Creating BBYO’s Website

While nowadays, it is a given that organizations have websites, in the mid-1990s, BBYO realized it needed a Web presence, and getting a website was something they needed to do.  So, “in 1995-1996 they created an International Internet Chairman for both AZA and BBG.”[1]  Amongst the applicants for 1996-1997 was Gary Lerhaupt, who was selected as the 1996-1997 AZA International Internet Chairman.  Having lacked an official website, Lerhaupt “created the initial bbyo.org” in his capacity as that chairman.[2]  In November of 1996, with the agreement of BBYO staff, Gary registered and created BBYO.org.[3]

Among the contents on the website was a chat forum area “that was called the BBYO Message Board that allowed people to post topics as well as chat and send each other personal messages.”[4]

By May 1997, the BBYO.org website contained four main sections: the Main BBYO website, the BBYO Message Board, an AZA Site, and a BBG Site.[5]

The Main BBYO Website contained thirteen pages:[6]

1) The Index Page[7]

2) What Is BBYO?

3) Programming[8]

4) Membership and ISF Updates

5) The BBYO E-mail List[9]

6) Summer Programs Information[10]

7) Information on Teen Connection[11]

8) Links[12]

9) E-mail the Shofar[13]

10) Alumni Section[14]

11) Calendar[15]

12) Graphics[16]

13) What’s New[17]

 

The second section was the BBYO Message Board, which contained eight different pages, included[18]

1) The Login Page[19]

2) Login Successful Page[20]

3) New Messages[21]

4) View Message

5) Post a Reply

6) Pen Pal Profile[22]

7) The BBYO Chat Room[23]

8) Special Features[24]

 

The AZA section contained seven pages (beginning with http://www.bbyo.org/aza):[25]

1) The Index Page[26]

2) AZA History[27]

3) Songs and Audio[28]

4) Connect with the I-board[29]

5) How to be a Successful President[30]

6) Test Your Knowledge[31]

7) What’s New[32]

 

Lastly, there was a section for a BBG area (beginning with http://www.bbyo.org/bbg):[33]

1) Index Page[34]

2) BBG From A to Z[35]

3) The History of BBG[36]

4) I Board Info[37]

5) Songs and Cheers[38]

 

BBYO.org continued to be the main web address for BBYO throughout the years.  Gary’s involvement continued with BBYO.org on a contractor basis for several years even after he graduated from high school in order to maintain and administer the website.[39]

 

BBYO.org has certainly grown and developed through the years, both as the organization has developed, as well as the Internet.

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[1] Gary Lerhaupt, e-mail message to author, 3 January 2013.

[2] Ibid.

[3]  “I walked Jeff Hoffman through the cost of registering the bbyo.org domain.  He agreed and I registered and began running it.” (Ibid.)  In a letter from Gary to Jeff Hoffman, who was BBYO’s International Director of Programs and Publications at the time, the domain name was purchased from InterNIC and the site was hosted through Cinternet Internet Services, Inc. (Gary Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 14 November 1996 (provided to the author by Gary Lerhaupt on 3 January 2013)).

[4] Lerhaupt, e-mail message to author, 3 January 2013.

[5] Gary Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997 (provided to the author by Gary Lerhaupt on 3 January 2013).

[6] The following – including the footnotes, which are part of the body of the original letter – is all from Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997.

[7] “This is square one of the BBYO Web Site.  It provides links to everything available on the site including links to the AZA Site, the BBG Site, the Message Board, the B’nai B’rith site, and other BBYO information” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[8]  “This is a programming bank that I took from Mike Baine’s AZA site from last year (he was last year’s chairman)” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[9]  “This is the only interactive feature that can be found on the ‘BBYO Main Site.’  It makes use of the profiles created by the ‘BBYO Message Board’ and searches them.  It provides two different types of searches so as to better benefit the user” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[10] “As you can see, this page is under construction.  It will remain this until somebody sends me some summer programs information (pictures, dates, explanations, contacts, etc.).  I would like there to be an on-line registration that would go straight to you guys, but I don’t know who to send it too.  Also, I have an interesting note.  Someone from B’nai B’rith International has authorized a completely separate web site to feature BBYO Israel Programs (http://www.bbyo-summer.org).  It really makes no sense to have a totally separate page for this.  It only spreads out the information and causes more confusion among web users (it also costs you guys more)” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[11] “Again, I have not received any information on this so I cannot make a page” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[12] “As of now, this part of the page only lists the regions in the order without linking to them.  This is because nobody has been able to meet all of the qualifications that we have set down.  In my opinion, these qualifications are a great hindrance and only restrict the amount of BBYO information that is available to our users.  I suggest that we take these qualifications down and put a warning up that says something like ‘WARNING:  BBYO takes no responsibility for the content of the pages linked herein.’  This would solve the liability problem and would make a lot of people happy (I’ve actually received hate email from people because they can’t stand our current policies)” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[13] “This page allows users to mail articles for submission to the Shofar” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[14] “Again, this page is very limited from lack of information” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[15] “This is simply the BBYO Calendar.  However, it has no summer programs dates on it, because I have never been able to find them out” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[16] “This page provides links to the most popular BBYO graphics.  There isn’t much more to it” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[17] “This page is updated weekly by me.  Basically, I just think up info to put on it.  Sometimes Pierce asks me to put something up there too.  Otherwise, it’s up to my prerogative.  As a new feature, we have created a Focus section.  Here, we get the presidents of a region/district/council that we pick to write something and we post it up.  Also, most of the information that is put up on this page is also mailed out to members of the “BBYO Message Board”” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[18] The following – including the footnotes, which are part of the body of the original letter – is all from Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997.

