Frequently Asked Questions

If you’re having a problem using this site, you may find the answer below.  If you’re new to the site, please read through these questions before you get started.

While we try to keep these as current as possible, sometimes the software changes faster than our capacity to update these.  If you find a “bug” in these directions, please let us know!

For more on these or other questions you may have, please use the Contact form linked at the top and bottom of this page.

Accessing the Site

It’s hard to remember the name of the site, and Google doesn’t find it.  Can you help?

Yes.  Just type yale71.org into your browser.  Then bookmark the page in your web browser, and just click on the bookmark to visit the site.  Google and other search engines don’t find us because, for privacy reasons, we’ve requested that the site not be indexed.

Can I change my password?

Yes.  Go to your Profile, go to the Settings/General tab, enter the new password the same way in each of the two boxes, and hit SAVE CHANGES.

I’ve lost my password.  Can you help?

Yes.  For security reasons, we don’t keep your password (which is encrypted) — but we can help you get a new one by clicking Contact at the upper right corner of the front blue welcome page. You’ll need to know your site User Name and the email address you gave us when you registered.

I’ve lost track of my User Name and/or the email address I gave you when I registered.

Click on Contact at the top right of the blue welcome page and give us your name and the email address you want us to use. After verifying your Class affiliation, we’ll welcome you for site use.

Site Privacy Policies

How do you use the information I give you when I register?

Solely to verify that you’re a Class member and should be granted access to this site; no other use is made of this information.  Yale71.org strictly adheres to all University and Alumni Association policies and practices regarding the safekeeping and privacy of your personal information.

Is this site secure?

Yes, to the extent possible. We have technologies and procedures in place to rigorously safeguard the privacy and security of this site. In spite of our best efforts to the contrary, however, it is possible that this site could become compromised. Please don’t put anything on Yale71.org that you would not want to see become public information — phone numbers and home addresses, for example.

Contributing Your Community Profile

What is my Community profile?

Your profile is a mini-biography that you complete based on a set of topics we’ve set up.  Click Community then Members at the top to see some of your Classmates who have been using the site.  Each Class member’s profile becomes part of a virtual community for our entire Class. It’s always available and always current, wherever you are.

How do I complete my Community profile?

Your profile takes 15-20 minutes total to complete.  You don’t have to do it all at once, and you can revise it at any time.  Please note that there are two sections to your profile — ‘Part I – Basic Info‘ is directory-type information, ‘Part II – Personal Updates‘ is essay-style questions.

Profiles — like the rest of Yale71.org — are legitimately accessible only by registered Class members and a handful of registered support people.  That said, no security system is perfect.  Please do not post home addresses, personal phone numbers and email addresses, and any other information you wish to keep confidential.

Please add your photo by clicking the Change Profile Photo tab.  Well-lit head shots display most clearly.  Some people use a photo from the old days, which is fine — but most prefer to use a current one.  You may skip this step if you actually resemble a colored snowflake.

When you’ve finished editing your profile, click the Save Changes button at the bottom of the screen.  When the green Changes Saved bar at the top appears (this sometimes takes several seconds), any edits you’ve made will take effect.

Using Other Site Features

In addition to my profile, may I contribute information for publication on the site?

Yes, please do! There are two kinds of published items: new items, and additions to existing items (“comments”). To send us a new item — for example an announcement or photo you’d like us to post on the site — click here or on the CONTACT selection at the top of any page.

If you’d like to add or respond to an existing item, use the Leave a Comment form at the bottom of that item.   People send us professional news, book reviews, essays — whatever might be of interest to classmates.  Yale71.org is basically an online magazine written collectively by our entire class.

How can I leave my remembrances of a deceased classmate?

Click here to go to the In Memoriam master page. Find the person you wish to memorialize, then click his or her name and follow the instructions to share your thoughts.  If the person’s name is in blue, it means that others have already left their remembrances.

How can I contact our site managers?

To contact your classmates who volunteer to manage Yale71.org, click on the leftmost blue tag at the bottom of this screen.  Thanks in advance for your suggestions, comments, questions — and again, please send in your news, nostalgia, links, lists…we’ll be excited to publish them for you on the site!  If you have site management and/or editorial skills and would like to help, please let us know.

Site Editorial Policies

What are examples of unauthorized uses of this site?

While we hope that common sense will prevail, we’ve built in safeguards to assure that it does. Purely commercial content (‘spam’) is almost always inappropriate. Anything illegal, slanderous, defamatory, or otherwise hurtful to any classmate, to the Class itself, or to the University, will be moderated (i.e., not published or published only with edits).  Determination of whether specific postings conform to these policies will be at the sole discretion of Yale College Class of 1971.

Can I delete or edit an item that I’ve submitted?

Yes. Click here to send a message requesting the change to your site managers. If it’s your submission, we’ll be glad to oblige.

I find someone else’s published item inappropriate. Can I delete it?

No, but you can make an appeal to the site managers. If we agree, we’ll forward your request to the original poster with a suggested modification.

Other Yale Sites

How can I find other Yale sites?

To quickly access some of the major Yale sites, click on the Useful Links listed at the bottom of the home page. Please note that, while we try to keep these links current, Yale sometimes changes their addresses without notifying us. If you find a broken link, please let us know.

Why do I need several different Yale passwords?

The Yale community as a whole has many discrete web sites.  For example, the Alumni Magazine, the YAA, and Athletics each has a site that is separate from the University site.  For security reasons, in many cases these sites have their own IDs and passwords. These are not the same as the ID and password you were issued when you registered for this site.  It’s as if each country you visited had its own passport.

For example, the link Class Notes Archive takes you to the “Alumni Notes” page of the Alumni Magazine site, where you’ll be asked for an ID and password.  Follow the directions on that page to obtain these.  There is a similar procedure when you follow the link Online Alumni Directory, where you’ll get a third ID and password.

This is inconvenient — but depending on what software you’re using, you may need to do it only the first time you use each linked site.  If you’re using your own private computer and you’re asked whether you’d like to “remember this password,” say yes.  (But please don’t do this from a public computer, for example one located in a hotel business center.)

Other

Why is our site’s address yale71.org?

The Class of 1971 is an agency of Yale University and as such has nonprofit status; hence we use “dot-org” in our address, rather than “dot-com.”