Latest News, How Do HQ Send Out This Information

What criteria do the club use for notifying members of something important and how do they go about it?

Last night I heard of a road closure affecting the Moreton-in -Marsh site for quite some time. After having a quick look on the forum I could see no mention of it so I posted the news under the discussions column “Uk Sites and Touring” fore warning members of the problem. I pointed out in a second post that I was surprised the club had made no announcement.

In a reply, a moderator informed me that an announcement had been made under the Moreton-in- Marsh site's own page and was to be found under “Site Information”.  What a poor way to send out important information. Who in their own right would think or even know of going to all this trouble, in fact why would they. The moderator in question admitted he wasn’t aware of the news and had only searched it out after reading my post.

Wouldn’t it be a lot simpler and more effective to send out such important information on the front page of the web site when it was first opened up? There is a box on that page titled “Latest News”, wouldn’t this be a more obvious choice to make a vital announcement. If placed on the front page it would hit you straight in the face when a member logs on. Placing it where it is in “Site Information” is totally pointless. A member might log on to the site for something entirely different so would miss the announcement.

To get to that point, “Site Information” requires seven separate actions after you have logged on. The whole process is unnecessary and difficult to understand.

I would be interested to hear from HQ the reasons behind the chosen method when there is a simpler and more direct way of making sure that members know. After all what is the box “Latest News” actually for.