Kanhai Shah
Merged in a post:
Nickname in Header Banner on Profiles and Alum Directory - CRITICAL
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Elizabeth Babb ’82
Currently if a person's maiden name is entered on a profile, that shows in the banner heading of the profile instead of Nickname. To show nickname, you either have to change First name, or there cannot be a maiden name. I.e. Maiden name takes precedence in hierarchy. I propose FIRST MAIDEN LAST (NICKNAME). I see that there is a planned change to remove MIDDLE NAME, HOWEVER, we really need NICKNAME too!
When users are looking for classmates and the like, they need to see the nickname at the top in the profile AND when searching using the alum directory.
This would impact DAILY user experience and greatly improve satisfaction among alums searching for classmates.
Kanhai Shah
Merged in a post:
Request to change naming convention FIRST, MAIDEN, LAST Name - rather than MIDDLE name
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Krithipa R
Many females attend school with their MAIDEN name and classmates only know them that way.
When they get married they often change to a new LAST name and others may not know them by that new name so they will search for their MAIDEN name.
Sahil Mallick
Hello Elizabeth Babb ’82! I have a few more questions for you:
- How often do users search for classmates using nicknames in the alum directory?
- Are there any specific scenarios where the current name display format causes confusion or issues?
- Would displaying the nickname in both the profile header and search results meet the needs of your users?
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Elizabeth Babb ’82
Sahil Mallick 1. it's not that they search with nickname all the time (but they might), but it's that when a result comes up, the nickname should show. So if I search for Susan Smith and at school she went by Suzy, it should show Susan Smith (Suzy) in the results from the search and in the banner on her profile. 2. Yes, confusion reigns. For example, today we had one alum whose first name is Mercedes but her nickname is Dee. There is no way that you are going to find her if you can only remember Dee. If you remember her last name, you might be able to find her if you remember that her proper first name was Mercedes but if she never went by that at school, you probably woulnd't even remember that. 3. I think it would and you should also be able to search by nickname as you suggest.
See screenshot example too.
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Elizabeth Babb ’82
Here's another example I received from an alum. She wants to be referred to as "alicehank". She signs everthing that way and that's her nickname. She was confused how to show this on Almabase, so she changed her first name to "Alice (prefer alicehank)". Now, of course, I can't leave it that way since that will screw up RE/NXT when we sync and also in Almabase comms using Merge Tag of first name. So I have changed the Almabase profile to read "Alice" as first name and "alicehank" and Nickname. However NOW none of her friends or fellow alums know to call her that or address her that way becuase they, as users, cannot see the nickname anywhere. Ideas here?
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Cherie D. Burkheiser
I suggest using the language of "Former Name" vs "Maiden Name" as there are many people who change their name for various reasons.
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Brandon Michael Sweeney
I have an alternate stance on this.... A LOT OF OUR CONSTITUENTS use their middle name or middle initial. We have gotten some rough responses back about not including middle names on mail in the past!
Therefore, I DO NOT SUGGEST a overall change to the Almabase platform regarding this but a change that would allow clients to select from settings how names should appear for their instance of Almabase!
Kanhai Shah
Would it work if we allow you to have a default name configuration at site level and then allow user's to change how they want to show it for them? and we use the same name format across site wherever we use the name?
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Melinda Sue Burke
Kanhai Shah: Mindie B from Ohio Wesleyan, we use Nickname as part of the name tag too, so if I understand what you're saying, that at registration a guest could configure the name as it would appear on their name tag that they would use at an event.
Kanhai Shah
Melinda Sue Burke: For name tag specifically, you can add a field to ask for a name tag.
Name formatting will be applied at site level across all the places where you see alumni name, it will be in a format of what they would like to see if they have set specific format or it would be in the format site admin would have set up the name.
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Lindsay Arnold Thompson
Yes, my team would like to be able to customize the auto-reply thank you emails after a gift is made to only merge in preferred name (nickname) to make it more personal. Sending the email to their First, Middle and Last Name makes it feel less personalized than not including name at all.
Kanhai Shah
Thank you for the feature request. We are having discussion around allowing to select name format for user so the preferred format can be visible everywhere on the platform. This is something we will work in Q1 2024.
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Jasmine L Yang
I think Maiden Name should be an addition. We still require middle name to differentiate our alumni. Examples, it helps with very common names and for fathers and sons who are Jr. or Sr, I, II, III, etc.
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Genevieve McCumiskey
Yes, our alumni prefer first maiden last. Most don't want their middle name listed.