Why did SeaAnn become Public?
The decision to move to a blog format was a difficult one to begin with because I was well aware we are creatures of habit and change is disruptive. I was concerned I would lose cherished members and I made a personal commitment to take special care with this membership. I feel very honored to have the priviledge of providing service to my community in this way.
The main reason was the features I saw available in blogs and the ability to provide a much slicker, graphic enabled display to my membership. I wanted to have a more 'real time' connection and have the capacity to add pictures, posters and for the posted events to carry over from month to month and year to year.
Why did you make Seattle Announcements a public blog?
Basically I wanted to provide better access to resources, view-ability for the calendar and the option to save the events and for you my cherished members to be able to invite others to events using the calendar function. Also doing a pseudo calendar without an actual calendar got to be tedious and I feared mistakes could happen too easily. Now, we have folks that use their cell phones to look at the calendar and we have so many options that our members are not even using yet!
I am so excited about all the possibilities in our future. I also had NO idea the amount of work that I was going to have to do to learn things that my brain did not want to absorb. Hindsight is 20/20 but I have no regrets as this is working so much better in so many way
My initial research showed that I could keep the blog private with invited members only. I ran into a couple major problems.
1) People HAD to have a gmail account or they could only view the site in two week increments and then were kicked off. I could then send another invitation but would have to do this to about 85 people every 2 weeks.
2) I discovered I could only have 100 readers ever.
3)There was no way to subscribe and receive email updates. You had to physically always come to check the website. If you did not come for a while, you would have to search for content.
4) I received feedback that it was a pain and it was keeping people from receiving information. THAT was a KICKER! My goal is to build community, create safe space and reduce isolation. If people cannot get on the site and see the calendar and events then it is pointless and frustrating for one and all.
Of course, folks have to find us and that is not as easy as it sounds. You pretty much have to have the web address to find the blog currently.
As a public blog I traded a couple things for the good of the group.
1) Members can receive email updates. Information is confidential and private.
2) No limit on how many can subscribe.
3) Email plus RSS Feeds are available.
4) No block coming to the site although I did place an adult content warning.
5) The calendar can be viewed online, plus saved AND I can send folks a link so you can save it to your own desktop or personal gmail account if you like.
6) Many other pluses...I will add them as I think of them.
Ms T
The main reason was the features I saw available in blogs and the ability to provide a much slicker, graphic enabled display to my membership. I wanted to have a more 'real time' connection and have the capacity to add pictures, posters and for the posted events to carry over from month to month and year to year.
Why did you make Seattle Announcements a public blog?Basically I wanted to provide better access to resources, view-ability for the calendar and the option to save the events and for you my cherished members to be able to invite others to events using the calendar function. Also doing a pseudo calendar without an actual calendar got to be tedious and I feared mistakes could happen too easily. Now, we have folks that use their cell phones to look at the calendar and we have so many options that our members are not even using yet!
I am so excited about all the possibilities in our future. I also had NO idea the amount of work that I was going to have to do to learn things that my brain did not want to absorb. Hindsight is 20/20 but I have no regrets as this is working so much better in so many way
My initial research showed that I could keep the blog private with invited members only. I ran into a couple major problems.
1) People HAD to have a gmail account or they could only view the site in two week increments and then were kicked off. I could then send another invitation but would have to do this to about 85 people every 2 weeks.
2) I discovered I could only have 100 readers ever.
3)There was no way to subscribe and receive email updates. You had to physically always come to check the website. If you did not come for a while, you would have to search for content.
4) I received feedback that it was a pain and it was keeping people from receiving information. THAT was a KICKER! My goal is to build community, create safe space and reduce isolation. If people cannot get on the site and see the calendar and events then it is pointless and frustrating for one and all.
Of course, folks have to find us and that is not as easy as it sounds. You pretty much have to have the web address to find the blog currently.
As a public blog I traded a couple things for the good of the group.
1) Members can receive email updates. Information is confidential and private.
2) No limit on how many can subscribe.
3) Email plus RSS Feeds are available.
4) No block coming to the site although I did place an adult content warning.
5) The calendar can be viewed online, plus saved AND I can send folks a link so you can save it to your own desktop or personal gmail account if you like.
6) Many other pluses...I will add them as I think of them.
Ms T
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