[Businessmtg] Web Site Report

Sun Mar 18 23:22:38 PDT 2018

Hi Anne,

Thanks for the tip on the “oops” on the Misc Policies link. Fixed. 

About WordPress. Yes, WordPress is frequently hacked. In fact, ASP’s WordPress installation was hacked a couple of years ago and it brought down ASP. The ASP recovery meeting went dark; the whole thing. We were back up and running in 2-3 days, but in my personal less than humble opinion, that’s not good enough. 

We do have patches and updates set to happen automatically, however I have noticed that even with that theoretically automated, the WordPress installation on the ASP server is not always updated. One of the first things I discovered when after accessing the server was that a manual update was required and had not been done. 

I understand that this situation is complicated by having plugins. We use plugins to accomplish tasks in WordPress that would otherwise be extremely difficult, going on impossible. Sometimes updates don’t play nice with some plugins. 

As you mentioned, sometimes an update can wreak havoc with a website. 

The WordPress installation on our server has been converted to a ‘network installation’. This gives us two advantages that I can see:

1. An administrator can log into the network and access any of the 4 WordPress sites. This does not allow access to the old HTML sites; that must be done via FTP.

2. Updating the WordPress installation is centralized. 

Personally, I’d prefer that ASP go back to using HTML for our website AND remove WordPress software from the ASP server. All we need is a simple website using basic HTML. This doesn’t mean a website that looks dull, boring and glum. But it does mean removing code from the server that is likely to contain vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers.

Hugs,

Steve

From: Anne K [mailto:annabelina2 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2018 8:21 AM
To: Steve Rankin
Subject: Re: Web Site Report

Hey Steve - 

Nice job! :)

As I was wandering through the pages of the current WordPress website, I did find this; " </ul%3″noopener”>Miscellaneous Policies.” under ‘Archives and Documents / Document ‘ section. It just looks like the link is not coming through.

My only other comment is that WordPress is frequently hacked, and therefore frequently patched. And while patches and updates can wreak havoc at times, I wondered if we had discussed any procedures in the event of an update (or a hack) - and granted I have not fully done any “homework” on this as in reviewing previous business meetings or all of the motions and I will do that, as this is the first business meeting I’ve been to in a while. My initial suggestion would be to verify we are using the latest WordPress version, and to verify that the server side has protections installed. All that being said, we may want to look at similar types of things (if we haven’t already) on the older websites as well. 

My thoughts :)  

Anne K

On Jan 18, 2018, at 10:50 PM, Steve Rankin <steve at serenitysys.com> wrote:

[DIRECT EMAIL VERSION WITH ATTACHMENT]

Hi folks,   

This report is going to be as brief and concise as possible so that I don’t nauseate everyone with the myriad of details. The Business Meeting server doesn’t like fonts or attachments, so I’ll be using CAPS and extra line spacing to try to improve the format and make it easier to understand. Because that is still likely to be challenging to read and follow, I am going to send a second copy of this email as a PDF with the full formatting. Hopefully that should be more readable. 

As most of you know, we don’t have a Web Master currently. Additionally, the motion to approve the 2015-2017 WordPress website “as is” failed. The Steering Committee discussed our alternatives at length, and in the end asked me to carry out the project revert the website to our last approved version (circa 2014) but using the WordPress design created by our previous Web Master.  I’ll repeat: the website will contain the CONTENT that existed prior to the many alterations made during 2015-2017 while using the WordPress DESIGN created by Jane. 

Please understand that is a work in progress until the Business Meeting accepts and/or approves this latest version of the website. I am looking forward to working with the members of the Business Meeting to make our website OUR website using the KBDM process. 

A. Motion to approve the WordPress site & content created by Jane and Sandie failed in the last Business Meeting.

1. The Steering Committee discussed this situation for a month and reached a unanimous consensus that:

2.  The original website content on my server was approved by the ASP membership in May 1996.

3.  The ASP membership decided in 2006 to continue the original website when ASP transitioned from my ownership to ASP ownership.

4.  The last iteration of an ASP-approved website content was circa 2014.

5.  I was asked to convert the ASP-approved website CONTENT into the WordPress DESIGN created by Jane. 

B.  Archived previous ASP websites

The first part of the project was to archive the previous versions of the website. 

