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Southeastern Synod Website Policies

Purpose/Goal of the ELCA-Southeastern Synod Website

The primary purpose of the website is for distribution of information from the synod office.  The ELCA-Southeastern Synod’s web site address is www.elca-ses.org. The synod’s websteward (appointed by the Bishop) is responsible for maintaining and authorizing payment for the site.

Audience

The audience consists of: rostered persons in our synod, lay leaders of congregations; ELCA Lutherans who may be planning to visit or relocate from other areas; synod congregation members; former members and friends; and affiliate organizations.

Guidelines for privacy of members and others

Individuals' home addresses and phone numbers will not be posted (unless specifically approved by that individual).

The names of individuals in photos will not be listed. If an individual is prominently featured in a photo, permission will be asked of that individual before posting the photo.

Photos of children will not be posted without permission.

General procedures

The website is not to be considered a primary historical archive for documents. Newsletters will be kept on the website for no more than one year. Other documents may be deleted at any time.

In consultation with the Bishop, the websteward has final responsibility for the content of the synod website. The websteward has all authority for making additions, changes, and deletions to any part of the site; the overall “look” of the site (default masthead, footers, background color, and text attributes); content and blocks on the home page; and any links to other sites (see below). 

It is possible that certain portions of the website could be created and maintained by various persons or groups (e.g. LYO, etc), but only the websteward will have the ability to post material directly to the website.  Efforts will be made to post information as soon as possible, however, information may not be posted for several business days.  If information to be posted is of an urgent nature and should be posted immediately, the websteward must be contacted personally.     

Decisions regarding content will take into account the primary purpose of the web site as well as available time and skill level of the websteward.

Links

The ELCA-Southeastern Synod website will provide links to the following entities, as requested

·        the homepage of the website of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America;

·        all ELCA churches within our synod;

·        sites that have a direct relationship with our synod--i.e. commissions, committees, task forces, teams, organizations and missions that the synod partners with, supports financially, or endorses—provided they comply with synod website link guidelines (see below);

·        agencies involved with ad hoc projects of our synod (e.g. a link to the conference center for synod assembly, etc.) on a temporary basis.

The synod websteward will maintain a review of selected websites offering information on related topics and will consider requests for links to be included in this review.

When a link is created to material posted to the web by some other individual, group, or organization, it is done in good faith that the material is freely available to the public and may include material of interest to those visiting our site; but without any guaranty of the value or accuracy of the material since there is no control over materials created by others.

Websites or webpages of synod commissions, committees, task forces, teams, etc (hereafter known as synod groups) who wish a link from the synod webpage should

·        contain the contact details of the person responsible for modifying the content and the date and time that content was last modified or updated

·        provide a coherent and consistent image of the position of the group within the synod and reflect relevant relationships to other synod groups

·        include a link to the Southeastern Synod home page

·        establish a visual identity and maintain it consistently

·        provide navigational links that appear and behave in a consistent fashion

Removal of Links

Links to external websites will be reviewed regularly and may be removed without further notice. Some of the reasons for the removal of an external link include:

·        The link no longer points to the original information or resource;

·        The information pointed to by the link is inaccurate or misleading;

·        Access to the information has become difficult due to non-standard formatting, lengthy download times or intrusive advertising; or

·        The link is permanently unreachable or remains unavailable for a lengthy period.

This policy sets forth general principles for use by the ELCA-Southeastern Synod in maintaining a user friendly, relevant, up-to-date website. These principles may be assumed not to cover all possibilities and circumstances.

Approved by Bishop Ron Warren 1/2/04