Recent updates to the profiles service
My name is Melissa and I’m the Community Manager for the profiles team and work with Jami, the Groups Community Manager.
Jami mentioned that many of you have had questions about the new profiles system and I wanted to share an update with you all.
We appreciate all your feedback and comments and have been working hard over the past week to make a few changes to improve your profiles experience.
We understand that some of you miss the old profile; however, Yahoo! is committed to build upon this new profile and we hope you will send us your suggestions to make it even better.
Now to the changes we’ve already made. Some of you may have noticed that while perusing your friend’s profiles you previously came across empty profiles, making it difficult for you to learn more about a specific user. We’ve repopulated ALL of the profiles (whether they’ve logged into the new system or not) with the information that a user had previously entered, and set anything that was public before, back to public. This includes display images and limited profile information and details.
What this means for you, as a user, is that now when you’re in a Yahoo! Group or a chat room, you’ll be able to learn a little more about the user you’re talking to, whether they’ve updated their profile or not.
In addition to this, we’ve also updated some of the error messages you were seeing to alleviate some of the confusion. Before, if you searched for your own ID before you migrated over to the new profiles system , you saw a blank profile. Now, you’ll be taken right into the new profiles system and will have the opportunity to update your information right there.
If you come across an alias that hasn’t been linked to a main ID, you’ll be told “This user has chosen not to link this Alias with their profile on Yahoo! in order to maintain their privacy.”
We also heard from you that linking aliases wasn’t clearly explained, so we’ve updated the text to do a better job of explaining what’s going on, and how to make yourself (and your aliases) discoverable.
You all have been incredibly patient and we appreciate all of the feedback you’ve provided us over the past few weeks. We know that there are several other improvements you all would like to see, and we’re working hard to incorporate them into the new profiles system.
For more information on the changes to profiles, please visit the profiles news blog .
Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager
patricia Dodson said,
October 31, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
I have been trying to change my email address for this group.
I want to use a gmail address i have had some problems with yahoo email.
although i still will be able to receive mail there I would prefer to use gmail. but it won’t let me do that … what am i doing wrong?
M.Faheem said,
November 1, 2008 @ 12:18 am
hello ! i want to share my problem with you that i m no getting the mails from this group regularly, since 2 weeks, what i have to do now?
thank & regards.
famuman86@yahoo.com
Kathy Grosskurth said,
November 1, 2008 @ 7:36 am
A couple of things as a mod that I would love to see added:
1. I would love to see hard bouncing members to automatically drop off our member lists automatically after a certain time. It is frustrating for us to have to MANUALLY remove them, especially when the numbers of bouncing members number into the HUNDREDS or thousands. For soft bouncing members, perhaps an automatic note can be sent to them through the groups (not generated by mods) and if they do not respond to the automatic notes after say 3 tries, they should be dropped from the lists also. Again, with HUNDREDS of email addresses in bouncing status, it is difficult for those of us with huge member lists to manage bounced status unless we make it a full time job.
2. I would love to have the ability to update email addresses in Yahoo! Groups. If we know someone’s email address has changed, we as mods should have the ability to change/update an email address in our system. Otherwise, we end up having to delete them out and manually add them through the ADD feature, or send another Invite. To me, that is a waste of time when again you may be working with HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS of folks in your member database.
Thanks overall for the excellent job you are all doing - keep up the good work!
Kathy Grosskurth
Owner of Two Yahoo! Groups
Ragsdale Family &
Cobb Career Site Forums
jj said,
November 2, 2008 @ 2:20 pm
I am so frustrated with the new group setup. I have been trying to access a group I was invited to, but can’t because it keeps telling me to create a profile. I enter in a name that it accepts, then it brings me to the profile page. I fill in a few things, but when I go to groups it tells me to make a profile. It’s a vicious circle. Someone help please.
JJ
Mark said,
November 2, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
Having the same problem JJ described. The old profile seems to have dissapeared, the new one can’t access groups/isn’t recognized. PLEASE answer this one quickly. Thanks.
kenneth robar said,
November 3, 2008 @ 6:49 am
YOU MAY HAVE TO START OVER IF YOU CAN NOT GET IN I DID
Administrator said,
November 3, 2008 @ 10:19 am
Mark & JJ–
Are you using rocketmail email addresses or Yahoo ids?
-Melissa
Todd & Melissa said,
November 3, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
You’re NOT listening to “US”. If you were, Yahoo would have obviously been made aware that WE DON’T LIKE THE CHANGE!
