Now that our reunion is past, we desperately need something to generate traffic on our site, other than sending out obituary notices. So, I just finished setting up, in our User Forum, 14 different grade schools classmates may have attended . . . hoping to get some conversation going on here!

Another classmate posted and I also added something (two different topics). I have received the email "Subscription Notification" that "A new response has been added to a topic you're subscribed to." The email contains the ENTIRE post (it's a long one) which means classmates have no reason to log onto the web site to see the comment.

I'd like to make the suggestion that, other than maybe a teaser sentence, the post/comment is hidden and NOT ABLE TO BE VIEWED IN THE EMAIL notice. I think the classmate should have to actually log into the web site to see forum posts/comments/responses. As it is now, my attempt to try and direct people to the web site isn't going to work. They'll just read the comment in the email and move on.

This suggestion is similiar to the one I mentioned awhile back about the Announcements notification revealing too much information via the email notice.

As busy as we know CC staff is, still hoping CC will take this suggestion into consideration soon (real soon).

We'll pass it along for consideration.

so? how about 8 month update?

Nothing has been done on this feature request. Nothing will be done in way of enhancements until the FACEBOOK INTEGRATION APP is released

Rhonda, I think you're right. With the entire New Forum Topic post going out in an email, there really is No reason for Classmates to log in to view the site.

The Facebook app appears done, and I know the Reactive Design is now taking up time, but this really is a serious issue as we try to drive traffic to our sites.

Any chance we can get "back in line" behind the Reactive Design?

I know that you all try to automate things as much as possible, and as a novice user, I appreciate that, but I do have a question. Is there any way that you might show us what is going to be emailed to the class, but permit us to modify the announcement before it goes out?

That way we could let the entire thing go out (useful for those who use the Forums to notify members) or shorten it (useful to force people to log in to visit the site to see the entire post). Just a thought.

The user forums as well as the message boards are area of the site where I do not see any future development. Those particular areas are not offered with any of the new sites that are built in the system. This has been the case since the What's New page was released. Ironically, the What's New page was designed with getting user attention and boosting the frequency members come to the site as well as the duration of time spent on the site. We have seen positive numbers in the system that correlate to this release.

I'm sorry to be late to this discussion, but I just saw it.

I don't understand how What's New can replace User Forums.

We have threads in User Forums where we talk about Classmates in the News; Major milestones (50th anniversary, significant awards, etc.); large numbers of people working for charity; etc.

When we put information in What's New, comments seems to get scattered around vs at the top. For example: if someone adds a comment to something that happened several months ago, the What's New comment is buried way down in the list and will probably be overlooked by classmates because they don't want to page through screen after screen to see if any comments have been made. User Forums has the threads with new comments at the top which makes them easily accessible.

Also, the date on many of the What's New items is very confusing. I have difficulty determining if a comment is a current comment, or if it is a year old.

Another example: when accessing User Forums one can easily locate relevant topics like Major Milestones, Classmates in the News, etc. The only way I know to locate something like this in What's New is to start scrolling down until you eventually find what you are looking for.

User Forums also has a search feature. I have not found a search feature in What's New.

I hope User Forum's hangs around for a long time as our class makes good use of it. Bob

Bob,

I agree with you, the Forums are quite valuable and I hope Classcreator will consider reinstating them for new websites.

I believe the What's New and the Forums serve two separate and distinct purposes. The What's New is sort of like Facebook, and features all the What's Current and Trending items, but things become lost "down the list" in only a matter of days.

On the other hand, the Forums, are quite useful for things that you might like to refer back to, historical stories, reference items, photos, etc.

If we want to have a website that contains more than simply what's current, we need BOTH Forums and What's New.

Additionally, CC, please stop sending out the entire new forum posts, that eliminates the whole purpose of trying to bring people back to the site. Please consider permitting us to Review, Modify or Cancel the Announcement before it goes out. That way it can function as an announcement for those who use it that way (the entire post goes out), and a teaser to bring people back to the site for others.

Not everyone uses the website the same way, and not everyone want's a Facebook "What's Trending" experience. The more options and flexibility that you provide us, the better experience we can provide for our classmates.

I've just helped another class get a site up and running and would love it if they could use the Forums also. Any chance you all might reconsider reinstating Forums for new sites?

Bob,

I agree with you, the Forums are quite valuable and I hope Classcreator will consider reinstating them for new websites.

I believe the What's New and the Forums serve two separate and distinct purposes. The What's New is sort of like Facebook, and features all the What's Current and Trending items, but things become lost "down the list" in only a matter of days.

On the other hand, the Forums, are quite useful for things that you might like to refer back to, historical stories, reference items, photos, etc.

If we want to have a website that contains more than simply what's current, we need BOTH Forums and What's New.

Additionally, CC, please stop sending out the entire new forum posts, that eliminates the whole purpose of trying to bring people back to the site. Please consider permitting us to Review, Modify or Cancel the Announcement before it goes out. That way it can function as an announcement for those who use it that way (the entire post goes out), and a teaser to bring people back to the site for others.

Not everyone uses the website the same way, and not everyone want's a Facebook "What's Trending" experience. The more options and flexibility that you provide us, the better experience we can provide for our classmates.

I've just helped another class get a site up and running and would love it if they could use the Forums also. Any chance you all might reconsider this?

Gary, you made my points much better than I did.

Here's another thought for the good folks at Class Creator: If doing away with User Forums is such a good idea, should we expect to see these Administrator Forums changed to a "What's New" type arrangement? One with no search feature, and where things get lost "down the list" in a few days?

As Gary said much better than I did, User Forums are a great place for historical stories, reference items, photos, etc.

Bob

Well, I'm not sure I made the points better, but I do agree with you that we need BOTH What's New and Forums. They serve different purposes.

It's hard to keep everyone happy, but I believe the more options available, the more likely each of us can create the type of site we really want and that adds significant value to the Classcreator Product.

I hope they will reconsider restoring the Forums for all new sites as well as spending a little more time tweaking the announcement portion to give us more control.

My suggestion would be to provide the option to either:
1) send the entire post to the whole class
2) send the entire post only to subscribers
3) let us Review and Modify the announcement before sending it to subscribers or the entire class.
4) option NOT to send any announcement.

I've really got to hand it to Brad Switzer for coming up with such an excellent product as classcreator. I realize this would take a little additional work, but I believe this would add significant value and functionality that would be extremely beneficial to the broad user base.

Just my two cents worth.

(And the option to review the announcement that goes out on a What's New post would also be very nice.)