Studybreakers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Studybreakers (earlier known as Classface or simply CF) is a free social network service that allows its users to communicate through an interactive network of online photo albums, weblogs, user profiles, web forums, and groups. A relative newcomer in the social networking field, the site has more than 34,000 members. [1]
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[edit] History
[edit] Version one
Following its (beta) launch on 25 May 2005, Classface quickly became popular for students throughout the U.S. and Canada, mainly due to emails and advertisements directed to users of RateMyTeachers and Bolt.com. Many users believe Version One (Studybreakers) is superior to MySpace, and membership quickly climbed. As a beta, Classface's Version One had its fair share of problems (most notably a bug that allowed users to access other accounts by just viewing their profiles), but the staff at Classface quickly resolved most issues, and student administrators dealt with unruly users and inappropriate content.
For four weeks following its launch, Classface conducted weekly drawings for two PlayStation Portables, one for the user with the most new member referrals during the week and one for a randomly chosen user who referred at least five friends during the week. The giveaways culminated on July 4, 2005, with a grand prize of $1,000 US to the user with the most friends from their school.
[edit] Version two
"Version Two" of Classface debuted on October 6, 2005, following more than two weeks of selected users' beta testing and weeks of decline in the use of Classface. This version added new features and solved many of the well known bugs that existed since Version One (which became known as "Yellow" among members). However, the new design quickly became the focus of criticism from many users, mostly due to the removal of the weblogs, poor navigation in forums and groups, and the lack of many promised features (including integration with various partners, such as online trading site SwapThing).
Although official word was hard to come by, it appeared that the weblogs would never return on Classface, although users would be able to retrieve their previous entries. According to a post by Mike Silverstein ("Classface Team"), the site never was, nor was intended to be, a blogging site: the purpose of Classface was to be an online community and social networking site. RSS Syndication was planned for the future, and blogs were said to be allowed through this feature.
Classface partnered with JellyBarn to bring its users new photo albums in Version Two; there was a bug in Version One which prevented some users from accessing photo albums. However, the new Flash interface for the photo albums was confusing to many, partly the result of a login screen to "Grapeberry" on their album page.
Michael Silverstein, Classface's manager at the time, said, "It has been great working with JellyBarn to get Classface to this point and I'm very excited to see the reaction of the end users to the product," and Kendall Wouters, JellyBarn's CEO, said, "I am thrilled with Classface's choice in JellyBarn ... we know our photo sharing solution will help their users stay longer." [2] In November, the albums page on Classface was replaced with the message: "Your albums aren't available right now. Come back in a little bit."
[edit] User revolt & CF Underground
On October 7, 2005, two of the regular members of Classface made a new forum, originally dubbed "CF: Mark II", and later renamed "CF Underground". This was to satisfy the members who were frustrated by Version 2 of Classface. It was set up on an Invisionfree forum, with an IRC chat along with it. The board had several members, including Classface site administrators and "Classface Team". The forum was meant as a temporary solution until "Version 1" of Classface was restored, or until the bugs in "Version 2" were fixed. A new website called "Soinky", designed as a replacement for Classface, was also being developed by a CF Underground member.
Within one week, Classface went from 6000 daily users on Version One to 300, on Version Two. [3] By late October, Classface received only a few posts per day in the most popular groups.
As of February 2006, the domain Classface.com redirects to Studybreakers.com, and CF Underground is offline.
[edit] Return of version one (Studybreakers)
Michael Hussey announced in November 2005 that the popular "Version One" of Classface would return. The status of the promised integrations is yet unknown.
On December 9, 2005, the staff of CF Underground and Michael Hussey declared that Classface would return, but would no longer be called Classface, and would be called Studybreakers. On December 10, 2005, Studybreakers.com became completely functional, bringing all the data from "Version One" of Classface to a new domain. Whether Classface will also continue is also unknown. Michael Hussey said that he "always loved Classface and hated to see the community we developed destroyed." [4]
[edit] RCMS, The Arguing Forum and the decline of SB
RCMS (Royal Canadian Mounted Spetsnaz) was an obscure group founded by two popular members of the site. The group was at the center of a split in the users of the site that ultimately ended in the departure of these two popular members and a sharp decrease in happiness. The Arguing forum was a popular group founded by an obscure member of the site that was also at the center of the split. The Arguing Forum was home to many of the Admin abuse debates that took place during the split.
[edit] Hacked?
On September 2, 2006 the front page of the site was hacked by Turkish hackers. The site owners confirm that no user information was compromised in the hack and that it was simply a front page exploit.
[edit] Affiliation
Classface was co-founded by RateMyTeachers.com, RateMyProfessors.com, Bolt.com, The Daily Jolt, and Michael Hussey, creator of the "RateMy" concept. Michael Silverstein (who works for Bolt) was managing the Classface operation.
Studybreakers is managed by Michael Hussey and Nick Fitzgerald, both from RateMyTeachers.
