31 results found

1. Keep Me Logged In!

   For the Mountaineers website when logging in there used to be a feature to check a check box that says "Remember Me" which would keep you logged in. Now that feature is no longer there and I keep getting logged out of the website, and have to keep logging back in which is a bit of an inconvenience and annoyance.

   Can the Mountaineers add that feature back to the login so I can stay logged in and I'll have to keep logging in every time I visit the website?

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   Declined  ·  AdminKristina Ciari Tursi (Admin, The Mountaineers) responded

   Thanks for submitting this idea. When we upgraded to the newest version of Plone, that button was dropped because the newest standard is to keep folks logged in for a set period of time. You should therefore remain logged in without the button.

2. Open source the website and allow members to submit pull requests

   Being based in Seattle, the Mountaineers is filled with software engineers, many of whom are chomping at the bit to contribute minor (and major) website changes that would remove some significant pain point or improve the experience. There seems to be a ton of low hanging fruit that could be knocked out fairly quickly by a set of people who are among the best coders in the world.

   Obviously, we can't allow anyone to make whatever changes they want, but the model most open source projects use seems reasonable to follow, especially for a non-profit, volunteer run club. That is, make the website frontend and backend code open source, and allow volunteers with expertise in coding to clone it, make code changes, and submit their change to the official maintainers in the form of a pull request. Only the maintainers can review the code and can approve/reject it if it meets quality standards and isn't an objectionable change.

   Every open source software project on the planet runs this way and has been used to build some incredible things with no money paid to contributors.

   If this idea gains traction, it might make sense to soft test it with a small set of volunteers who are selected for their expertise and willingness to review the existing code and make sure it is safe to actually make public.

   Being based in Seattle, the Mountaineers is filled with software engineers, many of whom are chomping at the bit to contribute minor (and major) website changes that would remove some significant pain point or improve the experience. There seems to be a ton of low hanging fruit that could be knocked out fairly quickly by a set of people who are among the best coders in the world.

   Obviously, we can't allow anyone to make whatever changes they want, but the model most open source projects use seems reasonable to follow, especially for a non-profit, volunteer run club. That is,… more

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   Declined  ·  AdminKristina Ciari Tursi (Admin, The Mountaineers) responded

   Thank you for your offer of help and support. We get a lot of emails from IT folks offering to help, particularly folks with development experience. While we appreciate it, our website is not terribly complicated but is incredibly specific to our organization. To effectively play in that space, someone needs to be both a master of our technology stack AND have a detailed and nuanced understanding of the interplay between volunteer needs, user behaviors, and how the backend systems sync and impact each other.

   
   

   One example is the Route/Place called Leavenworth. This is a climbing destination used to approximate all the climbing walls in Leavenworth. Does that nomenclature make any sense? Absolutely not! However, it’s how we’ve always used it, and if we were to change the name it would have significant downstream impacts on other routes/places, for our climbing committees, and for our permitting requirements (among others). This is an example of something that someone might see and say, “hey, this makes no sense, let’s improve it!”, without knowing the full context. For that reason, we have chosen to hire staff to run our IT needs even though we have volunteers who could do it, just as we have chosen to hire a CEO even though we have volunteers with executive leadership experience.

   
   

   We also discussed the idea of giving a technology committee access to our GitHub and/or developers to support development, or find another way to get volunteers involved “since their time is free”. As the person who has been the go-between with our developers and staff right now, I can tell you, managing the project is a full-time job, and we don’t have staff capacity to manage a larger team of volunteers for this. We did try this approach in the beginning (2014 when we launched with a technology committee). But, as sometimes happens with committees, it was not ultimately successful and was disbanded by the committee’s choice.

   
   

   One last piece of info: we currently have a contract for 20 hours/month with our developer team, Jazkarta. That is to fix bugs and implement small improvements as possible. Then, for this fiscal year, we contracted eight iterations of work at the price of $10k/iteration. Each iteration completes about 20-30 hours worth of work, and that’s how we’re able to do the bigger tech improvements. We recently launched the result of two iterations, Tech Update 4.5.

