FAQ's

Answer: The Site Administrator is often the person who maintains your class list (e.g. Class President, Reunion Committee chair). There are numerous regular classmates serving as Class Administrators however. Anyone can be the Class Administrator. Why not you?

Answer: Class Creator brings five related elements together, with all five working in harmony to achieve one common objective: keeping your Classmates connected and communicating for a lifetime.

1. Class Creator is a personal, Private Web Site solely for the use of your Classmates. Class Creator sites are attractive and customizable, creating a pride of ownership that is difficult to match.
2. Class Creator is a Sophisticated Event Planner, allowing for reunion or class outing registrations, online payments through major credit cards, payment and attendee tracking, and much more.
3. Class Creator is a complete Content Management System (CMS). The programming that goes on behind the scenes is every bit as important as what you see on your public site. Class Creator has eliminated the need to keep separate documents; the system does everything from maintaining a current downloadable spreadsheet of Classmate details to keeping a list of Missing Classmates for you. This creates a significant time savings for the person responsible for keeping up with their Classmates for a lifetime.
4. Class Creator is a comprehensive Social Networking System. All of the tools you need to keep your site fun, entertaining, interesting, and keeping Classmates communicating and coming back for more are all built in.

Within each of these four elements Class Creator maintains the same basic objective: It must be so easy to use that anybody can do it.

Answer: You start with one of our available site designs. Once selected, you can then modify the color theme of the design to make it unique and match your school. You can further customize your site by uploading your school logo and school photo into your selected design. Advanced users can take advantage of 3 customizable Photoshop designs.

Answer: No. Charging Classmates a fee to use your site is the best way to ensure the failure of your site. It's that simple.

Answer: Nothing. If you pay for a block of years in advance, your subscription will run through the end of your prepaid term even if we increase our rates.

Answer: Yes. Class Creator comes with a great deal of functionality specifically designed for class web sites and you will need to turn off this functionality. From your Administration Area simply uncheck any class functions you do not wish to use, then use your site any way you wish. You can also click on your Preferences link and use the "Classmates" global replace function to substitute the word "Classmates" for the word of your choice (e.g. Family Members, Neighbors, Resort Owners, etc). People regularly use the Class Creator system to build non class web sites.

Answer: Yes. During the setup wizard just type in your university name instead of selecting a high school from our database. All functions of Class Creator will work just as well for your university as they do for a high school.

Answer: There are many ways of finding your classmates. If you have a very common name, try to see if the county the school is in has a court record search (here you may get middle initials and actual birth date). Some have marriage records. Then utilize PIPLl People Search (pay close attention to phone numbers that come up under Google link or white pages). Zabasearch.com may come in handy if you are stuck.

Here's another tip that has worked well for many: If the Classmate has a common name, find someone who remembers that person's sibling or parent who has a LESS common name and search for them. Again, Zabasearch.com is a good place to begin.

Also try utilizing the resources below:

RESOURCES AND IDEAS TO HELP YOU FIND CLASSMATES

Answer: In a variety of ways. Your site comes with numerous communication tools such as built in email, interactive Announcement Board, Classmate Profile subscriptions (Notify Me) with email alerts, Classmate Profiles, Classmate comment areas, ability to see who is using the site while you are, Live Chat, deceased Classmate comments areas, and much more. The "What's New" page also serves as an interactive hub of communication for all sections of the web site.

Answer: Please complete our contact form. What makes the Class Creator system great is the recommendations from our class site administrators. Rest assured, when you make a suggestion we will read it and consider it.

Answer: Yes. We have three separate backups. One backup runs in real time on a duplicate hard drive called a Mirrored RAID Array. In the event of hard drive failure we have an immediate, full backup of the entire Class Creator system. A second, complete backup of the system is done nightly. A third off-site backup runs every two hours saving all data to a remote location. In the unlikely event a total disaster (such as a fire in our building) should wipe out our main systems and mirrored backups simultaneously, we would be able to quickly restore the Class Creator system from our off-site backup.

Answer: If you do not have a complete list of all Classmates, the best solution is entering Classmates' names from your yearbook. If you do not have your yearbook you will often find that your school's library has retained a copy.

Answer:Pre-populating your class list is the default. If you want anyone on the Internet to be able to join your web site you can change this default from the Preference page. There are several benefits to adding classmate names in advance:

1. You will be able to email all Classmates at the same time and invite them to your new site (this will swing your site into action like you won't believe).
2. With all Classmate names in your site our system can easily formulate "Missing Classmate" pages for you.
3. Having all Classmate names in your site encourages your Classmates to invite Missing Classmates to your site (no other system will gain the participation of your Classmates the way that Class Creator does).
4. There is a predetermined "slot" for each Classmate -- this is a huge security benefit that prevents non-Classmates from tampering with your site, such as adding fictitious names to your Class List.
5. When Classmates see their own name on your Class List they are more likely to join your site and participate.
6. Having all of your Classmates' names in your system is the best way to keep an active database and directory. You can download this information at the touch of a button at any time and use it for any purpose (invitations, labels, mail merges, phone calls, etc). Many Site Administrators use Class Creator as their sole means of maintaining their Class List.

Answer: Call your high school and ask for it. Most high schools can email it to you. If you have a printed logo scan it in, or have it scanned for you. If your high school has a web site, you can also right click on your school's logo, save it to your computer, and then upload it into your Class Creator web site.

Answer: We recommend you scan your high school photo from your yearbook, or have somebody do it for you (such as any local copy house like Kinkos). Using a school photo from your yearbook is a nice touch because it's exactly how your Classmates remember the school looking.

Answer: Most people scan them directly from their yearbook. If you need a copy of your yearbook your high school will often retain copies. Call and ask!

Tip: Be sure to check both the school Library and the Journalism departments -- they often retain copies of old yearbooks.

Answer: Enter your entire class list and leave the email address field blank for any email addresses you do not have. Your Classmates can supply their email address later when they join the site. If your class list contains mailing addresses you should consider mailing out a flyer to announce the launch of your site. One simple flyer announcement will usually get many email addresses into the system, and your site off to a great start.

Answer: To upload photos to your web site:

1. Log into your web site.
2. Click on "Edit Site Pages" from your Administrative links (the third block of links).
3. Click the Edit button next to the page into which you wish to insert photos.
4. When your editor pops up, click the little "Image button" near the left hand corner.
5. Click the Browse button, select your image, and press the "Upload" button.
6. Wait until a message appears stating your file has successfully been uploaded to the server.
7. Press Ok, then press Ok again. You will now see your image in your editor.
8. Right click (control click on Mac) on your image and then select "Image Button Properties" to set alignment options for your image if desired.

Note: It's ok to upload oversized images to your site, such as large photo scans. However extremely large images, such as very large digital photos or image scans, may cause our system or yours to time out. If you are working with an extremely large image you should resize it to 1,000 pixels wide before uploading (a great free image resizing utility can be downloaded at www.irfanview.com). Our system will automatically resize any uploaded images to fit perfectly on your web page.

Answer: When uploading photos or embedding third party objects (such as Youtube videos, music players, and Photobucket.com slide shows) on your web site it's important you understand the following width limitations:

• HOME PAGE: Do not upload images or embed objects on your home page wider than 459 pixels. Your home page is in columns and images can't be too big here. If a third party object exceeds 459 pixels, press the Source button in the upper left corner of your editor to adjust the width and height so your object does not exceed 459 pixels.
• SUB PAGES: Do not upload images or embed objects on your sub pages wider than 685 pixels. Your sub pages have precisely 685 pixels of space available for content, so if you upload an image or embed an object exactly 685 pixels wide it will fill the entire page body area except for a small default margin area to the left and the right.
• ANNOUNCEMENTS WITH NO BULLETS: Images and third party objects inserted into your Announcements area must be 437 pixels wide or smaller.
• ANNOUNCEMENTS WITH BULLETS: Images and third party objects inserted into your Announcements area must be 429 pixels wide or smaller if you have turned on the auto bullet feature, which places a bullet before each of your Announcements.

