Updating your connections with Yahoo! Groups
Back in May we announced that Yahoo! Groups would begin publishing “Updates” about your activity within Groups. Upon launch, this new addition to Yahoo! Groups created an update when you uploaded an image to an open group but it did not notify your connections when you posted a message to your group.
Starting now, you’ll have the option of sharing your message updates with your connections on Yahoo!. For those of you concerned with privacy, it’s important to note that this is a completely optional feature. If you don’t want to share, you don’t have to.
For members, Message Updates are a way to offer more exposure to the content you have created and to effortlessly let your friends know what you have been up to.
For moderators, Message Updates can drive new members and increase the level of activity in your groups.
SUMMARY
- Updates allows an easy way to share your group updates with all your connections (ie. Updates are shown to your connection across Yahoo! properties such as Yahoo Mail, Yahoo! IM, and your profile on Yahoo!)
- Updates is a feature that is fully opt-in per user per group (ie. you can opt-in in one group while remaining opted-out in another)
- Updates is defaulted off for all groups. No updates will be shared unless you explicitly opt-in.
- Updates is not supported for Closed groups, Adult (age restricted) groups, or users using an alias (alternate profile for their group). In other words, it’s not possible to opt-in for these groups.
- For groups that require membership to view content, only Updates to the content being posted will be sent and non-members will still be required to join the group before being able to view the content in detail
- You can delete Updates on a case-by-case basis from your http://profiles.yahoo.com profiles page
- When posting messages only the message subject line and the date and time of the posting is shown in the update– none of the message content is shared to protect your group’s privacy. In order for people to read the full message, you must click on the update and sign in as a group member, if the group is not a public group.
TO GET STARTED
To edit your opt-in/opt-out preferences on a group-by-group basis, visit your My Groups page (http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups ). Then, click on the “Edit My Groups” tab where you’ll be able to adjust your updates settings for each group you’re a member of.
You can opt to “Share my Updates” and “Prompt me before sending updates” or, “Never prompt me before sending updates.”
Once you’ve configured your settings for each of your groups, you can visit the http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings/updates/ page and manage your updates further. (Please note that in order to get to this page you must first complete your profile—you may do this by first going to http://profiles.yahoo.com ).
To find the Yahoo! Groups option, scroll down to the bottom of this page, and then select “Show All Yahoo! Sources.” Clicking on this link will expand a larger list of Yahoo! properties, including several Yahoo! Groups properties.
Once you’ve located Yahoo! Groups, set your sharing preferences using the drop-down menu to the right (you can share your updates with “Anyone” “My Connections” or “No One”).
Then, click Save.
Changing your preferences will move Yahoo! Groups up from this bottom “Show All Yahoo! Sources” group, to the top “Share My Updates” group—making it easier for you to manage your Yahoo! Groups updates in a flash.
Once you’ve configured your privacy settings accordingly, return to your favorite group and test it out by posting a message.
Should you want to completely opt out of Yahoo! Groups Updates, ensure that all of your Group settings are set to “Never” share my updates (this setting is found on the “My Groups” page) and, that on your profiles page, you have set your Yahoo! Groups settings to be viewable by “No One.”
For more details on privacy, profiles, and more, please visit the Profiles News Blog (and this particular post that was initially written for Answers users, but covers major questions and concerns regarding profiles and privacy).
Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager
Shal said,
July 20, 2009 @ 1:54 pm
Melissa,
In the Summary section, the item saying “Currently only photo Updates are being published. In the upcoming weeks more update types such as message posts, polls, links etc. will be published.” is obsolete. Should be “Currently only photo and message post Updates are being published. In the upcoming weeks more update types such as polls, links etc. will be published.”
It would also be helpful to note that for message posts, only the subject line and date/time of the posting are shown in the update, none of the message content. For content the reader must go to the group’s page (and sign in as a group member, if required by that group’s Archive Access option).
