UPDATE: The message delay issue has been resolved. If you’re still having trouble, please report the issue to Customer Care.

We’re aware of the problem with delayed messages affecting some messages to some groups and are investigating the cause. Will update with more information once we have it.  Apologies for the inconvenience.

- Yahoo! Groups Team

If you’ve ever gone into one of your groups and wished you could view all of the photos in all of the albums at once, you’re in luck. Starting today, when you click on the “photos” link within your group you’ll notice a new link at the top of the page that says “View All Photos.”

This feature will display all photos for that group, 50 images at a time. If your group has more than 50 images, you can flip between the pages using the “previous” and “next” links at the top of the page.

Once in “View All” mode you can sort by “Photo Name,” “Creator,” and “Last Modified,” which is the default viewing option.

Want to revert to the album format? Just click on the “Thumbnail” link back up at the top to switch back.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

Thank you all for your patience during this week’s outage. We wanted to keep you updated on a few issues that may be impacting your experience on groups.

Missing Groups
After Monday’s maintenance a few of you have reported that some of your groups were “missing” from your groups list. If you are missing any of your groups please go through the Membership Wizard, found here: http://groups.yahoo.com/memwiz This will detect any groups registered to your ID’s. Once you’ve completed the Membership Wizard any "missing" groups should return to your groups list.

AOL Users
We’re receiving reports from some moderators and users that some AOL users are not receiving messages from Yahoo! Groups and are being put into bouncing status. For more information on this issue and information on how to “unbounce” yourself, please go here : http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/issues/aol.html

New Members Not Showing Up
If there are members who have recently joined your group but do not show up in your Membership List, please report this issue to Customer Care, as this is a bug. When reporting the issue to Customer Care please provide a list of the missing members. To report this issue, please go here : http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/forms/forms_index.html

Message Search
While we know that many of you are disappointed that this week’s maintenance did not include a fix to the message search issue, we are happy to report that we will be pushing out a fix to ALL groups in the next month that should resolve this problem. Currently groups that are affected by this bug are not returning search results altogether, or, may not be returning complete results. If your group meets these criteria, please register your group here : http://surveylink.yahoo.com/wix/p6290938.aspx and it will be one of the first groups migrated over to the new Message Search next month.

UPDATE: If your group is having search issues please use this link to report your issues to the team. Groups will be moved over again towards the middle of May . Reporting your group using this link will ensure that your group is one of the first to be moved over.

As always, please stay up to date on the latest issues by checking the blog, our Twitter stream, or the Known Issues page in the Help section. If you’re having an issue that isn’t addressed here or in the help section, please report the issue to Customer Care so we can investigate the issue further.

Thanks!

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

UPDATE: Maintenance complete! Your groups should be back up and available. Thanks for your patience.

On April 13th, 2009 Yahoo! Groups will undergo scheduled maintenance. During this time your group will be unavailable for 30-60 minutes.

The outage is currently scheduled to begin at 1 pm PT, 8 pm GMT. At this time, ¼ of all Yahoo! Groups will become unavailable while the team services these groups. Once maintenance is complete on that ¼ of Groups, they will be made available again, and the next ¼ will become unavailable until all of the groups have been serviced.

In total the maintenance period should last around 5 hours, with the maintenance concluding around 6 pm PT, 1 am GMT (April 14).

While your group is being serviced, all features of your group, including messages, photos, attachments, etc. will be completely unavailable. However, once your outage time concludes, your group and all of its features should return and any messages that were posted to the group via email during this downtime will be sent out. Please note that your group’s outage should only last around an hour.

In an effort to better communicate to all of you, a blast message will be posted to all groups starting today and continuing on through April 13th, 2009, linking to this post. This message is visible on all groups to all members and moderators.

Thank you for your patience—during the outage, this blog will remain up (and comments will remain open) and we will update you all as information becomes available. We will also be updating users via Twitter .

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

If you’ve searched for a group today you may have noticed that things look a bit different. Today, we introduced the first phase of our new groups search solution which will help improve the “searchability” of groups. To try it yourself, just visit http://groups.yahoo.com and search for a group in the “Find a Group” search box.

This recent redesign was the result of feedback from users like you, and is the first step in a series of changes to search that will help you find the groups that are the most relevant and right for you.

Below, you’ll find a quick walkthrough of the most recent additions to group search, including new sorting options, updated group information, and quick links that enable you to “Join” a group, right from the search page.

