Issue with pictures in directory

Discussions about the Ward Directory and Map tool on churchofjesuschrist.org.
burrguy
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Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 11:31 pm

Issue with pictures in directory

#1

Post by burrguy »

Being a singles stake most of our leadership is from out of stake. This creates a problem with accessing pictures that are posted by stake leadership. We can't see the pictures, none of our Stake Presidency or our High Council pictures can be seen, not all of them have a picture but none of the pictures can be seen. To make matters worse, our clerks do not have the 'edit' button to change the pictures and we also cannot set visibility rights.
burrguy
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Re: Issue with pictures in directory

#2

Post by burrguy »

Oh, and I know that several of the pictures are viewable on the users phone with LDS Tools but not viewable from anyone else in the stake.
russellhltn
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Re: Issue with pictures in directory

#3

Post by russellhltn »

Out-of-unit leaders have to have their photos approved by their home ward. The member or their home ward clerk can upload and edit the visibility. The ward being served has no power.
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burrguy
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Re: Issue with pictures in directory

#4

Post by burrguy »

If I did get a hold of the home units clerks would the pictures still have visibility in another stake? Do you know that that I would have to contact 20 other units to accomplish this? There needs to be a better solution. It would be easier for me to pull there records into the stake, that would also be a mess
burrguy
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Re: Issue with pictures in directory

#5

Post by burrguy »

This is what our stake directory looks like right now http://postimg.org/image/5wyz6itu7/
russellhltn
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Re: Issue with pictures in directory

#6

Post by russellhltn »

laptop2d wrote:If I did get a hold of the home units clerks would the pictures still have visibility in another stake?
I'm not quite sure what you are asking, but there's only one set of pictures in the directory attached to the person and the household. It's not different for each stake.


laptop2d wrote:Do you know that that I would have to contact 20 other units to accomplish this? There needs to be a better solution. It would be easier for me to pull there records into the stake, that would also be a mess
Sorry, but that's the way it works. I'm not the decision maker. I think you'll find it far faster to educate 20 stakes then to get a change run up to the decision-makers and implemented (if it ever is).
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burrguy
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Re: Issue with pictures in directory

#7

Post by burrguy »

Maybe we do have a communication gap. I have 53 people in my stake leadership, about 25 of those are from out of my stake meaning that the Stake President, his presidency, all of the high council are from out of the stake each from a different ward. Most of them have pictures. I've contacted them and asked them to change the picture visibility to stake. The pictures don't show up, this concerns me because 1) I don't have a way to help people who don't know how to load up pictures 2) I can't change the visibility settings and even when people change them the pictures still don't show up. Your suggestions on fixing the problem are: 1) Have the home unit powers that be change the pictures and the visibility - an option I don't like because I would have to contact the clerks of up to 25 different out of unit wards to get the options changed. Which I don't think will work because people that have changed their visibility options can't see there pictures in the stake directory 2) Don't do anything because the lds technical department is too political and cant change. 3) Get my Stake President to find the Seventy in charge of the technical department to make the change from the top down. I am not the only person in a singles stake, I can't be the only person having this problem
eblood66
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Re: Issue with pictures in directory

#8

Post by eblood66 »

laptop2d wrote:I've contacted them and asked them to change the picture visibility to stake.
Most likely the problem is not the visibility (in the US the default is Stake Visibility) but whether the picture has been approved by an administrator in their unit. The person can't do that for themselves. It has to be done by a ward administrator.
laptop2d wrote:1) Have the home unit powers that be change the pictures and the visibility - an option I don't like because I would have to contact the clerks of up to 25 different out of unit wards to get the options changed. Which I don't think will work because people that have changed their visibility options can't see there pictures in the stake directory
Again, approval is likely the issue and if you get the ward clerks to approve the pictures then they should show up.
laptop2d wrote:2) Don't do anything because the lds technical department is too political and cant change.
I don't think this is a valid characterization of how church development works. Put simply Church developers take direction from the church department that sponsors the project (in this case the Priesthood Department) and demands on church funds are high from many sources. So the sponsoring departments have to prioritize. Often that means that we as users don't get what we'd like when we'd like it but I trust that the work being done is more important for the work of the church.

Note that I'm not connected to church development in any way other than as an interested observer in these forums for years. I do have a little additional information because my father worked as a developer and project manager for the church for 20 years until he retired about 12 years ago but nothing current.
laptop2d wrote:3) Get my Stake President to find the Seventy in charge of the technical department to make the change from the top down.
That's certainly an alternative approach and may provide additional information that helps the decision makers. But he doesn't need to talk to those who manage the developers but to the department that sponsors the project. For the Directory on lds.org that would be the Priesthood department. However, you're not the first clerk to bring this subject up in the forums so I imagine that others have submitted feedback and even perhaps had contact with the Priesthood department. But sometimes additional feedback may help change priorities.
russellhltn
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Re: Issue with pictures in directory

#9

Post by russellhltn »

laptop2d wrote:Oh, and I know that several of the pictures are viewable on the users phone with LDS Tools but not viewable from anyone else in the stake.
I think that's consistent with photos that are not approved.

laptop2d wrote:Your suggestions on fixing the problem are: 1) Have the home unit powers that be change the pictures and the visibility - an option I don't like because I would have to contact the clerks of up to 25 different out of unit wards to get the options changed. Which I don't think will work because people that have changed their visibility options can't see there pictures in the stake directory
As mentioned, the users can't approve their own photos. The home unit has to do that. The users can change their visibility.


Another factor we need to consider is that the photos have been uploaded as a individual photo. If it's been uploaded to family photo slot, I would not expect it to appear in the leadership photo where you need it.

laptop2d wrote:2) Don't do anything because the lds technical department is too political and cant change.
Carrying out the instructions of the people who sign your paycheck is not politics. The developers don't make this stuff up. The actions are approved by the leadership and then carried out.

laptop2d wrote:3) Get my Stake President to find the Seventy in charge of the technical department to make the change from the top down.
Go for it. That's basically the advice we've given to others in the past. I can't remember any that came back and said that worked. But even if that happens, it has to get approved, it has to get prioritized with all the other changes that needs to be done by a small development team, and then carried out. Unless this is already in the works, I'd give a very optimistic estimate of 6 months.


I'm not sure, but it's possible that the home stake clerk can help you out. That would make for a smaller set of people to work with. But even if you have to work with the home unit, I'd think you could write a form letter and email it to the 25 clerks in about an hour and see some results within a week or so.

Question: are ANY of your out of unit leader's photos showing up? If not, then perhaps there's a bug. Bug fixes get higher priority and don't have to get correlated. Even then, they can take some time to fix. But that's a completely different track.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
burrguy
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Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 11:31 pm

Re: Issue with pictures in directory

#10

Post by burrguy »

That is correct, not a single member of our stake leadership that is from out of stake (as I've said before), zero of our Stake Presidency and High Council pictures are showing up. I know that some of them have changed their viewable status to stake.
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