Melissa Daniels said,
July 20, 2009 @ 1:59 pm
@Shal,
Thanks! All fixed/updated.
-Melissa
Yahoo! Messenger Blog » New types of updates from Yahoo! Groups said,
July 20, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
[...] visit the Yahoo! Groups Blog for complete information on this new type of update from Yahoo! [...]
Matt said,
July 20, 2009 @ 2:57 pm
So my comment i more like a question, and probably nothing to do with you either, But here goes: When are the chat rooms actually going to fixed?
It’s been about 2 years now since that promise came around and i see no improvement at all! When is Yahoo going to pull it’s collective thumbs from somewhere else on their anatomy and actually do it? Giving new features else where only coats the problem, not fix it. I know this is not the actual place to complain but i don’t know where should say this .Sorry if i offend but just needed to sat it.
Thank you.
Melissa Daniels said,
July 20, 2009 @ 3:28 pm
@Matt,
That’s actually not a groups issue, which is why it hasn’t been resolved by the groups team.
To voice your concerns regarding this issue, please report them to Customer Care.
-Melissa
Mary said,
July 21, 2009 @ 1:01 pm
what is with these idiots thinking this is a chat room or something? We seem to be getting alot lately and it makes it dififcult to have to wade through just to get info on group issues . Cant something be done about this ?
Melissa Daniels said,
July 21, 2009 @ 1:39 pm
@Mary,
I moderate every morning and several times during the day to pull out spam. But, unfortunately, this blog is hit incredibly hard with spam on a daily basis. We are currently working on advanced spam mechanisms within the blog to help curtail some of this annoyance.
-Melissa
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 21, 2009 said,
July 21, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
[...] Updating your connections with Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Groups [...]
Terry said,
July 22, 2009 @ 7:00 am
Just wondering when you will stop Grouply
hijacking our groups ?
They added everyone’s group to their database
without having the courtesy of asking for
permission first .
Apparently I have been in touch with 2 individuals
who claim to be the grouply owners , but they
refuse to remove all Yahoo Groups from their
database that did not give permission to be
included .
There is no way of getting my groups out of
grouply, without visiting an unknown website.
I need help with this , please ?
Mininoticias de la semana (20/07 – 26/07) said,
July 23, 2009 @ 2:38 am
[...] – Yahoo! Groups permite actualizar tus conexiones con los mensajes o temas [...]
k said,
July 25, 2009 @ 9:19 am
How do I get privacy settings in groups to not be searched by google. i.e. anyone can search through my groups communication. How can I prevent it and make it private
Kiran said,
July 25, 2009 @ 5:46 pm
I am not getting mails from MHO & hindi_internet_love_making_stories@yahoogroups.com
Pls update
Thanks
Icemaid said,
July 27, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
HI there Melissa: Off Topic — But Urgent!!!!!
Have a few concerns here regarding Grouply — and am really trying to understand – why has Yahoogroups allowed them to have the Groups here on Yahoogroups:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Grouply-Users-Group/
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/GrouplyImprovements/
Not only do they hijack all our groups- once an invitation has been accepted
but all our files and our mail is hijacked – and we the Owners have nothing to
fight them with:
Once they have a group– they do not release them:
As a Group Owner of many groups here on Yahoogroups– I find it appaling
that this has not been stopped–
As Snopes states: it is identity theft at its highest; and yet Yahoogroups host them here on Yahoogroups- and all the complaints are met with silence- no
reply – when a complaint is lodged:
I believe all Group Owners should get together– to get this stopped:
Grouply — does too much damage to – too many Members who have been tricked into accepting the invitation, believing friends have invited them:
Their guise: I am your friend you know me from the Group – please join me here:
Once accepted all the groups are hijacked and the Member has no recourse:
Needless to say I have banned members who have sent invitation – only to find that 3-5 members are then banned- using same name with different email address- namely – Grouply:
When will Yahoogroups help Owners to overcome this evil:
All we want to do is enjoy our groups – and yet we find this threat hanging over us:
Yahoogroups has let all our Groups down — by hosting them here on Yahoogroups:
No one is safe from Grouply:
Can you enlighten me why Yahoogroups is hosting this identity theft Group???
