For a limited time, we’re inviting Moderators to participate in a Yahoo! Groups Research Panel and have an opportunity to help shape the future of the Yahoo! Groups product. Members in this panel will be invited to attend a two-day session in Sunnyvale, CA (travel expenses paid by Yahoo!) and participate in monthly conference calls for a 12 month period. Members in this panel will provide feedback on product changes and offer suggestions on how to make Groups better.

Please take a few minutes to complete the brief survey below if you are interested in participating:

This survey is now closed.

We will contact you if you meet the requirements of our research project.

Thanks,
Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

We’d like to improve the database feature and would love your feedback. We’ve created the survey below to better understand your priorities and ideas:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=v6GubtvNJtSYm_2fTJErjKKw_3d_3d

The survey should only take about 2 minutes to complete. We hope folks with any interest in this feature will share their feedback there.

Thank you!

- Groups Team

P.S. We’ve incorporated a bunch of ideas from the suggestion board in the survey. Thanks to all who contributed there. Please keep the ideas coming : http://suggestions.yahoo.com/?prop=groups

With the NBA All-Star game drifting into our collective rearview mirrors, and the Baseball season yet to begin, I thought now would be a fitting time to offer up something to satisfy some of those online ballot box stuffing urges: the 2008 Webware 100.

If you aren’t familiar with the Webware 100, here’s a little description from their site:

This is our yearly awards program where Webware users vote for their favorite Web 2.0 apps. In the 2007 Webware 100, there were more than 480,000 votes cast. And this year we have an even stronger lineup of finalists, so we expect very active voting.

And it just so happens that Yahoo! is nominated in quite a few categories (you’ll find Y! Groups in the social network and groups category), so have a look, vote for Yahoo! products, and tell your friends to vote for us too!

Cheers,
Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a new poll on Moderator Central and asked that you cast your vote on “Where is the first place you’d look to learn the basics of being a moderator?” and I have to admit I am surprised by the results.

Just under 500 people voted and this is how it broke down:

FAQs within Moderator Central	43%
Groups Help	25%
Message Boards on Moderator Central	9%
Y! Groups Blog	6%
Moderator support focused Y! groups	10%
Other	10%

Based on these results, a great deal of moderators look to the “FAQs on Moderator Central” to learn the basics. The FAQs I was referring to when creating this poll can be found here.

I am curious to learn if these are the FAQs that those of you who voted are also referring to. If so, and so many moderators are looking to this source for answers, I’d love to hear your feedback on what additional FAQs you feel should be added by commenting below.

Based on these results, I’d also be interested in learning if you would you like to see more tips on the basics of being a moderator here on the Groups blog.

Big thanks to all who cast their vote! I look forward to your participation in the next poll - if you have a suggestion for a fun poll, please post your suggestion below in the comments area.

P.S.  For those of you who chose “other”, where are you finding information?

Thanks!
Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

There have been several posts inquiring how members should work with 3^rd party websites; below are some clarifications based on the Groups Guidelines that every Y! user should adhere to when dealing with 3^rd party sites (please note that the Groups Guidelines are tied to Yahoo’s general Terms of Service and sho uld be followed by all Groups users and moderators):

• If you are considering providing your Y! username and password to a 3^rd party site which stores that information on their own site, please carefully consider the risks before doing so. Giving access to a 3^rd party can be very unsafe as the 3^rd party site can access your Yahoo account as if it was you accessing your own account. For example, they could access your address book and send emails to your friends, change your account settings, or gain access to your personal information. Under Section 5 of the Yahoo! Terms of Service “You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and account and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account.” For more information please also refer to section 5 of Yahoo’s Terms of Service .

• Group Moderators have the responsibility and the right to enforce their own membership guidelines for their group. The guidelines can relate to how group members deal with or interact with 3^rd party websites. If a member is part of a 3^rd party website in which the site accesses the group content using the member’s login information and/or the user’s email and then makes this content available to other users, this behavior could put them at risk of having their membership to the group revoked by the moderator or for having their Yahoo! account closed entirely for a TOS violation. Moderators have the right to protect their group’s content along with the privacy of their members and can and should enforce this at their individual group level. For more information, please refer to section 11 of the Groups Guidelines , section 12 of Yahoo’s Terms of Service and privacy/security information .

Groups owners and moderators should take every opportunity to protect their group members’ privacy and integrity of the Groups community and as such, Yahoo’s Terms of Service and Groups Guidelines should be referred to when dealing with all situations including 3^rd party websites.

Thank you,
Groups Team

If you are a moderator in the Dallas area (near Irving), I’d like to invite you to a special Groups Moderator Town Hall event on Wednesday, March 5. This event is a great opportunity for moderators to get to know each other and the Yahoo! Groups team – and for us to get to know you! The event will take place from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. and there is no cost to attend, but seating is limited so act now.

At this event you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Participate in a panel discussion with the Yahoo! Groups team

• Meet and exchange ideas with groups owners and moderators in the Dallas area

• Hear the latest news about Groups

• Enjoy complimentary food and beverages

If you live in the Dallas area and own or moderate an established, active group and want to voice your opinions on how we can make Yahoo! Groups better, please go to the site below and send us your group information:

Groups Moderator Town Hall:

http://guest.cvent.com/v.aspx?3B,Q3,7461ad08-6f0c-47ff-bc2a-af14cd85bfc4

Once we receive your information we’ll get back to regarding availability.

For those of you who aren’t in the Dallas area, don’t fret, it’s our goal to plan Town Hall events in different cities throughout the year because we want to hear from you too! Please visit the Groups Moderator Town Hall link above to submit your information so we can notify you of events planned in your area.

Thank you for being a part of the Groups community, we look forward to meeting you!

Sincerely,
Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

We just launched a new poll on Moderator Central to better gauge the first place you would go to learn the basics of being a moderator. The results of this poll and others that we’ve run are useful in helping us to better understand where we can make improvements. We’ll run this poll for a couple of weeks and report back on the results. Please take the time to cast your vote and let your voice be counted!

Even if you aren’t a moderator, responding to the poll will provide us with insight into where you would look to find information about Groups. We also encourage you to use the comment area below to post your suggestions for future polls – now go vote!

Cheers,
Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager

Is there a member of a group that you belong to that has a reputation for making valuable contributions? Or better yet, are there numerous members within a group you are a part of that regularly contributes really great stuff? Active participation is the key to a successful group and educated, well thought out posts are extremely vital for a healthy, vibrant group – not to mention extremely useful to the members of your group.

That said I’d like to encourage you (all of you - group owners, moderators, and members alike) to show your appreciation to members in your groups who you consider key contributors by publicly awarding kudos in the comments area below.

I look forward to reading your accolades!

Best,
Jami Heldt
Groups Community Manager