Note: If you upload an image into any of the areas above that is too wide to fit, our system will automatically resize the image for you, thus preventing you from blowing out your margins or page formatting. However, if you are pulling in images from third party sources, such as Photobucket.com or Slide.com, or you are adding third party plugins like Youtube videos or music players, you must ensure these objects are not too wide for the space into which you are inserting them. If they are you can resize the object's width and height in the source code so it does not exceed the maximum widths above.

Answer: Click the "Edit Profile" link under MEMBER FUNCTIONS. Then just roll over each of these images and "Select Image." Follow the directions on screen then use the built-in cropping tool for a perfect photo fit every time. Note that classmates can only upload a yearbook photo if the Class Administrator has not provided one. If the Class Administrator has provided one, or chooses to change a classmate's yearbook photo, the classmate can no longer edit this photo slot. Class Administrators always have the "master control switch" for all yearbook photos. An example of nicely done Yearbook photos can be seen on the Marshalltown High School Class of 1958 web site. Click the "Show Yearbook Photos" button to see all yearbook photos together.

Answer: Click Edit Profile under MEMBER FUNCTIONS. Then click the photos tab in the upper right corner. Here you can select exactly what images display on your classmate profile. You can also upload new images here.

Answer: Follow the steps below:

• Add deceased Classmate's Name to your active list of Classmates if you have not already done so.
• Click on Edit Site Pages from your Administration Area.
• Click the Edit button next to "In Memory."
• Select the deceased Classmate's name from the dropdown list.
• Click the "Add Selected Deceased Classmate" button.
• Follow the instructions on screen.
• Repeat for any additional deceased Classmates.

Answer: Here's an explanation:

• Poll: The Poll embeds right into your home page and is often used as an entertainment feature. Polls can only have multiple choice answers. Each Classmate can only vote once, and after voting Classmates see the Live Poll Results in a graphical pie chart format (pie chart will not appear until 2 or more Classmates have selected 2 or more answers). To create a Poll click on Edit Site Pages from your Administration Area, then click the Edit button next to "Home Page". Finally click on "Manage Poll" and then follow the instructions.
• Survey: The Survey module allows you to create sophisticated surveys with simple point and click functionality. Surveys are usually used for collecting necessary information, such as information to assist you in planning a Class Reunion. The sky's the limit on the types of surveys you can design and the questions you can ask. You can even put more than one survey live at a time. Classmates must log in to vote, and each Classmate can only vote once. Surveys have their own visibility permission settings, allowing you to decide if Classmates see the results of a survey, or if the survey results stay hidden and only available to you, the Site Administrator.

Answer: Yes. Just follow the steps below:

1. During the site creation wizard, when asked for graduating year select "multi".
2. Select your first, and last year to create your year span.
3. Complete all 5 steps of the wizard.

That's it! Although optional, we recommend you purchase a domain name for your site if your site includes Classmates from multiple graduating years. If you don't, then only the first year you selected will show in your web site's address, for example:

http://www.classcreator.com/City-State-YourSchool-1983

With a domain name you can easily overcome this by choosing whatever name you'd like, for example:

http://www.yourschool83-86.com

Note: If you previously set up your site for a single graduating year, you can convert to the multi year format by clicking your "Edit School/Logos link" and then following the directions on screen.

Answer: Yes, teachers can participate the same way Classmates do. Teachers have their own designated "Teacher Profiles" area. To activate it:

1. Click your "Edit Site Pages" link.
2. Place a check mark next to "Teacher Profiles".
3. A new "Manage Teachers" link will now appear in your Administrator Area. Click it and follow the directions on screen to set up your teachers.

Note: Teacher Profiles are not currently available for single year sites. The reason for this is that teachers cannot be asked to create numerous individual accounts on multiple class web sites.

Answer: Yes. You can accomplish this with Class Creator by performing the following steps:

1. Alumni Association builds its web site with Class Creator.
2. Alumni Association turns off all pages of the site except for the home page by unchecking them.
3. Alumni Association turns off all right hand modules on the home page by unchecking them.
4. Alumni Association creates home page content and custom site pages to customize its site. Alumni Association now has a totally functional web site.
5. Each Class creates a site using Class Creator.
6. Alumni Association links to each class site from its main web site.

If you need assistance with the above procedure please call us. We'd be happy to walk you through it by phone.

Answer: Follow these steps:

1. Click Edit Site Pages.
2. Click the Edit button next to Home Page.
3. Place a check mark next to the "Easy Donations" Module.
4. When your editor pops up, click the little "Image button" near the left hand corner.
5. Click "Manage Donations" and follow the directions on screen.
6. Optional: For a more advanced donations system complete with internal donation tracking click your "Donations Manager" link under Admin Functions.

Answer: Our map interfaces with the Google Map system and currently only plots Classmates residing in the United States. More international support is continually being added and we'll be including international locations as they become available.

Answer: Yes. Simply log into your web site and click the "Profile Generator" link under your Administrative Links. You can ask anything under the sun to make your Classmate Profiles interesting and engaging, but here are some ideas to help you get started:

• Where do you live now?
• Where else have you lived?
• If you could build a second house anywhere, where would it be?
• Still have family around ?
• How often do you get back to ?
• Would you ever move back to the area?
• Do you still see/talk to/hang out with any classmates? Who?
• What did you do right after high school?
• What do you do now?
• How did you get into that?
• What did you want to do or think you were going to do when you finished high school?
• Past jobs?
• What did you always want to do that you haven't done yet?
• High points of your life since high school?
• Married? to whom? When? How long?
• Kids?
• Grand kids?
• What do you like to do in your spare time?
• Any vices?
• Travel much?
• What's the farthest you've been from home?
• Favorite place to go?
• Places you want to go?
• How old do you feel?
• Any gray hair yet?
• What would we be surprised to know about you?
• Did you have any nicknames in school?
• Any nicknames now?
• What's your favorite memory of FHS?
• Least favorite memory?
• Biggest thing you would do differently if you went back to your time at FHS?
• What are your memories of high school (i.e. secret crush, embarrassing moment, funniest thing you did in high school, favorite high school hang out, favorite teachers)?
• Favorite Drinks?
• Favorite sports?
• Favorite Food?
• Favorite Movies?
• Favorite music?
• What was the last cd you bought?
• Famous or interesting people you've met?
• Cool things you've done?
• Any words of wisdom?
• Anything else we should know?

