Back in April, the ability to edit your membership information within a group was frozen as a result of changes to the profiles system on Yahoo! (See screenshot* below for clarification) Prior to April, you were able to edit the information that displayed in black beneath your name within the Members section of your group. However, many of you reported that after April the information displayed here was no longer correct (as you have moved, changed your name or had a birthday), or, you simply just didn’t want it to show at all, but were unable to edit these fields.
*= screenshot shows member page in “Expanded” view
Starting today, this feature will no longer be visible to group members or moderators as we are removing it altogether. Instead, when viewing the membership page, you’ll notice that only the user’s ID (or alias), status icon, message link, and the edit icon appear. (See screenshot* below for example)
*= screenshot shows member page in “Expanded” view
This feature will not be gone for forever, as we’re working internally to ensure that the information revealed is both correct, and what you want to share.
If you’re a moderator who previously used this information to verify a group member’s age, you will no longer be able to do this by glancing at your membership list. However, you will be able to click on a user’s name and will be taken directly to that user’s profile (if they’ve opted to make their profile public).
It’s important to note that as a moderator you will never be asked to verify a user’s age (especially if you’re running an adult group and wish to ensure that people under the age of 18 are not attempting to join). This “check” is done automatically by Yahoo’s systems: if someone is under the age of 18, they will not be able to access a site that is intended for mature audiences.
But if you’re simply looking for a way to keep up with your members, and, learn a bit more about your group members, you have a few options:
Request that group members have a “public” and complete profile when attempting to join your group
Create a file that is sent out to all new members, asking them to provide additional information about themselves
Add the “Group Profile” application to your group. (To do this, you must be a moderator or owner.)
To add this application, click on “Applications” in the left hand column of your group (1).
Then, click “Browse Applications” (2)
Locate“Group Profile” (3) from the list and click “Add” (4).
When the pop-up appears, give the application a name and description (5) and click “OK” (6).
Once your description has been saved, you’ll be taken back to the Add/Remove Applications page. From here, click on the “Group Profile” link** to be taken to your new application (7).
**= If you changed the name of the application in step 5, that name will display instead of “Group Profile.”
Here you can either click “Add Entry” (8) to begin adding your information into the preset form, or, you can click on the “Settings” page to begin customizing the fields for your group’s profile (9).
We know this is an important feature for many group members and moderators and assure you that this feature is not gone forever! We will be sure to update you here as soon as the member detail feature returns.
Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager
