FAQ's

Our current web site policies require a webmaster to be a registered adult in this council.

This means that you must be age 21 or above.

Youth that have an interest in web site AND have the talents to do so, may, under the supervision of the adult webmaster, assist in the design of a web site. Youth may NOT be given access to the server or knowledge of the logon credentials.

There is also a limit of one webmaster for each web site that we host. Multiple webmasters are not permitted.

Sorry, but no.

We are only supporting a single Email account for each web site that we host and that Email must forward to the assigned webmaster of the site.

There are no provisions to purchase additional web site space.

Unit sites are initially given 200 megs of space and districts 500 megs.

If you are running low of space AND you are NOT just filling up the site with lots of old photos and other out of date documents, etc. You may request a review of your site and an increase in allocation.

Prior to submitting a request for a review you should consider two things;

1) If you are keeping a large number of photos, we suggest moving your photo albums to Google's Picasa site. We permit a webmaster to embed a link to a Picasa photo album with the conditions that the webmaster must be the owner of the Picasa site and all individuals in photos have consented to their photo being posted. See the web site policies.

2) You are also permitted to have your calendar hosted by Google and embed the calendar into a page of your site. If posting your photos on Google's Picasa site doesn't resolve your site space, you may request a review of the site by submitting a web site request form and in the comments area of the form state the reason for the requested increase of space. Be prepared to justify your request.

The maximum web site space that will be allotted to a unit-level site is 500 Mb. The limits for a District-Level site is 1GB.

These errors can be caused in several ways, however, given the fact that a Linux server is case-sensitive it's very likely that your errors are being caused by filename with a mix of UPPER/lower case letters and a hyperlink that isn't matching. You need to be SURE that the filename and the links that refer to the file match exactly.

The most common answer to this problem is that you've gotten your password wrong or are using the wrong mixture of UPPER/lower case characters in a password that had both.

 Another possibility is that the logon account to your site has been closed because Email to your personal Email address that you submitted in the web site request is now bouncing. If you have changed your Email address recently and haven't filled out the web site request form and notified us of the change it's possible that Email to your old address is now bouncing. If Email bounces, the logon account is closed.

If you haven't changed your Email address then please fill out the Problem Report form and the site account will be checked.

If, on the other hand, you HAVE changed your Email address and have not notified us of the change then please fill out the Web Site Request form again and provide both the password you want to be use as well as a valid Email address.

There are other possibilities that can result in a loss of connectivity, but they are not as common.

We no longer support the use of Frontpage.

The server extensions that support Frontpage have been removed.

In addition, the FrontPage software is no longer supported by Microsoft.

Because of security concerns I do not Email passwords.

If you have forgotten your password then you must fill out the web site request form again and choose a new password.

NO EXCEPTIONS.

One of the causes of this, aside from the possible mispelling of files or an error in the case (UPPER/lower) of a filename vs it's link, is the possibility that you have deleted a critical file from your site. Webmasters have been warned to not remove anything that they didn't place there. If you are seeing this type of an error, fill out the Problem Reporting form and your site will be checked. Be sure and indicate the error that you're seeing.

I have no stewardship of the council web site (ocbsa.org). That site is handled by an individual at Council. If you wish to provide feedback or contact someone about the council calendar, or other items on that web site, please send your Email to: CrystalH@ocbsa.org

The most likely cause is a mix of UPPER/lower case letters in your filenames.
The file of: calendar.htm is different from Calendar.htm on a Linux-based system.
If you are trying to link to a page named "Calendar.htm" but the actual page is named "calendar.htm", "Calendar.html", or "calendar.html" your link won't work and the page won't be found.

Another possibility is that when you made your changes you accidentally created another copy of the web page you changed and the name is now different. Hence, your old page will continue to appear.

Be sure that you are always using all "lowercase" letters in your filenames. Files and the links that refer to them MUST be exact.

The server we are using is Linux-based and doesn't support Active Server Pages (asp) or Access/Frontpage databases.

SQL database are available, however we are limited in the number we can create AND individual webmasters do not have the access rights to create or administer them.

Because of these restrictions we have not offered them.

First of all you must understand that we are in a shared hosting environment. We purchase hosting services on a monthly basis from a web site hosting service. In addition, we are not the only customer on a given server. There are most likely hundreds of other sites as well. Maintenance issues, hardware failure and a host of other problems can all occur without warning that may have the effect of taking our web site off-line. We monitor the sites frequently and if this occurs we would most likely be in communication with the hosting service to determine the cause.

Another possibility is that your site has been found in violation of one or more of our web site policies and taken off-line by removing the DNS.  You will need to fill out the Problem Report. If your site has been taken off-line because of a policy violation you need to fix the problem first, then fill out the web site request form and in the comment section of the form, put the words "Re-Enable DNS".

There are files and folders in place on your site to support the configuration of the site itself.

Removing these files may result in the corruption of your site. Please do not remove them.

A safe policy is "...if you didn't put it there, then leave it there."

1) Do not store the text of the disclaimer on your own site.
2) The Disclaimer link should open in a new window (Target="_blank")
3) The size and color of the word "Disclaimer" should be large enough and of a contrasting color so it may be easily seen.
4) The Disclaimer MUST be Text-Based and not in a graphic.
5) The Disclaimer must be posted at the bottom of each page of your site.

Here is an example of a correctly formatted disclaimer hyperlink.

Disclaimer

The above hyperlink must be placed at the bottom of the every page of your web site. The page that "Disclaimer" is linked to is: http://webmasters.ocbsa.org/?q=node/74

Security of our sites is a concern that we take seriously. In today's environment it's possible that someone might attempt to gain access to a site by trying to make themselves appear to be the webmaster. By filling out the Problem Report or Web Site Request forms, the information on the form is checked against the original information provided by you when you signed up to be a webmaster.

We also keep the Web Site Request forms as a history of the formal requests for a site and proof that the requesting webmaster has promised to abide by the policies in force for a web site hosted under the ocbsa.org domain name.

Once communication has been established through the use of the form, then any follow-up correspondence can take place with out the need for the form.