Here's some more submitted by a Class Creator Site Administrator:

• Gone on a blind date?
• Skipped school?
• Watched someone die?
• Been lost?
• States you've lived in?
• Countries you've visited?
• Gone to Washington, DC?
• Swam in the ocean?
• Cried yourself to sleep?
• Played cops and robber or cowboys and Indians?
• Recently colored with crayons / colored pencils?
• Sang Karaoke?
• Paid for a meal with coins only?
• Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
• Made prank phone calls?
• Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose?
• Caught a snowflake on your tongue?
• Danced your heart out?
• Written a letter to Santa Claus?
• Been kissed under the mistletoe?
• Watched the sunrise with someone?
• Blown bubbles?
• Gone ice-skating?
• Been skinny dipping outdoors?
• Sat outside in the rain?
• Lived one of your dreams?
• Gotten divorced?
• Been in love?
• Any nickname?
• Favorite drink?
• Body Piercings?
• What animal would you be if you could choose one?
• Birthplace?
• Favorite vacation spot?
• Ever been to Africa?
• Ever eaten just cookies for dinner?
• Ever been on TV?
• Ever steal any traffic signs?
• Ever been in a car accident?
• Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle?
• Favorite brand of body wash?
• Favorite TV show?
• Favorite number?
• Favorite movie?
• Favorite holiday?
• Favorite dessert?
• Favorite food?
• Favorite day of the week?
• Name something you love.
• Favorite toothpaste?
• Favorite smell?
• How do you relax?
• How do you see yourself in 10 years?
• When was the last time you belly laughed?

Answer: You can add music to your site using our music playlist Widget if either of the following is true:

1. You have music files on your own computer, and those files are in .mp3 format.
2. You know the URLs (web addresses) of .mp3 music files on the internet that are available to be shared. That means the URL ends with the name of an individual music file and looks something like this:
   

   http://server_name.com/directory/path/music_file.mp3

Please make sure you upload music you have the rights to publish, such as recording of band music, high school recordings you've maintained etc. DO NOT upload commercial music that you do not have the right to publish.

Answer: Yes. You can easily embed objects from any other web site, such as videos, slideshows, reunion countdown clocks, and much more. You can generate third party objects on numerous sites, but here are a few of the major sites to get you started:

• Counting Down To - create a countdown clock widget and embed it in your website. It's free and takes less than a minute.
• Image Chef - all kinds of cool plugins here. Check it out!
• Pageplugins.com - Generators & Flash toys.
• Caption.iT - Neat signs and much more.
• MyCountdown.org - an excellent site for reunion countdown clocks.
• You Tube - embed your own video from You Tube, or any other video on the You tube web site.
• Flickr - another popular slide show creator.
• Issuu - publish dynamic "turn the page" publications on your web site. Very slick! Some schools use this to publish their entire yearbook on their Class Creator web sites.
• WishAFriend - All of these objects will work perfectly on your Class Creator web site. The sky's the limit on what you can create here.
• CSL Cartoon Stock - Cartoons for your web site. Type in "high school reunions" in the search box.
• PagePlugIns - more fun stuff you can put on your Class Creator web site.

Answer: Easy! Just type the text $homepage_hits$ into the editor for your Home Page or for any of your announcements and style it as you like using the buttons in the editor's formatting toolbar. The text $homepage_hits$ will be replaced each time your page is viewed with the current visitor count as displayed on the Statistics page under your Admin Functions.

Answer: Follow these steps:

1. Type the text that you want people to click on to take them another page.
2. Select that text with your mouse. You can also select an adjacent image, or just select an image and make the image itself a clickable link instead of adding text.
3. Click the Link button in the formatting toolbar of the editor (near the right hand end of the middle row). A box will appear in the middle of the screen with "Link" at the top.
4. In the lower portion of the box there will be a text field with the heading "URL". Type or paste the address of the page you're linking to into that box (the address will look something like "http://classcreator.com").
5. Click the OK button at the bottom of the "Link" box.
6. Scroll down the page and click "Save Changes" at the bottom. The link will be active on the page you have edited. You may need to refresh your browser when viewing that page right after editing it.

Note: When adding links, some people like to add the entire address (URL) of the linked page as the text to click on. Be careful because a long URL might blow out your page layout. You can always paste in a link and then edit the link text to display something shorter which still links to the same place. You can also use a link shortening service like tinyurl.com to create a smaller url pointing to the same page.

Answer: Yes, you control all content on your site. You can even add new links and customize your site any way you wish using a visual editor. It is easy to insert pictures, tables, lists, etc.

Answer: Yes, you can upload files and images to your web site up to 200 megabytes. For frame of reference, if an average web photo is about 50k, you can upload approximately 4,000 photos before reaching your storage limit.

Answer: Premium members receive 200 megabyes of storage space. Platinum Members receive 1 gigabyte of storage space, about 5 times more than Premium. If you plan to upload large files, videos or multiple photo galleries to your web site the Platinum Membership may be right for you.

Answer: No. After you create your site, everything happens from your site itself. In fact you can even use and edit/maintain your site at the same time. Unlike some other software, you don't have to administer your site in one area and view it separately in your browser after making updates.

Answer: Yes, but you'll want to be careful doing this. When you paste content from some applications (Microsoft Word being the worst offender), you'll not only get the content, but a large amount of html code will also paste into your page behind the scenes. Code from Microsoft Word and some other applications can and will frequently "mess up" the formatting on your page. If you wish to use a third party application to write your content, we suggest using something that is code free, such as Notepad for Windows, or TextEdit for Mac. You may also use third party html applications such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage.

Answer: Yes. Follow these steps to create multiple Administrators:

1. Log into your site and click on Manage Classmates.
2. Click the "Enter/Edit Classmates" button.
3. Click the Details link next to the Classmate's Name whom you wish to make an Administrator.
4. Near the bottom of the details page click the checkbox labeled "Grant Admin Access".

Note: Only the Root Administrator can grant Administrator access to Classmates. Once a Classmate has been granted Administrator rights, that Classmates cannot then grant Administrator rights to other Classmates.

Answer: Your web site is hosted on high powered T3 Internet servers located in Texas. We also store photos, audio and video on the Amazon cloud.. Our server up time is usually 99.9%. There is no monthly hosting charge to use the Class Creator system outside of the monthly subscription fee. There is no cost of any kind if you are utilizing our Free (ads) plan.

Answer: Yes. You can use our Excel import template to batch upload all of your Classmates into the system so you do not have to enter them manually.

1. Click the Manage Classmates link.
2. Click the Upload Classmates button.
3. Follow the directions on screen.

Answer: Yes. Your Class List changes as your Classmates edit their contact details and Profiles. You can download a real time snapshot of your Class List in Excel format at any time. You do not need to maintain a separate Class List, you can simply let Class Creator do this for you. To download your Class List:

1. Click the Manage Classmates link.
2. Click the Download Classmates button..
3. Save the file on your computer and open it with Excel.

Answer: Yes. Click your Edit Site Pages link, then click the Edit button next to your Missing Classmates page. Several Missing Classmates criteria are there from which you may choose.

Answer: All items in the key on your Classmate Profiles page are. For example if you want to show only active Classmates, or Classmates who have photos, etc., you can click anywhere in your key and see just those Classmates. We have also added the following sorting options below the key:

• A-Z: Default Class List display
• Last Updated: Show Classmates by most recently updated Profiles to oldest Profiles.
• Newest Members: Show Classmates by most recently joined, to oldest members.
• Latest Profile Comments: Show Classmates at the top of the list who have recently had comments added under their Profiles.

Note: You can get creative with these sorting options if you want to. For instance, first you can click something in the key, and then you can click the sorting options below the key to further refine your sort. For example, if you want to show only active Classmates who have a yearbook photo, first click next to the green check mark in your key, and then click the "Show Yearbook Photos" button below the key. Or if you want to show only Profiles updated in the past 6 months, and you want to display them from newest to oldest, first click next to the gold star in your key, and then click "Last Updated" below the key. Or if you want to see only Classmates who are attending the reunion and you want to see them by Latest Profile Comments from newest to oldest, click next to the reunion icon in your key (if you currently have a reunion planned that is), and then click "Latest Profile Comments" below the key. And so forth and so on.