Locations of Archived ASP Members Only Web Sites.  The links below are included in the new website home page so that members can find them easily, now and in the future.

*	 <http://www.serenitysys.com/A_Serenity_Place/Business/> ASP's original website created by the Founder of ASP, Steve R.
This site is still active and how many members find ASP today.
>From May 1996 to May 2006.
*	 <http://www.asp-afg.org/ASP/Business/> ASP's HTML website after becoming being fully self-supporting.
>From May 2006 to February 2015.
*	 <http://asp-afg.org/members_2017/> ASP's initial WordPress website. The content of this site is different from the content of prior ASP websites and was never approved by the membership.
>From February 2015 to December 2017.
*	 <http://asp-afg.org/members/home-page/> ASP's current WordPress website. Currently under consideration for approval by the Steering Committee and then the membership of ASP.
>From January 2018 to present.

C. Create New Website Using Old Content and New Design.

1.  This part of the process was simple. Create a new page in WordPress to correspond to a page on the 2014 site. Then copy & paste the old content into the blank WordPress page. Pages containing nothing more than simple text work out well. Pages containing structured text, various fonts, tables, etc sometimes are not very pretty afterwards. 

2.  The next step was to update pages as appropriate and needed. Examples of pages that needed to be updated include: the Group Conscience page, Trusted Servants page, Daily Chairs page. 

3.  Next was fixing many hyperlinks so they worked. Sometimes hyperlinks referred to old HTML pages that were destroyed, so I had to recreate a new HTML page and post it to the original location. For instance, when I found a motion that linked to an HTML that had been destroyed, I recreated/reposted the HTML page to the original location. No doubt that some hyperlinks are still broken; if you find one, please let me know.

4.  Next was adding the graphics. At that point I discovered that Jane had removed her personal images (bay scenes) from the website. I knew from personal discussion with her in 2014 that they were from a personal vacation she’d taken. That is why you won’t find her photos in the new website.

5.  Next was troubleshooting and fixing things that didn’t work properly. 

6.  Update logging. I have turned on a feature called Revisions that logs the date, time and maker of revisions to the website. It’s a great tool for the Web Master, but invisible to the membership, so I have also re-instituted the practice of posting the date and time a web page is updated or revised. 

7.  Discrepancies. Several discrepancies were discovered in the process. The issue of discrepancies deserves a major bullet point - next.

D. Discrepancies.  

Several discrepancies were discovered. I suggest that we flag the pages involved as “Provisional” and consider those pages as “works in progress” until the membership is ready to approve those pages. 

     a. Business Meeting description page(s) need wordsmithing to be accurate and up to date. 

     b. The Group Conscience page was missing at least 1 group conscience, plus 1 group conscience record stated it had past when it had failed, plus the group conscience records of the last 2 years were incomplete (no date, maker, incomplete tally, etc). All of those issues have been corrected. Anne, our Archivist, and I will be searching our Business Meeting archives to make certain that nothing else is missing. 

     c. The Financial Reports page may not be complete. I believe that we have recovered all of the missing financial reports, but not everything is correctly hyperlinked yet. Still more work to do here.

     d. The Trusted Servants page is problematic. This page dates back to the original ASP website group conscience in May 1996. The problem is that the job descriptions are not in sync with the job descriptions created by Motion #4 in February 2006. This has been a problem because members frequently use this page as a reference for our trusted servant’s job descriptions, but it is no longer accurate. I suggest that we delete the column “Description” from this page, and add a hyperlink to Motion #4 for those looking for job descriptions.

     e. Greeter Instructions were not only out of date and needed serious updating.  I’m going to address this in a separate paragraph - next.

D.  The Greeter Instruction pages

1.  I discovered 4 versions of Greeter Instructions; 3 on the website, plus a form that was provided to me by one of our greeters. 

·       1999:  <http://asp-afg.org/members/greeter-instructions/> http://asp-afg.org/members/greeter-instructions/

Found on ASP old HTML site. 

The details on this page describe the process way back when ASP resided on my server and used different mailing list software.

