Is it possible to not make announcements available to the members? I want to use just for the Admin to make announcements. Or, can I put announcements under a separate tab? Right now I am putting announcements under the Message forum but all come from me not the person that wrote it.
Thanks

Sure, just go into your Home Page Edit area and deactivate your Announcement Board. Note, Annoucements come to you for approval before going live on your site, so you do have full control over that area. But, if you don't want to use the Board, you can certainly deactive it and use message forums. Obviously if you want the name of the person posting the Announcement in your message forum to show up, the Classmate will have to post it him or herself.

Brad,
If I turn this off then can I still use it just for the Admin? I guess what I am trying to say is I do not like where the annoucements appear for the membership. I would like the annoucements to apprear under a tab so that you have go and look for them. If I have it the way it is now then when somebody makes an annoucement it shows up on our Home Page. I want the Home Page reseved just for Commiteee Annoucements. Can I do this?

Brad Switzer wrote:

There is no direct Announcement Board feature you can put on Customizable Link Pages, but here's some things you might consider:

1) Leave Your Announcements Board on. As Classmates submit Announcements do not approve them. Instead copy and paste them into your own Announcements Area you've made using one of your Customizable Links.

2) Ask your Classmates to simply email you all Announcements, and post them wherever you want.

3) Use your Survey Maker to create a one question survey that asks your Classmates to submit Announcements. As they come in use your editor to post those Announcements immediately above the Survey. In this fashion you can have all of your Announcements at the top of the page, and a place for your Classmates to submit new Announcements at the bottom of the page.

Admittedly, I haven't used a lot of the features by which members communicate among themselves. I may be reinventing the wheel, but here goes.

One of our classmates is a world-class bridge player. In December, she is going to be competing in tournaments located in Arizona and Southern California. She would like to locate classmates who would like to play while she is in the neighborhood. She'd like to let people know by putting something on a "message board". Of course, I could tell her to use Post Announcement, but I don't think it quite works for the purpose intended.

For one thing, my understanding is a Post Announcement announcement, once approved, will appear at the bottom of the homepage. So far, we've had one announcement, and that's where it is. I remember getting a notice of that announcement, but I believe the notice was to let me know there was something I needed to review for approval. I no longer remember if, after approval, a notice of the new announcement was delivered to the class, or if delivered, directed the recipient is where to look. If there is either no notice, or no directions in the notice, I believe the likelihood of anyone scrolling to the bottom of the homepage to check for announcements is slim to none. If a notice is delivered, a person who has received a notice might or might not remember when logging into the site. From a strictly management standpoint, notice could be the woman's "bite at the apple" and I would simply leave the announcement at the bottom of the page until I remove it (after December).

I believe you suggested above that I could create a page, I'll have to think of a name, probably including the words Bulletin Board. It would be populated by me, or another admin, from copies of Post Announcment announcemets or direct emails.

This is already too long, so I'll stop now. I would appreciate knowing if what I'm thinking of doing is doable, or necessary for that matter, and any other thoughts or suggestions, including alternative approaches, you might have.

Barry Levinsky

You could also move he announcements to above the home page content. This is done with the red/ green arrows on the Edit Site Pages, Edit HOME PAGE. Just look for these two items and move the ANNOUNCEMENTS above the content.

   Home Page Content
   Announcements

Understood. Thanks.

Barry Levinsky