If you double filter the list as described above, at any time you can get back to the default view by clicking "View All Classmates". The Classmate Profile sorting options make it much easier to identify where there is new Classmate content to be seen.

Answer: Yes. Follow these steps:

1. In Excel, select the cells containing postal codes.
2. On the Format menu, click Cells.
3. In the Category list, click Special.
4. In the Type list, click "Zip Code 4" and then click OK. If your current download file has mostly 5 digit zip codes, then change the Special format type to "Zip code" instead of "Zip code 4".

Answer: First select the cells in the section you want to sort and then perform your sort. If you have trouble doing this you can also follow the steps below to make your list sortable:

1. Open the xls Class List you downloaded.
2. Click File, Save As, and in the file type field select .csv. Save your file.
3. Close your current Excel document.
4. Now open up the .csv file you just saved.
5. You can now sort by your email column, or any other column.

Answer: Yes. If you have many updates to make to your Classmates details and / or Profiles, here's a couple of little 'tricks':

1. "It's not necessary to scroll down to click the 'Save' button. Hitting the [Enter] key will do the same thing. Thus with mouse near the number pad on the keyboard, thumb can reach over easily.
2. "After or 'Save Changes', hitting the 'Back' button twice will take you back to where you were on the Manage Classmates page with the last update outlined in little dashes! Caution: Just don't hit 'Back' before saving.

It's more clicks but they are easy clicks (and much easier than scrolling!) and it allows you to easily verify changes.

Answer: The editor component you have on your site is very powerful, giving you access directly to the source code of your site. While this allows you to do some high level editing on your site, it also gives you the power to "mess up" your page. A variety of things can be put in your Announcements box to cause it to be too wide:

• Extraneous html code pasted into your Announcement area from Microsoft Word.
• Items that are too large to fit, including images, tables, and horizontal rules.
• Third party embedded objects that are too wide for your Announcements box (such as large music playlists, or Youtube videos).
• Holding down the space bar and putting in numerous "non breaking spaces." Numerous non breaking spaces in a row have nowhere to wrap, thus they blow out your Announcements board. To fix this, edit your Announcements and/or home page content and click on the Source button in the upper left corner. Then look for numerous spaces in the code all run together. It will look something like this:

         

Select and delete all the non breaking spaces, then save your page. Your Announcements box will now return to normal. If you've taken the above steps but are still having trouble, contact us and we will help you solve the problem.

Answer: Dynamic content can be added to your home page by clicking on your Edit Site Pages link, then clicking the Edit button next to your Home Page. Place a check mark in the "This Day In History" feed, and/or the Celebrity Birthdays feed. You can also add weather, music, and numerous other third plugins to your page. See the "Questions About Building Your Site" section in this FAQ page for more information.

Answer: No. This content is copyrighted and provided by ThePeopleHistory.com web site. If you have a need or desire to edit this page, we recommend you deactivate the default History/Videos page and build your own page using one of your Customizable Links.

Answer: You can put most symbols next to a Classmate's name even if that Classmate has not joined your site. Let's take all possible symbols one by one and explain how to do it:

• Green Check mark: You can put a check mark next to a non Member's name by clicking on Manage Classmates, then clicking on Enter/Edit Classmates manually. At the top of that page select the second radio button, which will show Classmate details even if the Classmate has not joined your site. Next, manually edit the non Member's profile and add at least one bit of information, such as their city, or state for example. Save the Profile. This Classmate will now have a green check mark next to his or her name.
• Camera: Go into the Classmate's Profile and upload at least one picture for the Classmate. Classmate will now have a camera icon next to his or her name.
• Attending Reunion: Click on Manage Classmates, then click Enter/Edit Classmates. Click the Profile link next to the Classmate's name. At the bottom of the page toggle the "Attending Reunion" answer to "Yes." The Classmate will now have the reunion icon next to his or her name.
  
  Note: This option is only available if you currently have an active reunion running on your site.
• Gold Star: This is the one icon you cannot turn on without the Classmate actually joining your site. If you look in the symbol key, you'll see that the gold star indicates that the Classmate has updated his or her profile within the past 6 months. If we let Administrators turn on the gold star for non site members, it would give the false illusion that the Classmate is participating in the site even though he or she is not, and thus cause confusion. If you really want to turn on a gold star for a non member, you can always go to your Classmate Profiles page, click on the Classmate's name, and actually create an account on behalf of the Classmate. The Classmate will now have the gold star too. Note: If you do this, the Classmate's name will also appear on your home page as having a recent Profile update, furthering the false impression that he or she has joined your site. Additionally, if you join the site on behalf of a Classmate, other Classmates will likely try to email this Classmate, thinking the Classmate is actually participating in your site. Be prepared to receive emails on behalf of any Classmates for which you have created an account on their behalf.
• Double Asterisk: Indicates Classmate is deceased. This icon is optional, and can be activated by clicking on Edit Site Pages, clicking the Edit button next to your In Memory page, and clicking the check box next to your deceased Classmate icon options.
• Rose: Indicates one or more comments have been posted by Classmates under the deceased Classmate's In Memory entry. This icon is optional, and can be activated by clicking on Edit Site Pages, clicking the Edit button next to your In Memory page, and clicking the check box next to your deceased Classmate icon options.
• Flag: Indicates Classmate served in the military. This icon automatically appears if a Classmate selects any branch of military service in his or her Profile. Flag will automatically be of the nation where the school is located, but the Classmate has the option to override this and manually set the flag for the nation served.
• Padlock: Indicates Classmate has restricted his or her Profile to viewing only by fellow Classmates. This icon only appears if the viewer is not logged into the site. Administrators or Classmates who are logged in will not see this icon.

Answer: It's not required, but certainly helpful. Spend an hour or two with a good basic html primer and you'll be able to "tweak under the hood" in no time. Simply Google "html tutorial" and you'll find all kinds of free tutorial sites. Here's a good one: W3 Schools. Once you have a grasp of basic html code, when you're in your editor just click the "Source" button in the upper left corner. You can now tweak your content at the code level. Press "Source" again to return to your design view.

Answer: The Class Creator system has some built in functions that help you space things correctly. Most of the time these built in functions are beneficial, but every now and then may be preventing you from creating the exact spacing you are desiring. If this is happening to you, click on your "Source" button, and at the top of your source code on its own blank line, paste in this code:

Make sure you paste in the entire code above, complete with opening and closing carrot brackets. When you do this you are telling our system to discontinue helping you with spacing issues, and honor 100% of your html code exactly as you've entered it. If you are having any issues with html and display, try putting the tag above at the top of your source code, and the issue will likely be solved.

Answer: Yes. Follow these steps:

1. Go into edit mode for any page.
2. Click the Chain Link icon.
3. Click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button.
4. Navigate to the location of the file on your computer, select the file and click the "OPEN" button.
5. Click the "Upload" button
6. Click the "OK" button.
7. Use the chain link icon to create a link to the document from any page of your web site.

Answer: There are two reasons images might become a red X:

1. You copied and pasted a photo that was uploaded by one of your Classmates into a different area of your site. And then your Classmate removed the photo. When this happens, the photo also gets removed from wherever else you pasted it to. The best way to avoid this is always save the Classmate's image to your own hard drive first, and then upload it elsewhere on your site yourself.
2. You uploaded an image that was too large for your page. When that happens the Class Creator system needs to resize your image so it doesn't blow out the formatting of your site. When you hit the Save button, the Class Creator system resizes your image and saves it as a new file name. If you then decide to go back in and edit the same page again by using your Back button, this causes the page to load from your computer's memory (i.e. you are now editing a page that existed prior to the time our system resized your image and resaved it as a new name). After making more adjustments to your page and ultimately saving it again, you've now just saved the page with an image name that no longer exists anywhere. As a result you now you have the red X. Of course, the best way to prevent this is either upload an image that is not too large for your page in the first place, or save your page, let the system resize your image, and then DO NOT HIT YOUR BACK BUTTON to get back into edit mode. Instead, go back into the Edit Site Pages function again and hit the Edit button next to your page name again. When you do this, you'll be working with the newly resized and renamed image and you will not experience the "infamous Red X."

