Rescue Journal

re: an explanation of our animal profiles and web site updates

Carol · Dec 20, 2012

we have switched to only linking our adoptable animals to the petfinder site.

the unadoptable animals aren't on petfinder because they are not adoptable and we don't need a bunch of inquiries on cute unadoptables like andy.. so chloe won't go on to petfinder as she has been deemed as unadoptable..plus, good luck getting a picture of her anyway...she hides and runs.

unfortunately with all of the animals in and out of here so frequently..it was too labor intensive for nicole to keep up with who came in, who went out to adoption, permenent foster or passed away..entire pages had to be created, posted and then moved all around...VERY time consuming and not very easy. if we were a smaller, less active shelter it would not be quite so hard.
so linking to petfinder became the solution because it is easier for the rest of us to quickly update..jenn has taken this chore on and been pretty good at keeping it up.

if folks are looking for current photos..the best place to find those are in the facebook photo galleries..jenn has uploaded hundreds of new photos...she does this almost monthly. if folks are interested in a photo or a brief profile on any particular animal..you can use the search button at the side of the blog or leave a comment in one of the posts and i will pull something together and post it.

the only part of saints entire website that i can personally access and use is the wordpress blog page which is why i post as many updates as possible on here.
in a perfect world we would have a paid tech. person to keep everything easily accessible and up to date..we don't have that luxury yet. volunteers are busy..they have their own fulltime jobs, families and animals. volunteers come and go and sometimes their skill sets are not able to filled by anyone else. we had this same issue over and over with the admin/book keeping stuff til ann took it all on...if ann ever needs to pull back or god forbid, leaves, we are totally screwed...(ann..please never leave!!!)

some of the pages have been converted to wordpress, like the events page... so jenn and sheila can easily access them too.

anyway...we get a fair amount of emails and comments about the website not being up to date...we are working on this and implementing solutions whenever we can.
BUT...quite frankly our priority is in caring for the needs of the actual animals and that takes a lot of time and effort. the nice too's like fully up to date virtual cyberspace stuff has to play second fiddle to the real and actual work that we do.
the ideal solution is for me to up date the web site myself..i am the only one who probably knows every single animal, and what is daily going on. sadly i am the only real 100% forever constant who cannot ever leave (cuz i live here!) and i work here for free but i am 54 yrs old, completely techno ignorant (and content to remain so) and far too busy and i hate that kind of techno shit anyhow...it frustrates the heck out of me

this is a really busy place, changes are happening constantly. a fully up to date website just ain't going to happen until we can hire someone and give them a job description that includes the web site updates as part of their paycheque. right now... our time, money and energy are far more needed some place else.

Comments

Linda

I tried the facebook page and was able to look at some photos, then ......... it said "must log in to continue". Ughhhh!!! #$%#@

Barbara

@ Nancy--was it the album page that kept giving you the blank page? I had no problems with the main page or the photos page. On the album page, when I started to scroll down the page, the page went blank and the 'please log in' message popped up. You can work around that (sort of) by refreshing/reloading the page then you can click on an album and see all the photos in the album without problem. Once you start to scroll down the page again to check out the other albums, though it kicks you out. I wonder if it has to do with how the permissions for the album page is set?

Donna

I was thinking that when you introduce a new dog/cat/whatever, an initial photo of the animal would be great. Then as a blog reader you can visualize what the dog/cat/whatever looks like and makes it more personal.
Just my opinion.

Donna

Nancy

I don't "do" Facebook either but have always been able to look at the great photos....until a couple weeks ago. I can get on to the Facebook main page but when I click on Photos, it goes to a Facebook blank screen. Does anyone know if they've changed something for us non-users? I really miss looking at the pictures.

