I am not a fan of Classmates.com. This is not necessarily a new development. Ever since registering, I’ve always had an issue with the fact that the site capitalizes on our emotional ties to the people we grew up with. I have never signed up to become a gold member, nor do I ever intend to. It’s not that I don’t care about the people I went to school with; I just think there are better ways than paying a Web site money to help facilitate reunions. Nevertheless, I have a profile on there and every now and again I’ll actually click on one of the dozens of e-mails Classmates sends me every month.
Well, now they’ve really made me angry. Last week, they sent me a notice explaining that a former classmate of mine had sent me an e-mail. The only way I can read it is if I sign up as a gold member. A few years ago they would at least let you read the e-mail and respond even if you weren’t a gold member. I got a very nice e-mail from another old classmate that way. But now, when I get an e-mail from an old friend whom I’d actually be interested in hearing from, I can’t read it unless I hand over my credit card information.
A gold membership wouldn’t do me a bit of good unless my other classmates became gold members as well. Even if I wanted to connect with someone, they wouldn’t be able to get a message from me unless they signed up, as evidenced by this whole fiasco.
I refuse to give in, and yet I don’t want to blow off my friend. So I scoured Myspace.com and managed to come up with her profile. I found out that she’s expecting a baby any day now, and once I had her location I was able to look up her address in the telephone directory. I think I’ll send her a card once the baby’s born and give her my e-mail address. That way she can contact me directly and I can avoid the evil that is Classmates.com. Everybody wins. Except Classmates.com, of course. :)
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