Answer: Your site has a custom "Statistics" link where various things are tracked, such as active members, deceased members, daily logins, last Classmate logins, etc. Your site also directly interfaces with Google Analytics, which provides some of the best site tracking available for free.

Answer: When search engines find any link to your site anywhere on the web they will automatically pull your site into their system. If there are no links on other web sites currently pointing to your site, or you wish to get your site listed more quickly, you can submit your site yourself to the web's top 3 search engines:

• Add your site to Google: http://www.google.com/addurl
• Add your site to Bing: http://www.bing.com/webmaster/submitsitepage.aspx

Answer: Most people use search engines to find classmates. One of the many techniques search engines use to rank web site listings is known as "link popularity", which is a representation of how many links there are on the Internet to your web site. Here's a simple and quick way for your web site to be found by search engines, and at the same time allows people searching for your school reunion web site to find you:

1. If you or any of your Classmates belong to a social networking site (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) be sure to include a link to your web site.
2. If you or any of your Classmates run a blog of any kind, include a link to your web site. Even better write a post about your school and your reunion.
3. If you know of other web sites for different years from your school ask to swap links.
4. Submit your reunion web site to the DMOZ Directory.
5. Check if the local newspaper will feature your web site.
6. Ask If your old school has a section dedicated to reunions and ask to be included.
7. Submit your web site to any directories that have a class reunion section.

Answer: Yes. Once you activate a reunion on your web site, your "Reunion Attendees" area is a place you can keep track of attendees, payments owed, payments received, etc.

Answer: Yes. One of our readers shared some excellent tips in our User Forums:

Answer: Yes. This is known as adding a "Guest Member." A Guest Member is a member of your site that does not appear on your Class List along with the rest of your Classmates. Adding a Guest Member is easy:

1. Log into your site and click on Manage Classmates
2. Click the Enter/Edit Classmates Manually button
3. Click the Add New Member button
4. Next to "Show on Class List" choose "Yes", "No", or "Show as Guest Member"

Here's an explanation of these options:

• SHOW ON CLASS LIST
  You should select this option if the Member is a Classmate.
• DO NOT SHOW ON CLASS LIST
  Select this option if you don't want this Member to show up anywhere on your site, but allow Member full access to view your site.
  
  Note: Members who do not show on your Class List DO NOT have Profiles that can be edited or read by other Classmates.
• SHOW AS GUEST MEMBER
  Select this option if you wish for the Guest Member to show on your Classmate Profiles page below the list of your regular Classmates. Guest Members who show under your regular Class List DO have Profiles that can be edited and read by other Classmates.
  
  Suggestion: When adding Guest Members it is recommended you denote who they are in parenthesis in the last name field. Examples:
  
  John Smith (Teacher - 81-88)
  Kelly Parker (Band Director)
  Ruth Wassam (Librarian)
  Hank Turner (Principal)
  

Note: If you have any current Members that you wish to change to Guest Members instead, simply edit the Details area of their Profiles and select one of the two new Guest Member options.

Answer: Yes. You can plan your reunion using the Event Planner. Easily add your own questions to your Reunion Registration Form. Allow Classmates to register for your reunion online. Show your reunion location on a map. Your Classmates can see at a glance who is attending your reunion.

Answer: Yes, you can sell reunion tickets and/or other items on your web site through our integrated credit card processing system. Just follow the steps on the Event Planner. Your reunion funds flow directly from your class web site into your bank account. 5.9% credit card processing fee is applied to all transactions.

Answer: Yes. Once you activate a reunion on your web site, your "Reunion Attendees" area is a place you can keep track of attendees, payments owed, payments received, etc.

Answer: Yes. Here it is:

TIMELINE FOR ALUMNI REUNION PLANNING COMMITTEES

One Year Before Reunion

• Hold first committee meeting and recruit committee members.
• Select date and location of reunion event(s.)
• Update class mailing list.
• Decide on reunion committee meeting schedule. Can we do conference calls?
• Decide whether you wish to invite other classes to your event (do multiple-class event?)
• Decide whether to do a class gift and consider what it might be. Do we need a separate committee to do the class gift?
• Decide whether to do an alumni "yearbook" with classmates completing survey forms describing what they've been doing since graduation or the last reunion.
• Do you want to offer tours of your school for returning classmates? Contact school if you do.
• Reserve a block of hotel/motel rooms for returning classmates.
• Send "Save The Date" postcard to classmates with information about reunion and ask for volunteers willing to help with the planning. Give contact name.
• Appoint reunion treasurer and be certain proper accounts are in his/her name so deposit checks can be written and income and expenses properly recorded.
• Post reunion information and start an email directory on your class webpage.

Six Months Before Reunion

• Begin preparing reservation letter to classmates with prices and reservation form.
• If doing class gift, be certain major donor prospects are being solicited.
• Reunion committee chair should be certain specific tasks are assigned to specific committee members.
• Begin compiling list of former teachers to invite (they love to meet former students).

Four Months Before Reunion

• Mail reservations letter to classmates with reunion details and pricing. In the letter include email address of class web page.
• Create a link on class web page. for the reservation form for classmates' convenience.
• As reservations come in, post names of classmates coming to reunion on class website.

Two Months Before Reunion

• Organize class "phonathon" to call classmates and encourage them to attend reunion.
• As reservations come in, adjust arrangements on food/accommodations to reflect numbers.
• Invite former teachers to reunion.

One Month Before Reunion

• Do email reminder to classmates about getting reservations in for the reunion.

One Month After Reunion

• Reunion committee holds follow-up meeting to analyze reunion strengths and weaknesses.
• Chair(s) for next reunion should be selected.
• If reunion generated surplus, be certain money is properly accounted for and a treasurer for next reunion selected to oversee "startup" funds.
• Send updated class address list to your class website so it will be available for planners of the next reunion.

Here are some items to consider when planning your class reunion:

When To Hold Reunion

• What time of year would most classmates be available to attend?
• Do many classmates come back to your hometown for Thanksgiving?
• Would a summer or fall event be more convenient?
• Do we prefer an outdoor (warmer weather) event?

Where To Hold Reunion

• Do you prefer a more casual or formal site?
• What pricing level is most appropriate for classmates?
• Do we want to hold one function or more than one? (one formal/one informal)
• Can the facility provide alternative meals (vegetarian, vegan, for instance)?
• Do we want a sit down meal, buffet, or just hors d'oeuvres and cocktails?
• Do we want the event and classmate accommodations in the same facility?
• Is the location easily accessible with sufficient parking?
• Can the facility accommodate the expected attendance yet have flexibility if numbers come in larger or smaller than anticipated?
• Get great group hotel rates for your classmates at Group Travel. Just fill out their form here.

Organizing Your Reunion Committee

• Select a chairperson who is responsible for seeing that others do their assigned task.
• Determine who should handle specific tasks (such as preparing invitations, receiving reservations, organizing speakers, greeting classmates, organizing raffle, obtaining music, and inviting former teachers, for example).
• Bring a diverse group of classmates onto the committee so you get a range of opinions.
• Committee members should be individuals willing to do the tasks required.
• Representation from previous reunion committees can be helpful in assessing what went well at previous events and what should be done differently.