·       2003:  <http://www.serenitysys.com/A_Serenity_Place/Business/Greeter_Instructions.htm> http://www.serenitysys.com/A_Serenity_Place/Business/Greeter_Instructions.htm

 Found on my website. It’s more generic than the 1999 version. Doesn’t include the nitty gritty key stroke details. 

·       2015:  <http://asp-afg.org/members_2017/greeter-instructions-2015/> http://asp-afg.org/members_2017/greeter-instructions-2015/

The  <http://asp-afg.org/members_2017/greeter-instructions-2015/> WordPress web page on Jane’s site. It is dated 1/29/2015.

This page was brought up to date by Jane and in harmony with the process at the Esosoft server.

·       2017: A 14-page  <http://asp-afg.org/ASP/documents/ASP-GreeterResponseUse.pdf> “Greeter Training Document” The Steering Committee had no knowledge of this documents existence prior to one of the greeters sending me a copy. It was published by our previous List Administrator in May 2017. 

2.  From personal experience and my years as the List Owner of ASP and service on the Steering Committee, I know that the Greeter Instruction page is crucial to the greeters. 

Combine that with the fact that we are in the process of electing a new Greeter Chair and appointing new greeters, it is imperative that the process on the Greeter Instruction page is accurate, current, and easily understood by new greeters. It goes without saying that our greeter process also needs to address the needs of prospective members as much as possible. 

3.  I reached out to Adrienne as probably our most experienced and dedicated greeter. Adrienne, along with Arlene & Donna, were quite helpful and extremely cooperative:

     a. Provided a PDF of a new 14-page Greeter Instruction Manual written by Sandie in May 2017. 

     b. Described the common issues that many newcomers had

     c. Described the process as onerous. Did I mention the instruction manual is 14 pages long?  J

     d. Suggested we have web pages or a form that would (a) explain some things clearly that get lost in the verbiage of our current greeter letters, and (b) collect the info the greeters need to process new member.

     e. I took Adrienne & Arlene’s ideas and drafted a few new web pages and a simple form for prospective members. 

     f. The new web pages and form are “live” on the web site for testing and review, but not accessible by newcomers yet. 

     g.  You can see the pages yourself and try it out.   <http://asp-afg.org/join-asp-1/> http://asp-afg.org/join-asp-1/

E.  If the web-based new member form is accepted by ASP, then the Greeters will need new instructions. I’ve drafted a new  <http://asp-afg.org/members/greeter-instructions-2018-v2/> Greeter’s Instruction 2018 for review and approval. For those looking for simple answers, the new instructions are only 512 words vs. the 912 words for the 2015 version - 44% shorter and much simpler. 

F.  Amendments, Corrections, Improvements, Suggestions????

Obviously, we’d like to avoid a frenzied attempt at wordsmithing the website. However, I also don’t want to discourage the members from making suggestions. So, here is my suggestion on how to deal with this in a way that might make it easier for everyone to follow and understand:

1. If you have a suggestion, please send me a PRIVATE email with your suggestion.  

2. I will create a new webpage that will include a description of EVERY suggestion, and a link to where that suggestion has been implemented or could be implemented. Rather than a flurry of emails, I’ll post the ideas in a bullet list that everyone can follow and understand. 

3. Suggestions that strike me as “Why didn’t I think of that?” will be implemented directly. Implementation will be done so that everyone can see what changed, and it will be easy to go back if the members of the BM think otherwise.

4. Suggestions that strike me as inappropriate, unworkable, or ?? will not be implemented directly. However, if the members of the BM make it clear that they want it, then that’s what the Business Meeting want. 

G. ASP REVIEW and APPROVAL

1.  Now that you know the gist of what has been done with the website, I’m asking you to review the new site and compare it to the old sites to your heart’s content. 

Please feel free to ask questions; in the Business Meeting or privately if you prefer.

2.  The goal is to reach a consensus, preferably a unanimous consensus that this latest version of the website is approved by the membership of ASP. I anticipate that a few specific pages will be excepted from approval until a later date. 

 <http://asp-afg.org/members/home-page/> http://asp-afg.org/members/home-page/

Hugs,

Steve

<Web Site Report; 2018-01-18.pdf>