Since I graduated in 1993, it should be quite evident that my 10 year high school reunion is approaching. I think that’s exciting. I justify this by saying that, since I write non-fiction, I have to keep track of all the real-life stories of those around me, and I have endless amounts of background on the people I’ve known since childhood. Or perhaps I just a heinous gossip. That’s a different subject for another day.

This impending reunion situation has granted me the opportunity to compare two online methods of networking and organizing such events. Let’s look at the two options:

1. Classmates.com
Classmates is the undisputed top dog in the “finding long lost school buddies” category, but sadly, to do much of anything, you have to become a Gold Member. Which costs $30. Now, unless you’ve truly spent years pining over someone from your sophomore year geometry class, it’s hard to justify spending the money. Sure, I have a passing curiosity about what my former BHS friends are up to, but come on: for $30 I can take some of my CURRENT friends out for a round of drinks. Which would YOU rather spend YOUR money on? Exactly.

Classmates even has a set-up for arranging reunions. One of my associates from high school started the ball rolling for our reunion, but as of yet, there’s nothing much to see. I can’t even read any of the gossip about my fellow graduates! All bios and personal information are truncated unless you’re a gold member. Poo on them. However, Classmates.com does boast almost half our class registered in its database. Too bad I can’t communicate with any of them without giving them my Visa number.

2. Yahoo! Groups
For those who are a little more enterprising, there’s Yahoo! Groups. A few years back, our former class secretary drudged up all the e-mail addresses he had for the Class of ‘93. I think there were eight of us. I was on the list only because I’d stumbled across a webpage he made in college and had e-mailed him. The list started organically, folks just hitting “reply all,” providing their story, and adding anyone they knew. Eventually, the former class secretary, being the smarty that he is, founded a Yahoo! Group for us all. The group is free, and no messages are truncated. Granted, only 28 classmates have joined, but our graduating class had barely more than 200 people, so that’s actually a pretty decent percentage.