Pricing The Reunion

• How much can classmates afford to spend to attend the reunion?
• How much do we have to add to the cost of each ticket to cover expenses?
• Should the ticket price also include a small fee to establish a "kitty" for early up-front expenses for the next reunion?
• Should we consider a raffle or other fundraiser as an alternative way to raise money for expenses and/or the next reunion's startup "kitty"?

Answer: Yes. A domain name will be easier for your Classmates to remember than using the longer system-generated Class Creator address.

Answer: Follow these steps:

1. Login into your site
2. Go to Admin Functions > Register Domain
3. Search the name you wish to register or select from the recommended domain list
4. Follow the directions on screen.

Answer:

$24.95 per year for the most common domain extensions.

Answer: Yes. You maintain full administrative control over your domain name. Go to Admin Functions > Manage Domain > Domain Name Account Management for further details.

Answer: No we did not. If you purchased a domain name from Classnames.net the annual cost is $19.95 per year, or less if you purchased for multiple years. Solicitations from some unscrupulous Registrars unfortunately disguise their solicitations as something that appears to be a bill. Many people who do not know any better wind up paying, falling victim to this scam and inadvertently transferring their domain name away from Classnames.net. If you fall for this not only will you be paying a significantly higher yearly fee for your domain name, your Class Creator site will no longer work correctly as well. If you receive something in the mail that looks like a bill for your domain name, and it is not from Classnames.net, DO NOT PAY IT. Simply throw it away. There are several Registrars out there willing to prey on domain name owners with these types of misleading solicitations. How unfortunate.

Answer: Here are the steps to transfer your domain name to Classnames.net:

1. Domains often have what is called a Registrar lock or a domain lock. This is generally a setting in the domain control panel at the domain Registrar that you must select "unlock" in order to release the domain for transfer. This will sometimes be called "Transfer Prohibited" and you need to check off "allow transfer".
2. You need a EPP Key or domain authorization key in order to transfer most domain name extensions. This key/code comes from the registration company that holds the domain name at the time of the transfer request. The key is sometimes included on your domain control panel; if it is not you may need to request this key from your current Registrar.
3. Make sure your email address is listed as the administrative and/or registrant contact. Once the transfer beings this email address will receive a transfer authorization request. This request will include a domain authorization form that you must choose "I authorize this transfer" and submit. If any of the contacts check off that they do not authorize the transfer the transfer will cancel.
4. Once you have completed the first three steps (the domain is unlocked, you have the EPP Key/Authorization Code, and you have verified that your email address is the email address listed as the administrative contact you can start the transfer process.
   
   1. Go to ClassNames.net and create a new account.
   2. Click on the Domain Names tab and choose the Transfers link.
   3. By default the form is set to "Auto Verification". If you have access to the administrative contact email address you will want this option so choose the Next button at the bottom of that form.
   4. In the box provided enter the domain name you wish to transfer follow by a comma, a space and then the EPP Key/Authorization Code mentioned above.
      

      Example with Authorization Key:
      myname.com, 00000000

5. At the bottom of the form there are three check boxes on by default - keep those checked and click the submit button.
6. The following page allows you to review the order before you submit. If everything looks accurate submit the order.
7. Within the next 24 hours you will receive at least one email asking you to authorize the transfer. You will sometimes receive a second authorization request from the current Registrar as part of their final steps of releasing the domain. This process varies by Registrar so you may only receive the one.
8. You will be notified via email when the transfer has processed.

Domain registration companies have added these extra steps over the years to ensure that domains are ONLY transferred by the owner. The steps are industry wide to ensure all registration companies are following the same rules. On rare occasions a Registrar will have additional steps (such as calling them to verify the release), however, the majority of the large domain Registrars follow the rules above.

Answer: Yes. There are two ways to achieve this, depending on your needs.

1. If you want to set up an actual mailbox to keep your personal email and website email separate and you want to be able to have up to nine other administrators on your website be able to do the same, then you'll want to upgrade your subscription to the Platinum level so you can take advantage of our Platinum email system. Platinum allows you to create POP3 email boxes where your email is stored on your own email server, and you would access that email through a client program like Outlook, Thunderbird, or Apple Mail. With Platinum email, you can also set up an *unlimited* number of forwarding addresses that send your emails to any other address you want to use, and you also have the ability to set up group addresses (e.g. committee@yourschool.com) which will send a copy of each email received to multiple addresses at once. The best part is that you can manage all these features right from within your own class website.
2. If you don't wish to consider upgrading to Platinum, you do have the option of setting up (up to 100) forwarding addresses at ClassNames.net -- if that is where you registered your domain name. If you registered your domain name elsewhere, then whether you have the option depends on the registrar, and you'll have to visit their website to find out. If you registered at ClassNames.net, you can follow this procedure:
   • Log into your account at Classnames.net using the login and password you created when you initially registered your domain name.
   • Scroll down the page to "Manage My Domains" and click the Manage link, and then click the domain name you wish to create an email address for.
   • Scroll to the bottom of the page and in the section headed "Email Forwarding" click on the "Try it Now" button at the right.
   • Under "Username" enter the email addresses you wish to create (just the part before the @ sign, e.g. info, or admin), and under "Forward To" enter the email address you wish to forward your email to.
   • Be sure to click the "Save Changes" button when you are done creating email addresses.
   • Try sending a test email to the new email address you just created to be sure the forwarding works correctly.

Answer: 10 POP3 email boxes are included in the Platinum Membership plan. You can also purchase additional POP3 email boxes from Classnames.net in groups of 10 for $19.95/yr. To purchase POP3 "email paks" follow these steps:

1. Log into your account at Classnames.net using the login and password you created when you initially registered your domain name.
2. Click on "Registered Domains" for a list of the domain names you have registered.
3. Click on the domain name for which you wish to add email service.
4. Scroll down until you see POP Email and click on the "Try It Now" button in that section.
5. Select the number of email paks you want (10 addresses per pak) from the dropdown.
6. Click the "Checkout Now" button and follow the final directions on your screen.

Answer: Premium Members utilize our "system address", which is noreply@classcreator.net. The Platinum Plan includes 10 email boxes that match your domain name. Under the Platinum Plan all emails sent to your Classmates and all system notices emailed to your Classmates will come from a custom address of your choosing @yourdomain.com (instead of coming from the Class Creator system's default email address). This creates two distinct advantages for you: One, your own email address on all outgoing communications is more likely to be recognized by your Classmate members and therefore opened and read. Two, email generated from your own domain name is less likely to be treated as spam by the web's major email systems, and therefore your overall email deliverability rate will be higher.

Answer: Yes. See our diagram about Email Forwarding Solutions.

Answer: In today's world so many spam emails are sent daily that many people and/or email service providers have resorted to very high level spam filtering. This unfortunately means that sometimes messages sent from your web site to your Classmates, and even messages from one Classmate to another, can be marked as spam and therefore never read.

There are four measures you can take to combat this problem.

1. Have your Classmates check their spam or junk email folders to see if emails are going there.
2. You, the Site Administrator, should personally whitelist the email address noreply@classcreator.net.
3. Blast email your Class List and ask your Classmates to also whitelist noreply@classcreator.net.
4. Ask your Classmates if they subscribe to any third party email filtering services, such as spamarrest.com. If so, they need to add noreply@classcreator.net as a safe sender.

