Who's On First?

[cheechgang]

Who’s on First? (Feel free to move to whatever forum is appropriate)

PLEASE don’t take this question in the wrong light. I am NOT trying to be critical, I am only curious about a couple of things. I was wondering who are the “official� members of the Steering Committee (if there is such a list) and, secondly, who are the folks with admin rights on the website (is there a difference?) and what are their responsibilities.

I started into this hobby over 3 years ago and first encountered NWOGEO.org about the same time. Since then I have reaped the considerable benefits of NWOGEO.org without really having had to contribute anything on my part. Somebody else has always magically provided the “organization� for monthly meetings, periodic events, adopt-a-highway CITO’s, t-shirts, coins, and of course this website (somehow free) during all that time, whether I’ve contributed or not.

I know that the same core group of folks seem to make the events happen (and I applaud them for their hard work), but I can not tell if there is a distinction between event committees and helpers and the actual steering committee. Does helping out somehow make you a member of the steering committee by osmosis?

In regard to the website, I know that if you look at the profiles on NWOGEO.com you can see “admin� listed (I believe) only for Hydnckr, jslagle, and GizmoGuy411. The moderator for each forum is listed as “Steering Committee�. Who, in fact has the power to move, delete, or edit posts/topics? Again I am not being critical of the fact that the forums NEED monitoring and I have no problem with inappropriate posts being deleted, I’m just wondering who has that responsibility.

Please hold all flames, my Nomex suit is at the cleaners.

[-Eleanor-]

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

[yogi57]

We chose only the most wisest people in our group(sorry about your luck) to be on SC. No just joking. As of now(I might get kick off soon for saying too much) the SC member are BBDs, Good Dog, Eleanor,GizmoGuy, Grizzflyer, Hydnckr, jslagle,Moops, TMA, and Myself. All of us are moderators.

[TheMoopAlong]

What Yogi said. Ten cachers/caching families currently make up the SC. SC members have access to "thread rights", i.e. edit, delete, move, etc. in the case of a knock down dragout brawl. The admins that you've noted, have access to blow up the whole site

[ScouterJoe]

Good question Cheech. In the very same spirit, I've often wondered this myself. Thanks for putting it into words.

[TheMoopAlong]

Now, a word from your friendly moderator
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There are two times that come to my mind in this forum where SC members had to use their "powers". Once had something to do with a couple of locomotive engineers The second time, obviously recently, a thread was locked, then purged.

As a committee, we attempt to vote on issues that come up that appear to lend a bad light onto this website and our group as a whole. That way it doesn't look like one person just arbitrarily moderates. It doesn't happen very often, because, heck, whether ya'll like it or not, this group is pretty chummy.

I appreciate the Colonel's comments, because frankly, a lot of stuff happens behind the scenes. No one on the SC is pining for any medals, it's just stuff we do cuz we like the group and the area. Event staff becomes a larger contingent, and those people are all volunteers that help us out.

In my opinion, please, if you want to know things about NWOGEO, just ask. I would think anyone would be happy to chime in and let ya'll know. . . .

Now, back to your regularly scheduled banter
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[GoodDog]

The SC and the event coordinators are, for the most part, the same. This is not by design. We have asked on a number of occasions for nominations and stated interest to be on the SC. The last time was in 2006 (maybe January?) Then The Moop Along, Eleanor, Grizz, and The Moops joined. Sometime in there GC Marauder also joined, but dropped out because of other commitments. In addition, the wives of the male SC members, who are active and interested in geocaching, are also considered members and we often seek their advice on matters. If I have the dates wrong SC members, jump on me. We have also asked for support for our two main events, The Christmas Shindig, and The Spring Fling (Cinco something this year). We have received help for each of these activities, especially from our southern contingent. The SC and events don't have to be "run" by the SC, it's just that we seem to be the ones to get them going.

Perhaps it's time to realign the SC again. Some members may not wish to continue, or can't contribute as much as they would like, there may be others who want to join. We would especially like to get a few people from the Findlay area contingent. The qualifications include, but are not limited to, the willingness to sacrifice some personal time for the good of the NwoGeo group, a level head (for the most part ) and the ability to work with others.

