I had a classmate post some very nasty comments regarding the reunion survey. How may I delete just his comments without deleting all the others?

Then, how may I make sure he does not post anything additional?

Need very quick answer!

Hi Wynn,

I am not the professional here, but I think that you can go under Manage Classmates and go to his profile page and get his email address and change his password and then log out and log back in as him and then go to your class reunion survey and change his response. When he can't log back in (since you changed his password) you could let him know then that his comments were unacceptable on the class website and he needs to keep it clean. If he continues the nast remarks then just take take him off the roster.

I had a similar situation in the Message Forums, of a classmate who kept using foul language and I sent her a private email reminding her of our expected etiquette in here (It is in our How To Use This Website tab) and she quickly stopped.

Good luck!

Thanks Dawn. That is correct. Except, when the classmate can't log back in, he can just say "Forgot Password" and the password will be e-mailed to him, so he might not have any discussion with the admin about why his password got changed.

If you want to have that type of discussion with that classmate, it is probably a good idea to send a private message to him to let him know that his password has been changed (by you) in order to edit his responses in the survey and that that type of language will not be tolerated.

Exactly. If you want to ensure the Classmate cannot log back in until after you've had a discussion, just temporarily change the Classmate's email address too.

Actually, I have now discovered, that is *NOT* what is happening!

The problem is NOT with our actual classmates using inappropriate language, but with ‘hackers’ “joining” the class, using classmates’ names who have not yet created their own profile.

The problem, I have found, with this website regarding security is two-fold: (1) as it relates to the above, is *someone* can apparently easily create a profile using a classmates’ name. In my case, they take our Class Reunion Survey leaving disgusting and profane comments. Then, any other legitimate classmate taking the Survey can see their comments until I discover the comments (or am called and told) and can remove the ‘classmate’ from the database; and (2) even though a classmate checks the box [under their own profile] that they desire their information to be kept private, except only to those classmates that have logged-in, if a person “Googles” the classmate’s name on the World Wide Web, all of their information comes up freely for anyone to see. I have had several classmates contact me concerned that the information they are trying to contain as private within their profile comes up when “Googled.”

Accordingly, is there not some way that (1) a password system can be placed within the profile creation portion for the database (i.e., Who was our high school principal?). That way, John Doe would not readily be able to enter a Class’s database and begin lurking about; and (2) What can be done about actually keeping private the classmates’ information that we are advising we are keeping private?

Thank you,
Wynn Liles

Wynn Liles wrote:

I think that most of your concerns are answered in the "FAQ, Questions about privacy"

About your concern about private data coming up when Googled, have your classmates check the "Allow only fellow Classmates to view my Profile details. This will block the public and search engines from accessing your Profile. Leave this box unchecked if you wish to allow the public (friends, co-workers, family members, etc.) to view your Profile details." checkbox on their profile.

If the classmate is googling their own name, tell them to logout first before doing the google search. If they are still logged in, when they click on the link, they will be seeing data that logged in classmates can see.

ALSO, if you logout and click on Classmate Profiles, those classmates with a LOCK icon by their name have the "Profile visibility" checkbox checked so that only classmates can view their information. All other classmates have open profiles and can be viewed by non-classmates.

Unforunately, they do have that box checked. That is what I was trying to explain. They DO have that box checked and Friends and Family and unknowns alike can still see the information, according to the classmate.

I have had two different classmates call with this complaint. I don't understand the Complaint.

Thanks,
Wynn

Also, do you have any suggestions/tips/anything in the works for making sure that there is no way non-classmates can enter your site and make a profile of their own using a classmate's name?

Thank you,
Wynn

Wynn Liles wrote:

If you are the ROOT admin, you will see a PREFERENCES link. There is an option in that link "NEW CLASSMATE VERIFICATION" that will turn on the classmate verification feature. When this feature is turned on, any hacker/classmate who wants to access the website must first be verified before they can view password protected classmate's profiles and enter survey results or add comments to the forums.

Until the classmate is verified, they are locked out of the system. Other classmates cannot access their profile until you have verified it.

Wynn Liles wrote:

Please enter the classmate's initials and last name and I will check it out.

Just reiterating what Kyle said, you want to click on Preferences and turn on your New Classmate Verification feature. We created that feature for cases just like this. That way no "hijackers" as we call them here can do anything damaging on your web site. Fortunately most schools don't have an issue with hijacking, but when you do, that's what the New Classmate Verification feature is there for.