UPDATE ON MESSAGE SEARCH (6/8 3:00 pm PDT/11:00 pm GMT): The good news is that the new message search is working correctly on one of our new production search servers. The bad news is that it’s not yet working correctly on all of them. Once this last issue is resolved, we will migrate groups that have signed up on to the new system. Our apologies for the delay.
Below is an update on our highest priority bugs, all of which our engineering team is actively working to squash. Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve these issues, and we’re sorry for any hassles these bugs have caused you and your groups.
- Gordon
Yahoo! Groups
P.S. If you would like to report additional issues not mentioned below, please contact Customer Care . While we do read all comments, we need the information that the Customer Care form collects to be able to properly investigate a bug.
TOP PRIORITY BUGS
MESSAGE SEARCH PROBLEMS
This is our number one priority bug since it’s affecting so many groups and has no work around. As folks who read the blog know, we have been working hard to rebuild our message search system for a number of months .
The Bad News: The final phases of the this project have proved trickier than expected, which is why we haven’t met our goal of having groups that have signed up to be migrated on the new system by mid-May.
The Good News: Talked again with the engineer leading this project this morning, and he believes we’re very close to being able to roll out the new system more broadly. In fact, he hopes to solve the last remaining issues and actually begin migrating more groups as early as tomorrow (Wednesday, May 26th), although I think Thursday (Pacific Time) is more realistic. And assuming he encounters no unexpected problems, we should still be able to have all groups that have signed up to be migrated on the new system by the end of the month.
PROGRAM INITIALIZATION OR TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE ERRORS
We know that many groups are seeing this error when they land on the group home page or pending messages page. Usually, the error will go away if you refresh the page, but if the problem persists despite multiple refreshes, please contact Customer Care .
GROUPS BEING MISTAKENLY CLASSIFIED AS ADULT
There has been an ongoing known issue where groups are mistakenly recategorized behind the "adult wall" (meaning that no one under 18 can access). And while annoying, until recently Customer Care has been able to fix this mistake quickly for affected groups (when it is brought to their attention).
But in the past few weeks, for a handful of groups, the problem has become much more frustrating because they are being reclassified as adult every single day. In other words, the problem is being fixed by Customer Care, but a bug is causing the group is to placed back behind the adult wall again the next day.
We are working hard to identify what is triggering this bug (it has nothing to do with the content of the group), but as of yet have not identified the root cause. Once we do, we will roll out a fix. In the mean time, if your group is being affected by this issue, please let Customer Care know , and they will manually fix your group every day until the problem stops.
NEW TEXT DISAPPEARING IN MESSAGE REPLIES
When replying to group messages, some users are experiencing problems with the text they typed not displaying in their reply message. Instead only the text of the message they are replying to is displaying.
The problem appears to be mainly affecting users of Outlook (and apparently Juno Web Mail), and it is only affecting replies to certain messages. We know the problem is related to HTML formatting issues, but we are still investigating the precise root cause and how to resolve the issue.
For more information, including suggested work arounds, see our "known issue" page here .
MODERATORS UNABLE TO CHANGE THE GROUP HOME PAGE PHOTO
Some moderators are currently getting errors when they try to update their group’s home page photo. Please contact Customer Care if this problem is affecting you.
We should be able to manually fix the problem for your group right away (though it may take us longer to roll out a more global fix that will prevent the problem from occurring in the first place).
PROBLEMS UPLOADING PHOTOS
Some users are reporting problems uploading photos, with only half the photos they submit being successfully uploaded in any given upload attempt. If this problem is affecting you, please contact Customer Care .
MESSAGE SEARCH is still not working in my group ???? I’ve sent several emails for about a year now.
Since I created this group in December, 2009 we have not been able to search. I’ve filled in numerous requests to be migrated, have been told by Yahoo tech support that my group is “priority” and still nothing! Searching archives is critical to my group …. so frustrated!
When will we hear any kind of status on fixing the broken search function?
I agree it’s high time Yahoo posted a status update on this issue. It has been over six months since the last “progress” report. Are the bugs in the message search likely to ever be fixed? Are there any workarounds we can use?
I wholeheartedly agree with Karen. The search function not only is not fixed, now it doesn’t even do a word search. One of my debate groups has more than 266,000 messages and not being able to go back and search past messages has severely hampered several discussions.
Yahoo, if you can’t fix it, then put it back the way it was so we can at least USE it. As it is now, the search function is worse than useless.
Could someone please at least give us an update on the message search?
The messages in my groups all represent YEARS of useful information, and the number of messages are too numerous for an individual to page back to find relevant data.
Unbelievable, yet true… the Search function at Yahoo groups is STILL NOT WORKING after all these months… after the promise of switching to “a new system” in May of 2009… after dozens and dozens of “surveys” sent requesting a fix.
