Helena63 email system is not working
Helena63.com & Class Creator software provider
Dear Classmates,
You are receiving this email from Jack Holt using Buttondown.com Newsletter email service because our Helena63.com is not working for everyone. I intend to communicate to you through this email system until we have Helena63.com fixed. This is a long email. Please read this email because this explains why our website could be terminated.
ClassCreator, our software provider for Helena63.com, broke their email system that includes notifications for things posted on our website and class emails sent to the entire class. It is so messed up that I could not tell who got the emails and who did not. I found happened in early June when I sent you a request for information about having a mini reunion in September 2025.
I researched the problem and determined the problem was coming from ClassCreator and the mail receivers like Gmail, Microsoft and Yahoo. Up until June ClassCreator had been very responsive to my problems. They provided blogs consisting of other administrators like me who shared their experiences and solutions to challenges that they faced. They also had support tickets and support line to get directly connected to their support staff. ClassCreator provides their application for over 20,000 schools worldwide.
Since this problem began in early June, I have had only two responses from their support staff which did not answer our problem. I tried contacting them many times. The published response time from them is one business day. Through the administrators’ blogs I have found that there are many administrators having the same problems and not getting a response.
As I learn more about the mail services providers like Gmail, I found that they changed the rules on how to catch phishing and spam emails. It has made organizations like ClassCreator that send bulk emails to be classified as spam. This results in the emails being blocked from delivery. As far as I can determine ClassCreator has single email server that sends out emails for all 20,000 schools. My belief is that they are being flagged as a spam producer. I have not been able verify that status from ClassCreator and what they are doing about it. I proposed an idea on how to fix it but I received no response from them.
Microsoft, Gmail and Yahoo email systems have made changes to their systems to reduce the amount spam their users are receiving. These email systems are sending suspected spam to other folders like junk or just not delivering those emails. You have some control of those email received by adding noreply@classcreator.net to your contacts in your email account and mark it as “Not Junk”. This will still not fix emails being blocked in some of these email systems.
Email delivery is an important part of providing a successful class website. Their unresponsiveness could mean that they have determine they cannot stay in business. Our site has paid until January of 2029. With the reactions of the other administrators that I see, they may have given up and they going to let their system die.
I have gone as far technically as I can. I am now beginning to start to see if I can put pressure on them to give me a true status. I do have a solution that could work, but it requires effort on their part and another subscription fee on our part. The solution would be to connect their broken email system to one that is working. It is too early to forecast cost.
ClassCreator’s home is in Ann Harbor, Michigan. I called the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection office which I found through the Better Business Bureau. Consumer Protection said they looked a viable business. I found only one school that uses ClassCreator software in Ann Harbor. I emailed asking someone to go knock on their door to see if anyone was there. I did not get a response from them.
My strategy is to find outside resource that will cause ClassCreator to give me a status. I planned to call the Attorney General again to see if they can help me determine if the business is working and get me a phone number. I also intend to call the local TV station that services Ann Harbor to see if they would be interested in our story. These actions could cause them shutdown our site.
As I see it, there are 4 possible answers to fixing our problem. The best answer is to have them connect our website to an email system that works. We have a Premium license which basically means no advertisements and having our own website domain (Helena63.com). ClassCreator offers a higher license called Platinum that allows you to send emails from your own website rather than ClassCreator. It may be possible that if we could get Buttondown.com (Newsletter site) to interface to our website, our email would be routed through them. There would be cost for this service. Estimate of the Platinum total cost would be in a range of $200 to extend out the license to 2029, plus the yearly cost of Buttondown.com. I do not have estimate for that yet.
I have created a new email ID for me that I will be using to correspond just for our class until we get this issue fixed. This means I can cluster all our class emails in one place. I need an email ID that is focused on just this problem. I do not want to a miss any emails regarding fixing our site. My email Id will be JackClassCreator@msn.com.
Before I proceed to try to fix the email system, I need you to answer two questions by Monday, September 1, 2025
1. I would like to know what was the last date you receive a email from the class site, or if you do not know that, tell me if you have received email from site since June 15.
2. Which of these four solutions do you want me to pursue?
a. We can leave the system as it is and see if they fix it. Are you in favor of this solution? This would mean not all the classmates would receive emails from the site. This lowers the risk that ClassCreator would shut down our site.
b. If I start this campaign against ClassCreator to fix the system, this has the highest risk to that they would shut us down. I am not sure that they could fix it without a third-party email product. This solution could cost the class some money. We do have some money left over from the 60th reunion. This money was going to be used to lower the cost of mini reunion. My cost estimate would be around $1000, but I am just guessing at that number. Do you want to pursue this path?
c. We can leave our website as it is in place. We would pay for the Buttondown.com to send out notifications for class announcements and class email. I am not sure whether the birthday and classmate comments notifications would be sent out. The notifications would be shown on our website but many of you would not receive the notifications in your email. I am looking to define how that might work.
d. The last solution would be to forget about the website. I would send everyone who agrees an email with class names, addresses, emails and phone numbers. Before I sent emails to everyone, you would write telling me you would not want your email sent in the bulk mailing.
If you have any additional thoughts or ideas, please send them as well. I will keep you informed as to what the class is recommending and how ClassCreator is responding based on the solution we pick.
Let me know your thoughts,
Jack Holt