   
   

   For these reasons, and more, we will not be offering access to our technology stack to volunteers.

   Thank you for your offer of help and support. We get a lot of emails from IT folks offering to help, particularly folks with development experience. While we appreciate it, our website is not terribly complicated but is incredibly specific to our organization. To effectively play in that space, someone needs to be both a master of our technology stack AND have a detailed and nuanced understanding of the interplay between volunteer needs, user behaviors, and how the backend systems sync and impact each other.

   
   

   One example is the Route/Place called Leavenworth. This is a climbing destination used to approximate all the climbing walls in Leavenworth. Does that nomenclature make any sense? Absolutely not! However, it’s how we’ve always used it, and if we were to change the name it would have significant downstream impacts on other routes/places, for our climbing committees, and for our permitting requirements (among others).… more

3. Allow primary leaders to uncheck their "show as contact" for an activity

   Course and course lecture/field trip leaders are increasingly utilizing generic Committee profiles or Basic Course profiles as the Primary Leader for course related activities to make sharing the workload of answering participant questions and managing the rosters easier. Burnout is a common consideration I hear from leaders choosing to do this.

   However we need real people to lead activities for many reasons, chief among them are:
   • Someone from The Mountaineers (or approved by us) needs to be on site and manage the participants.
   • Our emergency and leadership teams needs to know who is in charges in case an incident or accident happens.
   • Someone needs to close the activity and assign credit.

   Allowing the removal of a primary leader as a contact for an activity will help volunteers by ensuring that questions go to a shared inbox (listed as a co-leader), will help members by reducing the time they wait for answers from a single individual, while preserving our ability to quickly identify the accountable individual on the ground at these activities and at-bat for closing the activity on the website.

   As a side-benefit, leaders might adopt the use of the "mentored leader" activity role more readily if they have the ability to display the mentored leader as the sole contact for the activity.

   Course and course lecture/field trip leaders are increasingly utilizing generic Committee profiles or Basic Course profiles as the Primary Leader for course related activities to make sharing the workload of answering participant questions and managing the rosters easier. Burnout is a common consideration I hear from leaders choosing to do this.

   However we need real people to lead activities for many reasons, chief among them are:
   • Someone from The Mountaineers (or approved by us) needs to be on site and manage the participants.
   • Our emergency and leadership teams needs to know who is in charges in case an… more

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   Declined  ·  AdminJeff Bowman (Associate Director of Information Technology, The Mountaineers) responded

   There are a number of questions tied up in this issue and we hear the need from leaders to share course admin work. We don’t feel that this is the right singular solution and we want to explore other options. A small team of staff will gather to work on this and propose alternate solutions.

4. Closing canceled activities

   I'm requesting that we change the way the website works for cancelled activities that were never open for registration. If I cancelled it I shouldn't have to close it too. Canceling should close it.

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   Declined  ·  AdminJeff Bowman (Associate Director of Information Technology, The Mountaineers) responded

   Cancelling activities needs to follow the closing process we have established, so that volunteers hours can be added and for consistency.

5. Road condition

   It can be a little difficult to get a clear idea about road conditions from the activity description. It would be helpful if a section is added specifically for this purpose.

   The description can include weather factors (such as snow, ice), road quality (fully paved, gravel, large potholes), and lastly type of cars preferred (accessible for all cars, accessible for 4WD, tire chains required).

   This would help participants plan better, arrange carpools if needed. It would also reduce the need for organizers to respond to individual questions from participants regarding road conditions.

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   Declined  ·  AdminJeff Bowman (Associate Director of Information Technology, The Mountaineers) responded

   Thank you for your suggestion about creating a place to provide current road conditions. We already encourage our participants and leaders to submit trip reports from their adventures and they’re encouraged to “include info about trail, route, and waterway conditions, especially any hazards you may have encountered (or avoided) and anything that may be changing with the seasons or weather.” You can find the most recent trip reports by visiting our Routes & Places, finding your specific location of interest, and clicking on the blue tab for “Trip Reports” when you scroll down. Our partners at the Washington Trails Association (wta.org) also have robust trip reports where you can often find the most recent trip reports with road conditions.