The engineers and tech support and customer service people at Yahoo Groups should be ashamed of themselves for allolwing this massivly stupid problem to remain for as long as it has.
It’s appalling.
Now… to Melissa Daniels or other Yahoo Groups representative or tech…
Could you please give an update on the solution to the Group Search problem.
This problem began in March 2009.
I belong to 4 groups. I cannot search anything since March 9th-16th, 2009, depending on which of the 4 groups, I try to search.
This blog was started on March 17, 2009.
It is now October 24, 2009
This problem has been ongoing for over 7 months now. When will the problem be fixed…. or as you say “migrated” to the working system?
Why would it take 7 months or longer to fix the problem?
Thank you.
Now it’s October and search is still non-functional.
This is really ANNOYING, this is SEPTEMBER and my group still does not have the Message Search working. For owner (me) and moderators this is a must feature. What is going on?
I have added your group and would like to tell you that I have faced a problem while contacting Customer Care
Another inaccuracy/discrepancy that might be related to the Message Search bug:
On September 1, 4 posts were sent to the list, and Sept 1 is the date that appears on all of them.
However, in the record of total posts for the month of September, only 2 are logged as having occurred.
FYI, the group is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TEFLChinaLife
I have to say that the problems with the SEARCH function for messages is a significant problem for members of a number of my groups, and for me as a member and an owner of those same groups.
Could someone perhaps give us an update on this particular problem?
Re: Leon Smith said,
June 20, 2009 @ 9:15 am
Although I just sent an e to Groups Customer Care, I am posting here to see if anyone else has been having this problem. It has been reported (the last problem/bug at the top of this page).
Today I selected ONE photo of size 1.28 MB to upload. I tried several times. …
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As far as I know, there’s a 1-MB upper limit on file sizes….that might be your problem right there.
~*
I finally got a response to one of my many, many pleas for attention to the 6-MONTH OLD MESSAGE SEARCH BUG. Coming from a programming background, I can honestly and without reservation say that I cannot see how allowing a program bug of this magnitude in impact to customers to continue for 6 months is acceptable in any way, shape or form. My response mentioned a delay from their originally scheduled due date of early June which is still 3 months time!! An upgrade should never be allowed to users until well tested. While it is true that typically going Live will still reveal some straggling problems, this is clearly more a disgrace than a disappointment… and I make that harsh statement because of the fact that even though Yahoo has been made aware of the problem 6 months ago, it has yet to be corrected. What a poor reflection on the programming abilities of Yahoo!
I have asked that my comments be passed along to any and all individuals in direction-leading positions within the organization in the hopes that someone might see the light of rectifying such an embarrassing situation…. before the integrity and reputation of Yahoo degrades even further. Yikes, Yahoo!!!
Where can I find the latest info on the New archive search problem?
My group members are wondering what we must do to solve this. I think they want to revolt.
If I choose to move my group to Google groups is there a way to export the yahoo group messages, like a mysqldump?
I was wondering if the photos section in Yahoo! Groups will ever allow sub folders? I love the 100GB allowance for space, but I believe folders and subfolders will now allow for the pictures to be more organized. Members of my group are always asking about it. Can anyone answer that question for me?
More than 2 hours and not one of the 5 photos was uploaded.
Although I just sent an e to Groups Customer Care, I am posting here to see if anyone else has been having this problem. It has been reported (the last problem/bug at the top of this page).
Today I selected ONE photo of size 1.28 MB to upload. I tried several times. Each time it hung after I selected Upload. I had to interrupt the ‘upload process’ after 15 minutes, and no photo had been uploaded.
In April and May, I was able to upload SOME of the selected photos in a batch (within the limits specified). The remainder were uploaded in subsequent attempts. (Maybe I should select the same photo several times – or with different file names.)
Hopefully, CC will be able to provide helpful info.
Anyone else have this problem?
@Kim Opperman
I’ve added your group to the list of groups that I personally move over every morning. Your group should be moved over each day by roughly 9am PT. Sorry for the hassle while we work on fixing this problem.
-Melissa
I am the President of a non profit 501c3 charity that resides on Yahoo Groups as the primary location where members from around the world can communicate. I have been battling this ADULT category issue for 3 years now, and recently has become a huge nightmare, where it changes back to ADULT a dozen times a day, for several weeks.
I am not appreciative that the Yahoo auto form letters go out to member of my organization that report this issue to Yahoo, coming back as a owner moderator issue of setting the category at ADULT…either that, or Yahoo form letters blaming the owner/moderator of actually having adult content. Either which way, it appears as if Yahoo refuses to take any accountanbility on the issues, and thus making the owner of the group appear a liar, for saying they did not cause this, but furthermore, once it is set into an Adult category cannot be reset by the owner/moderator.
