..and the point was well-noted. But, I had to respond to the way that it was.

I don't think that shpeil was necessary for a comment about MSU people telling other people to stop whining about things.

We get no action for any of our concerns, and we're fed up with it. Especially engineers IMO - we turn to our MES to help us because we know how that's how things get done.

Sorry that you feel that way and I was hoping we could try and enlighten both of you on ways that would perhaps better your feelings towards what work has been done.

I still feel that my schpeal was more than necessary since his post was directed at me which I felt wasn't entirely fair. I tried to explain why I thought that but I do not believe it sunk in with you two. After all, I was agreeing the entire time with your concerns about the website.

I see where David is coming from with regards to the 'official' website sources, and his point is definitely valid. The MSU website needs to be updated on a much more regular basis with regards to making information easier to find to make an informed decision. MacInsiders, as an unofficial source, shouldn't be the first or only source posting up information like that.

That said, what can we do about it? I don't know a specific answer to that, and is one of the reasons MacInsiders was founded in the first place since there was that gap in information. A possibility would be to e-mail members within the MSU who have the power to make changes and request they put up the updates that you seek.

I agree with Chad. I really think that if you have so many problems, take them up with those in higher positions than Temara! She's doing the best she can to get the information out there. When she knows something's going on, she puts up here cause she KNOWS students read MacInsiders. She posts crap at 2 or 3 in the morning because thats when she gets home from SRA meetings! Yes, the MSU website sucks, Yes, we all have issues with the MSU, No, Macinsiders shouldn't have to be the only source for this information but harping on Temara isn't going to fix any of this. Like I said, she's doing the best she can with what she's given.


And I'm glad that the MES is so wonderful. Get some of the MES exec involved in the MSU/SRA (and I know some are) and help make the MSU as wonderful.

Originally Posted by DavidR

Temera, again you're telling me to look on this website for information about the referendum. You mention it was brought up at the GA - unfortunately I had class, and according to our SRA who mentioned only about 35 people showed up - so did almost 20,000 other students.

David: What Temara is trying to say is that she agrees with you. She would like to see the MSU website be a frequently updated place for information and a hub for students to be better informed, but it isn't something she is in control over. She voted in favour of improving the MSU site, but she doesn't have direct control to update content. She only mentioned the other things as alternatives you can go to get further information to help you, while there's still nothing on the MSU site. Not as an excuse to there not being stuff on the MSU website, there should be, but that those are other places you could get the info you seek (GA meeting, MacInsiders, a Facebook site, etc). So until the MSU website gets update, go and get info from those alternative sources.

What we know is whats on the poster see attached

Right now the duty of updating the website is left to the MSU Webmaster and Network Admin. From what I've seen, are spread thin and there's only so much they can do with the resources they have. Plus, ORBIS Portal not being the easiest system to use, doesn't help.

I'd recommend that the "student life development coordinator" (a full-time job within the MSU) be the person who has the job of updating the website daily and keep content fresh in the news section, posting general info/news/updates/events/achievements of student clubs/referendum information/etc. The Webmaster is busy maintaining the website and helping services put up content, while the Network Admin keeps the servers working. It's a tough job for both of them. While having each service section updated is important, that's not where the most frequent updates will be. There needs to be a blog-style news section on the homepage, similar to how we have it.

What do you guy's think could be done to keep you going back to the MSU website and make it a regular place to get your MSU-related news and stay informed?

Chad, Not entirely sure how we can improve the msu website since "apparently"(Atle ast according to what i've read so far) NO ONE is directly responsible for its constant updating, I don't think the webmaster can be held liable for updating content. A solution would be to create a paid position(I know MSU isn't doing well financially but bear with me) of a "Msu webpage content manager" with a seperate email address to which official people/societies dump whatever they think is neccesary to be put up at the msu website. He should be competent enough to sort through the mails, condense them(or the officials/societies could be asked to adhere to a certain format/word limit) and then post them up. I think people do that right now as well, but these people aren't as efficient(no offence) at doing so because that job constitutes a small percentage of their overall responsibilites. They can easily advertise this position on the site etc, creating student jobs is never a bad thing eh?
Another point is that an updated/informative Msu site might help in reducing the overall apathy that i've noticed in the student body, If they find the site easy to use and informative they might as well get involved in the long run!

Woah woah woah... I missed a bunch here.

Just to clarify - the only point I was saying toward Temara was "Temara, again you're telling me to look on this website for information about the referendum. You mention it was brought up at the GA - unfortunately I had class, and according to our SRA who mentioned only about 35 people showed up - so did almost 20,000 other students."

The rest of that paragraph was a more general point. I can see now that it looks like it was directed at Temara and I apologize for any confusion in that regard. When I said "MSU People" I did not mean to imply Temera at all. Sorry!

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

NO ONE is directly responsible for its constant updating

From what I've seen, the webmaster and network admin are the ones currently doing the updating. Which is why I suggested passing the responsibilities of 'daily updates' to someone else, either a new position or the Student Life coordinator.

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

I know MSU isn't doing well financially but bear with me

This is a completely off-topic point but the budget isn't as bad as people might think it is. We're actually doing pretty well.. off-topic but yea..

I'm going to ask some questions about some things with the website and get back with answers as soon as possible..

Originally Posted by Chad

From what I've seen, the webmaster and network admin are the ones currently doing the updating. Which is why I suggested passing the responsibilities of 'daily updates' to someone else, either a new position or the Student Life coordinator.

What is the point of the webmaster then? They are paid for 14 hours per week. If not updating the site (daily), what are they using those hours for?

Sarah (the Webmaster) does a lot of artistic stuff -- the homepage banners and whatnot are made and designed by her. Some of the services utilize them but (using Compass as an example) we don't have enough knowledge of Photo Shop to create something like that, so she does.

There is also answering emails. They take up a hell of a lot of your time, especially because you have to respond to most of them as well as write others in regards to other things. I know for me sometimes this can take up to 1/4 of one of my shifts, or 30 minutes.

Originally Posted by Chad

From what I've seen, the webmaster and network admin are the ones currently doing the updating. Which is why I suggested passing the responsibilities of 'daily updates' to someone else, either a new position or the Student Life coordinator.

Yes, for the most part. Some of the services have most of the control (i.e. Compass), but if there is anything artistic that needs to go up there it is often out of our hands.

I don't know which services actually update on their own, and on a regular basis. I know Compass has a lot of control over their website and update often, but if you look at some of the other services you can see it's not done at the same frequency.

Originally Posted by temara.brown

This is a completely off-topic point but the budget isn't as bad as people might think it is. We're actually doing pretty well.. off-topic but yea..

I'm going to ask some questions about some things with the website and get back with answers as soon as possible..

Well Temara, I DO understand that a deficeit of 48k or so Isn't that much of a doomsday scenario, we still have reserve cash from yesteryears available, but this disclaimer was'nt aimed at Msu employees, it was more for the general everyday student who might say: "How can we PAY someone and spend extra money" when we are in a financial "disaster" etc.

And Chad Exactly my point BUT even though the webmaster and admin are doing a fair job they are not "liable/responsible" IF the website isn't updated according to a certain schedule. They do have other tasks to do as well! We need someone whose job hangs in the balance IF he doesn't update the website as instructed and according to a certain time period