Icemaid
Nubia said,
July 27, 2009 @ 1:14 pm
It will be nice to see all the new members in our memberlist , and they can receive the mails before sharing anything else
i think the priority is to fix the bugs before adding new features
best regards
nubia
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nubia_group/
Melissa Daniels said,
July 27, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
@Icemaid,
Grouply is controlled by members of your own group– just like we can’t prevent your members from signing up for new email accounts, we cannot prevent your users from subscribing to Grouply.
Grouply has posted a blog entry on how to restrict access and manage Grouply controls: http://blog.grouply.com/owners/
-Melissa
Nubia said,
July 27, 2009 @ 5:05 pm
you can deseable your group for grouply here :
http://blog.grouply.com/owners/
Disable access = Prevent your group members from accessing your group through Grouply.
Vishal said,
July 27, 2009 @ 8:36 pm
I have many members who are in my “Membership Log” and they are my active members but when i search those members in “Member” section it is not showing me any of those.
This is a BIG BUG in Yahoo Group. Also they are not getting email from my end.
Please help to fix this bug soon.
mk said,
July 29, 2009 @ 9:57 am
I am enjoying my updates for the group I am apart of in the updates stream of profiles. Good idea and sooner or later it will help groups out a lot.
rainbowsally said,
July 31, 2009 @ 2:08 am
Melissa, Yahoo groups are infested with trolls and spammers that are using gmail mailboxes to forward emails to their victims.
First they create a bogus gmail account.
Then they join a Yahoo group, usually porn, gay, transvestite, something weird.
Then they put their victims in a forwarding list so the victims cannot unsub from the Yahoo group because they themselves are not members.
I have complained to Yahoo “customer care” almost daily for two months about this and they come back after a 5 form-letter cycle with something incredibly stupid like, “the group owners are responsible for enforcing Yahoo’s TOS”.
The owners are very likely the spammers themselves! They are either bouncing or disinterested or DEAD.
Elsewhere, however, we see that Yahoo’s Universal Spam policy recognizes that this spam is a violation of certain federal laws and in California there are further restrictions, and after (now) 2 and a half months with NO reasonable response to this problem, it’s very conceivable if not objectively provable that Yahoo Groups “customer care” are “agents” of this spamming, and may be or should be liable for the misdeeds of their groups owners.
I have contacted IC3. I have contacted spam cops and others. They are aware of your problem. One wrote back and told me that my analysis of the situation (see above) is right, but that Yahoo won’t talk to them. They said they’ve tried many times.
Personally I believe them. You don’t care.
Why not?
Will it take a class action lawsuit to bring you to your senses?
Rainbow Sally
rainbowsally@zippnet.net or
rainbowsally2001@yahoo.com
all others are FORGERIES! And there are quite a few of those.
shahin babu said,
August 6, 2009 @ 9:56 am
It will be nice to see all the new members in our memberlist , and they can receive the mails before sharing anything else
i think the priority is to fix the bugs before adding new features
best regards
shahin babu
Judith Stein said,
August 7, 2009 @ 12:14 pm
MELISSA–None of the messages posted on August 2 or 3 have made it into the Search database for several of my groups (I haven’t checked all of them). Any idea why this is, or whether the messages for those days will be restored to the database?
Also in several of my groups, Search by Author is not functioning. Will this ever be fixed? (I contacted Customer Care about this; three weeks ago they told me they had forwarded the complaint to the production team, but nothing has been done.)
RS said,
August 8, 2009 @ 7:51 am
@Terry re: Grouply:
There are instructions to get Grouply out of your groups. I dislike them because they send you offers directly to opt in, which are clearly automated, and their need for my passwords is more than unsettling.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/GrouplyImprovements/message/478
Best of luck to you. Also, be sure to go through your groups regularly and make sure no one is using a Grouply address. You may also want to state on the front page you do not allow Grouply access to your site.
jesse logan said,
August 10, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
Thanks for the heads up concerning Groupy I mean Grouply.
