Central Escarpment Council and its Areas maintain a Blog to communicate with its membership. The Council Blog is viewed and accessible by not only the Scouting Community, but the General Public as well. As such, anything posted to the Blog should not bring Scouts Canada, Central Escarpment Council, its members or its activities into disrepute.
The following guidelines provide a roadmap for posting on the Council Blog.
- What should be posted?
- Upcoming events. (Youth Network, Program, Training, Recognition, etc)
- Write-ups about events held.
- Achievements in the Area and the Council – the big stuff and the small stuff.
- Good News Stories and Recognition.
- What should not be posted?
- Stuff for personal gain or recognition.
- Items not related to Scouting. Advertising that the 1st Rubber Duck Venturer Company is hosting a Dance is appropriate. Advertising that Mark from the 1st Rubber Duck is hosting a party at his place Saturday night is not appropriate.
- Items related to activities that violate Scouts Canada’s rules (BP&P).
For example, an invitation to go Paintballing with the 2nd Rubber Duck Group is not acceptable.
- Avoid posting duplicate information.
There are many people who can post to the Council Blog. Co-ordinate between the different levels and people to make sure the information is posted just once.
(For example, Area people don’t need to post information about Council events – it will be done by the Council Service Scouters.) - Each Blog Posting can be tagged with multiple categories (Area, Youth, Training, etc). Make sure you include the appropriate categories. If it’s Youth-related, make sure the Youth Category is included.
- Be respectful of people’s privacy, and follow Scouts Canada’s Privacy Policy Policies (Don’t advertise Youth’s contact information online, make sure any photos posted have photo release, etc)
- Before posting, make sure you check it for spelling, grammar and accuracy. If this isn’t your strong point, don’t be afraid to ask someone to quickly check your post before it goes live.
- The Council Blog is monitored by an Editor. Any inappropriate or inflammatory material will be deleted; any inaccurate material will be edited.
- If the information posted has changed, update the original blog posting. (Make it clear in the post that it been updated). You can then post a new follow up entry, referring back to the original post. That way people who are getting posts via the RSS field will know that the original post has been updated.
- This is how you can handle reminders of an upcoming event.
- For example, information about the Council Wrapup is posted in April. A reminder post is made in June, linking back to the original post in April.
- Keep the information bite-sized.
- If promoting an event, who is the event is intended for, when and where it will be, how much will it cost and the contact information (email, phone, website, etc).
- If promoting an activity or write-up, include appropriate information.
- If the information is already online or in a document, link to that information rather than repeating it all again in the blog posting
- It is possible to include attachments to the Blog posting that aren’t already on the Internet (PDF files, pictures, etc).
- Write your posting and save it as a Draft (See blog posting instructions for more details). In the posting, mark where you would like the attachments linked in.
- Send an email to blog@scouter.ca with the attachments to include.
- If you’re sending pictures, please re-size and re-sample them down to a reasonable size. There’s no need to include 10 pictures that are 5MB each.
- If possible, any documents should be in PDF Format so that they are more easily accessible.
- The attachments will be linked into your Posting, and then it will be published (It will still show up under your account.)
- Things to remember:
- Avoid inside jokes, profanity, name calling and controversial opinions. Keep things respectful and clean.
- Try not to include multiple points in the same Blog Posting.
- Some information or events may be with organizations outside of Scouting, but Scouting Groups may be interested in it because it is a nice fit with our activities. In these situations, make a note that these are not Scouting activities/organizations so that everyone is aware of it – individuals and Groups can follow up with them directly. (For example, information about the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup or the Rick Hansen Relay)
- Don’t post for the sake of posting. People can tell if it’s a filler post.
At the end of the day, remember that things on the Internet stick around forever. Make sure what you’re posting is professional, reflects well on the Scouting Movement, and is keeping with the Scouting Spirit.