6. Rename "Exploring Nature" as "Nature hikes"

   I'm a new member, having been unable to hike for years because of joint replacement surgeries. I am starting out with nature hikes because they are often less strenuous. It took awhile to find the right page, because the hikes were labeled "Exploring Nature." It would be easier to find this page if it were called "Nature hikes."

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   Declined  ·  AdminJeff Bowman (Associate Director of Information Technology, The Mountaineers) responded

   Thanks for your suggestions Susan. We selected the “Exploring Nature” title for anything that falls into this category, which does include hikes but also includes other things like photography outings, Mini Mountaineers trips, and forest bathing. Some of our hikes are categorized as Exploring Nature but all of our Exploring Nature activities are hikes. For that reason we need to decline this idea.

7. Fix incident report excel export bug

   The incident report exports narratives in HTML. Change to plain text format. Example:

   <p>At 1:10 pm 1.5 miles from the trail head on the Spray Park Trail (heading back to Mowich Lake), participant tripped on a root and ended up bumping her brow bone on another root.  Student did not present with any signs of head trauma, the bump site swelled to approximately 2.5 cm in diameter and no bleeding was noted.  Patient reported minor discomfort, no current medications.  Applied a cold compress with bandana soaked with cold creek water and continued to hike out.  Patient still retained normal mentation and reported no significant discomfort associated with the bump.  Advised that she will likely get a black eye over the next couple days, the swelling may not go down right away, and to consult her normal physician if she has concerns.  Student was able to drive herself home with no further medical attention.</p>

   The incident report exports narratives in HTML. Change to plain text format. Example:

   <p>At 1:10 pm 1.5 miles from the trail head on the Spray Park Trail (heading back to Mowich Lake), participant tripped on a root and ended up bumping her brow bone on another root.  Student did not present with any signs of head trauma, the bump site swelled to approximately 2.5 cm in diameter and no bleeding was noted.  Patient reported minor discomfort, no current medications.  Applied a cold compress with bandana soaked with cold creek water and continued to hike out.  Patient still retained normal mentation… more

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   Declined  ·  AdminJeff Bowman (Associate Director of Information Technology, The Mountaineers) responded

   The way the report renders currently is not a bug. It is how rich text data is stored in the file of completed forms. Rich text allows those filing a report to be able to use simple formatting to add things like paragraph breaks in the narratives. Changing the Incident Narrative and Lessons Learned fields from Rich Text to Plain Text would be a huge step backwards, making it much harder to collect good data.
   This rich text only affects the data file download. There are two other sources of submitted incident reports, (1) the emailed report submission, and (2) the stored report submissions. Both of these are nicely formatted and easy to read.
   Because it’s raw data, it should be relatively easy to turn the downloaded file into one nicely-formatted document with any number of tools. One simple approach is to use the “mail merge” capability in the Word and Excel applications.
   We have the “Create More Robust Safety Committee Data Analysis” idea, http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/273688-general-feedback/suggestions/7002958-create-more-robust-safety-committee-data-analysis. It will provide an improved incident reporting and analysis system.

   The way the report renders currently is not a bug. It is how rich text data is stored in the file of completed forms. Rich text allows those filing a report to be able to use simple formatting to add things like paragraph breaks in the narratives. Changing the Incident Narrative and Lessons Learned fields from Rich Text to Plain Text would be a huge step backwards, making it much harder to collect good data.
   This rich text only affects the data file download. There are two other sources of submitted incident reports, (1) the emailed report submission, and (2) the stored report submissions. Both of these are nicely formatted and easy to read.
   Because it’s raw data, it should be relatively easy to turn the downloaded file into one nicely-formatted document with any number of tools. One simple approach is to use the “mail merge” capability in the Word… more

8. Add Kilometres to the "Length Units" on the posting activity page.

   We should have this option- we can post the km on the Pace. It makes absolutely no sense that we can't post the distance of the pace they are moving at with the same measurement
   Maybe we should get onto the '70s and make this an option?

