[MR] Regarding the Acorn Website

[gruffudd at adelphia.net]

Howdy.

In light of the recent discussion on the list, I figured that ya'll would like to know how and why things are done regarding the Acorn website.   Please forgive me but I am goin to restate some of the things that have been covered in other threads.

First what's been covered:

The goal/purpose/existance of the Acorn website is to be a suppliment to the Acorn. As such, and as to maintain value to the subscribers of the Acorn,  information is not published online until the Acorn has been mailed out and received in homes.  In all cases the information in the printed Acorn take precedence over the online version, as stated by kingdom policy 6.9.2

While I do appreceate that people do use the Acorn website for planning, and I do realize that it has become a valuable tool,  It was never intended to replace the published version.  I try to keep this to a minimum, but ocassionaly circumstances occur that cause delays. 

Guidelines that I use:

I generally have set the deadline for myself to have the event flyers online and the necessary updates made to the regnums, calendars, and other pages done no later than the 7th of that month.  This how I handle the requirement set by Kingdom policy 6.9.1 


For those that are interested in what I publish to the Acorn website and  it'sassociated pages.  I get a copy of the updates to the calendar, regnum, as the event announcements that are being published from the chronicler.  Updating the letters is handled by a seperate function.

Regarding an 'Unofficial Calendar':

Technically the calendar on the Acorn website is 'Unofficial' <GRIN> however I do know what people mean.   As others have pointed out if I listed every event that was going on registred or otherwise I would quickly 1) Go insane, 2) Develop carpal tunnel syndrome, and 3) Be fired from my job because the calendar would be taking up all my time.   As such it is my policy (not kingdom) only to present the information that is found on the Acorn website is a representation, with a few exceptions, what can be found in the printed version of Acorn.  For official events this means you're event flyer is listed for 2 months (3 if you're a kingdom level event) at minimum,  if you've paid for extra time in the acorn, you get that extra time on the website.  Please note that is is for the flyer only.  If you're event is official,  I'll list you on the calendar site once I get the updated calendar, ie what is reflected on the calendar page on the inside cover of the acorn.

In regards to the "Unoffical Calendar"  site that was mentioned, that is a fine resource to use, but let me be absolutly clear and state the obvious (and I bet the Chronicer will say this as well)  Just because you list your event on that site does not make it official.  All events must go through the Chroniclers office to be recognized as official.

The Current Situation:

Now I do realize, especally recently, that updates have not occured in a timely manner, and for that I do apologize.   However I do have a comment/gripe.   I took a look at my archived mail to if anyone had asked me when the calendar page was going to be updated, or what was going on.  I found 2 (and to those 2 individuals I do apologize for not getting back to you with an update).  Folks I can't address a problem or a concern if I don't know about it,  while to those who don't know me very well I may appear to be the Baby-Eating Bishop of Bath and Wells, I'm a really a nice guy.  If you notice that it's the 10th of the month and the calendar is still not updated, drop me a line.  I'll try my best to let ya know what's going on and when you can expect things to be up.   Now that I know about the concern I will try my best to make sure that things are updated in a timely manner.

What changes are coming

I am currently working on finalizing the next version of SPIKE.  The major change that  affects ya'll is that once an event becomes official, or at the discresion of the Chronicer, it will appear on the Kingdom Calendar, with site, autocrat, and event activities.  Initially this information will be availible to all webminister via a php script for incorporation into local sites, and soon after a RSS feed.  THis should be done by late January.   I'll let people know when it goes live.


By all means if you have any questions/comments/suggestions please email me at webminister at atlantia.sca.org, but be aware that I may put to work testing SPIKE 2 <GRIN>

Lord Gruffudd ap Cadfael (Carl Harris)
Webminister, Kingdom of Atlantia
webminster at atlantia.sca.org