Greetings from the Kingdom Webminister!
I wanted to share some updates about the kingdom website with you all. Most notably, the membership expiration dates listed in various places on the site are now linked to the dates provided monthly by the Corporate office, so there is no longer a need to enter your expiration date or update it when you renew. Do note that we only get this data once a month, so if you renew your membership it will not reflect right away. If it has been over a month and it does not appear updated, please contact the Kingdom Seneschal to look into the issue (not the website support team - we'll just forward it to the Seneschal). As always, your renewal letter (available from the
SCA.org membership portal) or your updated membership card are valid forms of verification of membership status, regardless of what is displayed on the kingdom website. If you need to provide proof of membership, those items are easy ways (and can be emailed by you easily if electronic confirmation is needed).
Technical updates: we are working to get a new website built, so in the meantime you won't see much for new features on the existing website. One thing we are actively working to do on the existing site is the implementation of SSL, to provide added security for your personal data. We try to limit what personal data is available on the site, but we want to protect what IS there.
Contacting support: if you are facing an issue with the website, please reach out to the website support team at support@northshield.org or via the
Northshield Website Support Page on Facebook. If you are able to provide screenshots of the problems you're facing, that often helps us troubleshoot the issue. We know it can be very frustrating when the site isn't behaving as you expect it to, but the more details we have about the problem and what you're expecting the site to do (that it's not doing), the faster we can resolve it for you.
Website content: as a reminder, most of the content on the kingdom website is provided/managed by the kingdom officers responsible for the information (not by the webminister's office). If you have questions or concerns about the content, it is best to contact the officer responsible first. For example, all of the combat authorization information is maintained by the Clerk of the Roster, so reaching out to COR@northshield.org is the best way to request updates. The same is true for the Calendar - reach out to the Event Information Officer (calendar@northshield.org) for any questions or updates. This direct approach helps ensure that any updates are performed as per the instructions or guidelines of the office responsible, instead of hoping the website support team does it right :)
Please feel free to visit the Northshield Website Support Facebook Page if you are looking for answers to generalized questions or would like to have a public discussion regarding the website. (Individual issues can be reported via the Page, but are likely to be handled privately via email)