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   Declined  ·  AdminJeff Bowman (Associate Director of Information Technology, The Mountaineers) responded

   Thanks for sharing your idea. Unfortunately, we need to decline this. As the overwhelming majority of our courses take place in the United States, where the standard unit of measurement is the imperial system, we’ve designed the website to work within this system. We do not have capacity to expand to kilometres at this time.

9. Badge Rosters Access

   To implement the new climbing leader progression (as well as the recently updated snowshoe leader progression), please give committee admins access to edit leader badge rosters. While there's a very small risk that someone could accidentally remove a person from a different branch from a badge roster, that's simple to fix. (note: if it can be possible to manager leader badges via the committee roster, that would also be a workable solution).
   Thanks!

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   Declined  ·  AdminJeff Bowman (Associate Director of Information Technology, The Mountaineers) responded

   Much like the “Access to Badge Rosters” idea, http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/273688-general-feedback/suggestions/6746686-access-to-badge-rosters, we have declined this idea.

   The practical constraints are that badge rosters are a compilation of other rosters managed through different avenues. Meaning course admins can grant badges through their course rosters by graduating students, and committee admins manage leader badges through their committees. We recognize that some committees need to assign more than one leader badge and that not all leaders get the same badge(s). We have the “Multiple Badges Within a Committee” idea, http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/273688-general-feedback/suggestions/37059466-multiple-badges-within-a-committee-gh2933, for this.

   The technical constraints are that (1) adding sharing permissions was partly broken in the Plone 5 update—fixing it is at least a small project, and (2) badge roster pages have issues that need fixed for them to be used for this.

   One option to relieve staff from having to add leaders to badge rosters and until the “Multiple Badges Within a Committee” idea is implemented is to use subcommittees to track leaders and assign them to badge rosters.

   Much like the “Access to Badge Rosters” idea, http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/273688-general-feedback/suggestions/6746686-access-to-badge-rosters, we have declined this idea.

   The practical constraints are that badge rosters are a compilation of other rosters managed through different avenues. Meaning course admins can grant badges through their course rosters by graduating students, and committee admins manage leader badges through their committees. We recognize that some committees need to assign more than one leader badge and that not all leaders get the same badge(s). We have the “Multiple Badges Within a Committee” idea, http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/273688-general-feedback/suggestions/37059466-multiple-badges-within-a-committee-gh2933, for this.

   The technical constraints are that (1) adding sharing permissions was partly broken in the Plone 5 update—fixing it is at least a small project, and (2) badge roster pages have issues that need fixed for them to be used for this.

   One option to relieve staff from having to add leaders to badge rosters and until the “Multiple Badges Within a… more

10. Climbing leaders need a course in basic geology, see West Ridge Cuttroat report.

    Mass wasting, the geological term, should not include Mountaineers.
    When I used to guide and teach climbing professionally, I would ask my clients and students to consider how all those rocks in the scree and talus slopes got there. Later as national park ranger, it became obvious that ignorance of basic geology was widespread, as evidenced by the body bags included with our gear.

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    Declined  ·  AdminJeff Bowman (Associate Director of Information Technology, The Mountaineers) responded

    Great suggestion Eric. As a volunteer-run organization, the content of our courses is determined by volunteers. We’ve had a number of sessions on local geology offered in the past, and would certainly support more in the future (ex: https://www.mountaineers.org/locations-lodges/olympia-branch/committees/olympia-hiking-backpacking-committee/course-templates/geology-in-your-own-backyard-olympia/activity-templates/geology-in-your-own-back-yard). The best way to ensure this curriculum is included is to work with the climbing committee at your branch, and while we cannot require this of our climb leaders, we can certainly encourage them to learn more about the natural world in addition to their climbing and leadership skills training.

11. Allow leaders to update a student's participation notes after a field trip is closed

    Leaders add participation notes to a student's profile if they fail to pass a critical skill and need reevaluation before they can register for a climb. We need to be able to update the participation note to include information when they do pass the skill, but this means we can't close the activity until all students have passed, unless we contact the program center to reopen. It would be nice if we could update participation notes.

