Is there a way to have the What's New page list ONLY the posts recently made WITHOUT having the top block available (i.e. "Post a Comment" "Share your thoughts with Classmates")?

My understanding is that if someone posts in that top area, it 1.) Messages all Classmates, and 2.) Sends a notification email to the entire class that there's a new post.

If someone posts that they had a great breakfast at Denny's, why send hundreds of people an email? We're trying our very best to not annoy people with unnecessary posts, which risks irritating and 'crying wolf' and detracts from when we need people to be aware of a change.

Can this be 'turned off' for those that want to have the availability of the stream of posts, but NOT have the ability for anyone to post to the whole class?

It is a built-in part of What's New. I will check to see if it is something we can hide for classes that wish to hide it.

Jessica
Class Creator Support

Thanks Jessica - that'd be great - even a separate copy of the page without the ability to "make an announcement to all" so the choice rests with the site Admins. Our committee has discussed it and feel that with the inadvertent "Send to All" aspect, there is also the fear that, if known that a classmate can reach all with a page on the site, we feel it could be a jumping off point for potential religious/political soapboxing, and we're too old to monitor the site for inappropriate content, along with all of the potential vitriol that comes with Admins 'censoring'... which is a whole other headache. If "Send to All" doesn't exist, then it's not an issue.

That said, it's nice to have the string of posts made in an individuals name.

I noticed from looking at some other sites where the Whats New is public, but posting to the "Share your thoughts with Classmates" doesn't appear, and requires a login (classmates only, I guess) to access the top box. Maybe that would give someone a tip as to the code that must be removed to eliminate the top "Share your thoughts with Classmates" entry point?

Any progress? I'm thinking of converting to Responsive Design and would provide access to Whats New when changing.

Thanks!

I did speak with the programmers and it is not a straight forward change. The page has many layers to it as many other sections of the site feed into it.

I was able to clarify that making a post here does not trigger Notify Me notifications - it just posts a message on the What's New page.

HI, this response is not directly related to the issue you are addressing here but pertains to the possible switch to the Responsive Design (RD) you mentioned. As Jack Vermeulen and other CC Administrators have commented, I would also encourage you to make the move. It is pretty easy to do and it opens new possibilities for your website. Your user base who are using cell phones as their primary device (and the trend is very much heading in that direction) will thank you for the much-improved readability of your website content.

That's odd - I am a guest member on 2 other sites (different class years of my HS), and anytime someone posts at the top of their (active) Whats New pages, I get a Notify email. I am not an Admin on those sites.

That's the way it should work. When someone posts a message on the What's New page, that message is actually saved in the poster's profile - just as if they'd posted a "Message to the class" there.
And posting a "Message to the class" in your own profile generates two notify items: one pointing to the new message, and the second claiming that the person updated their profile.
That second notify item may be technically accurate, but it really should only be handled like anyone else posting a message in that profile since it's not a real profile update just because it happened to be the owner who posted a message.)

Thanks, John - but my point is that I'm trying to be able to use the "Whats New" as a page to simply *proactively* see postings in chronological order - not reactively because I received an email.

My goal is to allow people to view the Whats New without having the top box be the entry point for "Post a Comment" "Share your thoughts with Classmates", which launches a notification to all.

Whats New is a great tool, but if people use (and/or overuse) the "Share your thoughts with Classmates", prompting a notify email, it may be annoying and our Admins may also have to be Hall Monitors for content.

If a member wants to proactively have a place to review postings, that's great, but to couple that same page with the ability for any classmate to (knowingly or unwittingly) launch a Notify Email to All starts to resemble the Classmates.com "email a day" floods that our members intensely dislike. That may be fun if you just graduated, but not after 50 years.

In my testing, if I reply to a comment on Whats New, it notifies the poster only (and those in the string). Not to all classmates. That way, only interested parties are notified. Like I said in my initial post, "If someone posts that they had a great breakfast at Denny's, why send hundreds of people an email?"

We went with ClassCreator to stay away from the intrusive email barrage experience that other class sites seem to want to employ to simply increase traffic.

John were you following those classmates on the other sites?

Jessica
Class Creator Support

To avoid email overload, our site has never activated What's New. We have a Latest News page with customized posts, mostly links to obituaries of deceased classmates, faculty, and staff. Whatever settings classmates have on their Notify Me page takes care of the rest via custom notifications, depending on what the classmate selects. We've never had a complaint about too many emails.

Jessica jessica wrote:

Yes. I don't recall seeing anyone on my site actually posting on What's New since everyone looked at it initially when it was first released, but quit using it back when the original version was horribly slow. And What's New also turned people off when it didn't reflect anything new posted in the Message Forum - which is popular and quite active for many sites which use the Message Forum as a community bulletin board.

I still look at it from time to time, but analytics shows that my members just don't access it much since everything copied on the What's New page is already sending a notify email to those who have set their Notify Me choices for things they want to see and people they want to follow.

John, I think Jessica meant "Southwest Class of '72 Admin" but maybe you?

Jessica jessica wrote:

If that was directed to me, Jessica, the answer is No - I don't follow anyone on either site, but if people post in the "Share your thoughts with Classmates" at the top of What's New, I get a notification email.

Jessica:

In your 06/08 reply, you stated that "I was able to clarify that making a post here does not trigger Notify Me notifications - it just posts a message on the What's New page."

I tested it and it did indeed trigger 248 notification emails. The email received by the entire class indicated "New message posted to the class". This was initiated by a post on Whats New, in the topmost box indicating "Post a Comment" "Share your thoughts with Classmates". Although it says you are sharing your thoughts with classmates, there is nothing indicating that all classmates will also be notified through the receipt of an email.

Could the Whats New page be copied with the portion of the code that initiates the Notification Emails be stripped out, resulting in a page that would be "Whats New, Read Only"?

Southwest Class of '72 Admin wrote:

Mark,
If the What's New page is not restricted, it actually is "Read Only" for anyone who's not logged in. While it would not be a major change to add a Preference option and modify the What's New programming to check that option and treat everyone that way, I doubt that there's enough group concern out there to justify the programming time and cost.

And while the result of posting a Message To The Class in What's New can create a flood of notify emails, any logged in classmate with a burning need to share could still accomplish the same thing by simply posting their Message in their own profile's Share Your Thoughts With Classmates box.

Thanks for your response, John.

The impetus to have the Whats New without the ability to send a 'notification to all' is that everything below the "Share Your Thoughts With Classmates" is an absolutely great 'one stop place' to see what people post on others profiles, and to respond to a string of people only in that response. So if someone makes a comment, THEY (who have indicated their interest by replying to a post) will receive a Notify - not the whole class (meaning those that have and have not expressed an interest in the post).

As far as logged in vs not, I wouldn't make the page available to anyone not logged in. Privacy nightmare.

As for posting on their own profile, when we found out THAT was a 'Notify All' that launched an entire membership Notify, we turned it off in Preferences;

Post Message to Classmates
   Allow Classmates to post a message for all classmates to read on their Profile.
   XX Do not allow Classmates to post messages to other classmates on their Profile.

Maybe your classes are different than ours, but when we launched, one of the primary concerns expressed by those reticent to join was 'getting too many emails', so that's why we try our best to avoid any 'notify all' functionality. We all administer differently, but I'm trying to 1) respond to what the classmates have indicated they want (more importantly don't want), and 2) not have our Admins possibly be in the unenviable position to monitor & perhaps censor content. I'd rather passively administer than actively.

Thanks again for your input, John! It's appreciated. Takes a village . . .

Mark

John Ralph wrote:

Points well taken. Perhaps the system should honor the Preference option you mentioned to block sending a Message To The Class on the What's New page as well as in profiles.

Through the years, I've only had a couple people fuss about getting too many notify emails, and I was able to resolve their concerns by directing them to the Notify Me page where they can control which notifies they want (or don't want) to receive.

BUMP

Jessica: In that I tested it and find that "posting a Message To The Class in What's New" does indeed trigger Notify Me notifications, is there any progress on removing / hiding the top "Share your thoughts with Classmates" and just having a simple compilation of recent postings but without the ability to inadvertently "Notify All"?

To me, reading historical posts and responding specifically to those posts VS Posting A Message To The Whole Class are apples & oranges functionalities.

In the websites I have worked on, even though "The page has many layers to it as many other sections of the site feed into it", I have had the ability to duplicate a page, rename it and adjust the functionality of the new page to remove or add functions.

I am about to convert to Responsive Design and would like to have the ability to use What's New where notifications go ONLY to those on that specific post / string.

Thanks!

Mark

Jessica jessica wrote:

BUMP

Jessica: In that I tested it and find that "posting a Message To The Class in What's New" does indeed trigger Notify Me notifications, is there any progress on removing / hiding the top "Share your thoughts with Classmates" and just having a simple compilation of recent postings but without the ability to inadvertently "Notify All"?

To me, reading historical posts and responding specifically to those posts VS Posting A Message To The Whole Class are apples & oranges functionalities.

In the websites I have worked on, even though "The page has many layers to it as many other sections of the site feed into it", I have had the ability to duplicate a page, rename it and adjust the functionality of the new page to remove or add functions.

I am about to convert to Responsive Design and would like to have the ability to use What's New where notifications go ONLY to those on that specific post / string.

Thanks!

Mark

Jessica jessica wrote:

Can you forward me a notice generated by the top posting area. Info@classcreator.com?