Administrator set the default subscribed calendars for ward members

Can you make it possible for me as an administrator to set the default subscribed calendars for all the members in my ward? (I would probably give everyone access to all our 18 Ward Calendars, and then just pick a few Stake Calendars that would apply to everybody.) Unless there was an automatic way of doing things for subscribing calendars to members, based on what organization they are in, and what calling they have. But maybe that's a LDS Calendar 6.0 goal...?

Administrator note: The opening post was split from the Calendar colors for "name-changed" original calendars - problem thread since it addresses a different topic.

dbollard99 wrote:Can you make it possible for me as an administrator to set the default subscribed calendars for all the members in my ward?

This is not currently possible. I personally don't think that is a good idea. I can see where you are coming from in trying to help members avoid cluttering their calendars with unneeded events. But taking control of which calendars are displayed assumes you know what is best for them. In my opinion it is better to teach them how the calendar works and let them decide for themselves what they want to include or exclude. I most certainly would not want someone else deciding what calendar I should be subscribed to and which ones I should not, even if it is only the default setting for subscriptions.

Note that he's only asking for default, not to override what anyone has set. I think that would be a good feature. Perhaps allow each calendar to select if the default "subscribe" not "not subscribed" So for example, a new move-in would have the "General Events" calendar but not the "Bishopric Meetings" calendar.

RussellHltn wrote:Note that he's only asking for default, not to override what anyone has set.

I get from your response that what you envision as a default and what dbollard99 envisions may be different; or at least what I understand what dbollard99 is asking to have implemented.

I would agree that when a calendar is created that the creator have the option of having it automatically subscribed to or not automatically subscribed to for everyone. There are cases where the calendar is intended for a limited audience; that the intended audience be invited to subscribe rather than to have everybody else unsubscribe.

But I get the impression from the statement " Unless there was an automatic way of doing things for subscribing calendars to members, based on what organization they are in, and what calling they have" that the default is situational and that someone, either the calendar creator or an administrator, chooses who is set to be automatically subscribed. This default methodology could be unintentionally exclusionary.

This situation creates the need for people to regularly go to the calendar subscriptions page to see what calendars they were not automatically subscribed to when the calendar was created in order to subscribe to one they feel is necessary for them to be viewing. For example, an elderly male member has no children at home and belongs to the High Priest Group. Yet this male member is active in Boy Scouts as a volunteer yet he holds no related callings. Using the criteria of calling or organization to determine whether a new calendar for Young Men or Boy Scouts would exempt this member from even knowing about the calendar that he may want to have been subscribed to.

There are many more scenarios I can envision where members would be unintentionally excluded. Granted they could eventually find out that there is a calendar of interest and subscribe. But that is the same as having the default for all new calendars now set to unsubscribe and forcing members to continually go to the subscriptions page to see what is new.

RussellHltn wrote:Note that he's only asking for default, not to override what anyone has set. I think that would be a good feature. Perhaps allow each calendar to select if the default "subscribe" not "not subscribed" So for example, a new move-in would have the "General Events" calendar but not the "Bishopric Meetings" calendar.

But what does "default" mean? If someone has specifically chosen to subscribe to all calendars, what right does the calendar creator have to decide that they didn't really mean that for this calendar, so they don't get automatically subscribed? And by the same token, if someone has specifically chosen not to subscribe to all calendars, what right does the calendar creator have to decide that they really do want to be subscribed to this calendar, so they are automatically subscribed anyway?

In my mind, the only adjustment that could make sense in this regard is to allow a calendar creator to specify that a newly-created calendar would not be auto-subscribed, even for people who have auto-subscription turned on. That could be reasonable, because the default is for all members to be auto-subscribed, and so they may not have explicitly chosen that option, and it's certainly possible that a calendar could be deemed to be of such limited scope that the vast majority of people wouldn't want to subscribe to it. But I vote against the reverse.

aebrown wrote:In my mind, the only adjustment that could make sense in this regard is to allow a calendar creator to specify that a newly-created calendar would not be auto-subscribed, even for people who have auto-subscription turned on.

That works for me.

aebrown wrote:In my mind, the only adjustment that could make sense in this regard is to allow a calendar creator to specify that a newly-created calendar would not be auto-subscribed, even for people who have auto-subscription turned on.

I could go for that also.