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    Declined  ·  AdminJeff Bowman (Associate Director of Information Technology, The Mountaineers) responded

    We close activities so that we know that the records are up-to-date and to prevent accidentally editing an activity that is complete. An activity that was closed can be re-opened by staff or a committee admin if corrections are needed.

    If a student fails to meet one or more standards at a field trip and needs to attend a make-up session after practicing and improving, their successful completion should be recorded on the make-up session activity. This is so that we can see a student’s progress over time.

12. Need to add links to Branch websites under the "Branches and Committees" page of the main Mountaineers.org website

    Some of the branches, like the Olympia branch, have stand alone websites that provide much more information on their officers, committees, and activities than the main mountaineers.org website. It would be beneficial to all to clearly link the individual branch webpages to their respective branch pages under the "Branches and Committees" page of the Mountaineers.org site.
    I wasted a ton of time trying to find detailed info about the Olympia Branch on the Mountaineers.org site only to give up. I was finally told about the olympiamountaineers.org site and voila, there was all of the info I needed. A direct link from the Mountaineers.org website to the Olympiamountaineers.org site would be really helpful.

    Some of the branches, like the Olympia branch, have stand alone websites that provide much more information on their officers, committees, and activities than the main mountaineers.org website. It would be beneficial to all to clearly link the individual branch webpages to their respective branch pages under the "Branches and Committees" page of the Mountaineers.org site.
    I wasted a ton of time trying to find detailed info about the Olympia Branch on the Mountaineers.org site only to give up. I was finally told about the olympiamountaineers.org site and voila, there was all of the info I needed. A direct link… more

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    Declined  ·  Jeff Bowman responded

    We added branch home page and committee page features in July 2015. Since then our branches and committees have been moving content form their own websites to mountaineers.org. Most branches and committees have completed this. Our Olympia Branch is in the midst of this content migration and will be done soon.

13. Have a couple of pages in the magazine to post gear for sale - would be a great service to both seller and buyer

    Have a couple of pages in the magazine to post gear for sale - would be a great service for both seller and buyer.

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    Declined  ·  Tess Wendel responded

    Hi Sharon,
    Right now our magazine only comes out quarterly which means if you want something to show up for Spring magazine (mar/april/may). you have to have your gear contribution in by January 1. This is a long time to plan out selling something. After talking with additional folks interested in selling gear we’ve determined that gear sellers need to be able to have a more timely place to advertise gear. There is also no way to indicate that gear has been sold.

    We encourage folks to use Mountaineers Marketplace "https://www.facebook.com/groups/377304859047281/

14. Three day head start for basic students who don't yet have 3 climbs

    Good afternoon Jeff,

    Jim Nelson asked that I get in contact with you about a website feature we would like to explore in support of the Basic Climbing Course. We would like for the website to be able to flag Basic Course students who have not yet completed three climbs and give them a three-day head start in signing up for Basic climbs. As soon as a student has three successful climbs, the flag comes off and they have the same priority in signing up for climbs as prior-year Basic course graduates.

    This change addresses two long-simmering concerns:

    1. It gives students who have yet to complete the three-climb requirement for graduation a leg up in signing up for climbs and improves their ability to get three climbs.
    2. It puts prior year Basic Course graduates on equal footing with current year Basic Course students who have already completed the three-climb requirement, improving their chances of getting on climbs.
       

    Our thinking is that prior-year Basic Course graduates and current-year Basic Course students who already have three climbs are equally likely to seek additional basic climbs and advance to the Intermediate Course. This revised website functionality might keep prior-year Basic Course graduates more active in our climbing community and might encourage them to move forward with the Intermediate Course, climb leadership, etc. Also, it is our guess that this functionality change would not dampen the enthusiasm of highly motivated current-year Basic Course students for seeking additional basic climbs and moving forward to the Intermediate Course.