FYI: "Whitelist" is the general term for allowing an email to come through from a specific email address every time, regardless of the content contained within the email. Whitelist is also sometimes referred to as a "Safe List" or an "Approved Senders List." If you and your Classmates whitelist noreply@classcreator.net, messages that may not ordinarily get through will now be received and read every time.

Please note the Class Creator system does not send spam mail of any kind to your Classmates. And when we email you directly, the Site Administrators, we will only send you messages we think are important to the business of running your class web site. Thus you and your Classmates can whitelist noreply@classcreator.net with confidence that spam email will never be sent by us. Taking these measures will help ensure that all Classmates participating in your site can freely communicate without losing legitimate messages to spam filtering technology.

Answer: In almost all cases there is an issue happening with your local email box or email provider. Take the following steps in this order to resolve the problem:

1. Make sure that your email box is not full and rejecting emails.
2. Make sure that you haven't inadvertently unsubscribed to receiving system emails. You can do this by editing your Contact Details page. If a "Receive Emails" field is present on the screen and is set to "No", set it back to "Yes". If you cannot locate a "Receive Emails" field on the page at all this is normal. The "Receive Emails" field only displays if the answer is currently "No", thus if you do not see the field at all that means the answer is set to Yes and this is not the problem.
3. Check your spam or junk email folder and make sure your messages are not going there.
4. Whitelist the email address noreply@classcreator.net. This will ensure no emails sent to you by our system are flagged as spam.
5. Call your email provider and ask if any spam filtering happens at a higher level than your own personal email account. Specifically ask if noreply@classcreator.net is for any reason being blocked at the provider's level.
6. If none of the above steps have worked please follow this exact procedure:
   
   
   1. Go to www.gmail.com and create a free email account.
   2. In your class web site click "Edit Contact Details" and add your new gmail email address as one of your alternate email addresses.
   3. Go to your home page and in your Missing Classmates box on the right enter your primary email address and submit. Go back to your home page and do it again, this time using your new gmail alternate email address.
   4. Did you receive the invitation at your primary email address as well as your alternate gmail address, or did you only receive the invitation at your gmail address? If the latter, this is an indication that there is a deliverability issue with your primary email address and one of the 4 steps above needs to be taken.
   5. Call your email provider and inform them of the problem. Forward the copy of the email you received at gmail directly to your primary email provider. Ask them why they are blocking this exact same email that is successfully making it through to Google. They will always have an answer for you.
   6. In rare cases our email system has been added to a "gray" or "black" email list we may have to call your email provider, determine which list we are on, and get our system removed from the list. When talking to your email provider, should you be informed that Class Creator is on any banned email lists, please contact us immediately so we can resolve the problem.

Answer: If you clicked the Send button and received confirmation from the system that the email was sent, the email really was sent. More often than not an Administrator assumes nobody received the email because he or she (or possibly another person or two) personally did not receive the email. If you check with Classmates you will discover the email was in fact sent and received. If you personally did not receive a copy of your class-wide email, please follow the instructions in Question 5 above to determine why you did not receive the email.

Answer: Your message will be sent to all Classmates on your Class List. Be sure your email looks exactly how you want it before pressing the "Send Email" button.

Answer: No, a registered Classmate cannot email an unregistered Classmate from the bottom of the unregistered Classmate's profile listing. The unregistered Classmate can not log into the site to retrieve it, as they are unregistered and have no password. If an unregistered Classmate wants to communicate via the site they need to register.

Answer: There are 3 possibilities:

1. Although rare, an error in our database may have occurred.
2. Somebody else logged into your account and deleted the message. Also rare.
3. Most likely the email notification was delayed, and was for a message you've previously read and deleted. Email is not a perfect medium, and there are a variety of reasons why an email may be delayed.

Note: The email notification you received telling you there was a new message was sent from the name and email address of the person who sent it. You should reply to this email notification and ask the sender to resend the message just to make sure you haven't missed anything.

Answer: When a Classmates unsubscribes from your mailing list, a new field will appear under the Classmate's Details area called "Receive Emails." Note, this field is not present at all if a Classmate is currently subscribed - it will only appear if a Classmate has intentionally unsubscribed. To re-add your Classmate to your mailing list do the following:

1. Log into your site and click your Manage Classmates link.
2. Click the Enter/Edit Classmates Manually button.
3. Click the "Details" link next to the Classmate's name.
4. Toggle the "Receive Emails" field back to yes.

Answer: An email bounces back because a Classmate's email address is either incorrect, or there is a technical problem with the Classmate's email box, such as the Classmate is over his or her mail storage quota. Email bouncebacks can occur when automated messages are sent from your class web site to the bad email address, or when an Administrator sends a class-wide email. Any bad email addresses will result in the email being returned to your bounceback queue. When you receive an email bounceback you need to determine the reason for the bounceback by reading the reason for the non delivery in the bounceback details. If the bounceback is caused by something correctable, such as the user being over his or her email quota, you might want to call the Classmate and explain that their email box is over quota. If the email address is bad (e.g. the Classmate has changed to a new email address) you should obtain the Classmate's new email address and replace the old one under the Classmate's Contact Details screen (you can get to the Contact Details screen by clicking your Manage Classmates link, then clicking the Enter/Edit Classmates button. Click the Details link next to the Classmate's name to enter into edit mode).

Answer: Here's an explanation:

• System Password: Classmates join your web site from the Classmate Profiles page. Should you choose to restrict this page to logged-in members only, users will be directed to your Missing Classmates page to join there. Only non-joined classmate names appear on your Missing Classmates page. If you also choose to restrict your Missing Classmates page to logged-in members only, you will be asked to create a "System Password". You can supply this System Password in advance to your classmates who have not yet joined the web site. If both your Classmate Profiles page and your Missing Classmates page are restricted, classmates must have your System Password in advance in order to join your web site.
• Classmate Password: Your Classmates set their own password at the time of joining your web site. This password is used to regain access to the site in the future. If a Classmate has joined your web site and thus has his or her own personal password, the Classmate can now access all pages of your web site.

Answer: You have 2 things you can do when a Classmate has forgotten his or her password. You should do them in this order:

1. Have the Classmate use the "forgot password" link to reset his or her password. The Classmate needs to go to your home page and click on "Forgot Password?" in the gray Log In box in the upper right corner. This will allow the Classmate to reset the lost password without your assistance.
2. If for some reason the Classmate is unable to do #1 (for example maybe the Classmate no longer has access to the original email address) you can log into the Classmate's account details and change the Classmate's password to something else. The password is not shown for security purposes, but you can still change it to whatever you want. Once the password has been changed, have the Classmate log in using the new password. Once logged in, the Classmate can then change the password again if he or she desires.

Answer: Use the password recovery feature to retrieve your password. On your home page click on "Forgot Password?" in the gray Log In box and follow the instructions to retrieve your password. If for any reason you don't receive an email containing your password please contact us.

Answer: You are having cookie problems. Read Question #8 below to solve cookie problems.

Answer: You are having cookie problems. Read Question #8 below to solve cookie problems.

Answer: You are having cookie problems. Read Question #8 below to solve cookie problems.

Answer: You are having cookie problems. Read Question #8 below to solve cookie problems.

