Manual: Construction-Public Segments

Every page on a Referee Management Site is either Public or Private, in the context of the Site and the Internet. Typically, an entire Segment will be either public or private and each page it contains will be the same.

Basically, Public means that anyone surfing the Internet can view the information. Private means that only individuals recognized by the Chapter can view the information; the individual must logon to the Site in order to view Private pages.

What should be public?

There are several ways to answer this question. One way could be:

Whatever the Chapter wants to make Public

However, there is a certain implied, if not a formal, trust extended to any Chapter that the information people provide to it will be used appropriately. Clearly, certain personal information (e.g. Social Security Numbers) should not be publicly posted. Thus, we should find a different definition for what should be public.

It might be possible to say:

Everything except the information that the Chapter specifically identifies as Private

This is better, but still assumes that all information is Public until it is identified as needing to be Private. It's like using a door to control who has access to a room, but leaving the door wide open. Later, when you discover you need to stop the people from coming in and you shut the door, you can do nothing about those who have already entered. Essentially, trying to control information usage after it has been divulged is not a very good approach!

So, the best possible answer is:

All information is Private unless it is specifically identified as Public

This means that we will ONLY display information publicly that we specifically identify as being OK to do so. By default, all Names, Phone Numbers, SSNs, and ALL other information is private. We must take a specific action and make a determination to make something public.

Examples

RidgeStar recommends that all Site based information be deemed Private, as described above. The following types of information should be made Public:

1. Basic introduction and/or overview of the Chapter's mission and purpose
2. How to contact the Chapter with questions or to initiate membership (PO Box, central Phone number, etc.)
3. A Calendar of Chapter Events and Activities
4. The location of public venues used for Meetings and Matches (we usually call this Locations).

All other information should start out as Private, which requires the Visitor to Logon before they can see anything. Further, what they can see or do is controlled specifically by the Segments that they are authorized to utilize.

You can think of this as a "need to know" arrangement: If someone is not an Assignor, then they do not need access to the Assignor segment.

We strongly discourage making "everything" or "most things" Public. Avoid the tendency to do what is easiest and, instead, dig in, get it organized, and enjoy your Chapter's information being used properly: Everyone will thank you!!!