Mike said,
August 11, 2009 @ 8:48 am
I can’t even post to ANY of my yahoo groups now with this new feature. YAHOO MAIL no longer works on a MAC and neither does Yahoo Group. I have NEVER in all my years as a new products software manager seen such poor test work on mail for the new mail doesn’t allow a mac user to change to classic or send mail and now i can’t even send messages via email to yahoo group members. Pretty basic test criteria.
Melissa Daniels said,
August 11, 2009 @ 12:15 pm
@Mike,
Just posted an update on this– http://www.ygroupsblog.com/blog/2009/08/11/updates-and-safari/
A simple browser upgrade will solve this problem.
-Melissa
gina said,
August 12, 2009 @ 10:33 am
Melissa,
What is happening w/ msg search??!! “Judith Stein” most recently complained about this (Aug. 7), specifically search by author. I belong to 3 groups this is critical on, and I’m sure it is very important to many others.
Please give this topic its own post, so that comments and updates can all be viewed in one location. This has been beyond frustrating for thousands of members for several months now. It would be nice to at least know the status of this vexing problem.
Judith Stein said,
August 13, 2009 @ 4:10 pm
MELISSA–I’ve been getting the royal run-around from Customer Care on the search-by-author issue and the missing posts from August 2 and 3. Is there a supervisor I could forward the correspondence to?
Is *anybody* in charge of this mess?
Tushar Chavan13 said,
August 16, 2009 @ 6:49 am
What is happening w/ msg search??!! “Judith Stein” most recently complained about this (Aug. 7), specifically search by author. I belong to 3 groups this is critical on, and I’m sure it is very important to many others.
Please give this topic its own post, so that comments and updates can all be viewed in one location. This has been beyond frustrating for thousands of members for several months now. It would be nice to at least know the status of this vexing problem.
Tushar Chavan13 said,
August 16, 2009 @ 6:49 am
First they create a bogus gmail account.
Then they join a Yahoo group, usually porn, gay, transvestite, something weird.
Then they put their victims in a forwarding list so the victims cannot unsub from the Yahoo group because they themselves are not members.
I have complained to Yahoo “customer care” almost daily for two months about this and they come back after a 5 form-letter cycle with something incredibly stupid like, “the group owners are responsible for enforcing Yahoo’s TOS”.
The owners are very likely the spammers themselves! They are either bouncing or disinterested or DEAD.
Elsewhere, however, we see that Yahoo’s Universal Spam policy recognizes that this spam is a violation of certain federal laws and in California there are further restrictions, and after (now) 2 and a half months with NO reasonable response to this problem, it’s very conceivable if not objectively provable that Yahoo Groups “customer care” are “agents” of this spamming, and may be or should be liable for the misdeeds of their groups owners.
I have contacted IC3. I have contacted spam cops and others. They are aware of your problem. One wrote back and told me that my analysis of the situation (see above) is right, but that Yahoo won’t talk to them. They said they’ve tried many times.
Personally I believe them. You don’t care.
Why not?
Will it take a class action lawsuit to bring you to your senses?
Rainbow Sally
Mary said,
September 2, 2009 @ 9:20 am
this is getting WAY to complicated for me. Guess it is time to shut down the yahoo groups I OWN and moderate
maybe I’ll look to re-open on some other service
moj said,
September 29, 2009 @ 12:59 pm
i can’t send messages email to my yahoo group
I need help with this , please ?
thanks
cathy wilson said,
October 30, 2009 @ 11:49 am
am signed in, not have placed an ad for weeks, yet I CAN NOT submit an ad. Am getting the ok, but cant place one
charles said,
November 3, 2009 @ 10:21 pm
take me off your list group. all i get is spam. cant take it