Answer: A cookie is a little piece of data stored on your hard drive and is used by Class Creator to maintain the login system. Although cookie problems are rare, when they do occur you have several resolutions. Try any of the following:

1. Make sure you are logged into your web site. You cannot see your administration links, password protected areas of your web site, or restricted Classmate Profiles unless you are logged in.
2. Upgrade your browser to the most recent browser.
3. Switch browsers. For instance if you are using Internet Explorer, try Firefox.
4. Clear your Temporary Internet Files (cache) and clear your current cookies so you are starting fresh. Click here for instructions for clearing browser cookies.
5. Make sure you are doing nothing to block cookies on your web site. Our login system depends on cookies working. If you are blocking cookies in general, you need to at least permit them for your web site so you can log in.
6. Reboot your computer

Follow these items above and one way or another you'll get around the cookie problem you are experiencing.

Answer: No. The "cookie scare" of the early Internet was largely based on misconceptions that cookies stored on your computer's hard drive violated privacy. Erroneous information regarding cookies has long since been corrected, and cookies are a common programming practice used today by some of the Internet's largest web sites. There is nothing Class Creator does with cookies that will in any way jeopardize your privacy, store personal information about you, or submit your personal information to other web sites.

Answer: Somebody falsely joining your site using one of your non registered Classmate's names is known as a "hijacking." Fortunately this problem is rare. If you are having a hijacking problem or simply wish to err on the side of caution and ensure no hijackers gain access to restricted areas of your site, follow the steps below to turn on our anti hijacking feature:

1. Log into your site and click the Preferences link under your Admin links.
2. Under the "New Classmate Access Rights" section click the radio button next to the "DO NOT ALLOW" feature. With this option enabled hijackers will not be able to access password protected pages on the site, access Classmate Profiles that are restricted by the Classmate, or post a message on the message forum until you have verified the Classmate's identity. The hijackers Profile will also not be visible to other Classmates.

How do you verify the identity of your new subscribing Classmates? Here are some tactics you may wish to exercise:

MINIMUM: At a minimum you could simply look at the new Classmate's Profile, and if it appears legitimate (the Classmate has uploaded photos of themselves, their family, etc.) you can go ahead and authenticate the new account.

MEDIUM: A good middle ground measure would be to email the new Classmate and ask him or her to answer a question or two that only a Classmate would know.

MAXIMUM: See if you can reach the Classmate by phone using the telephone number provided in the contact details. Hijackers never give out their real phone number.

Should you enable the anti-hijacking feature? The answer to that question is it's entirely up to you. Most sites do not have a hijacking problem. And even if a hijacker gets into your site if you've left this feature off, they are typically looking for things such as:

1. The ability to quickly spam mail lots of Classmates
2. Credit card numbers
3. Email addresses

Hijackers will not find any of these items even if the anti-hijacking feature is not enabled. Personal information of this sort is already blocked by our other privacy features. Thus most hijackers quickly get discouraged and give up.

You might want to consider turning on this feature only if you're actually having an ongoing hijacking problem. Or if you simply want to err on the side of caution and be extra safe, and it's important to you that every single new member be authenticated.

HOW DO I APPROVE NEW CLASSMATES?

1. Confirm Classmate's identity following the procedure above.
2. Save the Profile.
3. Log into your web site.
4. Click on Manage Classmates.
5. Click the Enter/Edit Classmates button.
6. Click the Profile link next to the Classmate's name.
7. Click the "Member has been verified" check box

Answer: Only you, the Root Administrator, can access your Preferences page unless you have granted a co-administrator access to the page. For a list of all the things you can do, log into your web site and click your Preferences link. All items are fully explained right on your Preferences page.

Answer: It depends. Your Classmates' Profile pages are fully indexable by major search engines, but each individual Classmate has the ability to permit viewing of his or her Profile only to fellow registered Classmates. If Profile information has been restricted to only fellow Classmates, then search engines can not get into this information and index it, nor can any non registered Classmate get in. Please note that your Classmates' public profile is found in the search engines when no restrictions have been set by the Classmate him or herself. This is the same information that anybody can see simply by visiting your web site unless a Classmate has restricted Profile viewing to only fellow Classmates. Your Classmates' private information is not findable and will never be displayed even if their Profile is left open to the public. Specifically, your Classmates' email addresses, mailing addresses, and telephone numbers are completely protected and not visible to the public, and not findable/indexable by search engines no matter what. Please note that anyone can still send an email to your Classmates by filling out the contact form at the bottom of any Classmate Profile page. This allows open communication between Classmates and non Classmates alike, while protecting Classmates' personal information.

Answer: Yes. When you are logged into your Administration Area click on Edit Site Pages. Hover over any page and click the Edit Link. Place a check mark in front of "Restrict to Classmates only" When you have done this the public and search engine will no longer have access to the page. Classmate members will still be able to see all pages of your site, even if you have restricted them.

Answer: Yes. Each Classmate can select an option that allows only registered Classmates to view his or her Profile. If this option is selected, search engines and the general public will be blocked from accessing the Classmate's Profile page. People have different security concerns for many different reasons, so we've put this security decision squarely in the hands of each Classmate.

Note: Any registered Classmate who is logged in will be able to view all Classmate Profiles.

Answer: The Profile restrictions are working fine. Your Classmate is currently logged into your web site. When she logs in a thing called a "cookie" is set on her hard drive that tells our system she is logged in. Even if she leaves your web site and goes somewhere else on the Internet (e.g. Google), she is still logged into your site. So when she goes out and Googles her own name, up comes a link to your Classmate Profiles page (or sometimes a link directly to the Classmate's Profile itself). Next she is going directly to her own name and clicking on it, which brings her to her Profile and her pictures. Remember, she can see her full Profile because she has remained logged in throughout this process. Logged in Classmates can see restricted Profiles as they are supposed to. Had she not been logged in, however, instead of seeing her Profile she would have seen a message saying her Profile was restricted.

If you or your Classmate wants to see this process like the public sees it just do this:

1. Go to your web class site and click the "Log out" link on the left.
2. Go to Google and search for your Classmate's name.
3. Click on the result that takes you to your Classmate Profiles page.
4. Now click on your Classmate's name.

You will see that you get the Profile restricted message - you do not get access to the Classmate's Profile.

Bottom line, if a Classmate thinks his or her Profile restrictions are not working it is only because your Classmate is still logged in. Have the Classmate log out of your site first by following the steps above, and then search Google for his or her own name, and it will become apparent that everything is working properly.

Answer: The presence of the Classmate Comments function is solely under the control of the Classmate. If a Classmate doesn't want comments posted that others can read, he or she can simply deactivate the Comments feature at the bottom of the Edit Profile page.

Answer: There is no need to worry about your Classmates being spammed. Class Creator utilizes an invisible-to-the-user form of spam protection that stops automated spam attacks cold. Our spam protection system works like some email spam protection systems, in that it uses a series of tests to find out if an email is from a legitimate user, or a spammer. These tests are sophisticated, and include things such as analysis of mouse movements and keyboard strokes. Simply, real email will get through, spam email will not. All of this is possible without making your Classmates type in hard-to-read text, and without blocking Classmates who are seeing impaired.

Answer: For Free (ads) customers, yes. For Premium and Platinum customers, no.

Answer: Your site will send emails to classmates based on their Notify Me preferences. Although rare we may email classmate users if we deem something to be of a critical nature.

Answer: No. We do not engage in renting or selling your Classmates' information, or any form of solicitation regarding your Classmates whatsoever. You can have the utmost confidence that your Classmates' information is held strictly confidential.

Answer: You're going to have to trust us. We do not rent, sell, or profit from your Classmates' personal information in any way. Really. Classmate information such as email address, physical address, and phone number is also never displayed on your web site. It is 100% safe from being indexed by search engines as well. We do not, nor will we ever, do anything that would allow any third party to obtain your Classmate information. That's about as clear as we can make it.