RussellHltn wrote:I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand I suspect that simply sending it though feedback is a little too low and may not be elevated to the right level. But most members have no clue who to contact except the very top.
You should contact your Bishop or Stake President because they are only a few people removed from the the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency. Also, let's not forget that Stake Presidents are called by the General Authorities and are trained by them therefore they are more likely to pass it on to the right leaders. The General Authorities have repeatedly stated that you should not write directly to the First Presidency or General Authorities instead we should use the proper priesthood channels. If and when our ideas or feedback warrants the attention of the First Presidency or other General Authorities it will make its way to them. If it does not it is because our idea or suggestion isn't that important and we need to accept that every idea that comes out of our heads isn't always the greatest idea just because we thought of it.
Who is the GA over the web page? What is the line of authority? Does it report to the Presiding Bishopric, or does it go direct to the Quorum of the 12 or First Presidency? Without a knowledge of the power structure, it's hard to know where such a concern should be sent.
It should be sent to your Bishop (or Stake President) who will determine whether it is something he can handle or if the Stake President should handle it. If the Stake President cannot handle it than he will send it to his direct report among the General Authorities who will in turn make sure that it gets to who it needs to get too. The only reason that we need to know who the General Authority responsibility for the webpage is because we think we are VIP's and don't have to go through proper channels. If every member of the Church were to go directly to the General Authority responsible for the website every time they had a comment or idea about it that General Authority or General Officer would not be able to perform any function other than to listen to feedback from members. This also goes for feedback we submitted through the website. If we don't get a response it should not concern us. It has reached someone and just because we don't get a personal response or see the change we want doesn't mean that it hasn't been read by the right people but simply means we aren't enough to receive a personalized responsed as there are 12 million members and these people are going through 1,000's of feedback.
On the other hand, I'd expect anything addressed to the First Presidency is screened by assistants so that it was re-directed to the appropriate person for action.
If you send a letter directly to a General Authority they are going to read it. I doubt very much if the First Presidency would delegate this task to someone other than one of themselves or the Quorum of the Twelve as some people write about very sensitive matters. If a member of the Church wants to make sure that the right people see their suggestions than they should go through the Bishop and Stake President because they have direct contact. If it is some minor technical issue or such than there are forums such as this one where issues and suggestions can be discussed. Also, to send suggestions directly to the First Presidency because we think that an Assistant will screen it is the wrong attitude since the time and talents of these Assistants are being wasted screening suggestions. It is one thing to have a Bishop screen, then the Stake President, then a General Authority screen these but another entirely for a group of people who are assistants to the General Authority screen letters from the entire membership of the Church. We have a priesthood line and we know exactly what that line is and it starts with our Bishop.
