people say "not to be rude" and then proceed to be rude? :p

Let's face it, we are not unique snowflakes. All our groups are more alike than we really want to admit. I'd bet if you changed the names of positions and transplanted messages from one private side to another, no one would notice.

We haven't had a private side for several years. When we did, it was not that active at all.

and if you don't feel comfortable answering my question, then you don't have to :) no one else seems to have a problem with it

Ours is fairly new - as in January - so, not too many people are used to the new format yet. I certainly know that I'm not!

I do know that we have moderators for each Forum, and there is a wide spectrum of headings. Almost too wide, as I keep wondering, "Where did I post that...?" Major props to our web master, as she is busily taking every suggestion & emailing back to the sister who makes it! I'm truly amazed!

IMHO, websites should serve three purposes: Recruitment, Collegiates, and Alumnae. All three have to be able to negotiate the site easily to make it usable.

The AGD Members Only portion of our website currently does not have a message board/forum or chat options. I know that the first phases of work on the site have been completed, so it's not totally done yet.

Right now we have access to a members directory, contact info for IC/IHQ/VST members, a really nifty "Today's Birthdays" page, chapter/club contacts, announcements (vacant volunteer positions, etc.), and a resource to download different forms.

I'm thinking, maybe within the next few years or so, all chapter reporting and payments will probably take place online.

Still, it'd be nice if we had a private forum for ourselves.

I'd like to think that, with most of us being in a GLO, if anything of ritual matter DID leak out, a savvy mod would delete it immediately.

honeychile, I actually mentioned the "pride online" forum in discussion on the KD yahoogroup b/c i've seen the ADPis on here mention it a couple times... particularly when a sensitive topic is involved. Is that an official part of the ADPi website or is it run by someone else?

Besides the discussion boards that i've previously mentioned, the KD website also has all the forms and manuals online (which is wonderful!) as well as some random other info. We have a birthday list and some find a sister resources (though not very well updated at all!) and a few random other things- like the programming du jour

Pride Online is the "double secret" site of our website. It's run by our International Office, and they've named moderators. As I said, I'm very pleased with how open they've been with suggestions. We don't have birthdays, though. :( ;) PO's the message board & chat room part of our site.

Our forms etc are also members only - but not our Gift Mart!! :D I don't know if it was just my chapter or what, but I would feel completely HORRIBLE if I bought something new with ADPi on it, and didn't use Gift Mart!! Needless to say, I feel okay buying from ebay.

I don't think there's any need for any of those things to be private. If I had a dollar for every alumnae I've seen post to a message board (not ours) searching frantically for a rec form and not able to find it, I'd be quite rich :) . If we make our websites too complicated, it leaves out our older alums who might not be as tech savvy. There are some groups that I've wanted to scream because it's impossible to figure out who does what things or even find a chapter list. Those things should be easy for the dumbest person to find.

[chorus]

AMEN!!!

[/chorus]

OK so. This is kind of one of my pet peeves.

One of the biggest problems for GLOs now (in my opinion) is keeping them "up to date" and relevant to what college students are going through now, while still staying faithful to the tenents they were founded on.

SO WHY DON'T WE ALL HAVE FANTASTIC WEBSITES? This blows my mind. The whole *point* of our groups are to foster sister/brotherhood. Why would you not take advantage of a fantastic medium that can reach members across the country?

I mean, think about how great this concept could be. On the private side -

* A member search part (that's UPDATED) where you could get back in contact with that one girl you pledged with forever ago.
* A great forum where members feel like they can make suggestions (and not get flamed)

on the public side --

* A great "marketplace" that sells all kinds of stuff (mine, for example, is kind of limited in its offerings) for your group -- all under licensing.
* A copy of your pledge manual (where applicable.)
* The most complete history available of your group, instead of the basic run-down most of us have on our sites.
* Explanations of the non-secret traditions
* Explanations of greek life traditions that a new pledge could expect at his/her school
* Places to get help, and descriptions of academic assistance offered at chapters

The secret side has the locations where we sacrifice virgins.

I love our new website. Being EVP, it helps so much that every form I need is right on my computer, easy to find.

I feel bad for officers who didn't have this resource!

DG's site has all of this stuff. Well, not the forum but everything else. I'm pretty happy with our site...it was overhauled about 2 or 3 years ago.

