Sometimes you outgrow things, so you have to adapt and move if necessary. The District Website, suffolkmasons.com, has moved to a new host. Realizing that this may bore some, I’ll summarize as much as possible. As the District website grew and had more capabilities added to it, well, the old host (server) it was on just wasn’t delivering, but the price was right, so we kept it there. Continual tinkering with settings and apps to make it all work correctly and smoothly was a constant challenge.

There was a lot of feedback when it came to navigating and the functionality of the site. Finally, the decision was made to move the site to a more robust host that could handle all the functions and then some that we wanted the site to have. A full e-commerce host that was more responsive to support requests and able to handle the site the way we would like it to be.

It took about 2 weeks to complete migrating all and test, and reset functions, but it is now all complete. So, for those who are interested, here are some of the finer details.

• The site is now hosted with WP Engine – A fully fledged e-commerce host
• All Suffolk District BAND events are aggregated into the Suffolk District Event Calendar daily – https://suffolkmasons.com/events/
  • If you enter an event on the District Band Calendar, it will be ported over to the District Calendar on the website.
  • So, if you are not inclined to join BAND, you can always check the events calendar, and you will see all events there on a website instead of an app.
  • Update – We are trying to not only aggregate but also promote Lodge and District Events. So, putting an event on the BAND calendar just days before the event will occur is NOT the best way to do it. Please set your events as far in advance as possible. We recommend setting them at least 2 weeks in advance, and a month in advance is even better. 
•  The Community calendar and community tickets have been updated, tested, and are completely functional.
  • This means you can log in, create events, sell tickets, and the payouts go to your PayPal account (it is recommended you set up a business account for your lodge or organization to use here, along with adding the tax ID of the entity for tax purposes). This is all automated, so you control the event.
• PayPal – The site uses PayPal as its merchant service for the purpose of collecting and distributing payouts for tickets. However, nobody needs to have a PayPal account to use the service. If you choose to you can add your payment info securely to PayPal’s Fastlane service or not. If you choose not to, you can use the standard Credit/Debit card, PayPal, Google Pay, on an Apple device, Apple Pay to purchase tickets for an event. If you have a PayPal account, add your email on the FastLane, and it will fill in your details automatically.
• Tickets in general – all should find the experience much quicker and smoother overall. Once a ticket is set on the site and open for purchase, click the number of tickets you wish and get tickets. We do set tickets with required info for each attendee, so if you are buying multiple tickets, a name and a unique email will be required for each. The tickets are sent to this email, and it allows the organizers to see the report on who and how many are attending.
  • We have added a new function called “Wait listing”. This can serve the purpose of alerting those interested in your event before tickets go on sale or when sold out, in case there is an opening or cancellation. you can see a sample of that in use here -> Potunk Lodge’s 100th
  • Hiram’s Tickets – The Community events has been fully re-tested on the new platform and is work as expected.
• RSVPs – yes, I know among Masons this is a four-letter word. But you can add an event that is an RSVP and get an automated attendance list, and it’s free, with no fees attached. How good and pleasant it is for Brethren to respond to an invitation and let their brothers know they intend to come to their event!
• District News – each Monday morning, an email will go to subscribers with any new event added the previous week, as well as any new stories/articles, etc. If you subscribed, thank you. If you want to unsubscribe, see the bottom of the email to do so, and you won’t get this anymore. Please don’t report as junk, as this gums up the sender service.

There is more to come, hopefully for the betterment of all. We are also looking for individuals to submit articles of interests to the District. You can type it up and send it to webmaster. Please include pictures and submit in Word document or similar so it can be parsed and not have to be re-typed.

The real purpose here is to help bring the District even closer to all. All in one place to get info, get tickets, help individual Lodges sell tickets to their events and ensure a smooth process for all of it. We hope you use the resource and take advantage of the technology.

We are always looking for feedback on how it’s going and any improvements or suggestions. Feel free to comment on post/events or send an email to the webmaster and we will see if we can change it or make it happen.

Coming Soon! – A more mobile friendly version of the website for those who only use their phone to check websites