Include extensive list of Church sites

Since vastly expanding lds.org and 'relaxing' the rules regarding what links could be included (i.e. links to non-Church sites, especially in Newsroom), as well as allowing country sites to be administered locally and this very site allowing content and links to be added at will, it is so frustrating to have reference to only a minimal amount of Church sites on lds.org.

I have no objections to sites such as BeSmart.com or other Utah-only-relevant sites being included. It is, of course, inevitable, and many of such are of interest Church-wide, such as BYU, for example. I'd like to know why many Church sites (including business sites, which shouldn't be an issue, considering what the Church has had links to in the past) don't have prominent places on lds.org. Just a FEW examples (almost unfathomable to believe are not listed) are as follows:

• LDS Church News
• BYU Broadcasting
• DeseretBook
• Hotel Temple Square
• Music & The Spoken Word
• Maxwell Institute (part of which, formally FARMS)
• GospeLink
• The Genealogical Society of Utah

LDS.org finally lists mormontabernaclechoir.org, which is both powered by and has a link to DeseretBook, which I think supports my argument. If anyone can give any insight to this - especially if you know what is planned in this regard - then let me know.

Just some of the Church's business sites:

• Deseret Trust Company
• Deseret Management Corporation
• Bonneville International Corporation
• Bonneville Communications
• Zions Securities Corporation
• Hawaii Reserves, Inc.
• Temple Square Hospitality Corporation
• Beneficial Financial Group

I'm not sure the best way to approach linking to these sites if at all. I do think it would be nice to have a portal into the business arms of the Church to allow those who are interested in finding careers in those organizations, or are interested in contributing financially to these groups could more easily find information on these entities. I don't think it would be the best to link to all of these business sites "prominently" off the LDS.org site, but perhaps a link to a common portal in "About the Church" or some way to access a pure business portal in which it is separate from the ecclesiastical aspects of the Church but is accessible. Similar to the segregation of mormon.org from lds.org.

Well put! As far as the business side of things is concerned, that's the type of idea I had in mind. I wouldn't have expected them to be prominently displayed, but as you say, some kind of portal to provide an extensive listing, and with a summary of each site.

However, as I said before, I wasn't solely focusing on business sites, and would like to see more ecclesiastical and educational-type sites included - obviously in appropriate catagories - as well as a convenient portal simply listing them all (still catagorised), perhaps with the option to search/filter by various methods.

I would recommend that you provide this feedback through the lds.org feedback link so that those in charge of that web site will see your comments. My hope is that this forum becomes more of a place for people to discuss technology advancements, problems and/or solutions for the lds.org web site instead of a content wish list.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Tom

I agree that this information should be sent through the Feedback link. However, this forum in the short-term is more satisfying because WE can get feedback from our peers about our ideas and we can tell if our ideas have even been read. The statement on the feedback form saying that all submissions are read, but not all are replied to is nice and true but often unsatisfying. The feedback feature still feels often like a black hole.

kgthunder wrote:I agree that this information should be sent through the Feedback link. However, this forum in the short-term is more satisfying because WE can get feedback from our peers about our ideas and we can tell if our ideas have even been read. The statement on the feedback form saying that all submissions are read, but not all are replied to is nice and true but often unsatisfying. The feedback feature still feels often like a black hole.

I can totally understand your feelings on the matter. It is nice to talk about issues and to see if others agree with you or maybe your opinions change based upon what others say. We are walking a very fine line where we have been asked that our web site stay focused on technology issues...specifically those facing the Church. There are a few of reasons for this.

1. People will read information on these forums that they may assume is Church doctrine, policy or official guidance.
2. Other departments do not have the manpower to man our forums looking for comments and suggestions that may pertain to them.
3. Topics, when left unchecked, easily drift off into areas that are of a religious, or policy nature. People are well meaning when this happens but it can cause a lot of confusion and problems.

Keeping the discussions focused on technology problems, solutions, ideas will help us keep on track. There are other LDS based community sites that you can carry on these discussions.

Thanks for your support and understanding.