Members have to log in and specify that they want their information to be available for the directory search, however, so it can be a bit difficult to find the long lost pledge sister if she never bothered to log in to the private side.

tsk tsk
 

A lot of you might be surprised just how UNPRIVATE some of the private sides of the websites hosted by a certain company really are.....(that company ISN'T mine ;) as I host a few national fraternities, and previously hosted a sorority :)

Because we don't all have fantastically large bank accounts.

Daily or near daily website maintenance is, I'm sure, a bigger job than it seems for a volunteer to handle, so you pretty much have to hire someone. And if it's money for (example) an extra traveling consultant or the website, I'd bet the TC will win out.

Tri Delta's private side has bulletin boards and a lot of the other stuff which you guys mentioned. Our bulletin boards aren't heavily used but that may be because we have inCircle.
InCircle is like the Tri Delta answer to friendster. It allows you to connect and communicate with other sisters. You can post announcements, info, questions. I don't know if other sororities have that but ours has been pretty successful.

WRONG! Website maintenance and hosting is almost commodity these days.

What about the skilled and equipmented volunteers who offer their services....

Orgs that turn their backs on this resource are either afraid of the technologies power of information or they simply don't understand it.

Been there, done that, dealt with it.

FWIW, I somewhat agree with you - I was playing devil's advocate. :p

The thing is finding a volunteer with those skills WHO CAN AFFORD TO DO IT ON A VOLUNTEER BASIS. If you're a 25 year old computer whiz with beaucoup student loans to repay, no matter how much you love your GLO you're gonna go work for the company that actually PAYS you.

Most of our alums who could afford to be full time volunteers are older and not as up on this stuff.

And I agree with you about the "unprivate" sides - eeeek :eek:

I was just on the private side yesterday. The website has been re-done and I saw a section for a message board but I couldn't access it-I have know idea why??? I would say the private side is not very interesting. I did update my info.-they had me as an accountant working in a vet. office??? I have know idea where the accountant part came from. We use to have a chat room but it was not used very much.

overall i don't think the message board part of pride online is used very much. the adpi forum here on GC gets more action :p

I think there were more posts on the older board before the renovations were done, but even then the posts were sporadic.

I saw a button that said something like "Access your email" ... i'm not sure what that is all about b/c when I clicked it it lead me to a page not found. :confused:

I nominate you to "fix" the site.

I have posted on the Private Side and looked up info when needed. It doesn't have alot but it is nice to read updates from the chapters that have something to brag about. There are also repetitive posts like on here: Hi I need rush ideas, t-shirt ideas, wedding ideas. It is all there with a search.

I have even downloaded rec forms for older alumnae who have no idea how to access it. I think the rec forms should be easily accessible. About half of the NPC organizations have it readily available and half do not. I have rushees call Greek Affairs trying to access the stuff to make it easier for the women who are trying to write recs as well as older women (70-ish) who want to know how to write a rec for their granddaughter. It is so upsetting to have to tell them that I cannot help them.

I haven't been able to get into the private side of the Lambda Chi site (digital.lambdachi.org) for well over a year now from home or from work—I always get a "timed out" message.

Any other brothers have this problem?

*invokes Batsignal to Tom Earp* :)

The Members Only side of Kappa's website is mainly Chapter and Alumnae forms and resources and Directories. No message boards or anything.

I checked out your site, mostly to see a list of where chapters are. I was a bit surprised that a list like that was considered confidential! I was trying to figure out exactly how my mother managed to get a list together of which colleges had KKG and which didn't (I wasn't allowed to apply to those which didn't).

But it is a very nice site!

ADPi has a similar list on the public side - although it does not include dormant chapters. I think one of our web-savvy sisters had a complete list with all inactive chapters somewhere on the web!

eventually phi sig will catch up to the times and get a members only section - i think they're working on one now.

Yeah - I can't use the message board either! And at convention, they moved the meeting back an hour (and didn't let everyone know!) so my CP and I missed the intro of the website and all the new features!!

Our private side is nothing fantabulous - forms and manuals, contacts for HQ and actual member searches (which is for both collegiate & alum members so that's nice).

Everything else is on the public side including rec's and chapter searches which is great.

LXA SE285
Bat Signal has been found!!!! Digital has been down for a long time! "PM me for an explanation".

Dont really know why this Thread was even brought up? Not well explained.

Are there or could there be Sites within National Sites, yes there are where a pass word is needed.

As for National Sites, I am sure there are Things that would not be posted for public reading that are of a secretive note.

I am Not a Rocket Scientist or a Lawyer. Thank God!:rolleyes: