The NetCommish @ USSSP - Online Training

Online Training Course Evaluation Form

Please take a few moments to help us evaluate the effectiveness of this course so that we can make improvements for Scouters that will be participating in future offerings of this course. Your comments are important to us, so please share your thoughts.

Your Name:

Your E-Mail Address:

Your Scouting Related Web Page:

Your Council or Scout Association:

What Is Your Primary Scouting Position?

Other Position Not Listed?

Have you ever participated in an online Scouting course before?

Yes No

Did you find enough basic information on the Commissioner Service? If not, please use the comments area to recommend additions.

Yes No

After learning the basics and exploring the resources available to you, could you use identify issues and plan solutions to the problems in the discussion scenarios?

Yes No

What is your overall evaluation of the usefulness of this course?

Outstanding
Very Useful
Useful
Not Sure
Not Useful

Would you recommend using this or a similar course in your Council?

Yes No

You must be 13 or older to use any of the forms available at this website.

If you are under the age of 13, you or a parent must send your parent's e-mail address to the U.S. Scouting Service Project's webmaster (webmaster@usscouts.org) before using any of the forms available at this website. We will verify your parent's consent before we respond to you.

If you are under the age of 13, you probably won't be hearing from us. As much as we'd like to reply, we have a pretty strict (paranoid!) policy against doing so. Here's why:

There is a U.S. law called the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (or COPPA for short) that lays down a bunch of rules that anyone who "operates a website" must follow. This law draws the youth/adult line at 13 years of age. The law explicitly forbids collecting personal information, and in general discourages communication between "website operators" and "children" over the internet. It does, however, allow one-time responses, like answering questions (as long as this doesn't involve "collecting personal information"). For more information on COPPA visit http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.htm. The text of the law is at http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/coppa1.htm.
Civil liability is another thing altogether. Civil lawsuits can be filed regardless of whether the COPPA law was violated or not. We are aware of several examples where innocent communication over the interent carried unforseen and unwelcome consequences for the website operator:

Fortunately, there is a much better solution than asking us. It's called Scouts-L. Scouts-L is a discussion list where Scouters (youth and adults) ask each other Scouting questions. Anything you email to the list gets forwarded to about 2000 scouters. Not just anyone can send mail to this list--you have to join and be a member. Technically, this list isn't a "website", so it doesn't fall under the COPPA. Scouts-L is not affiliated with BSA, GSUSA, or USSSP and operates independently.

To join Scouts-L, you need to send a message to the unmanned "listserver" software which is on a machine at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. There is nobody physically at the listserver reading or reviewing messages...it is all done electronically. In the body of your posting, you need to only provide one line of information: SUB SCOUTS-L firstname lastname That's all. You MUST use your REAL first and last name because the listserver's software is 'trained" not to take "screen names" or "userids". Send the message line to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU and you should receive back two messages. The first one confirms that you do want to become part of Scouts-L; the second one welcomes you to the "international Roundtable meeting which NEVER ends!"

If you are under 13, we encourage you not to engage in private e-mail exchanges with other members. You should only reply to the listserver where your conversation is very public. Please do not provide personal information about yourself such as your school, address or phone number when you particpate in an online discussion.

If you choose not to become part of Scouts-L, then unfortunately, we must have a parents, guardian, or some other adult to post your question to us. We are more than happy to answer all questions posed to us within a reasonable amount of time...given the fact that we are all volunteers and we do have lives to lead outside of our work with the USSSP!

If you use this course as the basis for a similar course in your Council, please let us know. If we know that this material is being used and what is working, we can continue to try to provide you with the best information and resources to help in your Council.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to share your thoughts. Scouters serving as commissioners will benefit by your help.

Michael F. Bowman

Scouts Using the Internet Cartoon - Courtesy of Richard Diesslin - Click to See More Cartoons

Materials found at U. S. Scouting Service Project, Inc. Websites may be reproduced and used locally by Scouting volunteers for training purposes consistent with the programs of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) [Links to BSA Sites], the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) or other Scouting and Guiding Organizations. No material found here may be used or reproduced for electronic redistribution or for commercial or other non-Scouting purposes without the express permission of the U. S. Scouting Service Project, Inc. (USSSP) or other copyright holders. USSSP is not affiliated with BSA or WOSM and does not speak on behalf of BSA or WOSM. The NetCommish website is for Scout Leaders, Scouters, Scoutmasters and Commissioners. Opinions expressed on these web pages are those of the web authors.