I can't explain how it happened, but I received an email stating there was a Name change on new signup and then a New Classmate Notification email saying the new person joined the site. HOWEVER, the new person was not in the classmate list so I don't know how he could JOIN the site. but he took the place of an original classmate by changing the name and the email address and all information that was originally there.
The new person told me that he Googled the original person's name trying to locate him and somehow got our website, where he found the original person's name and was just trying to find out how to get in touch with him.
How he got to a place in the system where he could JOIN the site I have no idea.
Is there something that has not been done when building our site that has left an opening for anybody to JOIN?
I tried what he told me he did after getting to our site, but couldn't duplicate what he accomplished.
Any explanation???

Earl,

On the PREFERENCES page, you will see this section (when you scroll down the page):

NEW CLASSMATE VERIFICATION

Which option should I choose? How do I verify Classmates? Get help.

[ ]       ALLOW new subscribing Classmates to immediately see any password protected areas of the web site, access any Profiles that have been restricted to viewing by only fellow Classmates, post messages in message forums, and display new Classmate's Profile information.

[ ]       DO NOT ALLOW new subscribing Classmates to view password protected areas of the web site, access any restricted Classmate Profiles, send or receive emails, post messages in forums, participate in Live Chat, and hide Profile information from other Classmates until the new Classmate's identity has been verified. (Note: If you select this option, a new "Verified" field will appear in the Classmate's Profile area that only you, the Site Administrator, can see. When a new Classmate joins your site and the Classmate's identify has been confirmed, toggle the "Verified" field to "yes". The default will remain "no" until you do this. Once toggled to "yes" the new Classmate will be granted access to restricted areas of your site.

You have the first choice selected, so that anyone can just sign up and join your website. They are supposed to find their name and then change the name. With the 2nd option selected, anyone who joins must be verified.

Kyle,
Doesn't anyone trying the JOIN HERE link have to find his name in the Classmate list in order to actually join the site if the ALLOW option is selected? This is what I wanted. The person who caused the name change and subsequently joined the site was not in the list, he in effect took over the name and profile of the person he was trying to locate that had already joined the site months ago.

Hi Earl,

That is why we notify admins of a name change. We want you to be able to see that this name was not the name you had on the list and in fact is in the place of a name you previously had on the list. This can sometimes be a scenario where an actual classmate did not see their name and just grabbed another one. If you feel this person belongs on the site you can allow them to stay and then use the manual entry for a class name to add the original classmate name that they took the place of back in. You can do that under Manage Classmates > Enter/Edit Classmates. There is an Add Member button on the top of the list.

Jessica
Class Creator Support

After trying it again, this time selecting a name that has NOT already JOINed the site, I can see how the name can get changed,
All the times I tried it before I selected a name that had already joined the site and this is not allowed.
I have to change the preferences to DO NOT ALLOW to remedy my problem since we have quite a few that have not JOINed...yet.
Thanks Kyle and Jessica for your responses.

I've thought of changing to the DO NOT ALL, Earl. However, I do not know everyone on my multiple year site. What criteria might you use to 'verify' the person joining is the right person? If I had that answer, I would make the change immediately.

Since I receive an email about a name change if it is just somebody choosing a name on the Classmate list after not finding his name, I will then be able to find out if the person is just somebody we missed when creating the Classmate list or an erroneous attempt to JOIN the site.
This only happens if the name selected is one that has not yet JOINed.