[19] “This page is the gateway to the BBYO Message Board.  It requires you to have a registered account in order to enter.  To get an account, you have to provide your email address and it in turn mails that email address and sends it a temporary password.  Thus, you can only receive a password by providing your real email address.  That means that there are no phonies on this site.  To enter you must provide your password and your username.  It is a very secure system” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[20] “This page alerts you that you have successfully logged in.  It then allows you to access the features of the message board: the chat room, the profiles section, a place to post messages and a place to show new messages and old messages” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[21] “The site keeps records of your last log in and from this shows you what messages have been posted from this time.  By clicking on any one of the subjects, you will be taken to that message” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[22] “This section is a new addition to the ‘BBYO Message Board.’  It allows users to create a personal profile which is then added to the database.  Users can then search this database and look up other members in BBYO.  Members of the Message Board are not required to make a profile” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[23] “This page allows Message Board users to chat.  Unfortunately, due to current web technology it is slow and cumbersome (but I am looking into replacements).  Because of this, it is hard to actually ever find anyone in there.  It still works very well though and even allows users to send private messages to each other” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[24] “The ‘BBYO Message Board’ also has other features that most users do not have access to.  It recognizes the email address of ‘aza@bbyo.org’ (me) and ‘bbg@bbyo.org’ (Shayna) as the people that run the site.  Thus, if you log-in under those names, it also gives you option to send mail to all of the users or to delete messages” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[25] The following – including the footnotes, which are part of the body of the original letter – all comes from Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997.

[26] “Much like the index page of the ‘Main BBYO Site’ provides links to BBYO information, the index page of the ‘AZA Site’ provides links to links to pertinent AZA information.  It also features a background song and provides a link back the ‘Main BBYO Site’” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[27] “This is an abbreviated history of AZA.  I copied it from Mike Baine’s page from last year.  It really should be re-done with information from the Blue Book” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[28] “This page gives the text of all of the AZA songs.  It also allows users to download the songs so they can hear them on their computer” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[29] “This page gives users access to the releases put out by I board members.  Basically, I have the I-boarders send me their release via email and I cut and paste them into their own web-page.  It is a slow process for me and one I don’t like to do” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[30] “This page gives information on how to be a good president (I got it from Mike Baine’s site).  I would like to take this down and replace it with information on how to be any number of BBYO positions, but I have never gotten info on this.  I requested that the I-board members send me something, but this never really materialized” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[31] “This is an interactive test that tests your AZA Knowledge.  It gives you a random 10 question (out of a pool of 50 questions that I came up with) and if you receive a perfect score, it asks for your name.  It then mails me all of the names at the end of the day” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[32] “There still exists an AZA ‘What’s New’ Section, but I will be taking it down.  I would like to replace it with a page on AZA Rituals” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[33] The following – including the footnotes, which are part of the body of the original letter – is all from Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997.

[34] “This page provides links to the pertinent BBG information available on the site.  It is run by Shayna Bloom.  For the sake of space, I did not include a print-out of the BBG Knowledge Test because it is a duplicate of the AZA test with BBG questions” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[35] “This is a quick run through of all of the BBG/BBYO acronyms” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[36] “This is a complete history of BBG.  The AZA history section should look like this” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[37] “This is much like the AZA I-board info section” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[38] “This page provides text links to all of the BBG songs.  However, audio is not available” (Lerhaupt, Letter to Jeff Hoffman, 7 May 1997).

[39] Lerhaupt, e-mail to author, 3 January 2013: “BBYO International decided to keep me on as a contractor and paid me a small amount to help maintain the site.  I continued to help administer the site and develop the message board for the next four years (through 2001) and eventually stepped away when I completed college and started a full-time job.”