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Facebook sites for stakes and wards

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 2:31 pm
by borenmt
I am seeing lots of these (some "groups" and some posted as "people"). Aren't they against policy? Many appear to be officially endorsed by the stake or ward, are publicly viewable, and contain photos of members, including youth. My understanding was that all of that is off-limits. Who tracks and tries to contain this stuff?

Examples of Stakes:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group ... 766&ref=nf
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=haywa ... 1907386..1
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=stake ... 8722917..1

Wards:
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=ward& ... 9517467..1 [this one is closed at least]
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=ward& ... 9517467..1
http://www.facebook.com/search/?flt=1&q ... 9517467..1

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 2:52 pm
by jdlessley
borenmt wrote:I am seeing lots of these (some "groups" and some posted as "people"). Aren't they against policy? Many appear to be officially endorsed by the stake or ward, are publicly viewable, and contain photos of members, including youth. My understanding was that all of that is off-limits. Who tracks and tries to contain this stuff?
Yes, they probably are against policy. It is up to local leaders to ensure policies are being followed. Other than that I am not aware of any single source to report such things.

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 3:26 pm
by RossEvans
borenmt wrote:Many appear to be officially endorsed by the stake or ward ...

I'm not a Facebook user (managed to dodge that bullet until now) so I can't view your links.

Can you quote some content that appears to comprise an official endorsement by a local unit? To me, that is centrally pertinent to the question you pose.

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 3:43 pm
by aebrown
boomerbubba wrote:I'm not a Facebook user (managed to dodge that bullet until now) so I can't view your links.

Can you quote some content that appears to comprise an official endorsement by a local unit? To me, that is centrally pertinent to the question you pose.
At least of the 5 links to public Facebook groups, I didn't see any that looked like they were officially endorsed. Rather, they looked more like reunion sites, just started by someone who once lived there. For example, one is described as "If you live, lived, love or have served in the Hayward Stake. Or whatever."

I'm very wary of violations of this policy, but for the most part, these seem to be innocuous. Yes, they have pictures of youth, but those are people who choose to be public on Facebook. The Church (including these wards and stakes) doesn't seem to be doing anything to encourage them making themselves public.

An analogous situation would deal with missions. A mission certainly cannot start its own website, but if a returned missionary from that mission wants to start his own website or Facebook group to stay in touch with other missionaries who served there at the same time, that's his choice and not a violation of any policy.

The one thing that seemed to be a bit questionable is that a YSA activity was promoted, giving time and location. The instructions for the ward and stake websites emphasize that the public-facing home page should not supply details of youth activities -- all that should be on the pages that require login by a stake member. But as long as the site or Facebook group or whatever is not really endorsed by the ward or stake, I don't see how the Church can do anything about it.

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 5:01 pm
by RossEvans
Thanks for the elucidation.
Alan_Brown wrote:The one thing that seemed to be a bit questionable is that a YSA activity was promoted, giving time and location. The instructions for the ward and stake websites emphasize that the public-facing home page should not supply details of youth activities ...

Well, YSA members are not "youth;" they are adults. They are just called Young Single Adults to distinguish them from the [Old] Single Adults. :rolleyes:

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:12 pm
by lajackson
borenmt wrote:Who tracks and tries to contain this stuff?
I do. [grin]
Alan_Brown wrote:I'm very wary of violations of this policy, but for the most part, these seem to be innocuous.

But as long as the site or Facebook group or whatever is not really endorsed by the ward or stake, I don't see how the Church can do anything about it.
In our stake, I am the point man on this issue. We walk a fine line. The single adults (both young and old) need to communicate. The tools they use to communicate today are not compatible in many respects with current Church policies.

A very few web sites are actually approved by the Church and monitored by area authorities. Most are not. We are fortunate to have one in our area.

As for the other lists and groups, we monitor, we teach, we counsel, we make very specific requests from time to time, and then we let them exercise their agency.

It is that agency part that is so difficult. We use the basic principle found in Abraham 4:18. In some cases, there is still a lot of watching.

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 8:41 am
by childsdj
Alan_Brown wrote:At least of the 5 links to public Facebook groups, I didn't see any that looked like they were officially endorsed. Rather, they looked more like reunion sites, just started by someone who once lived there. For example, one is described as "If you live, lived, love or have served in the Hayward Stake. Or whatever."

I'm very wary of violations of this policy, but for the most part, these seem to be innocuous. Yes, they have pictures of youth, but those are people who choose to be public on Facebook. The Church (including these wards and stakes) doesn't seem to be doing anything to encourage them making themselves public.

An analogous situation would deal with missions. A mission certainly cannot start its own website, but if a returned missionary from that mission wants to start his own website or Facebook group to stay in touch with other missionaries who served there at the same time, that's his choice and not a violation of any policy.

The one thing that seemed to be a bit questionable is that a YSA activity was promoted, giving time and location. The instructions for the ward and stake websites emphasize that the public-facing home page should not supply details of youth activities -- all that should be on the pages that require login by a stake member. But as long as the site or Facebook group or whatever is not really endorsed by the ward or stake, I don't see how the Church can do anything about it.

The last point Alan makes was the only part of the sites thatt was concerning. I am going to run this past a few people, but I don't think there is much we can do from a CHQ perspective as it is not officially endorsed by the Church.

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 11:57 am
by RossEvans
I should think it advisable for any members creating such ad hoc groups on their own to include some disclaimer such as, "Not an official site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the Pleasant Valley Ward."

That might clear up ambiguities, and protect against false alarms to the policy police.

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 11:26 pm
by scion-p40
As the parent of a current missionary, it is awesome when someone else posts pics of your missionary on facebook & "tags" him/her! It's like a giant online scrapbook & we get to help label each other's pictures.

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 11:27 pm
by scion-p40
SAs & YSAs have used "alternate" communication methods for a long time because the approved official ones don't function. Pretty simple.