Congrats to our Schipul Fan Mania winners!

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We've got our lucky Fan Mania winners announced on our Schipul Facebook Fanpage!  Didn't get a chance to fan us on Facebook yet?  No worries – be sure to visit us at www.facebook.com/schipul to check out our other exciting Facebook promotions, giveaways and events!

As always, thanks for being part of the Schipul and Tendenci family – we are huge fans of YOU!

Our winners (as determined by the Random Integer Generator):

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Schipul Fan Mania month – last chance win cool stuff!

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The Schipul team (creators of your Tendenci software) loves our clients – you help us grow, teach us new things and keep us on our toes.  We want to thank you for being part of our tribe and are holding a Schipul Fan Mania contest to do just that.

All you've got to do is login to Facebook and join our Schipul fan page (www.facebook.com/schipul) and you'll be eligible to win one of the following rocking prizes:

  1. Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Laptop
    –Hate carting around a huge laptop just to log in to twitter now and
    then? We’ve got the laptop for you!  You pick the color, and we’ll ship
    it out to your place! With this little gal, you’ll always be able to
    update on the go.
  2. $100 Amazon gift card – Schipulites are book fiends, and we want to get you hooked too!
  3. $100 iTunes gift card – Can’t get enough music? Need another new app? Let us support your habit!

So what are you waiting for!?  We're drawing 3 random winners from our Schipul Facebook fanpage on Tuesday, June 30th at 2pm CST.  Fan us today!!

The new ICANN Domain Name Rules–What do they mean to you?

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On Thursday June 26, 2008 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) voted to astronomically
expand the availability of domain names from the traditional .country or .com
to almost whatever the purchaser can imagine.  Proponents of this plan
included corporations such as eBay (.ebay), industries (.car), and cities (.berlin).

Starting in 2009, purchasers will be able to buy an unlimited number of
domain names.  While some are thrilled, others are concerned people will
make a lot of money by "squatting" on domain names (for example,
someone could scoop up .pepsi and sell it for millions to the Pepsi Corporation).
ICANN is putting several safeguards in place to make sure this does not happen;
including giving purchasing priority to trademark holders.
Another somewhat unintended consequence to the pirating of these new domain
names is how expensive it is technologically to implement a new completely
untried domain name. 

So… what does what some are calling one of the biggest
shakeups
in internet history really mean to you?  For smaller
organizations with plans on staying small, it may not mean much.  For
those of you who are planning on growing, getting your brand trademarked may be
a very good idea.

Financially, getting your brand trademarked can be pretty expensive, but it
may be something you may really want to consider to safely control your brand.
For more information and ideas you can check out the United States Patent and
Trademark
web site.

It remains to be seen what the full scale implications to your users and
internet navigators of this ICANN ruling will be.  We will keep all of you
updated! 

Photo thanks to Flickr user Jordan Lee

Important court ruling: Web site owners can’t be sued for comments

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Tendenci is built to facilitate communication, human connections and the sharing of ideas.  Tools like comments, ratings and TrackBacks can open up important dialog between your organization, your members and the general public.

A recent ruling by the California Supreme Court declared that Web site owners cannot be for sued libelous or defamatory comments written by site visitors.  Basically, if a discussion on your Web site gets heated, only the authors of those comments are held accountable.  (read more about the ruling here)

This is great news for organizations who want to keep an open, honest dialog going but also want to be in the clear legally.  Opposing points of view and a little heated discussion can be healthy,
but if things get out of hand and start veering towards libel it’s always best to err on the side of caution.

Ways to manage your site’s comments:

  1. Require a site administrator to approve a comment before it is posted live to your site
  2. Periodically check up on a comment thread and delete any comments that run against your organization’s online etiquette

Long story short – use your best judgment and contact your organization’s legal department for your specific situation, but definitely encourage your site visitors to take part in the conversation.

Thanks to Gulo Solutions Blog for the heads up on this!