Photos of ex-members on your website
 

Hi, I am the new moderator of my sorority's website and I decided to totally re-do it. I was wondering if it was ok to blur out the faces of former members instead of putting a photo over them.. since that's kind of ugly and distracting. Has anyone ever done this before?? Thanks!

Hi riczxd

I think putting photos up with all current members is less distracting than having photos with blurred faces.

I have seen websites with faces blurred or X'd out of photos. That makes some people curious about the story behind those people.

I would have to agree. Is there a way for you to crop out the non-members in order to still use the desired picture?

^^^ Co-sign. Or, if possible, you can simply crop the person out of the shot.

ETA: Whoops, looks like we posted at the same time there.

I'm going to fight you if you don't start using the quote feature. :p

I will from now on LOL

I am a tiny bit confused. If you are re-doing your website, why would you even use these photos?
(When you say former members, do you mean depledged? Deactivated? Graduated?)

I just feel if you are going to re-do it, you need to do it right. I give you lots of credit because it is a tough job and something I would have a very difficult time doing.

You can redesign a website and still include old photos. If, for example, there are pictures from a 50-year-anniversary dinner hosted by the chapter, you'd definitely want to include those.

I totally get that^^, but are the people you want to crop members that dropped out?

If they are still linked to your org in a positive way, why would you not want them to be shown? I love to see pics of old members from the past. I just say if the people in the photos are no longer a part of the org and you can't crop the pic and make it look great, then do not use the pic. You don't want your site to look cheap.

I'm sorry. I just re-read my post and it didn't convey the meaning I intended. If I was in a picture with an older alum and then I disaffiliated, the chapter can still use the picture with me cropped out.

But if there's a picture of me and my date from formal, I would expect that the picture would not be used.

I think most NPC chapters do that when someone from the chapter is on Panhellenic Exec or is a Recruitment Counselor. They have to be disaffiliated from the chapter for recruitment, and be removed from the website.

You made a good point, but I wonder what you mean by people who dropped out?

Are they alums who are not active, actives who dropped from school but still members in an alum situation?

If they are still members, then why crop them out?

You never know when they may become interested again in the future so why slight them?

Everyone has an ego and puttting names and pictures of them is always good unless they were kicked out. Then they should be covered. I take it there are not that many who were kicked out?

Yes, their faces have to be blocked out so no one knows their affiliation.

To the OP - if it's someone who has been terminated or resigned their membership, I would crop them or get rid of the photo entirely and put up a new one. If you blur them it's going to create a LOT of questions and having to answer "uh, they quit" isn't exactly the best thing.

I am glad we cleared all this up. lol

I completely understand blocking someone for recruitment reasons if they are a counselor etc. I just think anyone in a positive standing should be kept no matter how old the pic; and try to avoid cropping or blocking out faces that would make your site look poorly. If it comes to that, it may not be worth using the pictures to begin with.

Yes but I'm not talking about NPC chapter websites. :)