(Want to take a closer look at any of the screenshots? Click to open the image in a new browser window.)

Search Box

At the top of every search page, you’ll now see a search box, allowing you to refine your search at any time, or, start a new groups search whenever you’re ready. We know that in the past having to scroll to the bottom of the page to do a second search was an annoyance and this takes away that pain.

Sort By

Beneath the search box, you’ll see a new feature called “Sort by.” Once you click on this, you’ll see that this feature allows you to sort search results by four options: Best match, Number of members, Age of group (Newest first), and, Age of group (Oldest first).

These new options allow you to customize your search options in a way that you couldn’t do before. We’re also working on improving the algorithm that computes the “Best match” option, but currently this displays groups in the same order as before.

Group Photos

With the old search, photos displayed on the right, and if a group didn’t have an image, there was an awkward void on the page where a photo should have been. In the new search results page, group photos appear on the left, and we’ve replaced missing photos with a temporary groups logo.  Don’t worry—if your group doesn’t have an image, nothing has changed within your actual group. The only thing that has changed is the way your group displays within search. Don’t like the generic groups logo? Upload an image to your group and it will go away. ☺

Join This Group!

Beneath each group image you might have noticed that there’s a new blue hyperlink encouraging searchers to “Join This Group!” This link will take any interested member through the steps necessary to join your group. Many of you had mentioned that it was too hard for members to get from search results to the join page of your group, and we think this should cut down on the number of “lost” members.

Group Details

Previously, search results only told potential members and fellow moderators the number of members within your group, and whether or not your archives were public. Now, users will be able to see: current membership count, whether or not they can view the archive, the age of the group, and whether or not the group is moderated.

All of these features are currently available in all Yahoo! Groups searches (however, they’re not currently available when you’re browsing a group), so be sure to give them a try and let us know what you think! We’ll be sure to keep you updated on additional updates to search as they become available.

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

We wanted to keep you updated on a few issues that may have been impacting your groups over the past few days.

Digest Delivery: Several users have recently reported issues with the delivery of daily digests. Digests were not being delivered unless a group hit “25 messages,” which affected some groups We have corrected this issue and all groups should be fixed by tomorrow (Thursday, April 9, 2009).

Delayed Messages and Bounces: Group members and moderators who receive their email through Verizon may not be receiving all messages, or may be receiving messages long after they’ve been posted to the group. Verizon has apparently been “grey-listing” mail from Yahoo! Groups. We have contacted Verizon to remedy the problem, but we are ultimately dependent upon them to resolve the issue.

If you feel as though your ISP may also be delaying the delivery of Yahoo! Groups mail, you can find the official list of outgoing mail servers here: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ygmailadmin/ This list will be useful when reporting the issue to your ISP as they will likely ask for the IP addresses of the mail servers that need to be “white-listed” to prevent future issues.

Once we have an update or confirmation from Verizon we’ll be sure to share it with you all here, on the blog.  In the meantime, thanks for your patience!

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

UPDATE: If your group is having search issues please use the link below to report your issues to the team. Groups will be moved over again towards the middle of May . Reporting your group using this link will ensure that your group is one of the first to be moved over.

We’re happy to report that the first set of groups have been moved over to the new search solution. This search solution resolves the current broken message search, and improves search capabilities.

If you notified Customer Care that your group was experiencing difficulties with the message search feature, or, filled out the survey that was posted on March 17th, 2009 (http://www.ygroupsblog.com/blog/2009/03/17/groups-search-update/ ), prior to noon (5pm GMT) on April 2nd, 2009, your group has been moved over to the new search solution.

If you reported your issue AFTER 12pm PT (5pm GMT) on April 2nd, 2009, your group will be moved over in the coming weeks.

To report your group, please follow this link: http://surveylink.yahoo.com/wix/p6290938.aspx

You will need to provide your email address and the email address of the affected group (please provide the official email address of the group—this can be found at the bottom of the group’s homepage).

Thank you again for your patience.

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

We know that being a moderator takes a lot of work. Being a good moderator takes even more work. And being a GREAT moderator? That takes dedication, patience, and an unmatched level of compassion for your group and your group members.

