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The Mississippi Chapter of APCO International, Inc. is really kicking things into gear! We want our members to be well-informed, highly educated, and the best professionals they can possibly be. To help us achieve those standards, we decided to create a home for our Chapter on the Internet.
APCO-MS.org was launched on September 21, 2004, with the goal of becoming a valuable resource for both APCO members and the general public. The site will always be a work-in-progress, and the input of our members and associates helps drive our direction and growth.
Some common questions about our site:
Why did you choose APCO-MS.org?
Naming our site something that referenced both our parent organization APCO International, Inc. and our local Mississippi Chapter was an obvious decision. But what to name it? Finding the perfect URL (Uniform Resource Locator, the technical name for an Internet address) was going to be a challenge. We examined domain names that were available, and compared what was available to what other chapters were using. We settled on APCO-MS.org for several reasons. First, it's a short and easy URL to remember. Typing apco-ms.org into a browser gets you there quickly, and without having to remember some lengthy address. Second, we found it fit an unofficial standard of identifying a chapter's Web site by the word APCO plus the two-character state abbreviation. (Much like Colorado's apco-co.org and Minnesota's apco-mn.org.) And there were other considerations. It worked quite nicely with our new Chapter logo, and there was nothing locally with a similar name. And being a nonprofit public service organization, the top-level domain .org was the only way to go. Any way you look at it, it was a perfect choice.
What do you have planned for the site?
Lots of goodies. We don't want to give away all the surprises, and a lot of what we're working on is content that will available exclusively to APCO International, Inc. members. But we can drop a few hints. Forums are in the works to allow public safety professionals all over the place to get together and discuss problems and solutions in public safety. Our highly-respected Larry Lindsey Award will soon find its way to the Internet, and you'll be able to nominate someone online. You'll find a lot of very handy reference material on the site, and maybe even some games to play when you need a little break from saving lives. But that's all we're telling—keep your eye on the site and see what all we come up with!
Why does the site look different on my computer than on my friend's computer?
Chances are you are using different browsers, or a different version of the same browser. We designed the APCO-MS.org site to work with all the major browsers, but that was quite a task. There are a lot of different browsers out there, and they don't all adhere to the established standards for displaying Web pages. Some can't display images properly, some don't process data the right way, you get the idea. To get the site looking good and working properly on all browsers, we had to pull a sneaky trick or two with the instructions (or "code") that create each page. If all browsers worked according to the rules established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C, for short), our site would be an easy task. But a lot of browsers don't do what they should do, so we have to work around their individual quirks. If you want a good browser, look for one that is fully "HTML 4.01 compliant"—that's the sign of a good browser.
Why do you have banner ads on the site? Aren't you nonprofit?
Being nonprofit doesn't mean not having income. It takes money to continue to do the good things APCO does both internationally and here in Mississippi. The money generated from our site, the sale of APCO merchandise, our hugely-popular Conference, and other ventures keeps our Chapter thriving and able to make positive changes in the world of public safety.
What, no Flash or Java?
Not on this site. At least not yet. A lot of people have trouble running Java, or have it disabled to prevent problems like "browser hijacking". APCO teaches you to communicate clearly and efficiently, with as little excess as possible. That's the approach we took with the site—keep it clean and functional, without all the little frills that may look nice but cause headaches for many people. We may have to use technologies like Flash and Java some day, but not as long as there's a cleaner and less problematic option available.
Why is your site directing me to a pornography site?
Why do you use all these popup ads?
If you see popup ads, pornography, or anything else that you weren't expecting to see, chances are your computer has been "hijacked". A hijacked computer will do strange things, such as displaying Web pages you didn't request, sending you to a different site than the one you intended to visit, changing your browser's home page, and more. The goal of most hijacking is profit—should you click on one of the advertisements you are forced to view, the "hijacker" is rewarded with a payment for a "clickthrough".
APCO-MS.org never uses popup ads, and certainly doesn't permit pornographic, obscene, or offensive content on the site. Most links to external sites (such as the APCO International site) open in new windows for your convenience, but you should never see anything pop up that you didn't ask to see. If you see something inappropriate when visiting our site, please let us know.
Are you guys hiring?
No, because we don't have employees. The site and the other great things APCO-MS accomplishes are done by our members on a voluntary basis. And we like it that way—we get great satisfaction in showing what our Chapter members can accomplish just by giving their time and effort, and without any expectation of reward.
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