The Yahoo! Groups team in India organized and conducted its second Moderators Union in Bangalore on Saturday, January 12 the at Taj Residency. This event provides the team an opportunity to listen to moderator feedback and suggestions for continued improvement of the product as well as gives Yahoo! a venue for updating moderators on the latest Groups news. These moderators are the voice of their respective groups and this type of event helps Yahoo! to better understand the needs of the broader Groups community in India. Twenty two moderators attended the event, joining us from Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Madurai and Chennai.

The event opened with a welcome message from Mr. I M Swaminathan, Director of Communication & Community Products in India. Following that was a round of detailed introductions from each moderator. These moderators were from varied professional backgrounds, age groups and interests. Some of the categories they represented included technical, alumni, social cause, money control, corporate, and hobbies just to name a few. It was interesting to see a common connection of Yahoo! Groups amongst such a variety of people. Next up was a Yahoo! Groups presentation, followed by fun games and quizzes. Last but not least, we opened the floor up to moderators to discuss what was on their minds with a panel of Yahoo! staff.

Moderators shared with us that Yahoo! Groups are a pivotal tool in fulfilling the objectives behind the creation of their own communities. Sunil Sood, moderator of IAEMP was able to publish a book called “How India can achieve Energy Independence by 2022”; Rajesh Kainth, moderator of Dil Se Desi group was able to create a common voice of Asia with 0.1 million members in his group; Chandrasekaran was able to unite 300 people for the noble cause of Temple Cleaning – all with the help of Yahoo! Groups. These are just a few examples that were presented at the event explaining how Yahoo! Groups has made difference in their lives.

To get a glimpse of the event, check out the photo-stream on Flickr.

We plan to host Moderator Union events across the cities of India, moderators living India are welcome to register for future events here.

Regards,

Shefali Gaur
Community Manager, Yahoo! India

What can you do if you think your group’s messages are being reposted to a blog without permission?

As found in Groups Help: If you (or your legal representative) think you are able to identify the poster, you should contact the poster directly and request that they remove or modify the posting.

If you believe the poster is someone from your Yahoo! Group, or if you think that Yahoo! hosts the public blog, you should report the incident to Yahoo!.

Yahoo! will review your report under its Terms of Service and take appropriate action. Otherwise you (or your legal representative) will probably have to contact the company hosting the blog to find out whether, under the terms of their service, that company will remove the private communication.

You can report a violation of your privacy on WordPress here: http://wordpress.com/contact-support/
You can report a violation of your privacy on TypePad (MoveableType) here: http://support.sixapart.com/cgi-bin/sixapart.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?p=tp
You can report a violation of your privacy on Blogger (Blogspot) here: http://help.blogger.com/?page=troubleshooter.cs&problem=&contact_type=main_tos&Submit

Yahoo! Groups give Yahoo! users a place to meet, interact, and share ideas with each other. Just like a real community, you may have different opinions than other Yahoo! Groups users. The Yahoo! Groups experience is best when people remember a few rules. Yahoo! sets out the terms and conditions of your use of our services in the Yahoo! Terms of Service, our Guidelines, and in other rules that we may place on our site. For your use of Yahoo! Groups, some of the key things to remember are:

1. You may not harass, abuse, threaten, or advocate violence against other members or individuals or groups.
2. You may not post content that is harmful to minors.
3. You may not post content that is obscene, otherwise objectionable, or in violation of federal or state law.
4. Stay on topic. Although all groups are different, most groups appreciate it when you stay on topic. If you constantly stray from the topic you may be moderated or removed from a group altogether by its owner.
5. You may not add members to a group without their permission.
6. You may not use Yahoo! Groups for commercial or advertising purposes.
7. You may not post content which infringes the intellectual property, privacy or other rights of third parties.
8. You may only post adult-oriented content in age-restricted areas. You must be 18 years old or over to access these areas.
9. Some content may be more appropriate in some contexts than others. Yahoo! reserves the right to remove content that it determines, in its sole discretion, to be inappropriate and in violation of our rules. For example, discussions or depictions of bestiality, incest, excretory acts, or child pornography may be inappropriate if placed in a sexual or otherwise exploitative context.
10. You may not use Groups solely for the purpose of storing and archiving files.
11. You cannot re-post or re-transmit content that belongs to another user without that user’s permission. A Groups owner or moderator (or any other user) cannot re-post or re-transmit Groups content to any other site unless the person has the explicit permission of every group member whose content is being re-posted or re-transmitted.

Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

Below is a known issue that may be affecting some Groups users:

Email Delivery Issues

We’re aware that some users have been experiencing email delivery issues and apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. We believe we have corrected this issue; however, if you continue to experience email delivery issues after today, please contact Customer Care.

Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.

Best,
Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

You’ve worked hard to build a great group; you want to protect that investment, right? One way to ensure that your group and its members are protected is to assign a co-owner, or two.

Appointing a co-owner is not something you should take lightly, since an owner has access to member information, can change group settings, and can even delete a group. You may decide that just appointing moderators to help with administrative tasks is a better choice for your group. But in cases where you have the trust and fellowship of a moderator or a strong group member, opting to appoint the person co-owner of your group is a natural progression in the person’s relationship to the group. And should a situation arise where you can’t or don’t want to be responsible for your group anymore, the co-owner can easily assume full ownership of it.

To make another member the group co-owner:

1. Go to the Members area of your group
2. Click the Edit Membership link next to the member you want to promote.
3. Click the Change to Owner link.
4. Confirm your change by clicking the Make Owner button.

Do you co-own or co-moderate your group? Or have you decided not to share ownership responsibilities? Share with us by commenting below.

Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

Be a better voter; find everything you need to stay informed on the 2008 Presidential Election on Yahoo!

• 2008 Presidential Election: News Stories
• Candidates
• Debates
• Polls
• Political Pulse: The AP | Yahoo! News Poll

Check out the Best of Election 2008 Groups to find a group dedicated to the political party that matches your political allegiance to see what others are saying or to partake in a respectful political debate.

Do you know of a government or political Group that should be featured? Let us know by commenting below.Register to vote on Yahoo! if you haven’t already, let your voice be heard.

Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

If you’re like me, as one year passes to the next, I often take a few minutes to contemplate the habits and behaviors I want to leave behind and those I’d like to adopt in the New Year. With that comes the formulation of a resolution or two. An oath to do more of this, or less of that, both of which typically have something to do with health and wellness. This year I have taken an oath to make healthier food choices so I can sustain my energy throughout the day and suffer less when thinking about the number of cookies I’ve eaten.

When making any kind of change to habits or behaviors it’s always good to have the support of others who are committed to the same or similar goal. In my quest to making healthier food choices, I’ve recently joined the vegetarian_group, a friendly vegetarian recipe and cooking group.

What resolution did you make for the New Year and what are some of the Yahoo! Groups you have found to support you and your goals? Please share with us by commenting below.

Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

Would you prefer to have Groups communications delivered right to your email? If so, you should consider joining the Moderator Central Group.

Moderator Central is a valuable resource for moderators for several reasons:

• The Groups team uses this group to send out official communications, like heads up on scheduled maintenance and downtime, periodic Groups Weather Reports (which summarizes the latest news on known issues that may be affecting users), tips & tricks for new and advanced moderators, and feature stories (essentially the same communications that you can find here on the Groups blog, only delivered right to your email).
• Moderators can connect with one another on the group’s Message Boards to ask questions and share advice.
• Moderators can find a plethora of resources developed by the Groups team.
• Moderators can submit their product suggestions.

Please note that Moderator Central is an announcement only group for the Groups team to use to send official communications to moderators which means that subscribers can’t post messages, but you can always leave comments for us here on the blog.

We want to hear from YOU!

I’d like to hear from moderators what additional resources you’d like to see on Moderator Central to make it more valuable.

Additionally, I’d like to add a new “Tip of the Week” module – with tips that come from our community of expert moderators.

Submit your suggestions for improvements to Moderator Central as well as the valuable tips you’d like to impart by commenting below.

Thanks & Happy New Year!

Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

To end the year on a fun note, I thought I’d share some fun facts about Yahoo! Groups with all of you:

• Did you know that Y! Groups has eight times the amount of members than the population of people living in Tokyo? (Source: 107 million Yahoo! Groups members and 12.4 million people in Tokyo).
• Approximately 1 million Groups are formed each year (for those you are paying attention, Groups has been around for close to 9 years, so actually more than 1 million groups are formed each year)!
• Yahoo! Groups has 107 million members across 8.8 million groups. (as of Nov. 1, 2007)

Happy New Year’s Eve everyone, I wish you all health, happiness, and abundance in 2008!

Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager