Tech Forum

Hello, I am the ward executive secretary. The bishop called a member to be the ward newsletter editor. I gave him permissions as a publisher online. He was able to access the newsletter on the church computer under his LDS.org account. Everything worked fine.

He is only able to access the internet with his android phone at home. He does not have a desktop computer. When he tries to access the ward newsletter on is phone, this is the error message he gets:

You don't have permission to access "http://www.lds.org/member-news/create-article?" on this server.

Reference#18.95881ab8.1470889213.12ca8c8

Any help would be appreciated. I am going to meet with him again this Sunday to see if I can notice anything out of the ordinary he is doing on his phone when logging in to lds.org.

I'm able to get to the form to create a new article by using Chrome for Android. I'd make sure that he's not using incognito mode.

ethzmoos wrote:You don't have permission to access "http://www.lds.org/member-news/create-article?" on this server.

Reference#18.95881ab8.1470889213.12ca8c8

Why does that URL start with "http:"? It should be "https:". On most browsers, if you access the http URL it will redirect to the equivalent https URL. But perhaps there is something about his mobile browser that fails to redirect. Have him try changing the URL to start with https.

For me, this is the link to create a new article:
https://www.lds.org/member-news?lang=eng#create-article

I guess the real question is just how is he trying to get to the newsletter? If he's pasting a link, it may be incorrect. But if he goes to lds.org and navigates from there, then it should work. As others have pointed out, there are issues with the link posted - but as I understand it it's part of the error message and may not be the actual link used.

I have, just today, Nov. 13, 2016, been called and set apart as the Ward Website Administrator and Ward Newsletter Editor. I have accessed the Newsletter and written an initial article and posted it. How do the ward members know that a new Newsletter item has been posted? I do not have the right to send an email to all the members of the ward, or do I? If so, where to I go to do that?
David King, Nauvoo First Ward

davidfking wrote:How do the ward members know that a new Newsletter item has been posted?

The tool is passive. No notification is part of the program. Members only know a new article is there if they log on and find it.

davidfking wrote:I do not have the right to send an email to all the members of the ward, or do I?

There is no capability from within the Newsletter application. You must use the Directory to send messages or the LDS Tools mobile application.

Actually, David probably doesn't have permission to send email from the directory. Only certain leaders have permission to do that (and I have never been able to find a list of exactly who those leaders are - can't understand why that must be such a closely guarded secret). It would be great if we (bishops, clerks, or someone at the ward level) could authorize specific members to send emails, but that isn't possible either. So, David will probably need to find someone else in the ward who can actually send emails for him, then figure out some manual process to write and send things through that other person.

jtjacks wrote:Actually, David probably doesn't have permission to send email from the directory. Only certain leaders have permission to do that

Oh? As a STS, I seem to be able to send emails to "Ward Organizations", which includes "Adults". I rarely have special rights in places like that, so I have to question if it's missing for the rank-and-file members.

I don't know what an STS is, but the send email function ("Send a Message" application) is definitely not available for rank and file members - and not even from some members of the ward council.

Earlier this year, assuming that everyone had access to send email, I asked the sister who posts our ward bulletin to the newsletter to send it out to the ward. She had no access. So, I sat down with several members and had them look to see whether they had access . Very few did. Not a lot of rhyme or reason to who has permission - for example, IIRC, the membership clerk can send, but the sunday school president can't.

There must be a permissions table hidden somewhere, but I have never been able to get anyone in support to say who is on it or why it has to be such a secret. In fact, it is such a secret that my inquiries earlier this year to find out who was on it were rejected and deleted.