Attention Webmasters

Notice for ALL Masonic Web Masters operating a
Masonic web site within the jurisdiction of the
Grand Lodge of New York, F. & A.M.

It is the directive of The Grand Master, that all Lodges and Districts under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New York F&AM that have a website will comply with the rules listed below.

These rules for Lodge and District web site operation are designed to protect the Grand Lodge, of the State of New York F & A M, and the Lodges and Districts under its jurisdiction that operates Masonic websites.

All Lodge and District web sites must be listed on the Grand Lodge Website (http://www.nymasons.org).

Lodge and Districts under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New York F&AM whose web sites are determined by the Grand Lodge Web Master not in compliance with these rules, will, immediately upon notification of such non-compliance, remove their website from the World Wide Web.

A Lodge or District website in the Grand Jurisdiction of New York will not be sanctioned by the Grand Lodge of New York on its official website unless they comply with the following criteria:

Effective November 1, 2003 , all Lodges under the Grand Lodge of New York F&AM having a website must comply with the following rules:.

1. There must be no direct links to other Grand Lodge web sites, their elected or appointed officers or their employees or any of their concordant or appendant bodies.

2. The web site cannot contain any advertisement of employment opportunities or sales promotion of a particular product or company.

3. The web site cannot contain any political endorsements or advertising.

4. The web site may not contain or link any web site that contains lewd or offensive material.

5. There must be no direct links to the Grand Line Officers, elected or appointed, the Grand Lodge committees, or employees of the Grand Lodge of New York F&AM. Exceptions: The can be a link to any Grand Lodge Committee that maintains a separate web site (i.e. Masonic Brotherhood Fund, Livingston Library, M. M. R. L., etc.). Permission should be obtained from the webmaster at each site before providing the link.

6. The only links to the Grand Lodge of New York F&AM Website will be to its home page (http://www.nymasons.org).

7. There must be no direct links to other Lodges, organizations, or appendant /concordant bodies not presently recognized by the Grand Lodge of New York F&AM.

8. There must be no direct links to commercial websites or pages with the following exceptions: web-counters, guest books, link exchange, awards received, click-trade in support of the brotherhood Fund.

9. There must be no direct links to other Lodges within the State of New York except that District web sites may link to Lodges within their District and Lodges within a District may link to each other, since this is a PRIMARY purpose for such a site. Permission may be granted upon request to the webmaster for a link to a “sister” lodge in another District or jurisdiction.

10. There can be no duplication of Grand Lodge Website pages, photos, forms, and content. These are copyrighted and may not be copied or duplicated without permission from the Grand Lodge webmaster unless identified on the site as approved downloads.

11. All Lodge and District web sites must have a link to the Grand Lodge of New York website predominantly displayed on their “Home” or "Index" page. The Grand Lodge Seal “graphic” and the words “Grand Lodge of New York F&AM” will be used. Both the graphic and the words will be linked to the Grand Lodge website. The seal will be provided to compliant sites via a coded html insert provided by the Grand Lodge of New York webmaster.

12. When notified that a web site is not compliant, the Lodge Webmaster will be given fourteen (14) days to correct the problem. If the problem is not corrected within the stated time frame, the offending site will be directed by the Grand Lodge Webmaster to remove their presence from the World Wide Web and such directive will be copied to the Grand Master and Grand Secretary.

13. In requesting compliance review the following must be submitted:

• The responsible individual or Webmaster will supply his name, address, phone, email address and site URL.

• The review request must be accompanied by a statement that he has permission from the Master of his Lodge and the District Deputy Grand Master who will have ultimate responsibility for the Lodge and District web sites in his District.. The Lodge webmaster will have responsibility for the content of his Lodge’s web site. The District Deputy Grand Master will be responsible for compliance
with these rules in his District. The District Deputy and the Master of the Lodge should be copied on the compliance review request.

14. Lodge web sites must be updated at least once every 12 months.

15. Once a website is found to be compliant, the website must maintain compliance. Failure to do so will result in corrective action being taken by the Grand Lodge webmaster in accordance with this directive.

16 .To complete compliance, you must download and/or print this page. The responsible individual will sign it showing that he understands and will comply with the above rules. The signed rules are to be mailed to:

Webmaster c/o Grand Secretary
Grand Lodge F&AM of NY
71 W. 23rd St.
New York NY 10010

OR via email to

webmaster@nymasons.org

If you have ANY QUESTIONS contact the webmaster.