We also know that you all are the heart and soul of Yahoo! Groups and know the ins-and-outs of running and creating an amazing and thriving group. While your group may have the opportunity to know and appreciate you, we’d love to have the opportunity to promote your group, your abilities as a moderator, and, share a few of your own moderation tips and tricks with other group members and moderators.

Featured Moderators (and groups) will be showcased on the Yahoo! Groups Blog, and, on Moderator Central in the new “MVP: Moderator Value Program.” Select Moderators (and groups) could also be selected for future Yahoo! Groups news stories, articles and ad campaigns.

To nominate a fellow Moderator, or, to nominate yourself, just follow this link: http://surveylink.yahoo.com/wix/p6291825.aspx

You’ll be taken to a survey site where you’ll be asked to answer a few questions about the Moderator you’re nominating (either yourself or someone else).

Just a heads up, if your Moderator is selected for the “MVP” program, we’ll be using some of YOUR answers on the nomination form on the groups blog and in Moderator Central, so be clear and thorough when answering the questions, and only share what you’d want shared with the world!

We can’t wait to read your submissions and start showcasing your knowledge (and groups!) to help other budding groups and moderators flourish.

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

Please note: Due to the number of nominations received, not all moderators will be selected for this program. Prior to being featured on the blog or in Moderator Central an email will be sent to the nominated Moderator asking for permission, out of respect for their privacy.

Recently, we introduced the new attachment beta to a handful of Yahoo! Groups. Based off of the feedback we received from these group members and moderators (and from other members and moderators who weren’t part of the initial beta who wanted to be) we’ve decided to roll out this feature to all groups, beginning today!

This feature will gradually become available in all Yahoo! Groups over the next couple of weeks, so be on the look out for this great new option.

Not sure if your group has the new attachment feature enabled? In the left hand column, under the “Messages” section, beneath “Post,” if you see “Attachments,” your group is ready to go. Don’t see this link? Your group doesn’t have this feature enabled just yet, but should see it soon.

Additionally, if you participated in the attachment beta, we’re happy to let you know that we’ve pushed out a bug fix that now shows an attachment thumbnail instead of the “Attachment: Attachment Name” format that previously appeared.

This new update should make it easier for you to preview and manage your attachments, and view the content that matters most to you.

For those of you who do have this new feature enabled in your groups, here’s a quick walk-through of the new options/differences.

To access these new options and change your preferences, you must be a moderator or owner of an enabled group.

To get started, click on “Management” in the left hand column of your group. Then, under the “Group Settings” section, click on “Messages” and under “Posting and Archives” click “Edit” and scroll down to “Attachments.”

Here, you’ll see a third Attachment option: “Store on site (exclude from emails)”

This new feature allows for attachments to be stored on the groups site instead of being sent out in emails.  This allows for digest users to review/receive the attachments, and, makes it easier to retrieve specific attachments long after a thread has died as they’re accessible in the “Attachments” link in the left hand column.  Attachments share data space with photos, so you now have 100 gigs of storage.

If you wish to continue to receive attachments via email, your settings should be set to “Include in emails (exclude from site)”

The third option is to exclude attachments all together.

If your group has this new feature enabled, please share your thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks!

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

Update: Message delivery should be back to normal (including duplicate messages)– if you’re still experiencing delays or are receiving duplicate messages please send the full message headers from TWO of the duplicate messages to y_groups_team [at] yahoo [dot] com — http://www.fraudaid.com/find_headers.htm#service will show you how to retrieve the full headers). We’ll continue to monitor the system in case any issues arise. (03/30/09 @ 3:36 pm PDT/10:36 pm GMT)

Over the past week we know that some of you have experienced problems with your groups (both on the web and with email delivery). These issues were/are the result of a recent data center move, which we blogged about on the 19th.

As part of this move, we had also upgraded to higher performance hardware, but the upgrade didn’t work out as planned. The team has been working to resolve these issues and stabilize your experience, and we’re cautiously optimistic that we’ll have Yahoo! Groups back to normal before the weekend.

That said, we’ll definitely still be monitoring the system closely, and we encourage you to keep checking this blog for the latest updates if you experience further problems.

In addition, we’ve definitely learned some things from this incident (and from the feedback folks have been sharing about how we could better communicate), and we’ll blog about the specific steps we’re planning to take in the area of better communication around system issues in the coming weeks.

We know-I know -that this past week or so has been rough, and we apologize for all the inconvenience the problems have caused you and your groups. We can and will do better in the future.

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager