I Just Got an "EPA Content About to Expire" E-mail. What Do I Do?

This Page Doesn't Belong to ME!

You may belong to a web area, such as About EPA, that has lots of content managed by other editors. People who have a role in the About EPA web area may receive "review and republish" emails for MANY pages in the About EPA or other similar web areas, including pages that they are not primarily responsible for. You are expected to sort through these emails and ensure that the pages for which you are responsible stay up-to-date and do not get unpublished.

Here's more about Managing the "About EPA" Website.

You Received an "About to Expire" E-mail

If you have received an email that says "The following EPA page is about to expire. It will be unpublished and removed from the site if not reviewed by xx/xx/xxxx", then you should:

Not panic
Go to the page in the WebCMS
1. You will need to log in at www.epa.gov/user
2. There will be a link in the email you can click
Review the content
1. Sometimes, someone else may have already reviewed and republished the content. You can tell by looking at the moderation state.
2. If so, you do not need to take any action.
Verify that the content is still current and accurate, including checking for broken links. Make updates if needed.
1. To-Do Lists for Site Maintenance
2. Redundant, Outdated, and/or Trivial Content (ROT): Review and Clean Up Your Content
Select one of the publishing options:
1. Draft. Choose this option when you want to create a draft revision of this page. Doing so will create a new revision, leaving the current revision published (but still in the needs review state).
2. Published. Choose this when the page needs no edits, has no broken links, and is current and accurate.
3. Published, scheduled for expiration. Choose this option when you want to eventually unpublish the page. Rarely used.
4. Unpublished. Choose this option when you want to unpublish the page now.

What Happens Next

If the page is republished, the review cycle is restarted.
If the page is unpublished, it will no longer be on the public web site.

What to Do if You Have Many Pages to Review and Republish

Prevent this in the future

Keep in mind that if you perform monthly maintenance on your pages, you can be proactive about updating and republishing content regularly. Every time you republish a page, you reset its review/expiration date into the future. See:

No time for review?

If you do not have time to do a proper review, republish and note that it needs a review. Do not skip this review, however.