Greetings,
I'm not sure how to phrase the Title, but "THE COMMITTEE" (meaning one person) is very upset that someone not from the class had Joined the site.

He moved before graduating and wanted in. Even though the senior photo was not his, he joined anyway, then apologized.

Now, "The Committee" is upset because they believe the entire site is compromised.

Can you recommend a strategy to prevent persons not of the class from joining the site?

BTW--I've never seen such paranoia in a group. They are all, for the most part, reluctant to put up any personal information at all. This is the fourth Class Creator reunion site with which I've been involved, and the only time the above has happened, and the only group that is so very paranoid.

HELP!!

Thanks,

Bob

Bob,

Go to PREFERENCES and choose the "NEW CLASSMATE VERIFICATION "feature. Then anyone who joins will need to be verified before they are given access to your private information on your website.

We just had a "fake" also join after almost 2 years. So it's not exactly a big problem. Although we knew right away, a few got very upset. Just do what Kyle suggested.

This is exactly what I have done on our site. We have not had the problem because we verify each classmate.

Every class certainly has their own personality, that is for sure. I did do what Kyle said, then found it redundant. Every guest member we have has gone through me and my classmates trust me. They know that by showing what all CC can do, we can get referrals and they appreciate it. I always offer my help to anyone who would like to purchase this product.

Check out my "flyer profiles" and scroll down to guest members. No one has a bit of a problem with this!

Denise

Robert - Seems sad that your class doesn't want to give a classmate (who moved before graduating)the opportunity to share in the enjoyment of reconnecting with old friends. Our class has reached out to those who either moved, quit HS, whatever the reason . . . and welcomed them to join our site! I would suggest to re-think allowing one committee member to make this decision.

We have a mega multi-year site and we don't do profile verifications. We always review new sign-ins within 24 hours. Out of 4200+ joined, we've only had a handful of hijacks. A couple were strangers or "friends" of classmates who entered objectionable material. Usually non-grads who can't find their name use Contact Us to get added. Sometimes a valid grad can't find their name even if it's there and will just take over somebody else's by changing the name, which we're notified about anyway. Each solution has been specific to the situation on how to notify the classmate, restore the original information & reset the records.

Denise is right... everyone has their own way of seeing things.

This is what bothers me. The point I noticed was "He moved before graduating..." He is not a 'fake' as he moved before graduating.

I do not intend to indicate that my thoughts on this subject should change everyone's mind, but offer these questions for the committee to consider and it should be an overwhelming majority vote. If there is not a committee, the root admin has the authority.

DEFINE your class.
1) Is your class made of ONLY those who graduated?
2) Do you include classmates who moved for various reasons... death of a parent, parent's job transfer or an unknown (to the classmate) reason. If you do not, consider the person you are not including is not at fault for moving. This is high school and in most cases, it is not the student's decision.

VERIFY
Verify the person was in your class during your high school years.
1) Look for the classmate in all four yearbooks.
2) Maybe s/he was not present or they lost the photo. (Yes, yearbook staffs lost photos!) If a photo of his is not found, look at the end of the class photos to see if there is a Photo Not Available notation. (Note, they missed adding this one year when I was in school.)
3) Did s/he sign a yearbook - yours or another classmates?
4) Has someone said... sure, I remember ____. We were in ___ class together?

Personally and for my class sites, a member of our class is someone who was a classmate for any year or partial year. Period. It is not... I repeat... it is not the classmate's fault they moved.

As I have said for years, it could have been you or me. How would you feel if you were in school, your parents moved before graduation and now your classmates do not accept you? I'm one who would be deeply hurt and try my best to walk away but...

I paused for a moment to consider this. If I arrived at the first event of our reunion (which was free and open to everyone with a cash bar) and was not allowed in because my family moved before graduation, I would be wondering who in the world do these people think they are. Am I less of a person because my family moved? I was in your classes! Yes, I might find another door and walk in. That is what this person did by choosing another classmate's photo (name?) to sign in. Was that right? No. But was denying the person as a classmate right? Not to me, but that is up to each site's committee.

There may be another reason that someone does not want this person to be a member. There may have been some history between the two that someone is still holding onto.