WHO uses the system? WE DO! It’s NOT “MySpace”…It’s YAHOO and was NEVER Broken to begin with…So WHY did someone at YAHOO feel the need to go and screw it up even more?!!
Oh by the way…. Profiles in group sites are STILL blank!
Mark said,
November 6, 2008 @ 9:45 am
Administrator, thanks for asking. I’m using my yahoo account e-mail, my real name, should be no problem.
To update this issue, I’m not even trying to get into groups anymore, since it obviously is not going to work, until all those issues are worked out.
Yahoo help sent an automated message to my inquiry, saying they would respond in 24 hours. No response yet. That was before I posted here…
And even WORSE the Profile Error message box, demanding a new profile, is now popping up EVERY TIME I SIGN IN…. This is pushing the issue, since I’ve tried so many times and it won’t accept any.
Any suggestions?
bearycokeycola said,
November 6, 2008 @ 3:06 pm
i am getting the same problems they are with the group profile except i made a new name and it won’t show any of my information which is required for the groups i’m in
Administrator said,
November 6, 2008 @ 3:49 pm
@bearycokeycola
Be sure you update your preferences under http://profiles.yahoo.com/settings and set your profile to be viewable by anyone.
-Melissa
jacqui said,
November 8, 2008 @ 4:44 am
Seem to have same issue as JJ. I’ve been trying to access a group I’ve been invited too. The group website shows that I’m registered but I can’t get into any member areas/read messages/creae posts. Keep being asked to create a Yahoo profile ( which I’ve done ) but when I click through I get the same message evey time ‘Oops, nothing to see here, go back to your profile’
V Frustrating - andy advice?
JoyceR said,
November 8, 2008 @ 6:01 pm
Can anyone tell me if the ability to turn off the icon for Yahoo messenger ( making it appear you are offline) that appears next to your name in the member list of each group will be restored? I am getting requests to add people and I HATE this. I have my yahoo messenger to configured to not respond to anyone not on my list of friends. However, I am now getting requests as I can no longer choose to have the icon appear to be grayed out. Please restore the ability to put a checkmark in the box to make it appear as if you are online. This used to be available in the account settings and is no longer there. This is an important privacy feature and needs to be restored. No one at yahoo will answer me and the live chat for group owners help person told me this was not a group issue! I beg to differ as this icon appears in the member list next to your name for every group you are on!!
Juliet said,
November 8, 2008 @ 9:35 pm
When I try to join a group I am always asked to create a profile. When I try to, I am taken to a page that says “Oops, nothing to see here”.
What gives?
Juliet said,
November 8, 2008 @ 10:59 pm
I fund the solution to the “Oop”s bug described above. I have pasted it below as I found it:
Sign in to my.yahoo.com, once signed in click on your user name (where it says “hi [your name] | sign out | tips | help”) and it will take you to your account info page (probably you can get to this from elsewhere, but I am new to this!).
On your account page choose the “Edit/Create Aliases” link and create a new alias.
Then you should be able to get into the group.
Cindy said,
November 9, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
So far I am not thrilled with the profile changes. My son’s profile does not show up & I know he has always had it public. Only part of mine shows up. I would LOVE for you to make it a REQUIREMENT for all yahoo groups to have the profile filled out. For that matter, to have a yahoo email your profile should be filled out. I personally see no reason to make your age, first name, state you live in or picture if you chose to post it private. If you meet me face to face I would pretty much know the answers to these questions. So why should it be any different online? I also do not see the point in Aliases, pick a name & stick with it.
Cat Jefferson said,
November 10, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
I agree with Todd and Melissa above. Each so-called ‘improvement’ in Yahoo! and Yahoo! groups has done nothing but make things more complicated, more time consuming and buggier. Nothing truly useful has been added, useful features have been removed, (such as being able to hide your online status) and useless features have not been discarded.
What happened to the KISS principle?
What happened to efficient, simple and user friendly?
Cat >^..^<
Eric said,
November 16, 2008 @ 11:01 am
Everytime I try to go to any of my profiles they all say this.
“Your profile was deactivated by an administrator.”
How can I fix that problem?
Sunil said,
November 17, 2008 @ 10:04 am
I am getting emails from yahoo groups and I am not facing any problem till now. Best part of following web-page is………..someone spent so much time understanding people’s problem and hence did a weblink sharing with complete information. I would also appreciate the efforts of Mellisa when she is reading user’s feedback and trying to resolve there issues.
Appreciate your efforts, Thanks for keeping user’s aware of such changes.
Thanks & Regards,
Sunil
Naresh said,
November 20, 2008 @ 3:26 am
In my profile the activation tag is not activated, so please refer me to how to activate.
