Page 21 - Sojourner Newsletter-Fall

Vol. 98 Iss. 4 21

FROM THE WEBMASTER

WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Maybe you’ve heard … your local Chapter Secretary now has access to the National
Sojourner Database and can update and correct members’ records for your Chapter
online. Of course, that presumes that your secretary has contacted me or the National
Office to get his credentials to be able to do just that. But, in addition to that capability,
we’re putting in the ability for YOU, as a member, to look at YOUR record and update
or correct it, if necessary. But here’s the “gotcha” – you have to log into a separate website to access your rec-
ord. Right now, we’re discussing the criteria for login credentials. I’m OK with you using the same loginID
that you use on the National Sojourners’ website; but that presumes that you actually have an account on the
website and use it. If you don’t have an account on the NS website, I need to know what email account you’re
going to use to access your record. This enables me to make a record of your PASSWORD CREDENTIALS
in case you forget or lose them. Don’t use the same password that you use on the NS website, because I can’t
access those; they’re encrypted for your security. We also don’t want to endanger our database integrity should
we experience a breach to the website login credentials. (Stranger things HAVE happened). We will be work-
ing on the ability for you to change your password, but that’s not available at the moment.

Now, let’s talk about another of my “pet peeves”. Members will email me and say something on the order of
“I can’t login to the website – HELP”. I often wonder what EXACTLY they are doing because they didn’t re-
ally give me any helpful information to go on. It could be that they can get to the NS website front page but
can’t get into the “Sojourner Only” section; it could be that they’re using the wrong email address, or it could
be that their email address or password was fat fingered. It could be any one of a number of things. It might be
that he is a new secretary and doesn’t have access to the Secretary section of the site and needs to have his cre-
dentials updated. In other words: PLEASE – give me just a bit more information than “HELP! I can’t login”
using my email.”

Last order of business: As some of you might have noticed, we posted a FORM on the website, only to up-
date that form a couple of weeks later, or a month later with a new layout and information that is needed.
That’s because it’s only TWO of us against the THOUSANDS of you; and while we THINK we may have ad-
dressed everything, some of you will come in and ask (very good) questions that cause us to rethink the form
and issue a new version. Don’t be upset by all this; it’s a living/breathing process where we’re trying to make
things easier, not just for us, but for you as well. That will enable us to be more responsive to your needs and
be able to answer your questions in the process.

So, thanks to everyone in advance for your understanding and patience while we roll out new capabilities that
are intended to help everyone do their jobs easier.

– Bill Hickey National Webmaster (webmaster@nationalsojourners.org)

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