One more thing, if someone has a police record that is known by many and could be a concern, that is definitely something to take into consideration.

All of this is my personal point of view. It is by no means meant to change anyone's view of how to run their site.

About classmates' concern of their information being secure. I trust Class Creator's security. I do have everyone of my classmate's profiles locked down from public view. Once a member is logged in, they can see only what each individual wants them to see. Copy and share the following from the profile page in an email to all, if you feel it is necessary. You may recall, there is a box to check before each of the subjects.

start copy/paste:

Profile Visibility:        
       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.

Contact Details:        
       Allow logged-in Classmates to see my address and phone number (this information is hidden from your Classmates unless you check this box). This information is never available to the general public or search engines even if this box is checked.

Birthday:        
       Allow Classmates to view my Birthday. This option allows Classmates to see your Date of Birth in your Profile and on the home page 30 days prior to your Birthday.

end of copy/paste

Remember that many do not read every word. You may need to highlight or bold some of the text to get the point across.

Good luck. If you'd like to let us know the outcome, it may help another admin down the road.

Clicking the invisible "Agree" button on Rhonda and Mary's posts. Thanks!

I do about 95% of the 'work' on our site.
I have created some 'policies' that I go by, and have saved in an 'Administrators Only' page.
So far, no one has complained - and I think they don't because they are afraid I will turn it over to them! LOL
Here is part of what I have:

MEMBERSHIP: 'members' are all classmates who did, or would have graduate with the class of 1970 - some non-graduate member examples:

folks that went to school with us, regardless of the number of years they attend Brazosport schools with us, who: died before graduation - moved away before graduation - dropped out of school before graduation

GUESTS: Guest can be nearly anyone, but most often they are former teachers/administrators or other students from other BHS classes who want to contact members of our class. There are a few Root Administrators from other Class Creator web sites that Steve Stein has allowed access. This was done after requests from those administrators for access to the site to keep track of our changes. Steve Stein has the same access to their sites. This allows for a greater variety of widgets, ideas, etc. for the web site.

--------------------

I am curious - if you had a classmate DIE before graduation, are they listed as a 'member' of your class?

Steve

We count anybody as alumni if they went through most of their schooling with everybody else, even if they left after 7th grade but kept up a few friendships. Or only did part of their high school time with us and yet are still interested. It's a small town with many generations of the same families as well as some who were just passing through. We're inclusive of anybody with the old "Tiger Spirit" and are really happy to see people reconnect. Most of them are shown as in the class, not as guests unless that's their request. Junior or senior photo but no diploma? That's a not a problem, either.

Steve, you asked: I am curious - if you had a classmate DIE before graduation, are they listed as a 'member' of your class?

Yes, including one who died in a car accident in junior high/middle school.

We count anybody who did or should have graduated with us. No questions asked.

Even if they left OUR CLASS in grade 9 and moved away or quit school.
Even if they left our school for any reason and graduated from another school.
Even if they transferred in to our school mid term of our Senior Year.
Even if they technically were in the NEXT class and graduated EARLY with us
Even if they had grade problems and graduated LATE

If they want to be considered a member of our class they are. Seems pretty petty to not do it this way.

Hi everyone,
Wow! What a set of responses.

Unfortunately, "The Committee" is bulldogged by one individual who is a micro-manager and whom all fear.

They hired me, and I advise, but it always comes down to what a single individual authorizes, regardless of "discussion."

I grew up in a small town, knowing just about everyone, as did my family. We moved before my Sophomore year, but I was not allowed to the reunion. It did hurt my feelings, deeply; oh, it was another "bulldog" who set the policy.

As it is, I made my "bulldog" a co-administrator so she receives a notification message for each new member to the website. With her, I needed to have a more firm option for her rule... er, decision to allow or not to allow on the website.

Unfortunately, "The Committee" tends to confuse the maximum number of registrants for the reunion social/dinner with the website. For sure, reservations need to be made in advance--and paid for, but the website (in my opinion) should have some flexibility and, of course, "she" has none.

This is truly a shame for those who would still like to feel a part of their class.

Again, thanks for the replies.

Bob