Question About Message Boards

[Timekeeper]

This has likely been discussed before, but I can't get the search function to cooperate so please bear with me...

 

The Troops in our town were considering creating an internet message board so that our Scouts and Leaders could more easily trade info, ideas and the Scouts could discuss things (both things Scouting and otherwise) thus, hopefully, strengthing friendships. We created a "test" Board and began to kick ideas around.

 

Then, stepping back and taking a critical look at the idea, we immediately began to consider Youth Protection issues. I know there are BSA guidelines for Web sites. Does anyone know if there are any specifically for message boards?

[Eamonn]

Hi TK,

Welcome.

Your going to have to help me out a bit.

I'm not sure what a Message Board is?

 

The Sea Scout Ship I'm affiliated with does use a Yahoo Group page, which is password protected and all messages have to be approved before they get posted.

Is this a message board?

Any help would be great.

Thanks.

Ea.

[hops_scout]

Eamonn, you're posting on one right now:)

 

TK, your best bet is to set up a Yahoo Group or MSN Group or something like that. You can lock it up so that only certain people can see what is posted there.

[Stosh]

We use the Yahoo boards for our troop and we can lock it down tight so that visitors can see posted messages only and yet invited members can have free rein to use all dynamics of the board. We've been using it for a couple of years now and have had no problems.

 

Stosh

[Timekeeper]

Thanks for the Welcome and the replies, folks!

 

Just to clarify, we started a "test board" (and by message board, yes, I meant something exactly like what we are all posting on here, now. ) to see what problems we might encounter, if any, and haven't yet opened the Board in any form yet to the Scouts. We wanted to try to make sure whatever wrinkles needed to be ironed out were before we "opened for business".

 

The Message Board we "tested" also has the capability of "locking out" everyone except those in our Scouting community, so that's not what started us thinking. It also has other features that we think the boys would enjoy, (choose their own avatars, a chat room, etc.) which made it seem more attractive and a good idea, initially. Then we thought about it some more...

 

One would think that a message board ,with its postings being visible to all in the community, should be safe enough in terms of YP and plain old common sense. It's just that it's sort of "new territory" and sort of "close to the line" that makes us, I think correctly so, wish to be extra careful. As one of our leaders pondered, "is it too much of an adult being in a kid's world sort of thing?" Basically it set off alarm bells. And in this day and age, rightly so, I think.

 

Also, this board has the capability for allowing the registered users to privately message one another. This struck us to be a major red flag.

 

It's true that, even absent a message board, leaders could simply e-mail Scouts. And the message Board's private message function is, essentially, just that, another form of e-mail. Still, it's just an area that causes unease. With regular e-mail, it's our firm policy that if a leader wishes to contact a Scout via e-mail, he also must "cc" another leader simply as a matter of good YP practice. The PMs on the board do not have "cc" capability and thus strikes us as a huge problem. We're trying to see if the whole messaging feature can be disabled for us. If not, the Yahoo Groups or MSN Groups seem like a better option.

 

Oddly, the chat room feature seems less of a problem. Although a "private setting", it can be confined to the Scouts themselves and/or simply be disabled entirely.

 

It seems strange to reflect on having "two deep leadership" in the electronic environment, but "better safe than sorry". It has certainly led to a thoughtful discussion among our leaders. My reasons for inquiring here, I suppose, were twofold:

 

1.) BSA has a well thought out YP program. I figured this had likely already been well mapped out at higher levels and someone could point the way to protocols that need be followed or at least guidelines; and that

 

2.) I also felt sure that we weren't the first to encounter and consider these issues and hope to get a sampling of other leaders thoughts from the Scouting Community at large.

 

So, again, thanks for the replies and I hope others add their thoughts...

 

 

 

 

 

(This message has been edited by Timekeeper)

[ScoutData]

I am curious how you enforce the "leader must CC another leader" because that's almost impossible to enforce.

 

Youth protection issues aside (which can be debated endlessly), I am curious what you hope to gain from a forum.

 

Is this for communication between troops in your community, then perhaps its an issue the District should tackle and you should leave the youth out of it all together. If it's only for your unit... well I'd advise against it.

 

Nothing that can't be accomplished in a forum for a local group like a Scout unit can't be accomplished in a better, more personal, safer way offline.

 

Look at this site, debates about policies and politics can bring out the worst in people... so unless you want parents arguing about the dues policies and why the line up of campouts isn't as exciting as the troop their son's friend attends... I'd recommend you keep the content to committee meetings.

 

Just my opinion. From a youth protection issue, if you insist on a forum, I can tell you why we decided to not offer forums for our users.

 

Yours in Scouting,

Phillip Zedalis

Lead Developer - ScoutData.Com

http://www.scoutdata.com

[Timekeeper]

"I am curious how you enforce the "leader must CC another leader" because that's almost impossible to enforce."

 

You're totally right, SD. It's impossible to enforce. Perhaps, "firm rule" was inartful phrasing. Out Troop's leaders are told that it's our Troop's the way to send e-mails to the boys and we all have been following it. It's common sense, really, protecting both the boy and the leader. I know it's routinely done, as I'm frequently the one being "cc'd". But you're right. Just like any other YP rule, if someone wanted to foolishly, or with ill intent, circumvent it, it would be a simple matter to do so. It's just a wise practice, IMHO.