In the past 3 weeks this has been changed back to ADULT dozens and dozens of times….exposing the members of this knitting for military organization with the worst possible vile pornographic sponsors, ads and other porn related spam and viruses. I have members from pre-teen to elderly, girl scouts and church groups. This is a total violation of human rights to continually expose my group members to this garbage, and then blame it on me, as if I somehow caused it.
I am seriously considering filing a lawsuit against Yahoo, and contacting the sponsors so that Yahoo might take people seriously.
In addition to the adult categorization, I have also not been able to access a single archive message since March.
The Yahoo issues have gotten worse and worse and worse in 3 years, but given repeated promises of FIXES, BUGS, GLITCHES and other excuses.
Stop sending out the repeated form letters, and talk to us. Fix the issues.
Kim
Dear Gordon
I have send a question regarding this alreaady
my group accidently belongs to adult category
i want to change the label from there to General
how can i do this
can u help me
Thanks
Shaju
and
Delays. Two groups are experiencing digest delays that do not appear to
involve any one or two domain mail servers. Is there a way to request a RESET?
pat
rooting for the team’s search/fix!
Wahoo, a response. Thanks for that. See it wasn’t so bad now was it. Now keep up the good work and give us some mini progress reports more often please.
It would be also be good if you could explain why the new search function would work on one server and not the other, as that doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense.
On Tuesday 26th May you started this thread pointing out that you are still unable to fix the message search function. You stated you would provide an update later in the week.
I have been coming here every day in the intervening two weeks, but there has been no further communication. It is frustrating that we still have to deal with this issue, it is doubly frustrating that there is no news coming back from anyone, be it good or bad news. It also doesn’t help that this page takes so long to load.
Can someone in the know please post something here, even if it’s to say don’t waste your time looking here for the rest of the month because we haven’t got a clue.
Saying nothing is absolutely the worst option to choose.
@Dan McKay,
There actually is a list, and I’ve added you to it. I’ll move your group over to its correct category every morning (usually this is completed by around 9am PT– forgive me for delays on the weekends) until this bug has been fixed.
-Melissa
I can’t post anything. All I get is this error message:
We’re sorry, but we were unable to complete your request at this time.
If you continue to receive this error for more than 48 hours, please contact our Customer Care team. We apologize for this inconvenience.
— MsKyle said,
> Customer Care keeps sending me form letters and never answering my
> questions. I really thought nobody cared. There is no excuse for allowing
> pornographic ads with the f*** word and others to appear …
Same here. I have written FIFTEEN TIMES to Customer Service about moving my group to Adult every day. It takes them 2-3 days to respond and then before the end of the day, it’s back as an Adult group. (Our group was founded 2001, nearly 16,000 members, 400-600 posts a month.) One of the primary drivers of new members was the group’s RSS feed which we displayed on our organization’s website. Of course as an adult group, we cannot have an RSS feed.
Gordon, if there are a select number of groups to whom this is happening every day, why isn’t there someone on point with a list of these wrongly-classified Adult groups to go in every day and switch them back without me having to write 15 times?
What is the ETA on this bug fix?
Hi there,
I have reported a problem accessing the Files section of our group last year and a couple more times this year but up to now, there has been no resolution.
Please HELP!
Flag this messageTranscript of your chatSunday, September 14, 2008 6:49 AM
From: “Yahoo! Customer Care” Add sender to ContactsTo: “Alan Perez” General Info
Chat start time Sep 13, 2008 2:31:59 PM EST
Chat end time Sep 13, 2008 2:49:41 PM EST
Duration (actual chatting time) 00:17:41
Operator Thomas
Chat Transcript
info: Please wait for a Yahoo! agent to respond.
info: You are now chatting with Thomas
Thomas: Welcome to our Yahoo! Groups live chat service. I’m glad you’ve joined us.
Thomas: Thank you for providing us the details of your issue.
Thomas: Hi Alan.
Alan Perez: Hi!
Alan Perez: Can you help us?
Thomas: Sure, Alan.
Alan Perez: Can the files still be recovered? I am not sure if i have backups of all of them.
Thomas: I understand that you cannot access your files section and you are receiving an error message “SF error: sfGetStats() returned error Cannot access list directory”. Am I correct?
Alan Perez: yes.
Thomas: Yes, it can.
Thomas: Thank you.
Thomas: Is “JRCHS1978″ the group you are having troubles with?
Alan Perez: yes
Thomas: May I access your group?
Alan Perez: sure. i also noticed that the database now appears empty but i had a database made there.
Thomas: Thank you for the information.
Thomas: Please give me a minute while I check on your group.
Thomas: I apologize for the long wait. I am having troubles accessing your group, please give me one more minute.
Alan Perez: no problem.
