ClassCreator.com | Blockbuster sites, amazing reunions

Share Tips

New Topic Reply Subscription Options  

Profile (Member) Wizard wording

Forums: Suggestions and Feedback
Created on: 09/01/09 06:23 PM Views: 1766 Replies: 7
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 6:23 PM

Hi guys
We've recently gone through 2300+ profiles on our site to identify and elimninate any lurkers, and to lock all of the profiles down for access to Classmates only.
We now use the member verification process and approve all profiles prior to granting them access.
What I'd really like is to be able to edit the wording of the Member Wizard, to indicate that filling out a full address and telephone number is mandatory in order to have the profile approved by the administrator.
Is changing this to include this wording possible?
At present, the Wizard indicates that any information that is left blank can be filled out at a later time... giving them the impression that we'll give access to our site without it.
I'm currently having to exchange multiple emails with those who have given incomplete information when establishing their profile.
Thanks a lot
Don

Reply
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 11:12 PM - Response #1

This is not possible, no. The reason being that the wizard has to accommodate all schools. Many people simply don't want to provide address detail for all kinds of reasons. We can't require it or else it would be a barrier for too many people in joining the site.

I know you're wanting to update the member wizard wording just for your site and require fields just for your site, but when you get into allowing wording changes on fundamental parts of the system you're going to get every possible thing happening. In general allowing people to change the instructions any which way can only lead to a mess. You can change all kinds of things on your site, but some things need to be standardized in a system like this.

Having said that, I recommend you solve this problem by editing your automated Welcome Email. Explain why you need street addres detail included. Explain the consequences of not providing this information. As you said, the Classmate can provide this information at any time after the wizard. You if put the requirement right into your own Welcome Email, I suspect you'll spend a lot less time trying to get this information out of people manually.


Reply
Edited 09/01/09 11:13 PM
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 11:22 PM - Response #2

Thanks Brad.
I hear ya, and that's what I figured.
Problem here is that the automated welcome message doesn't go out until I've approved the profile, and allowed them access to the site...
Then, if they're not bona fida alumni (I've removed a few lurkers already) I've allowed them access to the other alumni's information without verifying who they really are.
Its a tight spot to be in. One guy just emailed me and asked to be removed from the site. He's likely Googled himself while he's logged in...arrgh!
Best regards,
Don

Reply
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 11:24 PM - Response #3

That happens... Sometimes you just need to educate people.

We have a Task coming up to allow Admins to change the welcome message to immediate even if New Classmate Verification feature has been activated. When that happens and you change it, you'll have a pretty good solution.


Reply
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 11:28 PM - Response #4

That'll do it.
Thanks very much Brad.

Reply
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 11:41 PM - Response #5

I was wondering about this. I didn't think there was a way we can approve the classmates before they are granted access to our site. How do we know they are legitimate classmates? All they have to do is fill in the prompts and create a password and they're in.

If there is a way to do check them out first, I'd like to know.

Thanks,
Leslie Howerton Jones
Fort Hunt H.S.

Reply
Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 12:07 AM - Response #6

Leslie Jones wrote:

I was wondering about this. I didn't think there was a way we can approve the classmates before they are granted access to our site. How do we know they are legitimate classmates? All they have to do is fill in the prompts and create a password and they're in.

If there is a way to do check them out first, I'd like to know.

Thanks,
Leslie Howerton Jones
Fort Hunt H.S.

Hi Leslie,

You could turn on the New Classmate Verification feature. This can be found under Admin Functions/Preferences. Look for the section with two radio buttons, labeled "NEW CLASSMATE ACCESS RIGHTS". The top check-box is the default. The 2nd radio button, "DO NOT ALLOW new subscribing Classmates to view password protected areas of the web site, access any restricted Classmate Profiles, post messages in message forums, and hide Profile information from other Classmates until the new Classmate's identity has been verified and confirmed." will turn on the verification feature.

When this feature is turned on, the classmate will need to be verified first. If they didn't enter enough information, you could e-mail them and ask for more or ask them a challenge question, "what was the principal's name? or who was the foreign exchange student from Sweden?" in the e-mail. If they answer correctly, they might be who they say they are.


Reply
Edited 09/03/09 12:09 AM
Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 12:17 AM - Response #7

Hi Leslie
Its called Member Verification.
You will find the place to enable it under Preferences, near the bottom of the page, entitled NEW CLASSMATE ACCESS RIGHTS. You can choose to verify each member prior to allowing them access to the site. One warning to you...once you do this, you immediately disable every existing profile! So make sure that you have some spare time when deciding to enable this. That's because you must then go into each of the existing registered members' profiles individually in order to check off the box that verifies their profile.
Not so bad if you're doing one class year...but we have 25 years of classes... it took three of us three days to finish approving all 2300 profiles!

The truth is that even with this process, its still a judgement call on your part as to whether the profile looks to be bona fida or not. Then you have the choice of questioning the person or asking that certain information be included in their profile for access to the site.
Good luck
Don

Reply
New Topic Reply  
Subscription Options: Have all new forum posts sent directly to your email.
Subscription options are available after you log in.