    Best,

    Bill Ashby
    (206) 852 3008 (mobile)

    Good afternoon Jeff,

    Jim Nelson asked that I get in contact with you about a website feature we would like to explore in support of the Basic Climbing Course. We would like for the website to be able to flag Basic Course students who have not yet completed three climbs and give them a three-day head start in signing up for Basic climbs. As soon as a student has three successful climbs, the flag comes off and they have the same priority in signing up for climbs as prior-year Basic course graduates.

    This change addresses two long-simmering concerns:

    1. It gives… more
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    Declined  ·  Garrett Arnold responded

    Hi Climbers,

    Thanks for posting your suggestions on the feedback site. This has been an issue for many years, and this is not a problem with a technology solution – at least not right now (take a look at another Feedback idea with a healthy number of votes in opposition to pre-filling rosters before a trip is posted- http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/272594-leaders/suggestions/6939679-future-activity-sign-up-dates-modifying-registrat).

    Every option proposed has implications for every activity across the entire organization. If we allow trip rosters to be filled with students, we limit the availability of roster spots for course graduates like basic climbing students (who will leave The Mountaineers when climbs aren’t available to them). Whether we decide to favor students over general membership is a policy decision that needs to be made at a higher level in the organization, not by staff or a single committee. Because website/technology solutions apply to every activity we offer we need to consider the widest reaching implications of these types of decisions.

    We know trip shortages are an issue for all climbers: students and graduates alike. The “easier said than done” answer is to identify more Leaders to offer more trips. How to do that while maintaining our high standards is the subject of great debate (as you are all aware and engaged in yourselves). While we collectively work on growing volunteers, we believe robust cross-branch summits and sharing ideas with other committees who’ve addressed similar issues can generate good interim solutions. For example, we have seen the Conditioning Hiking Series manage extremely heavy competition for spots on rosters with some sign-up limitations imposed by the Hiking Committee. They post all hikes for a given month at the same time (on the 3rd Monday of the month). Students are only allowed to register for a maximum of 2 hikes at first, then can register for more when they receive an email stating more openings are available.

    Because of the policy implications, we have to decline this idea as proposed. We appreciate the efforts you’re putting in to graduating our students so that they can become leaders. If we decide, as an organization, that this should take priority over members having the chance to climb with us – those will be our marching orders. But we’re not certain it’s the right thing to do at this time.

    Hi Climbers,

    Thanks for posting your suggestions on the feedback site. This has been an issue for many years, and this is not a problem with a technology solution – at least not right now (take a look at another Feedback idea with a healthy number of votes in opposition to pre-filling rosters before a trip is posted- http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/272594-leaders/suggestions/6939679-future-activity-sign-up-dates-modifying-registrat).

    Every option proposed has implications for every activity across the entire organization. If we allow trip rosters to be filled with students, we limit the availability of roster spots for course graduates like basic climbing students (who will leave The Mountaineers when climbs aren’t available to them). Whether we decide to favor students over general membership is a policy decision that needs to be made at a higher level in the organization, not by staff or a single committee. Because website/technology solutions apply to every activity we offer we need… more

15. Create @mountaineers.org email address for committees

    Currently a number of committees have created Gmail addresses, which are shared between chairs, course leaders, etc. It seems like there should be @mountaineers.org addresses for this

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    1 comment  ·  Volunteers  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  Jeff Bowman responded

    Unfortunately we do not have the resources to manage and support the number of email addresses this would require. Management includes initial setup, support desk for access issues, and volunteer turnover.

16. Publicly accessible API

    As a member of the Mountaineers, I'd love to give back in a way that I have particular expertise.

    It would be great of the website had a public facing REST API for exposing data such as events and classes.

    At least in a read capacity. My particular goal would be to write an Android (and possibly iOS) app to browse the events and what not.

    It would be great to have easy native access to my up coming events, and be able to launch navigation to the event right from the app.

    I have extensive experience writing and working with REST APIs and consuming them via mobile clients.

    As a member of the Mountaineers, I'd love to give back in a way that I have particular expertise.

    It would be great of the website had a public facing REST API for exposing data such as events and classes.

    At least in a read capacity. My particular goal would be to write an Android (and possibly iOS) app to browse the events and what not.

    It would be great to have easy native access to my up coming events, and be able to launch navigation to the event right from the app.