Butch Smidley said,
November 24, 2008 @ 11:04 am
I have been trying for 2 hours to join a Yahoo group, when I try it says “You must first create a Yahoo! Profile” so I find an available profile name, click create profile, try to join the group again and I get the same message. “You must first create a Yahoo! Profile”, is this because I don’t want share all my personal information with online advertisers ?. Why has Yahoo made this so difficult, is there some place this is all explained , maybe the administrators could share that with the users
I sure the geniuses that created this system will sneer that the users are just too stupid to figure out their brilliant system, if was really a brilliant system it would be east to use and not take hours of research figure out.
For now I give up and I’m sure thousands of potential users are doing the same.
M said,
November 24, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
I have been having the same problem as JJ and some of the others. I really need to join a group right now to take care of some important business, but I get in the frustrating and time consuming loop of constantly being asked to make a profile when trying to join a group. This has been going on for a week or so. Is Yahoo losing it? Yahoo’s profile system has always been a frustrating maze, and I think it just got worse!
SpAz said,
November 26, 2008 @ 12:05 am
Here’s the solution everyone here is searching for, which Yahoo posted…grouped with a photos issue, so no one who NEEDS to find it, actually can. Awesome Yahoo. *shakes head* You have upset soooo many people.
YMail/Rocketmail Users Join/Create Problem
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For a complicated set of reasons that has to do with the way Yahoo’s registration system interacts with the Groups membership systems, users who create Yahoo! ID’s and choose the Ymail or Rocketmail domains (rather than yahoo.com) may have trouble joining groups (via the “Join This Group” button on group home pages) or starting groups. These users may get caught in an endless loop when asked to create a profile.
If anyone you know is caught in this loop, they can get out of it by first creating an “alias” in this way:
Go to: https://edit.yahoo.com/identity/manage
Click “Add Alias” and enter your desired Alias in the box provided and click “Save” directly to the right. If the Alias you want is available, it will then appear automatically as an Alias. If the Alias is already in use, you’ll receive a message that says “This alias is not available. Please try entering another.”
(Note: The Profiles Blog has some useful tutorials on this if you want visual instructions).
Once they have successfully created an alias, the user should have no trouble either starting a group or joining one.
eva said,
November 26, 2008 @ 9:56 am
SpAz you are a star, i was desperately trying to join a group, thanks a lot, it no works.
gurjit singh said,
December 2, 2008 @ 4:46 am
Sign in to my.yahoo.com, once signed in click on your user name (where it says “hi [your name] | sign out | tips | help”) and it will take you to your account info page
jake said,
December 2, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
http://www.fallensword.com/?ref=2183929
hien vu said,
December 3, 2008 @ 3:06 am
I am the new member of our club.i am vietnammese.Please help me be your member
Alin said,
December 3, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
http://secure.hostgator.com/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=alin88
Susanta said,
December 4, 2008 @ 9:14 am
Hello ! I want to share my problem with you that I am no getting the mails from this group regularly, since 2 weeks, what I have to do now?
Regards.
Susanta
jake said,
December 4, 2008 @ 6:51 pm
hhmmm im bored what should i do
http://www.fallensword.com/?ref=2183929
oo cool a game ill sign up and play this
ed said,
December 5, 2008 @ 2:52 am
hey! how can i find my sweet?
ed said,
December 5, 2008 @ 2:54 am
hey! how can i find my honey!
janet said,
January 1, 2009 @ 8:14 am
Hey! I am new to this site and I am having a problem getting to discussion with others who are in my situation. I am struggling right now and would really like to chat. Can someone lead me?
Thanks!
RS said,
January 6, 2009 @ 11:26 am
I don’t know if the new profiles are to blame, but somehow some spammer was able to harvest my e-mail address and send me spam invites to a couple pornspam groups. Fortunately it was an old Yahoo mail account they sent it to which is one I never use any more, and had checked out of sheer curiousity.
This was anew event that has never happened to me in 10+ years of using yahoo and Groups.
The only thing that has changed for me is the profile system being implemented. It had startling amount of my personal info available which I had to then go in and remove from the profile for privacy sake. I was not pleased.
On the plus side, Groups Abuse team got back to me in 24 hours after having investigated the reports, or so said the canned answer. Anyway I was pleased with that much. Not sure if the profiles are what allowed me to be farmed or not, but it seems to be the only new variable. I stand with the crowd that says this was badly done. The concept is not without merit but the implementation and current state of affairs with profiles is pretty much repugnant.