There’s no requirement at all under PPAA’s Local Management Agreement with the Council for it to provide a website or any other on-line service. However, volunteers are willing to do this on their own account, for the benefits and conveniences that it brings to plot holders.
This is a public website, that is, no log-in’s required to view it. That’s because it’s intended to be of service not only to PPA plot holders, but also to other members of the public who might be interested for whatever reason, e.g. because they’re on the PPA Waiting List.
Likewise, any member of the public* can comment on the Articles Page. Commenters should be on-topic, truthful, understandable by all readers – not just by an “in” group or individual – and amiable. The usual standards for blogs such as these will generally be observed for moderation, and we’re happy to say that no person’s blocked from commenting here as yet. (There’s also an open chat page called Lost/found etc. for whatever subjects, set by the public commenters themselves.)
The website team – unpaid PPAA volunteers – built and now operate it for the benefit of all on the PPA site, and so final editorial authority is given to the consensus of the PPAA Committee – elected by the site – though this will likely be reactive in nature. The site administrator is registered by the global internet authority ICANN as the personal owner, and has dedicated it – at will – to PPA and to PPAA. So the website seeks to promulgate the provisions of the Local Management Agreement, and also the Objectives in the PPAA Constitution. It therefore won’t publish articles, which would express or imply criticism of gardeners for making effective, productive use of their plots – however they might choose – within the terms of their tenancy.
The channel for bringing issues to the attention of PPAA Committee is by the means explained on the contact page – but not by comments on this website. It isn’t the responsibility of website admin to pass e.g. off-topic comments to them, and nor will PPAA Committee members necessarily read them in timely manner on the article.
The site doesn’t use any analytics, nor store any user information from visitors beyond a subscriber list and general traffic information, and it’s also advert free. A first version was built in 2016, but a replacement had to be built in 2022, owing to the host’s retiring of the first’s build substrate, or “theme” as they call it, along with other technical considerations.
The modest expenses associated with the site’s upkeep are kindly defrayed by PPAA from its funds. (From time-to-time, in the interests of keeping those costs down by saving storage, obsolete posts, comments, and media may be removed. This also helps the site to be contemporary in nature. Apart from Minutes etc. it’s not meant to be a record of every bit of site news and comment.)
Above all though, we appreciate every visit to this site, and we hope very much that the visitor finds their browsing both informative and enjoyable.
PPA Website Team.
*Where a poster comments under just a first name, but the full name is known by the moderator, and if considered appropriate, the full name may be published, to avoid confusion with anyone else also having that first name.
