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temporary password for guests

Forums: General Discussion
Created on: 09/07/10 11:52 PM Views: 1487 Replies: 12
Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 11:52 PM

I have two people from different schools who are interested in Classmate.com after seeing our homepage. I would like to give them a temporary password without creatining them as a "guest" member, to allow them to see the whole site. (I don't want to change the privacy settings on the website)
I thought that I could change the systemn password temporarily but when I tried it myself, it didn't work.
Can you tell me how I go about this?
Thanks!
Barbara

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 12:00 AM - Response #1

Well let's hope they didn't see your home page and based on that become interested in going to Classmates.com Barbara. Boy are we ever doin' something wrong around here. Wink

You answered your own question, you want to give these folks your System Password. Doing so will allow them to access your site as well as all password-protected pages of your web site. I'm not exactly sure what happened when you tried it and it didn't work, but my best guess is maybe you made a typo when creating the System Password or you possibly made a typo when you tried to use it to get into the site. Try it again:

1) Click Edit Site Pages
2) Type in a new System Password
3) Make sure you save the page
4) Click the Log out link on your left navigation to log out of the site
5) Now attempt to access any password-protected page on your web site. Enter your System Password to get in. You should see that you are now able to view the full site even though you are not actually logged in as a member of your class.


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Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 12:20 AM - Response #2

I even copied and pasted the system password to make sure I had it right, wouldn't work. I didn't see place to "save" after I changed the password but did hit "update password'. Wonder what I am doing wrong? I have already emailed the password to these people, guess I should have made sure it worked first.....

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 12:28 AM - Response #3

What do you mean EXACTLY when you say it "wouldn't work"? Are you possibly trying to log into the site using the System Password? Make sure you don't do that, the regular site login area is only for Members of your site.

The system password is only needed to get non members past password protection barriers. For instance try this:

1) Click the log out link so you're no longer logged into your web site
2) Now click your Class Photo Gallery link
3) When the password protected information comes up, enter your System Password into the right hand box

This is how non members can get into password protected pages of your site. Obviously if a page a non member is trying to access is not password protected then the System Password isn't necessary anyway, as anybody can view that page regardless of whether or not they are a site member.


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Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 12:35 AM - Response #4

Brad,
Wasn't there a prior thread regarding temporary passwords?
Something that you folks might be working on in the future, i.e., assign a temporary password that would expire on a particular date? Also, where we can limit the pages that we can allow them to see?

Barbara,
For situations such as yours, I have a 'fake' classmate.
After I allow someone to access the site as that classmate, I change the password. [I make a note in the 'Admin Notes' section of the profile of the fake classmate, as to what the new password is when I change it.]

Steve

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 12:39 AM - Response #5
smileyautumnpickingapplesanimated.gif

From the peanut gallery of my mind...
Sometime last fall,there was a "guest pass" from another admin, and this was "temporary", but it works beautifully on our site.
The admin made up a "fake classmate/guest" named IMAGUEST
And a "fake" email, (no biggy, it becomes a "bounceback")
but this "password" and e-mail could be given out to others in the event that one wanted to peruse the site.
It works great! It's simple, even for my simple brain and it gives others a chance to see your "stuff"! It can always be changed up if necessary.
It's another option that seems to work...
Have a great week!

justme
kris

p.s. Steve,Thanks! It might have been you last year! Thanks to whoever had the great idea!

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Edited 09/08/10 12:45 AM
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 12:41 AM - Response #6

Ok, I got it,I was trying to login the regular way, good grief.
And I just realized I wrote Classmates.com and not Classcreator, blasphemy! Please forgive that senior moment!Embarassed

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 12:57 AM - Response #7

Most of that was overwhelmingly shot down by Admins here with the KISS (keep it simple) philosophy winning out heavily. There has to be a reasonable limit on how far you take a non member feature. Obviously the focus on these sites is about what members can do, not what non members can do.

The System Password allows access to all password-protected pages of the web site. No page access module pertaining to the System Password is planned. The primary intent of the System Password is to allows those who need to password protect their home page and/or Classmate Profile page a way of allowing new members to bypass that barrier and join the site. And also for situations such as this one here, where an Admin wants to show the full site to another potential Admin. The System Password isn't going to let anybody in to any Admin functions -- it's only going to allow the individual to see the same pages Classmates can see. Although there's an exception for every rule, it would be very rare that an Admin would need to create a System Password to let a non site member in to some password-protected pages but not other password-protected pages. It would be so infrequent that the added complexity of a System Password rights module doesn't warrant the module existing at all. Or so it seems to me at least. Smile


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Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 1:00 AM - Response #8

Most of that was overwhelmingly shot down by Admins here with the KISS (keep it simple) philosophy winning out heavily. There has to be a reasonable limit on how far you take a non member feature. Obviously the focus on these sites is about what members can do, not what non members can do.

The System Password allows access to all password-protected pages of the web site. No page access module pertaining to the System Password is planned. The primary intent of the System Password is to allows those who need to password protect their home page and/or Classmate Profile page a way of allowing new members to bypass that barrier and join the site. And also for situations such as this one here, where an Admin wants to show the full site to another potential Admin. The System Password isn't going to let anybody in to any Admin functions -- it's only going to allow the individual to see the same pages Classmates can see. Although there's an exception for every rule, it would be very rare that an Admin would need to create a System Password to let a non site member in to some password-protected pages but not other password-protected pages. It would be so infrequent that the added complexity of a System Password rights module doesn't warrant the module existing at all. Or so it seems to me at least. Smile


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Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 8:04 AM - Response #9

I went to another computer I use to check how things are doing without logging on and I logged on as a vistor with the system password and saw there was no log out feature on the left panel. I can close the tab browser and bring the website back up and get to password protected links, but when I close the browser(FireFox) and bring it up again with the class website then I have to enter the system password again.

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 8:28 AM - Response #10

Forgot to add.........should there be a log out feature for a vistor who logged in with the system password?

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Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 8:40 AM - Response #11

I do the same method as Kris...
1. created a fake classmate name: SHS GUEST
2. created an email for that fake person (shs@gmail.com)
3. gave that guest a password (which changes every time i give it to a different person).
that guest has access to all the pages as if they were a classmate.
that guest can log in one time with that password, then i change the password after i see he/she has used it.
i also make a running list in the profile section 'admin notes' of that guest page which tells me who i gave a password to, the relation to our class, the password, and the date.
this works perfectly for me !

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Edited 09/08/10 8:42 AM
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 9:02 AM - Response #12

Don,

The System Password will add a temporary cookie (deletes itself when the browser closes) so that the non-classmate can view the information while the browser is open, but when the browser is closed, the cookie goes away and they would need to enter the system password again.

It is working as it is supposed to. Since they really aren't "logged in", there doesn't need to be a "logout" link.


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