    I have extensive experience writing and working… more

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    9 comments  ·  Members  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  AdminKristina Ciari Tursi (Admin, The Mountaineers) responded

    We receive a lot of offers from IT folks offering to help, particularly folks with development experience. While we appreciate it, our website is not terribly complicated but is incredibly specific to our organization. To effectively play in that space, someone needs to be both a master of our technology stack AND have a detailed and nuanced understanding of the interplay between volunteer needs, user behaviors, and how the backend systems sync and impact each other.

    
    

    For that reason, we have chosen to hire staff to run our IT needs even though we have volunteers who could do it, just as we have chosen to hire a CEO even though we have volunteers with executive leadership experience.

    
    

    We also discussed the idea of giving a technology committee access to our GitHub and developers to support development, or find another way to get volunteers involved “since their time is free”. And we have learned that we don’t have staff capacity to manage a larger team of volunteers for this. We did try this approach in the beginning (2014 when we launched with a technology committee). But, as sometimes happens with committees, it was not ultimately successful and was disbanded by the committee’s choice.

    
    

    At this point, we do not see a path forward where any of our technology will be volunteer-owned, particularly something like an app that we would have no control over and would ultimately be held accountable for if something were to go wrong. For that reason we're declining this idea, even though it's a generous and good one.

    We receive a lot of offers from IT folks offering to help, particularly folks with development experience. While we appreciate it, our website is not terribly complicated but is incredibly specific to our organization. To effectively play in that space, someone needs to be both a master of our technology stack AND have a detailed and nuanced understanding of the interplay between volunteer needs, user behaviors, and how the backend systems sync and impact each other.

    
    

    For that reason, we have chosen to hire staff to run our IT needs even though we have volunteers who could do it, just as we have chosen to hire a CEO even though we have volunteers with executive leadership experience.

    
    

    We also discussed the idea of giving a technology committee access to our GitHub and developers to support development, or find another way to get volunteers involved “since their time is free”. And… more

17. Display activity start time next to date

    Display an activity start time prominently along with the date, and as a mandatory field. It wastes time to go through several screens only to see that no time is listed, or the start time won't work for your personal schedule.

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    Declined  ·  Jeff Bowman responded

    The current meeting time and place field is rich text to allow leaders to explain start times. For example, sometimes a leader puts in both start time at trailhead and where and when they are meeting at a park and ride.

    Our leaders requested this flexibility so it would be a pretty big change to switch this to being a single field or adding another field that leaders need to complete is not practical.

18. Create online credit card intake form for credit cards for all rental clients

    Hey Jeff,

    I'm putting this here to request we make an online form that will allow our rental clients to submit credit card information and to authorize we charge their card for rental deposits and final payments. This eventually needs to be a broader conversation with Gabriella and Barbara because they actual do the charging and I collect the information.

    Benefits:
    - Reduced time in playing phone tag with clients.

    • Better experience with clients and faster turn-around time between inquery/booking/deposit/final payment

    • Easier to require CC information to be kept on file for deliquent charges or additional costs. It can often take weeks for some clients to send us a check or they can take a long time calling me back with CC information. I'd like to require we always have a CC on file.

    • Reduced paper use.

    Hey Jeff,

    I'm putting this here to request we make an online form that will allow our rental clients to submit credit card information and to authorize we charge their card for rental deposits and final payments. This eventually needs to be a broader conversation with Gabriella and Barbara because they actual do the charging and I collect the information.

    Benefits:
    - Reduced time in playing phone tag with clients.

    • Better experience with clients and faster turn-around time between inquery/booking/deposit/final payment

    • Easier to require CC information to be kept on file for deliquent charges or additional costs. It can often… more

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    Declined  ·  Jeff Bowman responded

    Garrett: For security reasons, we cannot store credit card information on our local computers, local servers, or our website. This is why we have the “Organization & Online Invoicing” project, http://feedback.mountaineers.org/forums/273688-general-feedback/suggestions/17914396-organizations-online-invoicing-sd562.