Carol

i do appreciate the offers to help but the website is constructed on a very expensive program that happens to be in nicole's computer, where it is safe...it is not the type of thing that can be linked to others or emailed around.
if it was just a matter of logging someone else in, the problems could have been solved long ago. and quite frankly it will take a high degree of webmaster knowlege level to manage the site...i would rather it be somewhat out of date then crashed and burned by innocent mistakes or accidents.

nicole does the best that she can but she is busy...she works many long shifts, including overnights in animal emerg, has a family and sick animals of her own, plus she is young and actually still does have a life just like she should.

i think either we look at eventully having a paid tech person or creating a site that many of us can easily handle. no point in turning over a complicated site to another volunteer who may or may not get busy or move on again in a year or so and we are still stuck with a site that we can't use very well.

the bottom line on all of this is..the current site doesn't work that well for us anymore...it is far too labor intensive...this is no one's fault and not an easy fix by just getting someone else less busy to do it.

we are looking at creating a simpler more user friendly site sometime in the future...but i can guarantee it will be alot more basic and brutally stripped down than what we have now.

Barbara

Glenda and I must have been typing at the same time. :-) She must type faster. ;-)

Barbara

@ Linda--SAINTS Facebook page is a public page so you don't have to have a Facebook account yourself to enjoy the photos posted there. A quick click on the link in the right-hand column will take you there any time you want to see any of Jenn's latest photos of the animals. Definitely worth checking out regularly since she is always adding new photos. :-)

glenda

I do not use facebook either, like alot of you. However when I use the link on the website it does allow me to look at the photos that are posted on facebook without logging in. Give it a try.

Linda

I really enjoy the blog and the pictures. However, I do not use facebook and never will. I hope you'll keep a few pics somewhere on your website for people like me. I understand how very busy you are and rightly so, the animals come first. Merry Christmas to you and all volunteers.

Renee

Carol I could probably update the site. I know everyone who comes and goes. Just a thought :) also is New Years Day a stat?

Carly

I love reading the blog :)I think I'm a SAINTS blog addict...lol :)

suzanne

I understand that the animals' needs come first and that you can't spend time twice. That having been said, I do wish that there could be time to have pictures of those no longer with you next to their names. It would seem, at least to far away me, to be softer and less clinical than just a list.

Willie C.

I am glad you have the website and blog - I read it almost every day. I do miss a lot of the pictures because I, like a few others, don't 'Do' Facebook.

Debra

I completely understand how busy Carol is at Saints. I volunteer there in the MP Building. Unfortunately, I don't always get into the other house , to meet the dogs and cats.
Thank you for the explanation Carol. I had offered to do the updating, but never heard back. And, as you said, some of the guys come and go so quickly , so it is hard to keep up with them all.

Cathy Thomas

I totally understand how busy animal rescue can get. I have been vice president of the Hinton and District SPCA for the past 10 years. As well as taking in Senior dogs of my own. We just hired someone to redo our website www.hintondistrictspca.com which will remain pretty static. We put our adoptable pets on our blog www.hintonspca.blogspot.com. I was/am able to set up the blog and maintain it. Blog spot is pretty user friendly. There are a few kinks but overall it works well for us. The most animals we ever have onsite is likely 60 and admittedly not all the cats get on the blog and we recently had to purchase more space for 2.99 a month. It might be worth someone checking out. (If you are looking at our website it just went live this week so there are still some changes to make).

I love what you guys are doing and I wish I lived closer. Keep up the wonderful work and Merry Christmas.

Penny

On another subject, Carol - how are Crosby and Leia doing in their changed-around digs?

glenda

Carol, I am so impressed that you keep all us folks as updated as you do with the blog. I 100% agree that the "residents" need your time and effort! I go to Turtle Gardens website and SAINTS every day, I want to know what you need that I might be able to help with and of course just the general going ons...those who would like the website to be updated more just need to be patient...be patient...walk a mile in Carol's shoes! Walk a mile in the volunteer and employees shoes! And then maybe walk a mile in the furry people's shoes and know that they are safe, they are fed and well cared for, they are loved and isn't that what SAINTS is all about? The best of the season to everyone.