Under Preferences, we can elect to send automated 1:1 emails to classmates who, say, haven't updated their profile in six months. Is there any way to automate a *private* birthday greeting to a classmate on his/her birthday? Just a 1:1 happy birthday greeting from the Class to an individual classmate...no blast announcement to the class that so-and-so has a birthday...just a private, automated email wish for a happy birthday.

There is no mechanism on the site for that purpose.

ERIC Why Not?

I have been asking for this for 2 years. It is something that can be used to encourage a classmate to update his/her profile.

I like Bill's idea. If warmly worded, it would be a nice way to privately recognize the recipient and doesn't sound all that difficult to program. Hope CC considers adding it to their future list of toggle on/off options.

Bob

Seems impersonal to me, but I'll add it to the wishlist.

actually it has been longer than 2 years, Brad Switzer wrote the following to me on 1/4/2010 regarding this subject. We are now 3 months from it being 3 years ago.

"Several enhancements to the Birthday module are coming this year. All ofthem are currently marked medium priority to allow some other more pressing stuff to get done first, but it'll definitely be coming up later this year."

Yeah. We've realized that we're not very good at accurately estimating the completion date of any new development, so we try not to give specific estimates. We'd rather you be pleasantly surprised to discover something has been completed than disappointed to see that it hasn't.

This is one of the opportunities available to us to personalize our contacts and relationships. It encourages others to visit your Web Site. I look at the Birthday greetings that I sent the year before and modify the text to make it applicable to the current times. If you feel over burdened as an administrator with this task, this might be one of the items that can be delegated. Keeping it warm and personal is a must. There are some people who live in a world where they receive no greetings at all. Often I get comments and people think I am one of the smartest guys in the world because I am able to remember their Birthday.

Well done, phs9161 (name?)...
I try not to miss a birthday and admit, my efforts are not the best. I leave a message under their profile - most times with a graphic. Hopefully, they will visit the site and if they see something will spread the word.

I agree .....

To date, we have 264 active members.
I am notified of every birthday.
I send the same greeting*, with an occasional modification, during the course of a year.
I try to find a 'catchy' or 'funny' greeting.
Jan. 1, I change it.
Occasionally, I am a day early or late, if I see that travel** prevents me from getting on line.
Everyone seems to appreciate the greeting, and I guesstimate that over 90% reply to me with words of thanks and appreciation.
I personally don't find this effort on my part too cumbersome to me.

* - I keep the same greeting saved in a MS~Word Document, that I modify as needed.

** - this summer, I was on the road for 47 days, and always found a McDonald's or Hotel with free wifi.
I figure it is the least I can do to generate a little activity on our site.

I tried that to but with over 500 i found it impossible to make sure I did not miss someone. If there is any risk of forgetting someone, I would rather not send to anyone for fear of hurt feelings. The message should be able to be changed (maybe once or twice a year) and certainly should incorporate the $first_name$ capabilities to personalize.

It should also include text to remind the classmate to update their join the site or update their profile.