Could the administrators post a simple handout regarding the upcoming login changes. A new password intimates the old one will no longer work. This is especially relevant to the people who will NOT want anything to do with a login via a social media account.
It would be nice to have the transition explained before it actually happens online. This, of course, assumes that the changes will not be optional.
Hope the teenagers will be thrilled as this seems to be mostly directed at the next generations. Facebook and Avatars!
The transition will require each member to re-authenticate by entering their old username and password and choosing a new password. There is a recovery mechanism if you forgot your old password.
The new password has to have both letters and numbers (at least one of each) which is more secure than letters only (since many hacks first try common passwords and dictionary words) but much less problematic than many sites that require symbols, upper and lower case, etc.
The process should be fairly self-explanatory. All CC accounts are required to have a valid email address (that’s always private), so if a member has changed addresses now would be a good time to fix that. If you have forgotten your password AND have a non-working email address, you won’t be able to log in to the new forum.
By the way, all content will be the same. Forums, all the thread history, featured threads, etc. will be the same. If you have bookmarked a thread or forum in your browser, the link will still work.
A little late for recommendations or input? But I think it would be great if before selecting an avatar and connecting to social media, College Confidential would make a sincere effort to set up a pause, and would talk to high school students and their parents about the advantages to maintaining anonymity while applying to multiple colleges.
Over the years, I regret seeing students who suddenly “out” each other here re their first names or high schools, students who ask for “chances” and give away far too much identifying detail, parents who give out identifying information, or students who take on names that are made up from the one college they most aspire to attend when they are juniors in high school-- and have not really weighed out the odds and the need to learn information (Crimsonhopeful, BlueDevil4ever). Names that are unintentionally awkward will not serve them well in the long haul.
I belong to another forum which has the quote button, and it’s awful. People tend not to edit the quote down to the particular thought they’re replying to; they just leave the whole quote in, regardless of length. Then someone else comes along and hits the quote button for that first reply, and you have quote-within-a-quote for the second reply. It makes for a very cluttered, hard-to-follow thread, with each post being pretty much nothing except previously quoted quotes within quotes. It’s just a mess.
Quoting on CC isn’t hard. Highlight and copy the text. Then in your Reply box, type the following:
[quote]
Paste text here
[/quote ]
EXCEPT don’t put the space before the final bracket.
Just pointing out we had a Like button, those green dots- and after a while, it didn’t make sense or mean a post was necessarily accurate. It’s different on FB, which is about the social reinforcement.
I don’t need my pic or social id linked and get tired of pics of people’s dogs or grandbabies for avatars. No offense intended. I can imagine some negatives for the hs kids, too- eg, judgments.
Maybe, for quotes, someone can spread the word that an entire post, a few dozen lines or more, isn’t necessary.
Alas, I see my lurking days are coming to an end. I hate Facebook, Twitter, avatars and “tagging”. Since D is graduating this spring, it’s probably just as well.
Tagging would be convenient–instead of having to type the avatar’s name (which I try to do properly, caps/lc/whatever the way they do it), you should be able to type the first few letters and a drop-down would appear from which you could select the correct name. Right?
I have seen quoting abuse in forums, and fear it would happen here, too, with a quote button.
Do any adults really care about fancy avatars?
There are parent posters, and there are student posters. Which group does CC care about pleasing more? Please the kiddies, and you run the risk of running the parents off. And let’s face it – parents are key to making this site what it is.
I agree with LasMa…there’s another board I visit sometimes where every user has a long descriptive box under all of their posts, and where users love to drag huge quote boxes into many of the posts. The result is a cluttered mess. The CC threads are easy to read, and someone who reads the earlier posts doesn’t usually need them repeated.
I leave a site when it goes to a Facebook or Twitter requirement for posting, but it appears that CC is going to live up to its name and keep it anonymous. I do not link my accounts at all. I will never do this, so I hope this isn’t going to be a problem here. I do not want to be tagged or anything like that. Talk to me in a thread. That is sufficient.
I would appreciate the simple, normal features like “quote”. That would be nice.
Thanks for the feedback. We’ll certainly be listening to input from the community in these coming days and weeks. As for requiring FB/Twitter login to post, I can’t imagine that ever being something we do. More and more sites are utilizing this, though, like you, I typically don’t contribute if it is required (due to the desire for anonymity). Regarding the “quote” feature, we had covered that earlier in this thread. It is a debate that goes back years. However, a modified quote feature that was mentioned that we could potentially explore. Thanks!