We don't formally meet, except once a year for a potluck and planning session. ( We kinda missed that this year). We talk mostly in the SC forums, which only we can view, and at the meet/eats. Many members also cache together, but that is not a requirement.

Hydnckr has the title of "Grand Pu Ba" because he is the tallest. Otherwise we don't really have a pecking order. Jason and Gizmo take care of the website, TMA is the unofficial geocoin/pathtag guru. They and the rest of us just seem to gel and make things work.

[GizmoGuy411]

Here is another insight into the technical side of our NWOGEO site.

There are several more "Administrators" than may meet the eye. A couple are not even real persons, and exist for testing and generic posting. Each "Administrator" has certain access permissions that can be set by a "Super Administrator" who also has the ability to create/modify/delete other "Administrators", as well as all web based controls available in the "DragonFly CMS" software we use.

jslagle and I are currently the only admins that also have FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to the site's server. This allows us to manage files at the server level. When you see the site doing strange things that it should not be doing, you can usually figure I've been messing with the internal code of the software via FTP.

If you have not guessed, jslagle provides the server hardware, the Internet connectivity, and the domain name registration cost for NWOGEO.org at his own expense. He also pays for the Premium Member account for "NWOGEO" at Geocaching.com.

Our software has the ability to create "Groups." Examples are, Unregistered users, Registered users, Steering Committee Members, and Site Administrators.

Access to various areas of the site can be assigned to groups as well as to individuals. The Forums are a good example of how we use the group feature.

There are "SC" Forums that are only available to the Steering Committee, that are used for advanced planning and such. Other Forums called "EP", for Event Planning exist for our major events, that can be accessed by the "SC" Group as well as by those who have volunteered to help with a specific event. For these forums, certain individuals are given access to specific "EP" forums. We establish these "EP" forums, once the SC has done a bit of discussion, and someone takes the lead to moderate the "EP" forum.

Forum moderators have the ability to edit, delete, move, close, open, rename, merge, and split forums. Only a few of us have dared some of those functions, as their use is not always intuitive.

The Main Menu of the left is another example of how access can be managed. Each menu item can be set for which group can see and use it. For admins with full access, the menu can look a bit messy, as unused items, and those in testing clutter the list.

There is also a "Steering Committee Menu" sub menu within the main menu, that contains items such as the "Steering Committee List" with includes private contact info, and a menu item that allowed us to monitor registrations for our Shindig.

As a side note, not even the Administrators have access to view passwords, or Private Messages with our software.

Administrators can manage various aspects of a users profile, curiously however can not even view various settings of a user.

Another Forum exists for Administrators, that is used primarily for software testing, software modification tracking, and bug tracking. If you think my other posts are boring, you should see that forum!

Every forum can be configured to be moderated by a single person or by a group.

One thing lacking here is a means to "contact" a site administrator or SC. Usually someone just jumps in and replies to any questions. This very thread is an example of how this usually works, with the multiple replies from various perspectives.

While not intentional, the lack of public list of "SC" members and Administrators, makes us looks a bit illusive. Plus the mere fact that a veteran and very regular geocacher needs to ask these questions in this thread, exemplifies this deficiency.

Hope that helps explain the technical side of our NWOGEO site a little.

[cheechgang]

Thanks Gizmo. You have now explained everything I could ever possibly know in LIFE. There can be no more questions, EVER!!! I am fulfilled!!!

[Flooder]

Who’s on First?

As someone that has been added to the last Spring Event lists I would like to submit my experiences.

First I had to sign 30-40 legal like pages. I think it was really access to my bank accounts.

There also seem to be some sort of dues. This guy from the Korean mob shows up at the most inopportune time and shakes me for cache. He gets mad when I only have micro cache and threatens to take me to the nearest SQ or worse yet a OSQ.

[GizmoGuy411]

Thanks Gizmo. You have now explained everything I could ever possibly know in LIFE. There can be no more questions, EVER!!! I am fulfilled!!!

I aim to please!

(That is what you get when I post at 1am. You're lucky it wasn't 3am when I am really on a roll!)