    We can do it on paper, but even that is a “no no” as far as credit card security is concerned. Paper is somewhat acceptable, because the credit card information may be redacted or the paper destroyed.

    I just talked to Barbara and there is a possibility of using Acumatica for invoicing until we get the website project done. It’s not exactly what you requested, but it should help quite a bit.

19. Leader Permission Links

    Posting on behalf of a Mountaineer Leader.

    The location of the "Request Leader's Permission" link is very confusing because it looks as if permission is required to be a leader of the trip rather than a participant.

    What's more confusing is that the screenshot is from this trip to Lila Lakehttps://www.mountaineers.org/explore/activities/backpack-lila-lake-1, which is not set up to have any any assistant leaders, so one wonders why "leader prerequisites" are shown at all. I thought I might be seeing a different screen because I am a backpack leader, but the screen looks the same when viewed in incognito mode (i.e. not logged in to the Mountaineers site).

    I'm posting this on behalf of friend who had set a timer to be able to sign up for this trip when it opened, and had looked at the page many times and concluded that the "Leader's Permission" link did not apply to them. They were surprised when they were unable to register when registration finally opened.

    One possible improvement would be to consider "Leader's Permission to be a prerequisite, and to list it at the top of the "prerequisites" section instead of at the bottom. The fact that is says "Prerequisites: None" is confusing in cases where there is in fact a prerequisite to get permission. I know that's not a "prerequisite" in the sense intended by the website (which of course means prerequisite badges) but may be confusing to people who are unfamiliar with website internals.

    Posting on behalf of a Mountaineer Leader.

    The location of the "Request Leader's Permission" link is very confusing because it looks as if permission is required to be a leader of the trip rather than a participant.

    What's more confusing is that the screenshot is from this trip to Lila Lakehttps://www.mountaineers.org/explore/activities/backpack-lila-lake-1, which is not set up to have any any assistant leaders, so one wonders why "leader prerequisites" are shown at all. I thought I might be seeing a different screen because I am a backpack leader, but the screen looks the same when viewed in incognito mode… more

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    Declined  ·  Jeff Bowman responded

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Our member services team has not received additional feedback from our members that this is an issue. If in the future we receive feedback about this we can re-open this idea.

20. Allow activity posting while new route is pending review

    For short notice trips and to reduce frustration in posting trips, leaders should be able to post an activity for a new route/place as soon as it is requested. The current wait period for review/approval of a new route significantly discourages posting of short notice trips and adds significantly to the time requirement for posting trips.

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    1 comment  ·  Activities  ·  Delete…  ·  Admin →
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    Declined  ·  Jeff Bowman responded

    Thanks for the suggestion, Will!

    We cannot do this for a few reasons, mostly related to the user experience for our members and guests.

    Members would get an error message if they try to view a route/place that has not yet been edited an published. This would happen if an activity listing used an unpublished route/place.

    If we did allow Routes & Places to be published before they were reviewed, those viewing it would find them lacking vital information.

    Since launch, nearly 1,000 new Routes & Places have been added. Some of them have been quite good, but the vast majority were missing vital information and needed a significant update to be ready for our members and guests to view them.

    Also, of these new Routes & Places, more than a third of them were duplicates.

    I am not sure what we can do about the turn around time for new Routes & places. We advertise 48 business hours, but more often than not, turn them around in much less time, most often less than 24 hours after they were submitted.

    I hope this explanation helps. Please let me know if you have any questions.

    Thanks again for all you do!

    Jeff

    Thanks for the suggestion, Will!

    We cannot do this for a few reasons, mostly related to the user experience for our members and guests.

    Members would get an error message if they try to view a route/place that has not yet been edited an published. This would happen if an activity listing used an unpublished route/place.

    If we did allow Routes & Places to be published before they were reviewed, those viewing it would find them lacking vital information.

    Since launch, nearly 1,000 new Routes & Places have been added. Some of them have been quite good, but the vast majority were missing vital information and needed a significant update to be ready for our members and guests to view them.

    Also, of these new Routes & Places, more than a third of them were duplicates.

    I am not sure what we can do about the turn around time for… more