Tom

Would it be possible to have a list of suggested community sites for such discussions available on this site with a disclaimer that they are non-official sites and then when moderating such drifting threads, reference the list of links? This way an outlet can be provided for such discussions whereas now for those who are unfamiliar with alternate sites, this is the only viable forum for such discussion.

kgthunder wrote:Would it be possible to have a list of suggested community sites for such discussions available on this site with a disclaimer that they are non-official sites and then when moderating such drifting threads, reference the list of links? This way an outlet can be provided for such discussions whereas now for those who are unfamiliar with alternate sites, this is the only viable forum for such discussion.

ldsWebguy.com is a place you can read more about the strategy and plans for LDS.org and other Church Web sites.

The feedback link is the best place to submit content suggestions. All the feedback is read, categorized, counted, and forwarded to the product managers over the various Church Web sites. Within the next few months, we will be upgrading our feedback system to make it easier to classify and route the many thousands of feedback messages so that the product managers can receive it more quickly.

Another place to learn about where the Church Web sites are headed is the What's New document currently linked for the feature in the center of the LDS.org home page. In about a week, we'll have this converted to a blog section under the News and Events channel of LDS.org.

kgthunder wrote:Just some of the Church's business sites:

• Deseret Trust Company
• Deseret Management Corporation
• Bonneville International Corporation
• Bonneville Communications
• Zions Securities Corporation
• Hawaii Reserves, Inc.
• Temple Square Hospitality Corporation
• Beneficial Financial Group

I'm not sure the best way to approach linking to these sites if at all. I do think it would be nice to have a portal into the business arms of the Church to allow those who are interested in finding careers in those organizations, or are interested in contributing financially to these groups could more easily find information on these entities. I don't think it would be the best to link to all of these business sites "prominently" off the LDS.org site, but perhaps a link to a common portal in "About the Church" or some way to access a pure business portal in which it is separate from the ecclesiastical aspects of the Church but is accessible. Similar to the segregation of mormon.org from lds.org.

Good suggestion. We are building out the "About the Church" section, and we'll consider this.

kgthunder wrote:Would it be possible to have a list of suggested community sites for such discussions available on this site with a disclaimer that they are non-official sites and then when moderating such drifting threads, reference the list of links? This way an outlet can be provided for such discussions whereas now for those who are unfamiliar with alternate sites, this is the only viable forum for such discussion.

Yes we could do that. Please PM me with your link ideas. We will review and make a place where people can find these links.

Good idea.

Tom

tomw wrote:Yes we could do that. Please PM me with your link ideas. We will review and make a place where people can find these links.

Good idea.

Tom

While many of these sites provide helpful, useful content and services, don't assume that they are all good and should be perpetuated and enhanced. Some have functionalities that the Church has intentionally chosen not to pursue because they "go beyond the mark" or put the Church and its members at risk. For example, sites that consolidate or restructure membership data from the Stake and Ward Web Sites may be in violation of the terms of use and/or privacy policies. Some sites that assist in preparing lessons may link to content that has unverified sources or urban legends, or simply get the teacher way off track of the point of the lesson. Sites that assist in tracking Duty to God or Young Women Personal Progress awards may risk exposure of sensitive information about youth.

I'm not trying to squelch good ideas--just pleading for all to use common sense.

We'd love it if you'd read Tom Welch's posts about current problems the Church is addressing. We'd love you to help us think through and build solutions to some of these issues.

ldsWebguy wrote:While many of these sites provide helpful, useful content and services, don't assume that they are all good and should be perpetuated and enhanced. Some have functionalities that the Church has intentionally chosen not to pursue because they "go beyond the mark" or put the Church and its members at risk. For example, sites that consolidate or restructure membership data from the Stake and Ward Web Sites may be in violation of the terms of use and/or privacy policies. Some sites that assist in preparing lessons may link to content that has unverified sources or urban legends, or simply get the teacher way off track of the point of the lesson. Sites that assist in tracking Duty to God or Young Women Personal Progress awards may risk exposure of sensitive information about youth.

This is why I want people to PM me instead of post their ideas here. By PM'ing me, we (the Church) will figure out if the site is OK for us to post. Technology web sites (which is what this whole site is about) are more likely to be posted than web sites to help you teach a lesson, for example. On our home page there is a "web links" section where we can put interesting links of a technology nature that we have pre-screened.

ldsWebguy wrote:We'd love it if you'd read Tom Welch's posts about current problems the Church is addressing. We'd love you to help us think through and build solutions to some of these issues.

Thanks for the reinforcement!

Tom

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