Managing DASFA

[mishalak]

So I'm trying to get the DASFA website working a bit better. And better known. I'm currently trying to get it claimed on Technorati, a blog search engine thing. Which I plainly do not understand or else I'm doing something wrong. Or perhaps I'm just impatient.

But in good news I deleted a whole bunch of fake accounts and one that had posted hundreds (thousands?) of link spam comments. I also have an administrator bit so theoretically I can work out other problems for members. Now if we just had a few more active ones, besides myself, posting things there.

I've posted on this subject on the DASFA Yahoo group, but I only got one response from a member. I am unsure if I should start emailing everyone (already registered) to let them know that DASFA is going to have a more active administrator or not. For a while I could not figure out the website and responses from the system got sent to my spam box. I wonder if we have some evil things resident on our server. I'll have to ask our web guru if he can check it out or let another friend of mine who is a lot more technically literate poke around in the system and patch things. (Hi, heck1701!) If anyone else wishes to review the site and let me know what you think of it and how it can/should be improved I would be forever grateful. (As in I'll plug you here and on the website and give you link love or whatever else! And I won't make bambi eyes at you or whine.)

Back to something resembling work. And I need a spring Icon since it is warm and nice here today.

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I don't think there is any merit having a web-based forum as well as the Yahoo group, as the use of each diminishes the other. I'd stick with the Yahoo group for members, and just ensure the website has your Directory each month, so prospective members know the club is active. It looks a bit sad that Reviews and FAQs are so thin, and only News and Denver Book Mall are active.

I'd simplify the whole site to only allow administrators to post, make te Book Mall people admins and remove the registration process (I remember going through that a year ago and finding it rather pointless)

For publicity it would be nice to have a gallery of photos of past speakers.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

They can be complementary to each other. The yahoo group is rather like a newsgroup. Or at least that is how I end up using it. Email in and out. Informal writing. The webpage is open to the public, unlike the Yahoo groups, and is more like a 'zine. A place for more formal writing complemented by letters of comment.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Technorati can be a bit pokey picking up your claim. I haven't been overly thrilled with it, actually.

Managing Dasfa

[dave80203.livejournal.com]

There are a number of issues in running a web site, particularly one that allows user registration.

First, and the biggie, is content. How much? Where does it come from? How do you keep it fresh and interesting? Should all content be published on the web for free? DASFAx has always been DASFA's journal of record, and there's been concern expressed that if we give it away info free, there's no incentive to buy memberships and receive the newsletter.

Second is web format. The PostNuke forum format allows for multiple administrators and content donors, allowing the webmaster to share the burden of soliciting or manufacturing content with others. Nuke is kludgey, unfriendly, and non-intuitive, but it's pretty secure. And that brings us to our third point.

Third - security. A CMS (Content Management System) is subject to hacking attempts, and oh boy, does dasfa.com get them. It usually starts with a fake user registering in the wee hours of the morning, then a couple nights later running a script which attempts to post ads for viagra, etc. The site catches some of these, and when I can determine the address, I netblock the IP. The default authority level doesn't have permission to do much, so the submissions don't appear on the site. I've been conservative about approving members due to this. Unless I recognize the name, they remain unapproved. I've not been deleting the fake IDs since it keeps the spammers from recycling them on the site.

Matthew, bless him, is now an administrator and dealing with some of this. As a DASFA officer, he should have access to content and info that I didn't, other than the director's columns and the various event announcements. Maybe we can get some of the membership to donate stuff -- book reviews, movie reviews, etc.

Re: Managing Dasfa

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Hey Dave, sorry about the late reply. I was away in Hawaii and all. (No, I really can't stop mentioning that. I had a good time with my boyfriend.)

Thinking about it getting DASFAx isn't really a big enough reason to want to join DASFA. In my opinion. Certainly unless a party host says otherwise the party should not be listed on the web free to anyone, the default assumption should be privacy, but the more content we have on the website the better.

Why should someone join then? The same reason that people join PBS and getting a say. If it should ever become an issue only actual DASFA members get to vote in elections and such. Them that volunteers gets to have a say, those that don't get what they're served. We're not a business, we're a volunteer organization and people who think we're of value to them will volunteer their time and money.