Four of our high school's 1964 graduating group of 351 have unique circumstances relative to the question of being "active" or not. Two are in state prisons for very serious crimes and two are being taken care of in the mental health system. None of the four will be going to any reunions or emailing anyone. I do not want them to completely disappear from our list, so I am considering managing their profiles with a brief statement that they are out of communication due to "legal situation" or "health issues." How do other administrators handle this kind of problem?

I wouldn't say anything. Classmates who were friends of these people probably know their situation.

Have they joined your site?

I guess I'm wondering why you feel the need to put any kind of statement on their profiles?

We have at least two members of our class currently serving hard time. One of them has actually generated national attention, unwanted as it may have been. I chose to treat them the same as anyone else who hasn't joined the site. From my perspective, in the context of a reunion Website, what else could "legal situation" mean other than incarceration? As for health issues, my practice is to disclose health issues only when asked to do so. Medical privacy laws don't strictly apply here, but I apply their spirit on our site.

I admit that I have been driven by a compulsion to get "check marks" next to as many people as possible, more like stamp collecting than caring that my fellow classmates can communicate with each other. So I was thinking about making the people in question "active" but putting some explanation why they could not receive emails in their profile. Bad motivation. I should just leave their entries alone.

We do nothing in this situation.
Via snail mail, they can communicate what they wish as far as information on their profile.
I have a 'policy' of posting nothing about a non-member without their prior approval - I feel this is the courteous and 'professional' approach.

Currently our class has only one person we know of in that situation. Because of the nature of crime I removed his name from the visable classmates profile and missing lists so classmates would not be able to click on the Notify Me function. Sort of out of sight, out of mind.

I had to enter a password for him - to block him or anyone from accessing the name. It is unlikely someone would ask where is whatshisname, if so we'd just tell them it's confidential. I don't think it is necessary to convy anything about a classmate under those circumstances.

Thanks for the thoughts on your process. I am embarrassed about my initial position on this. But I think the conversation will be helpful to others.

I used a different approach for a classmate's confidentiality. I want to recognize all of our classmates. Our reunion committee members accomplished remarkable results getting classmates located.
The admin has authorization to allow the classmate as "located" without allowing others to contact that classmate--not by email address, nor street address, nor phone number. Gossip is not acceptable, and that is what this amounts to. Let the classmate do the post.
I realize that you already got the message. Yet I did not read anything about retaining the classmate on the list as located.
You took the time and effort to ask about the issue. Applaud yourself for that good move.

We have a classmate without immediate family who is blind (aneurysm in his twenties) and has been institutionalized in a nursing facility in a rural area for almost 40 years. He does not have computer access because of cost and other factors. In any event, with his input, we created a profile on our site and a sub email account with my ISP where he could receive and, on his behalf, I could send his replies. After reading his story, lots of people wanted to get in touch with him and several of us either emailed or visited him. As a class, we even tried to find resources so that he could learn computer skills himself. However, because of cognitive and motor issues and lack of resources in a rural area, that didn't work out. We found Joe a ride to and from the reunion and he had a wonderful time. Classmates were so happy to see him and support him. Probably wouldn't have happened without Classcreator.

Heartwarming story. That's what this is all about!

Amen!