Tech Forum

Individual e-mail address information recorded in MLS will be overwritten by e-mail information recorded in LDS Account during January 2010. (MLS Message 22 Dec 2009 to Stake and Ward Clerks)

This will present a small quandary for me, since I need to use different e-mail addresses in each of these locations. I guess I will have to decide whether to change my LDS Account address now so that my MLS e-mail address will stay the same, or if I should just let it flow and then change my MLS e-mail address back to what it needs to be.

Decisions, decisions. [grin]

Interesting. I have different email addresses in my LUWS preferences, LDS Account and MLS. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I'd rather that the LUWS information overwrites the MLS, rather the LDS Account.

Yeah, I'm not sure I really like this either. I have the email address I want to be contacted on in LUWS and MLS, but a different one in LDSAccount.

I guess I will be updating my LDSAccount to match the others, but perhaps others will not want to do this. However, I am glad there will finally be some synchronization.

My LUWS account is my "face to face" ones. My LDS Account is my "Internet" one. I like to keep a bit of isolation between the two.

mkmurray wrote:I am glad there will finally be some synchronization.

I am, too.

It's just that I have authorized the clerks to give out my MLS e-mail address so that all the members can keep me up to date (read spam me) with information about the Second Coming and the imminent disasters for which I will need my food storage.

And the one I use at LDS Account is the one I actually read and respond to regularly.

There is one other trap to watch out for. The MLS e-mail address seems to flow to CDOL. As long as I have a position there, I will need to have an address that I actually check regularly, as well.

I may need to rethink all of my e-mail needs in light of this development. I have already been thinking about it, because I suspect that LUWS will be connected in the near future (just speculation). And I truly need a throwaway address there as long as I am to be the administrator.

lajackson wrote:Individual e-mail address information recorded in MLS will be overwritten by e-mail information recorded in LDS Account during January 2010. (MLS Message 22 Dec 2009 to Stake and Ward Clerks)

Any word on if this is one-time or ongoing?

lajackson wrote:Individual e-mail address information recorded in MLS will be overwritten by e-mail information recorded in LDS Account during January 2010. (MLS Message 22 Dec 2009 to Stake and Ward Clerks)

It will be good to have the synchronization. Did the message mention anything about Preferred Name data being synchronized, too?

I do wish we had gotten this heads-up when the individual email feature was announced with MLS 3.1. We went to a lot of effort to canvass members to collect their individual email addresses during tithing settlement, then enter that data into MLS.

RussellHltn wrote:Any word on if this is one-time or ongoing?

If they were doing this correctly, I would think this would be an on-going thing (monthly? quarterly?).

Personally I hate this idea. As several have stated above I also have one email address for my LDS Account and another I give out to the ward. What do I do now - update the ward email address every time Salt Lake overrides it? This may not be a problem for some, but it sure makes one for me. From the few posts above it sounds like it is a problem for others, too. It has been my experience that most people using the LUWS have created an account, logged in one time, then haven't logged in for months or don't think about updating their email address. Over time many people change or delete that email account they first used. It's a nice idea, but most people in my ward keep their email address up to date that we have on MLS, not on LDS Account. Or they want to have two seperate email addresses.

RussellHltn wrote:Any word on if this is one-time or ongoing?

The message says these e-mail changes will be made during January 2010. I hope it is one-time.

boomerbubba wrote:Did the message mention anything about Preferred Name data being synchronized, too?

No. It says users who have created an LDS Account and recorded an e-mail address in LDS Account will see that e-mail address replace their individual e-mail address recorded in MLS. If there is not an LDS Account e-mail, the e-mail address recorded in MLS will not be changed.

drporray wrote:It has been my experience that most people using the LUWS have created an account, logged in one time, then haven't logged in for months or don't think about updating their email address.

Remember this is the address used to create LDS Account, not the address in LUWS, although they might be the same.

drporray wrote:. . . most people in my ward keep their email address up to date that we have on MLS, not on LDS Account. Or they want to have two seperate email addresses.

Yes. And because of this, I would rather see the MLS address go to the LUWS (not the LDS Account) account.

On the other hand, perhaps this is just a one-time shot to feed a whole lot of e-mail addresses into MLS. And if that is the case, I suppose LDS Account is as good as any.

Personally, I would rather that an e-mail address in MLS not be overwritten. I can see letting an LDS Account e-mail address feed an empty individual e-mail address in MLS. Although, as others and I have pointed out, it will be the wrong e-mail address.

lajackson wrote:The message says these e-mail changes will be made during January 2010. I hope it is one-time.

We're all just speculating, but it is very hard to believe that it would be a one-time synchronization. At the very least, I have to think that any subsequent change to the LDS Account e-mail will also be synchronized back to MLS.

lajackson wrote: Remember this is the address used to create LDS Account, not the address in LUWS, although they might be the same.

More accurately, this is the current e-mail address associated with the LDS Account. The e-mail address in LDS Account is already a "self-service" piece of data -- the individual member can take responsibility for keeping that address up to date, without needing to get any help from a clerk. With this address being synchronized to MLS, this extends the self-service concept. Of course, some members will keep it up to date and others will not.

lajackson wrote:Yes. And because of this, I would rather see the MLS address go to the LUWS (not the LDS Access) account.

On the other hand, perhaps this is just a one-time shot to feed a whole lot of e-mail addresses into MLS. And if that is the case, I suppose LDS Account is as good as any.

In my experience, the MLS addresses are the most out of date and inaccurate e-mail addresses of the three places mentioned. So sending MLS to LUWS would introduce the most error. On the other hand, the LDS Account e-mail was probably fairly recently verified, since the process of obtaining an LDS Account requires an e-mail verification. So it is probably the most accurate address, and thus is the best choice.

lajackson wrote:
Personally, I would rather that an e-mail address in MLS not be overwritten. I can see letting an LDS Account e-mail address feed an empty individual e-mail address in MLS. Although, as others and I have pointed out, it will be the wrong e-mail address.

I really doubt that those posting on this thread who have multiple active e-mail addresses are a representative sample of Church membership at large. I can understand why those people would be frustrated with the MLS e-mail address being overwritten by the LDS Account e-mail address, but in most cases this will lead to increased accuracy for the reasons I stated above.