Thomas: We are aware of the situation and our Engineers are further investigating the cause.
Thomas: I want to assure you that we are doing everything we can to resolve the issue.
Thomas: Until we determine the cause of this issue and implement a universal fix, our Engineering team is able to fix the issue in your Group manually.
Thomas: I have escalated your case to the proper team to investigate.
Thomas: I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you and appreciate your patience.
Alan Perez: ok, so what now? do i receive an advisory from you when it’s been fixed?
Alan Perez: any timeline?
Thomas: I am sorry but I won’t be able to provide you with the exact time as to when this issue will be fixed, but rest assured this issue will be taken cared of.
Alan Perez: ok, could i expect an email when this issue is resolved?
Thomas: Sure, Alan.
Thomas: Is there anything else that I may help you with?
Alan Perez: Not at the moment. Thank you, Thomas! Cheers!
Thomas: You are most welcome.
Thomas: I appreciate your understanding and patience in this matter.
Thomas: Thank you for using Yahoo! Groups. If you have any other questions, please feel free to come back and chat with us at any time.
Thomas: To receive a transcript of this chat, or tell us how we did today, please click the “Close” button on the top right of the chat window.
Thomas: Thanks a lot for chatting. Have a great day.
info: Your chat transcript will be sent to avperez@yahoo.com at the end of your chat.
This is the message I receive on the home page of our group.
We’re Sorry…
There was a problem with your request.
The page you’ve requested returned this error:
Program Initialization Error
If you continue to receive this error for more than 48 hours, please contact our Customer Care team. We apologize for this inconvenience.
@Terry,
No– both Gordon and myself are still here, though have been away for the past few days (hence the lack of communication from Gordon and myself).
-Melissa
@flickrzone,
I’ve added you/your group to the list of groups to automatically be moved over every morning by roughly 9am.
-Melissa
I wasn’t having any trouble with the (existing) search feature on the groups I moderate …until the past week, now NOTHING returns a result! I have to scroll through pages and pages of messages to find what I’m looking for, even if there are three obvious “matches” among the five most recent posts! How do we opt OUT of the “new improved search?”
Mistakenly recategorized behind the “adult wall” not fix yet?
I have recategorized problem yet.
No word from Melissa or Gordon , but someone called
Annie seems to be representing Yahoo .
Has Annie been brought in to tackle the number
1 problem in Yahoo Groups – Spam ?
Where has Melissa gone and where is Gordon ?
Have they left the company ?
Hey Raffy-
Come on dude-
This is not the Dating Blog-
This is the Bug Blog.
There’s absolutely no dating on the Bug Blog.
Just bugs.
Good luck Raffy.
This is the message I receive on the home page of our group.
We’re Sorry…
There was a problem with your request.
The page you’ve requested returned this error:
Program Initialization Error
If you continue to receive this error for more than 48 hours, please contact our Customer Care team. We apologize for this inconvenience.
It’s realy a bloody shame that when Yahoo is having problems (= 100.000′s of Group members having those) the ones (like Gordon) who have the job to inform them keep silent.
IMHO whenever there are major problems -like now with approved messages delay of more than 15 hours now- the first thing to be done is to set the engineers at work to resolve those, but nearly at the same time the users should be informed about what went wrong, what is being done to resolve the problems and what will be the expected time to do so.
They call it ‘Customer Care’ but seem to have never learned about how to care the customers ! Like I said: A bloody shame !
Sam
Will people who sign up for my group still be able to in spite of these stupid program initilization errors? If not, I’ve got to change my forms.
Today is the 27th consecutive day that my group has bounced back and forth between the MOVIES and ADULT category… In spite of promises [in this blog] that Customer Care would manually correct the CATEGORY BUG every day…
It often takes 2-3 days to even get a response…
As if that weren’t enough… My group has the POST DELAY BUG which has thrown all of our posts for the last 18 hours into a black hole…
Finally… My group has the PROGRAM INITIALIZATION ERROR BUG…
Yup, the group’s website/home-page, or what’s left of it after 27 days
of the latest YAHOO BUG INFESTATION has vanished along with
thousands of once happy members.
Frustrated and angry doesn’t even begin to describe my mood
well now it looks like they are being delayed even going through email again.
Thanks for the tip Sarah!!! Was able to get my post through with email instead of direct post to group.
I’m a moderator on two forums and the other moderators and me are unable to post messages/start new topics/send replies via the forum message systems. It seems to be working for other members and the group owner, MODS are left out in the cold! either we can’t sign in or any messages that we do send via the forum disappear into space! they don’t show on forum and don’t get sent via email! pull your socks up yahoo and let us know why and when!
Annie mine seems to be going through slowly but surely via email now (werent earlier) but via group site they seem to be lost in never never land.