Hi Brad,
I have a situation where someone selected a missing classmate's name as their own in order to join our site. The person removed the first and last name and entered their own and was able to create a profile and everything. Is there a way we could gray out the classmate's name when they select it from the list to ensure we are really getting the right person?

The names can't gray out, no, but you can't join with the name of somebody who has already joined anyway.

Yes, somebody can join your site by clicking on a Classmate's Name other than their own, then change their name later. Although I'd have to say this happens virtually never. In fact I think this may be the first time I've ever heard of it happening. If somebody joins under somebody else's name slot and then changes the name to their own, simply add the original Classmate's Name back to your Class list and delete the redundant name of the Classmate who joined using somebody else's name. The overwhelming liklihood is you'll never see this happen again anyway.

I had it happen and couldn't figure out who they deleted. I had to ban someone and they went nuts. We had to get the police involved. Didn't know the site would be THAT popular

I had the same thing happen on one of my other class sites. I wouldn't let someone join because they were also banned because of inappropriate behavior and for creating drama within the class so they just clicked on the name of a classmate that had not joined the site yet and changed the name. It took me forever to figure out which classmate they deleted because we have over 650 names in our class. Then when I deleted the person who had been banned again they started going in and clicking on the names and just deleting the first and last name altogether and creating blank profiles with bogus email addresses which removed the names out of the list so I would get a message that would show that "blank" has joined your site. It was a real mess. Every now and then they go in and still do it.

OMG what a mess! Maybe Brad and his team will have pity on us and add the request to gray out the names to his "honey do" list.

Either that or have it to where those fields cannot be changed by anyone other than the administrator. It is amazing what some of these people will do!

I don't see how graying out names would solve the issue at all -- you can't join under the name of a Classmate who has already joined anyway. Am I not understanding something about the graying out issue here? There is no "fixed" Class List. Your Class List is a dynamically generated list that includes the names of your Classmates, and that would include names that have been changed by your Classmates.

I do see how not allowing Clasmates to change their name would solve this, but that also opens up some early issues we had when we first launched Class Creator, and that issue is that Classmates want to change their name... Bob wants to be called Robert. William wants to be called Bill. Alexandra wants to be called Alex... We've also had people want to use nicknames, change misspellings, etc. So you close one issue but you open another.

How about this: What if we send an email to the Root Administrator whenever a Classmate changes their first, last, or married name. At least then you'd have immediate notice. Would that suffice here?

Thanks for your reply Brad. Let me think about this for a minute. This issue is concerning classmates who have not yet joined the site. Is there a way the name could be grayed out and not editable at the time the list is uploaded and stay un-editable even after the person joins? Maybe we could add a field to the classmate details page that says "also known as". The person could show any nicknames here (i.e. Bob instead of Robert). Only the Site Administrator (SA) should have the ability to change the name that was originally uploaded.

For those folks who have already joined, this is really not an issue for them. This is really for the list of missing classmates where people are going to the list and just selecting someone at random. Even though the page says “only create a profile if you are this person”, they proceed anyway and remove the person’s name and replace it with their own. Once it’s saved, the original missing classmate’s name no longer appears in the list. Now the new person’s name appears. It’s just like the original missing classmate never existed. Does this all make any sense?

Brad Switzer wrote:

Brad,

I think that the issue is not with classmates that are already registered, but folks that are signing up on the site by clicking on an un-registered classmate's name. Then, during the registration process, they simply change the name to reflect their own, and then the name that had appeared there is removed from the Missing Classmates list.

I have not run into this problem yet, but it sounds like it is happening, and for the person who had to remove someone from the site due to inappropriate behavior, they will forever have to deal with this problem because the removed person is holding a grudge, and creating this problem. The only solution for this particular person is to make their homepage password protected, but that will only be effective if all of their classmates are currently registered on the site.

I also think that the suggestion for a field for nickname would be a good addition to the site...

Vicki

Yes it makes perfect sense. I think overall people join using the wrong name rarely. But it's clearly happening sometimes. When it happens it's very easy to remove the duplicate name from your Class List (since the person changed the name to their own name, but their name also exists under your original entry) and then add the name that was removed back to your list. All of this would take less than 1 minute.

Thus, my feelings on this topic are that we should allow people to continue to adjust their own name to their liking, rather than create frustration and a bunch more work for Site Admins. But I do think we should notify the Root Admin ANY time somebody changes their name to be something different from what was originally inputted into the system. That way if John Doe Joins under the name Steve Smith but then changes his name to his correct name, John Doe, you'll get a notice that says Steve Smith's name has been changed. I.E. rather than trying to figure out the name of the Classmate who's name was taken (and is now gone from your list completely) the email notification about this will tell you precisely what happened.

I'm just curious, how often would you say this is happening on your site? I.E. how many Clasmates have joined using a name slot intended for a different Clasmate?

FYI, I've asked our programmers to integrate the following auto email into the system:

This email is to notify you, the Root Site Administrator, that the Classmate name you originally inputted into your site, , has been changed by the Classmate him or herself to now read .

You are receiving this message in case the Classmate has:

1) Changed his or her name unintentionally

2) Has inadvertently joined your site using using a different Classmate's name slot instead of using their own name.

3) The user has joined your site under false pretenses and has also elected to change his or her name.

If you do not believe the Classmate's name should have been changed, here is how to handle each of these situations above:

1) Change then name back to the correct name and inform the Classmate you have fixed the error.

2) Because the Classmate joining has changed the name to his or her own name, now this Classmate's name will appear twice on your Class List. Remove the original Classmate's name (the one with no Profile), and re-add the Classmate's name that was removed from your Class List so the actual Classmate can join your site in the future.

3) Delete the individual from your web site, and re-add the Classmate's name to your Class List so the real Classmate can join your site in the future.

This is perfect Brad! You're the best. As always, thanks a stack to you and your team.