 

"Youth protection issues aside (which can be debated endlessly), I am curious what you hope to gain from a forum."

 

As membership numbers in town are dwindling, we've been debating how best to keep Scouting fun and intersting for the boys. There are many different ideas that we're kicking around. This is but one. The thinking was that computing, and time on the internet, particularly as a means of keeping in contact with each other, is unavoidable for the boys these days. My own sons log an astonishing amount of time online, despite all efforts to curtail it. *shrugs* Why not embrace the concept? Create a board where they could chat their heads off. To each other. Presumably, in relative safety.

 

Benefits? Well, info can be shared in an eyeblink. Excitement over upcoming trips could increase ("Are you going on this Camporee? Me too!"). Although our Troop's boys form friendships amongst each other easily enough, it was thought that inter Troop friendships might be made easier ("You mean you're 'Bowline 142'?! I can't believe you think the Yankees will win the East!"). Just an experiment, really, to try to develop another "hook" to keep the boys involved and, possibly, create another selling point to attract new Scouts.

 

"Is this for communication between troops in your community, then perhaps its an issue the District should tackle and you should leave the youth out of it all together. If it's only for your unit... well I'd advise against it."

 

Possibly it should be a District effort. One of the reasons for the original post, is to get opinions / suggestions like this. Ummm. But leaving the youth out of it defeats our aims (see above).

 

"Nothing that can't be accomplished in a forum for a local group like a Scout unit can't be accomplished in a better, more personal, safer way offline."

 

True, of course. And we are exploring other means of getting the boys to be more interactive in person. An increase in sporting activities, say. But, again, we're just trying to think up new and different wrinkles.

 

"Look at this site, debates about policies and politics can bring out the worst in people... so unless you want parents arguing about the dues policies and why the line up of campouts isn't as exciting as the troop their son's friend attends... I'd recommend you keep the content to committee meetings."

 

Honestly? We weren't even thinking of Parents posting (and griping)*shudder*. We were thinking it would be the Leaders and the Scouts. The Board would be moderated. And we had drafted a set of "Board Rules" that hammered home: "Remember, we're all Scouts. Behave that way or you'll lose posting priveliges, etc." But, again, you're right. Yet another thing to consider... See? I was right to post here.

 

"Just my opinion. From a youth protection issue, if you insist on a forum, I can tell you why we decided to not offer forums for our users."

 

Uhoh. I sense a horror story... Well, it's why I'm here. Lemme have it.

 

[BrotherhoodWWW]

What BB soft ware are you looking at using? Without knowing I can only offer a guess on how much you can turn on and off certain features. If the PM function raises red flags disable it. Whatever software you use I think you should be able to have more than one Admin with access to all information. I've used a bunch of different forum software as a simple member. I've had lengthy conversations with the owner of the site that I am an Admin for and of the three software packages he has worked with vBuletin has the best package as far as being able to set several levels of permissions. As an Admin I can concur with that. I am able to add moderators of individual forums, all forums, or any combination inbetween. I can further add administrators who have even more permissions. There are also differnt levels of user permissions that can be set. Other software packages have fewer options.

 

My Troop is in the process of moving to using Google Groups as our email system of communication. so that when one email is sent it goes to everyone. I also think you have to log into the group to send the email or post. Past messages show up as threaded BB like format. With this route and several different leaders with Admin permissions I do not see how there could ever be any YP problems, but I may be wrong.

 

I would like to echo those that ask why you are thinking of using a forum. Phone calls, Troop and Patrol meetings should be all that is necessary IMHO. It worked for years before Algore invented the internet.

[Timekeeper]

"What BB soft ware are you looking at using? Without knowing I can only offer a guess on how much you can turn on and off certain features. If the PM function raises red flags disable it."

 

It's the former EZBoard (now Yuku). It is very flexible with security features. Still exploring them. Haven't found a means to disable PMs, yet. If that's possible, that is the easy answer and the way we'll go.

 

"Whatever software you use I think you should be able to have more than one Admin with access to all information. I've used a bunch of different forum software as a simple member. I've had lengthy conversations with the owner of the site that I am an Admin for and of the three software packages he has worked with vBuletin has the best package as far as being able to set several levels of permissions. As an Admin I can concur with that. I am able to add moderators of individual forums, all forums, or any combination inbetween. I can further add administrators who have even more permissions. There are also differnt levels of user permissions that can be set. Other software packages have fewer options."

 

Yep. Multi- Mods are planned and the board allows it.

 

"I would like to echo those that ask why you are thinking of using a forum. Phone calls, Troop and Patrol meetings should be all that is necessary IMHO."

 

(see above...)

 

"It worked for years before Algore invented the internet."

 

Now I have coffee all over my monitor. Thanks for that... lol

(This message has been edited by timekeeper)

[Stosh]

We use our Yahoo Group for communication mostly between parents and kids. The boys can't post, only leaders. Boy and parents can keep up-to-date on what's happening but it isn't a chatroom for the boys. They have cell phones, text messaging, IM, and e-mail, they don't need the group for chatting. If they want to communicate with another boy in the troop, they can go to the membership area of the group, click on the boy and it sets up an e-mail. Phone numbers, etc. are also stored in a secure area so they can talk directly to any scout, leader, or parent with this information.

 

Stosh