Website Policy

Purpose of the CVUUS Website

The CVUUS website provides easily updatable news and information about CVUUS and Unitarian Universalism. The website’s primary purpose is informational rather than social or interactive. The website serves the following audiences:

  • The congregation at large
  • Newcomers
  • Members and friends
  • The CVUUS Board and lay leaders
  • Staff
  • The broader community

Domain Name

Our website address is www.cvuus.org, www.cvuus.net, or www.cvuus.com (all three work). The URL cvuus.org should be used in any communications or publications about CVUUS.

Website Maintainers

A core group of four to five organizers, including designated lay leaders and staff, coordinate and manage the CVUUS website. We have a very good and broad working knowledge of Unitarian Universalism and of CVUUS, and are comfortable with website technology. We may

  • Give CVUUS members and staff accounts with which to edit the site
  • Create, edit, and delete pages and uploaded files

Normally, website account holders are CVUUS staff, board members, committee chairs, and affinity group coordinators. To request an account, please contact the church office.

Website Editorial Guidelines

CVUUS website content will:

Currently all web pages are public. At this time, there are no discussion groups on our site.

Calendar

Because calendar management is essential for the coordination of overall building use, the CVUUS office administrator is the primary calendar-keeper. All event-scheduling is coordinating by the office administrator, so that s/he can make sure there are no calendar conflicts and no competing requests for space use. This avoids situations where committee chairs or individuals are posting events to the calendar directly, potentially bypassing the office. After the weekly news blast and the monthly newsletter, the office administrator, or a designated back-up calendar-keeper, posts events to the CVUUS  calendar.

Google Docs (Google Drive)

Note: Some CVUUS committees also keep basic working documents on Google Drive (drive.google.com). If your committee keeps working documents on Google Drive or elsewhere on the web, please make sure that the CVUUS office administrator knows and has permission to access that information.

When uploading files, and unless a file will need to be edited, it’s helpful to provide a PDF version in case people have trouble opening Word or other documents. Name files and images with easily identifiable names, using consistent terms for similar kinds of files. Files and images appear alphabetically in the wiki’s general list of files. They’re easier to locate, if needed, when names are basic, logical, and consistent.

Contact Information

Lay leaders normally use the church office email, phone, and/or address (office@cvuus,org, 802-388-8080, 2 Duane Court, Middlebury, Vermont 05753) on any public web page as the primary mode of contact. This protects individuals from email spammers and unwanted phone calls. It also provides for continuity of content when, for example, committee chairs or board members change. Staff will decide which contact information to use for themselves on the website.

Privacy

Although CVUUS does not yet have a Board-approved personal and website privacy policy, privacy issues are very important to consider when authoring and editing CVUUS wiki pages. Please review carefully the Privacy Policy and Web Site Privacy Policy of the First Unitarian Universalist Church (Rochester, Minnesota) for helpful and detailed guidelines about the use of individual names, contact information, and photos. At the very least, follow the UUA’s “better left out” guidelines in Creating Congregation Websites: “Ask permission before posting:

  • Personal information about your members (phone numbers, addresses).
  • Photos of your members.
  • Note: For CVUUS purposes “members” means members and friends, including children. “Addresses” include personal email addresses.

Editorial Style and Voice

When information is posted to the CVUUS website, it’s posted for all the world to read. The best web style is expository or journalistic, simple, clear, and direct, and above all, BREIF.

Assume that your audience knows very little about the aspect of CVUUS that you’re describing. Provide basic information. Remember to spell out acronyms and abbreviations! For reference and for consistency, see the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Editorial Guide.

Observe copyright. Cite all sources of information. images, and other media.

When posting information about your committee, or group, consider including some of the following subtopics to describe your committee’s or group’s purpose and activities. Many of the subtopics below are drawn from previous Leadership Development Committee forms. Committee information can appear all on one page, but consider page length and layout. Committee-related policies, procedures, documents, and UUA resources, can appear on separate pages linked to your main committee page.

  • Name of committee
  • Contact information (i.e., the church office)
  • Committee charge or group purpose
  • Key tasks, responsibilities, or activities
  • Skills, attributes, characteristics of committee members
  • Number and composition of committee members
  • Amount of time required
  • Length of commitment
  • Support and training needed
  • Succession planning
  • Committee budget needs—general overview
  • Committee calendar
  • Committee policies (as approved by Board)
  • Photos of committee activities
  • Other committee documents
  • UUA resources

Website Resources